Hands free!

One of the things that made us happy when we brought Ruthie home from the NICU was that we finally had a "wireless" baby. All the monitors, leads, and wires were finally off of our baby. (you have no idea how much that sort of stuff complicates diaper changes until you try it)

Now that we've gotton used to wireless, it only makes sense that we would add a hands free kit to our newest....uh...."gadget." So this is my hands free kit. It is a Moby Wrap, basically 6 yards of a knit fabric that is just ever so slightly stretchy. You really do need all 6 yards (well, big kids like Brian and I do) because you wrap it around yourself about 4 times if you count each shoulder as once. There's a bunch of different ways to tuck the baby in, right now we do the "newborn hug hold." We don't have her head secured in either of these pics (because we didn't want to cover her cute little head for the pics!) but it's easy to pull the fabric over a bit more and support her wobbly little head.

I've been practicing since I got it last week, this pic was Brian's first time with the baby actually in it. You can't exactly go jogging, and you still have to be careful and aware of the delicate life form now sticking out from your chest, but it's great for bopping around the house. Ru really likes to sleep tucked up on your chest anyway, this way we can still type while holding her. (or safely take a nap in the recliner without worrying about her sliding off!

The only problem with the wrap is that it is pretty warm. Ru tends to run pretty warm anyway, so having her secured to another warm human being with three layers of thick t-shirt type fabric over her is not going to work when the weather warms back up. (that's another reason we let her head be unwrapped) So I checked with my trusty online friends and found another fabric that works really well.

This one is made with crinkle cotton gauze, it was even on sale at Joann's for 50% off. Actually, I haven't hemmed the edge yet, I'm thinking about leaving the selvage and just zigzagging along the other edge and letting it fray a bit, I think that will look ok on this fabric. I do love the neutral colors and flower print, the downside is there is a wrong side of the fabric that does show if I don't take time to fix it. (and I'm not bothering to do that on my back) I also bought a bright blue batik that won't have that problem.

The Moby has a tag sewn to mark the middle of the length of fabric. I decided to use a button instead, since it's not like it will be on the inside pressing against baby or anything. It really helps to be able to find the middle quick, since you are dealing with 18 feet of fabric!

I don't seem to have much productive time with the baby anymore, but hopefully I'll get this wrap finished and washed so I can wear it for more than just modelling for pictures. Then I'll get the blue one done and get some pics up of that one, too.