We've created a labyrinth in our living room...

Since our downstairs was unusable (for Cupcake anyways) for a short period of time while we were waiting on our carpet to be installed. (If you haven't heard the full story, see my story about living in a construction zone.) We decided that it was finally time to order those long baby gates we had been looking at, to be able to block certain parts of our upstairs off.

We ended up deciding on this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00020L78M

It's the North States Superyard Classic XT Gate and we choose it based on it's simple design, good reviews, and decent price.

When it arrived, I took to blocking off our dining room from the living room (the room Cupcake was using as a main play area since the downstairs was out of commission) and cut off her route to the kitchen. Although she was none too happy about this change, she quickly adjusted. It made for a nice puzzle like labyrinth in the beginning...

We also tested out having it in a hexagon, and it still fit nicely in the room...

The final layout that we've used while the downstairs was completed is what my husband likes to call, "The Great Wall of Cupcake" - and we have the gate stretched out to block off her routes to the dining room and kitchen.

All in all, this has turned out to be a great buy for us and luckily we had the good sense to order two of them (one for upstairs, one for downstairs) when we placed our Amazon order.  I think this will be a really great thing to have in the Spring and Summer, when we're wanting to spend more time outside and it works great to keep her contained in one specific area. (While still giving her more room to move around than a play yard.)

Bottom line... This is a great product that I would recommend to a parent that has an active 8-9+ month old baby, they are great to keep areas of your house blocked off and are versatile since you can add and remove panels to fit the area that you want to use it in. It definitely has saved my sanity since Cupcake has become A LOT more mobile lately!


(This is an independent review, writer was not compensated and purchased the product themselves.)