Last Post

I have moved my blog to http://www.mamallamasbabygifts.com/blog/
It is called Mama Llama's Blog.  I transferred all of the post from here to my new blog.
Please follow me there.

Having Fun

My first granddaughter was born Monday.  Such a cutiepie.  Loves to have grandma hold her.  Her 3 1/2 year old brother has been staying with me.  He cried a lot the first night at bedtime, but has been happy as a clam ever since.
 
I love teriyaki and don't get it often because it has too much sugar for grandpa.  But grandpa is out of town, so after visiting Mom, Dad, and Baby Sister, we stopped for some.  While waiting for my order, my grandson saw the menu on the wall.  They had sushi.  He loves sushi, which pretty much gags me, so grandma got him an order of cucumber sushi (no raw fish).

I have watched enough kid's movies to last a life time.  Though I know there will be more in my future.  We have built with legos and worked puzzles.  Tried to work with transformers, but I have never been able to do those. 

He has drawn many pictures to take home to mom and dad and played games on my computer.  But the fun is almost over.  He goes home tonight.  I'll miss his chattering and running around "really, really fast).

4 year old grandson

My four year old grandson comes up with the funniest stuff:

4 yr old: "Can I have some m&ms?"
Mom: "not right now"
4 yr old: "Awww, you're no fun."
Later: Dad taps the horn to tell someone the light is green.
4 yr old: "Did you push the wrong button?"
Dad: "yup!"
4 yr old: "Oh, the indignity!"

Celery

My four year old grandson was telling all about a sandwich.  I don’t know where he got the idea, because I know he wouldn’t eat it.  But the sandwich was, your special peanut butter, your special banana, and celery.  I was okay until the celery thing.  But we had a nice conversation while mom was putting baby brother down for a nap.

I had been baby sitting baby brother while mom and four year old “O” were at eating class.  What is eating class you ask?  I didn’t know there was such a thing, but it is a therapeutic class to get really picky eaters to be willing to try new tastes and textures.  Today they were preparing “hungry caterpillars” and then they were supposed to eat them.  O didn’t eat them.  I don’t think I would want to eat them either.  They were toothpicks with a yogurt covered raisin, a blueberry, and a pea.  I think they must have been going for “food comes in many colors”.  But I still don’t know where the celery came from.

Fun day

Had both kids and 3 grandkids over to play and have lunch.  I’m always a bit tired afterwards, but love it.  We have enough chicken salad left over for dinner, so I can just relax the rest of the afternoon.

My fourth grandchild will born 2 weeks from today.  This one will be our first granddaughter. Can’t wait to meet her.  She has her momma’s tummy so stretched out that you can feel parts of her body.  I have never felt that before.  I was feeling either her leg and foot, or her arm and hand.  It was really weird.

Feathering the nest

While most of the country has been sweltering, it has been fairly cool here in the Pacific Northwest. This morning the sky is gray and it has me thinking about fall.  I just added a layette to my shop that I would like to cuddle up in.  It is a 4 piece layette of a beige cable-knit lovie, cap, and booties, with a long sleeve onesie. I think the reason it looks so cozy to me is the cable-knitting and also seeing the layette all nestled in a woven rattan “nest”.  I guess since it doesn’t come in my size the next best thing would be to cuddle with a little one who is wearing this outfit and have the lovie all scrunched up with us.

                         

mamallamasbabygifts.com

Have I been gone that long?

I can't believe it has been since Easter for my last post.  I must get back into this now that my new and improved site is up and running.  I have added the cutest socks to my shop.  There is a boy set and a girl set and then the 12 days of Christmas set.

No Easter Brunch

What a week.  O ran a temperature early in the week.  No other symptoms.  Then his mom was sick for two days.  Friday, I went over to babysit D because it seemed as if O might have double ear infections, again.  I had a good time nuzzling D and smooching him, but the next day he was running a temp.  So now I’m exposed.  Son-in-law then comes home from work early and is sick.  So Easter brunch was canceled.  I didn’t want to expose my other daughter and her family.  Especially since she is pregnant.  I’ll just get the Easter “buckets” to the kids sometime this week.  I haven’t come down with the “crud” yet, so maybe I dodged it this time.

I was looking for some hand work and pulled out a quilt I had stuffed away years ago.  I had gotten so frustrated with it that I didn’t even care if I ever finished it.  But now I want to.  I only have the binding to finish, but that was the frustrating part.  For some reason, the top layer won’t lay flat at the edges.  The only thing I can think of to do is take up a little more seam, where needed, at the block joinings.   So there will be a lot of fiddling.

This could take a while.

New and improved

My online baby boutique is in the process of being improved.  I can't wait until I have it up again.  Time to add new items too. 

But in the meantime I have tons of errands to run.  Today I hope to make it to Costco and Albertsons.  Tomorrow maybe Home depot, Fred Meyer, and Target.  I should be all ready for Easter by then.
Everyone is coming over here for an Easter Brunch.   I'm going to make waffles from scratch.  There will be ham, fruit, 2 kinds of syrup and several jams and jellies.  I hope my oldest grandson will eat waffles.  If not, I could make him some pancakes.  I know he eats those.
Better get going.

Mom, help!

Early morning call today.  Good thing I was up.  Daughter twisted her ankle and with a 4 year old and a 4 month old, she really wanted her mom.  Just got back from taking O to preschool.  He really loves it.  This week’s sound is U as in UGH.  I saw a bunch of umbrellas going in.  I’m trying to think of other objects starting with that sound.  Maybe a picture of an uncle.  Underwear would probably be frowned on. 

And then baby D, really cranky today.  Probably teething.  I’m glad he is nice and robust and healthy and all, but he was basically too big for anything from my shop by the time I could have gotten anything for him.  I would have loved the “chef” outfit.  We could have gotten a great picture of the two boys in chef outfits, since O loves pretending to be a chef.

I remember that trip well.

What to do when a friend asks for a copy of a photo and you can’t find it anywhere on your computer.  It’s a great picture, too.  My “four ladies”  group went to Anacortes for the weekend and stayed in one of the lady’s mother in law’s condo while she was away.  We had a great girls weekend get away.  At the time there was a lovely Italian restaurant just a block away.  Sad it’s gone.  But we went for dinner and then to the tiny bar at the back.  The three others had several Irish coffees and I had wine.  We were yucking it up pretty good on the way back and one of the other condo owners peeked out her door expecting to see some rowdy teenagers making all of the noise.  Nope, just us.  I need to figure out where that photo could be.

My Baby Boutique

I decided to share some of my favorites from my baby boutique, Mama Llama's Baby Gifts.  I carry Baby Aspen and Kate Aspen Baby Shower Favors brands.

Baby Aspen has such a cute way of packaging their products.  Sometimes I wonder if I like the packaging even more than I like the products.  For instance, the baby girl bloomers, with flowers on their bum.  They come packaged in a flower box with the bloomers in the box and their flowers on top like real flowers in a flower box.

Show and Tell

Had to laugh today.  Daughter calls me and asks what I think O wanted to take for show and tell.  I had no idea.  He wanted to take Grandma.  That’s me, of course.  Daughter hesitates trying to think how to tell him he couldn’t take me.  Problem solved.  O says he can’t take me because I wouldn’t fit in the show and tell box.  Really cracked me up.

Flags and Oreos

Yesterday we babysat our almost 4 year old grandson. He was still getting over a cold, so wasn't as lively as usual.  His parents were priming their living room for painting next weekend. 

I picked him up mid morning and stopped at my usual grocery store to pick up a few things.  Outside the entrance were two big flags.  He pointed and said; “There is the flag of the United States of America and there is the flag of the “George Washington State”.  I was amazed and amused.

He didn’t eat much lunch, only his French fries.  Then we were watching a program that had cookies on it.  He wanted a cookie.  So, being a grandma, I got him a Oreo, and one for me.  He wanted another cookie and I told him that was the end of the cookies.  The Oreos came in a 6 cookie pack, and he knew there was another cookie in there.  I told him no more cookies and then I watched him go into the kitchen and reach way farther then I thought he could and got the cookie package.  I’m smiling inside, but frowning outside.  I was actually stunned.  He started to tear up and I knew he was still not feeling up to par, so I was waffling a little.  Then grandpa pipes up and says; Don’t get him all upset. Let him have one more.  So he got his one more cookie.

I’m telling you all this, because I admit we weren’t thinking clearly.  We got a call from our daughter asking how many Oreos did we give him?  It seems he announced the fact that he had Oreos at our house.  And he was on a sugar high at home. 

Being grandparents, we forgot how little sugar the kids are used to.  I don’t think we will make that mistake again.

New Products

What a headache.  I woke up this morning with a doozey.  It’s pretty much gone now, but I’m drained.  Seems like a good night for hubby to bring home Popeye’s Chicken.  We have been wanting to try it, so now is a good time. 

Yesterday, I added new baby shower favors to my store.  I already had the pink and black “purse” manicure set and now I have added the pink and black “flip flop” pedicure set.  When I first saw these I thought they would also be great for girlfriend get to togethers.  I have get-aways with 3 friends and I know they would think these were as cute as I do.




 












I need to check this afternoon to see if E and his parents are back from Arizona.  SIL’s grandmother died and they were all down there for the funeral with SIL’s five brothers and their families.  So along with the sadness, I’m sure it was happy to get them altogether.

Babysitting

What a night.  Grandpa and I went over to kid’s house to babysit while they went across the street to an anniversary party.  Grandpa put almost 4 year old to be for the first time.  They both enjoyed that.  I spent all evening trying to get little 4 month old to sleep.  Nothing worked.  Thought maybe he was hungry again.  Went to fill a bottle, but could not find nipples that fit any of the bottles.  Finally in desperation called daughter home.  She had forgotten to show me how the bottle goes together.  I have never see one like that before.  She warmed the bottle (filled with breast milk) and started feeding him.  He wasn’t really hungry, he just want mommy to put him to bed.  No one else had done that yet.  Then she went back to the party.

Monday Morning

Had a lovely time Saturday.  The whole family got together for dinner.  It’s always fun to watch the two oldest boys interact.  Besides running after each other and yelling in very high pitched squeals, they really haven’t played together much.  But this time there was more interaction playing with the toys. We all took turns cuddling the 4 month old.  He is already about out of 6 month clothes.  As I said before, that’s bummed me out, since he won’t fit any of the baby clothes in my store.  I chose this line of baby clothes because I fell in love with them.  And now he can’t wear any of them.  But I do have one more chance.  Another, gender unknown, baby will join us in September.  This daughter tends to have smaller babies, but they have big heads.  Means another c section for her.  The big heads come from her husbands side of the family.  All of his nieces and nephews had big heads and caused c sections.  The heads don’t stand out as being big.  It is only a problem with delivery.

Well it’s Monday morning and time to get going.

Baby Clothes

I’ve been thinking about the way babies have been dressed over the years.  There has been such a big difference in styles and fabrics.  In Victorian Days the most used fabrics were wools.  Wool came in different weights and textures.  They used wool yarn and wool fabrics which makes me itch just thinking about it.  How in the world did they keep their baby’s skin from being rough and sore? You could get away with using some of today’s wool products because they are soft and not scratchy.

In the forty’s and fifty’s the fabrics were much softer, but they all had to be ironed.  Although ironing wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the whole process of caring for the wool fabrics in the Victorian Days, it still added work for the mother.

Today, however we have it much easier.  Most baby clothes are made of cotton and are wash and wear.  No ironing necessary.  And today’s cottons can be luxuriously soft and comfy.  I think today’s moms and babies are a lucky bunch.

Sensory Processing Disorder

My oldest grandson, O, has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing  Disorder. I had never even heard of it.  If caught young, they can deal with it.  Basically, he doesn’t sense things the way we do.  I have put a link on the left if you are interested.  It explains a lot of his little quirks and his behavior.  For instance, he isn’t being stubborn when he doesn’t respond to your efforts at trying to get his attention.  He is being bombarded with too much “noise” and can’t distinguish your voice from the rest of it.  By getting louder and louder we were actually making it worse.  By talking quieter he “hears” us.

It’s really a strange disorder, but it can be dealt with and the child will grow up to be just like everyone else.

Aside from that, I have been searching for some material to make D’s Baptism outfit.  I didn’t realize how hard it was to find cotton sateen in white.  But I did find it yesterday and feel quite relieved.

I have planned to hang out with E and his mom at their place tomorrow.  It may not happen though as we are supposed to get snow.  We’ll see.  The last snow prediction was a bust.

Busy Busy

I wanted to buy my latest grandson the chef outfit from my store, but though he’s only 3 months, he’s already outgrown 6 month size clothes.  And the  baby clothes in my store only come in 0 – 6 month sizes.  I wish I could get the clothes up to size 1, but they only come in the one size.  His big brother would probably have been jealous as he loves to pretend to cook. 

I’ve really neglected my blog lately.  I spent 3 days in a row last week babysitting each grandson, 1 at a time.  So I spent the weekend catching up on the housework.  Then the beginning of this week my husband had cataract surgery.  I’m caught up now and can get back to work.

The newsman said it was going to snow the end of this week.  We’ll see.

It isn’t supposed to stick, so shouldn’t cause too much trouble.  As for me, I like snow.

I made a pillow case for O with pirates all over it.  He loves pirates.  When he was about 2 ½ I bought the old Fisher Price pirate ship on Ebay.  It’s been up in the closet ever since.  I brought it down last week when I was babysitting him.  Wow, was he excited.  That kept him busy for quite awhile.  I think I should check out Ebay again to see what other retro toys I can find.

Now, if I could only find fabric with cars and trucks all over it for a pillow case for E.  And fabric with rocket ships and robots for D’s pillow case.

The Fabulous Onesie

While changing little D today I got to thinking about how great onesies are.

So I decided to see how they got started.  It was invented by Walter Artzt.  He has been describe as a Renaissance man and had quite a sense of humor.

When I investigated the onesie, I learned about other inventions by Mr. Artzt that were responsible for a lot of the baby clothing styles we have today.

In 1963 he invented a method of manufacturing hooded garments.  Some of the cutest baby apparel today are the ones with hoods. 

In 1967 he invented an “infant’s garment of the wrap-around type”.  This wrap around type must be something different than the undershirts my sister put on her babies starting in 1960.  The front sections overlapped each other and were secured with ties.

Mr. Artzt also invented, what I call, the sleeper.  The one piece apparel with feet was patented in 1960.  No more lost booties or socks.

I’d hate to see our new moms of today having to dress their babies as my mother did.  I don’t know much about what my sister wore in 1935, but I have come across a few items that my brother and I wore.  My brother was born in 1948 and I was born in 1950.   I don’t know how my mom kept our little tummies covered when our shirts rode up as we squirmed about.  Or  how she kept our feet warm at night.  Booties and socks never seem to stay on.  Plus everything had to be ironed.  Who has time for that now days?

Moms are lucky today.  They have one less thing to worry about with the implementation of Mr. Artzt’s inventions and the new easy care cotton fabrics free them from the time consuming job of ironing.

Well that’s all I have to say right now.

Grandsons

I guess it would be easier if I gave my grandson's initials instead of how old they are each time I write about them.  So here goes.  One daughter has O who is 3 1/2 (actually 3 3/4) and D who is 2 months old.  And the other daughter has E who just turned 3 and will be having #4 grandchild in September.   I will be babysitting E today while his mom goes in for her check up.  And tomorrow I'll be babysitting D while his mom takes O to a birthday party.  It will be nice for her to have some activity with just O.  And I will get to feed D for the first time.
While decluttering I came across decorations I had saved from my baby shower thirty years ago.  We didn't know back then the gender of the coming little bundle.  Sonograms were new back then and  not used unless a problem was suspected.  I did have one, since I was so big they suspected twins, but the baby wasn't positioned right to tell the gender.  So most showers were just general baby decorations in pastels.  I was thinking back on that shower and what we played then.  I know we played  the old standard clothespin game.  That's where you clip a clothespin to you skirt or pants hem.  You are not to cross your legs.  When someone does cross their legs, the first one to point it out gets that clothespin.  At the end of the shower, the person with the most clothespins wins.  I never even get close to winning because I usually cross my legs right off and then don't pay attention to who else crosses their legs.  But it's fun.
E is on his way over, so I best stop for now.

Play day

I got a phone call from my youngest daughter yesterday morning.  She said my 3 ½ year old grandson wanted to know if grandma could come over and play.  Well, of course I could.  It would be much more fun than working on decluttering this house.  A very daunting job.

We played a couple of hours with his dinosaurs and his Egyption pyramid.  I was afraid he would cry when I left, but it was okay.  Hugs and kisses and back to playing.

Baby brother slept and nursed.  He is sooo chubby.  He looks like a sausage stuffed in his jammies.  He’s only 2 months old and is already outgrowing his 6 month clothes.

So today it’s back to decluttering.

Baby shower games

I’m trying to think of what games to play at the shower.  The shower for my first grandson was hosted by his father’s sister.  She introduced a couple of games I hadn’t seen before.  One was to pass a ball of string around and each guest cut off a length that they thought would be the measurement of the mom-to-be’s tummy.  We had some wildly different lengths and we cracked up at the really short ones and really long ones.  The other new game was to take diapers and put a melted or crushed snack size candy bar in each one.  The guests had to determine each candy bar with no tasting allowed.  I can’t even imagine anyone wanting to taste them.  They were pretty realistic looking.  I thought that was so much fun that I introduced it at the next grandson’s shower.  My sister lives out of state, but was able to make it to that shower.  When I explained the game and handed her a diaper she started laughing and couldn’t stop.  And if you knew her laugh……

There is an old standard that was played back in the day that I hated.  The  idea of the game was fun and everyone else always liked it.  First I’ll tell you  what put me off of the game, then I’ll tell you the game.  My sister’s first son loved worms.  He would put them next to him on the swing and was always carrying them around.  He also put them in his pocket.  My sister would find them when she checked his pockets before washing them.  To this day I don’t check pockets.  If you leave it in your pocket, it gets washed.  So you can see, I don’t like to put my hands in places that I can’t see in.  The game was to put baby related items in a box and seal it shut.  Then cut a fist size hole in the side.  Everyone put their hand in for a set amount of time and then wrote down as many items as they knew.  Of course, I always played, but it did send shivers down my spine.

A fourth grandchild on the way

Great News.  I just found out I’m going to be a Grandma for the fourth time.  We have three boys already, so everyone is kind of leaning towards a girl. 

I’m already thinking about the baby shower.  It seems today that a lot of the baby showers are for couples.  I’m not sure if the new mom will want a traditional, all ladies shower, or an updated couples shower.  Either way, we will have fun.

I think I will wait to see what the gender is before I decide on a theme.  I make a quilt for each grandchild.  The theme of the quilt isn’t necessarily the theme of the shower, but it could be.  I had a different theme for each grandson’s shower.  The first was elephants, then trains, and the last one was robots.  Just don’t get your heart set on a theme, have some alternatives in mind.  I really had a hard time with the elephants.  All of the elephant decorations I found were for “pink elephants”.  You know the kind that look all tipsy.  I was just about to give up and go with one of my alternate ideas of either sailboats or robots when I finally found some cute, sober elephant decorations.  If this next one is a girl I could go with dolls, ballet, dollhouses, fairies, or unicorns.  Those should be easy to find. Of course, just having a color theme of pink or blue is an easy way to go.

Speaking of ease, don’t stress over every little aspect of the shower.  I know there are hundreds of options out there, but you should not agonize over every decision.  No one, especially the mom-to-be, wants to cause you any stress over the planning.  Just remember, a baby shower is for fun and it should be fun to plan it.

Hello!

Just started this up, can't wait to fill it out!