Baby Sling & Baby Carrier Blog

The Department of American Foot Transportation (DAFT) is planning to issue a warning in the near future regarding the danger of footwear, specifically shoes.

"We have seen countless accidents, both minor and serious, and even deaths occur while people are wearing shoes," said Gloria Fitzfootster of DAFT.  The government agency feels it necessary to invade and intrude into every possible sector of traditional American lifestyles, stating that "intervention is the best invention".

Urgent action and panic should be taken by all US citizens regarding the safety hazard of shoes and shoe wearing.

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In no way do I want to undermine the injuries/deaths that have occured over the last decade because of certain types of baby carriers.   But I am also furious with the idea that the government feels the need to step in, instead of the companies themselves doing their own regulating, checking, and improving. 

I'm also upset at the unneccessary fear this is going to cause.  Is your baby going to suddenly and spontaneously fall from her baby carrier and get seriously injured?  Most likely not.  There have been injuries resulting from everything from high chairs to cribs to bouncer seats.  And you're still using those, right?  With any product, baby related or not, there are inherint risks.  The important thing is for you, the parent, to be informed, active, and secure.

Why is the toaster forgotten?  In a world where blenders can turn golf balls to powder, where ovens can cook a whole turkey in under an hour, where microwaves have as many functions as iPhones - the toaster stands forgotten.

We recently spent a lovely week in San Diego and were graciously hosted by some family in their very fancy house.  The kitchen was a dream!  Perfectly organized, a humongous fridge, top-of-the-line stainless steel EVERYTHING!  Then good old Uncle pulled out the toaster.  I'm guessing the thing was circa late 1980's.  Today's modern bread was too tall and stuck out of the top.  It looked like it had been through the war.  Bagels?  Ha!  Forget about it.  Poor little toaster.

A little while back, my in-laws redecorated their kitchen.  Well, redecorated is an understatement.  They gutted the kitchen - ripped out everything and started from scratch.  It was once a 1950's country themed, blue and white tile up the wazoo mess. Now it's a sleek, comforting, masterpiece.  I want to give the walnut floors a big hug every time I go in there.  The lighting is gorgeous.  The appliances are fantastic.  Except that toaster.  I'm not even going to take a stab at the age.  The fact that the cord was wrapped in raveling thread should be indication enough that this thing was ancient.   I'm surprised you didn't have to place it near an open fire and turn it with your foot.

Casseroles make my spine quiver.  It seems that every recipe exchange I participate in is laden with delicacies that follow the same basic principles:  chicken breast (or even can of tuna), a can cream of something soup (shudder), a cup or two of shredded cheese (gag), and topped with crushed potatoe chips or snack crackers (seriously?).   One such recipe even said, "I use cream of celery soup to add a vegetable."  Attention humans: cream of celery soup is NOT a vegetable! 

For someone who avoids casseroles like the plague, I surprise even myself by love love loving this recipe.  It is so earthy and homey.  For as simple as it is, it's complex and interesting.  And it's really as easy as slice, pour, top, bake. I make it in a 9x13 pan and increase this recipe by 50% so I can have some for lunch.  That's what I'm having today.  Hooray!  This will serve 4-6 adults.

Mediterranean Gratin

4 large russet potatoes, well scrubbed

4 tomatoes

1/4 to 1/2 yellow onion

1/2 c. low fat sour cream

3/4 c. skim or plain soy milk

1/2 tsp. garlic powder or 1 clove minced garlic

2 Tbsp. fresh thyme (yummiest) or 1 Tbsp. dried thyme (can also substitute Italian Seasoning)

1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Baby #4 is not being kind to me.  Weeks 8 throught 10 found me barely able to drag my ugly, unshowered self out of bed.  I had to lean on the counter while I stirred dinner, which was usually pasta with sauce out of a jar.  I slept 10 hours a night and took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  Seriously!  And the nausea!  I count myself lucky that I have yet to throw up during a pregnancy, but it still sucks that I feel like I just might throw up any second.   And stop reading if you don't want TMI, but I have painful gas almost every night from 7 to 10 pm.  My belly gets all bloated and it hurts.  So weird.  Where the heck did that come from?

So I was lamenting to my mom in law about how baby #1 was a breeze, and even baby #2 was super easy.  Baby #3 was tougher, but nothing like this.  Do you know what she said to me?  "Well, you're body just isn't what it used to be.  That happens as you get older." 

Get older!?!  I've said those same words, but always with a twinkle in my eye and a little smirk.  I'm 28 for pete's sake!  But that really was the nail in the coffin.  Hearing the words "get older" from an outside source really sunk it in.  I am getting older!  And it's hard.  Is there a little icon for a tear running down my face?  :_ _ (   That works.

Bread terrors?  I don't know why, but I've talked to a lot of people who have a fear of making bread.  It's time consuming, difficult, won't turn out right they say.  Nay, I say!  I'm going to share with you my super simple, no fail, ultra delicious 45 minute rolls.  In less than an hour, you can have the amazing smell of fresh bread wafting from your kitchen and be the envy of homemakers for miles around.  And all this will cost you nothing, although you should probably buy like four or five HugaMonkey baby slings out of gratitude and/or amazement.

I mix these up in my life saving, can't-do-without KitchenAid mixer.  You could use a hand mixer with a dough hook attachment, a food processor if you know how (I don't), or a wooden spoon and your bare hands if you're tough. I've never tried this in a bread machine.  When I had a bread machine, it seemed more trouble than it was worth.  My little bitty kitchen cannot have single-function items hogging up all the space when a KitchenAid can do it just as well, plus about a thousand other awesome things.  Looks like that's going to have to be a blog post all its own.   Ah, yes!  The recipe!

45 Minute Rolls

1 c. hot water

1 package (2 1/4 tsp.) yeast

2 T. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 T. oil

2 to 2 1/2 c. flour

I know after the last post you were all thinking, "Great!  I can save money cooking from scratch!  Now what?"   Cooking in any way can be a daunting task, so here are some expanded suggestions to help.

As a young wife, I bought Bisquick regularly.  We were both in college and working, so it was a very fast "go to" for breakfast or dinner.   Then the cost of the stuff started gnawing away at my budget brain.  Ounce for ounce, it was one of the higher priced items on my receipt.  So I looked up "make your own Bisquick" online, and found some easy recipes for about 1/4 of the cost.  The best part was that I could even make it with some whole wheat flour.  But it required shortening, and that gnawed away at my healthy brain.  After making a couple of batches, I had a realization:  "Is this really worth it?"   

What was I making with Bisquick?  Pancakes, bisquits....  That's about it.  Do you realize how incredibly easy it is to make pancake batter from scratch?  I've got it down to about 3 minutes!  And biscuits are a cinch, too.  I've got a super easy drop bisquit recipe, and a more labor intensive one for when I have more time. So I quit buying Bisquick, and have never gone back.

"I'm terrified of the library!"

Those are the exact words a good friend of mine said to me tonight.  It knocked my socks off!  How can anyone be terrified of the library?  I suggested that she get a cook book from the library after she confided that she was terrified of cooking as well.  I felt like I was worlds away from my dear friend at that moment. 

We were having a lengthy discussion about cooking.  No, not heating up.  Putting a frozen lasagna in the oven or adding water to pancake mix IS NOT cooking.  I mean real live, measuring cup, pure flour, raw ingredient cooking.  It's becoming a lost art, isn't it? 

After nearly crying about enormous credit card debt and saying that 80% of their meals are eaten out, and the remainder came pre-made/out of a box,  I told her about the enormous value of cooking.  Just a few quick reasons: way cheaper, tastes better, healthier, no artificial ingredients, colors, preservatives, you're in control, emotionally rewarding, and it's fun!

So I challenged her to make pancakes without Bisquick.  Pancakes aren't terrifying, right?  I'm sending her some great, simple, healthy recipes.  You can't suddenly just start making 3 meals a day from scratch.  You'll pass out.  Start with two recipes a week: one breakfast and one dinner.  It takes me about 5 minutes to whip up a batch of whole grain waffles, and costs just pennies compared to Eggo's.  And when they come hot off the waffle iron with some warmed apple slices and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top... Heaven!

Home to Richfield to home to Weber Canyon to home to Boise to home.  Driving is the pits!  20+ hours in the car is not my idea of a good time, especially when it involves three kids and a pregnant me.  My salvation is this very laptop on which I am typing.

What in the blamin' bleep did people do before in-car movies!?  I spent a few minutes last night transferring about a dozen movies from our external hard drive onto my computer through the magic of wireless magic.  Stick the lappy on the lap of the eldest, most responsible child, and BLAM!  I barely hear a peep from them.  Eldest child knows how to start a new movie on her own, and toddler generally falls asleep in minutes.

To make matters better, our sweet minivan (Honda Odyssey, get one, love one) can turn the rear speakers off so Dylan and I can listen to an audio book up front while the kids rock a movie in the back.  It's like the mullet of traveling.  You know, business up front, party in the back. 

So even with numb buns, gas station restrooms, pretzel debris, and rock chips, we're surviving.  Seeing our friends, family, and beautiful places on God's great earth make it all worth it.

PS  BEST TRAVEL BED EVER!!!  Dylan and I are super picky about our sleeping arrangements.  Everywhere we go, we take 2 twin size air mattresses and a big king size memory foam mattress topper.  The two twins are brilliant.  When he rolls over, I can't feel a thing!  It's soft and comfy and we don't end up with our butts on the floor in an air mattress taco.  And, hello - king size!  Trust me, it's pure genius.

You've been on the brink, I know.  I told you I'd write about meal planning, and it's been a while.  Sorry for the terrible suspense!

Meal planning is a HUGE help in making trips to the grocery store easier.  It also eases a lot of mental anguish around meal times.  As another plus, food does not go to waste, unused and rotting in the depths of your fridge.  You'll know exactly what you have and where it's going.

Over the last several years, I've switched up my meal planning strategies to keep things livened up.  Sometimes I have assigned every day of the week a "theme", if you will, and continued the themes for a month or two at a time.  Example:  Monday - Mexican, Tuesday - Italian, Wednesday - Soup,  Thursday - Sandwich, etc.  So the four Mondays of the month could be burritos, enchiladas, posole, and nachos.  I really love to cook and try different foods, so I like to throw in several nights a month for a new cuisine.  We'll have Greek, Arabic, Australian, or German recipes on occassion. 

That method doesn't always go exactly as planned, because sometimes I have something time consuming planned on a night that just isn't working out right.  So here's my new method:

1.  Meal list.  Easy as that.  On the computer I have a document entitled "Fave Meals".  On it, I list the things we like to eat.  If I try a new recipe and like it a lot, it goes on the list, along with the source for where I got it.  Recipes we don't like don't make it on the chart.   It started simple:  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinners.  It has grown to sections you'd find in a cook book: Chicken, Rice Dishes, Salads, Sandwiches, Soups, Eggs, etc.  This is just a simple reference list I can quickly skim over and see things we like that maybe we haven't eaten in a while.

Today we went to a Speed Pitching event to ask total strangers for money for HugaMonkey.  It was exhausting!  But I was perfectly suited for it and this is why:

Repeating the same thing 10 times in a row.

Sound like something a Mom would be good at?

Also, I said this sentence yesterday: "Don't stomp on my sandwiches!"

HugaMonkey baby carriers are featured in this year's Utah Baby Guide.

Found on page 23 of the guide along side one of our Utah based competitors who focuses on posh baby gear. HugaMonkey's has always been focused simple, practical and affordable elegance. We've created a special Why HugaMonkey page with more details about why we think the HugaMonkey is the way to go for moms.

• Web version of the guide: Web version of the guide
• PDF of the Guide: PDF of the Guide

You can watch a recording of the broadcast right here at HugaMonkey: November 2009 HugaMonkey Broadcast

Quick Read:

What: Live HugaMonkey Broadast

When: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hugamonkey

Where: Friday November 20th @ 1 pm MST

Long Read:

We're starting a new party. At least once per month Leah will do a real live in person real life LIVE broadcast! The first one is this Friday at 1 pm MST. This will be a chance for you to ask questions about how to use your baby carrier, why we're so crazy and anything you can think of. We want this to be a fun way for us to meet and a chance for us to help out.

We're using ustream and you can watch it at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hugamonkey. You don't need a camera to watch. All you need is a computer and internet connection.

You can ask questions through the chat module, Twitter, HugaMonkey Facebook Page (facebook.com/hugamonkey) or send an email to dylan AT hugamonkey - DOT - com.

When you go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/hugamonkey, you may get a box telling you that you need an account. You don't! Just click the X to get past the box.

"NO CAPES!"

Remember the scene from "The Incredibles" where the designer is detailing scenarios where heroes have met a tragic end because of their capes?  Sucked into a tornado, jet engine, missile, etc.  Well, now I can relate.

The kids and I did a service project today, and went to our neighbor's house to rake leaves.  Helen passed away in April, and Charlie is now living with one of their daughters.  Their lovely old home sits sadly vacant, and the big yard was piles with leaves from their many beautiful trees.  We swept, power-blew, and raked for quite some time.  In fact, my forearms are reminding me of all that hard work as I type.

Anyway, My 5 year old boy decided that he needed a drink and ran home to get one.  Naturally, he wanted to get back to raking by means faster than running, so he rode his Spiderman bike.  Here's where the problem comes in: he was wearing his long Superman cape.

I hear him holler and ran around the corner to see him leaning waaaay back on his bike, a look of panic in his eyes, and his cape wound very tightly in the tire chain spoke thingy.  I quickly loosened it from his neck and carried the bike home.   Once there, the back tire got disassembled and the cape was released.   It was mangled!  You know in cartoons when someone shoots a wall with a machine gun and there's a zig zag of holes streaking across it?  That's what the cape looked like. 

"Don't ride your bike with a cape on," I implored the little fella.  And that got me thinking of other unusual things I've found myself saying.  Here are but a few:

"Get your pants out of there!"

"I said 'sectional', not 'sexual'"

"A little barf never hurt nobody."

"Shampoo is not for eating."

"How did he even get it in there?!?"

"What's in my shoe?"

"He pooped WHERE!?"

What have you said?

Sadness is not funny. 

"I want to do something funny."  I told my business partners at our last meeting.   I felt daunted by having to write a huge blog post every day about something I didn't really care about.  "Go for it!" was their response.   If you're a mom, you know that enough ridiculous and bizarre things happen to fill a book.

Then I miscarried.  I spent a few days crying, feeling like it was a perfectly suited ending to a year long struggle for pregnancy.  I was supposed to have written a handful of clevery, witty, light pieces to post by now.  I haven't been feeling to light a witty.

It's easier, though, with three kids around, to pull yourself out of a rut.  My very first pregnancy ended at 13 weeks, and it was miserable.  I thought I would surely die of sadness.  It's a lot more difficult to curl up in your bed and wallow when three little bodies are laying around you, giggling, telling knock-knock jokes, and asking for pancakes in the shape of a hammer. 

My sweet hubby went grocery shopping and brought back a lovely boquet.  My mom is going to take the kids to her house for a couple of days so I can rest and get some things done (eight month old kitchen project, I'm looking at you).  Church was a wonderful pick-me-up.

Look forward, dear readers, to joviality and fun and silliness.  But today, just let me be.  But if you're severly disappointed, here you go:

"Funny Things Olivia Says"

Upon returning home from a magic show, I told Liv that my favorite part was when the lovely assistant got cut in thirds wth 2 giant blades and then the magician slid her midsection out sideways.   I was so excited, and exclaimed, "How did they DO that!!!"   She looked at me, expressionless, and replied, "Mom, they're musicians."

Much like adults, kids have energy peaks and valleys throughout the day.  As parents, we know that their swings from one extreme to another can be much more dramatic.  One minute, they are buzzing around like the Energizer bunny, and the next, they are in zombie mode.  While the main focuses for keeping kids’ energy level on an even keel are familiar-exercise, a balanced diet and good, regular rest-it’s not always easy to make them a regular part of daily life.  The following will offer you a collection of tips and strategies for doing just that.  These include quick games for a good workout, an energy-boosting snack, and relaxation activities that will leave kids recharged.

Keep Active:  Whenever we walk, jump, run or wiggle, we use energy.  So it might seem strange that one of the best prescriptions for generating energy is to do more of the same.  Over time, exercise increases the capacity of your heart and your muscles, which in turn gives you more energy to do more exercise.   Activity that uses the large muscles and raises the heart rate and the body’s core temperature will wake you up.  And it should be fun, because exhilaration also increases energy.  Here are two simple and playful exercises recommended for building long term stamina:

Sneaker Leap:  Tie an old sneaker to one end of a 7-foot length of rope.  Squat down and swing the sneaker in a circle at a slow but constant speed, transferring the rope from hand to hand as it goes around you.  Have your child stand in one spot and jump over the sneaker when it reaches him. 

Bubble Bust:  Blow a bunch of bubbles and for each one, call out a different body part, such as elbow, knee, nose, or toe.  Challenge your child to burst each bubble using the specified part of his body.