It's Not Just for Babywearing!

Babywearing is so awesome BUT it can be seen as expensive. I see it as an investment in my well being and my bond with my child. Also, there are so many other ways that carriers can be helpful depending on what is in your stash and they don't have to be expensive! Just a few ways that you can use a carrier besides wearing your baby (some options can only be applied to specific types of carriers, woven wraps being the most versatile in not only babywearing but also, non babywearing) .

• As a high chair strap since EVERY single freaking strap on the high chairs at restaurants are broken! Seriously, invest in some new straps people. I have tied Hannah onto a high chair more than once.
• To make a chair into a high chair 
• As a blanket 
• As a hammock or swing because woven wraps can hold over 200 lbs. Why wouldn't you want to use it for this purpose!
• As a scarf
• As a play toy. I can't tell you how much my child loves playing with my carriers
• As a containment device. No stairway gate...no problem!
• As a pillow
• As a wrap for your belly both through pregnancy and post partum for support. Now you don't have to waste your money on those belly support belts that you use for like 2 months
•  As a pet carrier (although my pets don't get to ride in my carriers)
• A table cloth
• A sun shield in the car for napping

And some suggestions from William

• A parachute because clearly Macguyver wouldn't be the only one thinking about this possibility
• To escape upper story fires
• As a defensive devise if you have to fend off an intruder or attacker (Will says they would never see it coming, one minute it looks harmless, the next minute they are being strangled)
• For a game of tug of war
• To carry someone (not a baby) who is hurt out of danger

Ok, some of these things I have done and some not so much but don't you appreciate the variety we have here? This was just kind of a fun family topic to discuss so I hope you enjoyed the outcome. 

Yesterday's Babywearing

We had a busy day yesterday. It was the last day of Will's staycation so we decided to enjoy it as a family. After we got up and moving we went to this AWESOME restaurant called Gourmand's in Austin. They have the most delicious beer broccoli cheese soup in the most ridiculous bread bowl. It is kind of a pub/hole in the wall so we assumed they didn't have high chairs. Well, they did which is great however there were no snaps on the waist strap. We didn't end up having to do it but I almost ran to the car to get a carrier to lock my child in. Thank goodness they brought her a grilled cheese before our food to entertain her. Thank you smart and kind waitress!! Then we ran a few errands and came home.

I tried to get little miss to nap but of course that didn't happen. It hasn't happened for over a week now so that's super fun. So, instead of napping, we went and played outside. We cleaned up leaves, played in the little tikes car, walked the neighborhood and visited our neighbor while Hannah ran around in their yard getting tired.

I kind of thought this was going to be a no babywearing day for us which would have been strange. But then it happened. I had just started making dinner and Hannah got super whiny and only wanted me. Great. So, I put her up in one of my wraps so she could join the dinner fun and she was out within minutes. This is a rare occurrence, as much as we , to have Hannah fall asleep in a carrier. She is a very curious child and doesn't like missing anything. Needless to say, I wasn't about to complain so I continued making dinner, washed dishes and even sat and played on the computer.















She slept on my back in a wrap for almost an hour. At one point her head was flopping around and thanks to babywearing daddy he helped me secure her head so she was comfortable and supported. We rocked it even at 14 weeks pregnant. She woke up, ate a great dinner and played for the rest of the evening. Great, great day.

You Baby What?!?

For almost 17 months now my husband and I have embarked on a journey to be the best parents that we can be. In that journey we have discovered babywearing. Yes, baby wearing, not baby carrying, baby pushing or baby pulling, babywearing. We are those people that you give the side eye to, make snide comments in your head about, or outright laugh at because you don't understand it. Or maybe we are the people that you approach because you have been curious because you have wanted to learn more but didn't have anyone to ask. The people that will happily talk to another family about babywearing and maybe even walk across a parking lot to say hi to a fellow babywearer. We are those people that smile politely if you make comments about how cute our baby is or make comments about how our baby should be down walking. We are THOSE people!! Gasp. 

Truly, there are things that you don't understand until you become a parent. I could write a whole post about the things I said I was and wasn't going to do before I gave birth. Babywearing was on my radar thanks to our Doula and Bradley class teacher but it wasn't something I ever thought I would be passionate about. I just thought it was something I would do, like changing a diaper (although I have chosen to cloth diaper and that comes with a whole other myriad of friends and family shaking their heads and being confused). In our household we do things because they work for us and they make sense for us. Babywearing makes so much sense to us as a family that we don't question it, we just ask "Which carrier to you want to take". I am so passionate about it that I became a Volunteer Babywearing Educator with my local babywearing group. I teach people how to safely use baby carriers and what it out there to fit your needs. It's fun and I love it! I get to meet moms who are just like me. People who don't question my intentions or addictions to carriers. Outside of that group, however, we get lots of questions and comments. Here are an example of just a few:

• When does your baby walk?
• Won't that make your child bow-legged?
• Aren't you spoiling your baby?
• What is babywearing? That sounds funny
• Why don't you use a stroller, it's so much easier!
• Isn't your baby too big to be carried?
• What kind of crazy person carries their baby after they can walk?
• Why do you need so many carriers, isn't one enough?
• Those things are crazy expensive! Why wouldn't you spend  your money on something so useless?
• Your a volunteer babywearing educator.......(insert confused expression here). What exactly do you teach people?

The comments are probably even better but you get the point. I'm not here to judge people who don't do what we do. In fact, I try really hard as a parent to not judge other parents for the choices they make because we have enough guilt, we don't need more piled on. I will most definitely make comparisons between babywearing and using a stroller. I'm not judging you for using a stroller but I may be confused at times as to why you would want to depending on the circumstance! Hopefully, I can answer some questions, cross out some myths and open your eyes to the awesome world of babywearing. So here we go! 

Yesterday's Babywearing Adventures

Yesterday we started off with babywearing. Hannah got up and I had to take the dogs out to go to the bathroom. So, we move through our usual routine of changing the diaper, changing out of our pajamas and then taking the dogs out back. We don't have a fenced in yard and my dogs are crazy chihuahuas. My child is also almost 17 months old and can run like nobodies business. 

So, in order to accomplish this task and make everyone happy, I put Hannah up in a carrier and take the dogs out. This way, I don't have to chase after her or listen to her scream from the house because I left her behind. Sure, I could put shoes on her and let her run around but why would I put myself through that stress? I have done that before and it usually turns out with Hannah running toward the street and me tripping on the dogs/leashes while chasing after her. Not a good way to start the day. Then after going outside there is feeding time for the pups. Since they don't like Hannah all that much they either get cornered off somewhere that she can't get to them or we have to watch very closely to make sure no one gets hurt. Since Hannah was already in a carrier, I fed them, made breakfast for both of us then we proceeded to eat after taking Hannah out of the carrier obviously. 

Next was a few hours later when I was getting ready to go for the day. Will was watching Hannah and she was being needy. Now all parents know this time. When you have tons of things to do but your child senses that and decides they just want to be held. So, Will's solution...up you go! Usually at the house she quickly gets the snuggles she wants and within 10-20 minutes is ready to  be let loose to terrorize again. BTW, babywearing daddies are sexy!

We decided to have a fun family day since we don't get many days off together so we headed out to the McKenna Children's Museum in New Braufels. I had no idea this even existed until recently but man am I glad someone suggested it. It's AWESOME as you can see in this non-babywearing related picture!

We didn't actually carry Hannah at the museum. We did however take a carrier with us in case she needed up time. What this means is that we strapped a carrier to our waist and continued hands free like normal into the craziness called a children's museum. When you first walk through the doors you see all these cubbies and tons of strollers. Now here is one of those times I don't get it. Why would I want to put all the effort into getting my stroller and belongings out just to leave it at the front door where it creates a barrier for people, leaves all my goodies available for people to walk off with and puts all my stuff at child level so they can dig in and run off with it? I don't get it.

See, carrier attached and not left behind. Genius!

We were able to walk around with everything we needed on our person and navigate through the chaos without bumping into anyone with a giant stroller because the space wasn't big enough to handle 50 screaming toddlers, toys, a parent and a stroller.

 

After this we ended our day at the grocery store. Now, I don't have a picture of this because I would just look weird taking a picture of my husband at the grocery store with a giant camera. I don't want to be that weird person ;-) My husband almost ALWAYS wears Hannah when we are shopping. He just likes it. It hasn't always been that way and in fact he used to insist on the stroller. We will get to that story eventually. You may wonder why we don't just put Hannah in the cart and push her while we are shopping because surely that would be easier. It's not. Every now and then we do make the decision to let her sit in the cart but usually what ends up happening is halfway through she doesn't want to be in the cart so she ends up turning around, trying to stand up, grabbing everything from the cart and throwing it and on and on. Sometimes, those trips even end up with us carrying her in arms while pushing and let me tell you, my arms aren't build to hold a 24lb toddler for more than a few minutes. I applaud you parents who do it but I don't understand why you would want to if you had the choice. So, at the store Hannah goes on daddy's back were she gets to interact face to face with all the people scoping her out and playing with her from afar. She gets to be a part of the grocery shopping trip and enjoy it with the rest of us instead of us all making it into a choatic and less than fun trip like I have both experienced and seen many people go through. Carrying Hannah is a huge bonus for Will because he gets lots of attention, stares and whispers and adoring looks from both women and children alike. As a bonus, we get to keep Hannah away from the creepy people you meet and if they are going to be creepy up close they have to do it within our personal space!

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Questions and Reviews

I have been promising this post for months now to those who are actual interested. I'll tell you what the issue has been. It's not that I didn't have the information that I wanted to post, it's that I didn't have to answer to WHERE I wanted to post it. When I don't have an answer, my brain gets blocked and NOTHING happens. I go into total avoidance mode. Not the best move but whatever, it's just a blog. So the question was, do I start a whole new blog to attach to my business (cough, 512 Cherry Lane, cough) or do I just make it easy and write it on my personal blog that I use to share with family and friends. I himmed and hawed about sharing all of my back story with people who aren't family or friends but ultimately my laziness has taken over and I have decided I don't want to create another blog so here you are and we are just going to consider you all family and friends if you are reading this. Because lets be honest, you are taking your time to read the crap that I am writing so you must be some sort of family or friend!

So now that that is decided, lets talk about the other issue. My blog name. It was originally named and baby makes three 1. because I'm horrible at making up names and 2. because it was a simple explanation of my life at the time. Daddy + Mommy + Baby = 3! Well, now are are due with baby number 2. That makes four. How am I doing on my math? Since we know we want more than 2, I figure the title with once again make sense when we move on to child number three because then it will be counting off children. Totally makes sense right. I like to rationalize things out, again, to support my laziness. OK, on to this review that most of you probably don't know what I'm even referring to.

The Review

Here is the link to the review

In General

If your curious about the down and dirty regarding the baby carriers: Beco Soliel and Standard Tula here is what I found. The Soliel has shoulder straps that unbuckle where the Tula does not. Straps that unbuckle allow you to cross the straps when you want this added comfort as well as do a hip carry. This feature may or may not be important to you. The waist buckle for the Soliel is in the middle with adjustment on both sides. Tula's buckle is off to the side so there is only one strap to adjust. I recently found out that manufacturers choose to put the buckle in the middle because it allows for more adjustability with less strap hanging. On the other side, the buckle off to the side doesn't allow for less of a muffin top effect for us larger ladies. The shoulder strap adjustments are opposite on the carriers. The Soliel you pull back where the Tula you pull forward. This is really a personal preference thing and you get used to either way. Both have waist pockets, adjustable straps on the shoulder to make them even smaller and have a chest strap. Soliel buckles are all safety release buckles where Tula's are not. Both carriers come with standard hoods.

When I got picky

When I started to look closer, here is what I found. Tula waist padding is wider but slightly shorter. It is also more contoured and has three dfined sections to wrap around your waist where the soliel is one section of slightly denser padding. The pckets on both the carriers are nearly identical with Tula being slighly larger to the eye and Soleil having a toy loop and larger velcro. The Soliel has a lot more room to grow with the waist BUT both will easily adjust to fit a plus size frame easily. Both have safety elastic to go around the buckles in case they don't hold for any reason (most buckle carriers if not all will have these). Both also have darted seats to create a nice seat for your baby. Both also have legs out padding but it is noticeable thicker on the Tula and wider on the Soliel. Both have contoured head rests but Soliel's is padded. Tula's straps are thicker with noticably denser padding where the Soliel straps are wider. Soliel has hidden plastic snaps for the hood on the front of the carrier where Tula's metal snaps are on the inside body of the carrier by babies head. This may or may not bother you. Soleil's shoulder strap to body adjustment or perfect fit adjusters is much longer than the tula's, at least double the length and there is a toy loop on the strap.The Soleil's strap padding is a few inches longer but because of where the buckle attaches to the carriers, Tula' straps have fabric that is between you and the buckle to prevent rubbing. The Tula's chest clip has more adjustability and if wider than the Soliel's. The buckle holding the strap on to the Tula also seems more substantial. Both adjust up and down on the shoulder strap but Tula's has almost double the area to adjust up and down.They have an identical width across the seat area. 

The Measurements (in inches)

	Tula - Standard	Beco Soleil	Tula - Toddler*
According to the website	15.5 tall 14.5 wide	17 tall 16 wide	18 tall 19 wide
Soft tape in hand	15.5 tall 14.5 wide	17.25 tall 14 wide at bottom 15.5 wide at top	17.5 tall 17 wide

Tula's are reported to vary widely in measurements, especially the wrap conversions. Their canvas carriers are much more consistent from what I have heard. 

So Which One Did you Choose?

I get asked this question a lot. The funny thing is that we actually decided to go with a Kinderpack. My husband loved the Tula but when we checked the Kinderpack out we found that fit wise they were going to be similar on our bodies. I also had the opportunity to test a toddler size Kinderpack out before we bought one where I didn't have the opportunity to test a toddler Tula out and that made me nervous because Tula's are notoriously huge in toddler size. Aafter deciding that Kinderpacks and Tula's were comparable, it came down to patterns offered in both carriers and we had a lot more available choices in the Kinderpack at the time. Eventually, I bought a Tula for myself because I like the fit better but my husband LOVES his Kinderpack. We couldn't be happier with our choices and ultimately are glad we took the time and have an amazing local lending library to be able to try out the different carriers before we shell out the  money on them!

I'm so busy and I have nothing to do!

Goofy smiles with Daddy

Have you ever felt like you were so incredibly busy that you actually avoid doing anything at all? That's how I feel about half the time. Call it overwhelmed, call it underwhelmed. Whatever you call it, it's my life.

First kids birthday party Hannah went to in the pretty dress Grandma made

It's been almost two months since I wrote anything! I know, that's a long time. Hannah is 8.5 months already. As every parent says, time just goes by so fast! When I rock her at night (yes, I still rock her, this is a no judgement zone) I actually snuggle her upright instead of cradling her because she is so dang tall! I kinda like it though cause I can kiss her head more often without waking her up.

My favorite Hannah and daddy picture from Easter

Since the last post miss Hannah was able to visit with Grandma and Grumpa. They were here for their yearly annual visit and as always, wore us out completely. There was lots of yummy, high calorie food, walking, driving and of course, drinking. There is never a vacation without drinking beer when my dad is around. That man knows how to unwind. My dad and Will even made it golfing for the second time ever and Will turned into a lobster after several hours without sunscreen in the hot Texas sun. The man is ghostly white and he should know better by now.

Snakes at the San Antonio Zoo

Daddy's caption "What!! I'm not old enough to have a beer!"

Lovin on Grumpa

Lovin on pizza dough (she doesn't discriminate)

Her favorite firefighters

Hannah has also been enjoying time with her Meemaw and Peepaw (otherwise known as our neighbors who adopted her as their stand in grandbaby since they don't have any). She also has had some fun with her favorite Austin firefighters, spent time exploring new play places in Austin, and has recently mastered the crawl. She is also quickly building up to standing on her own, lord help us!

Hangin with Meemaw

my DIY carrier!

Our new favorite wrap. Yay for pretty colors!!!

I've been doing lots of babywearing and snuggling although since Hannah is a go-er she is resisting more and more. Hannah is going to assist Will and I in finishing our first 5k in a few weeks and she is also going to have her first long car trip to Michigan in a few weeks!

Fun germ filled play place!

She really loves swinging

On the business front, I have sold a handful of teething necklaces which I'm pretty excited about and have a custom diaper bag and a custom quilt in the works. I'm also working on a gift quilt of a good friend of mine who is a week past her due date poor girl. I'll share pictures of each of those soon but feel free to stalk my facebook page since I update that WAY more often (www.facebook.com/512cherrylane). I know, shameless plug.

In all my free time, I am on the internet way too much. I'm actually trying really hard to cut back and have discussed with other moms who agree that facebook is actually very addictive and is a hard habit to kick. I think I might need rehab! I digress. What I actually wanted to share is that I follow this super funny mom blog that you should check out. It's really funny, she just had her first book published and I actually snicker through every single post because they are cynical, true and illustrated with crappy pictures! It's called crappypictures.com.

Also, as I was uploading pictures I just realized that we have forever deleted the pictures on the good camera from my parents trip. Super sad face but at least we didn't take that many this round :-/

I'm Exhausted

Not exhausted like brand spanking new baby exhausted but it's close. However, this isn't because of Hannah. It's because my cousin Kerstyn is here visiting and we did a lot today! On the Hannah front though I do have some great updates. First of all, we are no longer all sleeping in the same bed. This is pretty bittersweet for me because I love cuddling with my baby and waking up to her smiley face. The downsides were a sore back and hips and she had started to wake up every few hours so I wasn't getting much sleep. We decided to take the plunge and guess what, we apparently chose the right time to do so because not only is she sleeping through the night with only 1-2 wake ups per night but she is also taking her naps in her crib as well. It's pretty amazing, I'm not going to lie. I still do have some cuddle times during naps when she decides to fall asleep while being carried.

Since my last post, we have also various play dates which Hannah adores although she doesn't quite get that pinching and pulling isn't fun for other kids. She has discovered that it's not fun when other kids sit on you.

We have finally gotten new furniture! If you didn't know, our old furniture was this durablend "leather" which translates into pieced together leather which then translates into flakes of fake leather all over your floor. Since Hannah has also started crawling (yep, crawling) and putting everything in her mouth including fake pieces of leather we decided it was time for a change. The dogs are enjoying it at least and Marvel and DC seemed to find the one sunny spot that day the below picture was taken. 

Hannah has also discovered that there is more than just one smile in life. She now enjoys full on scrunchy face smiling which is pretty hilarious.

And of course since I mentioned that Kerstyn is here and we will be busy showing her around in the next week here are a few shots from Zilker Kite Festival that we went to today. It's truly and amazing sight to see so many beautiful kites and such a ridiculous amount of people.

Thank you and goodnight!

Photo Bomb!

Since the last post we have had Christmas, New Years and our annual holiday vacation back to Michigan. Hannah got to meet lots of family and the poor girl had tons of excursions around the state of Michigan. Here are just a few of my favorite moments. 

Great Grandma Clark who we have decided to call Nonna...if she can remember 

Great Grandpa Clark who has been dubbed Nonno which fits since he no no hold babies

With Aunt Kim

With cousin Kerstyn

Aunt Tasha and Daysha and finally some food!!

Meeting cousin Dravyn and Aunt Tara

Meeting Grandma Mary for the first time!

Aunt Ann who is Grandma Mary's sister, if you didn't already guess that

Will playing with the Christmas present we got for Dravyn. Imagination toys are seriously the best!

Playing tug-o-war with Grumpa

Pretty eyes...

The mandatory sleeping picture

Hannah loves Uncle Greg. I wonder what they are looking at?

With Grandma and Grumpa at their favorite restaurant, yum!

Picking on Uncle Greg already and gnawing  on Aunt Nikole's hand. 

Our free family picture. I need to do a little editing but, hey, I think Grandma Clark did a great job!

This was me playing with the new camera. I'm loving headbands for special pictures.

Babywearing at Bronner's in Frankenmuth.

Gnome 1: Argh, let's scare everyone away so we can have all the food
Gnome 2: What? I'm so confused?!
Gnome 3: Look at me, I'm pretty and have long flowing locks!

Our final day in Michigan. Four generations of strong women.: Me, my mom, Mum (my grandma) and Hannah of course.