Cannot Be Contained

Maia is on the move! She cannot be contained! We are now in the market for some device to help with this problem, but we don't have a lot of doorways which would fit a baby gate. As such, we've narrowed our options down to the following two products. Does anyone have any experience with either of these? Any other suggestions??

SOS! Save Our (Counter) Space!

We live in a small condo. This makes clutter a MAJOR issue in our house. Baby = clutter. Especially now that daycare has started and bottles and pumping paraphernalia have become daily necessities. I was not prepared for this clutter and it began to accumulate nightly on our counter top. Dirty bottles here. Clean bottles there. Bottles to be sterilized over here. Pump flanges over there. Pumping collection bottles up here. I know you know the drill too.

Then, we went to dinner over at a couple's home who has a baby the same exact age as Maia. His mom had just gone back to work too. She was dealing with the same exact clutter - only better. And then I saw why - the answer was so simple... I give you, the $6 drying rack from Munchkin:



This little beaut is available at Target, of course. I used to think things like this would just add to the clutter of my life. Not so. Highly recommend this for those of you struggling with clutter like me.

Important note: Any other clutter reducing tips will be highly appreciated!

Good Idea or Afluenza Out of Control

Jason and I are always teasing each other about suffering from afluenza when we realize we would like to add some small new luxury to our life which we couldn't afford a few years back when we were paycheck to paycheck in LA. Our newest desire is to change all of our household cleaning products to baby safe and/or natural and/or "green" items. There are obviously many reasons to make this switch and, especially as Maia becomes more mobile, I realize now would be a good time to do it. Right now, we just use Formula 409 to clean our kitchen counters and the Clorox version of the Swiffer Wetjet to clean our floors.

So, do you guys think its worth making this change or am I just being silly because it's hip to be green these days. And if it is worth it - can anyone recommend some good natural based alternatives to the mainstream cleaners? Especially for kitchen counters and/or bathrooms. That is my first target for making this change...