I love baby wearing. Even before I knew what is what, before I gave birth to Tajh, a stroller seemed crazy to me. Why push my little person in a giant wheeled contraption when I am perfectly capable of holding them? I really didn’t like extra “stuff” of any kind… (shhhh I did use a stroller a little… live and learn)
So I bought a ghetto front pack and made it work. Was it perfect? Hell no. It did allow me to have Tajh close and get shit done. Win.
With Tea I gained a wonderful Mommy friend that helped pull me into the endless beautiful options baby wearing has to offer. I mean, I had a pouch, but that wasn’t even scratching the surface. So I became obsessed (shocker, I’m an extremist!). I research and bought 2 of everything, almost. I loved my endless world of possibilities. I even loved kicking it with super militant breastfeeding/babywearing extremists at time! (It was pretty entertaining)
Recently I was talking to my favorite (and possibly only, unimportant, still favorite) French Canadian friend about life and something like it. We spoke about the Copper Canyons (Ultrarunning peeps, Mas Locos, Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon Caballo Blanco stuff. Born To Run? If you don’t get it, no worries, doesn’t change the story). I told him how in love with traditional carriers I was and how a Rebozo is one of the carriers I have never had, sad face. He told me he had one and would give it to me, YAY! In the wee hours of the morning as he was about to start a 50k (ultra runner talk), he saw me and yelled “i have something for you!”, ran back to El Capitan (his vehicle/home) and pulled out the most beautiful piece of fabric I have ever seen. Seriously, I am one HAPPY Lady. Thank you again Frenchy!
Here I sat tonight wondering what to do with myself, well, carrier photo shoot of course! So here are a few of my favorite (or not so favorite) baby tying devices. (I don’t have that old front pack to share, thank goodness)
The Pouch. A Hotsling pouch circa 2005. Vintage.
Her Baby needed a photo-op.
Hotsling ring sling from back in the day. zipper pocket AND it’s perfect for in the water?! It’s a winner!
*Disclaimer- Photos were taken by people under 5 feet tall… Quality is a little lacking I know…
Didymos wrap. A huge favorite! With a photo bomb.
Great for dancing.
Here’s where I will tell another little story. So I have a friend from Sierra Leone, of course I asked her about the traditional baby wearing. She was happy to share with me, I just needed to bring a towel to practice. Yup, that simple, a rectangle of fabric. Being as wonderful as she is, she brought me some fabric her husband had brought back from Ghana, much prettier than a towel 🙂
We really like this no hands thing…
Things got weird….
Awkward…. Though I do love me some Mei Tai!
And finally, My beautiful present!
“Back Mommy Back!” of course I can!
So awesome! I still have some work to do on perfecting the knot.
I seriously LOVE babywearing! I may get a little crazy with it at times….
Crying with a sleeping baby in a mei tai on your back at 13,000 feet? Oh yeah, I’ve done that.
Creek hoping with one on the front and one on the back? Done that too.
Anyway, maybe I’ll share some better pictures sometime, maybe not. I think you get the idea.
Big news on the “Babywearing I’m a crazy Lady who likes to do epic shit front, stay tuned!”
Seven Wild And Free 
You are hilarious and have made my day. 🙂 I tandem nurse our 19 month old and our 4 year old and have a placenta print in the baby books … so you’d think I’d basically be up on other tree-hugging methods lol but I’m so not. I am going to try this. So basically there is some self knotting you have to do with the fabric? If so I am afraid I’d lose someone half way down the parking lot. I am horrible at knots. Is there a lot of strength involved?
You sound pretty crunchy to me! 🙂 knots yes, youtube has some great videos for it. Strength? eh not really. After some practice you get over the “what if they fall” freak outs 🙂 I’m jealous of the tandem nursing, Tea stopped when I was 6 months pregnant with Tay so I never got to experience that. Good luck!