Getting Ready for Baby

I have quite a bit of baby sewing I've been doing, more coming on that soon. But there has also been several items we've bought or that family has gifted us in anticipation for the new little arrival. These may be a little different than the usual, so I thought I would share some of our preparations.

We aren't planning a baby room, nursery, or even a crib. At night the baby will sleep in our bed, and for day-time napping we were given this wonderful thing:

An organic cotton Baby hammock . It has adjustable positions, and I am planning to have a place to hang it from the ceiling in the sitting room, upstairs in our bedroom, and on both porches. That way wherever we are in the house, we can move it around and baby can nap near us. I've had my eye on this hammock since seeing it in the Magic Cabin catalog several years ago and I thought it was such a great idea.

I hope baby will like it!

For sleeping on the bed, or the hammock, a sheared wool lambskin. This was a Christmas present from my grandmother - it is the softest thing!! I love stroking it. :) My friend Janet loves the one she has - it is supposed to keep baby just the right temperature while sleeping in warm or cold weather. The brand we got was Lamby Nursery. I've become very intrigued by all the possibilities of pure wool being useful in baby items - more on that later.

Last week I was organizing all baby items we would need immediately after the birth, and I had a bit of a panic moment! I discovered I had quite a scarcity of newborn sized clothes. Granted, I had a bunch of items I was working on making - but what if the baby surprised us and I didn't have them done?? So, I did some quick online shopping and was happy to discover some very timely sales and got some basic clothing items from Carters to supplement what I was missing:

 

A pack each of boy and girl long-sleeved onesies:

 2 pair of basic pants, one footed

 And six pair of warm knit bootie/sock thingies

It's so hard to find tasteful baby clothing! I think Carters has a pretty cute selection - because I just don't do babies covered in cartoon-character embroidered clothing. Sorry. :) It's annoying that there are tons of cute-as-a-button expensive European baby clothes brands, but hardly any American - expensive or otherwise.

After we know whether baby is a boy or girl, it will be the time to really do someclothes shopping/thrifting/making. Fun stuff!

I am planning to try doing cloth diapers for the most part. However, I definitely want some disposables waiting in the wings for times like car traveling. After researching tons of 'chemical free' diaper brands, I finally decided on the Honest Company brand, based on the reviews and info online.

 

Thankfully they had a plain white option (without even a printed brand name!) which I liked. So, I got 2 packs of newborn size to try, and quite a few of the wipes as well. So far I like the look of everything - we will see how they turn out!

For cloth diapers I am planning to do prefolds with wool covers. More on that later when I know more about it and have some experience! :)

This interesting shirt is called a 'Kangaroo Tube' top. Several times this year in my reading I have been struck by the benefits listed about lots of skin to skin time for momma and baby, especially the days/weeks right after birth. But, living in a house under construction that is without much privacy right now, and expecting to have company during and after the baby's birth, there didn't seem much chance for that. So, when I saw this ingenious shirt, it went right on my wish list. Hopefully it will allow for lots of skin to skin time and still be somewhat modest. :)

I've always liked the idea of a wrap baby carrier/sling. Another Christmas gift, this Moby wrap, (mine is cream) is something I can't wait to try. My friend Desarae also gave me a lovely handmade sling that looks super handy! It will be great to have different styles to switch out.