Renovating a Home with Kids in the Mix

When we bought our first home, we thought things would be a bit tricky because we both worked. We didn't have kids at the time, so we had no idea how good we had it with respect to flexibility. If we forgot something at the hardware store, one or both of us would simply hop in the car and pick it up. Let's just say a lot more pre-planning must go on these days with these kiddos.

We did have a funny parenting oversight worth mentioning. The other evening we headed to the "new home" with the intent to bring over the master vanity (it was delivered to our current home). This would require both of us to carry it in due to size and weight. Our first concern was to make sure Leepo didn't get underfoot. But of course the house is mostly empty, and we didn't bring anything to keep him busy. Also, up until now I had been carrying Beanie in the Bjorn, or leaving her in the carseat (within the house, people). Nowadays she wants nothing to do with that, and there was literally no place to put her down. We had to brainstorm.

Enter the package styrofoam:

A sheet of styrofoam for baby
(this kind was thick, she wasn't able to scratch it up into pieces). 

Styrofoam for the boy became snow, icebergs, and karate chopping blocks.

One of the other tasks I tackled was to do yet another walk-through to determine what things we still have left to purchase for this home, and measure them out for fit. The decorative items are not a pressing issue in terms of needing to have them done before we move in, but to keep costs down I'm keeping an eye on them now so that we're ready to pounce on any sales that might be going on at the moment. This next picture shows four different sizes of frames being outlined in painter's tape above the dining table. I used this as an opportunity to talk about rectangles/squares and right angles with Leepo. (We got him his own little measuring tape, too!)

Is the horrible lighting getting to you? Same here. 

As things start to get more "intense" during the renovation and the dust starts flying again (we cleaned up after the first downfall), we'll have to keep these kids away. For the most part, that will mean one of us stays behind, which further entails us having to make sure our communication about the house progress is solid. Our plan is for one of us to visit the "new house"  daily to further clarify things with the contractor, take pictures, and report on what's going on with each other during the evening. If something needs to be addressed with both of us in person, then it will likely have to happen on a Saturday with help recruited from my parents for babysitting. 

So, you know, just a tad bit trickier.