So, when DD was born I knew I wanted to baby wear. I was given a Baby K’tan but she was too floppy for it in the beginning, and did not like it when she wasn’t. I went to a cloth diaper store near me and tried several on, found one I loved, then looked at the price tag and realized that baby wearing may be one of those things that ended up like cloth diapering. Something I should have saved well in advance for.
We tried a couple of infantinos, which were terribly uncomfortable, and then after talking to a mom at church bought about 6 yards of fabric to try and make my own Moby wrap, but soon got fed up with the yards and yards of fabric.
Fast forward to this last week when nesting with baby #2 is setting in and I have a sometimes whiny toddler who wants to be held and I am DETERMINED that I will have a baby carrier (or two).
I scour the internet for reviews, ebay, and craigslist. I know that it has to be:
1) Cheap enough that the husband won’t notice I bought it
2) Not kill my back
3) Not require an ensemble cast to take on and off
4) Be comfortable and versatile and cool enough for Texas heat
5) DD has to be willing use it
One of my favorite baby/maternity stores is Kid to Kid, which is a privately owned franchise chain of consignment stores. They are all over the metroplex, but by far the best one as far as friendliness and selection that i have found is in Sachse off of 78. Since I moved it’s such a drive that I rarely go out there unless I have more than one reason, but driven by my crazy nesting instinct I drove about an hour after work with a sleepy toddler to see what I could find, and made it just about 10 min before they closed.
I scoured the nursing covers and found a Gabriel feeding pad for 6 bucks and figured, “why not?” for 6 dollars it seemed to have a lot more functionality than the ones that cost 24.00 so I grabbed it.
.
.
.
But the real treasure was a BabyHawk Reversible Mei Tai for 6.99. Although, at the time I had no idea what kind of deal I had found, I did recognize that the construction seemed to be great quality and it looked like it would both last and be comfortable for Husband and I both. When I got home and looked it up I was thankful that I followed my instinct and picked it up. It normally retails for around 90.00 and has great reviews and a legion of fans, which I now count myself as. Best of all? DD loves it and I can carry her, even pregnant, without pain. Best 6.99 I think I have spent since she was born. Please ignore the size of my rear. If I had it to do over I would have bought one when she was 4 months or so and saved my back and my stress levels!
.
.
.
.
.
I also picked up a Raspberry Ring Sling well loved, which is much more
suitable for newborns, on craigslist, and in
the process met an awesome lady whom I hope to call a friend. She works at a cloth diaper store in Allen called The Nappy Shoppe and happens to be the resident expert on babywearing. She spent time to show me how to use it and explaining the difference in the types of carries. You can find her blog here, so go show her some love!
The ring sling is good up to 35lbs but will work for a toddler in a pinch. DD likes it as well, although she’s being shy in the photos .
Craigslist is my new crack, as I also scored an Ameda Dual Electric breast pump with the bag and extras for 40.00, which normally runs about 300.00 and about 10 My little Ponies and a couple of their accessories and a bag of megablocks for 20.00 for DD. If I had more money I would have probably knocked out pretty much all of my baby wish list on Craigslist. I love the idea of buying used as it saves you money, and in many cases helps someone else get much needed cash for items they no longer need or use.
.
.
.
.
We got a puppy for Easter. A 3/4 pyraneese, pointer mix that we named Appa after the flying Bison from Avatar, the Last Airbender. Can you tell what we’ve been watching at our house?
Last, but not least, I wanted to share how frekking grown up my DD has become. I made her this green dress when she was around a year old. Here she is alseep in it:
Here she is now:
And one more for the road, her loving on our cat:
