Gettin a wee big for being on the front dont cha think?

Today was the first time in a very long time that I have had to wear our two year old on my front. We have been doing back carriers for what seems like eons now, but today he was just so tired of being out and about (fabric shopping *squee!*) the he just wanted to nurse and go to bed, so I had to put him in a front carry in our wrap. He was very very happy then! But Im telling you, its very hard to do things when you have a thirty pound kid on your front! Trying to pay for things, getting into my purse... to any woman who wears their toddler on their front still even 50% of the time, I tip my hat to you. It wasnt easy.

The looks I got with him on my front were quite different than the looks I get when he is on my back.  People were like "wow you are brave"... my back was telling me the same thing ... wearing that big of a baby on your front no matter what kind of carrier takes guts I think.  But I would rather him be on the front of me and being a bit uncomfortable for an hour than have him scream out loud "BOOB!" every two seconds...yes we are working on table manners STILL.  (he signs it at the same time, does that count?)

Its bitter sweet.  We figure this is probably the last year of babywearing in our house unless I do find that ingenious way to wear our husky or cat... (Im kidding..or am I?).  I remember him just being born and being all cozy breastfeeding while in the carrier and me being able to do laundry or whatever I needed to be doing.  It can still be done, but it requires a bit more paitience and space LOL.  But we will cherrish these moments still with a few laughs :D 

Barbie Crochet Mei Tai Pattern

So my boys were in the tub having a bath and I was sitting there with some yarn and a hook. What to do while these boys splash about? Make a baby carrier ofcourse! This was so easy, very basic crochet.

Now I am NOT a pattern maker, so please bare with me if this pattern isn't "pattern like" :)

I used a US G (4mm) crochet hook and some acrylic yarn I had kicking around from other projects.

I started at the bottom of the body of the mei tai.

Chain 8
Row 1- SC across to end, turn
Row 2- 5(or6?) HDC across to end, turn.
To make the top curved a bit I SC the first stitch, and the second then did a HDC the next four, then SC the last two.

Then I started the one sides top strap and chained 40 then single crochet across this again and slip stitched it to the body of the mei tai and fastened off. Then on the other side I did this again, chaining 40 and single crochetin' across and attaching it to the side of the mei tai, and fastening off.

For the bottom strap I chained 30, then single crochet across this to the other end, fastened off and then centered it to the bottom of the mei tai body and crocheted (seriously is that a word? "crocheted"?) them together. And voila! A little Barbie mei tai

Nothing fancy, but for sure very cute !!!!!
If you do one up, I'd love to see it!!!!



Happy Babywearing Barbie!

Babywearing saftey in winter

Snow anyone?
Here in London Ontario all you can see is white white white white. Its snowed about five feet in a matter of a few days. Our transit is down, schools are closed..state of emergency I believe is now in effect. When it comes to weather like this, I beg all to STAY INSIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!! But for the rest of yas who havent been dumped on like us, feel free to go out and have fun! LOL


Babywearing in the winter is pretty easy once you figure out what system is going to work for you and your child. If you have a newborn, its pretty simple to stick the baby in the carrier underneath your jacket. When it comes to toddlers and preschoolers (because you are probably better off to wear even the three/four year olds in this stuff than making them walk), wearing a jacket that is larger that you can both fit underneath will work or wearing you child over your jacket. If you've got a hubby around that is larger than you, grabbing his spare winter coat has proven to be very effective :)



First and foremost, WINTER BOOTS WITH GOOD GRIPS are important. Dont need any Moms and babe's slipping on their bums. Make sure you go slow and watch where you are walking. Be like a turtle. Slow and steady :)

If you decide to wear your child over your winter coat, make sure you have the child secure. Snow suits can be slippy, so making sure if you are wrapping that your child is wrapped up safe and tight. Winter hats, boots and mittens as well. One downfall we have found so far in our babywearing journey when babywearing in winter this is that some kids love to take off their hats and mits, so if they are on your back, getting them back on can be a challenge. Hats that are tight fitting, with velcro and mittens that are even pinned to their snowsuits are a good idea.. asking a passer by to give you a hand if they do take them off is a good idea, and to keep checkin on your childs head to see if they are still wearing their hats etc.


If you decide to wear your child under your coat, then you may not have to actually put your child in anything more than their sweater and pants and boots. This is all we do. I put a hat on him and mittens and thats it. Sometimes in a bag I carry his snow suit just incase, but since he is under my coat, my coat and our body heat keeps eachother warm. The bennefit of wearing underneath your jacket is that when you get to your destination, the jacket can come off, and you both wont be roasting.


This link is from thebabywearer.com and is about babywearing in the cold


Below in my blog I have some guidelines in making your own babywearing jacket, feel free to use the information to create your own babywearing jacket. If this doesnt seem like the pattern for you here are some other links that you can look at.

http://www.thebabywearer.com/forum/showthread.php?80781-DIY-Babywearing-coat
http://www.thebabywearer.com/forum/showthread.php?424237-DIY-Front-Carry-Babywearing-Down-Coat
http://www.thebabywearer.com/forum/showthread.php?111964-ISO-baby-wearing-poncho-pattern&p=1056721#post1056721

Babywearing jackets are available for purchase at a variety of places.
LilliesOValley from Ontario Canada
http://www.suseskinder.com/
http://www.mamdesign.net/carrying/
http://www.upmama.com/catalog.php?category=12


There are also carrier covers that you can purchase
http://monkeypockets.blogspot.com/search/label/Wool%20and%20Fleece%20Monkey%20Pockets

And the Amauti which is a gorgeous way to wear your baby in the winter. But you need to pre order, but the wait is worth it
http://www.amautibaby.com/welcome/Home.html


I hope I covered everything. If anyone has any questions about winter babywearing please contact me on barefootbuttercup's facebook page, here in the comment section or via email at barefootbuttercup@live.com

Happy Babywearing!!!!

My babywearing journey.

I have had people tell me they "dont know how I do it." when I just fling my big huge son up on my back and tie him up and go. It looks complicated, frustrating and ..well complicated!!

No kiddin, I couldnt agree more. It does look so complicated and it was complicated for a long time for me. I remember many days of sweat, tears and anger, chuckin the wrap on the floor and huffin and puffin and giving up.

Then I thought back even further, before I even knew what a wrap was!

When I had my daughter, Alexis 6 years ago, we had a baby carrier, I had two, they were simple structured carriers, much like a Snuggli

While my shoulders HATED me, my daughter LOVED this thing.

It was easy enough to use, practical for us at the time, and served its purpose... even if my back was dying at the end of the day! LOL!

After Alexis, I had Tayven, I went to a second hand store, and not still having a lot of knowledge on what was out there, I knew that his chunky legs were not going to fit in the carrier Alexis and I used. So we found an alternative, a pouch sling. However, I didnt know the sizing had to be perfect for one of these to work... and it was too large.

he was only three months!!!!!!!! lol

So since this wasnt work for us either due to the wrong size, we decided to look into alternatives, and discovered the wonderful ring sling! However, with income being pretty low, I decided to make my own. And thats when the addiction started! LOL

This was my first ring sling I ever made. I have no idea what kind of material it was, the green side was a bit slippery, but the brown was most likley a cotton blend and was very comfy. I purchased a pair of heavy duty hardware rings at the hardware store that supported up to something like 300 lbs and sewed them in. Cosmetically the sewing was horrid, but it was safe. We wore this sucker for a long time. She has since gone on to hold other babies in other families, and will always hold dear to my heart.

And I kept on makin them. I made us quite a few, out of all sorts of material- wool suiting material, one out of who knows what, some out of double layers of heavy cotton, some out of flannel bedsheets..ooo that one was sooo comfy!!!

Then I fell upon thebabywearer.com... and boy oh boy did I discover there are TONS of ways to wear your baby! Ooo the options!!! I came across wraps, and was curious...

But wrapping with Tayven backfired hard. The first attempt I had with making a wrap I made it out of some bedsheet material, which can work, however this was a more knitted material, so stretchy, and didnt cut straight, I had no idea at the time how to sew stretchy material, and all in all, just didnt work out...

It wasnt long before I put this idea aside for a long time and went back to using ring slings.

Over the next wee while, I came across podagei's as well, and we used them occasionally however the ringsling was still Tayvens main means of transportation

When I had Zayden, I made him a special sling, one with one side tie dyed and one side black.... this sling was lost somewhere and I am still rather sad about it even though it was almost two years ago now.

So with that I decided to do a bit more research on these wraps again, and decided to start dabbling in gauze. And my love for tie dye, and it kinda just fell beautifuly into place for us.

boy I look exhausted in this picture!

The first wrap I made for us was a bright funky orange wrap. And this baby got a lot of use, and is still getting use by another wonderful babe today. While Zayden is a bit to big for it now, we decided, its better wrapping another child, than collecting lint in our closet.

And it kinda just kept going from there, barefootbuttercup which was at the time for me a business where I was selling ringslings from home, began to sell gauze wraps as well.

When Zayden got a bit bigger I decided I was going to try and learn to wear him on my back. MANY Maaannny videos on youtube, countless angry moments and sweat and tears later, and one on one help, we found one carry that would work for us and we stuck with it. After a while we then started looking for other back carriers and let me tell you I am very thankful that my son was as paitient as he was back then because there is no way I would have just sat there on my Moms back for that long while she wrapped and re wrapped LOL. Oh boy was it worth it in the end though ..I have even managed to learn how to breastfeed him while he is on my back..however have yet to try this one in public!!! o_0

This journey, looking back, has been really wonderful. At the time all the carriers I used, whether it was a front pack carrier, a pouch, ringsling, wrap, they all served their purpose, and what I wanted the carriers for was so that my child could be close to me, and we could get places we needed to go, and they did that

This year I stopped selling wraps and ring slings, while it wasnt a hard descision to make, it was still sad. But I changed the angle of barefootbuttercup to helping others with a few tips in what I have learned over these past 6 years. There is still so much I want to learn about babywearing, especially the history, other peoples stories. Its one of my hobbies, its something that makes me smile.

Today I was gifted a Natibaby Dandelion wrap for helping two wonderful women make ring slings here at my home. I must state this is thee most soft wrap I have ever felt in my life. And its my first actual wrap I have ever owned that wasnt DIY! I also recieved news this week of another carrier on its way to me, that I am sooo very excited for and feel so very blessed to be recieving!!!! these past few days have been babywearing excitement overload for my wee head! LOL! SQUEE!!!

Again, another part of our journey is starting and I cant wait to see where it takes me!

Happy Babywearing everyone! Enjoy these babywearing days! They fly by fast!

Winter Babywearing!! DIY JACKET INFO

For those who have already experienced Jack Frost nippin at your nose, this is for you, and for the rest of us who are just begining to experience winter temperatures for the time this season, I hope this blog entry can help you understand just how affordable babywearing in the winter can be, and how easy as well!

The trouble with babywearing in the winter can be jackets. Trying to wrap over the babywearers jacket can be tricky, you cant sometimes get it feeling comfortable enough, and when baby is wearing a bulky snowsuit, this can be a big problem too. Some snowsuits are made out of materials that slip and slide and just make it hard for the wrap, sling etc to grib comfortably for the babywearer and the one being worn.

There are a lot of products out on the market that can help you wear your baby UNDER your jacket. This way, your child can even just be in his/her sweater, and be comfortable with just a hat and mittens and boots. There are vests, jackets, poncho's, amauti's. Some made by bigger companies, some by smaller work at home Mom businesses. Im hoping next week to be able to go into this in more detail, but tonight I would love to talk about DIY babywearing jackets.

The easiest method ofcourse to wearing your baby under your jacket is to buy a jacket that is too big for you. That way you can fit both you and baby comfortably underneath.

The only problem I have ever encountered with this is because if you are carrying a bigger child, the shape of your body with the toddler attached changes, making the arm holes of the jacket a little strange. You can kind of see it here in this photo. -------------->

so what to do....................................

Last year I came up with a solution for this problem for me and my son Zayden. I went to a local thrift shop and for 7 dollars or so purchased a wool dress jacket that has buttons up the front and a waist belt. It is 100% wool and very warm, but thin.

So I got the jacket and split the seam in the back from the collar to the waist. Wool material can be verrry expensive so I purchased some material that was "close enough" that was on clearance at Fabric Land that week. It even has a touch of stretch. I doubled it up so it would be warm.

Here in the photo, the outline in blue, inside that is the pannel I put in. It comes right to where the waist belt lays. So when you tie the belt around you, it rests right under your childs bum. I didnt worry about lining the inside of the coat so you couldnt see where it was placed in, the way I figure it is, you want to make it most affordable, and no one is really going to see the inside of the jacket anyways ;)

I put a bit of a pleat I guess you would call it near the bottom, it is outlined in the green. This way when the baby's bum is resting against it, it fills out, and when baby isnt inside, then its not hanging there as much. This made the jacket significantly larger, so I dont wear it when my son isnt on my back, which is rare LOL.

Theres is no real need to have massive expert sewing experience for it, just a good needle that will go through thick material, and a machine thats up for the challenge.

I wish I had done a pattern when I made it, so I could help explain it better.

Now about the hood. Made with the same material as the pannel in the back of the jacket, I made this sucker big enough to fit over my son, and myself for those cooollld winter days that the wind is blowing like mad and you still need to get out. The measurments are for each pannel, I sewed them up together at the back of the hood. I also lined the hood with an old thick fleece blanket that was close in colour. Makes it extra cozy. I sewed this onto the neck of the jacket and voila, a babywearing jacket for under 20 bucks!

My son and I really love this jacket. This will be its second winter season this year. Its perfect because when we are going into a store, I can just take off the jacket and we wont be roasting the whole time we are doing whatever it is we need to do, and then when its time to go back out into the cold Canadian weather, we can throw it back on and away we go!!!

** please note that this jacket is not like an Amauti, you do need a carrier for this jacket to work. It simply goes over top. :)

Have fun this winter and happy babywearing!

Can we not bottle the Autumn air?

I want to start off by saying the Autumn has got to be the most wonderful season. Each has its own charm, but there is something about when the air gets a tad bit cooler here in Canada that just makes me feel all warm and cuddley inside.
Its a time where you are not sweating your buns off or freezing your toes off. Its comfortable, its beautiful, the leaves are changing colours and everything smells so good!!!

I made a wrap back in the summer in honour of this beautiful season. I call it "Crunchy Leaves". It is a beautiful 55% linen, 45% cotton blend I picked up at our local Fabric Land here in London Ontario, and dyed it using Dylon Cold Water Dyes. I to be honest, wasnt sure I liked how it turned out. But as the days went by it really started to grow on me. My son who gets to be wrapped up in it on these beautiful days of Autumn really seems to get excited when it comes out of the closet to be worn.

The one tricky thing with anything linen though it seems is that it is, really a bit more crunchy than material that is only cotton for instance.

It wasnt as soft to start and required "breaking in" .

This required some knotting, ironing, sleeping on, sitting on, using it as a tug of war toy between children (they did really enjoy this).

Now I find it is a lot more soft. And linen is really supportive as well! Its a very comfortable wrap! Dyes up quite nicely as well. Its like a rock, its sturdy. We like it!!

First Fabric Pickin' Day - September 22nd 2010

I am very excited to be having my first fabric picking day for people interested in a hands on experience in a fabric store looking at the different types of fabric you can use for making your own DIY wrap carriers! While the plans are still in the works, the idea is to have us all meet and go into the fabric store where I will guide those who are wanting to make their own wonderful wrap carriers into choosing the correct fabric. It should be a lot of fun! Following this, perhaps a week later, we will have a sewing day where everyone can get together and sew up their wraps as well.

Here on my webpage are some guidelines on picking your perfect fabric for your wrap



www.barefootbuttercup.com/page5.php

For more information please check out my facebook group http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-ON/Barefoot-Buttercup/11221931497