Homemade Baby Swings for the twins

It's Spring!!

The birds are chirping, the branches are budding, and the sun is deliciously warm.

We want to be outside!

Have you ever tried to keep two 9 month old babies relatively clean and safe in your yard?

I have.  And it's not all that relaxing.  A lot of our rocks are getting a saliva bath. 

I started thinking that I needed a place to contain my babies while we soak up this glorious weather.  They're kind of tired of the excersaucer. Besides, I only have one.  I thought of getting two johnny jump ups.  But they won't hang from our patio beams.  So I looked into swings.  The ones I looked at online were blue plastic with yellow rope; you know the ones.  Nothing to get excited over.

But then I came across a tutorial for making your own!  Cha-ching!  

I ended up using this tutorial because I liked the look and durability of two layers of fabric.
By the way, if you are making a swing yourself, I added foam padding, instead of the batting, to just the dowel sleeves.  I also used a steel quick link (rated to hold 660 lbs) in lieu of the steel ring because the rings I found were not recommended for supporting human weight. One yard of fabric is more than enough (it says you need two)!

The babies love them!

And so does the pre-schooler.  She asks to push them in their swings every day.

It's turned out to be the perfect activity for Graham after his surgery,
as it was hard for him to crawl with his cast (he had a pin inserted into his broken finger bone).

I think the swings could use some adjustments.  If I would have been smart, I would have made one, tried it out, and then adjusted the second one.  But I was too impatient to see this kind of cuteness!

If I had to do it again, I would make the whole swing a little smaller, with shorter dowels and shorter seat measurements.  I think the babies sink down too much in the swing, leaving their butts far lower than the opening for the legs.  So I suppose I would try making the long seat piece 4 inches shorter.  Also, the front piece between the legs could be narrower.

In another year these swings will probably be a good size for them anyway. Since they currently work, I'm hoping we get lots of swing-time logged in the meantime!

Bring on the sunny warm days!