Amalia presenting Jenn with a gift
We drove Amalia home after the graduation party last night and were surprised with a special gift. Amalia had gotten some kind of crib/bassinet from a neighbor to give to us for the baby. The bassinet has two hooks that hang it from a base and allow it to swing. She told us in broken English and some Spanish how her neighbor was going to get rid of it and how she took it home and polished it all up for us. It has an old huge floppy pillow for a mattress that doesn’t fit well. I think Amalia may have made the blanket for us; it is crocheted on one side and wool on the other. I’m not quite sure of the full story since we have trouble communicating anything more than just basic information. 🙂 Amalia told me if I don’t like the pillow I can sleep with it instead. As I was listening to her as she got the crib ready from her garage, I tried to think of how I could refuse. First of all, we already have a beautiful crib that was given to us. In picking it out, I had been very careful about safety. Secondly, a baby is supposed to sleep on a firm surface, which that pillow definitely is not. Everything I have read over the past few months about cribs raced through my mind. As Amalia told her story, I realized there was no way I was going to be able to say no. I was touched by her thoughtfulness and hard work to clean the crib and get it ready for us. It was a very sweet gesture. I am also learning in the Hispanic culture, you cannot tell one of the older women no. Not only would it be completely insulting, they would simply do it anyway no matter what you said. So I thanked her profusely and accepted the gift. And now we have another sleeping spot for Curly Bean. Maybe it will go in our bedroom as a bassinet for the first few months. As soon as Curly Bean starts moving though, I think it will be unsafe. Or it may be a lovely decoration or a place to store stuffed animals. I joked to Tim that I might have to put Barkley in there and swing him around for a bit to test it. Perhaps a heavy watermelon will work also! Don’t worry- I will figure something out! 🙂 Obviously someone’s baby slept there in the past and survived…
Tim and Jenn's Journey 
It looks like a cradle I had when my boys were babies — I used it maybe a couple of times when Michael was born but not often and don’t remember even having it out for Timothy and Christopher, but it was cute! I used the porta-crib (they are called pack-n-play’s now) rather than the cradle – it was much sturdier and easier. I like your idea about putting the stuffed animals in it if you have space, but I don’t think Barkley will like it!
We have a cradle very similar to that one that my dad built when I was born. We, too, were worried about safety, but appreciated the sentimentality of it, so we put in BabyBear’s room and it holds stuffed animals (mostly the bears he’s received).