Any SAHM's with small houses or apartments?

Now that DS is 14 months, I feel really really bad about being in the house with him for any length of time. I feel like he's going stir crazy. (My DH says I'm overestimating his attention span! ) And I don't want to put the TV on too much - I already feel like it's on most of the day. We've got an open plan kitchen/living room, so there isn't much variety all day! I try to have something planned for before his nap/lunch and then after as well, but today I was just beat and couldn't really be bothered to make it out of the house and felt so guilty!

Anyone else in this situation? What do you do? How often do you go out? What do you do when you're at home?

Thanks!

Re: Any SAHM's with small houses or apartments?

I am a SAHM with a 1 bedroom condo... how about that for ya!

I have been trying to schedal things...

I always try to go to the park at least once a day for her to go on the swings (my DD is 10 months)

I have signed her up for Gymboree which SHE LOVES so thats an hour out of the day b/c this month we were allowed to go everyday... but come Fall its only once a week... so I will be looking for things to replace these times.

I am going to sign her up for Saf-t-swim, since during the summer we were at the pool everyday and now it went from water everyday for hours to only a bath hahaa

I am also going to check out the library as I have read that they have many programs for kids her age (although I am not a library type of person, I will do it for her... lol)

If anyone else has any ideas... please please post!

I think I am also going to try to make more GTG's to get out of the house hahaha lol

Re: Any SAHM's with small houses or apartments?

Yep! We have a smallish 2 bedroom.

If its decent weather, we are outside all morning, and afternoon (4-6 hours). Nothing gets done (cleaning/cooking/etc) but I think its worth it. I used to dislike our neighborhood till I discovered there are 2 playgrounds nearby, a beach, a long stretch of bay to walk along, and very stroller friendly cafes

If its rainy, I try to get out when its not too bad, with rain cover and an umbrella and we just take a walk for some fresh air and go home.

When it was hot, we'd be outside 8am till 11am.

DS is now 6m old, I signed him up for a music class, its more to socialize with other babies, but at the class I didn't want to leave because the space the class was in was so big, I was dreading taking him back to a tiny apartment.

Re: Any SAHM's with small houses or apartments?

Thanks guys. I've actually got a lot planned but I'm starting to panic because the winter seems sooooo long and so many of my friends have gone back to work! I didn't mind last year, because DS was only a few months old and to be honest, I kind of like to stay inside when it's cold out and just cuddle. He was super happy on his play mat, LOL!

I live in London, and our neighborhood and the ones easily accessible to us have great playgrounds. We live a block away from a huge park too. But it gets old pretty quickly, LOL! We're signed up for Tumble Tots and Monkey Music here, so that's two mornings spoken for. I can take him swimming at the indoor pool, which we did yesterday. And the counties run great children's centers which have Parent/Toddler drop in sessions (we went this morning and it was great - lots of finger painting, play doh, etc - things I don't want him to do at home because of the mess! But it was slightly insane! Kids everywhere! ) There's also an indoor playground/ball pit thingy that's fun.

I think my problem is that although I take him to activities and he's fine, I'm the one that gets quite lonely. EVen though I sometimes chat with other parents, it's never like they're "friends" KWIM? Hopefully it will get better as we get more into the term. But do you guys feel like that too?

Re: Any SAHM's with small houses or apartments?

we have a small house but i dont think it matters how much space you have. kids will go stir crazy even in large homes.
When the weather is good we def. do a daily park trip. We take a mommy and me class once a week. we do library classes (FREE!) when available. Going on errands helps.
Days that we are homebound i try to line up an activity or two: playdough, coloring, baking, etc...
i also have new toys from xmas and bday that i put away for rainy days. DD gets so much for these events that she doesn't realize i stash some of them to take out when really needs it. Yesterday she opened a play tea set she got for her birthday in may

hope this helps:)