Baby wearing in public...............................................oh the looks and judgements you receive

February 26, 2015

Tonight on The Current Lifestyle:

Baby wearing in public

Our first ring sling carry. At Oktoberfest fest!

Every Thursday, I have dubbed grocery shopping day. Little miss chunk of love and I hit the pavement and make our rounds at the local farmers market and Publix for our weekly stock up.
Each Thursday is pretty predictable; we go to the farmers market, where I leave my chunk wunk in her car seat and place her in the shopping cart while I grab fruits and veggies. However, when we get to Publix, I wear her. Why the difference? Several reasons.

1) At the local farmers market, I'm there for less than 15 minutes. So taking little miss out of her car-seat and placing her into the wrap or sling is just a waste of time.
2) When at Publix, people feel they can magically walk up to your baby and touch her if she's in the cart. With all of the new out breaks of measles etc. I want people to keep a distance.
3) There is nowhere for the food to go in the cart if she is placed in the large basket. I cringe when I see parents place the car seat on the top seat. It's a safety risk.
4) I'm in Publix longer and she's more likely to cooperate with me if I wear her, also if I'm lucky, she gets a nap in.

Sleepy dust on the wrap puts baby to sleep

While in Publix, "where shopping is truly a pleasure," I find that I love wearing our Caroline in the Boba wrap. It's a simple wrap however the material is stretchy and extremely hot! I only use this wrap in the winter. Yep, Florida winters, anything below 75 degrees. For light wearing, I'll wear her in the ring sling. This type of sling has two rings attached to it and works like an 80's style belt. We have two of these. One is rainbow colored and is woven, the other is made simply out of cotton. I purchased it for my hubby as a gift since he is the family Lions fan. (Mommy is a die hard Dolphins fan) See pictures below. My only complaint about the ring sling is that it constricts an arm. Last but not least, we own a Mei Tai. This baby carrier is perfect for when we go on hikes or camping. It's like a back pack. It ties on the front or the back, has straps and even has snaps to add on an accessory hood or extra blanket cover.

I'm asked a lot about baby carrying not just by friends, but by complete strangers. Every Thursday is a new adventure in the store. I've been asked if I was comfortable. I've been asked what type of carriers I use and where they can be purchased. I've been told how amazing I am because I wear my child. I've been told a horror story about a woman who wore her child and was knocked to the ground when someone tried to steal her purse and her child's head hit the pavement, I've been strangely asked for a picture while wearing Caroline, and even more strange, I posed for the picture with the entire strangers family in the store parking lot.

But don't read me wrong, I receive weird, longing and ugly looks too. Looks that state, what the hell is she doing? Looks that state, OMG! Her kid could slip right out of that thing any moment. Looks that state, I wish my kid could sit as comfortably and quiet as yours. Looks that state, um, this is America not some poor African or Asian country where you're collecting wheat or rice.

Just remember, do what works best for you and your family. If you're a car seat type of parent, then embrace that bulky thing and click it into the carts and strollers like a boss!

Keep an open mind and try not to judge. I couldn't wear Caroline for a few days after I had minor heart surgery and the judgements from baby wearing mommas can be felt. You don't always know the story behind the reason so keep your thoughts open, smile on and dance down the grocery isle.

Below are pictures of the baby wearing items we own and love:

The Boba wrap

Daddy and Chunky P in the ring sling

The first ring sling. Woven rainbow.

Nothing sexier than men baby wearing. My Brother in Law and my Hubby both baby wearing in Canada. Oh, don't forget Carlos.

The Mei Tai

Like what I post? Then buy me a coffee! Or another wrap. I have my eye on a Tula!!!

A Tula baby carrier

Anger Management.....Please, I'm supermom and can do it all apparently.

February 25, 2015

Tonight's glorious topic of covo is on anger management with your spouse. I like to chuckle at people who don't have children because some, not all, think, "how could a sweet bundle of chunky goodness bring out the worst in you or your spouse?" I'll also be the first to admit that I used to be one of these naive people. It's really quite simple. Let me explain.....

Once upon a time in January of 2014 a beautiful couple found out that they would be expecting a sweet baby in September. Like all couples do, they read books on pregnancy, they took labor and delivery classes, discussed and agreed upon parenting styles. The wife checked out a hilarious book called, "Baby-proofing Your Marriage." Each night while reading sections of the book, the wife would discuss with her husband different parenting styles and would laugh at some of the (what seemed at the time) odd behaviors the wives put their husbands through. "I'll never act like a raging lunatic just because my husband doesn't know that you can't put butt paste on a baby that wears cloth diapers" exclaimed the wife.

Pause a moment and enjoy that smile on your face because you already know as the reader where this is headed.  

September 23,  2014.....baby is home.
ODD BEHAVIORS:
1) NO ONE can sleep if the baby is sleeping. We sleep in shifts because what if she stops breathing?  Hello?!?!?! SIDS kills
    (My MIL included, came to visit from Canada, and stayed awake an entire 24 hours)
2) Who the hell put butt paste on the baby? She wears cloth diapers and the butt paste ruins the diapers. Who doesn't know this?
3) When in bed, get up, go downstairs and check the stove. Is the oven off? Whats the plan if the house catches on fire? Omg, do I just grab her and toss her to someone or do I jump out of the window with her strapped to me? Do I have time to strap her too me? What husband?
4) Do not tell my child she is chunky! I don't want my 4 day old to have self esteem issues like the rest of the world.

The list goes on. Yes, I may have suffered from undiagnosed post partum anxiety, but no one asks about that in doctor office surveys. They're more worried about depression. All of those things listed was who I became. I once was a laid back, carefree person. Where I once supported letting my kid cry, (this was before having the thing) I became a total freak and any peep she made I had to fix. This turned me into someone who mentally couldn't handle the smallest amount of stress and I would bite anyone's head off faster than T-Rex did in Jurassic Park. Thankfully I have a spouse who's willing to look past certain issues, talk it out or SLOWLY help bring to light my, well I'll just say it, BITCHINESS.

Why am I telling you all of this you might ask? Well, it still happens occasionally and to be honest I know I'm not the only one. Today I lost, I mean lost my shit on my husband for asking me to put the cat litter box back into the office. WHY?
When I went in to go grab the box, it was like our fluffy child had a litter bomb party and threw litter everywhere. It was on the walls. How the hell does litter stick to the wall? I was so angry, I literally couldn't see straight. For the first time I called my unsuspecting husband at work and reamed him for it. Doesn't he know I don't have time for other messes? Does he honestly think I have time to now sanitize this bathroom with all of my other responsibilities?

In all honesty, I didn't calm down until I cleaned the bathroom, and wrote a lesson plan for my smallest Taekwondo students this afternoon. I realized I was a complete failure and being completely unfair when I wanted my sit talk with my students to be ways of handling anger.

To wrap this very long post up, in the end, I texted (lame I know) an apology to my husband for being a douche. I also apologized in person when I came home from teaching that amazing class.

To end, here are some ideas my students use to handle their anger: (they are 3-6 year olds)
1) go get mom
2) count to 3
3) don't say anything at all.


Live, Laugh, Love and forgive my friends.

Here are some quotes to live by:

1) He who flings mud, loses a lot of ground.
       - Anonymous
 2) If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.
       - Chinese Proverb

Like my post.....come join me for coffee sometime. I also like beer, and wine, and even better, free beer and wine.

Today I've decided to write a book..........Yeah right!

February 24 2015

While driving home from the local book store today, I had this uncanny motivation to write a book. I'm told a lot of the time on a social media site, that people can't wait to see what I'm going to post about my new mother hood journey. I guess when I post about the good, bad, and the poop ugliness, it conjures up old memories of moms with older children or makes new moms feel as if they're never alone. Either way, I hope whatever I happen to post on here makes people laugh if nothing else.

So, let me back up and tell you about my trip to the book store today. Be warned, I will write about all motherhood journeys that yours truly has only experienced. I wanted to get out of the house today. I didn't want to go spend a bunch of money, so my favorite place to go other than the library is Barnes and Noble. Now some of you maybe asking how can you not spend a bunch of money in that place? Well, I use B&N as my ultimate window shop time killer experience. You see, I go, kill time, touch books, read books, make mental, sometimes actual notes on the books I want to read or own in my own personal library. (Then I go home and purchase the item on Amazon because I can always find it for less) While upon doing this, I usually baby wear mine and my husbands new addition in a wrap or ring sling. Its simple, cozy for the two of us. We snuggle close and I can usually keep the snowbirds and their germs away because they don't get too close when the baby is strapped to you.

Its picture perfect. I have our five month old strapped to me in our beautiful rainbow ring sling, I'm mentally checking books into my memory and it happens. My little chunk gets squirmy. Now, you would think from the one other time I have experienced this, in a Target, that I would have remembered, but hey, they say pregnancy brain victims never fully recover. I leave B&N and decide to walk over to another store, where I'll spare you the boring details, I left with nothing and returned to my car. I place my purse in the passenger seat, open the back door and promptly remove my now sleeping bundle of chunky goodness when two of my senses go off immediately. SIGHT and SMELL. Then the little neurons in my brain start to fire, oh yes, that's why she was squirming. A shifty diaper. Perfect! As I place my smelly, sleepy chunk of love into her car seat, I notice the nice brown smear-age of fresh poop coming out of the side of her cloth diaper. I set her in her seat, strap her in and look down. There on my tank, is the rest of the digestive tracks product. I decided that since we were going straight home, there was no use in waking her to change in the car. So we, drove home together smelling my car up with the remains of, breast milk, rice cereal and our newest solid, carrots.

As you can imagine, I'm grinning ear to ear over this because I should have known better. I've always been the one to learn things the hard way. Sometimes even more than once. So for all of you Mommy's out there who have or haven't experienced the Baby Wearing shifty diaper. This post is for you.

Today's post is brought to you by the same company that brings you; skid mark, poop stain, boot scoot, up the side, blow out and all of your other poop wearing favorites.

Keep laughing my friends. It'll keep you young!

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