Mini Ring Sling

I was so excited when I saw these super cute mini Beco's for little girls to carry their baby dolls in. I wanted to get one for my daughter and was immediately convinced that it was going to be one of her Christmas presents. But as I thought about it, I had a few concerns. First of all, would it be small enough for her? My daughter is super tiny, only in the 4th percentile for height and 2nd for weight. Then there was the whole issue of spending almost $30 for something that I might be able to make myself. While a soft-structured carrier might be a little above my skill level, I knew I could come up with something that would produce similar results.

After thinking on it awhile, I decided to make her a mini ring-sling. I had made a few regular ring slings using a tutorial on the Maya Wrap website that appears to no longer exist, so a mini ring sling should be pretty simple, right? I first had to figure out what to use as the rings. I would typically use rings purchased from SlingRings.com, but since this ring sling would be much smaller and carry plastic or fabric baby dolls, I didn't really think anything that fancy was necessary. So I found some large D-rings at Hobby Lobby and used those. I bought a yard of cute fabric and cut it in half so it was approximately 18"x45". I hemmed the long edges and secured the D-rings on one end. I looped the free end through the D-rings, tried it on my somewhat unwilling model, and found that it fit!



Mini Ring Sling!



A fabric that is "reversible" or cute on both sides might work better, but lets be honest folks, this is for my 20 month old. She doesn't mind! After making sure it fit, I hemmed the loose end and hid it so she would forget about it. It's now wrapped and waiting to be put under the tree. Yay for simple, inexpensive Christmas gifts!

My Grandmother's Legacy

This is my Grandmother's Legacy.

You might think it odd or even disrespectful that I consider a pot of dumplings (or Spaetzle for the rest of the world) to be my grandmother's legacy. But this pot of dumplings signifies so much more than that.

My grandma passed away this August at the age of 86. She was very much the matriarch of our family. Out of 7 brothers and sisters, she was the last one living (if any of my family reads this, I counted baby Julie). She had two daughters, five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. She was the surrogate mother and grandmother to the children and grandchildren of her sisters and brothers as they passed and welcomed anyone into the family. And she did it in the most delicious way.

My grandmother was the best cook and baker I ever met. Walking through her door always meant being greeted by the most wonderful smells imaginable, and she made everything from scratch, including soup noodles. Her food meant comfort, love, and family.

This will be the first holiday season without Grandma. While she hasn't been able to cook or bake for the last few years, her mind was still present and she was always ready to share stories and memories of the past. I will miss her more than anything. But she will always live on with us, since we still have her recipes. We will still enjoy Tarhonya, stuffed peppers, cucumber salad, berliner krantz, kifli's, kolach, angel wings, chicken and dumplings, and a bunch of other recipes that I have no idea how to spell. She taught us how to make these recipes, and when we do, we know she will be with us in spirit.