Babyproofing Needed

Oh my goodness, well we are all moved in (sort of.) I can now sort of walk through the living room. If this move has taught me anything it is that we cannot buy a smallish house! Two little ones and all of their stuff creates a need for space! That, and I seriously need to edit what we own. It is easier said than done though. We have so much "junk" for each developmental stage, and I can't bring myself to part with most of it because we will need it if we have another baby. It is amazing the space baby stuff takes up, the swings,  the exersaucer, the jumperoo, etc. And, then on top of it, all the clothes they outgrow, and now we have all the girl clothes and all of the boy clothes and since there is no way to predict the sex of a possible future baby, I feel the need to hold onto almost all of it. If anyone has any tips of weeding down what they own, let me know! Or toy storage/organization for that matter:) The other obstacle I seem to face, is that every time I start to sort something (e.g. toys or clothes), Marissa gets all up in it and starts playing with everything, spreading it out, and especially throwing laundry! She knows the throwing of the clean laundry piles drives me cccraazy! Gee, I wonder why she does it?! Any sorting/organizing progress I manage to get done though, always seems to be in the fashion of one step (maybe one half) forward, half a step back. Basically, I get forward very, very slowly.
The main problem right now that I'm trying to focus fast and furiously on is baby proofing this house. Oliver is into everything! Today I was throwing some dishes in the dishwasher and I turned around and saw him with Ripper's huge dog food bowl in one hand (it was like a planet to his head), gnawing on it, like it was the best thing he ever tasted! Lovely! I wish I could have snapped a picture, but I was too eager to put some distance between him and the bowl! I also wish I could have snapped a picture of him in front of the entertainment cabinet today, looking back over his shoulder at mamma, his look was so mischievous and deliciously cute, it was seriously to die for. He is trying so hard to break into that thing, thank goodness, it's one of the only things secured from baby! He is a magnet to baby "danger zones" though! He has also clonked his head seemingly 20 times a day, he is like a reckless baby driver! He will pull at anything to get it, sometimes hard enough that he goes flying backwards onto his head. Ouch! In not so good news, I think either he is allergic to something in the carpets in our new house or, maybe there is something not so good in them, but his poor little legs are sooo rashy from crawling on them. And, it has been hot here, 80 degrees, but he is having to stay in long pants for the time being. He has his 9 month appt tomorrow though, so hopefully the pedi can suss out what's going on. My favorite thing about our new place is that it has a mature orange tree, grapefruit tree and avocado tree! Yummmm!
I am missing our old house though, pretty much like crazy. I took Marissa and Oliver out to lunch today after preschool, (something I don't normally brave on my own, but our new kitchen is mostly in boxes still) and the restaurant was near our old house. On the way back to our new house, I was taking the road that drove by our old neighborhood, and out of habit, I turned into the neighborhood (can you tell I have a lot on my mind lately) and Marissa got all excited asking if we were going to our house, and I couldn't help it, I was this close to crying, all that hope in her little voice, and the thing of it is, I miss our old house too. I just keep telling myself, our new house is temporary. The only thing is the way the real estate market is here, you would never think there was any sort of recession going on... In a word, competitive. The saddest part of the actual move was the day we moved the majority of things, and ourselves, we had Marissa's favorite butterfly wand in our old house, and she refused to pack it is the car, head down chin tucked under, visibly upset, not talking, and so I snuck it into the car, and when we got to the new house she was just so upset to see it in the trunk, and kept saying over and over, "I just want to keep it at our house. I just want to keep it at our house." It just seemed to sum up the entirety of her feelings about the whole move, and it just broke this mamma's heart. And, turning into the old neighborhood today just refreshed all of those feelings for me. On a positive note, she happily distributed "candy canes" to everyone in the family tonight at bedtime, mine was purple and white striped:) She is our official candy cane girl. And, outside her preschool right now the sour grass flowers are in bloom, and at the end of each preschool day, she has to stop and pick a flower for mommy, daddy and Oliver, each and every time. Really, it is just the sweetest thing ever. I love them so. And, a happy 9 months to what maybe the most kissable baby boy ever, Oliver,  today!