I Just May Be a Hippie

Okay, this took way longer than I ever intended it to, but here goes...the long awaited revelation of the must-have baby item!!! It is the common denominator in the following photos:



Considering how much use this thing got during the first few months of Julia's life, I was kind of surprised to discover how few pictures we have of me wearing it. However, I've just gotta say...the MOBY WRAP is the best thing that happened to me (and Julia) in her lifetime (at least, so far)!

In case you're not getting the connection between this and the title of my post, let me fill you in. I love this so much that I decided to get one for my little sister, who just had her fourth baby. When she got it in the mail, her husband took one look and said, "Oh, look. The hippie wrap." I have to confess, myself, that the first few times I wore it to church (yes, I wore it to church all the time) I thought for sure there were people thinking, "Oh, so she's one of those parents." I guess it's true. But just let me fill you in on what a sanity saver this has been!

Julia was a peaceful, contented baby until she was about 3 weeks old. Suddenly my happy, sleepy baby turned into a complete wreck. She screamed almost all the time. In a frenzy, I started trying to figure out what the problem could be. I modified my diet, which seemed to help, but then it didn't help anymore. I tried everything I could think of. She wanted to be held all the time, but it was frustrating because she still fussed, just less than if I didn't hold her. And I still had two other kids to take care of! The only thing that made her happy was putting her in the moby wrap. Once I figured this out, I started wearing her in it almost constantly. I remember one day when she was in it 12 hours straight, except for when she needed to be fed. Sounds awful, right? Actually, it wasn't. I didn't mind much. In fact, there were ways I enjoyed it. Here's why. First of all, it is extraordinarily comfortable. I had a Baby Bjorn carrier with my first two babies, and it was okay, but after wearing it for 30 minutes or more, my back would start to cramp up. The moby wrap, on the other hand, distributes the baby's weight so well that even after wearing it for 12 hours in one day, my back wasn't sore. Tired, yes. Sore, no! Aside from that, there are several different ways to hold the baby. Julia's preferred hold up until now has been the cradle hold. If I had her in the wrap in the cradle hold, she would sleep and sleep and sleep. If she even started to get fussy, she was right there. I didn't have to run into another room to help her. I could just pop her binky right back into her mouth, bounce around a bit, and she was fine. And the wrap holds the baby so securely that I could do almost anything with her in it. I cleaned the house, cooked meals, and even changed Weston's diaper while Julia slept happily. I had also worried, prior to Julia's birth, about how I'd manage grocery shopping with 3 kids in tow...no problem! I'd put on the Moby before heading to the store, and when we got there, slide her into it. I could hold both boys' hands while walking through the parking lots, and there was no baby car seat filling up my grocery cart. If I was having a hard time getting her to sleep at night, I could swaddle her prior to putting her in the wrap. Then once she was asleep, I could slide her out, and since she was already swaddled I could transfer her to her crib without disturbing her. Seriously, the moby wrap saved my sanity. Julia has been a hard baby, but the moby made it so much more manageable! And one unexpected benefit...I've never been the mom who just loves carrying her baby around (that's my sister). But I realized once I had the Moby that this was probably because of all the limitations that come from having the baby monopolize your arms...and all the things I couldn't get done while holding a baby. Once that wasn't an issue, I found that I really, really enjoyed having her close to me so often. It felt surprisingly great! And made for good mother-baby bonding that I hadn't anticipated.

Now that she's bigger, she's outgrowing the cradle hold. But she's growing into other ones. All with this same wrap, you can do a forward facing carry, a rear facing carry, and when the baby gets old enough to sit on your hip, you can even do a wrap that will hold the baby there, leaving your hands free. It is such a lifesaver, especially with the other two kids to keep tabs on!

I have friends who have tried other wraps...the Gypsy Mama and Mei Tai are two I've heard of that people like. I haven't tried them so I can't say for sure what the comparison is, but for anyone who currently has a small baby or anticipates one in the future, I highly recommend checking into baby wraps. There is a bit of a learning curve...learning how to put the wrap on takes some effort at first, and then there's always a period of figuring out what baby and mom like best in terms of holds. But in my opinion, it is well worth it.

One more baby item I have discovered and just have to recommend will probably come as a surprise, but give me a chance to defend it...

CLOTH DIAPERS.

If you're anything like me, just the thought sends shudders down your spine. You envision awkward, leaky cloths wrapped around your baby's bottom, fastened by diaper pins that jab you several times per diaper change. You envision diaper rash. A pail smelling of ammonia and poop sitting in your bathroom. Trips to the toilet with poopy diapers, which you have to rinse in toilet water, holding your nose the entire time. You pity the centuries of deprived folks who raised children prior to the invention of disposable diapers.

Yep, that's what I thought. Occasionally I had a twinge of conscience about the landfills I was contributing to with my tons and tons of diaper waste, but it just wasn't enough to convince me that cloth diapers were worth the trouble. Until...I had a friend who used cloth diapers. I thought she might be crazy, but I asked her about it anyway, and found out that the world of cloth diapering has been revolutionized since our mothers were diapering us. Check this out:


(Grasshopper is just the name of the color, in case you were wondering.)

These babies go on just like disposable diapers. They wick away moisture from the baby's bottom just like disposable diapers. They have nice stretchy elastic around the waist and legs like disposable diapers. They have velcro tabs (no pins!) just like disposable diapers. AND...there is a one size fits all option, where you snap the diaper down in size for a little baby, and open up the snaps as the baby grows. Hard to visualize unless you've seen the diaper, but I know it really is one size fits all because Julia and Weston have worn the same diapers. They really do adjust well as the child grows. If you wash them appropriately, they don't retain any ammonia smell. There are easy tricks to avoid having to slosh them around in the toilet after a poopy diaper...I won't elaborate here, but let me know if you want to know more. Of course they do take a little bit more effort than a disposable, since you have to wash and dry them...but really, I have been shocked at how little effort it really is. And the expense...well, we figured that within about 9 months we will have broken even on the expense, so after that we're saving money...and if we use them on future kids, it's 100% savings there. What's not to love?

I hope this doesn't come across as a sales pitch. This is one of those things that would work well for some, and not at all for others, so it's just one of those things that, now that I've discovered it, I think should be out there for people to consider...so there you go. Now you know.

I just may be a hippie...

Photo Update

Here are a LOT of pictures to give a quick update on our lives...

Cole and his cute friend Maggie found a turtle in Maggie's yard...and enjoyed it immensely...

Cole and Maggie are great little friends. As are Weston and Maggie's little sister Leah, but those two never stand still long enough to take a picture of them together.


Cole had a birthday, and was moody...sometimes he seemed to be having fun, but other times he acted just like he looks in this picture. He is, however, very happy to be 5 years old. He talks about it a lot (the fact that he's 5).

Cole likes being Superman (he got these jammies from his neighbor and friend Aidan for his birthday). He also likes it when Weston wears his skeleton jammies, because then he's the superhero and Weston's the bad guy. Weston likes it too.


Julia keeps growing. Here she is all dolled up in the adorable Hawaiian dress she got from Aunt Lisa!


I had a birthday, too. Brian and the kids made me cupcakes. Woo-hoo 32!!


We've been potty training...and no, we're not above bribery. Weston insisted on holding the box of candy watermelons while he sat on the toilet. The good news is, he's doing AWESOME with #1. He even stays dry overnight. The bad news is, he has yet to put #2 in the toilet. I'm accepting any and all advice on this matter.



And...Julia keeps growing...she enjoys her Bumbo chair quite a lot, though she spits up almost constantly while she's in it.



Experiencing tons of summer thunderstorms...I've gotta say I love the seasons and the variation in weather around here. I love summer thunderstorms. They come quickly, are powerful, tons of rain falls, and then within an hour or two they're gone and it's sunny again. The kids love them too.


Finally blessed Julia in church last Sunday...


We're so glad Grandpa Olsen could be here for the special event!


It was a good day.



Life as usual...



Life is good.