Rub-a-Dub-Dub

The best babysitters, of course,   are the baby’s grandparents.  You feel completely comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long periods, which is why most grandparents flee to Florida.”  Dave Barry

Is there anything sweeter than a freshly bathed baby? Is there anything slipperier than a freshly bathed baby? (The word “slipperier” looks all wrong, but trust me, this is correct. I’ve checked.)

Sweet and slippery as they are, after I nearly dropped infant Laurel lifting her from the tub, I decided that a hooded bath towel was a layette requirement, not just a nice accessory. You can “hang” the hood on baby’s head and get a good grip on The Wet One. Since this Aha! experience, it has become one of my favorite shower gifts.

Obviously, this hooded towel was made for Alastair, my third grandchild.   He was the lucky recipient of his cousins’ outgrown baby gear–their Pack’N Play, car seats, stroller, umbroller, high chair, diaper genie, exersaucer, play gym, etc. etc. His parents were very grateful for this largesse, but his mother, especially, likes to have his name or monogram on the relatively few new items that were made or purchased just for him. And, trust me again, you can’t just buy items off the rack with the name Alastair embroidered or printed on them.

This hooded bath towel is a ready-to-embroider blank baby knit, available with pink, blue, yellow or green trim(available as soon as the “store” of this web site is up). The embroidery design has text combined from Amazing Designs Bath Time and the tub baby from Bernina’s Hush Baby Bear.

I want to apologize for the unusual setting and poor quality of some of the photos in this blog.  For some time now, even with the flash on my camera, I have been unable to take good pictures indoors. On problem is that my home has no white walls and the paint color seems to affect the shade of the garment.  With a huge amount of time fiddling with editing programs, I have been able to render some of them marginally acceptable, but it seems that nothing compares to our bright Florida sunshine.

So mid-afternoon, I tromp around the yard looking for some fresh location to prop my sewing. Thus, the shot of the bath towel hanging from a tangerine tree. I’ll be the first to admit that I am certainly no great photographer. Neither can I cook. Among other things, I am grateful that my dear husband loves restauant dining.

But I’m a heck of a gardener and I sew pretty well.  I like to think that and my parenting/grandparenting skills help to make up for my many other shortcomings.