An Evening to Myself

Last night my wonderful husband took our beautiful daughter out to a soccer game. His dad coaches a local HS boys varsity team, so they went to go watch them play. This left me about 2 1/2 hours of glorious time to myself. And what do you think I did with my time?

A. Gave myself a mani/pedi.
B. Took a long bath with a great book.
C. Went out for coffee with a good friend.
D. Cleaned the house, did laundry and went grocery shopping.

It is so sad, but true - the answer is D! The reality of my life right now is that I am the blessed mama of an awesome, fun and SUPER active 10 month old. It is really hard for me get anything productive done during her awake hours. So, as soon as daddy and Kaelyn left yesterday I sped around the house picking up, cleaned up dinner and did the dishes, threw in a load of diapers, and then headed to the grocery store. Now, I must admit that on the way to the grocery store I stopped by Marshalls for a little look around and wound up finding some great jeans for a very reasonable price, and I also stopped by Starbucks before the grocery store. So, those were my ways of giving myself a little treat in the midst of doing the mundane stuff. Life has changed, and I now value silence in the car, the ability to try on clothes in a dressing room, and time to stroll around the grocery store, read labels and compare prices without worrying that my baby is going to get too tired. And even though I wasn't able to meet a friend, having a coffee drink to sip as I shopped without having to keep it away from baby's reaching hands is now a luxury to me. I view my time differently than I did before Kaelyn came, and I have learned to find joy in and appreciate the small gifts in life.

I laughed at myself last night when I got home and Jer asked me if I had a good time. My answer was, "I picked up around the house, washed dishes, did laundry, and went grocery shopping. What do you think?" But, the truth is that I did enjoy myself. The best part about it was that time was mine, and I chose to spend it the way that I wanted to spend it. And I am happy with my choices. It just struck me how much my priorities in life have changed - but all for the better.

Baby Wearing

I am a huge fan of baby wearing, and am becoming an advocate for it as well. There are lots of great reasons to baby wear, and I think it is such a great thing for both the baby and the parents, that every family should at least try it to see how it works for them.

When I was pregnant and reading every pregnancy and baby magazine I could get my hands on, I saw lots of adds for slings. I didn't do a whole lot of research, I just thought that they looked cool and comfortable, so I ordered myself a Hotsling (which is a pouch style sling) before Kaelyn was born. This was definitely one of the best purchases that I made. The sling became a lifesaver, allowing me to get things done around the house while carrying and comforting Kaelyn, helping to soothe Kaelyn when she was very tired, overstimulated or upset, and also encouraging me to get out of the house to run errands and other things because I knew that I could carry her with me and that she would be content. I would definitely recommend a sling to all mamas with new babies.

Also, my wonderful cousin Elizabeth, gave me a ring sling as a gift and encouraged me to wear my baby by showing me how she did it with her then 10 month old son. I didn't use the ring sling much when Kaelyn was younger, but from about 5 months until just recently, it was really the main way that I wore her, as she grew out of the pouch sling, and the ring sling has a more adjustable fit. I even convinced Jer to wear Kaelyn a few times in the ring sling, just around the house, when she was fussy or tired and needed to be comforted. I thought that I took a picture of him, but I can't seem to find it. He didn't really want people to know that he wore it, so he might have erased all of the evidence! :)
I have also breastfed Kaelyn a few times in the sling when out in public places, and it was a nice way cover up, you can put the tail of the sling over your shoulder for even more coverage, and remove distractions for her.




Now, I have just recently moved on to a mei tai carrier, which is an Asian inspired carrier. I just got my BabyHawk last Friday and tried it out for the first time at Cedar Point on Saturday. I am already in love!! It has padded double straps for both shoulders and also ties around your waist, so the babes weight is more evenly distributed across your shoulders and hips, which is great now that Kaelyn is getting heavier and the sling was starting to hurt my back and shoulder if I wore it for too long. With a mei tai you can carry your baby on either your front on your back. It is a little trickier than a sling to use because you have to wrap the straps around and tie them tightly and securly. But, Kaelyn took two great naps in it, and my sister-in-law Hannah also used it to carry her 2 1/2 year old on her back when she was too tired to walk on her own. I also think you could use a mei tai to breastfeed pretty discretely, but I haven't figured that out quite yet. In this pic Kaelyn is fast asleep and enjoying being close to mama!

For much more information about baby wearing check out TheBabyWearer.com.