What an awesome baby shower for my beautiful daughter. After moaning and groaning for weeks prior to the shower about women taking over his house, my husband left town because all these women intimidated him. After a wonderful day of eating and drinking and playing with baby items we had a slumber party. There is nothing more fun than a slumber party with no responsibility except to laugh and have a good time.
According to the most recent ultra sound, in one month we will have a beautiful curly haired grand daughter. How times have changed, thanks to technology. There is no more waiting to know the sex of the baby or surprises at the birth of twins. Technology tells us a baby's gender, how much hair it has, and if it is basically healthy. Moms and Dads can plan the nursery color scheme and purchase all the clothing and paraphernalia in the color of choice months before the birth of the child. I myself am thrilled with the information because I've been knitting and crocheting items in all pink. I have dreamed this baby is going to have dark curly hair and dark eyes. And I knew way before my daughter conceived that her first child would be a girl. Mothers just know these things. I have one month left to complete a car seat blanket for this child....pink of course.
With each new generation there are more new inventions for babies that are intended to make mom's life easier. Some have been around for thousands of years, such as the baby sling. However it has been improved upon greatly. The door frame jumper has been around for at least 36 years. I know this because I had one for my first child. There are new variations of the walker which has it's own built in entertainment system. Then there is the infant seat which has turned into a bouncer now with a built in entertainment center. A car seat is no longer just a car seat. It is now a "system". The infant car seat that accommodates a child up to a weight of about 35 pounds comes out of the vehicle and fits perfectly into a slot in the stroller. Baby no longer has to be disturbed if it is lulled to sleep by the sound and motion of the vehicle it is riding in. Mom gets to where she is going and just unlatches the car seat and slips it snugly into the stroller. When baby out grows this "system" it progresses to a car seat that will last up to 65 pounds and from there it will go into a booster car seat which most recently is built into the vehicle. There is the pack and play which is a variation of the old play pen. This wonderful item folds up nicely and can be taken on overnight trips. Another item that fascinated me was a cradle type "thing" bed height that is tilted downward a bit from head to toe designed for babies with re-flux....now why didn't I think of that?.
Of course disposable diapers have been around a long time. I was in another country when my first two children were born . Disposables were not available to me so I was compelled to use cloth diapers. What a mess! But much better for the environment. According to http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php over 92% of all single use diapers end up in landfills. We should be ashamed but what to do about it. I myself would not want to go back to cloth diapers. The convenience of disposables is just too tempting. I used disposable diapers for my next two children but the Diaper Genie had not been invented yet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaper_Genie. This is an awesome gadget for keeping the little balls of excrement from smelling but they still go into landfills.
I was awestruck at the baby shower when a guest handed her 1 year old a vacuum pack of baby food. All she had to do was unscrew the top and hand it to baby. Baby just sucked his pureed food right out of that pack. That was surely a new one on me. As I watched this child suck his "organic" food from this container I thought "why didn't I invent that?" I recently crocheted a bib with an elephant trunk on it that holds a pacifier with Velcro snaps so when baby spits out the paci it doesn't land on a germ laden floor! The vacuum packed sippy container of baby food reminded me of when my own mother who had three children wanted to change my daughter's diaper. It was a disposable one and I knew she was not familiar with how they worked so I proceeded to tell her how to do it. She looked at me indignantly and said, "I changed a diaper once!". So I left her alone to do the deed so as not to make her feel incompetent....she put the diaper on backwards. Of course everyone present had a wonderful laugh on her behalf!
When I was 43, way too old to have another child in those days, I decided I would do just that. I was excited about all the new items I would have for my baby. Well I'm 63 now and I can't justify having another child in order to buy all the new goodies invented for baby, even if I could. I will just have to be satisfied with a grand child and her belongings.
Speaking of baby showers I can remember when the standard meal was cake and punch. Somewhere over time it became a little more substantial with tea sandwiches, maybe a dip and chips. Now it's a full fledged meal. My menu consisted of appetizers of veggie chips with white bean humus and a cream cheese, Gorgonzola cheese dip with baby carrots. This was followed by roast beef, potatoes au gratin, spring mix salad and whole wheat rolls. I chose a raspberry, lemon water punch which was very refreshing and pretty. I had not intended to serve wine since the guest of honor could not imbibe but some of the guests asked for it so I willing obliged. I .made a wonderful cheesecake with an apple walnut topping for dessert. Of course no party is complete any more without favors for the guests to take home. I gave little cellophane bags filled with homemade cookies and tied with a pretty pink ribbon. I ran out of cookies but had several bars of pretty soap I had purchased stashed away in a drawer. I put two bars into each bag and gave those as favors also.
As I said, "times have changed"!
According to the most recent ultra sound, in one month we will have a beautiful curly haired grand daughter. How times have changed, thanks to technology. There is no more waiting to know the sex of the baby or surprises at the birth of twins. Technology tells us a baby's gender, how much hair it has, and if it is basically healthy. Moms and Dads can plan the nursery color scheme and purchase all the clothing and paraphernalia in the color of choice months before the birth of the child. I myself am thrilled with the information because I've been knitting and crocheting items in all pink. I have dreamed this baby is going to have dark curly hair and dark eyes. And I knew way before my daughter conceived that her first child would be a girl. Mothers just know these things. I have one month left to complete a car seat blanket for this child....pink of course.
With each new generation there are more new inventions for babies that are intended to make mom's life easier. Some have been around for thousands of years, such as the baby sling. However it has been improved upon greatly. The door frame jumper has been around for at least 36 years. I know this because I had one for my first child. There are new variations of the walker which has it's own built in entertainment system. Then there is the infant seat which has turned into a bouncer now with a built in entertainment center. A car seat is no longer just a car seat. It is now a "system". The infant car seat that accommodates a child up to a weight of about 35 pounds comes out of the vehicle and fits perfectly into a slot in the stroller. Baby no longer has to be disturbed if it is lulled to sleep by the sound and motion of the vehicle it is riding in. Mom gets to where she is going and just unlatches the car seat and slips it snugly into the stroller. When baby out grows this "system" it progresses to a car seat that will last up to 65 pounds and from there it will go into a booster car seat which most recently is built into the vehicle. There is the pack and play which is a variation of the old play pen. This wonderful item folds up nicely and can be taken on overnight trips. Another item that fascinated me was a cradle type "thing" bed height that is tilted downward a bit from head to toe designed for babies with re-flux....now why didn't I think of that?.
Of course disposable diapers have been around a long time. I was in another country when my first two children were born . Disposables were not available to me so I was compelled to use cloth diapers. What a mess! But much better for the environment. According to http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php over 92% of all single use diapers end up in landfills. We should be ashamed but what to do about it. I myself would not want to go back to cloth diapers. The convenience of disposables is just too tempting. I used disposable diapers for my next two children but the Diaper Genie had not been invented yet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaper_Genie. This is an awesome gadget for keeping the little balls of excrement from smelling but they still go into landfills.
I was awestruck at the baby shower when a guest handed her 1 year old a vacuum pack of baby food. All she had to do was unscrew the top and hand it to baby. Baby just sucked his pureed food right out of that pack. That was surely a new one on me. As I watched this child suck his "organic" food from this container I thought "why didn't I invent that?" I recently crocheted a bib with an elephant trunk on it that holds a pacifier with Velcro snaps so when baby spits out the paci it doesn't land on a germ laden floor! The vacuum packed sippy container of baby food reminded me of when my own mother who had three children wanted to change my daughter's diaper. It was a disposable one and I knew she was not familiar with how they worked so I proceeded to tell her how to do it. She looked at me indignantly and said, "I changed a diaper once!". So I left her alone to do the deed so as not to make her feel incompetent....she put the diaper on backwards. Of course everyone present had a wonderful laugh on her behalf!
When I was 43, way too old to have another child in those days, I decided I would do just that. I was excited about all the new items I would have for my baby. Well I'm 63 now and I can't justify having another child in order to buy all the new goodies invented for baby, even if I could. I will just have to be satisfied with a grand child and her belongings.
Speaking of baby showers I can remember when the standard meal was cake and punch. Somewhere over time it became a little more substantial with tea sandwiches, maybe a dip and chips. Now it's a full fledged meal. My menu consisted of appetizers of veggie chips with white bean humus and a cream cheese, Gorgonzola cheese dip with baby carrots. This was followed by roast beef, potatoes au gratin, spring mix salad and whole wheat rolls. I chose a raspberry, lemon water punch which was very refreshing and pretty. I had not intended to serve wine since the guest of honor could not imbibe but some of the guests asked for it so I willing obliged. I .made a wonderful cheesecake with an apple walnut topping for dessert. Of course no party is complete any more without favors for the guests to take home. I gave little cellophane bags filled with homemade cookies and tied with a pretty pink ribbon. I ran out of cookies but had several bars of pretty soap I had purchased stashed away in a drawer. I put two bars into each bag and gave those as favors also.
As I said, "times have changed"!
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