Jenny Garland

Crafting with Compassion ... Wanna help?

Mama to Mama is a craftivism site recently launched by Amanda Blake Soule. Her intent is to provide crafters an opportunity to help others in a compassionate, meaningul way. The first project is "The Caps to Cap-Haitien Project: A Partnership with Konbit Sante, which will initially provide newborn jersey caps to be distributed in Safe Birthing Kits in northern Haiti."

(how cute are these?!)
image courtesy of Amanda Blake Soule

Take a look at these staggering statistics (taken from the Mama to Mama site):

"In northern Haiti:

• Just 1 in 5 women receives skilled medical care during childbirth.
• Haiti has the highest maternal mortaility ratio in the Western Hemisphere.
• 1 in 40 women will die as a result of pregnancy complications, unsafe abortion, or obstetrical emergency.
• Twelve percent of children die before the age of 5.

Konbit Sante is a Maine-based volunteer partnership working to save lives and improve health care in northern Haiti. In Haitian Creole, a konbit is a traditional method of working together to till your friends' and neighbors fields as well as your own - a cooperative effort. Sante means health. The name defines their committment to address the staggering health problems in northern Haiti where most lack basic care and live without running water.

One aspect of their work involves OB/GYN care . Konbit Sante is working to assemble Safe Birthing Kits to be distributed by traditional birth attendants in the desperately poor Fort St. Michel area of Cap-Haitien. These kits - consisting of plastic sheeting, hand sanitizer, a sterile piece of string and razor blade, and these newborn baby caps - have the potential to reduce infant and maternal mortality, and give babies a safer, healthier start."

So what can you do to help?

* Gather old t-shirts you no longer wear

* Download the newborn cap PDF

* Sew or serge the simple pattern (one large t-shirt will make approximately two newborn caps). If you are not interested in sewing but have t-shirts you would like to donate, I would absolutely love to receive them in the mail and I will sew the newborn caps for you and donate them. Leave me a comment if you are interested.

* Mail your finished hats to Soule Mama (see address on her site) by December 10th, 2008 or t-shirts you would like repurposed to me by November 20, 2008.

This is such an easy way to potentially help so many. I hope you'll join me :)

Toaster, Booby, and a Trip to the Dentist

Toaster Garland (she's dropped the "Quacky" for those of you who keep up with the blog) took her first trip to the dentist this morning. It was a success and she thought everything about it was pretty fun, well ... except for the part where the dental hygienist and dentist need to actually look in your mouth. That part required restraint. But the dentist quickly got back on Toaster's good side thanks to Mojo the monkey, a balloon, and a prize.

On another note, yesterday Kate and I were running errands and she spotted this lovely (note sarcasm) dog purse. The back of the pug actually unzips, people. It's creepy. Anyway, Kate fell madly in love and it was cheap, so the dog came home with us. When we got to the car I asked Kate what she wanted to name the dog.

She thought about it for a few seconds and said "Booby."

Um, what?

I said "Buddy?"

She said "Nope. Booby. Booby Garland."

So, dear Booby Garland has joined Kate's entourage of stuffed friends (Choo Choo, Purple Lovey, Other Lovey, Toasty, Meatball, Bear Friend, Jelly Bunny, Taryn, Cinnamon, Abby, and Pumpkin Pie). It is my honor to introduce the newest member of our family, Miss Booby Garland (who is clearly thrilled about joining our brood):

A Car Seat Organizer

I was tired of shoving Kate's toys and books in the back pockets of my car every time we took the car somewhere. I was in need of more space in my Honda Accord to keep Kate's toys organized, especially with Baby Garlando on the way. I saw this tutorial for a car caddy and thought JACKPOT! I used only fabric scraps (I'm on a big stash busting kick lately if you've noticed) and made this:

Kate is quite capable of cleaning up her toys at each pit stop and thinks it's pretty cool to have her own car caddy :)

Sorry for the crummy pic, it's from my phone.