I Love Babywearing too!

So much, that yesterday I felt like I sounded like an ad when a lady at a garage sale commented on my pouch. She explained she had a bad back, but liked the idea. It was neat because I bent over to pick up Elisabeth, didn't squat and hurt my back last weekend. Thanks to Nathaniel working on it several times, I'm not hurting constantly but uncomfortable yet at times. Now having a 14 mo baby and a back that hurts is difficult. Fortunately, when it hurt the worst, my wonderful MIL helped take care of Elisabeth a lot, but now that we're home I'm doing all the holding and picking up. And yesterday I went yardsaling with a friend. Now if you know Elisabeth, you know how much she likes to be walking around getting into stuff, not the best thing at yardsales! Ha! So I wore my pouch and carried her a good deal of the time, and thanks to my pouch, it didn't hurt my back.

I generally like using a pouch, or my Mei Tai or occasionally the Baby Trekker(that one's more Nathaniel's) instead of trying to hold her in my arms. That gets tiring very quickly. Why not just use a stroller? A stroller is handy sometimes, but in crowded places, not so much. It also takes time to set up, altho' if you have stuff, it's easier sometimes to use the stroller to haul your diaper bag, water bottle, purse, etc. But you sure can't nurse a baby in a stroller. Lol! If I don't take a carrier out the door, invariably, I wish I had. My pouch makes it easier just going to the car because I can carry Elisabeth in the pouch and the diaper bag, and whatever else I need in my hands, which are completely free.

I might add there is one caveat to babywearing, and that would be you always want to try another carrier. But there are times you want different ones. When we went to a carshow, I used a two-shoulder carrier because I knew it would be a long time I'd be wearing Elisabeth. So I found this contest where you could Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap and just had to enter. It's for a complete stash of carriers. *drool*

I love ECing!

I cannot imagine not doing it.

"What on earth is it?" some of you might be wondering, altho' most of you know we've been pottying Elisabeth pretty much since she was born. We started little over a year ago, June 4th! I would watch when she was peeing, let her lay on a changing pad and blanket and made the cue sound when she peed, then I held her over a bowl and made a cue sound, "pssss". She would squirm or fuss a little before she had to go, and that first month was great. One time we were in the bathtub, and she cried three times and pooped each time when I held her over the bowl.

Now, she doesn't signal like that(I think our trip to visit my folks last summer messed her up somehow) but we 'catch' 99% of the morning pees and 70% of the morning poos.

Let me tell you, poo is a huge reason to 'do' EC. A friend of my dad's said that EC sounded messy. He has no idea how less messy EC is. When Elisabeth goes on the potty, we wipe her once, then we empty into the big potty, rinse and flush. And we're done. No messy diaper stinking in the trash(or in our case waiting to be washed) no trashcan of wipes that she can knock over, no huge mess on her bum and our hands. EC is soooooo much easier to clean up after, I really can't understand why people don't use it.

And besides, since we change her as soon as she's wet, Elisabeth will come to us or is at least fussy when she is messy sometimes; she does not like being wet/messy. She has hardly had any diaper rash, even when we were fighting thrush for 4 months. I babysit a 3 year old who can't tell when he has to go. Now 3 yo poo STINKS. In my opinion, you deal with it now, or you deal with it later. and if you wait 'til later, then potty-learning becomes an issue of control and autonomy, "No! Me no go potty!" instead of just something you do.

And for the sphincter control, doctors(the AAP) will tell you that babies do not have sphincter control until 2-3 years. If this were true, EC would not work. They'll also say the parent is trained, I'm not even going to bother with that silly argument, suffice it to say I answer my baby's cries and needs. I guess most parents are just trained to change diapers. Anyways, sphincter to control, now babies can't control holding, when they gotta go, they gotta go, but they can control the release.

So, I love ECing. What do you love?

Oh, and I looooved the Cheesecake Sopapillas Grams made. They're all gone. :(