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Home Organization Toys

What to do When You’re Drowning in Toys

It’s safe to say that most kids have too many toys. Between Christmas, birthdays, and other random gifts during the year, it is so easy to acquire TOO MANY toys.

It happened to us without me even realizing it until it was too late. The big kids had toys, of course, (they were 6 and 9 when Sylas was born), but those toys were easier to contain in bedrooms because the kids didn’t require CONSTANT supervision and there were only 2 of them.

When Sylas was a newborn, we had only a couple toys because he didn’t really play yet. When he started moving that all changed. Grandma was buying him every toy she saw, Christmas came and he was spoiled by every person on both sides of the family, and then 5 months later was his birthday.

All of a sudden we had toys EVERYWHERE. Josie was born not long after that and within a year, we had even MORE toys because she’s a girl and needed her own stuff (at least that’s what everyone said).

Then we had Liam so add even more toys at Christmas and another birthday into the mix. Plus random pickups and hand me downs and we were literally drowning.

There were toys EVERYWHERE. Upstairs, downstairs, in the car, in the hallway, EVERYWHERE. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t keep up with the cleaning up, organizing, etc.

It was time to get it under control.

What to do When You Are Drowning In Toys

    1. Get rid of toys that aren’t played with or are missing pieces. I started with the toys that my kids never touched. I didn’t ask them what they WANTED to get rid of because their answer probably would have been “nothing”. Instead, when they weren’t paying attention I started getting rid of things that they just didn’t play with or that was broken/missing pieces. We donated some, threw away others (happy meal toys, broken toys, remote control cars with missing parts, puzzles with missing pieces, etc.). This actually cleared out a ton of the junk.
    2. Use baskets or clear plastic totes to organize and store all toys. Yep, all of them. Amazon has a ton of different sizes to choose from but I mostly use the plastic totes pictured below, which come in a pack of 12. I also have several that are a little bigger, which I also found on amazon. I believe you can also find some small totes at dollar tree or dollar general.Label them and store them in an easy to access place. I put toys that have a lot of pieces that go together or follow a specific theme (Mr. Potato Head, horses, animals, balls, etc.) in the clear plastic totes and I label the front. I want to put pictures on them soon, too. I store larger toys in baskets. One holds all musical instruments.

  1. Choose toys to leave out, but only choose enough that each toy has a “home” and won’t get mixed in with other toys. Everything should have a home. You can’t expect the toys to be organized and put away if there is no designated “area” for them. This has been the hardest part for me because we don’t have a ton of space for storing toys. I still want a cube organizer (pictured below) to have a couple more things out but we use a toy organizer with 12 bins (also pictured below). It works really well for us and the toys we have because the kids can easily see what toys they can play with and can pull the whole bin down when they want to play.

    We choose 12 different “themes”, one theme for each bin (Ex. balls, blocks, PJ masks, Paw Patrol, Mr. Potato Head, horses, animals, technology, hot wheels, magnatiles, music, puzzles, etc.).We also use our entertainment center to store toys. I know this is kind of ridiculous but they get into it anyway so why not. LOL. In there we store a handful of books, a couple puzzles, and a couple other toys that won’t fit in a bin.

  2. Decide where (out of sight) you are going to store some (or most) toys. We use our hall linen closet. I hate it but we don’t have much storage so it works for us. You just need a place that has shelves.I put all of the totes and baskets of toys in the closet, even the empty containers from the toys that are out are neatly stored here. Make sure it is easy to see what is in there so you can switch toys out regularly and put toys back in their labeled container.
  3. Set a schedule for rotation. Each week or month, let the kids help choose what toys should be brought out and what ones should be put away for a while. Not only will this help lessen the toy clutter in your home, but it will also help your kids appreciate their toys more.
  4. For bigger toys (toy kitchens, etc.) place all small pieces out of reach and designate times to play with it. Usually, I want these kinds of toys readily available to the kids but there are certain times when I’m busy (usually getting ready to leave the house) that Liam dumps all the pieces on the floor and wanders away. This leads to the pieces getting scattered all throughout the house and it usually happens during our busiest times of day. What works for us is to leave the smaller pieces (the play food) out of sight and out of reach when you aren’t able to pay as close attention or don’t have the time to help clean up the pieces.

Kids thrive on simplicity so don’t feel bad that your child doesn’t have EVERY toy they own accessible at one time. That’s overwhelming for everyone involved and leads to toys being forgotten, damaged, or lost and also leads to having a house cluttered with toys because nothing has a “home”.

What are some ways you’ve tried to combat toy clutter in your home? What worked and what didn’t? Let me know in the comments!

 

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On My Mind Parenting

Febrile Seizures – What Every Parent Should Know

One thing I never learned about during pregnancy or even during the toddler years (until now) was febrile seizures. I had literally never heard of them and I read books, articles, pamphlets given by the doctors, and any other baby/toddler related reading material I could get my hands on. I read EVERYTHING. I thought I was so prepared and mostly I have been. Until now.

On Sunday night, my eyes were opened to febrile seizures (also known as fever seizures) when my 1-year-old had a seizure.

All day Sunday Liam had a low-grade fever. 99.4 is the one temperature that I remember. We chalked it up to teething and just tried to keep him inside (the real feel outside was over 100 degrees), keep him hydrated, and give him lots of cuddles. We monitored his fever throughout the day and it never went over 100 degrees. Totally fine, we’ve dealt with that countless times.

Bedtime came along and he went to bed without a problem. Nothing was unusual aside from that low-grade fever that had been lingering all day. I decided to not medicate the fever because it was so low and I really don’t like giving Tylenol or Motrin unless it is completely necessary.

Around 11 pm he woke up screaming. It wasn’t just a fussy little cry that I would normally ignore and let him go back to sleep on his own… it was a scream like something was wrong. I rushed into his bedroom and picked him up out of his crib. He was BURNING UP. I don’t think I’ve ever felt a child so hot before. I yelled for my husband and rushed downstairs to grab a thermometer. As I was taking his temperature, my husband went to get the Ibuprofen because it was obvious he needed something. I took his temp. under his arm and it read 102.6… with that kind of reading you have to add a degree so it was well over 103 degrees.

At the time, I was so worried and wasn’t thinking straight that I didn’t even add the degree, even though I normally would. In my head, his temp was 102.6 and even that worried me. Chris went upstairs to run a luke-warm bath to help cool him down.

I was cuddling Liam and talking to him about taking a bath because that usually makes him smile and cheers him up. I got no response but I kept talking and cuddling. All of a sudden he turned his head and started to shake. It was just a little shake. I remember saying, “oh buddy, you’re really not feeling well, you’re shaking a little”. Still no response from him. The shaking continued and I felt like my heart stopped beating. He was drooling, too. I knew something was wrong, even though the shaking was nothing crazy. It seriously was just a little tremor almost. Before I even said anything or reacted, my step-daughter sat up off the couch with a terrified look on her face and in that instant, I jumped up and started yelling for Chris. He wasn’t hearing me so I ran to the stairs and yelled even louder. He came running out and I said, “take Liam, I need to get dressed. We’re going to the hospital”.

When I came back downstairs the shaking had stopped but now he was just staring off. He literally looked like he was asleep with his eyes open. Chris was frantically trying to get him to respond or even look at us and rushed upstairs to splash water on his face. He was still out of it. All of a sudden, he blinked and turned to look at us. It still wasn’t his normal look, but it was something. We quickly loaded him into his car seat, gave Nevaeh strict instructions on what to do at home and who to call if she needed something (don’t worry, she’s old enough to babysit and both of the other toddlers were sound asleep), and headed to the hospital.

I sat in the backseat with Liam so I could keep an eye on him. I held his hand and talked to him the whole time. He still wasn’t being himself, but he was at least responsive. He wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t smile at me, wouldn’t even say “car, car” like he normally does when we are in the car. It was just a blank look, but he was blinking and looking around so I took it as an improvement.

So – we get to the hospital, told them what was going on and then sat in the waiting room. 15 minutes pass and they call us back to get him registered and take his vitals. At our local Emergency Department, we would usually have to go back to the waiting room after that until a room opened up. This time we didn’t have to do that.

They took his temp and it was 102.9, and that was about 30 minutes after Ibuprofen. Then they checked his other vitals and found that his blood oxygen levels were low and he wasn’t receiving as much room air as normal. They got a room for him immediately, gave Tylenol, and the doctor was in shortly after.

It was determined that he had a febrile seizure, which happens to toddlers when their fever spikes very suddenly. These kinds of seizures can last anywhere from a few seconds to 15 minutes. I honestly couldn’t tell you how long Liam’s lasted because at that moment the last thing I was worried about was watching a clock. I would guess around 3-4 minutes.

After this determination was made, it was time to figure out if something serious was going on. What?! The seizure wasn’t serious!? In my eyes it was, but the doctor said it’s more common than people realize and that since it was short, there wasn’t going to be any long-term effects.

Now, the first thing that popped into my mind was, “If this is so common why have I never heard of it before?!” After talking to several other mom friends, I realized that they hadn’t either!! All of those books and articles and pamphlets and nothing could even warn me that my child may have a seizure caused by a fever?! I’m still in shock.

Liam was tested for the flu, RSV, and strep throat. He had X-Rays done to determine if he had pneumonia or anything else going on in his lungs. He was checked for an ear infection. Nothing.

He slept most of the time we were there and didn’t even wake up when they checked for the flu and RSV. He was exhausted.

When that was all done and the tests all came back negative, they checked his vitals again and they were back to normal. Well, mostly normal. He was still only breathing 98% of room air, but it was better than the 90% before. His temp had gone down to 99.something. He was looking better and actually sitting up and talking. They sent us home.

We left with no answers other than to follow-up with his primary physician, give him amoxicillin, and rotate ibuprofen and Tylenol every 2 hours around the clock for 2 days.

Fast forward to the next day when we followed up with his primary physician… he said to not give amoxicillin (luckily we hadn’t filled the prescription yet. We wanted to wait for a more definite answer from his pediatrician) because it was just a virus and to not give the Tylenol/ibuprofen so frequently unless his fever came back.

We had a second follow-up appointment with Liam’s pediatrician today and all is well. He is a little congested but other than that he is good.

The most terrifying moment of my life turned out to be kind of “normal” in toddlers. While things could go wrong, as long as you are monitoring your child closely when it happens and helping them stay safe, everything should be okay.

I don’t want other moms to be as clueless about these seizures as I was. I can’t believe there isn’t more information readily available.

What to Know About Febrile Seizures

  • These seizures normally happen when the child’s temperature is above 102 degrees.
  • Febrile seizures do not always mean something serious is wrong.
  • If your child is having a seizure, lay them on the floor or hold a small child face down on your lap.
  • Lay the child on their side to keep their airway clear.
  • Stay calm! It’ll help calm the child and you’ll be able to think more clearly.
  • Try to time the length of the seizure.
  • You don’t have to put anything in your child’s mouth to hold their tongue – it could actually injure the child.
  • Talk to your child in soothing tones.
  • I was told that we don’t have to bring him in if he has a febrile seizure that is shorter than three minutes, but you should call the doctor immediately and ask their opinion.
  • You should take your child to the emergency department if your child’s fever won’t come down with Tylenol or ibuprofen, or if they are not acting normal. Go with your gut, you know your baby better than anyone else.

I hope it never happens to your little but, if it does, just try to stay calm (easier said than done, I know) while you assess what your next step should be.

Have you heard of febrile seizures before? Do you have any experience with them? Let me know in the comments!