Babies, babies, everywhere.

This is my view this morning.

As my sister-in-law went out the door, she said, "Oh and her pants are on backwards if you change her."

I feel so lucky to get to be alongside she and my brother as they do these first few weeks of parenthood.

Although I'm somewhat amazed at what they don't know about babies and what they don't expect about parenting, (I'm kind of a whore for babies and I have gathered a lot of information over the last 30 years or so as payment for my diaper-changing, cry-soothing, oh-I-don't-mind-feeding-her services) I am awed by their good instincts and their general ability to live out this amazing change to their daily lives with grace, humor and pragmatism. I will not be that good.

As I talk about Baby Shashi, other people talk about the babies in their lives. Two days ago, a woman told a story about the baby blankets that her children took to college with and I remembered that Daniel and I both had blankies about which we felt the same. Shashi's maternal great-grandmother crocheted her a blanket but I had not even begun dreaming a quilt.

So, I began dreaming. I have taken large blocks of my favorite fabrics and found a way to put them together. Actually, I'm still laying out the design on the floor but I'll show you more as I go along.

Until then, I have been knitting loads of baby hats. The one I made for Shashi was the only small enough for her tiny head so I have gotten to see her in my creations already. For the most recent one I have made, I grabbed the yarn on the fly and didn't realize that it was denim cotton until I had started it. I had bought it for $.50 at the resale store and thought I'd just make another fruit hat, like I often make as evidenced by my friend's sweet baby here: However, the idea that this hat would wear with washing just like jeans was appealing to me. I decided to knit the whole hat out of one yarn and to stitch on a couple of rough squares that I cut out of an old t-shirt. I made this hat for a couple at church, who are expecting a boy. They had one of the best baby showers I have ever been to. It was more of a baby party. They held it in our church, inviting friends and family, put up a slideshow of their own baby pictures, served Sultan's Market, asked the Chinese grandpa to say a Buddhist prayer and our pastor to say read a Christian psalm, provided craft projects for us to contribute to and a Costco cake. What could be better? I had a great conversation with their midwife and we got to hang out with our church friends.

Someday Jacob and I will have a baby (not yet!) and I hope that we maintain our sanity like my brother and sister and that we can celebrate in our community like Andy and Jessi.