Very quick post as we’ve a busy day ahead, studying for me then a local family fun day for Joss. Just looking through some photos from earlier this week and saw this one, she’s going to be sooooo tall!
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Negative responses to babywearing
It strikes me that an awful lot of people are too interested in how others are bringing up their children, I try not to concern myself too much with how others do things, mainly because I had a hard time early on getting to grips with all the different ‘types’ of parenting approaches and settled for the mantra, it works for our family so this is how we do it!
I was saddened to hear this week about a local mama who experienced a very negative response to babywearing, most of the responses I’ve had have either been very positive, or people have simply been interested in the how, why and wherefor of carrying a baby/ toddler. We do get a lot of questions though, some are interesting, some are just plain silly, so I had to share our experience from earlier this week.
We were up at Aldi waiting to pay, behind me I heard “look at that I couldn’t be ar**d with all that”, turn around, “sorry, I was just saying I couldn’t be faffed with carrying mine everywhere!” She was concerned that Joss would struggle to learn to walk being carried and that she will be clingy. I replied that she is learning to walk just fine and once she wants to be down and on the go she will be carried when she wants to, and that she’s a really independent little thing so I have no worries there. It did make me laugh though when she rolled out one I hadn’t heard before, “how does she eat?!”
Total comic timing Jossy pops her head out of the sling and both arms – with not one but two tickets to the gun show – a breadstick in each hand, big gummy grin! I told her that the crumbs are a bit of a nightmare and she just looked really bemused!
Our baby wearing journey so far, in pictures
Some of my fave family babywearing photos, I just discovered the piccollage app, I think we’ll be doing some more themed collages soon as I really like this simple little app!
A conversation with my husband
She’s only happy in the sun… – Ben Harper
One of my favourite songs popped into my head today, by Ben Harper. It came to be there because the hubby and I were talking about how much happier, more productive and generally nice to be around I am in the summer in comparison to the winter. In the Summer I take on new activities, at the moment I’m parenting, studying, working, and volunteering and feel like all these things are very manageable, a stark contrast to winter-me, summer-me is sunny and bright. Winter-me doesn’t do much, doesn’t take on new things, hibernates and eats.
“Shall we move to Spain and you’d have a happy wife all year round?” I asked?
“No, we’d have no money, and we’re OK”
“Alright then, make the most of summer-me then, I won’t be around for long!”
It’s a bit of an epiphany, I read somewhere and must hunt it out that some people plan the running of their own businesses around their seasonal mood swings, taking on new work and hence profitability in the summer, taking a rest and therefore a hit in the winter…I’m off to work on one of the many ‘excellent’ ideas that I only have at this time of year!
Silent Sunday
Joy and Joe Maxi-Roses Woven Wrap Review
I got in touch with Adebisi from Joy & Joe Baby who was looking for testers for stretchy wraps, she told me about their new Maxi-Roses wrap, part of the woven-J collection by Joy&Joe and asked if I’d help supervise testers and try out the wrap myself, and here it is! I’ve tried to show the detail of the weave and the colour way in these photos.
Lovely Joy & Joe tote bag:
Braided wrap:
The maxi-roses print:
Priced between £44 – £94.99 this affordable wrap is made from 50% cotton and 50% lambswool but the blends can be adjusted on request. A great price but no compromise on quality, woven not far from where I am in the North East I actually found this 50/50 blend worked really well for us, slightly warmer than a cotton wrap and I like a slightly heavier wrap too, it just feels really supportive.
The design is a gorgeous maxi rose pattern with a red warp and weft in varying colours, I tested the purple weft wrap, it was really vibrant and a great colour blend, I’m looking forward to seeing the other colour ways, cream weft sounds lovely, but I’ve always likes purple and red together. Maxi-roses has been designed to be used straight from the box, it was a super soft wrap and as Joss proved came with added sleepydust with immediate effect, I’ve only ever used preloved wraps and this did feel ready to use. The wrap I tested was 5m, with slightly tapered ends which I’ve not wrapped with before but I did find it easier to knot and I quite liked the finish it gave.
I’m not as confident at back carries as I was now Joss wants her arms out so tend to prefer a shortie, so excuse my slightly looser than I’d like ruck, it was sufficiently stretchy to wrap with but the dense 3d jacquard effect of the weave made it feel really well supported and grippy.
We popped out for a long walk to enjoy the sunshine, as the Maxi-Roses is a wool-blend it was lovely and warm so we didn’t need coats, and we enjoyed a lovely afternoon with Joss in a FWCC.
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All in all, smily faces for a lovely snuggly new wrap! We’ll be taking the wrap to a local sling library or meet to ask other mamas their views to feedback to Adebisi, the wrap will then be making its way to the next mama on the list who I know will enjoy trying it out as much as we did, we’ll be sad to see it go but are sending it on its way with sleepy dust and love!
Joy & Joe recently announced that the wrap goes up for pre-order on 19th June. Do check out http://www.joyandjoebaby.com/ for more details about the pre-order, get your order in quick, we think these will be VERY popular!
Joy and Joe Maxi Roses Woven Wrap…
…is here! And what a beauty it is, I adore these colours. Within ten minutes a teething upset Joss was fast asleep! Review and lots and lots more pics to follow!
A picture for Daddy
Today we did a spot of finger painting for Father’s Day, I thought Joss did very well to keep herself so clean til I saw the back of her little head was orange!
We’ve stopped handprints for a while because she just grabs and scrumples the paper, but this worked OK, we made a good crafty team!
Work again tomorrow and Friday, it comes around too too fast each week but I’m still so grateful to get the balance between five days with her and two at work, I know financially it can’t continue but its been so lovely to have this precious time, I’m a lucky mama.
Just heard the Joy and Joe woven wrap is headed our way, looking forward to putting it through its paces hopefully this weekend!
John Lewis Father’s Day Competition
My name is Joss Daisy and I’m one year old. My Daddy is the best Daddy a little girl could hope for. He took me for my first trip to the beach last week and told he about when he took Mammy to the beach on one of their first dates, it was a lovely day and he bought me an icecream which made it an AMAZING day!
He’s always making up silly names for me, like salty otter and Josscat but I don’t mind because he’s also really good at making up funny songs for me to shout along too!
My Daddy always has a smile for me and I always have one for him, he’s good at cuddling, making me food I like and waking me up early from naps which makes Mammy mad but makes me happy because I’d rather play with him then sleep!
This is my entry for the John Lewis Father’s Day Competition!
Bye bye mei tai, hello toddler!
Eek, my little girl is growing up too fast, she’s just outgrown our baby mei tai at 13m, not in weight mind, just those lovely long legs were no longer knee to knee so time to move on. I’ve a beautiful new Manduca, photos to follow, and of course the lovely Ellaroo! I’ve just agreed to help publicise and support testing of a new woven with Joy and Joe thus continuing our babywearing journey into toddler hood! Pics and more to follow!