Best Homemade Baby Gift

When making gifts for a new mommy, I try to think back 20+ years ago to my early mommy days. What was the most useful, practical, baby-friendly, old-fashioned-but-still-relevant item I received? We cloth diapered and I received a couple dozen homemade pre-folds as gifts - and, boy were they useful! But diapers don't really say "love" to me. Plus, most new moms use disposable.

Then there's the hat and booties.

They're cute, but how many mommies really use these on a regular basis? I didn't. You know that when they're just a few months old the hat is the first thing the little blighters rip off - and the socks or booties are next. Youngest Son preferred hatless and barefoot. I was really lucky if I could get socks on him to leave the house - he wouldn't stand for them inside.

No, the homemade gift items I treasured most were the baby blankets.  Just by looking at them I could see the amount of work and love that went into them. Being tactile little creatures, babies seem to enjoy the silky or soft ones. Of the several I received I had my favorites, of course - and I got two particular blankets I used ALL the time. Both were flannel receiving blankets. SO USEFUL! They were in use just as soon as we were out of the hospital to wrap baby up burrito-style, as a light cover,  for a cover in the carseat, tucked into a closed car window to shade baby on long trips, anywhere as an emergency changing station, as a barrier between baby and floor for tummy time, as a nursing cover, as a burp cloth, as an emergency cloth diaper. I got some real mileage out of those two receiving blankets! And when they were holey and frayed, I cut them up for spill rags and dusting cloths.

So, I've been a real fan of the flannel receiving blanket for a while. But then, when I was way past the young mommy stage, I went to a friends' from church who was whipping up the most amazing things on her sewing machine. Doubled flannel receiving blankets! Who'd've thunk it? She used three yards folded in half. Perfect. They're heavier, but still light enough to do all the things listed above (with the exception of emergency diaper - they're a little bulky for that), plus they last longer. Long enough for toddlers and walkers to love them, grab them for comfort or at nap time or to watch 'toons or for peek-a-boo, or just for snuggling with on mommy or daddy's lap.

We have a new baby coming into the family. A lovely (if her ultra-sound pics are any indication) girl-child. I'm not even the grandma of this one and I immediately went into flannel blanket mode. And I think I've one-upped my church friend. With crocheted lace.

Come home as soon as you're ready, baby girl. We're waiting!