Gifts

Written by Alli

I'm taking a different route this post.  One of the hardest things for me as an adoptive mom is coming up with perfect gifts for Carter's birth mom.  I thought it might be helpful to share what I've given for anyone looking for a perfect gift. :)

1.  Gift Basket from Bath and Body Works full of lotion, body spray, feet scrub, and socks. - We gave this to E the first time we met her.  We definitely didn't want to show up empty handed and everyone likes to smell nice.

2.  Minky Blanket - When Carter was born, we brought E flowers and a blanket from Minky Couture.  This is the softest blanket ever made and we figured she would need something to curl up with.

3.  Personalized Necklace - We gave E a necklace similar to this at placement along with personal letters.  She loves it and wears it every day.  The woman who runs the Etsy shop was amazing.  She had everything ready to go and overnighted the necklace to me after we had Carter's birth date on it, so we would have it in time for placement.  

4.  Instagram Book - We made these adorable little books from Prinstagram for Valentine's Day.  One delicious little book just full of our adorable little Carter.

5.  We sent this picture one month "Just Because".  It was fairly easy to make.  We just used a stamp pad, put Carter's hand's and feet on the ink and stamped the paper.  

6.  For Carter's one year birthday, we sent E a book of all our emails from the first time she contacted us until Carter's one year birthday.  It is one of my most prized possessions.  You can make yours here:  Memeoirs

7.  For Valentine's Day this year, we sent her a mug similar to this.  You can purchase it from Etsy here, but I figured it wouldn't be that hard to make, so I just did it myself.  I can be crafty sometimes. :)

8.  For Birth Mother's Day this year, we made a book from Shutterfly about, "A Day in the Life of Carter".  I took pictures all day of Carter, from waking up to going to bed and put them in a book.  I included everything from eating to playing to napping to bathing.  It was around 40 pages when it was finished and was a great way for E to see exactly what Carter does all day.  

These are just some of the gifts.  If you have any other gift ideas, please leave them in the comments.  There can never be enough help thinking up gift ideas.