A(nother) life for the valance

Remember the valance turned into hanging pockets that I made for Haley before she was born? Well, it recently got a new life. Or should I say, another new life.

Haley has gotten into a habit of waking up at an unreasonable hour, i.e. any time before 7:00am. We'll be sleeping peacefully and all of the sudden hear little squeals of annoyance coming from her room as she whines to be let out of her crib at 6am. Little does she know that as you get older there's this thing called "school" that she'll have to go to which will make her get up even earlier and actually miss the days she was allowed to sleep in until 7am. I tried to sit down with her and explain that it would be great if she would let Mommy and Daddy sleep until 7 on work days. She just stared at me then toddled off to watch Fresh Beat Band. There's no reasoning with 17-month-olds.

Anyway, I needed something to distract her so we could get in just a few more minutes of sleep, and I thought about the hanging pockets I had made. I originally made the valance into hanging pockets and hung them with curtain rods from the wall because the room Haley was in as a newborn didn't have much storage space and I needed something to keep odds and ends in for easy access. Since we moved, her room is now much bigger and the hanging pockets have been sitting unused in her closet for the past year. The pockets seemed like the perfect solution to keep Haley entertained for awhile. By snipping some of the pockets to make larger pockets and adding straps and Velcro, the valance became a hanging crib bag!




Haley loves having some of her favorite toys at arm's reach each morning and evening. She reads her board books and plays with her stuffed animals, and Mommy and Daddy get some much-needed rest! That, my friends, is what we call priceless.

The only problem I've found though is that while I thought Velcro would be strong enough to hold everything, I didn't take into account the little toddler who likes to take everything apart. Haley quickly figured out that she could tear the crib bag off of her crib, so part of my morning and night routine has been to reattach the bag.

I'll be giving the valance yet another makeover soon by adding some snaps in place of the velcro.