by Heather
If you still have that yoga ball around (and you’re not currently using it for ab work), get it out to thrill and delight your baby. We kept ours in Holden’s room for about 22 months — until his new brother was born and the room just got too crowded.
Each morning, he found some new way to explore it. Try one of our home-tested ideas or come up with more of your own:
- Pepper likes rolling around on her tummy on top of the ball. Her mom, Jeanine, supplies the balance.
- Holden [pictured] really likes sitting next to it and pushing on it. When it gets far enough away… it rolls back and he is amazed.
- Julian loves standing next to it while Whitney dribbles it by smacking her hands on top of it. Whoa.
by Whitney
Kendra from ShoppingForTwo sent this suggestion to us last year.
She wrote: Keep yourself and your baby snuggly warm this winter by making your own baby carrier. I learned how to make this just a week before my baby was born and not only is this the most comfortable baby carrier, but it’s also the least expensive. I made two carriers for about $16.
Take a trip down to the fabric store and pick out five yards of either woven cotton (you will need to hem the edges to keep from unraveling) or fleece (no need to sew at all). Cut the five yards in half horizontally, so you end up with a 20″ by 5 yards piece of material. Then follow the instructions at wearyourbaby.com to learn how to wrap your baby.
Kendra wrote that her baby instantly falls asleep when he’s wrapped up which makes running errands or taking a walk more peaceful. “I wish I had found out about this when my older son was a baby, it would have made life so much easier!”
Heather secretly made me a wrap just like Kendra’s as a Happy Pregnancy present. I wore it proudly when Scarlett was tiny.
by Heather
In my house, Alec and I challenge each other to come up with one “outside” topic to discuss over dinner. This could be world news or neighborhood gossip, but it cannot be about the contents of diapers.
If you’re really up for the challenge, find THREE topics to bring to dinner… if you’re hanging out with friends for the weekend, you may each need FIVE. Try to remember that when people want to know how life with baby is, most people want to hear a one word reply and not a one hour reply.
You’re on the internets already, so go find something interesting. Good luck!
by Whitney
There are some really nice people on the Internets who make cute things and then share their patterns. I love making the stuff, but don’t have the talent to write the patterns.
These little plushies are small enough that you can sew them by hand.
Some uses for them:
- Force your child to get attached to one as his security bunny/bear/alien
- Attatch to the outside of a store-bought baby gift to make it more personalized
- Place on a shelf in your house to remind yourself that you can make things besides babies
- Give to your mom as a reminder that she is the mommy and you are the child who still wants her approval
Benefits of this project:
- Motivates you to look into your scary box or bag of fabric scraps and use some and throw out some
- If you are not the type of person who has fabric scraps in your house, motivates you to head out to a fabric store and buy some
- Something to do while your partner is watching something you don’t care about on tv or hogging the computer
- Makes you appreciate the three naps a day your baby may be taking
Three small plush craft projects to choose from:
Mini Moopy - pictured above
Wee Bunny - from Wee Wonderfuls
Sock Dogs - Heather and I made these from Martha Stewart’s pattern. Here is the one I made after Martha wrote it up in 2002. (Instructions require both pages: Page 1, Page 2)
