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Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Slings and Arrows

FARf and MasonWith the tax refund making an audible THUD as it landed in our checking account, I decided to splurge on a baby sling. I’ve been wanting one since I’d heard about them, shortly after Mason arrived, and decided now was the time.

After using it for one evening, my only regret is that I didn’t have one when The Boy and Daughter Dearest were babies, let alone having one sooner for Mason — these things are Teh Awesum [sic]. I can drop Mason in it and walk around without straining my arms, or sit and have both hands free to type, and he loves to sit in it and chew on the fabric. In fact, he fell asleep in it last night without my even trying. So yup… his @$$ is in a sling! It’s a Maya, if you wanted to know. It has a nice little zipper pocket on the end, which could stash a number of useful items… especially bibs, the way he slobbers these days. 7 months old today, how time flies.

Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana, and Daughter Dearest flew out of here with my laptop yesterday. She came down with a rash, which may have originated from a scratch by Mom’s cat, and I ended up taking her to the ER around midnight Saturday morning; we got home at 3:30 a.m. As things hadn’t improved quickly enough by Monday, she emailed her profs and went to our doc. This threw off her schedule, which involved her making a DVD of her conducting something or another for one of her classes, and for whatever reason I have a DVD burner in my laptop and she doesn’t. Being the nice guy I am, I let her take it. sob Then when we were supposed to meet this evening to hand it back off, she forgot to bring it. sob Fortunately, I have a backup: this Mac mini running Xubuntu. I brought it out of DoubleRed’s room and stole the Ethernet cable off The Boy’s Xbox (which he hasn’t noticed yet) to get a network hookup. If I could get her to email me the next episode of White Pickups, I’d be OK for another night or two. But I’ll be glad to get it back.

10 comments:

  1. I liked the Maya Slings so much that I became a distributor for a while ;). Back then, they had a pocket, but it wasn't zippered. The pocket was great! I stopped carrying a purse and a baby bag ;). Didn't need either one.

    Sorry you lost your laptop. My husband's computer just died and he's running down all of the possible issues. It was acting just like my old desktop did before it died and we figured out it was the "obsolescence capacitor" on the mother board. To fix the computer, we'd have to buy a whole new motherboard. Instead, I have a new laptop. He'll probably get a new laptop, too. The bonus is that we'll save money on electricity. See? Silver lining ;).

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  2. Hi Wendy! I haven't used the pocket yet, but I'm sure I will. Velcro might have been a better choice than zipper, but maybe not.

    Obsolescence capacitor... heh, I like that one. Laptops are great; this mini is nice, especially running a lightweight OS, but it's still a desktop. I can't take it into the living room w/o a lot of effort.

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  3. Cute grandpa/grandbaby photo, Far!

    I hope that DD is feeling good!

    We had a Baby Bjorn to carry the b2 boy years ago. We didn't use it too long as babies gain weight so quickly. I can't remember what we finally did with it.

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  4. Hey Boran, thanks much. DD is doing pretty good, the rash is already going away now. Never heard of a Baby Bjorn, except in the context of Norwegian parents. ;-)

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  5. Hey there,

    Be careful with that sling - I saw something about them being dagerous if you don't have the baby properly supported. Other than that, adorable photo.

    :-)

    @atfmb

    ~P

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  6. Hey there, atfmb, welcome to the free-range insane asylum!

    The primary hazard is when he stretches out straight, thus allowing him to slip out. He's done it a couple times, but my left arm seems to naturally fall into a good "catch" position so it isn't too hazardous. Unless he's bored, he'll just sit & chew on it. ;-)

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  7. Just FYI - the sling warning was a specific sling (infantino sling rider - not the Maya sling wrap) and very young children (less than four months). I think Mason is probably safe, given that he has control of his head and neck, and that was the concern - babies who couldn't, yet, turn their heads ;).

    But for the record, I wore my three youngest daughters in slings from the day they were born. I think slings more safe than that one news story would try to make us believe.

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  8. FAR, as usual, I love your posts. Cudos on splurging on the sling, sounds like both you and Mason are happy with it.

    Bummer about his mommy (I'm catching up on posts). I'm glad you and the Mrs. are there to take up the slack. Love is love no matter where it comes from.

    I've decided I'm going to start at the beginning and read your White Pickup posts. Stepping in in the middle is entertaining, but I always have a sense of having missed something. Hmm...like maybe the first 20 chapters??? LOL

    Thank you, once more, for a lovely, thoughtful post!

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  9. Morning!

    Hey Wendy, thanks for the reminder. I couldn't remember Infantino for some reason — looking at a pic, it's built completely different from the Maya, more like a shoulder-mounted cradle than a sling. Mason's 7 months old now, so like you said it shouldn't be an issue.

    Thanks Reb! You might want to start from the White Pickups jump page, or click the Contents link on any episode to get to the same place. Once you've begun at the beginning, there should be a "continued" link at the bottom of each one. Watch for the "Conversations" links too.

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  10. Okay, I know this post is really old, but I had to comment. THAT PICTURE IS SO CUTE. I'm big on baby-wearing. I have ring slings, pouches, and a mei tai for the Helpful Baby, so I love seeing grandpa getting in on the action. It's amazing how happy babies are in slings. (Unfortunately, the Helpful Baby is getting massive now that he's really a Helpful Toddler, and it throws out my back carrying him on my hip.)

    This is just so darn precious! :)

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