When my son was born, a dear family friend gave him what she called a “floor blanket” that she sewed. It is basically a giant, soft blanket for the baby to lay on (in case you missed the subtle words like “floor” and “blanket”). On one side is cute fabric that matches his room. On the other side is chenille so it will grip the carpet and not slide all over the place.

I cannot put into words how much I love that blanket. When Cason was a baby, he played on it constantly. I would put toys on it and he could just sit there and enjoy life. He hated his floor gym so this was a great alternative. We have a dog and I don’t vacuum all the time (shocking, no?) so the blanket was a great way to keep dog hair and other, ahem, grossness off of him. Now that he’s older, he loves to cuddle up with his ‘cubbers’ (covers) as he calls it. Also, if he’s playing with a toy set that has lots of pieces, we put the blanket down and I tell him to keep the pieces on it…which is great since we don’t have a lot of space or a playroom.

When Kendall was born, I was secretly hoping I would get one for her too (heaven knows I wasn’t going to sew one for her). I has thrilled when I received one. It was great because she was born in December so for the first few months of her life, we would cover up her carrier with the blanket and it was so big and heavy, we didn’t have to worry about it blowing off in the cold Oklahoma wind. We take it outside with us for her to sit on, we take it to her grandparents house. And they wash great too (a must if it’s going to be at my house). I cannot stress how great these have been for us. I highly recommend something like that to all new parents.