This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support! As you already know, Alicia recently had a baby a number of weeks early. He is doing great! Just after he was born, I flew off to go and give her and her family a hand while the little guy was in the NICU getting stronger. (Lindsey gave some tips about how to help NICU parents on this post!) Before I left, my granddaughter pulled out her sewing machine and we worked together to create a special gift for the baby. Here is what we made! We got into my stash of flannel fabric and found an adorable elephant print and a chevron stripe that coordinated with it. We wanted to make a receiving blanket with a matching burp cloth. My granddaughter loves elephants, so it was the perfect choice. Here are some other choices you might love: ...And don't forget a solid or coordinating stripe or print for the back of the receiving blanket ! REMINDER: Be sure to prewash and preshrink your fabric before sewing your items. Flannel is notorious for shrinking and getting a little misshapen and you want that to happen before you cut it out and sew it together. Plus, you will want nice clean fabric to give as a gift to a baby! To Make The Blanket, we used a little over a yard to cut matching sized squares of the main color fabric, (the elephants) and the backing fabric, (the stripe).
The burp cloth was made much like the blanket only on a smaller scale. But, instead of tying the fabric together, we simply sewed them right sides together and flipped them right side out before finishing the edge the rest of the way and top stitching around. The burp cloth fabric measures about 8 inches wide and about 18 inches long. You can adjust these measurements according to how much fabric you have and the way it lays on your shoulder. Burp cloths are very forgiving and can be sized according to your personal preference. 6 inches by 12 inches could also work! I like to make the burp cloth with double flannel fabric to help it be nice an absorbent. It can't be simply cute, it has to be functional! I may have added, (I can't remember), and extra layer of flannel on the inside of the burp cloth just to give it more thickness and absorbency. The Stuffed Elephant: We used Simplicity Pattern 2613 to sew the elephant from gray fleece. The pattern was so simple to make that my granddaughter did most of the sewing by herself and she is an age 13 beginner! I was very proud of her. That girl has no fear of trying new things! We didn't want the eyes to be able to be pulled off and choked on by the baby, so we embroidered them on with embroidery floss. Then, we used some of the left over fabric from the blanket to make a bow for his neck. We loved how it turned out! As the baby gets older, I'm sure that he will love it as well! There is something especially special about handmade baby gifts, I think. These little works of art can become heirlooms one day, or a cherished blanket that the child adores. Not only are handmade gifts nice and helpful for mom and baby, I know that my granddaughter felt a lot of pride and happiness, a sense of accomplishment from making it for them. When I came home from my trip, she asked me if it was appreciated. I know it was and will continue to be loved by her aunt and cousin. I hope you will have reasons to give these special gift ideas a try. More baby gift ideas:
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Hey everyone, Lindsey here! As you may know by now, mom is in Georgia with Alicia. Alicia gave birth recently to her third child. Unfortunately there were complications with her pregnancy and baby Sebastian had to come early, so he is spending time in the NICU.
The good news is, he is doing really well! Alicia is pretty much a pro at dealing with babies in the NICU since her oldest son Adrian also was born early and had to spend time there. I wish I lived closer so I could help out with watching kids, transportation, cooking, cleaning etc. I started wondering, what can I do to help my sister while she is dealing with this stress while she is in Georgia and I am in Arizona? I figure I am probably not the first person who has a friend or family member with a NICU baby, and maybe you too were wondering, what can I do to help them? So I asked Alicia, what are the things that NICU parents need? These are her answers: IDEAS to help out nicu parents:
1. Food: At the top of her list was helping out with meals. Of course, most NICU parents are spending many hours in the hospital, and making some good homemade meals isn't easy! This can become exponentially harder when you have older kids who still need to eat, and/or if the hospital is kind of far away from where they live (which is the case with Alicia).
If you live nearby you could drop off meals at their home. Alicia said they set a cooler on their porch in case people dropped off meals while they weren't home. If you have a large cooler you could offer it up for meal storage. Or, if you know them well enough that they feel comfortable giving you a key, you could offer to drop by at certain times during the day to move meals from the cooler to the refrigerator or freezer indoors. For people like me, who live far away, it is so much easier in this day and age to digitally send gift cards to restaurants in the area, or even just a reloadable VISA type card that they can use anywhere. I have also ordered food from a family favorite and had it delivered. So easy to do out of state! You could also offer to pick up groceries for them, and again, you can do this from far away through things like Instacart, Amazon Pantry, or other grocery delivery services.
2. Babysitting: This one is obviously easier for those who live nearby, but if your NICU family has older kids, volunteering to babysit the older kids is a huge help! Even before my mom was able to fly out to help watch Alicia's older kids while they were with Sebastian in the hospital Alicia had people who lived nearby, like our cousin Tara, and some friends of theirs, who helped watch the kids and make sure they were taken care of so Alicia and Adrian could focus on the baby and Alicia's recovery while at the hospital.
3. Helping to clean: Another big help as your NICU parents are traveling back and forth to the hospital, especially since mom is recovering from giving birth, is help cleaning up their house! I remember when Emily was a baby one day one of my ministering sisters through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints texted me and said she was going to come over and clean while Emily and I slept. She came over and cleaned my kitchen and did some laundry and then left. We were sleeping. She didn't ask to hold the baby or try to have me sit up and chat with her. She just came, served, and went home. It really meant so much to me that she was willing to do that! Can you imagine how much more it would mean to someone who's baby is spending time in the NICU? To be able to come home to a clean house can really lift your spirits when everything else can feel so crazy.
For those who live far away, if it is in your budget, maybe you could hire someone to spend a few hours cleaning at your friend or family member's home, as long as they're comfortable with it.
4. Baby supplies: If the hospital will let you dress baby, it can be helpful and comforting to parents to be able to have clothes to dress their little one in, in order to feel some sense of normalcy while they're in the hospital. Plus, if baby came early enough, they might not have supplies yet, and it can help them feel like they're ready to bring baby home when the time comes.
This is one that people who live far away can do as well! Alicia had a gift registry on Amazon and I was able to send her some diapers for Sebastian from all the way in Arizona. I know I'm not the only one who did that for her. Since their second child is six, and they moved prior to the baby being born, they needed some supplies and Sebastian came just before Alicia's baby shower. So sending baby items is so helpful! Alicia also specifically mentioned getting mom a good breast pump. With a NICU baby mom's usually aren't able to nurse at first. If breastfeeding their baby is a goal mom has, you can support her in that buy getting her a good pump, or spare pump parts so she has everything she needs to pump! (Including a mini fridge to store the milk in!)
5. Care package for the NICU parents: Along with the breast pump and supplies you can send a care package of things mom (and also dad) will need to keep their energy up! I love this Honest company New Mama Care essential gift kit linked above! You could also get mom Gatorades (Gatorade was a HUGE help with my milk supply!) and snacks for while they're spending their day in the NICU. A care package could also include hand sanitizer, breast pads, nipple cream, maybe a neck pillow for dad if he falls asleep in the hospital while mom is pumping or something, a small night light for night time pumping, ice packs, and a small cooler for transporting milk.
6. I'll add my last thought that as you are trying to help, try not to be an additional burden on mom and dad. If you have more free time to say, I can come to your house on this day to set up the nursery for you, then that is great! But if all you can manage right now is to send a gift card, don't try to schedule for anything extra that might require them to meet you, or arrange their schedule around yours. Sometimes a simple note or text letting them know you're thinking of them and praying for them can go a long way to energize their spirits.
Having a little one in the NICU is obviously a stressful time in a parents life, so remember, in your goal to be helpful, don't add to their burden, you're just trying to lighten the load any way you can! This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you. All opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for your support. Okay, first I have to tell you that I forgot to take some really good pics of these cupcakes before taking them to the baby shower that we threw for my extra daughter Charly. These were the practice ones. Do you see the liners in the back that are blue with polka dots? Those are the ones I used. Charly and her husband are not finding out the gender of their baby until she gives birth, so we wanted a very neutral theme for her shower. Charly loved the Rubber Duck idea, so I looked on Pinterest of course and found this idea from Sweets & Treats. I hadn't heard of their company before this, but I fell in love with theirs large variety of sprinkle mixes and their cupcake liners keep such bright color after baking in them! I definitely recommend checking them out. They have some great items on their sale page as well! You know I love sprinkles and I can definitely use some new ones when Hot Cocoa Bomb Season begins! To decorate the cupcakes, I simply used a large circle piping tip to dot on frosting to look like bubbles. I enhanced the bubble look with large and small round candy sprinkles. Finally, I popped these rubber duckies on top! They were the perfect size for the top of the cupcakes. These rubber ducky cupcakes were definitely a hit and a centerpiece at the party. I love when treats are easy to make and pack a big punch!
This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support.
I have shared activities I've done with my grandchildren with you on past posts. I love to try to make memories with them. For example, this post was from last year when my grandchildren who now live in Wyoming were here. (sigh)
At this time in my life, I am watching my 15 month old granddaughter 4 days a week. She is at the age where she is curious about many things, strives to be independent, needs to be constantly supervised, is a little too young for art projects and loves to be outside. I know that this stage is going to fly by quickly and I am trying to enjoy it with her as much as I can. It is so cute to hear her learning language and to see her experience new things. I am so blessed to be a part of her growth. Now that the weather is nice, she loves to go outside as much as possible, I thought I would share with you some of the fun that we have together during these beautiful Spring days.
After we eat breakfast, we put on sunscreen (a must all year round in Phoenix), and then we go outside to water the garden. She "talks" to me all about it as we water. This watering can is heavy for her. I get it started pouring and she holds it for me. I am ordering this cute child sized watering can from Amazon for her to use. It is a Melissa and Doug Brand, which I have always been happy with. Compared with all of the kid sized watering cans I've seen, this one is a very good price! Look how cute it is! She will love it, as will my other grandchildren when they come to visit. I had some small metal cans for my older grandchildren, but they have seen better days. If you would prefer metal, this is a reasonably priced one.
While we were in the garden today, we found a great surprise! Look!
After the excitement of finding the tomatoes, Emily started picking up rocks to carry around. If she doesn't have a rock in her hand, she likes to have a piece of sidewalk chalk. She loves to use the back block fence as her canvas to use the chalk on and likes me to draw with her. If you don't like getting your hands all chalky, my daughter-in-law purchased some chalk holders for my grandson that help with that. They are awesome because they provide good grip for little fingers. These are by Melissa and Doug. The others are Peppa Pig themed. My grandson would love those. Chalk with chalk holders would be a welcome Easter Basket gift!
Today, as Emily picked up rocks, I thought about the rock painting craze that seems to have happened lately. She is too young for paints, but I found some rocks that we could draw on and she really got into that!
One thing that we are thankful to have in our backyard is a wagon! Emily has to have a ride in it everyday. When her cousin Spencer comes to visit, our wagon is a two seater and they can both have a ride together. Our wagon is a hand-me-down, but here is a similar one. The kids have all loved to either ride in it or pull each other around. I love pulling her around the yard not only because she gets a kick out of it, it also gives me some exercise! 4 laps around my yard gave me 200 steps this morning. Then we did 2 more laps in the afternoon! The added weight of pulling the wagon with the toddler in it has to burn more calories, right? Ha ha
When we come in from our time in the backyard in the morning, she is about ready for a morning nap, so we wash our hands and read a book and then listen to some songs on the Echo Dot, more commonly known as Alexa. Emily loves to dance to the songs, but if I play some quiet ones, she will often fall right to sleep on my shoulder. (Sometimes, if we're lucky.) Later in the afternoon, we will go out and do our backyard routine all over again.
A little sun for vitamin D, a little exercise, a bit of gardening, some exploring and creativity. What could be better than that?
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
April 2024
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