The sling's the thing

Before I was pregnant, I don't know if I ever could have seen myself as a sling-toting, baby-wearing kind of mama. But I have really enjoyed wearing Luke in the sling! It really calms him down if he's being fussy, and it makes getting things done hands-free so much easier.

I have a Moby Wrap that we bought locally at Austin Baby. It's taken a little practice to get the wrapping part down, and I still can't wrap it as pretty as the people on the Moby website, but I can do it in just a couple of minutes and get Luke in it nice and snug. I've used it every evening to take the dogs out for their PM potty break, and wear it for a little while after that to load up the dishwasher, fold some laundry, or just "hold" Luke hands-free while I catch up on my friends on Facebook. Luke mostly sleeps in it, and when he starts wiggling and making noise it's usually because he needs a diaper change or he's hungry. He seems to be very comfortable with hanging out in the sling.

Today I needed to go to HEB for a few things (including formula, which means no more getting out of HEB for under $20) and decided that instead of bringing the car seat into the store and having to finagle it into the shopping cart, I would just wear Luke in the Moby Wrap. It was a little tricky crawling into the back seat of my little Kia to get him out of the car seat, but he enjoyed being in the wrap and spent the first half of the shopping trip looking all around at the produce, deli and bakery. He was asleep by the time we left the store, but I think that he probably enjoyed being in the wrap and actually being able to look around more than he can in the car seat (when he gets a stunning view of the upper shelves and the fluorescent lights in the store). We got a few "oh, he's so cute" comments as well.

I did feel a little self-conscious wearing the wrap, but this is Austin and people wear much weirder things at the grocery store. I'm feeling more comfortable with it every day, and I think it will be a great investment as long as my shoulders and back can handle the weight of this growing boy!

(Apologies for the terrible picture - I was sort of shooting and running through the produce department!)