What I Wear to Babywear.

Let me start out by saying that I don't make lots of money, I don't get products for free to try.  Anything that is posted on here is me "buying and trying."Or borrowing from a friend.
 
I was privately emailed about what carrier do I use when I wear JK or AM, I just thought I would answer that question on here.  (I also want to say how cool and fancy I felt getting an email from a totally random person about this,  THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING ME!!)
  I like to use my Infantino Sash Mei Tai Carrier.  For those of you not familiar with carriers Mei Tai is a Asian style carrier.
  Don't roll your eyes.  I know that Infantino has had lots of problems with some of the carriers that they provide.  This is carrier is a step in the right direction.  It allows baby's hips and legs to be in the correct sitting position when being worn. 
 Here are a few action shots of me, my husband and my son wearing my littlest one.

   As you can see I am a fluffy woman and I need a carrier that is going fit all the way around me and this one does.  For a smaller women the ties might be a little long and confusing.  It did take me a while to get where the carrier tight and high enough.  As you can see in the picture of me he is a little lower than I would like. As with any carrier this could just be a practice thing.  The shoulders are padded and they could use a little bit more, but they do not dig into me.  The fabric is slightly slippery so it does slip off, but I have learned some other ways to tie it with my local babywearing group's help.  For the price of $35 it has been very good to me.  The stitching is still strong and there is not much wearing down of the fabric.  JK is currently 28lbs and my AM is 36lbs.(right at the end of the weight limit)  I do not have any pressure soreness or backaches after wearing them for a couple of hours using this carrier.
I personally do not promote facing baby out when carrying them.  There have been many studies on this, so please do your research.
  So there you have it this is the main carrier that I use.  I do use other but those are for another posting.
  I also encourage you to join or visit your local babywearing group. They can help you find a carrier that is right for you.  BUT PLEASE find a group that is open to all types of carriers and not just one specific.  They should be supportive of all types of babywearing.
Hope this helps you.
Chaun V.

Shirts for the Ranger Game

Now that I have this awesome Silhouette CAMEO I have been a machine making shirts and such.  Well we will be going to a Ranger game and I wanted to make shirts that fit each of our personality.  I even made one for my Aspie son who loves Star Wars.  So I made him the Yu's The Force shirt.  GET IT?!  I was pretty smug with myself on that one.

This year is also the Rangers 40th anniversary so I made my teenaged son the throw back shirt (grey shirt, tip right).  That is also why two of the shirts have 1972 added.

 

The shirt on the top right and middle right were made using printable vinyl.  As you can see with the blue shirt I was not sure about how to cut it so it looks funky.  The gray one was printed thru the Silhouette CAMEO then cute using the CAMEO. It was my first time to use the print and cut feature. On the other shirts I just used the Siser Easyweed
Heat Transfer vinyl.  

UPDATE:

I can say we looked pretty awesome in our shirts.

I updated the above pic with my son wearing the shirt at the game.  The most complements I got where on the top two and the babies shirt.

TTFN.

A Piece Of My Childhood RIP Maurice Sendak

Within minutes of posting about baby wearing, I was notified of the death of Maurice Sendak.  To many he is know for "Where the Wild Things Are", because of the movie that came out in 2009. 
I fortunately was introduced to him by my mother at a young age.  While reading about his death of a stroke, thoughts of my mother reading the books came to mind.  I giggled about Mickey swimming in the nude in a bottle of milk.  What girl at any age doesn't giggle at that?  Then I quickly thought of the book "Outside Over There" and how I tried to get the goblins to take my little sister away. Let's not forget "The Sign on Rosie's Door"  that made me think everybody had a secret to tell.   Last, would be "Where the Wild Things Are". I had the fortune of introducing this book to two of my kids before the movie came out.  What kid didn't feel like Max?  Being a mother now, I saw the book from a whole new light.  I saw each of my kids in this story and me. 
So, we now say good bye to a great literary writer of our times.  As his story ends, I hope he knows the many joys his moralistic dark writing did bring us.
Good bye, Mr. Sendak, may you now forever be in the joy of your books.

Yes, I Baby Wear

I am far from crunchy. I am overweight, I like meat, and I use disposable diapers. About the only thing that would make me remotely comparably crunchy, to my friends, is my need and want to recycle, and UpCycle, use of reusable bags, breastfeeding (past a year) and baby wearing. So, I say I am a pretty normal person.

So why is it when I wear on of the two little ones, there are looks, stares, comments and questions? OH the comments and questions. Here are a few of my favorite ones that I have gotten. “Baby doesn't like that.” “Shame on you for putting baby on your back.” "They look so dangerous! “ “How can that be comfortable?” “Your going to delay her walking carrying her all the time.” “Your baby is spoiled (because you wear them)” Oh and my favorite from my sons youth minister I got one Saturday, “They have a group for that?” While laughing. I am sure that some of you have heard worse.

When I first thought of typing this post, I wanted to be snarky to the comments above and say what I really wanted to say, but I think we get enough of that. We need encouragement and support. We just need to know that we are not alone. We need to learn to educate others by showing our love and passion for our kids.

We all baby wear for many different reasons. Bonding, economical, high needs or special needs child, have more than one child, for health, the list can go on.

No matter what your reason is don't let people discourage you or put you down. Even if you are a first timer or seasonal you know why you are doing what you do.  I am lucky to have great husband, that when I got the comment “Shame on you for putting baby on your back”, he came running over to my defense and spoke up (I was about in tears). As a parent we want to do what is best for our child and for that split second someone had me doubting that, and this was me wearing baby number 5! Now that I have a great group with the FWBW, I have found my voice (so did my husband) and now I educate people. I hand out cards to older people and younger people so they can see their blog and read more on it, and who knows they may give that card to someone else that needs help.

So wear your baby/child and march forward moms and dads. Take the comments and questions with stride and teach everyone how great baby wearing can be....besides what on earth could possibly be better than having your favorite person within easy gazing, snuggling, sniffing and kissing distance?

This Is Hard

So, I really want to try to do this BLOG thing.  I have so much stuff that runs through my head and feel like I need to share.  Why not?  I am still breastfeeding my 17th month old, babywear, do attachment parenting, run an at home business, have a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (Aspergers), have 5 kids (which explains why I can not get to the computer to type), first time homeowner, a husband who is a chef and goes on fancy trips (he is my fancy life), and I"m adopted.  OH and the last thing, currently I am doing a weight loss challenge of 110 lbs.

What do I not have to write about?  Do I hold back because there are so many bloggers out there?  Is it because I can not pick just one thing and write about it?  Am I worried about the bashing and name calling that comes with trying to just share my thoughts?

Well now that is all going to stop.  I am going to add another thing to my list of challenges and that is to blog three times a week.  It may be random, it may be boring or it may be something right up your ally.  Either way, I keep having this draw to this and I just want to share.

Get ready world because you are about to get Chaun-afied, and read about my Plain & Fancy Life.

Chaun V.