Baby wearing - An update

I know its not even been a week yet, but I think that baby wearing is going so well that I just have to let someone know.

I absolutely love it! And Elly does too. When you find yourself with two children less than 18 months apart, there are some unique challenges that you have to find a way to address. One of those is taking both babies out in public.

I love to go to Walmart. I know, I'm insane. But I'm serious. I love going to Walmart. Since I had Elly, my only trips to Walmart have been when I had back-up. Either Josh to take care of one baby at the house, or Josh to go with me and we each get a shopping cart and a baby. But Saturday, I took both babies to Walmart by myself and it worked great. Other than a couple of smart ass comments.

When we got to the store, I put Elly in her sling (feeling a tad bit silly but that's mostly because I haven't 100% got the hang of getting her into it yet) and went around to get Evie. I debated grabbing a cart and pushing Evie in but figured the workout might be good. So I put Evie on one hip and we hiked across the parking lot. It was a hike. And although I was carrying both babies, with Elly in her sling it was pretty comfortable and incredibly easy. I kept worrying about Elly falling out, which is silly because there's not really any way for her to. But we made it inside without issue. I grumbled that the Walmart greeter wasn't there to get me a cart out, but I got Evie safely installed and we were ready to shop. As I was walking across the store a couple of people made comments that I looked like I had my hands full. Thanks, Statement of the Obvious. I am too Southern to be rude to my elders so I smiled and nodded in agreement, biting back a venomous retort each time.

One genius asked me if "that thing" really worked. I raised my eyebrows and asked if she was referring to the sling. Again, I'm Southern. So I was polite and told her that it was great for babies, especially if you had more than one, and that I really recommended it.

Shopping continued and I continued to marvel at how simple it was to reach down and replace Elly's paci and check on her while still pushing the cart and interacting with Evie. Elly slept part of the trip and part of the trip she spent in awe of the light fixtures and the people and everything around us. Evie enjoyed it too. She seems to like having Sissy with us but she doesn't really like having to share "our" stuff with her. And going to Walmart is typically one of "our" things. But this didn't really feel like she was having to "share" me. I didn't feel like I was splitting my time between them. Because Elly was right there I wasn't having to leave Evie or interrupt what we were doing or talking about to take care of the little one.

Getting everyone into the car was a bit different. I put Elly in her seat first but didn't strap her in because it was too awkward to lift Evie out of the cart. I was afraid Elly would get kicked or squished. And I didn't like leaving Evie sitting in the shopping cart while I was on the other side of the car. Then I put Evie in her seat, went back and strapped Elly into hers. Then loaded the groceries. All in all, the shopping trip was great.

I also did some house work while wearing Elly and she just seems to be much happier and more content in that little sling. She's so needy and it makes it so much more handy to just reach down and return a spit out paci or say a soothing word when she's right there. Rather than stopping what I'm doing and going to assist her.

There are still a lot of times out in public that the double stroller will be better. Long mall trips for example. Trips to the park. Etc. But short outings and around the house, the sling is AWESOME!