Babywearing

Have you seen those mothers who walk around wearing their babies in slings all of the time? I've always wanted to try that, but do you know how much those slings cost? Anywhere from 30 - 60 dollars, and not much cheaper on Ebay.
I just don't have that much money to spend.
Anyway, I started researching patterns on the internet, thinking that maybe my mom could help me sew one (because I, sadly, have absolutely no luck when it comes to sewing anything. I'm completely hopeless.) and as it turns out, I don't have to sew a thing if I want just a simple wrap. I tried it out yesterday using just a bed sheet, and i was able to carry Anicka around without a problem. She sat quite comfortably strapped to my hip, and the bed sheet distributed the weight across my back and shoulders. My arms were completely free. Awesome!
Here's what I did, in case you want to try it:
Take a flat bed sheet ( I used a queen size ) and fold it in half lengthwise. Then fold it lengthwise again. Find the middle of the length and place it on your hip with the thickest fold facing down. Bring the back end of the folded sheet up diagonally across your back and sling it over the opposite shoulder. Bring the front end of the sheet up to the same shoulder and tie the two ends together in a knot, leaving the fabric draped loosely across your stomach. The knot should be between your shoulder and your breast, sort of where a corsage would go. Make a 'pouch' out of the material that's hanging across your belly by separating two of the layers of material. Hold the pouch open with one hand, and slide the baby in with the other hand. Tiny babies kind of curl up against your breasts, older kids can sit up against your hip with their legs hanging out. You can then tighten or loosen the knot at your shoulder to keep the baby as secure as possible. Spread the fabric out to cover as much of your shoulder and back as possible, so that the weight will be distributed evenly.
This is just one method. There are dozens. To make the sling easier to adjust you can buy some rings to secure the fabric with instead of tying a knot. Here's a great video to show you how that works:


You can also sew the rings into the fabric if you want, and then you have only one tail to adjust, instead of two. Here are some instructions that I found for doing that, just in case you're as craft challenged as I am: www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/sling.html

If you're going to use rings, make sure you buy weight bearing rings, not craft store rings. Here's a place online that sells rings made specifically for baby slings: sling rings

Here is a site that has instructions on various different carries using a ring sling:
http://www.sleepingbaby.net/wearing/index.php

And here are a couple of general, all purpose websites with tons of useful information on them:
www.thebabywearer.com
www.mamatoto.org

I hope somebody finds all of this useful. :)
I'm just excited.

The Reason That Anicka Doesn't Get To Paint Often

It looked a lot messier in real life:


Once we have an actual kitchen or backyard I'll let her paint to her heart's content. But at the moment I spend more time covering everything with newspaper and cleaning it up afterwards than she actually spends painting.

I find it interesting that when she draws she usually opts for a pen, as that allows her to get the thinnest lines, and therefore the most detail (she is very detail oriented, drawing even nostrils and eyebrows on her little alien people); and she always has a specific subject matter (I'm drawing a rainbow, I'm drawing a horse, I'm drawing daddy). But when she uses a paintbrush she usually keeps things pretty abstract, painting random lines or simply smearing paint all over the paper. Is it because a paintbrush is more difficult to control than a pencil or a crayon? Is it because of the texture of the paint?
I don't know. I just think it's interesting.

Read more >> Options >>

Memorial Day

So for memorial day we went on a little outing to Silver Reef. We visited the old cemetery, hiked around a bit, and checked on our GeoCache. For those of you who don't know what Geocaching is, you can check out the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching

It's a lot of fun. If you have a GPS receiver and you like hiking and exploring, you should try it.

Anyway. Pictures from our lunch break that day: