You know it might be time to turn on the heat when…
…you find this at nap time!
I remembered a comment from someone a little while back when I was looking for help in dealing with a cold house. They suggested wearing nightcaps to bed. I figured winter hats would work, so I tried it the other night and the kids didn't seem to mind it, and even thought it was kind of fun!
My husband didn't know anything about what I had done, so yesterday he comes into the kitchen and pulls me into the spare room where Abbie takes her naps, and tells me I've just got to see this. There she was, all snuggled up in her touque (there you have it- proof that I am truly Canadian!), and her new fleece birthday blanket under the covers!
(And no, we're still not turning on the heat. But we are definitely buying another space heater!)
What a little cutie!! Get this, we have turned on our heat, warmed up our rice cuddlers every night and I am still considering telling the kids to put on their hats! brrrr….
Thanks, Michelle! And thanks for mentioning that your house is still cold without the heater being turned on!
Before I receive an onslaught of nasty comments/emails over this post and how I am a terrible mother for not turning on the heat for my poor, freezing children, let me just say that even if our heat was on, the house would still be cold. It is poorly built and insulated, does not heat evenly, has very drafty windows, and has a broken fan that kicks in blowing cool air whenever the hot air stops. So, mostly, we are just saving ourselves from wasting a lot of unnecessary money, by turning the inefficient furnace on.
And yes, we do plenty of things to keep our little ones toasty warm. She’s not really that cold. Neither is the baby. Just in case you were wondering. 🙂
Oh, I have no doubt your little ones are toasting warm! So are mine, even if it means their flannel sheets, flannel backed story quilts AND a double layer of fleece 😉
It sound like we have twin houses…the only difference is that Builder Man did blow insulation into the attic a few years ago, but those north facing bedrooms are still a little chilly.
Wow! I’m impressed! Our heat’s been on for a couple of weeks already (and we’re in Nebraska).
How do you get your kids to stay under the blankets where they can be warm?
Fortunately, neither of mine move from under their blankets too much. Also, after they are asleep, before I go to bed, I double check that they are still well covered. And, we make sure they wear socks or slippers to bed, plus warm jammies, sometimes an undershirt, and hats on chilly nights. But I’ve also started putting a space heater just outside their door (I’m too nervous to put it fully inside their room), to take the real chill off the room.
Just realized, you might have been asking Michelle. 🙂 But that’s my answer, anyways!
Lovely picture of your little one all bundled up & happy. In Finland they actually bundle their babes up like that & put them outside to sleep for fresh air. They do this all year round & their babies are healthy. Also, regarding space heaters. Check out econheat.com. These are VERY energy efficient, can be mounted on the wall & are safe for little ones & pets. We just moved to Alaska, & residents here swear by these space heaters.
OOOPS that is suppose to be econoheat.com. They are flat panel heaters & can be mounted on the wall. Very energy efficient & can also be painted to match ones decor. We have 2 of these on order now. I cant wait to get them.
Wow I can’t imagine not having the heat on…ours had to be on since September…and we only turned it off the beginning of June. 🙁 We have 10 inches of snow right now and its still coming down!
I have actually worn a touque to bed before to stay warm. We turn our heat down at night. My daughter seems to sleep hot though until she kicks off her blankets. I am considering making her some sort of sleeping bag type of idea by sewing together something, so that she can’t kick it off. Not sure about that though. I don’t want to use a regular sleeping bag as they are big and not easily washable compared to seperate sheets and blankets.
I don’t think you have it too cold…its just the way it is sometimes! 🙂 I joke that I can blow dry my hair in front of some of our windows (they are old). We are slowly saving up to replace the worst ones first but its slow going. I want to make some “draft dodgers” little “snakes” which are tubes of fabric stuffed with anything…can be other small fabric scraps…to put on the window sills on some of the windows to help with the drafts.
I was just going to say WOW – you Canadians are tough! We’ve had the heat on intermittently since October here in Oklahoma. But your explanation of your house’s heating inefficiencies explain things nicely.
All the better for snuggling, right?
!! My kids just LIKE wearing hats to bed. Crazy kids…
This post peaked my interest. We have had our heat on for about a month. But since we only live like 3.5 hours from you Im very interested in how you do this.
Does having a cooler house affect your guests?
Are they cold when they come over?
Also at night do your little ones wake up with raspy little voices?
how cold is your outside temp? holy cow it’s 30’s here in Alabama and i have had to turn heat on already at night. are we just a bunch of pudds? we can handle the heat (100 plus) but not the cold. my husband makes me feel guilty for keeping the house so cold. he says the kids will stay sick because they are not used to it. i would love to never turn the heat on to make up for running ac so much in summer.
We have totally been there! I remember when we could see our breath in the house because we didn’t want to turn on the heat. 🙂