Let me start off by introducing my favourite mini person, her name is Amri and she is almost 8 months old. She is our little ball of happiness, if I could have a penny for every time that I hear someone say “that is the happiest baby ever”, trust me I’d be a multi-millionaire. She loves human interaction so much, all she wants to do is smile at everyone and connect with everyone. She’s amazing.
So the other day I was on Pinterest and I saw this photo of a blanket poncho. It’s honestly the best idea ever. Car seat regulations say that a child should not have a jacket on while being buckled into their car seat. Like traveling in our blistering Manitoban winter with a baby isn’t bad enough! Now the process for me was as followed.
- Start the car and let it warm up for 20+ minutes
- Dress my baby up in her snow suit/jacket and go to the car
- Once in the car take off snow suit/jacket
- Buckle child into car seat
- Pile layers upon layers of blankets so she doesn’t get cold
- Once arrived at destination re-dress child in jacket and brave the cold
Now now to mention how huge of a pain in the butt this all is, but by the end of this whole process I have a cranky baby, she really doesn’t like it. To top that all off, my child hates being in her car seat, so the more content I can make her as she goes into the car seat, the less screaming I will be hearing along the drive!
Okay, now for the goods. I watched a few youtube videos on how to make these blanket ponchos, everyone kind of had their own way of doing it but they turned out similar. If possible I like to do as much as I can without sewing, I don’t mind sewing, I just find it takes up a lot more of my time then I expect, and life with a baby you value every second. I printed a pattern that I found online, tapped that all together and used that to cut my two laters of fleece. The site craftymommyathome.blogspot.ca is where I found the best directions for this no-sew approach. I ended up sewing only the hood since I preferred that look.
Well 5 hours later I have my first attempt at this blanket poncho. I admit it took a lot longer then necessary but I was learning along the way! I now feel confident to tackle a second one of these bad boys and know it will take half the time. Another cool thing about this is that it is completely reversible. I’ll post some photos of it below so you can see how fabulous it is. I’m so in love! These blanket ponchos are honestly the greatest thing ever, its hard to believe I lived without it for half of the winter. Truly revolutionary!
The saying happy wife, happy life. Don’t get me wrong that’s all true, but there is even another saying that holds stronger truth. Happy baby, happy wife! And I for one am so happy with the ease this creation has brought me, not to mention it’s pretty darn cute!
