Wordless Wednesday: sweet slumber

Is it just me...

...or do you see a resemblance here?  ; )

weekend recap

We had a fairly productive weekend.  Saturday morning we went to Ikea, expecting it to be a nightmare.... it actually was not very crowded at all.  Yay!  We got a few things for here and there, couldn't decide on a rug for the living room so decided Zach and I would come back again in a few weeks when his parents are here (and thus we can go kid-free)... but the one BIG purchase we made as a NEW BED for Donovan!  We figured it was about time to graduate him from the floor mat to a real off-the-floor bed. ; )  We debated for a bit which bed to get, then decided on the KURA bed (which looks very un-cute in the Ikea website photo, I promise the bed is way cooler-looking than that in person, especially with the tent canopy added).  The cool thing about this bed is that in a few years we can flip the whole thing over and it becomes a loft bed, with play space underneath and everything.  D saw us putting it together, then went down for a late nap and when he woke up he was super cranky and cried when he saw the finished product... but then an hour or 2 later, when he was in a better mood, he saw it again and was SUPER excited, and has been in love with his new bed ever since (that's what he calls it, too-- "my new bed!").

That pretty much took over all of Saturday, then Sunday we checked out the big farmer's market downtown.  It was pretty crowded, so I let Zach do the shopping and took myself and D to the playground across the street... and OH MY GOSH this playground was awesome.  It had a whole space/galaxy theme, with different play structures for toddlers and older kids and all sorts of other things.  D ran around for a good hour, just taking it all in.  So far I've been pretty impressed with Sacramento's playgrounds.

Unfortunately, D has lately been taking a long time to get to sleep, then waking up by 5:30am.  He'll be wide awake and super happy and cute right when he wakes up, then a few hours later starts acting tired and cranky.  I'm not quite sure what to do about it, am hoping it's just a phase.  We may try hanging something up over one window in his room tomorrow night (the window faces the sun as it sets, even with the blinds closed all the way can be fairly bright).  But it sucks as he usually gets 10-11hrs of sleep a night and is now getting closer to 8-9hrs, which then makes it much more difficult for Zach and I to get a decent night's sleep especially if we want any time to do anything after he's finally asleep.  But, he's also gone through phases like this before and then suddenly snapped out of them... so who knows.  I'm crossing my fingers.

And I'm sitting here at the computer, yet again, at past 10pm, when I should know better and get my butt to bed... I think on that note, I'll say good night.

six word sunday: Our love affair with strawberries continues.

six word sunday challenge

This morning we checked out a local farmer's market downtown.  The setting-- a parking lot beneath a highway overpass-- wasn't quite as idyllic as our old market in Campbell, but the stands were plentiful and the produce excellent.  Zach picked up a half-flat of organic strawberries grown in a farm 10 miles away, picked just this morning.  And pretty much every single one is as red as the one pictured above.  I'm telling you, these strawberries are AMAZING.

going cloth

When I was pregnant with Donovan I briefly considered trying out cloth diapers. Then I looked at our tiny European washer, and our total lack of a dryer, and knew it just wasn't gonna happen.  So, we used disposables and didn't really think about it much (it did alleviate some guilt to know that Switzerland incinerates its trash, so at least they weren't going into a landfill.  Let's not think about what the chemicals in disposables do when they're burned, though....).

By the time we moved back to the US I'd already known about gDiapers for a while and was itching to ditch the Pampers and try them out.  I loved the idea of a cloth/disposable hybrid diaper, one that didn't require as much waste or landfill space.  Cloth still didn't seem a good option for us, so this was a great compromise.  Our toilet couldn't handle flushing them, but we soon started a compost pile in our backyard and threw all the wet compostable inserts into it, which worked really well.

Then when Zach left his job and started the job search, and when we realized there was a good chance of us needing to move from that house we stopped adding to the compost bin to help it "finish" as best it could before moving.  Suddenly, our trash output increased by a LOT. And I started feeling guilty every time I tossed one of our biodegradable, compostable refills in the trash can.  Sure, in theory they'll biodegrade, except they're going into a landfill, and inside a plastic bag at that, meaning in the end they probably won't fare much better than a regular plastic-filled disposable diaper.  My eco-guilt started getting the best of me.

Then I came across an article called The Diaper Dilemma published in Mothering magazine (you can now buy the digital re-rpint of the article here for $2).  It explained all about cloth diapers, the different kinds available today, all the advances, and dispelled the myth that they involve a bunch of extra work and hassle.  It also talked about all the not-so-nice aspects of disposables, like all the chemicals used in them, the environmental impact, the potential damage we may not be aware of that they could be causing kids (one study showed that rats who wore disposables developed asthma-like symptoms compared to a control group. Yikes).

Huh.  It got me thinking.  gDiapers had released their own brand of cloth inserts for their diapers not too long ago.  We're already used to their system, it would be easy to buy the cloth inserts and try them out, right?  However, anytime I even mentioned the idea of using cloth to Zach he'd look at me like I sprouted an extra head. No way, was his answer.  Not gonna happen.

Then he saw me reading the article on cloth diapers. And I guess he got curious, and started reading it himself.  And when he was done he looked up at me and said, "Ok, maybe we should try the cloth."

I ordered 2 packs of the gCloth inserts the very next day, before he could change his mind on me. ; )

That was about 3 weeks ago, I think.  I know, I know, was I crazy to try out cloth diapering right in the middle of a hectic, stressful move?  Honestly, it really wasn't much extra work, and it was kind of a fun, exciting project to distract me from the stress of the move.  I have 12 gCloth inserts, which has been enough to last for 1-2 days (we've been washing about every other day most of the time).  I have also been using Kushies diaper liners (looks like toilet paper, but is thicker) to line the diapers.  The brilliance of this is that when D poops, all or most of it stays on the Kushies liner, which can then be pulled right off and tossed in the toilet, leaving the diaper poop-free meaning less mess in the diaper pail.  So far I've been putting the dirty diapers into the wet bag I used to use for swim class (am going to set up a better diaper pail system soon...), then tossing the whole thing in the wash.  Washing itself has been pretty simple-- hot wash, add an extra rinse at the end, dry in the dryer (you do need to be careful about what kind of detergent you use-- I've been using Dropps packets, which I actually got as a free sample months ago from I don't even remember where).  I do need to be more vigilant about changing his diapers-- can't let it go longer than about 2hrs, but then again that's probably a good rule of thumb anyway (we do still use a 7th Generation disposable at night, for the better overnight absorbency).

In a way I felt a bit silly going cloth now, when I'm hoping to potty train D this summer.  But, I also wanted to "try it out" and figure out a system now, so I can feel confident about using cloth with the new baby when s/he arrives in a few months.  For now I'm pretty happy with the gDiapers system, but am curious about trying out other cloth diapers... might look into this diaper trial offer to get a chance to test out a few different diaper types/brands without having to buy them.

D hasn't seemed to notice much about the change or mind one bit.  I'm loving all the trash we're not producing.  And Zach? He's totally on board now.  He was even supportive of us using cloth while on vacation in Tahoe. ; )

~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE (8/11/2010): Now that we've been at it a bit longer, I'm made a few tweaks to our diapering routine and figured I'd post them here.  First of all, after a while I noticed that the gCloth wasn't as absorbent as I'd like.  I was changing D every 2 hours, and the insert would be fairly soaked a lot of the time, and leaked a few times.  Then I found out about g-flapper inserts sold at The Nappy Shoppe, which are made to fit gDiapers but have more absorbent layers sewed in.  I ordered 5 of the hemp/microfiber/microchamois inserts and have been very happy with them.  I also ordered a few half-inserts (I like the microfiber/microchamois ones).  I've found that when 1 gCloth insert + 1 half-insert work nicely together (the half-insert gives the gCloth that extra absorbency "boost" they needed).  She makes both g-flappers and half-inserts in a variety of different materials, and even has a chart rating the absorbency of the different types of cloth/inserts.

I've also adjusted my washing routine a bit.  Maybe because of the combination of having a front-loading washer and hard water, I've realized we're prone to having stink issues with the diapers so will probably have to strip them about once a month or so (aka washing, then rinsing several times on hot with no detergent to get rid of detergent build-up, which is what causes diapers to stay stinky even when clean).  To wash I now do a cold rinse, then hot wash + extra rinse, then do a 3rd rinse for good measure (I've found my washer tends to suds up a lot even when I use tiny amounts of HE detergents, so want to make sure to rinse it all out to help avoid build-up).  If I'm washing during the day, I'll dry them for 20 minutes in the dryer then hang them out to dry the rest of the way in the sun (the initial dryer time keeps them from getting stiff, the sunlight saves energy and helps whiten the diapers).

Now that I think about it, it's been 2-3 weeks since I added the extra pre- and post-rinses to the wash routine and I haven't had any diaper stink yet, so that may help me not have to strip the diapers as often.

I converted D's old diaper pail/trash can (an old trash can with lid) into a dry diaper pail.  I bought 2 Kissaluv's antibacterial diaper pail liners, so I can wash one along with the load of diapers and replace it with the clean bag right away.  I used to not really believe people when they claimed their cloth diaper pails didn't stink the way disposable diaper pails do, but it really is true.  Part of it may be that we flush almost all the poop (thanks to the Kushies liners), but still... even when poop gets on the actual diapers and they sit in the pail for a day or 2, there's very little smell.  I don't understand it, but I do love it. ; )

When I write it all out like this it kinda sounds complicated, but really it hasn't been.  I wash diapers about every other day.  It's a little extra effort, sure, but not enough that I really notice.  And, I think the extra bit of effort is totally worth it.  I used to think I'd switch to the flushable inserts whenever we left the house, but instead I've been carrying my small wet bag and continuing to use cloth and it's been no big deal.  It's nice knowing we're producing so much less trash.  And even with the extra washing, since we have a front-loader the water usage is still relatively minimal.

I'm starting to build up my stash of small-size gPants and g-flapper inserts for when the baby comes.  With D's diapers, since we already had the pants I only had to buy the cloth inserts to get started on cloth which came out to about $100 or a little over.  They've already more than paid for themselves.  With the baby we'll need more inserts (more diaper changes/day), and the pants, so it'll be a larger initial investment (probably about $200-$300) but even that will probably only take a few months before the investment pays off.  And, we already have the medium/large pants and inserts for when he's bigger.  It's nice knowing we'll save all that extra cash.  ; )

Wordless Wednesday: Tahoe

progress! (...at a snail's pace)

The drive back home was uneventful and even felt pretty short.  As we drove along Zach and I commented to each other how we may end up spending quite a bit more time in Tahoe and the mountains, as even with small children driving 2 hours to get there seems so much more do-able than our previous 4 hour endurance match.

Kevan and Ryan were off to the airport pretty quickly for their flights back to Texas, while Mom and Philip stayed overnight and flew out on Sunday.  Which meant that, with baby-sitting taken care of, Zach and I once again flew into overdrive, delving into boxes and trying to arrange for some space in our garage (we're technically not supposed to park in the driveway here, so we're trying to out enough space in our 1-car garage to actually fit our car into... thank god it's a tiny little Honda Fit. Not that it fits yet, but SOON).

All this activity, of course, left us both utterly exhausted come Sunday (and Monday... and today) but that appears to be the pace of life these days.  We are slowly making progress.  The house looks pretty good, even as I cringe thinking of the future Target and Ikea trips we'll have to do to find things like the area rugs we desperately need (at least in the living room & D's room).  Now, normally, I love trips to Target and Ikea, it's just that going with either a) a toddler who has zero patience for home decor shopping, or D on the weekend when I can have Zach as back-up, isn't nearly as much fun as meandering through the aisles on your own with the time to imagine what your finished masterpiece might look like.  If only D were potty trained already, we could drop him off at the Ikea kid's area for an hour or two... alas.

I did manage a trip to Target first thing yesterday morning, where I managed to entertain D with a toy I borrowed from the toy aisle (and didn't buy... is that horrible of me?) long enough to buy a small number of the items on my list, and also made it to the first meet-up of a playgroup I joined in the area.  This morning we checked out a local drop-in child care center, where you just go when you need to and pay an hourly fee to leave your kid there for as long as you need.  Seemed nice enough, a little out of the way, but will work for now when needed.  I'm also working on finding some local baby-sitters we can have on call, and who can then also hopefully help us out a bit more heavily in those first months after the baby is born (and perhaps allow us a date night every now and then).  And, I already have one appointment to interview a midwife later this week. So, getting lots done... but still lots more to go, and I kinda feel like I'm back in the first trimester again with how unbelievably tired all this stuff is leaving me.  Which is why I've only managed to get through and upload a small percentage of the pictures from our week in Tahoe (I must say, I do love our iMac but it's times like these when I wish we still had a laptop, so I could've been keeping up with pictures as I took them, rather than trying to squeeze it in now among all the other stuff we're trying to get done).

It will all get done.  Eventually.  *Deep breath*

Frolicking in the mountains

Yes, I'm still alive. Still in Tahoe.  And it's pretty wonderful out here. =)

The weather's been beautiful, a bit chilly but not bad at all.  We've gone down to a few different beaches, where D has had a blast building sand catles and tossing rocks intyo the water (and getting absolutely soaked but insisting on continuing to play even as he shivers from being cold).  We also struck kiddo-wonderland gold by choosing a house to rent that's next to 2 families who live here year-round who also have kids.  The next-door neighbors have a 7 year old daughter and 2 year old twin girls.  D hasn't interacted that much with the twins, but my niece, Ryan, has made instant best friends with the 7yo and spends several hours a day playing with her.  Their backyard is amazing-- they have a hammock, in-ground trampoline, two playhouses, a side deck with outdoor toys, a sand box, swings, etc. Amazing. Donovan spent most of yesterday afternoon jumping on the trampoline.  Then there's the family across the street, who have a 3yo girl and a 1yo boy, and sitting outside their home is a ride-on Flintstone-style push car, very similar to D's fire truck except this one has a DOOR that OPENS and CLOSES, and so D has also been talking nonstop about riding in "Tatum's car."  Thankfully, both families have been very friendly and open and don't seem to mind us intruding in their space.

I'm taking tons of pictures, and while I'm in no rush to leave here I'm also itching to get home, take our computer out of its box, get our internet set up, and get to working on (and sharing) all these pictures.  I rented a canon 24-70mm lens for the week, and while it's hard to tell from the small camera screen, so far the pictures are looking pretty amazing.  We have no business plunking down $1,300 for a lens anytime soon, but hey, a girl can dream, can't I? ; )

We drive back to The Real World tomorrow, where my mile-long to-do list will once again hang over my head as I attempt to finish setting up our house; find a midwife, OB, and pediatrician; join a playgroup or two to try to meet people; try to connect with baby-sitters (waited waaay too long to do that in SJ); and start researching pre-schools for D.  But for today, I think we'll head out to the beach, watch some futbol, and relax with family for just a wee bit longer.

Whew!

It's been quite a past few days. 

The movers arrived Wednesday morning and packed up most of the house, and loaded what they pakced up into the truck.  D was immediately drawn to the moving truck, so much so that at first he didn'
t want to leave it to go pick up Lala (my mom) at the airport.  He loved watching them pack, move the boxes around, and load stuff into the truck.  Mom really helped keep him occupied so he wasn't in the way too much, and so Zach and I could be available to help direct or pack as needed. 

Thursday they packed and loaded the last of the stuff, finishing around noon.  We had lunch, then headed on down the road to Sacramento.  I felt a pang as we drove away from our house, our home the past 18 months.  It's been a good place to live.  The drive went well, though we did hit random traffic about 10 miles out of town.  It took a good 3 hours or so to load everything off the truck.  Again, Mom was a HUGE help in that she took D all afternoon and kept him busy so Zach could help direct and I could unpack as much as possible.  I ended up getting most of the kitchen done, as well as some of D's room.  Though later I realized I may have overdone it a bit, as by that night and still the next morning I was BEAT, not to mention my feet were sore from walking on the hard wood floors since we're used to carpet.  Our new house is also 2 stories, and goping up and down the stairs will also take some getting used to-- my calves are still sore today.

Friday Zach went to work, and Mom again took over D duty so I could spend the day alternating back and forth between unpacking and napping.  Now most of the house is fairly box-free, though the garage is, of course, filled to the brim.  I have a long list of things we'll need to get for the house (child proofing gadgets, rugs, bath mats for the TWO EXTRA BATHROOMS we now have!, etc).  But, the settling in is going well.  The house is very bright which I love, the location is great, we have a great little hidden driveway for D to play in and drive his fire truck around in... I'm very excited about getting everything set up the rest of the way and living here.

Yesterday we picked up Philip, Ryan, and Kevan from the airport, then in the afternoon drove up here to Tahoe for the week.  The weather is gorgeous, the house pretty nice, and watching D play with Ryan is simply magical (I joked to Zach that D might not need a younger sibling but an older one, instead).  And, we apparently picked a street with a handful of families that live here year-round who have kids about the same ages as both Ryan and Donovan, so they've already got a few playmates.

I'm taking lots of pictures, but won't be able to upload for a while (our computer is still in a box), but I'll try to post a few pics via cell phone to share. 

The calm before the storm

Zach comes back from Sac tonight.  We'll need to pack clothes into suitcases for the weekend and then for Tahoe (so we don't have to dig through boxes Friday night).  Then tomorrow the movers arrive at 9am to pack everything up.  My mom flies in I think around 10am.  I imagine the day will be pretty much filled with loud noise and chaos.  We'll then spend the night here, amid all the boxes and clutter, and then Thursday morning load everything up into the truck (D is going to LOVE that part!!) and head. on. out.

I'm trying to mentally put our new house together, to figure out where all the furniture should go, but can't quite since I haven't seen the space other than in pictures. I told Zach we'll need to beat the movers and do a walk-through together first so we can figure it all out.  I'm sure we'll still end up changing out minds and schlepping this or that back up or down the stairs, but it'd be nice to minimize that.

I don't know what our internet situation will be like past tomorrow.  Zach's debating if we should stick with cable model or try out a DSL service (cheaper, but slower...?).  We'll try to get something set up for friday, but might not get around to it till after Tahoe...  which, the cabin (I love how they're called "cabins" even though they're usually very modern homes) will have internet, so if nothing else I'll be in touch with the world via Twitter and Facebook on my ipod touch.

I feel like I should be sad to leave San Jose, but I'm not... maybe because this move has dragged on for so long and been so stressful that I'm just really looking forward to being done with it all.  To living with my husband 24/7 again. To settling into our new space.  To find a midwife and be able to focus on this pregnancy and new baby I'm growing.  To be able to do something about all the to-do's I've had hanging over my head the past month but haven't been able to act on yet.   I know the transition to the new house will be tough, but the past few weeks have also been pretty bad, and I can see how it affects Donovan (he's not sleeping well, he's acting out... Saturday morning when Zach was loading stuff into the car to take to the park for our going-away party D started freaking out, I think b/c he thought Zach was leaving for Sacramento again).  There's also a part of me that very much believes that we'll either be back here to visit often enough, or move back here at some point again.  We'll see.

There are so many blog posts I want to write: pregnancy updates, birth plans, our experience the past week using cloth diapers (short version: so far, loving them).  But, those may have to wait till after we're moved, settled, and have adequate internet connectivity again.

We won't be homeless after all!

Ok, so we probably were going to have a roof over our heads one way or another, but (thanks to Zach's pushing to make sure it all happened as quickly as possible) we've paid our deposit check, he and the owner have signed a rental agreement through the leasing agency, and we are SET to move in on June 10. Wheeee!  Since I haven't seen the  actual space myself yet (only pictures) I'm a bit frustrated at not being able to mentally lay out our stuff ahead of time, but that's a minor annoyance now.  I'm excited to get an additional 1.5 bathrooms, and an extra bedroom... I'll miss the massive living area/play room we enjoy now, but hey, you can't have everything, can you?  I'm also super excited about the neighborhood-- it's very walkable, beautiful homes, with shopping, restaurants, and great parks within just a few blocks.  Zach's already found a bar nearby that lets you brew your own beer.

My mom (wonderful, amazing, oh so helpful woman that she is) has changed her flight ticket so she'll be arriving Wednesday morning instead of Saturday, so she can watch D while Zach and I oversee the packing/moving/unloading of our stuff, and then focus on unpacking and setting up as much as we can on Thursday and Friday before everyone else arrives and we leave for our week away in Tahoe on Saturday.

Donovan is SO excited about seeing Papa and Lala and his cousin Ryan.  All last week he kept talking about wanting to get on an airplane and fly to Texas to see Papa and Lala.  I've been telling him now that Lala will be here next week, I'm not sure if he gets that or what his understanding of "soon" or "next week" might be, but he definitely loves hearing of anytime they come to see him.

I'm trying to figure out how to prepare him for moving to a different home/city.  He talks a LOT about how daddy is in Sacramento right now ("Daddy take mommy's car and drive to Sacramento!") and the other day we were pretending to drive a car and he wanted to go to Sacramento.  I've mentioned a few times to him that we'll be moving soon and will live in a new house, and also tried to explain that after we move we'll be too far away to see Scarlet or our neighbor, Rich, whom he ADORES.  He got real quiet after I said that the other day.  Anyone have tips for how else to prepare a toddler for moving away?

Wordless Wednesday: D's first photo

(my camera was sitting at the table after I took a picture, and D went over and pressed the shutter button with his finger. I thought it came out pretty cool =P )

Why I love our Tripp Trapp

We never even really thought about high chairs while we were living in Switzerland. D started on solid foods at 6 months-- just weeks before our move back to the US.  In those first weeks we fed him in a Bumbo chair.  As soon as we landed back here in California we knew we needed to figure out something for a high chair... but hadn't taken any time to research what we wanted.  Our first weekend here we went to Babies R Us and promptly got completely overwhelmed by all the choices.  We decided to take the easy, cheap option-- we bought a Fisher Price Space Saver chair, figuring it would work at least temporarily, and that, at less than half the price of most of the other chairs available, we also wouldn't feel too bad if we only used it a short while before deciding to upgrade to something else.

The Fisher Price chair worked ok for a while... except that the dining chairs we strapped it on had legs that went straight down (rather than splay out any) which meant D soon figured out he could rock side to side while sitting in the chair, and make the whole thing teeter totter side-to-side.  This, um, made me worry a bit.

I think it was then at his first birthday party that a gracious friend offered to let us borrow an extra Tripp Trapp high chair that she had from when her kids were young.  I'd heard lots about these chairs before, and jumped at the chance.  We've been using the borrowed Tripp Trapp for a little over a year now, and let me tell you, we are head over heels for this thing.


At first it was a bit tricky getting used to not having the separate tray.  It's convenient to have a tray with a lip around it where you can let your kiddo make as big a mess as they want.  I'll be curious to see how well this'll work eventually with a younger baby, too, as D was already over a year when we made the switch... but, at least for him, it was not that painful at all.  For a little while I thought about just taking some oilcloth and taping it down to his end of the table, but before long he was doing really well eating off a plate at the table.  And it honestly was kind of nice *not* dealing with the big, bulky (and messy) tray at every meal.

Both D and I loved the chair from the start. Here's why:

• D loved having more room to wiggle and move around.  
• Before long he figured out how to climb up and down off the chair. Not everyone views this as a positive, but I think it's pretty neat.  ; )
• It's MUCH easier to clean!  We ended up giving the Fisher Price chair to friends of ours since we weren't using it anymore, and before doing so I went through and tried to clean the chair thoroughly... and was amazed at all the crumbs I found that had snuck into all the nooks and crannies.  With the Tripp Trapp, food can't hide away from you.  It either drops onto the chair or the floor. This makes things look messier in the moment, but it's kind of like the difference between carpet and wood/tile floors-- the wood/tile look like they get dirty faster, but the carpet has all the same crap in it just manages to hide it better. (ps- I wouldn't bother buying the matching cushions. D's never seemed uncomfortable in the chair, and all I've heard about them is they make cleaning way harder)
• It also works as a step stool for D to reach the sink.  I'm trying to get us in the habit of washing his hands often, but got really frustrated trying to find any stools or step ladders that would let a 1-2yo reach a standard-height kitchen sink (b/c holding him with one arm while trying to wash hands with the other kinda stinks).  Imagine my delight when I realized I could pull the Tripp Trapp up to the sink, let him climb up and stand on the seat, and he's at the perfect height to reach the water. Awesome.
• It grows with your kid.  Love that.
• Last but not least, isn't it a gorgeous piece of furniture?

It hit me a few weeks ago that, since we're moving away, I'd have to return our beloved borrowed high chair.  I considered for a bit what to do... but honestly, I've gotten so used to having this chair, and all the benefits that come with it, that I knew I wanted to buy our own.  I hated the thought of going back to a chair he couldn't easily and safely climb into or back out of.  Despite the hefty price tag (these suckers retail at $265), Zach went along with it.  So, I still need to return the borrowed chair to its rightful owner, but we now have and are using our very own Tripp Trapp... that D even helped put together! (another thing to love about the chair-- it was super easy to assemble, and I could even let D turn the allen wrench to tighten all the screws).  

It's a splurge. But, every so often, a good splurge is totally worth it. ; )

*PS- No, I didn't get paid or receive anything from Stokke for writing this, I just happen to really love this high chair*