Yesterday I put on my granddaughter a sweater that her mama and her mama’s twin sister wore. I actually had another one in pink, which, sadly, I cannot find. Probably one of our girls’ dollies is wearing it! But the sweaters were hand-made by a dear lady from my home church near Milwaukee. The sweaters were such a special gift and am thankful our grandbaby gets to wear it too.
I
f you haven’t read yet, I AM A GRANDMA to the most beautiful grandbaby EVER! Even before she was born, I was busy making various things to help out her parents and start lovin’ on the baby, including a quilt and Grab ‘n Go Baby Bags. With my younger girls we also made numerous burp cloths from just scraps of cotton & flannel fabric I had on hand. I often look at Good Will for colorful sheets because I can get a LOT of use out of them. Better yet is to find a cotton duvet because it’s double fabric of a sheet. From one duvet I used part of it to use as the backing of a twin sized quilt, and another portion of it for the grandbaby’s quilt, and then numerous scraps of it for burp cloths, with still some left over. To the right is the first set of burp cloths we made, rolled up and put in a pretty little basket (a leftover from a wedding last year). The polka-dot material is part of the duvet fabric.
After our grandbaby was born, my daughter was quickly learning how nursing babies leak through their diapers and leave a mess on the changing table. She only had one cover for the table, so she wondered about some additional burp cloths but wider, for the changing table. A friend had just given me some pajama’s which did not fit, but were a nice cotton flannel and I got ten nice sized changing pad cloths made for baby made out of it. I love how soft and colorful they are – and they are being used! 🙂
So much money can be saved by re-purposing things. Even if you cannot sew, give old towels or flannel sheets, shirts & PJ’s to someone who can sew to someone who can re-purpose it. People love homemade gifts, and re-purposing saves lots of money!
feeling determined.
I
hope that my Inspire Me Monday can inspire someone else! A friend of ours gave me a box full of baby clothing for our soon-to-be-born first grandbaby (probably THIS week) that she got from a garage sale. I soaked them in a combination of laundry, dishwasher detergent and bleach, overnight. It all came out pretty clean, including the formula stains. Then, I put it together, which I am showing below, some “grab and go” bags for them . . for those busy days when nothing goes as planned, and they were supposed to be out the door already. (May help dad out a lot too!!)
So first, I got everything together that I was going to put in the “Grab & Go Baby Bags”, including a full outfit change (for the most part, one piece outfits, so I did not have to also put in socks), onsie, diapers, wipes and zip-lock bags. I got the wipes from the dollar store, with where $1 for 6 packs of about 5 wipes per back.
Next I divided them all up into piles. Some things were not necessarily an outfit,
such as preemie clothes that I put in one bag and bibs in another.
Put them all in zip-lock type bags.
Each bag included an outfit, onsie, package of wipes,
and TWO diapers.
And then put in a nice wicker basket that I got at Good Will for probably $2.
So for the new mom who has one of those mornings and has to get out the door, it can be easy to grab one of these bags to take to grandma’s house or the sitter. Of course these are more for a short trip, and certainly not for all day somewhere. Also, my daughter mentioned she may keep one or two of these bags in their car, for when the baby has leaked through everything, or they forget to pack things in the diaper bag.
And what a great gift this can be for a mom! 🙂
H
ave you read yet, that I am going to be be a GRANDMA soon?!?!?!? Baby girl is due in one week and we are all SO excited! This week I am going to show a couple of things I’ve been working on for her and gave to my daughter. Needless to say, it’s been fun to do helping her and so fun to be involved in this little one’s life even before she is born.
This is the quilt I made for her. It’s a mix of kind of a scrappy kind, along with some raggedy edges. The main fabric has owls on it, which is the theme of the baby’s nursery.
I
am trying to stay awake. I am continually whispering prayers. But, I know it could be a long night. Should I fall asleep so I am alert when I finally get a text? I doze off numerous times, and quickly awaken, grabbing my phone to see if I have missed a message. My husband groggily asks me if I have heard from them yet. “No,” as I sigh deeply. It’s been over seven hours since we’ve heard anything. I am hoping and praying all is well. I am worried about my daughter and hoping my son-in-law is staying awake. I drift off to sleep, again.
I awaken with abruptness. My husband sits up quickly too. “Get the phone!” he says too loudly in the quietness of the night. We both heard the text message buzzing. I had my phone on extra loud. There’s a blue glow lighting up our darkened bedroom. I grab the phone too quickly and it bounces out of my hand onto the floor, upside down. I lean over our bed and grab it again, and turn it around. There’s no words, just this picture:
Just a little hand. But what a precious tiny, perfect hand . . . My grandbaby’s hand!
“Didn’t they say anything?” my husband asks. He does not have his glasses on.
“No, there’s no message, but the baby must be here! Let’s go!” I say excitedly, as I leap out of bed! They said they’d let us know when the baby is here, and then we could come up to the hospital. I guess they want to leave us in some suspense . . . no details. No little nose to see whose nose it resembles. No name or if it’s a girl or boy.
Just that hand. I cannot wait to put my finger in the palm and have the baby grip my finger.
I am a grandma! I can barely contain my excitement!
(this story is fiction . . . but is written in anticipation of our first grandchild
to make its appearance in September!!
BARE
start . . .
This morning I wasn’t even out of bed when there was a knock on my bedroom door. It was my newly married daughter with her husband. They had an ultrasound picture to show me – the first glimpse our first grandbaby! Could I be more delighted?!?!?
She’s only 8 weeks along, but we can see the form of this dear little one being knit in her womb – only the size of a gummy bear! A bare little babe being created in His image. New beginnings . . . new life!
I cannot wait to see more ultrasounds as this bare little one continues growing and we see more developments. But of course, the best of all will be in September when we get to hold this precious little life – check out the sweet little bare toes and see who she or he resembles. How much hair will he or she have, or will there be a bare little head, just like his/her mama was?
And there will be much laughter and joy as this little one grows up . . . chasing a bare little butt streaking after his/her bath trying to run away from mama who is giggling as he/she squeals with delight. And it will bring back sweet memories of years that have vanished so quickly but we get to relive through a grandbaby . . . and grandbabies!
. . . finished
Joining Lisa-Jo and her Five Minute Friday.
” five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right “
Writing Canvas 