In Search of THE Baby Carrier

I think it’s obvious why us humans are given (on average) 40 weeks to have a baby. It’ll take that long to decide which baby carrier to buy!! M would say, “Serious, mommy?” and I’d say, “Yes, I am very serious, for reals!!!” I thought the diapers and the strollers would be overwhelming. Get yourself into a baby carrier forum (yes, there is such a thing and this place is BUSY!) and you’d be aching for two dosage of migraine meds.

Growing up I had a piece of cloth, usually made from Batik, that I would wrap around my sister (we’re 10 years apart). That thing was a pain. One end tucks under the piece that goes around your shoulder and if you don’t do it right (some women are really good at it but the then 10-year-old me wasn’t), the wrap will come loose. You’ll never drop the baby (at least I never did), but you’d find yourself redoing the “tie” many times and going hands-free seemed impossible. On top of that, it wasn’t very comfortable. The shoulder where the “tie” is will eventually hurt and the weight wasn’t evenly distributed. If my parents intentions were to punish me while carrying my sister then missions accomplished!

When M was a baby I went through two carriers. Both were BabyBjorn-ish and both I did not like because they both hurt my back. Now, in the process of finding a replacement, I am faced with: stretchy or stiffer, knit or woven, loose or fitted, soft or scratchier, ring or ringless, solids or patterned fabric, baby’s age, and more. Choosing a baby carrier seems more confusing than buying a car!!!!!

To get the process going I eliminated all the ring ones. This is just a more clever version of the Indonesian tying system that I used. Then I got stuck withthe full blown wrapping, the little bit in between, and the structured type (just buckle ‘em in). Since I have no intention of carrying my kid around after he/she is one it doesn’t matter if the carrier will last me until he/she is 35 lbs. There is no way I’d be hauling a 20 lb-er for more than 15 minutes!!! So here are a few of my favorites (the patterns are going to make it really difficult to choose!!!):

• Storchenwiege wrap: It’s organic, woven, lovely colors, and shorter in size
• Moby/Sleepy Wrap: A wrap style and both seems quite snug for baby, seems hard tho
• Mei Tai/Eden: The only thing hubby said he’d wear and seems quicker and easier than above
• Beco/Pikkolo: It’s structured so the easiest of them all

Some Videos:

• Storchenwiege
• Moby
• Mei Tai
• Beco

I love the wrap idea but I’m a bit intimidated by it. I’m just trying to picture myself, in a parking lot, trying to put my wrap on. Picture me in the rain or terrible Missouri winter OR tripping over the wrap while running into the store with M and baby — eek! I think I am liking the Mai Tei idea since baby can also nurse (somehow) although the Beco/Pikkolo is more familiar to me. Based on the make, Storchenwiege and Beco would be my top pick. The first is made in Germany and the second is by a mom in the U.S.A. With the economy the way it is, it’d make perfect sense to purchase a Beco. For tonight (and this is the longest I’ve spent on this) this is enough thinking and researching. I’m carriered out!!!!

Let’s Talk About Strollers…

I didn’t have anything else better to do today than look at strollers. I wasn’t sure why and I am still not sure if we need one. It’s not like we’re having our first child but at the same time I do not like our baby stroller. For M we got one of those SUV strollers aka the travel system. Dumb dumb dumb!!! It was a waste of space (unless you want a huge shopping cart), really! The best part… it only lasted six months!!! Unless you get one of these puppies for free, don’t buy one!

We still have our (huge) stroller. It’s still nice. We didn’t have the Tazmanian Devil as a kid and we did ONLY use it for six months. But I am debating on getting another one… just debating. Why? Well…

1. We have a lazy ass for a first kid and don’t want to push two strollers
2. The old stroller takes up a lot of our RAV4’s trunk space
3. Just selfishly hate the old stroller

Why am I (hubby doesn’t care less… he’s a guy) having a hard time deciding?

1. We already have one
2. Our lazy ass kid should be encouraged (or forced) to walk more
3. Strollers (or nice ones) are so dang expensive
4. I can’t friggin decide on which… I am too much of a maximizer!!!

So after looking I came upon these options…

1. Phil & Ted: 2-in-1, sleep to up-right and M can be spoiled still
2. Maclaren Easy Traveller: M can use her Volo and later purchase a Triumph
3. Joovy Ultralight: Can use carseat and M can ride on it too

Some videos:

1. Phil & Ted
2. Joovy

As always I am unconsciously attracted to the most expensive piece (although I managed to say no to the Bugaboo, Micralite, and other more expensive brands although they are oooooh soooo nice!!!). But the MacLaren seems to make more sense since we’re hoping M will be a tough cookie by the time baby comes along. Right now she’d happily walk but fifteen minutes later she’d ask to be carried or ride in her stroller again. If we force her to keep walking she will but don’t expect us anytime soon.

Which oh which should we get or IF we should get one. I guess it all depends on how M is in a few months… But, dad is not looking forward to carrying her IF she decided, half way through the zoo, that she’s tired. M was carried through the Alps and she was only three and that took dad’s breath away… and mine from laughing my ass off (my husband is very entertaining when he’s not happy). It also depends on how I feel about spending the $$. Hubby said, “If it cost $.05 each time to shit you’d puke.” How sweet, huh? I am not a tightwad… just very good with managing our finances. The economy’s a bit rough right now… who knows, maybe in a few months I might not have a job or maybe only get paid half as much.

If you accidently stumble upon my post and you’re bored and have a suggestion or two or three, please feel free to comment.

Baby Names

We have a few things cooking up in this area but today the names that we chose isn’t what I want to share. Instead, I want to share this site: What a Lovely Name.

It’s cute!

You can either plop in the name you’ve chosen on the “search for names” and see the meaning of it, or, you can pick different disposition and the site will recommend a few names that fit the chosen ones. Keep in mind, the more you pick, the less suggestion you will get. You can also go by tradition and the oh so interesting celebrity names. Check it out, it’s fun!

Oh, today is week 14. Besides a tiny “I think I ate too much” I still don’t have much to show in terms of a belly.

Brushing Up on Signing Again

Well, it’s probably about time for me to brush up on my ASL knowledge. It’s not that I’m hoping the baby’s going to be deaf but signing has been very very, extremely, beneficial with M. I learned how to sign from videos and at about three months I started showing M the sign for milk, dog, and drink. At about six months she signed milk. I was sooooo happy and I still remember how it happened. I was in bed holding her while talking to Drew who was in the LA area at that time. I looked down at M and she had her little arms up and a fist. Of course it didn’t click right away and I kept talking but each time I looked down she lifted her arm and did some hand movements. I guess third time’s a charm and it clicked. I might have shortened Drew’s hearing by a few days but crap, I was so happy and he didn’t care either.

I hung up, I think I did a decent goodbye, miss you, I love you and all that, but honestly, I was focused on the little girl. I was nursing then and so after we found a nice comfy spot I signed milk and she ate. From then on, I always rely on M to tell me when she’s hungry. I did pay attention to the clock but not as much since she was hungry a lot (and is still hungry a lot).

At seven months M signed dog and since that day she added more and more words every so often. She started talking at 14-months. It was weird, she went from babbly to just talking the next day. She signed a lot until she was 18-months and then the signing gradually went away. But even when she talked, sometimes I still didn’t understand her and after a few tries she’d say AND sign the word for me. She knew that I was not understanding her words and would voluntarily say and sign.

Some people are afraid to sign with their babies because they are worried that the child might not learn how to speak. Well, I don’t believe that. A child will start speaking when he’s ready. Just like M did. When then do differs from one child to the other and you can’t compare your child to a chart from a book or your neighbor. Personally, I think signing has helped M’s language skills. When most kids were only using one words to communicate, M was doing two and sometimes three.

Videos I used to teach myself a few signs:

• My Baby Can Talk
• ComTech

Videos I purchased for M:

• My Baby Can Talk First Sign (purchased at Amazon)
• Signing Time Vol 2,3&5 (also at Amazon)

My personal opinion, I think the My Baby Can Talk is best for new babies learning to sign. It’s slower paced and babies are just entranced with it. It’s not just M. I bought this for a few friends and they say the same thing (and their little ones are communicating so well!!!). After baby’s a bit older and really understand the idea of signing, Signing Time is awesome. It’s more musical, animated, and fast. M loved loved loved the three she has. She learned her ABC with Alex and Leah {::SMILES}. We never got to buying more just because she started talking so soon. Plus the words that she learned from the ones we purchased were sufficient. Also, I was supplementing her with words that we learned together from the Internet that she needed/wanted and weren’t in the videos. It worked out well without buying the whole load of DVDs.

So, kind of long but just some info on signing and a reminder for me to get warmed up on it. M too… she can’t wait to start learning again so that she can teach baby too.

 Interesting Read: Download

The Diaper Dilemma

It was almost five years ago since we had a baby and things change. But, despite all the changes, one thing is still the same, they all poop.

My research brought me to this blog: MamaStories and her review of green diapers (which by the way, doesn’t make the decision making any easier).

So, based on our research, we’re going to try out the gDiapers and Nature Babycare. Both we can purchase locally, or close enough, and online (both can be purchased at diapers.com – read the reviews, quite a bit of them… of course with the usual likes and dislikes of each users). gDiapers inserts and starter kits are sold at Babies’R'Us and Nature Babycare can be found at a store in Lees Summit. We’re going to try the g’s in the daytime and naty’s at night. At this point I am going to close my eyes on where and how these diapers were made. I don’t want to start calculating how much CO2 and fossil fuel each diapers emitted and used in its creation and which forest it butchered. Right now I’m just going to take the manufacturer’s words, that these diapers were from sustainable forest and created with the earth and also the baby’s safety in mind. Maybe in a few months, but not now.

Will We Find Out?

We’re thinking about this. Maybe

We’re thinking of doing a 3D ultrasound and have the technician/doctor put the gender in an envelope and see how long we can last not finding out.