Standford Baby Sitting Advice

How will you preserve the early moments of your pregnancy and your baby’s birth, as well as the first few precious years of their life? If you are lacking ideas on how to go about saving the right moments or looking for great keepsake baby gifts, here are some suggestions.

Starting with the pregnancy months, there are some important moments you might want to keep special. Starting with the moment when it all began, (no, not that moment!) the positive pregnancy test. You can either clean and save it or better yet take a great photo of it for your baby scrapbook. The next memory to come is your first ultrasound image. There are many holders and frames that will accommodate your coming addition or additions. It’s great to keep them up early on in the pregnancy to remind all in the household that your new arrival is coming.

As the due date approaches, it will be a good time to start putting together some baby keepsake pieces. You may not have the energy or brainpower to plan these things later. One of the first memories after you baby’s birth to save is your baby’s hospital bracelet. There are really nice shadow box id bracelet baby picture frames that can save both first picture and bracelet. Having a baby’s memory box is also a way of saving precious items. Baby’s first cap, outfit home, first rattle, first tooth and curl set, and birth certificate holder are just a few of the items that can be kept and stored in the box.

If your religion is an important part of your life, make a keepsake out of baby’s first cross, bible, christening or baptism outfit.

Great baby gift ideas for gift givers can choose to buy that special gift of memories buy getting items like baby scrapbooks, first piggy banks, monogram baby blanket, first teddy bear.

You only get one chance to save your memories. Planning how and what moments in advance will help make sure you get and keep them for generations to come.

Going to a Baby Shower, or need to buy a great baby gifts and don’t know where to start?  You’re not alone. Buying gifts that show you care often takes more time and effort than we have to give.  So here are some helpful tips on buying a great baby gift.

Memories last forever – One of the best gifts you can give a family with a new baby or a baby on the way is a gift that will help them preserve the memory of this special time for the rest of their lives.  Gifts such as Keepsake boxes, baby handprint/footprint picture frames, or birth certificate holders will certainly be a gift of a lifetime.

Baby gift baskets – Most baby gift baskets are theme oriented and can be personalized with the new baby’s name to create a thoughtful gift with low effort.   Frogs, strawberries, all-stars, and princesses are just a few of the many themes that you can by baskets around.  You can also shop by need.  For example you can by baskets for bathtime, mealtime, or sleepytime.  Baskets make great baby shower gifts too, because there are many starter set types of baskets to help the new parents get on their feet.

Fashion Statement – If you are going to go the clothing route, try to find some statement pieces that will make them remember that this was a gift given with care.  Instead of the normal boring clothes why not get a bit more clever like a little onsie with a “Dinner is on me!” slogan, or a tie-dyed one for your hippy friends.  Clothing can be fun you just have to want to hunt down the perfect pieces.

The almighty dollar - A card with a check or cash inside will definitely be appreciated by your friends and family.  But we give gifts in part to reflect the amount of interest we have in the people we buy them for.  Perhaps filling out the check in the car before going to the party was convenient, but does it show the love and care you have for the person you are giving it to?  If not, then consider financial gifts like savings bonds and stocks as great alternatives.  They might not remember the check in the envelope you gave them, but they will always know who gave them the Apple stock that’s been growing in value since he was a little boy.

I hope these ideas give you a good start on your way to finding that special baby gift.  Our next article will focus on baby showers, from the baby shower favors to the diaper cake centerpiece.

If you are looking for a perfect baby gift and don’t know what to buy, here is some practical baby gift giving advice from a new parent.

First off, begin by knowing that there is no such thing as the perfect gift.  The new parents have already gotten their perfect gift at the birth of their new baby. So you can take all the pressure off yourself of finding something that will shine more than the newborns themselves. What you should know is that almost anything you look for can be a perfect gift if you know what to look for in a gift.

Let’s start with everyone’s favorite, clothing.  There are some do’s and do not’s here that you should be aware of.  First off, clothing is the most common newborn gift given. Most gift givers assume that all babies need clothing, so therefore it is the best most practical gift. And besides that pink dress and matching hat are soooo cute!  While buying clothes may be a cute way to go, buying clothes has some pitfalls as a gift.  You need to know the size of the baby before buying the clothes.  Not all newborns are made for newborn clothing.  We had a 10 lbs baby who was wearing 3 month old clothing by her second week. And because of a babies rapid growth, a really great outfit will only get worn a couple of times before the baby is too big for it.  So my advice here is to buy clothing in advance of a child’s age, buy 6 to 9 month old clothes that will be around when the baby has outgrown all the other gift clothing.  Buy special occasion clothing like holiday and religious occasion clothing.  These clothes are more likely to be seen photographed and remembered.

Baby toys and entertainment centers -  Aunts uncles and grandparents love to compete to see who can buy the biggest loudest and flashiest toys.  In the world of baby gifts, this is the man’s Porsche.  But bigger, better and flashier does not always translate into a great baby gift.  You should consider the amount of space a family will have to keep a large number of these contraptions.  My advice is to see if the parents have a baby registry.  If so, see if they have selected any of these items.  Then check with the other big family players to see if anyone is shopping off the registry.  Swings, bouncy chairs and activity mats can be a parents greatest friend, but if they have too many of them in the house it can be a nightmare.

Client or remote friend gifts-  When buying for a business contact or a distant family member or friend, you may want to consider looking at baby gift baskets. Gift baskets may be the easy grandparent gift at Christmas but they also can be great for babies.  My recommendation is to buy a basket that can be personalized.  This will combine the  usefulness of the items with the memory value of them as well.

Finally, my personal choice for a great gift for newborns is keepsake items.  Things that a child will be able to carry throughout life make the best gifts.  Religious jewelry, memory and keepsake boxes, music boxes, personalized picture frames, birth certificate holders, first tooth holders, and first teddy bear or blanket all make great baby keepsakes.

Best of luck in your baby gift shopping!

Celebrating your baby’s first Christmas and unwrapping those baby gifts for the first time at home will be a wonderful and rewarding experience, especially if this is your first child. You will be reminded of what it was like for you to be a child again. You will remember that Christmas is about more than giving and receiving gifts, and obligatory gatherings. The true beauty of holidays and Christmas specifically is the marking of time with those you hold dearest in your life. It can be easy to forget with all the commercial hype leading up to the holiday, and the pressure to find the perfect gifts and make the perfect dinner, but Christmas is a holiday made special by the binding of family, food, fun and traditions. Most families have at least a few traditions passed along from generation to generation, practiced year after year. Maybe your family has a special ritual for picking out your Christmas tree, or the way the tree or house gets decorated. Perhaps there is a favorite family recipe for the perfect yam or turkey stuffing that will remain a closely guarded secret for generations to come.

Whatever traditions, rituals and secrets your family engages in, you will find new meaning and new life in them with your baby’s first Christmas. My family started a great tradition of making baby handprint ornaments for each new member of the family and putting them on the tree each year to see how our family has grown. To serve as a reminder that Christmas is a time of growing and rebirth. A baby’s first Christmas ornament can serve as a lifetime keepsake, and be passed from generation to generation along with all of your wonderful traditions.

Another great idea for your Christmas tree decoration is to hang a few favorite pictures from Christmas’s past on the tree this will make the tree an interest object of history and great memories rather than just a place to stick all those presents. See how much else there is to remember at Christmas!

So as this Christmas season approaches, and you feel the many needless pressures of the season, look at your new baby and remember that every holiday is a chance to start over and focus on what is really important, a happy, healthy time of family, food, fun and tradition. Enjoy!