Update on Drastic Measures

During this week I have been totally organizing Hayden's room. It's been pretty easy since it's almost empty! He has slowly been earning his books and toys back and has done a good job at putting things away.

I had organized his room before, but it was back before I actually had some decent organizing skills so things weren't working very well. Now I feel like I have a lot more knowledge of how to organize in a way that will really work. In his closet there were two storage units with drawers in them. They didn't fit well in the small closet and were inconvenient to get stuff out and put stuff in them. I decided to put shelves in the closet instead and then buy containers to put various toys in. I thought about getting the type of shelves that are custom fit to the closet, but I decided against that. I would rather have something that can be easily put in and taken out.

I found the perfect shelves. I needed two sets of them. The first store I went to only had one, so I didn't buy it because I was worried I couldn't find another one and I wanted two. So the next day I went to another store and they only had one. I bought it, hoping the first store still had the one they had the day before. I drove across town and luckily they still had it. By the time I got home it was bedtime for the kids so they went to bed. I couldn't stand it that I was going to have to wait until morning to put the shelves in, so I decided to do it anyway. I put them together in the family room and then went in Hayden's room to put them in the closet. I couldn't get them both in. I did measure them so I knew they would fit perfectly, it was just that they couldn't both be assembled and then put in. So I had to take one of them apart and reassemble it inside the closet. The funny thing is Hayden slept through the whole thing. The next morning I asked him if he'd seen his closet and he said, "How did you do that while I was asleep?" I told him he must have been very tired and didn't hear me.

Yesterday and today I went container shopping. I love shopping for containers. I don't think you can have too many. I found some very inexpensive containers and I bought a lot. I came home and put them where I planned on putting them and Hayden helped me decide the best places to put his few toys. He likes helping decide where things should go. I think letting him help in the organization process will help him keep his things put away. I still need to go get a few more containers today. I went to the store at 11:30 (they open at 9:00) and the doors were locked. They had a sign up saying they would be open at 12:00. So I went and ran a few other errands and then went back at 12:45. The doors were still locked and they had a sign up saying they would open at 2:00. Potential customers were getting all riled up outside so I left. I am going to head over there after Mike gets home from work and try to finish up my shopping.

Since I am so excited about getting his room organized, I am really tempted to just put all of his toys back in. I am getting tired of them cluttering up other areas of the house. I can't decide if I should put them back in his room, letting him get away without the full repurcussions of having such a messy room but giving me a much needed feeling of accomplishment by having the room done, or if I should continue only letting him have one toy and two books per day, but have the feeling of stress on me for having other areas of my house messy because of it. I am seriously leaning toward just putting it all back so I can feel relaxed. If I do that I will have to have a talk with him telling him why I'm putting it back, but that if he starts to leave stuff out again I will take it. It would be much easier to just take a few things out than to keep it all out. The more I type about it the more I'm trying to talk myself into just putting it all back, which I know wouldn't be the best thing for Hayden, but it would be the best thing for me. Oh, the delimmas of parenthood.

I will post some pictures of the room when it's all done, but I need to do it when everything's back in because taking pictures of a bunch of empty containers just won't work.

By the way, I bought Mike's birthday present today and his birthday is over a week away. Usually I buy him something on his birthday, so I'm saving myself a lot of stress by getting it early. I can't tell you what it is because he sometimes reads this, but I can tell you that after playing with it for a while I want one. He's going to be home within a half an hour so I'd better put it away.