Move over 'Pimp My Ride'

The Rockstar's toy repertoire is slowly expanding and his bouncy chair is a heavenly easy-to-move item that he now tolerates and borders on enjoying BUT I managed to register for the most boring chair imaginable. So boring in fact that I didn't take a photo of it before I tore it apart so here's an image borrowed from the Bright Starts website:

Adorable baby, cute fabric on the chair and fun looking animals for the baby to whack, right? That's what I thought when I chose it but I picked it based off of the photo and didn't have a chance to actually play with it. The rattle in the middle is decent and it is removable - thanks to a bit of velcro on the hanger thingo - therefore it's easy enough to swap with other toys if baby gets bored BUT the other two soft toys hanging on either side of the rattle are B.O.R.I.N.G. They don't do anything, no jingle, no rattle, no squeak: NOTHING. Not only do they not do anything but you can't remove them, they are permanently attached to the bar.

Permanence was what the company had in mind anyways. Yesterday I armed myself with a pair of scissors, a needle, thread and velcro and set off on a mission to Pimp the Rockstar's Chair. The finished result:
Yep, he's winking at me saying "That's my kick ass mom!" Thanks, Baby Boy.

Lessons learned from this experience:
1. the less expensive (aka cheap) toys are often priced that way for a reason *insert husband telling me "You get what you pay for." here*
2. you can fix a boring bouncy chair without spending a cent (the toys I hung on there are some of the Rockstar's favs that usually hang in his play gym)
3. I need to learn how to hand sew, if this picture was sharp you would see the hideous job I did sewing the velcro on, hence the not so sharp image: embroidery 101 here I come
4. thimbles were invented for a reason and I should probably purchase one

Next issue to deal with is the control panel that was installed in the perfect place for a kicking baby to whack their little heels on. Booooo!

Until I fix a bit of foam to cover that sucker, the Rockstar will be wearing his dino slippers for protection. I didn't think of covering the panel until I watched him whack it today so that's next on my to do list.

My second mission yesterday was to improve the Fischer Price Little Lamb Swing (a big ticket baby item worth every penny) that the Rockstar spends a lot of time in. I had big plans for this puppy, I was going to make colourful felt stuffies to hang down to replace the boring muted lambs you see here:

But then I had a thought: why not recycle the 'don't d0 anything' toys from the bouncy chair since these little buddies are just for admiring anyways? And why not jazz up one of the pastel lambs with a bit of ribbon?

I wish I had armed myself with the video camera when I put the Rockstar in his swing after the upgrades, his reaction was priceless. Clearly he thought the lambs were boring too, his face lit up like a Christmas tree when he looked up and noticed the new bits, While grinning from ear to ear he cooed and gurgled at the rotating toys. It certainly doesn't take much to make our munchkin happy. Mission accomplished!