The Ergo Sport baby carrier is SO much more comfortable than the Baby Bjorn Synergy one. Why didn't someone tell me this sooner?!
I've been wrecking my back muscles toting around Tully for 6 months in the Bjorn, even going so far as to visit the chiropractor for the pain. Shoot me now. The Bjorn is great as far as being hands-free goes, but I could only last about 30 minutes in it. Obviously it was easier to use the Bjorn carrier than to carry him with my arms, but my back and shoulders seriously paid the price.
Tully in Baby Bjorn - 4 months
Enter the Ergo. Last week a few moms were over for a kiddie play date, and I got to try out the Ergo Sport. One word: heaven. The weight that was previously on my back and shoulders in the Bjorn was now being distributed across my hips in the Ergo. The difference was night and day. I could tote Tully around for hours in the Ergo. I had read reviews before but was afraid that Tully wouldn't like the Ergo because he couldn't face outwards like he can in the Bjorn. The neat thing about the Ergo is that in addition to the inward-facing front carry, the baby can be carried backpack-style or on the hip, so Tully can see everything he's used to seeing from my hip.
We've tried the Ergo for a week now, and it's been hit or miss with Tully. I think most of the "miss" was because he hasn't been feeling well and/or didn't like shopping at Target. He was pretty fussy at Target when I used the hip carry. If shopping was the issue, we've got a problem. Who doesn't like shopping at Target? Ugh. Boys. I did take him on a walk to the park backpack-style, and he really enjoyed it (read: we made it two laps AND around the neighborhood w/o a peep). As a benchmark, if he's in the stroller, we're lucky to get one lap at the park. Apparently there isn't enough to see at stroller-level.
Fabric-wise I like the Ergo better too. It is cotton instead of mesh. Ergo does make a Performance carrier that uses mesh, but it was more expensive and had more material overall. I liked that the Sport was cotton, had a big breathing slit, and was less material. Also, the Sport hood was removable, which made room for other items (e.g. keys, cell phone) in the pouch.
Another plus for the Ergo is that Tully's weight sits on his bottom instead of on his groin area. When I would take him out of the Bjorn, his inner thighs and diaper area would all be red. I don't think it was painful for him, but it might have become uncomfortable after a long period of time. I don't see this being a problem in the Ergo.
There are only twodownsides I can see for the Ergo.
1) It is probably best for a baby 5-6 months or older. They need to be able to straddle your torso. Ergo makes an infant insert, but I'm not sure this solves the straddling problem. Maybe a newborn could tuck their legs up inside the carrier and not have them out at all? I dunno. I'd have to try it.
2) The Ergo is more difficult to put on with the baby. The back carry was the hardest to put on, followed by the hip and then the front carry. The hip and front carries aren't especially difficult to do, but the straps have to be moved into different configurations for each. Also, I'm still getting used to the Ergo, so maybe putting it on will be easier in the future. For the back carry, I really needed a second person to slip the baby down into the carrier after I got it partially on.
I ordered my Ergo Sport from Amazon on a Friday, and it showed up on Monday. Looking now it was the same price direct from the Ergo website, but you'd have to pay shipping. I'm a huge Amazon fan, and I like the one click shopping. Precious seconds added to my day. Free shipping with Amazon Mom is nice too.
John stole the carrier for a few minutes over the weekend, and I snapped this pic before he realized what I was doing and bolted out the door. I will surely get a phone call as soon as this post hits his email inbox. The Ergo did get daddy's stamp of approval over the Bjorn though.
I've recently discovered that there are many other bloggers with self-diagnosed OCD who post about their little projects, so I thought I would share this one that I've been using for a while. You know all of those miscellaneous cords that get crammed into the it-doesn't-have-a-home kitchen drawer? Well I found a nice home for mine.
All of our cell phone, computer, and various other electronic cords get neatly wound up and placed in plastic baggies. I label the plastic baggies, so I actually know what cords go with which electronic item. Then I put all of the baggies into the zippered bag from our king-sized sheets. It's not very pretty, but it does the job. Most importantly, I can find what I need and none of the cords get tangled. Am I the only one that organizes silly stuff like this? I hope not.
A coat tree in the bathroom? Why yes. Doesn't everyone put their coats in the bathroom?
Tully is on the move army crawling, and it never fails that he heads straight for this coat rack in the corner of our entry hall. I was putting away groceries today, and he made it from the middle of our living room to the coats in about three seconds flat. I always know when he's about to get into something he shouldn't because he stops banging whatever it is that's OK to play with or stops babbling. Instead of worrying about him pulling the coat rack on his head, I decided to move it to a room where I can close the door. So, if you come to visit, you'll have a place to put your coat when while you use the restroom. Genius.
P.S. Check out John's furry weird hat on the top right of the rack. This hat, complete with ear flaps, totally cracks me up but is super functional in the winter. I'll have to remember to sneak a pic next time he wears it.
I received a notification recently about the BOB stroller "recall", which turns out not to be much of a recall at all. I'm amazed that BOB has to put out notifications like this to prevent litigation. I had to register my email address and all sorts of other personal information to get the full details on said "recall," but I eventually found out you need to take a pair of tweezers and pull the paper-like backing off the inside of the canopy embroidery (see photo above), so your kid doesn't tear it off and choke. Two seconds and some tweezers. Problem solved. Now you know.
My aunt and uncle drove in from Colorado last week, so they stopped by the house to meet Tully. While they were visiting, we showed my aunt the new crocheted hats we got in for the little business venture my mom and I are doing to sell baby stuff. I'm helping my mom out in my free time (ha!), so my dining room is serving as the inventory tagging space until we get everything set up. Tully will probably kill me for this one day, but I think he makes a pretty cute girl.
Aunt B and Tully
We're also selling vintage pedal toys, so Tully gave the junior trike a test ride. He is obsessed with watching the pedals. Even when we take him off the trike, he finds it in the corner and inspects the pedals over and over again. I can already hear him saying, "M-om (you know, the two syllable version), why did you put me on a PINK trike? And more importantly, why did you blast it all over the internet?!" Sorry, baby, I loved watching your little legs kick with joy while you were riding it and just had to share.
It's been a month already? Sheesh. I've written a lot of posts in my head, but sadly none of them made it to print. I can't miss Tully's monthly update though, so here goes.
6 month stats (WHO Charts)
Weight 17 lbs 6 oz (48%) (49% last month)
Height 27.5 in (85%) (73% last month)
Head 17.13 in (55%) (49% last month)
He's right on track, happy, and healthy, but for some reason our pediatrician is strongly encouraging weaning. Um, hold up! We are nowhere near ready to wean--we're just getting good at this! So now we're on the hunt for a new pediatrician. This reminds me of my decision to change from my Ob-Gyn to a midwife at 34 weeks pregnant. Am I the only person that does this? My whole life I've gone to regular doctors and never had a problem, but these issues seem to be deal-breakers. So I called a pediatrician recommended to us by my Bradley childbirth class instructor. Unfortunately Dr. Ross is only taking maternity/newborn cases. Boo. My next thought was to see if my lactation consultant had a good recommendation. I didn't realize she was in the same building with Dr. Ross, but she's offered to see if he'd make an exception and take Tully as a patient. Fingers crossed! (Update: Dr. Ross took Tully as a patient! My lactation consultant is truly an angel.)
While I've been busy worrying about which doctor we'll see, Tully's been busy with the following:
Army crawling
Teething
Laughing
Grabbing everything and putting it in his mouth
Babbling, especially when he first wakes up
Playing and laughing at himself in the mirror (this never gets old)
Continuing to wake up every 3 hrs or so at night
Enjoying watching cars/trucks/buses/people
Here is his army crawl in action. Check out the old man hair in the back too.
He got his first tooth while we were in DC in September, and the second one came in a week later. And based on the lack of sleep we're all getting, I'm guessing #3 is going to appear any day now. For the most part, Tully is a trooper with this whole teething business, but sometimes I can tell they really hurt him. Poor baby!
Look, Ma, two teeth! And yes, he is standing in his crib. Time to lower...again.
Oh, and see his little birthmark on his middle finger? It's a dark spot where a ring would be.
We get the best laughs out of Tully when we hold him out in front of us, facing the ground and chase Zach around in the front yard. I need to get a video of this, but he thinks chasing Zach is the most hilarious thing in the whole world. He also went crazy babbling and squealing when he would wait on me at the top of the metro escalator on a recent trip to DC. He LOVED the buses, cars, trucks, horns, and people. I've never seen him so excited. He had a great week with Grammy while I got work done in the office. He even came to the office to visit me one day. The only downside was the RIDICULOUS amount of luggage required to travel with a baby.
This was the luggage for all three of us, but still...that red bag on top of the black suitcase was dedicated to only diapers. I used to travel to DC for a week with only the green suitcase and a purse that was large enough to carry my laptop. (L to R) We had a large suitcase, small duffel with diapers, a roller-board carry-on, cooler with milk, carry-on for under the seat, infant carrier, and stroller. In addition to all of that, I carried the baby. Thank goodness Grammy was traveling with us! We never would have made it.
Of all the stories I can think of from DC, the one that stands out the most was when "momma bear" came out on the plane ride home. Tully and I were intentionally the last ones to board the plane, so Grammy had all the bags put away, and as soon as we sat down the plane took off. As planned, Tully immediately nursed to sleep and was resting quietly in my arms. Next thing I know he's jumping out of his skin because the lady in our row is opening her heavy duty double velcro bag. Repeatedly. Like 10 times repeatedly. She would get out a pen and then put it back. Get out chapstick, put it back. Same for her ginger chews (two of them), magazines, kindle, cell phone, notepad, pen (again), and finally another ginger chew. Tully woke up each time but luckily settled back to sleep for the most part. My mom and I looked at each other like, "You've GOT to be kidding me." I said to my mom, "If she does it one more time, I will say something." Sure enough...RIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPP! I politely leaned forward and told the lady my baby was being so good and quiet, and asked her if she knew that each time she opened her bag, it was startling him. Maybe she didn't know, right? She looked at me with the most pathetic, snotty look I've ever seen and said in a high-pitched voice, "Well, I don't know what to do!" I informed her that she could get everything out she needed the first time or not get it out at all. (Hear my momma bear roar?) She quietly put her bag down, left it open, and didn't make much noise the rest of the flight. I don't expect complete silence on an airplane. I mean, c'mon, you've heard the flight attendant announcements, right? Tully is a champ at sleeping through most of those, but the velcro was just too much.
Read about Tully's other DC adventures with Grammy here:
Day 1 - New tooth, hotel room, and stroller rides Day 2 - Bethesda Row adventure (Mmmm....cookies!) Day 3 - Laundry day and tour of Bethesda in pajamas Day 4 - Tully visits NRC, rides the metro and meets Ms. Virginia Day 5 - Strolling in the rain Last Day - Grammy's version of the snooty velcro lady
Once we made it back home, we got into our regular routine again, and we introduced Tully to apples. We're doing a "Baby Led Weaning" approach to introducing solids. This was the first time he showed real interest in solid food, and it was pretty funny when he was smelling the apples. Near the end of this clip, he actually gets some juice in his nose, and you can see his sour face. This continued for about 20 minutes, which is an eternity on Tully Time.
Tully's visit to the doctor isn't until next month, so the only stat I have for September is his weight: 16 lb 9 oz (57%). I would note that the charts used in the US are set by the CDC, and they differ significantly from those of the World Health Organization (WHO), which are used internationally and specifically for breastfed babies. The CDC charts show his weight to be declining (62% --> 57%) since our last weight check, but the WHO charts show him to be consistently on track (49% --> 49%). In any case, he's happy and healthy, so I don't really care what the charts say. It's interesting to me that there's a difference nonetheless.
Interesting things in Tully's world this month included:
Rolling over and over and over to get from point A to point B (10 ft+)
Sitting up unassisted!
Sitting up and facing me to nurse instead of being in a cradle position (weird!)
Waking every 2-3 hours to eat at night (shoot me now)
Arching back and pulling arms out of car seat straps when we put him in it
Showing much more interest in our dog, ZachZach (Grammy's blog post on that here)
Sitting in the high chair for dinner (eats his toys for now)
Still loves bath time (I can hear him squeal with delight upstairs EVERY night)
Sits in the portable chair with us at restaurants (looks like pic below)
Tully had his first sickness this month. I'm not sure what it was, but it lasted about three days, and of course those days fell on a weekend. He was acting out of sorts on Friday, being fussy, not sleeping (not unusual), and not nursing. Fussy I can handle. Minor cough, OK. Snotty nose, no big deal. Not eating?! I draw the line there. Since he usually gets bottles of pumped milk during the day with Nanna, I thought he was trying to hold out for a bottle on Friday. I can't imagine why I thought nipple confusion or a preference for the bottle would rear it's ugly head this late in the game, but I am always questioning my ability to sustain this little being. Since I'm off work on Fridays, I usually don't give him any bottles on Fridays or the weekends. Turns out his disinterest in food had nothing to do with the bottle. He just didn't feel good. Teething? Allergies? Cold? Virus? I dunno. I told myself I would take him to the doc, if he was still sick on Monday but by the time Monday rolled around he was back to better, so I saved myself a trip. I did call my local LLL leader, and she was super helpful in reassuring me that he would come back to nursing and that I was doing the right things to take care of him. We got a humidifier as a baby gift, which I thought we wouldn't need until winter when the air is dry, but we actually got it out and used it. I think it really helped with his cough. As any mom knows, having a sick baby is the pits. And having a sick baby who can't tell you what's wrong is even worse. Glad we have that behind us, and it didn't require a doctor or any meds.
Since Tully isn't sleeping through the night at all, it's been a rough month. Getting up every two hours or so is exhausting and reminds me of how things were when he was a newborn. The good news is that I think we're moving past this phase for a bit because he made it until 1 am a few nights ago, then 2, 3, and last night 4 am before waking up. I'll take it! Fingers crossed we continue on this path until teething or some other major milestone interrupts his sleep again.
We have our first major trip planned to DC this coming month, so that should be fun and interesting (read: I'm TOTALLY freaking out!). I have to work at NRC's HQ office for a week, so Grammy and Tully are going on an East Coast vacation with me.
We're also starting baby sign language with a couple other moms and babies. They come over on Fridays, so the kids can have a play date, and eventually we'll all be learning sign language from videos. We know the kids won't sign back to us for months, but Tully does listen and tries to mimic what we say, so I know he's at least aware that something is going on. I'm really excited for him to be able to communicate with us. And in true Mommy Brain fashion, I left our TV on the DVD home screen this past Friday because, well... I don't know why. I just did, and it burned into the TV screen. John found it the next day. Awesomesauce.
