we've been babyproofed

It's official:  I'm a prisoner in my own home.

Everywhere I look, gates meet my gaze.

For those of you who don't know, we live in a townhouse - which means that there are lots {and lots} of steps.  Since Asher started walking more, Drew and I decided that we needed to maximize his play space.  We have a sunken living room and, at first, it was an easy solution to simply block it off and keep A contained within those bounds.

There is another living space right next to the living room, but it has access to all of the aforementioned stairs.  We wanted to open this area up to Asher's play, but doing that meant we had to gate off the steps.  Did I also mention that this house is a rental and we can't screw anything into the walls?

Gah.

Enter Handy Manny, aka Drew.  He designed and constructed a great apparatus to secure one gate leading down stairs {my biggest worry}. 

 No, it's not an eyesore.  It keeps our baby safe.  {Repeat until you believe it.  That's what I do.} 

Yes, those are carabiners holding it closed.  We're not ghetto - we're creative.

For the other set of stairs - and to block off the kitchen - we used a gate propped up and wedged behind furniture.  That sounds ridiculous, but so far it's working great!  Asher got mad when I ran upstairs yesterday and gave it a good, angry shake.  The gate withstood his wrath with no ill effects.  Go gate!

We also decided to block the 2 steps leading down to the foyer, but this gate is only secured on one side.  The stakes are low here and Asher hasn't shown any interest in getting down there yet.

This new set-up seems to be working well so far.  Asher has learned how to get down into the living room - I love watching him barrel roll over the step!  He's getting better each day.  :-)

The only hard part is that the gates all come up to my mid-thigh.  I've only almost killed myself a few times so far.  Give me a few weeks and I'll have a killer high step.

Who needs step aerobics when you've got a toddler?