Keeping Millie Corralled

Who knew one tiny human would need so much stuff?!  After weeks (more like months) of my husband pointing out that Millie’s toys were in every. single. room. of. the. house. I figured it was time to convert our office (more like throw all room) into a playroom for our little munchkin.  It has made the house a lot more tidy and Millie seems to like having a room for all her fun things.  The ONLY problem: she is on the move.  Like you look to your left for .04 seconds and she is in the kitchen pushing the kitchen table chairs around.  Who knew they were so quick?! I knew we needed a baby gate to keep her in!

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The wonderful crew at North States Industries Baby Gates graciously sent us the Arched Auto Close Gate with Easy Step.  I love how the grey color and the 18 in door opening incorporates style and function all in one. There are a few reasons we absolutely LOVE about it:

  1. The threshold is low- this makes walking (or crawling) out of the room much easier for all of us
  2. How the gate shuts- with one simple push the gate shuts firmly and securely so you don’t have to worry about the safety of your children
  3. How the door works– The door swings both directions making it convenient for getting in and out.  It also has a stopper so the doors can also only swing in one direction if you want
  4. You can lock it- or keep it open- It has a triple locking system so you can have peace of mind OR you can use the hold-open feature so you can pass through easily if you don’t need the gate closed
  5. How easy it was to set up- The pressure mounts were easy to adjust by using the tension knobs to secure the gate in our door way- I set it up by myself (yay me!)
  6. You can put it other places- There was hardware for mounting on the top of stairs too- measuring 28.5 – 38.25 inches wide with two extensions. If you need the gate for a larger opening you can purchase their extensions measuring 7 1/4 in and 10 3/4 in wide.  (The gate measures 30 inches high)

We are thrilled with the style and ease of the Arched Auto-Close Gate with Easy Step. It is easy to use and I know she is safe and secure behind the gate.

You can purchase their gates directly off their website. Make sure you use millieandmommie20 to receive 20% off any purchase on northstaesind.com

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Look how much she loves it!

**I received the baby gate from North States Industries for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.**

Our favorite baby gate

Millie Monet

Millie is going to be the next great artist! Well maybe not, but we had fun doing this activity!  It is a great sensory activity to do with babies.  They can see the colors, feel the paint moving, and bang their little hands all over. It is SUPER easy- mess free- and you get a cute piece of art.

Materials:

  • Paint (a few different colors)
  • Paper
  • Ziplock
  • Tape (optional)

Paint1

Squeeze blobs of paint on the paper inside of the ziplock bag and seal.  I choose to use cute Duck Tape to hold it down on her high chair so she doesn’t grab and throw it.

Paint2Paint3

Then let them have at it!  Millie loved to push her little fingers on the paints- then she took to banging away.  She moved and squished the colors around until she had made a beautiful piece of art.

 

We had a fun time doing this sensory activity.  It was cheap, easy, and best of all MESS free! Have you tried this or something similar with your baby? Tell me down below in the comments!

Millie’s First Easter

This past weekend we celebrated Millie’s first Easter.  Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  I love how it is about being with family and celebrating, but there is no stress (unlike Christmas).  Having a baby makes ALL the things so much more fun.  It is fun to celebrate all the FIRSTS- even though she has no clue what is really going on.

The day started and the Easter Bunny brought Millie an incredible Easter basket! Daddy was pretty surprised with ALL the fun items the Easter Bunny brought her.  For brunch we go to my brother-in-laws family’s and have a huge brunch with EVERYONE!  There is usually between 45-55 people and it is awesome.  My nephew carried Millie around the whole time.  LOVE IT! After brunch we came home to snuggle and nap.  It was a great first Easter- one that I’ll never forget! Hope everyone had a great time too!