15. Make cables in lounge baby-safe

I don't have photos of this, so you're going to have to take my word for it.

We had two sections of wires/cables which were worrying: those attached to the laptops which generally hang around the sofa, leading to J-cub's grab-and-pull move which I always worry is going to result in a laptop on his head; and those behind the TV table. Those aren't so much of a problem, because he can't really get to them, but they're just a bit annoying and tangly.

We discovered that the laptops sit nicely on one of the shelves of the new Billy bookcase. The cables, however, do not. They tend to slide off, or get tangled, or get yanked out when you remove a laptop. We moved the sofa a little closer to the Billy bookcase, and placed a litter bin (which we'd had to remove when J-cub started crawling) sandwiched between the sofa and the Billy. This effectively blocked off the small area between the sofa and the Billy, and there the cables live, allowing the laptops to be removed and used without trailing cables all over the place. Success.

The cables behind the TV unit have been dusted, detangled, organised and minimised. Those small enough to fit have been covered with that cable-covering stuff. The 4-way extension cable that runs from plug socket to behind the TV unit is tucked away out of any small reaching hands.

And I think that's the best we can do! It's certainly safer in here, and I almost feel like I could leave him for 5 seconds without him causing himself too much damage.

Day 47: Mission complete.

2. Replace TV table with something that has doors

At last! I never thought it would take so long to get this done, and I think we've been to Ikea 3 times between me writing the list and actually getting this done. Our problem was that we couldn't find a TV table that a) had doors, b) didn't cost the earth, and c) would look nice with all our white furniture.

Having trawled through Ikea and the Ikea catalogue several hundred times, we realised why what we'd seen in the catalogue and what we'd seen in the shop didn't match up - the one we liked is not in fact a TV table, but instead it's a height extension unit for a shelving unit, with tempered glass doors (for the remote to work through).

We had ordered it from Ikea, but it got delayed by the snow, then was going to be the end of the month before they could deliver. We gave up, got in the car, and drove to Cardiff to get it once and for all.

It was easy to put together, but a nightmare to hang the doors, and we had to do a bit of an Ikea hack to cut the back down so that we could get the cables out. But the result is beautiful - it matches the Billy bookcases, it has gently curved edges to stop any nasty head injuries, and best of all it fits the Sky box, DVD player, Wii, all the Wii games, and the Wii fit board.

I'm starting to feel like everything has its place - rather than everything's place being under chairs/in corners/on the floor. It's a good feeling.

Before (I found this photo while trawling through the archives, J-cub is 3 months old here. I am slightly ashamed to see him plonked in front of the TV like this, but I'm sure I had a good reason):

When he got round to crawling, nothing was safe, and he frequently cleared all the DVDs out, then had a go at getting the Sky box and DVD player out. Over the last week, he's had the speakers off the ends, which is what made us get our arses in gear and get to Ikea:

After (although J-cub can now get a little too close to the TV for my liking):

Day 46: Mission complete.

60. Make hearth baby-safe

My Cushiony Fireplace Guard (best product name ever) arrived unexpectedly today, so it wasn't such a struggle to pick out a list item. As with much of the interior decor in our house (why do we live here again?), we don't like the fireplace: it's electric and therefore expensive, the plug doesn't reach the plug socket; and it doesn't even produce heat properly, it just has a small fan heater underneath it which blows hot air out, and a light behind the fake coals which glows. We've used it maybe twice in the 8 years we've lived here; but have been reluctant to remove it in case it damages the resale value of the house, and because the carpet is cut around it.

Anyway, it doesn't really warrant a full-on fire guard, as there's no heat to be protected from. We were mostly worried about delicate heads meeting concrete-bases or cast-iron (imitation, probably) edges. This cushiony thing seemed to be the answer, it's cut-to-sizeable and comes with handy 3M sticky pads to stick it on. We cut, and we stuck (stack?), and now its hopefully a little safer. Sure, there's still the sides that he could whack his head on, but we can't protect him from everything, and there's a world of worry ahead next summer when a toddler-shaped J-cub meets the garden and all its concrete/brick/stoney delights.

Before:

After:

Now that we've done it, I bet he never, ever falls anywhere near it. Or, if he does, he manages to hit his head on an uncovered bit.

Day 43: Mission complete.

12. Replace bookcase in lounge with Billy bookcase and cupboard with doors

As I may have previously mentioned, we were supposed to be having a delivery from Ikea, of a TV table (with doors!) and a new Billy bookcase. We ordered well before Christmas, but they couldn't deliver until January 6th. That delivery then got postponed due to the snow, until the 8th, at a point at which I was going to be out. I rang to reorganise, they said they couldn't give me a different date, but it would be within 24 hours. Today, I realised that I will be in tomorrow, as it would be madness to take J-cub swimming in his current flu-ey condition, so I rang them back to see if I could have my delivery tomorrow after all. Not only was the answer no, but the re-arranged delivery was for January the 27th! Stupid Ikea.

I just can't wait that long, as it's one of the main things we've wanted to do since J-cub got mobile. Ordinarily, we would just drive to Ikea and buy the stuff ourselves, but a Billy bookcase will only fit in the car with the back and front seats folded forwards, so the passenger (who has to be present to help with lifting and carrying) has to sit behind the driver, leaving no room for J-cub's car seat.

So this morning we sat, and thought, and mentally rearranged furniture. Our house has no shortage of Billy bookcases, since we harbour dreams of one day living in a house with enough space that we can have a library, and all the Billy bookcases will be reunited in one room together. Our best option, we decided, was to swap the annoying designed-for-under-stairs sloping bookcase with the Billy bookcase in our bedroom. Then, if and when the Ikea delivery ever comes, the new Billy can go in our bedroom, and the old bookcase can get turfed out.

A couple of hours later, and the amazing Jamie had unscrewed the bookcases from the walls, taken everything off them, moved one downstairs and one upstairs. We spent the evening lovingly putting our books onto the shelves (if you think they're not very recessed, that's because we're doubling up the shelves with DVDs we don't watch very often) and tidying the cables for the thermometer, baby monitor, phone and lamp. It looks lovely and neat and, most importantly, baby-safe.

You'll note that the title of this item also specifies 'and cupboard with doors'. I would like to refer you here to see what happened to that. It was going to go next to the Billy bookcase, but now it's under the stairs, so that's done too.

Before (forgot to take an actual before photo, so had to search back through the archives. This one is not very good, you don't really see the shape of what was there, but you get the idea about the mess):

After:

Mmmm books:

Day 38: Mission complete.

80. Put away all Christmas presents

In further preparation for our Ikea delivery on Wednesday, we started moving furniture around in the lounge today. All the Christmas presents were piled up in a corner, where we wanted to move a bookcase to, so all the books and DVDs got moved into their new general areas. I can't technically put them away away until the Billy bookcase arrives, but they know where they're going.

All the new Christmas present toys have also been sorted out into toy baskets, so everything's starting to look a lot better.

I also got a bonus item done - by which I don't mean a catch-up-from-those-missed item, but one which wasn't technically on the list. We had two matching cupboards, one in our bedroom and one in the lounge. The one in the bedroom had been used to store Christmas presents so was empty, and has now joined its twin in the lounge to serve as my much-longed-for craft cupboard. Much of my Christmas presents were crafty things, and I really didn't have anywhere else for them to go. So I've folded and stacked all my lovely fabric, sorted buttons and ribbons into pots, put spools of thread into empty Ferrero Rocher boxes, found a nice bag for all the yarn, and moved my sewing machine away from its dusty old home. Now I won't have to spend all my days chasing babies and cats away from balls of wool, or hunting for elastic or sewing scissors.

The other cupboard is full of photo albums, camera equipment, Wii games, and guitar tab books. We've put them side by side in the alcove under the stairs, so they look kind of like a sideboard, and leave more space in the rest of the room for playing.

Day 35: Mission complete.

97. Put up stair-gates

J-cub has suddenly discovered that once he's lying down, or crawling, or in any sort of prone position, he can sit himself up. And from there, he can pull himself to standing. We've been greeted for the last few mornings with a baby leaning precariously over the edge of the cot, conjuring up mental images of a baby falling out of the cot, somehow being okay, but then crawling into the hall and falling down the stairs.

My first job today was therefore to lower the base of the cot (I skipped the middle position, and went straight to the bottom), so he's got no chance of getting out.

We'd been putting off fitting the stair-gates due to wanting to decorate the hall, and thinking that it would be better to decorate before drilling holes into the walls. Safety became our primary concern, especially since it seems unlikely that we'll be decorating any time soon as we can't decide on any colours.

So we fitted the first gate at the top of the stairs...

... and tried to fit the second gate at the bottom of the stairs (actually 3 steps up, as I'd read something which said children are far more likely to have accidents on stairs if they haven't been given the chance to have a go at some low ones and discover that however easy it is to climb up, it's much easier to fall down again). Despite the fact that we live in a ticky-tacky standard house with standard width stairs, the standard stair-gate is too narrow and necessitates an extension kit which we'll have to order. We therefore have elected to keep the lounge door shut (which it is anyway, to stop the cats using the front door mat as a litter tray) for the moment.

Our previous efforts at baby-proofing the kitchen with a travel stair-gate has turned out to be more annoying than not, as you have to screw the gate in each time you open and close it, so we've just been climbing over it or, more often than not, not using it at all.

I thought that the frequency with which we were taking J-cub away from the kitchen doorway, or fitting the stupid travel gate, was likely to be greater than the frequency that we'd want to shut the door into the kitchen (which you can't do with a normal stair-gate). So for now, we've put the second stair-gate into the kitchen doorway. It's only been there a few hours, and already it's far easier to get on with things, knowing that J-cub is safe.

He loves it, and today it's been his favourite place to hang out, sitting just inside the gate under a side table, chewing on a plastic spoon. Bless.

Kitchen doorway...

33. Baby-proof kitchen

J-cub's perambulatory abilities leapt ahead today, as he made a break from the lounge into the kitchen at top speed several times, and I exhausted myself running after him (obviously making "raaaaaaaah" noises to elicit shrieks of fear and delight). The kitchen has a hard stone tiled floor, which is not really ideal for a soft and delicate little baby head to be anywhere near. Plus there's the litter tray, and the cat food, and the cats come running in without wiping their feet etc etc.

So today's list item was really a no-brainer, and I got out our little box of baby proofing catches and the like, to sort out the nasty cleaning-cupboard-under-the-sink door. Luckily, the previous occupants of our house also had a small child, so most of the kitchen cupboards already have these catches. The one on the cupboard under the sink has broken though, and the pack I'd been given in a box of useful baby-stuff is a bit more secure, requiring one to pinch together the catch in order to open the door, rather than just giving it a good yank which is all the others require.

The instructions on the back of the pack handily remind you not to leave your child running loose in the kitchen, so we got out our travel stair-gate thing, which was the only way we could find to block off the kitchen without shutting the door and annoying the cats. I had wanted to put a permanent stair gate in the doorway, and was confused that I could not seem to do so without being unable to shut the door. I took a sneaky visit into my next-door neighbour's identical house to see how she'd managed it - turns out they've taken the kitchen door off its hinges and just have the gate there. They have a dog, so that probably works quite well for them, but cats can apparently jump quite high, so if we need to shut them in the kitchen for any reason, we really need a functioning door.

We were left with just the slightly-crappy option of the foldable travel stair-gate, which is a bit wobbly. We put it up, and let J-cub have a good go at it (we let the cats have a go first. They managed to surpass their previous levels of stupidity by repeatedly trying to push their faces through the mesh, until we built steps on either side to show them that they could actually jump it relatively easily.). He found it very amusing, and enjoyed alternately trying to peer over it, and pushing his face against the mesh (he does share a lot of similarities with those cats).

It didn't take him long to knock the gate down, after which we got out the instructions and put it up properly and securely. Like the good parents we are.

Day 28: Mission complete.