Birmingham, Alabama, center of the babywearing universe

What, too much? A bit of an overstatement? Oh OK, fiiiiine. BUT, did you know that not only is Birmingham home to Magic City Slingers, it can also claim to have launched Heather Ticheli into the wider world? Go ahead, click the link. Heather is a certifiable Slingbat, on her way to being a certified babywearing consultant by the wonderful Die Trageschule babywearing school based in Dresen, Germany, and an all-around sweet person who lives in London despite its lack of proximity to Pat James’ Full Moon Barbeque (which is a little sad for her, but she manages).

More Babywearing Conference pics …

These from Jill: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Fun!

For a hilarious romp down Babywearing Conference Lane, check out the adventures of Kimber Tower, the owner of Have a Ball Baby and creator of the Ball Baby Overall mei tai, starting here.

And, a sneak peek video of the fashion show is here.

Babywearing story on Chicago Public Radio

Still wrapping up from the conference! There’s a lot …

Enjoy this story.

Babywearing Conference - I’m baaaack!

Wow, I need three days of sleep! I got home Saturday night after four nights and five days at the Babywearing Conference at DePaul University in Chicago. I have lots to share, but it’ll take a few days. In the meantime, I wanted to share the photographs taken by Stephanie Dame (don’t look if you don’t like seeing really great photographs of beautiful babywearers):

Last Day photos

Day 2 photos

 

Slings for Iowa Flood Victims, and BARGAIN!

I’ve blogged about HUGS (Help Us Give Slings) before; it’s an organization that gives free slings to disaster victims. I’m afraid I’m a little late on this one, but it’s still worth a post: For every selendang purchased between now and Saturday, June 21, 2008 HUGS will donate 2 selendangs to mothers in the Iowa City/Johnson County Fairgrounds emergency flood shelter.

The best part is this: HUGS selendangs are only $20, and they are just plain beautiful. They’re 100% cotton with amazing batik patterns. I couldn’t figure out why on Earth I would not want a beautiful sling super cheap that would also give two beautiful slings to flood victims, so I just ordered one and am looking forward to carrying my September baby in it!

Even if you don’t need another sling, they’d make lovely window coverings, wall hangings, tablecloths, or shawls.

Cool ring sling instructions from Storchenwiege

I just stumbled across these great, fully-illustrated, ring sling instructions from Storchenwiege. Gotta love instructions with color photos!

New baby sling safety blog

M’Liss is an oximeter-wielding nurse with a passion for babywearing advocacy. She’s blogging about sling safety now … particularly about how to make sure our babies have open airways and are breathing properly.  

Backpacking with your baby

Here’s an inspirational article about backpacking — as in, taking all your gear, hiking away from civilization as you know it, and sleeping in the woods – with a baby or toddler. 

Of course, you don’t have to camp to have an adventurous family vacation with your little one(s). Here are some beautiful photos of local babywearers Heather and Eric on their Colorado vacation last year that included plenty of hiking with their baby and toddler.

Water Slings

It seems like everyone is asking about water slings these days. I am NOT someone who has used everything out there, but I’ve touched all three materials and know a little bit about the products offered, so I wrote this summary and Kim, our fantastic librarian, told me I ought to post it here. Since I admire Kim a great deal, here it is!

There are three fabric choices, each of which is manufactured in different styles (probably more than I have listed!)
Mesh (comes in ring slings and pouches)
Solarveil (ring slings, pouches and mei tais)
Solarweave (mei tais and sscs)

Mesh doesn’t offer UV protection but it is fairly comfortable and water passes through.  Solarveil has UV protection and water passes through, but it’s a bit scratchy. It will soften with use.  Solarweave has UV protection and is comfy, but it is made of something similar to bathing suit material and water sometimes hangs in there.

There is also a water wrap (made by Gypsy Mama) that is made of a sport knit that is supposed to dry very quickly and offer some UV protection as well.

I hope that helps someone as they decide what they need to buy for long months out at the pool! Leave a comment if you have trouble finding what you are looking for and we’ll do our best to find a good brand that matches up with your needs.

Celebrate Babywearing this November

This November 12-18 is the first ever International Babywearing Week, presented by Babywearing International Inc. and www.TheBabyWearer.com. How cool is that? Babywearing groups all over the world will have events and focus on reaching out to tell their local communities all about babywearing.

BWI and TBW will be rolling out more info on the official International Babywearing Week programs, but two things are already in the works: nonprofit babywearing groups, even informally organized ones, can register as Official Celebrating Organizations to be eligible for free resources like posters; and everybody can get cool t-shirts, onesies, hoodies, tote bags, stickers, whatever with the official International Babywearing Week logo.