On to the topic of the day. Yesterday I went to one of our monthly babywearing meetings. These are seriously one of the ONLY meetings that I actually enjoy. The group I'm involved in is Babywearing International of Greater Austin. I'll share some quick and dirty details but if you want to learn more go here. And if you want to join our facebook page please do! We love having new people join us. Just click here for the facebook page.
Do you want to find a babywearing group near you? Head over here and see if there is one locally. If not, feel free to join one of the several babywearing groups in facebook like babywearing 102 and I BET that you will find at least one other person who is also a babywearer in your area.
So a little about how our local group works and please know not every group does the exact same things but if they are associated with Babywearing International then they do follow some of the same rules. We have two official meetings a month where we have trained educators who run workshops along with a library of carriers available to check out for the general public. We have an awesomely huge library selection and you can check out one carrier a month for only $5 per rental. Considering that carriers range from $30 on up to $100+ that's a great deal especially when it comes to trying to find a carrier that fits your needs. You can also become a member for the year and if you choose to go that route you get to rent a carrier a month for free with your membership.
Beyond just the educational and library piece it is also a group of great women. A place where parents can come and feel accepted and let their kids run around like banshee's without being judged. There is lots of conversations that happen that aren't always just about babywearing but parenting or just life in general. It's a great outlet. We also try to do a few social gatherings a month that are just play dates for those interested. This is one of the only parenting groups that I have stuck with since searching out a community when Hannah was first born. I tried a lot out too. I love this group and they get me.
 |
| This is just my stash....we are so geeky we all bring our carriers to the meetings |
Yesterday I made the trip out to round rock so Hannah could have some play time with her buddies. Since I am an educator I rarely get to go to meetings without having some duty to complete which is fine because I actually love teaching. Yesterday I taught mei tais, not to be confused with the drink Mai Tai's however delicious they might be. We will get into the different types of carriers in another post I promise. We discussed nursing in carriers as our special topic yesterday which prompted some epic pictures (see below). This group has also directly contributed to my comfort level with boobs in public. They are not afraid to nurse their babies and this group is a safe place to do just that. We generally have a large very mixed group at this meeting which I highly appreciate. I got to talk to parents of itty bitty babies, pregnant parents and parents who were trying to learn new tricks and tips but had been babywearing for a while. I was able to help a couple rent a carrier to try out for both mom and dad. I was also able to demonstrate how to modify a front carry to fit a newborn better, how to hip carry and how to back carry with getting baby on your back in 3 different ways. I love when I feel like I actually helped people! After we were done some of us stayed around for about an hour and just chatted and played with carriers. These were mostly leaders but not all.
One of the epic things that happened was that I was able to try out my first handwoven wrap. This may mean nothing to you. Let me try to explain. Before we had kids I was obsessed with nice shoes and purses. I'm not talking like $40 purses from any store. I'm talking like Kate Spade (my fav), Cole Haan, maybe a little Betsy Johnson here and there if it's not too crazy. I loved touching them and looking at them from afar or close up. I would wait for the yearly clearance sales so I could maybe score something awesome or just dream about owning something awesome. At one point I owned two Kate Spade diaper bags, one with polka dots and it doesn't get much better than that. So, this obsession has moved on to baby carriers. I'm also a fabric geek. Like one of those people who will buy an item of clothing just because it's ridiculously soft. I will pay a stupid amount of money for something bamboo because it's so soft. So my excitement over a crazy long piece of fabric that also allows me to use it for a practical reason really makes a lot of sense. Handwoven wraps are coveted because they are super supportive and someone takes hours and hours of their time to lovingly create this one of a kind product for you to love your baby with. They are not cheap either so they should be coveted. Well, I got to try this beautiful Woven Rainbow and it made my 25 pound baby feel weightless. It was so soft and I may have fell in love. I'm now stalking their facebook page in hopes of one day getting a custom slot before I'm done babywearing! The stupid piece to all of this is that I was so excited I actually forgot to take a picture! Ugh!
Outside of a quick carry into and out of the meeting yesterday and our brief foray with the pretty Woven Rainbow we didn't actually wear a whole lot. Will did wear Hannah at target last night on our trip for a sugar splurge but that was our day!
No comments:
Post a Comment