ERGObaby Carrier Review (and a chance to win!)

The first time I put on an ERGObaby Carrier, I was surprised at how weighty it felt on my shoulders. My girl was only about six months old and she fit snugly in it, her chin rested on the soft shoulder straps. We borrowed that ERGObaby Carrier for our trip to Europe when she was nine months old, and it was the single best thing we took along. I used it first in the airports when my hands were full of bags and our passports even zipped neatly into the front pocket.

Throughout the trip it continued to serve us more purpose than anything else we took for our daughter. On the blustery streets of London and to the churning Underground, I wore her, up stairwells seven stories deep and through street festivals in Dublin, on to the Tour de Eifel; we wore and wore and wore her. But the best part was that I quickly learned how to breastfeed her in it, saving me countless hours of awkwardly perching in minuscule European restrooms or trying to lull a tired babe to sleep with no bed to lay her on. I happily Nurse in Public whenever she asks to, and the ERGObaby Carrier has become synonymous with breastfeeding for her and I. I simply drop the length of the straps down, lift up my shirt (I like wearing tank tops underneath my blouses for breastfeeding) and she leans to one side and rests her head on my elbow to bliss out on mama milk. One of my absolute favorite breastfeeding moments with her was in a small French garden outside of Paris where I laid the ERGObaby Carrier on the ground as a small blanket and snuggled down beside her to rest and nurse her to sleep. An elderly French lady who didn’t speak a word of English came and sat right next to me, patting her leg and crooning as my girl nursed away.

(our little one has a ride in the ERGObaby Carrier in the Wicklow mountains of Ireland)

Ease of Use: The ERGObaby Carrier isn’t just for adventures though, and it’s truly the one and only carrier you will ever need for your baby. It goes from newborn weight (with an insert) through 40pounds, but they’ve been tested to hold much more than that. I personally can’t imagine my girl being too big for it as she’s almost two and I still wear her. I’m currently a single mama while my partner is away for six weeks this summer and it has liberated me to do things I didn’t know I would struggle doing. Grocery shopping, for example, is difficult when there’s a wee one trying to snack on everything in the cart, and hard enough if there are two adults along. But if I go right during nap time, and put her on my back in the ERGObaby Carrier, she will snooze the trip away. I put her in it again to unload the car and free up both of my hands to grocery bags. And, if she wants a nurse while we’re out, I simply snuggle her into the ERGObaby carrier and pull my blouse aside. She doesn’t need much more encouragement than that to “murse.”

Comfort: At work (I‘m a part-time Nanny), I put her in it when she needs a break or a cuddle) and I’ve had the pleasure of wearing other sweet babes in it too, though my girl does get a bit jealous at seeing other wee ones in “My ERGO!” It is brilliantly comfortable and actually reminds me of a well-fitted backpack. Even my partner enjoys wearing her for snuggles or out at the farmer’s market (to free up his hands for watermelons and fresh strawberries!) as it’s so comfortable and easily adjusted. Another great point is that you can easily wear your child in different positions. My favorite is the front carry, but my partner prefers the back carry. You can also wear it on your hip or wear two at a time (front carry and back carry) if you have more than one little one.

Value: The ERGObaby Carrier is on the pricier side of all carriers I have ever owned, ranging from $120-$148. With that being said, it is truly worth the price, and is also going to last through as many babies as you may be blessed with. I truly love my ERGObaby carrier. It is blissfully soft, sturdy and has allowed me to nurture my babe any and everywhere I go. She asks for it “the ERGO!” by name when she wants a snuggle or a “mursie” and I have loved every minute of having it. It's also probably our most used baby item besides our stash of cloth diapers.

You can visit the ERGObaby website at http://www.ergobabycarriers.com/
ERGObaby has graciously offered one of our Carnival of Nursing in Public participants an ERGObaby carrier (valued between $120 and $148). *Preferred color cannot be guaranteed and is dependent upon stock available.
To enter to win an ERGObaby Carrier, submit an original post to the Carnival of Nursing in Public by June 30th.
Rules for entry – There are 3 ways to be entered in the drawing. You will get one entry for each submission up to 2 drawing entries in each category (you can submit more than 2 items but you will only be entered into the drawing 2 times per category for a maximum total of 6 entries per person). Here’s how to enter:
1. Submit an original post – This should be a well-written, unpublished piece submitted by June 30th using the original post submission webform.
2. Submit a NIP photo – Please submit your picture via email to CodeNameMama {at} gmail {dot} com and BabyDustDiaries {at} gmail {dot} com. You must own rights to share your pictures.
3. Submit a Tweet – Submit your Tweet that shares a NIP tip or bit of encouragement in 140 characters or less using the Tweet submission webform. Be sure to include the #CarNIP hashtag and your Twitter ID in that 140 character count.
Also: please comment to let me know which ERGObaby Carrier you will chose if you win!

Old pics

I'm raiding Pappa Starbuck's hard drive this morning for photos I took in Europe. Most of these are from Dublin, specifically from Trinity College and the Trinity College area and are from May and June this year.

Britches

Little berry wears cloth diapers. This is great, convenient for us, and cheaper than I expected. We use the highly acclaimed Bum Genius diapers and they are everything they claim to be, if not more. With them we've never had a single 'blow out,' and for overnight we just add a newborn insert on top of a regular and she's set. They're easy to wash, quick to dry, and they even have an excellent 'warranty' just in case something goes wrong.
You do have to use a good detergent: we use Charlie's soap. It seems to matter if you use regular detergent for other loads- so we use Charlie's for everything except once in a while. I find I can always toss a dryer sheet into other loads as they dry to make them smell good- which is important to Pappa Starbucks. He likes to smell good. When we went to Europe, we took the BumGenius diapers with us- they took up a lot of space but ended up being worth it. Because diapers in Europe, even Pampers- were so much thinner and different from their counterparts stateside. So for us, traveling with cloth diapers was an easy choice- I took those little spray bottles they sell at Target that are "Airline Approved" and filled them with the liquid Charlie's and put them in our carry on- it was actually very convenient because our rooms in Paris, London, and Dublin had front-loading washers and so we just sprayed each diaper down individually and they came perfectly clean every time. In Dublin, we line-dried them but they dry slower that way.
My issue with them is only that Little Berry requires a much larger seat in her pants. Which is complicated in that her legs aren't particularly long, and while it was fine in the summer- she either wore 3T shorts or just a diaper with a shirt/dress, winter is nearing and I don't know what she's going to wear for pants! I've tried larger pants but they are usually too long. I've tried making her some but can't find a good pattern.
Any suggestions? What do you do for your cloth-diapering baby's pants?

Europe

Some pics I just found in my phone of our daily excursions in Europe. It was so, so beautiful, so liberating. Wonderful.

New rooms

We struggled very hard for a long time this past year. Though we were both intelligent college grads, the market was inundated by people who were intelligent college grads AND who had years of experience. Our hopes for TFA were deflated after Pappa Starbucks spent months, literally almost 6 of them, on a wait list. We moved on finally and took our scholarship money and explored Europe. I had never been in an airplane, my reality was skewed highly by the idyllic American mantras I had been fed for years and years. It was very, very good for me. I fell in love with London and felt my pulse finally beat as though announcing my existence to the stars as we stood for an afternoon on the side of the world in beautiful, breathtaking Howth: a coastal fisher-man's town tucked into a seemingly eternal embrace with the sea, the waves curl around and whisper sweet songs, Ireland laughs at them ever heartily and lends her beautiful birds to keep company, harmony even, with those waves. That day I saw myself actually falling in love with the culture, the people, the history of that side of the Earth, and I hope to spend a more extensive amount of time there some day.
I am so, so glad we went.

Thoughts on this scholarship-

My first plane flight (and Little Berry's too!) ever was yesterday. We were in bed super late last night and up at the wee hours of morning heading to Atlanta on a two something hour drive in the dark, cool dewy summer light.
We flew from Atlanta to DC, and from DC to NYC. Little Berry and I struggled to keep up much of the time, but overall this was onelarge rush of adrenaline. From NYC, we flew nonstop to London. I stayed awake the entire flight, holding my daughter and watching Pappa Starbucks sleep in front of me. We were blessed with a light plane and plenty of room, and as I watched the light change across the world and the sky became unfamiliar, I realized I was on the cusp of a huge moment for myself.
The babe and I were both quite overwhelmed and I am clearly under-packed (not one single long-sleeve shirt in my bag!!) but right now, I am finally no longer STARVING, I've had a nice shower, Little Berry and Pappa Starbucks both are sleeping and I am fighting a losing battle with a new routine, as well as jetlag.
The trains (right outside our window) are loud, everything seems to be covered in graffiti, but so far everyone has been extremely helpful- twice yesterday I was helped with the stroller up a flight of (huge) stairs (what's with all the stairs here, anyway?) by a complete stranger, and our hotel clerk let us in our room 3 hours early because of just how dagum tired we were.
AND fed us breakfast for free.

Tomorrow begins our first day of exploring and we will see just how lost we manage to get exploring Europe with a baby in tow. For now I will be happy if we manage to not hurt ourselves or stick out like crazy tourists.

And I didn’t even DO a bracket

There are 50 port-a potties lining the street of our small town. Traffic police, the fire marshal, all local fire-fighters and trucks, as well as many visible paramedics are available, on call, and many are actively trying to prevent fights, and respond to emergencies, injuries. Some will be poised later tonight to put out fires that will be lit in the streets, and police will stand by to arrest anyone seen lighting fires in an attempt to control the riotous crowd, the volume of which is rising already. Thousands of people are raising their voices tonight, flooding this small town with a volume of united energy.

No, it's not a Take Back the Night event on astronomical proportions. Instead, our school is in the last game of the basketball season tonight. I've heard the loud, loud neighbors for weeks now, listening to the games, I've waded through traffic on Franklin Street during game days, or pushed through traffic to get to Baby's R Us to buy some more diapers while everyone scrambles around in their lovely, very clean and pressed Carolina Blue. And yes, I capitalized those on purpose. Mornings after big games, my professors offer a range of excuses for us in the classroom. Our transgressions against the text are forgiven because our team won. In one class I was in, students led presentations on some aspect of the literature we covered. One student group interviewed a leading basketball player who just happened to be sitting in the pit- they were the only team to receive an A. The noise level here is astounding. And though I am usually annoyed by the enthusiasm that my fellow peers have for the home team, I also understand that this sport allows many things and provides much business to this small town. However, as Pappa Starbucks pointed out, we're holding down our small fort with a babe who received a super does of vaccines today in anticipation for our trip to Europe.
And though I anticipate no emergency requiring us to plow through Franklin Street during the last minutes of the game when intoxicated students jump through rubbish fires and attempt to catch themselves on fire, and fortunately Little Berry's fever seems to be under control, but I will certainly enjoy the blanket excuse from doing my required readings, thank you very much. Especially since the volume of my neighbors? It's not even at its' maximum yet.