Tag Archives: baby bjorn

It’s International Babywearing Week! How Will You Participate?

10/06/2014 R.C. Liley 3 Comments

Hey all, it’s Monday! Oh, sorry, I mean…..it’s Munnnnday….

Yeah, it’s not the most inspiring or motivating day of the week, but it does mean it’s International Babywearing Week! If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that babywearing is near and dear to my heart and something I support 110%!

I’ve been wearing Avery since she was 2 weeks old and still going strong today. I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon either. Which is perfect since that means Avery and I can celebrate International Babywearing Week (IBW, for short) in 2015 too!

It's true, I've been in here for as long as I can remember! — It’s true, I’ve been in here for as long as I can remember!

Babywearing International Inc. (a non-profit organization) and TheBabywearer.com are the organizations behind IBW. Here’s an explanation from Babywearing International’s website about IBW:

International Babywearing Week is a focused opportunity to celebrate, promote and advocate the many benefits of babywearing. International Babywearing Week is also an occasion to focus media attention on this beautiful and beneficial practice. Nonprofit babywearing groups around the world are participating in International Babywearing Week by registering as Official Celebrating Organizations. These organizations will be hosting many exciting and educational events throughout the week, including presenting local awards and sharing information about babywearing with their communities. At the International level, Babywearing International and TheBabywearer.com will jointly present International Babywearing Week Awards, recognizing excellence in babywearing advocacy and education. There will also be a coordinated media outreach campaign to raise awareness about babywearing among the general public.

Since I already wear Avery on a daily basis, I will have no problem celebrating this week just like every other week. But, besides my babywearing ways, I hope to get others interested and active in wearing their baby as well.

Us dads have a lot of catching up to do bonding-wise since moms are 9 months ahead of us and have something we’ll never be able to replace. I think that’s wonderful and don’t want to take it away, ever, but I do want to ensure my daughter and I have a strong, everlasting bond. By wearing her as much as possible, I feel this helps to achieve my goal quite well.

This week, I would like to share several babywearing resources I find helpful on my blog and across my social media pages. If you have something you’d like to share, please do so without hesitation.

Also, this Thursday, October 9th, our newly formed Dallas Dads Group that I wrote about in past posts will be hosting an event for IBW sponsored by Britax. We’ll be a part of 12 other City Dads Groups celebrating on Thursday and will make sure to make a scene across social media.

If you’d like to follow along with our group, use these resources:

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

@britaxus

Hashtags:

#citydads
#INTLBabywearingWeek

Make sure to keep an eye out on my Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages (links on the side of this page) for babywearing resources I plan on sharing throughout this week and please share them with others if you can!

Do you currently wear your baby or are you planning on it if you are expecting?

Have you before?

Parenting

Our Visit to Mommy’s Work and What to do Without a Swaddle

03/07/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

Avery is 16 weeks old today! Where did those other weeks go? I know I am impatient wanting her to grow so we can play and interact more, but geez, time flies! All of those experienced parents telling us how fast time goes with your baby weren’t kidding!

Today we made a trip to Kelley’s work, my old employer, just to see her and old co-workers. After her long morning nap and finishing a bottle, we were off to work….I mean Kelley’s work. That’s so fun to say; being a stay-at-home parent is world’s better in my opinion!

Mommy greeted us at the entrance and I wore Avery in the Baby Bjorn until we were inside. Kelley couldn’t wait to hold her baby and she immediately took her from me once we were in the main area. So, I was looking pretty cool with an empty Baby Bjorn dangling across my body. Not that I really cared, it was casual Friday!

Going Mom and Avery happy to be together!

Avery got to meet a lot of new people that mom works with and used to work with me too. They all took turns “ohhhing” and “aaahhhing” while passing her around. Avery did much better than I expected with all of the new people and she was hardly fussy at all. Go Avery!

We spent about an hour making our rounds and visiting friends/co-workers until it was time for us let mommy get back to work. It was an overall good trip and I was happy to be able to bring her to Kelley since I know how much she misses our darling little girl.

It felt weird wearing this, but a good weird.... — It felt weird wearing this, but a good weird….

Before leaving the campus (it’s a rather large area), I took Avery for a mile long walk around the dirt trails that surround the building. This loop is a walk Kelley and I would take together every day before having lunch, and it was nice to take Avery around.

She seemed pretty alert and interested in the new surroundings, but then fell asleep half-way through. I always hate waking her up to put her back in the car, but since I was in a Fire Lane, figured I shouldn’t press my luck any longer. Oops!

Taking my time before putting her the car seat.

Up to this point, Avery was oddly calm and she just felt like a ticking time bomb for when her major fussy time would blow! Once home, Avery ate a little and showed signs of tiredness setting in. At this time of day, I am usually laying her in her crib for an afternoon nap, but CRAP, her Woombie was wet in the wash and there is no way she can sleep alone without it. We’ll work on that, but not yet.

I put Avery in the carrier and went for another walk with our dog, Abby, since Abby usually gets a walk anyway. I usually have luck getting Avery to sleep while walking, but she squirmed forever while trying to what seemed like climb my chest to get out of the carrier. Finally, she fell asleep as I was half-way through again. I sense a pattern here…. I tried to extend the walk while she slept, but she ended up waking anyway. Is 20 minutes a good nap?

Short answer, no. That time bomb went off not long after coming inside. I offered her more bottle and she finished it fairly easily, but continued to wail and fling her arms about. Still without a swaddle, I just held her close and tried swaying with her. 30 minutes later and her eyes were heavy but still open and she was still crying. Ugh.

At this point I was just desperate to get her to have a little nap before night time, so I brought her to the recliner. With my arms wrapped around her and my hands holding her arms from moving to her mouth (a human swaddle!), I rocked the screaming beauty to sleep. And this is what Kelley came home to….

Kelley washed up and came back to get Avery for a feeding. The nap was successful and held Avery over until laying her down to sleep tonight. Phew, what a day! Poor girl was exhausted!

Aside from the tiring day, I do have great news! I spoke with a nice person from Onya which makes great baby carriers and they agreed to send one to us to review and write about! I can’t explain how happy I am and can’t wait to wear Avery all around with it. Stay tuned for constant updates on where we travel in the Onya Outback!

Have you ever had to make yourself a human swaddle to get your baby to sleep?
Do you or have you used a baby carrier? If so, what kind?

Parenting

Our Bear Came Out of Hibernation

03/03/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

Thanks to the below freezing cold here in Texas, we had to bring out the bear for our walk today. I don’t have a problem with the bear, just the reason we have to bring it out.

I love putting Avery in this thing, I just want to pick her up and hug her tight (but enough to breathe) forever! Just look….

She didn’t mind being stuffed in her bear suit and the Baby Bjorn (really need a better carrier and can’t decide on the Ergo, Boba, or Onya) with my winter jacket zipped over her, she just chewed on my coat for a while and finally fell asleep. I find it hard to stop walking if she’s still sleeping, so after a quick pee break at the house, I journeyed back outside to “bear” the weather. See what I did there? Ha.

Seriously, no more pictures... — Seriously, no more pictures…

Today was going pretty well until later in the afternoon when Avery started having bad gas and screaming fits. I know it was gas since she was busting out burps and farts that put me to shame! I feel it has to do with how she takes the bottle sometimes and I’m trying to make sure she gets as little air gulped in as possible. But with a squirmy baby, this is not an easy task.

After nap time in her crib was disrupted, I ended up holding her in the rocking chair until she fell asleep again. She was in and out along with the audible gas passing through our poor baby, but at least she got a little more rest.

Once Kelley got home, she took her and was able to feed her the good stuff sans bottle, which helped with the gas problem. I also gave her some Tummy Calm which I’m not sure if it helps or not, but it doesn’t make things worse.

So, I guess Monday’s can suck for the At-Home crew just as much as the working force! It’s Monday night as I write this and we’re hoping for a peaceful, gas-free night. Crossing fingers!

Have you ever used Tummy Calm or another homeopathic for your baby?
How’s the weather in your area? Do you like it hot or cold? I’m a heat lover way more than a cold lover; let me sweat!