Are you a carrier?

I am.  :)

It always looked like such a yuppie thing to do, years ago, to me.  When our first daughter came home 6 years ago she came home with a carrier.  I thought, okay, I'll try this out.  It hurt, she hated it, I quit!  Then when our 2nd daughter came home 3 years ago I'd read how good it is for them to be carried more to help with bonding.  I tried the hip hammock shortly.  It hurt my hips and shoulders....exactly what it wasn't supposed to do.  I then got a Baby Hawk and loved it.  It was very comfortable.  It was the kind you tie and I got very good at getting baby on my back and getting it wrapped around me and her all by myself.  But, by the time she was 2 I thought it would be easier to have buckles and she still liked being carried in the "backpack" as she called it, so I sold my Baby Hawk and got an Ergo.  I've had it every since.  I carried her until she was about 3.  She would bring it to me and tell me "backpack".  I stuffed it in the van so we'd have it with us and apparently that's where I left it.

When we found out we were having another baby I happened to find it back.  So glad I still had it.  Jaemin loves to be carried.  He feels very safe when we're out and about and he knows no one will take him from me if I wear him.  I swear it's his favorite place to sleep too.  If we go to Walmart around nap time, he goes on my front and sleeps through most of the shopping.  If I'm doing dishes in the evening he goes on my back.  Sometimes he sleeps and sometimes he doesn't.  Tonight he slept the whole time I cleaned the kitchen.  Sometimes he gets so excited just at the sight of me getting it out because he thinks we're going somewhere.  I even wore him at my sister's wedding...yep in my strapless gown.  Hey, the gowns were champaigne with black sashes and the black belt on the carrier happened to hit me exactly where the sash was and the carrier is khaki (with bugs).  :)  He was a happy little camper all day at the wedding and all night at the dance.  He went on my back and away we went.

Never in a million did I see me being one of those moms walking into a store wearing a baby.  Always seemed sort of hippyish.  :)  But, it's SO much easier.  I have to get things done sometimes.  With 5 kids and working full-time, no house cleaner or cook (except Brian and I), we have to get things done ourselves.  The carrier allows me to hold Jaemin, pat his bottom or his feet like he likes, give him hugs, etc. while I'm doing other things.  I probably wouldn't have been so against them if I'd known how comfortable a good one could be.  And....I still get hugs this way.  When Jaemin's on my back he grabs my sides with his hands and gives me hugs.  That's so much better than him standing at the gate while I do dishes and just watching.

Lisa