Agree with Trish, I've got one like that right now and my firstborn was the same. Once they can sit up and crawl, they're much happier. But now junior has graduated to pulling up and is getting frustrated when he can't cruise! ROFL! Oh well! It's a phase, he's not spoiled. He's normal. And yes, your house looks like the aftermath of Hiroshima(like mine), it's frustrating at times, but that won't last forever. Take a deep breath and remind yourself how quickly this time passes. Enlist your dd's help in playing with him. Change rooms and toys frequently. Start dragging safe items out of drawers in your kitchen (utensils, Tupperware, etc.) and make a messy pile on the floor and let him have at it while you load the dishwasher. Or do the same with him sitting in the highchair, TALK with him while you do things.. Have him sit IN the laundry basket with the laundry while you fold. Give him a gentle ride every couple of minutes. Learn how to SLOWLY do things with him. You are now facing one of the unknown to working women challenges of this age. How to get something, anything done while they're awake (Btw, I"ve been a WM too...). Some days it will work, and some days it just doesn't and 'baby' is the only thing that you do. These days, I've got far more of the latter than the former. Dont let this get to you. Get a baby sling. You can walk items back and forth putting them away with him in the sling and one arm holding him. Yes, it's much slower, but it will entertain him somewhat and some things will get put away. Slings are also great for your back as opposed to carrying Mr Two Tons of Fun inyour arms. It's less exhausting. If he sits up well, get one of those backpack carriers. You can even vaccum with those puppies... Enlist help. Give a high school student a job by having them come over for an hour or two, twice a week to play with the baby while you bang out chores. Have a friend come over to do the same once a week (trade off if she has a baby too). Do the same thing with DH. I always give him baby duty after dinner (they play and then take a bath) and I run around trying to do all of the things that I couldn't get done during the day. I also send him to the video store sometimes with the four year old AND the baby, another little break. Get some sing a long videos..Sing along! Teletubbies too... Stick him in the sling and dance together to YOUR favorite music. Take him for a walk in the neighborhood. TALK. Talk about everything that you're doing and why. Raspberries on teh belly. Let him roam naked a bit (they love that). This Little Piggy...Play in the bathtub and watch the tornado go down the drain. Splash..Play Kiss the Baby if you have a fulllength mirro. Hold him standing near the mirror and make faces..then say "kiss the baby", while you "kiss the Mommy" (can kill 20 minutes that way, easy!). Hang out in the five year old's room. Different scenery. Let him play with any of her toys that are safe. Get more active baby toys. Fisher Price has a "whirlin twirlin garden" that I got ds for Christmas. It's loud and annoying but they love it if they can sit up well. They lunged for the spinning wheels, the stackable blocks and knowck the blocks over..You stack, he knocks. Repeat. Get some stacking blocks that are soft and colorful. Do the same. Make crashing sounds! :) Make a basket of baby toys or strange household items, sit it next to him and let him pull out a toy at a time. OR let him dump them. Pt them back, let him dump them again. Read very simple books. Good Night Moon...Hello Baby. Talk about the pictures and how anything is like him. Pull out your camera and take pictures. Take videos... Play on YOUR bed. Peekaboo with a cloth diaper. Take a ride in the car and get the heck out of the house. Go mall-walking. This is a very good shopping age (but not a good driving age, stay near home). "Zoom" with the stroller. Put him in the high chair and give him kitchen things to play with...you do dishes. Give him a popsicle without a stick. BATH TIME after! LOL! Give him pots and pans and metal utensils to bang with... It's all about being creative. Kid is bored. You're frustrated. If you feed your need, kid gets frustrated. You're bored...Remind yourself that this time is fleeting. By his first birthday, he won't want you to pick him up at all, he'll be too busy! You're going to be busy then too, keeping him safe! Btw, this isn't about having 'coping skills'. He's too cognitively immature to have coping skills. There is nothing wrong with him. This is about his developmental age and his personality (more of the former than the latter). Dont be quick to label him. He's a smart cookie. He knows what he wants and babies at this age want MOMMA. I know it's hard to be the only answer at this point, but again, this time is fleeting. Even if he turns out to be an intense kid, he won't always need you to entertain him. Enjoy him now while he still wants to hang with you! And don't forget to get help to have small breaks. Even an hour to yourself can be bliss and gas up your tank.

Thanks to all for shaking my brain loose, It's been detailed to death in the past couple of months. But reading through it all, I ended up with an idea that is workable and low-cost. Open shelving - the cats, the ubiquitous dust, and the expense of getting the shelves correctly hung make it a no-go. What you don't see behind the cabinets is the support stuff they had to install to keep them on the wall. Workmen who can do adobe stuff don't come cheap. The cabinets are deceptively cheap-looking, mostly because the POs were not TKO or even decor sensitive, but they are custom-built plywood with self-closing 3-way adjustable hinges, drawers are plywood. Solidly built, just boring. AnnaC54 - Moldings are easy and cheap. I might do "sombraje" panels (closely spaced twigs) on the fronts of some cabinets elsewhere in the house. The materials are free for the gathering along the river. Sombraje looks like this -- can be natural color or stained or dyed with RIT. http://www.watersongfurniture.com/images/spirit-portal-2.jpg dianalo stencils or stamps? oh yes! A faux tile painted (stamped or stenciled) backsplash would be interesting, using the current blah cream as the grout color and the classic cobalt, rust, creamy yellow and deep green colors of traditional azulejos for the tile bodies. http://www.myrustica.com/media/00/a207919135d5f403d2af0f_m.jpg That could overwhelm the countertops, which are a namby-pamby french blue/pale rust/cream swirly thing that is nowhere near what real slate looks like. Maybe something like this, which would blend better, with shades of rust and greyed blue as the primary solid colors and/or patterned tiles in less intense colors. http://www.mexicantiles.com/artman2/uploads/1/kitchen-backsplash-talavera-angeles-mexican-tile.jpg marti8a - Oh wow, you nailed it (pun intended) ... if I'm going to have boxes hanging on my walls, I might as well have BOXES on the walls! Take the place back to its mining town days, when the wooden boxes things were shipped in were as useful as the contents. Add fake board grooves to the doors with my router or with a chisel, paint or stain to get the mixed old wood look, add molding, and stencil or paste reproduction labels onto a few of them. Paint the face frames to set off the "boxes" and the tiles. +++++++++++++ As for the rest of the house, the walls are white, the carpet (over who knows what, probably oak strip flooring, maybe local planks) is elderly pinky-beige plush which will stay there until we're ready to tackle floors, the curtains are cream and the woodwork is pale coffee-cream. So none of the undertones match at all. But the location is great, the layout is very convenient and the price was really good. Patience and paint is mostly what it needs. The thermal properties of adobe, especially when the interior walls are adobe like thses, is everything you have heard of. When it stabilizes at a temperature, it's hard to move it. I had to use the furnace a few nights, but it's been off since early March.

This home appears to have a sizable lot with plenty of potential. If the homeowner were replacing the roof, I'd suggest replacing this one with a steeper roof with gable ends and a third gable -- a forward facing gable over a larger front porch in front of the house. If the interior of the house and the land on which it is located and the neighborhood in which it is located and the selling price are all to your liking, don't be discouraged by purely curb appeal cosmetic issues. Before buying this house, however, you should have an expert that is working for you inspect the house to help you avoid costly surprises. You should know before you buy what work needs to be done -- roofing, insulation, electrical, plumbing, heat/ac, moisture issues, etc., just to make the home livable. You should also find out about easements, underground utilities or building code limitations that could affect your efforts to effect necessary and/or desirable changes. For instance, if the home needs a complete redo of a bath or kitchen, you should factor that into the pricing of the home. With that low roof -- not even the usual 4/12 -- and high windows, it is likely there is little overhead insulation. It wouldn't surprise me to find out the roof rafters are also the ceiling joists. There's also likely little ventilation in what passes for an attic, which could mean moisture/sweating problems -- which could explain the trees being planted so close to the house in an effort to create much needed shade. If so, the cost of a new roof should be factored in as you consider the price and you budget. From the front, the lot appears sloped toward the driveway. You should pay attention to potential rainwater drainage issues on the left side of the house and the potential for dampness and/or mold/mildew issues beneath the floor.

My friend is buying my credenza from me tomorrow so i get to buy a new one! Which one do we like better? The top one is slightly more expensive. I can’t decide which tones would work better