Personalized Gifts from the Kids

I did a little research on how to swaddle a summertime baby and learned about muslin receiving blankets. The ones that everybody swears by are really expensive--although everyone says they are a must have. I decided to go my own way.

I purchased some plain muslin--the last on the bolt (about 6 yards) and cut it into five pieces. They say that muslin is very breatheable and that it gets softer with each wash, so I washed it to pre-shrink it and dried it on hot.

After it was dry, I gave everybody a piece and some Sharpie pens (every color in the rainbow plus some). I put a large piece of cardboard in the hallway and let them go for it. They were very creative. As an example of this creativity, G wrote: "G [heart]s # seven*." At the bottom of the blanket, it says, "*The Lach Hess Monster." If we ever wondered if that nickname'd be placed on her, I guess we need wonder no more.

After they finished, I washed them again. The pens bled just a little, but I expected this having worked with Sharpies on fabric before, so no biggie. Plus, it wasn't enough to make a difference. I hemmed them all up, so they are essentially ready to go right now. I think I'm going to wash them one more time just to soften them up a little bit more.

I bought pink dye and allowed the kids to choose if they want to dye them or tie dye them or just leave them alone. I'm giving the tie dying job to Z.

So, here's B with his blanket. Yes, he misspelled her name, but I really did let them have complete artistic license here. It will be fun to look back someday and see what level the kids were at when she was born.

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