Wearing My Babies: A Story and Call to Action!

I have written before about babywearing. I have always been an advocate for it and know first hands its benefits. I started wearing D when he was about two weeks old. He was tiny and so snuggly but I needed to get some stuff done. The automatic answer to me was babywearing. I could put him in the wrap we had at the time and I could do everything I needed to do, skin to skin with my precious little man.

Over the next year, there were days where I would wear him and he would cry when I took him out. We went from wrap to meitai to ring sling as he grew. Each time it took a few days for both of us to get used to the switch but it worked out just fine. He so much preferred to be worn than to sit in the nasty carts and sometimes he preferred the comfort of the carriers to just being carried.

I continued to wear D while I was pregnant with K and never slowed down. With a huge belly and a 30 pound toddler strapped to my back I definitely drew a lot of attention. Why would I give up something that we both loved? I didn't give up nursing him while I was pregnant, why would I give up wearing him. Not to mention it was way easier on my back to wear him than have to jut my hip out to hold him that way. It just made sense.

When K was born, he took a turn in the NICU. He spent almost all of his time snuggled up to my chest doing Kangaroo Care and he got quite used to being there, all snuggled up and warm, listening to my heartbeat. When we got home, he expected the same rock star treatment and he got it. I wore him a lot more in the first weeks that I did D. Every morning when we would get up he would go straight into the wrap. I could tend to his brother, and he got the snuggles and kisses he wanted. Everywhere we went, everything we did, K was worn.

He still is for the most part but now that he is getting bigger, he likes to be down. He enjoys sitting in the shopping cart more than D ever did. Mostly because that way he gets to watch and play games with his brother. Still though, if we are going somewhere as a family, one or the other or both of the boys still gets worn. Strollers are just too cumbersome for a family on the go.

Baby-wearing has always just been the norm for us. Its not something I talk about too much here although I have in the past. Its just what we do with our babies.

So, why bring it up now? Well, it is under attack. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is trying to regulate the baby-wearing industry. By doing so, they are taking away our options. They are trying to take away the small carrier makers that are the heart and soul of the practice. They are trying to undermine the research that shows that baby-wearing is beneficial and safe.

They have attacked a (so far unnamed) baby carrier company and forced them to stop production and have ordered them to destroy their inventory without any reasons or cite-able studies as to why. The scary thing is, they don't need a reason. They can do this just because they are the CPSC. The further problem is if they can do this to one company, they will do it to them all in time.

I know I speak for a lot of families that can say they stand firm behind baby-wearing and every thing that goes with it. One of those things is safety, yes, but that is something that lies with the parent using the product correctly, not something that can be mandated by a meddling government program.

So, what can you do? Same as I am doing along with lots of other awesome bloggers.

1. Join the Baby Carrier Industry Alliance on Facebook and join together with other outraged parents and see what you can do from there.

2. Blog, blog, blog. Tweet, tweet, tweet. Spreading the word is the best thing anyone can do right now. Even if you are not a baby-wearing parent, this is still something that can affect you, your readers, or your family. This is small business under attack and being bullied. Also, you can link up your post with Stephanie at Adventures in Baby-wearing for the chance to win a Sakura Bloom sling. Spread the word!

I hope that you can all understand why this is important to me. Baby-wearing isn't just how I carry my babies. Its a bonding thing. Its a trust thing. Its a safety thing. It has been safe for generations of parents around the world. Its a choice that I have made for my family and it is something that is in danger of being revoked by a program that refuses to give answers as to why it is taking that stance. Is that something that anyone would be okay with?

Feel free to add in your own stories in the comments, or if you do blog about this let me know! I would love to come by and read your stories. Also, don't forget to link up your post with Adventures In Babywearing to enter for your chance to wim!

Music Monday

 Music is a huge part of Tommy and I's relationship. Its something we bonded over in the beginning and still connect with now.  I will be posting the lyrics to a song and what it means to me every Monday (hopefully). At least until I run out of interesting things to say (Or I forget). Make sense? Feel free to do your own but please link back to me and add your site to the comments below!


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Baby Mine from Dumbo (Disney)



Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, baby of mine
Little one when you play
Don't you mind what you say
Let those eyes sparkle and shine
Never a tear, baby of mine
If they knew sweet little you
They'd end up loving you too
All those same people who scold you
What they'd give just for
The right to hold you
From your head to your toes
You're not much, goodness knows
But you're so precious to me
Cute as can be, baby of mine


These little boys. They just don't know how much they are loved. How much they make their Mama swell with pride. How much it hurts me when they cry. How much it melts me when they smile. They are my loves, my meaning. Babies of mine.

I Suck At This

This moving thing. Maybe its because I moved around so much as a kid. Not just house to house but also state to state. Maybe its the physically draining process. Maybe its a ghost in my mind that hasn't presented yet.

I do know this though, I am sitting here on our couch, in our new living room, holding back tears for the old place. I want to just pack everything back into the truck and drive back to our home. The one that brought us so many memories. We actually lived in three seperate apartments in the same complex but each one holds a special place for me.

The first, we moved into a couple of weeks before Tommy and I got married. We spent our first days home from our honeymoon there. We laughed and learned and grew together. It was the place that secured our marriage.

It was also where My D was conceived and brought home to. It was on the third floor and if you have never lived up that many stairs while pregnant in 110 degree weather, you have never truly been a miserable human.

The second, we moved into two weeks after D was born. That was a suicide mission in itself. I had post partum hypertension and he had done quite a number on my lady bits coming out so it was not fun trying to get all that moved. I remember taking breaks to nurse him in the floor and not wanting to stop snuggling and keep packing.

I do have good memories of that apartment though. For one it was on the ground level so no more freaking stairs. I remember painting D's room a pale yellow. The thing I had been so excited about doing while pregnant but waited to do until we moved. We had company there a lot and my big boy had all of his early milestones in that house. This one was also the one where we conceived and brought Kai home to. It was the place that my boys met that first time and that moment makes me cry to this day.

The last one was where we really became a family for me. Again, two weeks after K was born, we moved into the three bedroom. We needed teh space desperately even though K slept in our room until he was almost ten months old. Its amazing how much stuff comes with that second kid.

K grew up so quickly before my eyes and D went from awkward toddler to big kid overnight there. We learned to work with and for each other. We hit milestones as a family, we had highs and lows, we enjoyed every second of it.

My Dane learned to swim in the pool this summer there, both of my boys had their first go in the swing there. The both learned to walk, pushing their little toy around and around and around the breezeway. We got to play in the snow this past winter and participated in an impromptu complex wide snowball fight that only ended because we all collapsed on the ground exhausted and laughing. The staff and our neighbors knew us by name and always greets us warmly. The atmosphere was more like a dysfunctional, weird- ass family than anything else. 

I know this place will have its own set of memories, good and bad. I know that my boys will love having a yard and neighbor kids their age to play with. I know in my head that this place is where we need to be but why is my heart screaming at me to pack everything and everyone back into the truck and run "home" before they realize we left?

I don't know what it is that makes feel so utterly lost. Panicky. I know it will pass soon and I will look back on that old apartment complex and wonder how we ever lived that way. Right now though, I mourn the loss of the familiar. The comforting. The ease. The memories. I also look forward to making new with my boys. It should be an adventure anyway.