why didn't i hear about this before?!

I have joined the cult of babywearing, which is using one of a variety of different carriers to tie your baby to you. Umm, it's more comfortable than I just made it sound. There are a lot more options for this than just the Snugli, as it turns out.

Andy's favourite is the Ergo, which is sort is a backpack with a spot for baby to sit in. My favourite is the mei tai, which is basically a square of fabric with four long straps: two to go around your waist and two for your shoulders. Both can be used on your front or back; the front method is very handy for nursing, while the back is getting more comfortable now that Robin is a whopping 17 pounds.

Lately I've been playing with a wrap, which is a long wide strip of fabric that you can tie in many different ways - front, back or hip. It's been a bit challenging; fortunately the internet is there to guide us. I've never really appreciated YouTube before. I can do a front cross carry, a front wrap cross carry, a pocket wrap cross carry, a hip cross carry, a coolest hip cross carry and am getting better at the mother of all carries: the back wrap cross carry. I plan to try the wiggleproof cross carry and the ruck soon.

Robin is a big fan of being carried (she has excellent naps in there) but she's starting to get tired of getting in and out of the wrap. I can see it in her eyes: "Pick a stupid carry and stick with it already!"

This is a cult, though. A lot of babywearing proponents are dyed-in-the-wool granola types -- and some are very "crunchy." They take their babywearing very seriously; when Motrin ran an ad campaign last fall that could have been taken as critical of people "trying to look like official moms" (thus developing aches and pains from carrying their babies all the time -- Motrin to the rescue!) the babywearing community was up in arms, writing letters to McNeill and boycotting their products. The company promptly pulled the ad campaign.