Monday, July 19

Helping Mommy When She's Down

Sometimes the Mommy in the family goes down. She has a surgery – elective or emergency – and is told to stay off her feet for days or weeks on end. Or is pregnant and on bed rest. Or just brought home a newborn. Or catches a flu bug. Or something worse, like a life-threatening illness ...

...so how can we help? I've compiled some ideas from my experiences over the years – ways I've helped or have seen other help.  AND please add YOUR ideas in your comments so this post will be a better resource for everyone.  :-)

HOW WE CAN SERVE:

Take the kids for a play date.
Babysit at her house while she rests.
Take older kids to a movie or school shopping.
Run her errands.
Offer books or DVDs to help with boredom.
Shop her grocery list.
Take her to an appointment.
Sort her mail.
Clean her house (vacuum, dust, dishes, straighten toys).
Decorate for the current/upcoming holiday.
Do yard work: mow, rake, shovel, weed, etc.
Wash her car.
Bring her cards and notepaper to catch up on her correspondence.
Bring a flower bouquet.

BRING FOOD:
 
•  hot prepared meal;
•  "heat-'n'-serve" breakfast dish;
•  "heat-'n'-serve" dinner;
•  healthy soup;
•  fruit basket;
•  bag of groceries;
•  gift card to local restaurant that delivers;
•  plate of wraps, cold sandwiches, pasta salad;
•  veggie tray;
•  have a pizza delivered;
•  drop off baked goods, like hearty muffins or banana bread or cookies;
•  large salad with dressing on the side;

What are YOUR ideas??

PS: Enter my Giveaway until Tuesday night!!

6 comments:

Amy said...

I am currently pregnant and someone told me about this website for setting up meals once she delivers the baby. It's called mealbaby.com.

Annikke said...

I was on bedrest for 8 weeks with my second baby. The one thing I appreciated was knowing my husband and other child were being taken care of, so the meals were a huge help. I also enjoyed getting magazines to look at or books to read from friends.

jeanne @ Inspiring Ideas said...

Thanks for the tips, ladies! Congralations, Amy! And oh my, Annikke, 8 weeks is a LONG time! I've had 2 friends go through that and it's very difficult to rely on others - thankful you had lots of helping hands!!

Livin’ The Yeh Life’s said...

Wow -- I can't think of any more, but I will definitely be looking back at this post as a reference! :)

Anonymous said...

when i was "down," several people came to my house and picked up ENTIRE hampers of dirty laundry--even my friends with other children, who felt like they couldn't "hang out." they took it to their house, washed it, and returned it clean and folded.

on another occasion, when i had a miscarriage, another friend just came by and sat and in my messy kitchen, and listened to me talk for at least 3 hours. she didn't judge me, and listened to me say the same thing 20 different ways.

Sarah Joy said...

I have suffered from chronis illness and have three boys, ages 11,7 and 3. My husband travels full time and it can be very difficult. Some things that have helped me have been kid centered things like making a loaf of bread into pb&j's and then I can stash them in the freezer and my kids can pull them out for lunch if I can't get up. Also having someone send deli sandwhiches for the week for kids lunches was once a blessing to me. My mom has on several occassoins come and layed out their lunches for the entire school week so all they have to do the night before is place the days lunch in their bag and in the frig.
I have been struggling with this illness since my oldest was 2 so, a long time and have learned a lot of tricks but those are some helpful and simple ones. Also sending paper supplies (plates, bowls, napkins, utensils and cutlery) in bulk... Like a two week supply. I take this as a baby gift with my meal when I deliver a meal to a new mom. Very helpful.

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