what cute babies!!! we are missing having a dog - we had to have our 15year old cocker put down in January. I think we will be done traveling at the beginning of August (before school starts!) so we are now on the quest to find the perfect puppy ... We are thinking of miniature australian shepherds - not too big (rv size) but still a sturdy dog. Anyone have puppies?? Sue

hello, I see where your husband is coming from. I would not want to cover the picture window either. Here are the options I would consider and just go with whatever ended up looking best to me: (1) Move the bed in front of the small window, raise the curtain rod to the ceiling and put the tan curtains on that rod, making sure that the top of the curtains went to the ceiling and covered the top of the window--this would mean putting the rod on the crown--which is the one thing that makes me question if this is the right thing to do. Also, extend the rod the width of the bed--so the curtains both go to the ceiling as well as fill the entire space behind the bed. Then I would move the picture window curtain rod up higher and put new panels on either side than can be opened or closed. You would need new panels as the existing ones would then be too short once you move the rod up higher--plus they would now be on the small window beside the bed. you could put the butterfly pics on either side of the picture window if the scale is right. (2) Alternatively, with the bed in front of the small window, you could do some type of tapestry, that again starts at the ceiling and covers the entire window and space above the bed. Maybe made from a twin size quilt, like you suggested. (3) Finally, consider the roman shade--however, i am not sure if the scale might be too small. But if you got a really nice fabric and had the shade lowered--the decorative effort may be just as good or better than the curtain or large fabric. And then you could put artwork on either side of the window. If you go this route then I would either paint the window trim the same as the crown or use a more contrasting stain--something darker than what it is now. In any event, from what I can see of the room, it looks like the curtain rod with the tan curtains should be higher. However, I can't see any pics of it straight on, so it may be just fine. And perhaps some artwork flanking that window. Good luck! That little window is hard to work around!

It isn't so crucial that your albums be perfect, chronological records of your life (or your kids' lives). The important thing is that you were there, and you captured some images for the future, and you preserved them lovingly. Our books are not meant to be judged by others, or against others; they are not FOR others. They are our own. Shellse, this is one of the few things in life that you cannot do wrong. Relax, make some pages, and enjoy the memories. I speak from experience. I didn't make my son's baby album until he was 7 years old! So of course some of the shots are out of order, I can't remember exactly how old he was in some of them, etc. But he and I sat and looked at that album this very morning for thirty minutes--and you know what? He never mentioned a thing about it being out of order, or not pretty, or some of the lines aren't straight, or my handwriting is messy, or the colors don't match, or there's no focal point, or my paper/embellishment choices don't enhance the "mood" of the photos, or any of the other things these retailers have gotten us all so hung up on. We just enjoyed looking at US. That's what this craft is about.

DGS learned this faster by imitating his father. He still wasn't paying attention to his body until wanting to get out of the 'Baby' class in preschool provided a motivation. He was three. Our DS was very slow to learn this. I've wonderded if that had something to do with his high *pain* tolerance -- which I didn't discover until later. Perhaps the connections between nerves and brain aren't as strong. (DS drove from Springfield to Chicago with appendicitis, dismissing it as indigestion. It nearly ruptured by the time I got him into the hospital. He's walked on a broken ankle before recognizing there was a problem.) My grandmother claimed that she potty trained me to pee in a teacup before I was a year old. Uh-huh, sure. We know who was 'trained'. I took courage from the knowledge that our DS would not be attending high school in a diaper. LOL It'll 'take' eventually!