A Day At The Zoo

Jude and I were invited to spend today at the zoo. The person who invited us was/is a member, so we were fortunate enough to get in for free! At that price, who could resist? There were three other mothers there, all with babies of their own so as lame and I sound, it was nice to be around other people with kids. Jude was however, the youngest of them all.

Being that Jude was so young, he only understood so much of what was going on. Every now and then he seemed to be looking at the animals, but I can't be too sure. But it was still a good time and got us out and about!

I think later, when Jude is old enough to understand what's happening we'll be going back with Ryan. Ryan seemed slightly bummed that he'd be missing Jude's first trip, but agreed that it'd be better to go with him when he can understand what it's all about.

Photos:

Looking at the Lions (which I compared to "really big Buddy's" because they were laying around like he does)

Looking at the Gorillas, which is becoming one of my favorite animals. I just loved them in Animal Kingdom and even though this one wasn't as active, he's still pretty bad ass looking. This is so cute because Jude is holding himself up and stand against the glass.

A little photo op:

Jude's first carousel. He sat on there all alone like a big boy (of course I was holding on to him)

The sloth. Not as cool as when we saw them in their natural habitat in Costa Rica, but this one had a baby which was pretty neat.

I will also add that I (of course?) carrier Jude is his carrier all day. Carrying him was not a problem, but it's annoying not having anywhere to stow my diaper bag. Luckily one of the ladies there had a stroller that was being used specifically for diaper bags. I need to learn to pack lighter.

Baby Carrier Class

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to attend a group/meeting about different baby carriers for 'wearing' your baby. I accepted the invite and the get-together was today.

In the mean time I've been getting the urge to buy a new carrier as I'm starting to realize my hotsling won't hold Jude Man forever. I had seen a few moms using the Ergo carrier once and liked the idea of it. It is definitely very baby bjorn in the way it looks (a backpack for baby), but it seemed really practical.

I looked it up online a little while ago and mentioned it to Ryan. Considering the price and that he hates any style carrier, he immediately looked at me like I was crazy. I put it off temporarily at that time and figured I'd wait until I had time to play with the different carriers before buying one. I'm soooooo glad I did!

I went to the class today and was immediately overwhelmed. I had seen all of these types of carriers online at one point or another, but to have them all presented to you at once was a little intimidating. On top of the different styles, you have different brands, price points and benefits for each.

Considering my main interest was in the Ergo Carrier I tried that first. Jude hated it. I'll admit that it was very warm on the third floor of the building we were in, so the added heat of being held up against me probably turned him off even more, but in general he just seemed so uninterested. I tried a couple of others and then tried a Beco Carrier. It's very similar to the Ergo, but not has high (in the photos, it looks to be the same, but on us, Jude's head had more exposure). I personally I liked the design of it much more!

I asked the mom who had brought it how much she paid for it and was THRILLED when she told me a price a little lower than the Ergo. I then found out that her style was only lower because it was either discontinued or gently used (as I looked online and NONE of them are 90 bucks). They run a little higher than the Ergo carrier, but in my mind, it's worth it - it seems like something I'll use much more).

In addition to finding a carrier I liked, I learned a few more fun (and scary) facts about low-grade carriers that were all good to know. for example:
- the pocketbook style carriers that allow you to cradle the baby are the devil.
- baby bjorn's and the like are bad because they don't support baby correctly
- I learned which ones are best to go from mom to dad (ones that don't need to be sized, etc).

the third really doesn't apply to us, because Ryan wouldn't be caught dead wearing any of them... but still - all of them were good to know!

I plan to do a little more research on it and find the particular pattern I love, but I'm pretty certain I found the carrier I want. YEA!