Babywearing Reflections 2014

I've written about babywearing before, but it's been 4 (!wow!) years.  It is international babywearing week and I felt compelled to put a few more thoughts together.

Ultimately babywearing has allowed me to be the parent I have wanted and needed to be as we have nurtured, moved and expanded our family.  We like to go and explore and experience life with our kids and this includes the little ones as they have joined our crew.  It is not the perfect or only answer for every situation but it has allowed me to take care of my older children while meeting my babies' needs.  I cannot imagine doing this gig without it.

Here are a few of my favorite babywearing moments.

With a tiny Lydia in my Sakura Bloom


Babywearing and a bow.  So much momma happiness in one shot.



{Let's pause at the tininess - shall we - because wow I can't believe how the time flies.}

I find going out to eat with a snuggly baby much easier than with a baby who wants in on the dinner action.




And really it doesn't take them long to figure out when dessert is being served.


Our California beach trips were made so much easier with my sling.  Even if she got down and played for a bit, just the logistics of getting to down to the shore is so much easier with free hands.






And if it was freezing cold, it was much easier to handle with her nice and close.


{her first ocean visit}



Visiting the tide pools was a new experience for us all and it was easily had with the baby close.


Sightseeing and travel in general are so much easier for me with my baby close and comforted and me not fighting with a stroller.

Above San Francisco


Above Birmingham

(Please ignore the boys faces. They are not miserable, just tired of pictures.)

And to crowded the train shows.


Pumpkin patch train riding


It really is the only way for me to travel with baby.


We can go places we couldn't with a busy toddler without babywearing, like forest field trips.



And visiting Disney -

Lydia sacked out in the babyhawk at Disneyland


Lydia's first Disney ride - tucked in the sling.


Colin "ready to ride" in Disney World (where it is much hotter to babywear than Disneyland).


Colin was really the first kid to get much babywearing documentation (any guesses when I got my first smart phone? wink).

Kitchen back carries




Grumpy Colin in my first ring sling


At the pumpkin patch while documenting the older boys with the now outdated camera.


The older boys did get a couple of photo booth shots with the computer.

The positioning is off, but this is all of the boys in the hotsling.
Walker

Eli

Colin


And Colin riding a train with his great-grandparents.


It is doubtful that I would ever use this carrier again, but I just can't get rid of my first carrier.

When I don't have a baby to wear, I have been known to borrow a baby.
Wearing my nephew while pregnant with Lydia


And my snuggly nephew-in-law(?) at dinner one night not too long ago.


I've invested in this gorgeous purple sling for our new little girl coming in December.


And Lydia as needed, because toddlers still need a snuggle every now and again.  And of course, momma does too.

Babywearing is not for everyone. It has to work for momma and baby.  But it has been a big part of my parenting of littles. It is a part that is a short window of time in the grand scheme of parenting. This week's babywearing events are a reason for me to write things down for my one-day-memories when everyone is all big and independent.