This past Saturday, like any other Saturday was our weekly homeblessing. We get down and get to the more then the daily basics done. Things like vacuuming under the tables, chairs, dusting under the few knick knacks, changing furnace filters, changing beds, really deep scrubbing the bathroom and clearing the kitchen counters and scrubbing them. However, last night very early this morning, sweet Hannah became quite distressed. As night turned to dawn-it literally dawned on me that she was getting more teeth. A couple of teething tablets and a cool teether toy got us through breakfast. However, 9:30 rolled around and that was the end of the easy fixes.
Between holding her, and trying to vacuum with the two year old standing on the cord, I was becoming a bit overwhelmed when the three year old spilled a gallon of water on the kitchen floor, dropping a bag of flour that busted as it landed. So, I grabbed my handy dandy mei tie, and strapped her to me. It was Hannah’s naptime, but napping was not on her list of ways to deal with her teeth. With in five minutes she was asleep, and I had both hands free to be able to tend to my little mess makers blessings. In just 45 minutes with the help of my four year old, seven year old, and ten year old we were nearly done with our homeblessing. I needed two arms, and both my eyes on our two and three year old toddler tag team. They are just at that age, they are wonderful little boys who will soon be great helps with our Saturday Morning Homeblessing, but they aren’t there yet.
I have used my mei tie nearly everywhere. Helping at Vacation Bible School, nature walks, homeschool field trips, gardening, working on equipment with my hubby, cleaning house, clean house at a friend’s, State Fair, County Fair, homeschool convention, grocery shopping, car shopping, while pregnant, backpacking a toddler while nursing a baby, hanging laundry-toddler on back, new born on front, feeding livestock, watching my older children play in a stream. You get the idea. Babywearing can be your extra set of hands. I still put my two year old in the mei tie.
I love using a mei tie to nurse in. Not everyone has figured out how to nurse in them, but I have been doing it for many years now. I use my mei tie with newborns too, I don’t separate their legs, I lay them in it in a cradle and position the straps around them and me for good support.
The new alerts and warnings on babywearing and so forth out, are very misguided. When you are babywearing, you need to educate yourself of the best and safest way to wear your baby in the carrier. Before needing to run after a little one, get yourself comfortable with the carrier. You should be able to bend your head down and kiss the top of your baby’s head. Of course there is much more then that, but that is a biggie in my opinion. If you know of some really good sites on the how tos and safety, please post them in the comments.
I have made three ring slings, and four mei ties, one of which I have given away to our babysitter to use when she needs it. My favorite carriers are the mei tie I made with minkee for newborn and winter use, and my hooded mei tie. I use my hooded mei tie all the time. If baby falls asleep, I can tie up the hood to support their head. The hood is foldable, and therefore can be rolled or folded to where it best is suited for your baby and you. I like my mei ties with extra long straps. One, I find they support better this way, and two I can use it while pregnant, even at term. My hooded mei tie is derived from many patterns I found through internet searches.
Related posts:
- Adaptable Chore Board—Large Family House Keeping Most every family I know has struggled at some time, trying to keep up with...
- Frugal Toilet Bowl Cleaning-A Frugal Friday Tip We are a family of eight with ONE toilet, yep, you read that right ONE...
- First Week of School is Almost Over…Invitation to The Homeschool Open House… We have had a GREAT week too. I made a very modified workbox system for...
- It was Hair Cut time at our House—For the two year old. Our Isaiah has the most beautiful blonde curls. Still, after a hair cut which involved...
Remind me again how hard it is to make one of these?
I hear you about teething babes, we are also going through that in our home.
This is a great link with an excellent video response the sling warnings.
http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2010/03/consumer-product-safety-commission-warning-on-slings-a-video-response.html
I use an Ergo and I'm very happy with it, but I'm always looking for more ideas. I'd love to see your mei tie photos! My 6-year old is my current photographer.
Not the best, but it gets the job done!
Mei ties are wonderful things!! It has saved me several times!!! The home school conference would of been a whole lot more challengeing had we not had 2 of them!!! Tho I am a little worried I may need a bigger one before long! Lakyn is really shooting up and this one is getting a little tight!