Monday, July 17, 2006
Item purchased pre-child
Good afternoon Blogland! I hope you had a great weekend. We sure did. We got together with friends twice, went swimming, took naps, went to the library, created an art masterpiece, and I even had time to read part of a good book!
So, I have a question for you. What was the first item you purchased before your child was born?
For me it was this children's easel set. I bought this easel shortly after Oronzo and I were married, before we'd really gotten serious about researching our adoption options. Let's see, that must've been about 3 years ago then.
I was driving home from running errands one Saturday morning and I saw a garage sale going on in my neighborhood, so I stopped by to take a peek. My attention was immediately drawn to the easel.
As I walked around it, taking stock of the paint containers, the brushes, the chalkboard with colored chalk on one side and the eraser board on the other, the owner of the house walked up and said, "Our children loved this easel, but they've outgrown it. Do you have children?"
"Not yet," I replied wistfully, "but we're hoping to become parents in the near future."
It wasn't hard to image a child of ours standing with a paint brush in hand before this easel, so I bought it for a mere $5.00 and took it home in my trunk. When I walked in the door with it Oronzo asked, "What is that for?"
"It's for our future child!" I explained excitedly. Oronzo looked skeptical but wisely didn't say another word as I set up the easel in our guestroom. Some hopeful parents are comforted by a decorated nursery. I was never brave enough to decorate a nursery ahead of time, so I took comfort in this children's easel instead.
I lugged this easel with us during two different moves and I know Oronzo often thought it was ridiculous to keep it when we could easily go purchase a new one at the appropriate time. But, I wasn't about to get rid of this first purchase for our child.
And this past weekend, I finally got my wish. I got to see my child with paintbrush in hand before this easel. As you can see in the picture, Snuggle Bug is still a little small and had trouble reaching up to paint, but it worked!
He alternated between painting with the brush and painting with his hands. He had a great time getting messy with paint!
Of course, the colors in the paint containers got mixed quickly because Snuggle Bug double dipped frequently. The paint brush and his hands were quite a jumble of colors as well.
My camera even got paint all over it too, as I tried to take pictures and help Snuggle Bug at the same time!
This was supposed to be washable paint, but his hands had stains on them after I washed him up and his clothes are possibly stained too. I'll have to see if Spray-N-Wash will get the paint out.
I'll tell you what, all the mess was well worth it! Snuggle
Bug had a blast painting, I experienced the joy of having my son use the very first item purchased for him, I now have a "first painting" masterpiece to frame and hang on the wall, and I have some great pictures to commemorate the experience!
So again I ask, What was the first item you purchased before your child was born? Was it a toy, was it clothes, was it a picture frame, was it an entire nursery set?
Did you take pictures of your child with that item? Please tell me I'm not the only sentimental Mama to do this!
So, I have a question for you. What was the first item you purchased before your child was born?
For me it was this children's easel set. I bought this easel shortly after Oronzo and I were married, before we'd really gotten serious about researching our adoption options. Let's see, that must've been about 3 years ago then.I was driving home from running errands one Saturday morning and I saw a garage sale going on in my neighborhood, so I stopped by to take a peek. My attention was immediately drawn to the easel.
As I walked around it, taking stock of the paint containers, the brushes, the chalkboard with colored chalk on one side and the eraser board on the other, the owner of the house walked up and said, "Our children loved this easel, but they've outgrown it. Do you have children?"
"Not yet," I replied wistfully, "but we're hoping to become parents in the near future."
It wasn't hard to image a child of ours standing with a paint brush in hand before this easel, so I bought it for a mere $5.00 and took it home in my trunk. When I walked in the door with it Oronzo asked, "What is that for?"
"It's for our future child!" I explained excitedly. Oronzo looked skeptical but wisely didn't say another word as I set up the easel in our guestroom. Some hopeful parents are comforted by a decorated nursery. I was never brave enough to decorate a nursery ahead of time, so I took comfort in this children's easel instead.
I lugged this easel with us during two different moves and I know Oronzo often thought it was ridiculous to keep it when we could easily go purchase a new one at the appropriate time. But, I wasn't about to get rid of this first purchase for our child.
And this past weekend, I finally got my wish. I got to see my child with paintbrush in hand before this easel. As you can see in the picture, Snuggle Bug is still a little small and had trouble reaching up to paint, but it worked!
He alternated between painting with the brush and painting with his hands. He had a great time getting messy with paint!Of course, the colors in the paint containers got mixed quickly because Snuggle Bug double dipped frequently. The paint brush and his hands were quite a jumble of colors as well.
My camera even got paint all over it too, as I tried to take pictures and help Snuggle Bug at the same time!
This was supposed to be washable paint, but his hands had stains on them after I washed him up and his clothes are possibly stained too. I'll have to see if Spray-N-Wash will get the paint out.
I'll tell you what, all the mess was well worth it! Snuggle
Bug had a blast painting, I experienced the joy of having my son use the very first item purchased for him, I now have a "first painting" masterpiece to frame and hang on the wall, and I have some great pictures to commemorate the experience! So again I ask, What was the first item you purchased before your child was born? Was it a toy, was it clothes, was it a picture frame, was it an entire nursery set?
Did you take pictures of your child with that item? Please tell me I'm not the only sentimental Mama to do this!
19 Comments:
You aren't the only one! I purchased a bib from my husband's alma mater. That was right after we decided that it was time to start our family! Though I secretly drove around the neighborhood scoping out garage sales for toys for the backyard for our future child...though my husband was on to me and would quickly change my mind!
Snuggle Bug is precious and what a perfect way to remember such an event!
LeAnna
I purchased-- well, actually, my husband purchased-- a large stuffed rocking moose. No child yet, but damn do I love that moose, as do all the children who visit our house. (I'm a good sharer.)
As for your easel, this was one of those entries where the two pictures were just worth a thousand words. They just made me smile so hugely for you and for the culmination of that long-ago hope!
I bought so much stuff during our years of infertility. I would find little decorative things for the nursery on sale, constantly finding sales on kids clothes, etc. I think I thought it would help our chances - you know, if I buy this cute little outfit, I am destined to get pregnant this month. It ended up for a while being rather depressed, not pregnant and then finding this drawer full of little baby stuff. I can now say that I have actually used most of the stuff with our girls and I continue to buy things and save them for years in advance for them. We didn't buy big things for the nursery until we had decided to adopt, but a few weeks after we signed up to adopt, we painted the nursery and set up a crib with some of the little stuffed animals etc in it, then we were going to bring my parents up and surprise them by bringing them back there and videotaping their reaction to our news of adopting -- well an extra little surprise was the day before we were going to tell them we got the call that a little girl - OUR little girl was born! So we surprised them by showing them the nursery, telling them we were adopting, and telling them they had a granddaughter all at the same time and all caught on videotape - it was great!! Sorry, got a little carried away on my comment, but your post brought back so many memories!! :)
I was buying books for my kids back when I was a teenager. But for Madison in particular, there were clothes we bought during our infertility that I saved and saved and to put those on her (and take her picture) was immensely satisfying!
Well, I had all the baby items I would need before my girls came home, but I'd say the items I bought that were the most sentimental were bracelets. I knew beforehand with each girl, that I was having a girl. My oldest daughter had a little yellow gold chain bracelet, and my baby has a sterling silver bracelet. SlowMo wore hers until it didn't fit anymore, and the baby has had hers on since she was 1 month old. You can see it in several of her pics on my blog. I never take it off, and she never messes with it, she just thinks it's part of her arm. Eventually she will outgrow it, and it'll go in my jewelry box with her sister's bracelet. One day I will give them their bracelets to give to their children. (although slomo says she's never having children.)
My first baby purchase was a tiny little yellow cotton togue - purchased when I was three months pregnant with my first child. It was all I would let myself buy for a very long time.
The hat, by the way, was so tiny that it only fit one of the kids - my third, who was three weeks early!
I just found your blog - i LOVE that you let your child express himself like that! I do believe it helps with the creative mind (coming from an art major)
Anyway - i wanted to ask about the pictures on the left of your blog - is it Ireland?? Where? I love the pics and miss Ireland so much....
I would bet most hopeful parents do this, too. For me, after we had been trying to conceive for awhile, my husband and I bought a little sleeper with a cute animal print that could be for a boy or a girl. I would take it out and look at it when I was especially down, and would sometimes keep it under my pillow. I remember that the first time I put it on my daughter, I cried.
I had bought a few books and movies (Disney!) before we even discussed having children, knowing we would have at least one ... God willing more ... I have a crush on that easel! Becca has one too and loves it!
What a great first item you picked up at a great price! I know you're glad you went with your instinct and bought that for $5! What cute photos and what a beautiful first masterpiece to frame!
The very first thing I bought was a bib that said "Daddy's Little Angel" and I gave that DH as a way of telling him I was pregnant!
I love this story!! And the pictures of the future Picasso are wonderful too. For BooBoo I bought a blue teddy bear that she still has...she calls him Blueberry Bear. And for Kel??? Man, I wish I could remember for sure, but it seems to me it was a plastic key set at one of the learning toy parties I was at when I was pregnant with him.
It was over 50 years ago. It must have been diapers. I know the crib came later.
Exciting am I not?
That is so lovely! He looks like a regular little Picasso! There's something about kids and paint!
I am hanging my head in shame as I really do not remember what the first thing was I bought for Munchkin! I just remember coming home from yet another baby-shopping trip and thinking: "How much stuff can one baby nèèd?"
(Answer: Lots!)
Have a great day!
Mine was more practical: with twins on the way I knew I needed somewhere to sleep them, so I bought a set (from two different retailers off of Ebay) of Bassinets and some slings to tote them around in. I should have bought a good twine nursing pillow, but you know what they say about hind sight.
Well, I had a few toys and videos floating around my house that I purchased when my sister and niece would live with us for a couple of months (this happened 3 times) while her husband was deployed.
But the first item I bought was a little cream colored romper with sheep on it when the Gap Outlet near us opened, along with the matching hat. This was right before our first IVF cycle. That little outfit stayed snugly in its box and Widget wore it on her first day home. I think when I took it out to wash it after we were matched with her firstmom was a very emotional moment for me and then to have her wear it. Sigh.
I'm a huge garage-saler. :) What Can I say...I just LOVE To find treasures (at least to me) at a good price. So before our boyo Justin was born I garage-saled like crazy...I got toys!!!!! :) I also picked up some clothes for him. He's outgrown the clothes, the toys...well..since I do the hide and shuffle the toys are always new! (at least for now anyways).
You would not believe all of the clothes we ruined with our easle and paints. I finally just started keeping the stained stuff and when we decide to paint on go our painters clothes. Except for my two year old, she prefers painting al fresco and in the buff.;o)
The first thing I bought was a Basset crib and matching dresser in mint condition at a garage sale for $50.00. My son used it and so did my three daughters (my youngest still does). I would say it was well worth the 50 bucks. I will NEVER get rid of it but instead I will save it for their children some day.
I made an afghan for the baby I didn't yet have. It unfortunately was lost when our house burned, but we snuggled with it many a cold night.
That is so sweet! Little Picaso! I brought a teddybear in faith that one day our child would play with it.
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