our journey to the perfect baby carrier (Part 1)

Did you know that i love wearing my baby? Well, I do. I had a feeling I would be into it, so I registered for (and got) a Moby Wrap. I started putting Micah in the wrap at about 1 month old. We both fell in love...with the pumping taking up so much time early on, the Moby was extremely helpful! Here's a pic of our first time ::

Micah enjoyed the Moby, and more often than not, he would fall right asleep, so I started facing him out more often, but he has never seemed comfy facing out in the Moby. I tried over and over with no luck...it may have to do with the fact that he weighs more than most babies his age :) We have a Baby Bjorn also, and he does pretty good facing out in it, but he's almost grown out of it!

After I returned to work, I realized that I really needed/wanted a carrier that I could use to put Micah on my back. You see, when I get home, it's Micah time. I want to be close to him and I want him to know that his mama isn't going to put him in the jumper or on the floor right away. Unfortunately, that meant that Alex and I wouldn't eat dinner until 8pm every night (alex doesn't usually walk in until around 7pm), and by then I was tired most nights so our dinners suffered and we ate out more than we'd wanted to. I thought that if I had a carrier to keep him close but out of harms way while cooking, dinners would become less of a nightmare.

SO, I began my hunt. I had heard great things about the BabyHawk, and there is even one that has buckles. It's basically a glorified Mei Tei...there was always the Mei Tei option, but I didn't thing I could swing the tying part of the process with a 4-5 month old! I'd heard great things about the Ergo, and the Boba too. There are a million choices and I wasn't sure where to start. My internet research took me to a site called Granola Babies.

Granola Babies offers rentals on carriers, and you can rent as many as you'd like and keep changing them out if you're finding that none are working for you. If just so happens that this store I found online has an actual shop right down the street from us! I decided to give it a try...after all, I would much rather have someone to help me narrow down the choices and give me a chance to try them out as if they were my own while not being afraid of spit up or getting them dirty for a return! When I walked out of the store, I had two carriers with me (both rented)...The Beco Butterfly ll and the Beco Gemini. Both had different selling points, so I was anxious to try them both...

(check out GranolaBabies.com for rental info)