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Recently HugaMonkey received an email from a fellow monkey hugger in regards to our organic baby slings. Here’s what they had to say:

Just fyi...the 60% cotton in the Kaufman Panda prints is not actually "organic" cotton.  They call them green prints because of the bamboo.  Just thought I'd let you know before someone says something about false advertisement.  You can call Kaufman's quality control to confirm this. Thanks

I replied with the following, but their email address didn’t work:

Thanks for the heads up.  Here is some info from Robert Kaufman's website that you might find interesting:

We are pleased to present greenSTYLE by Robert Kaufman, fabric options created from environmentally-friendly materials and fabrication methods. These textiles are organic, sustainable and low-impact dyed, leaving less (or no) harmful waste and making the most sustainable and natural use of the Earth's precious resources.  Robert Kaufman GreenStyle

After a couple weeks someone left the following comment on the Tangerine Leaf baby sling:

organic ??

Neither one of the components of this fabric is certified organic. It is wrong to claim so in your advertising.  read more »

We were contacted a short time ago by the mommies over at babysteals.com, where they, “sell one quality baby product at a time at an unbelievable price! It's not just a deal, it's a steal! A babysteal!” They were really excited to partner with us and offer a selection of our awesome baby slings as one of their “baby steals”, we agreed to a small test run.

Wow, were we surprised by the results! The first batch sold out within a few hours, so we thought we’d go for it again, the second batch sold out within a few hours!

Because of the success of our products at babysteals.com we have been awarded the “steal of approval”.

A special thanks to all of you who make it possible for us to keep doing what we love.

Hey, monkey-huggers! Share your love of our adorable, affordable baby slings with your family and friends with just a click of your mouse. How? HugaMonkey’s new badges!

You can easily add a badge to your blog or website to help us spread the word. They work with every kind of blog out there, including Blogspot, Wordpress, and more. Just go to HugaMonkey Baby Sling Badges for instructions on how to copy and paste the code into your site for free.

They come in three different colors, so you can pick the one that best matches the look of your site. It’s a piece of cake, and a great way to tell your friends about the fun and funk of HugaMonkey’s awesome slings.

We've partnered up with Sew Tuff to make our baby slings. For one year we've had a great team of BYU interns constructing our baby pouches. Orders have been flowing in like crazy that we couldn't keep up! A special thank you to all of you for your support. So we enlisted the Sew Tuff's help and they're fantastic! Here are some reasons why Sew Tuff is sew good for you!

• Faster slings and delivery
• Higher quality
• Consistent stitching

Sew Tuff has decades of experience and are great to work with.

To learn more check out this press release.

We're gonna be at the Utah Valley Women’s Expo and we need 2 people to work at our booth.

Expo Info:
When: May 2nd & 3rd, 2008, 11 am to 8 pm (both days)
Where: McKay Events Center, Orem, Utah (Directions)

Who you need to be:
A pro with baby slings (or willing to learn)
Sell something you love
Clean and Friendly
Mad amounts of energy (that means a lot)
Quick on your feet and in your mind
Good with money

What you need to bring:
Yourself
A champion of a baby that can be a model

Because baby slings and you are so awesome you’ll promote and explain how to wear a baby sling and hold a baby in it. You’ll be helping tons of people try on baby slings, select sizes and colors and purchase baby slings. You’ll be on your feet throughout the day with many quick breaks.

We’ll provide all the materials and supplies. We’ll also show you how to wear and use our baby slings so that you can teach others.

$10 per hour and a free baby sling!

Please email with any questions or to setup an interview!

Holla!

We're gonna venture out into the public this weekend. If you wanna see the crazy monkeys (you do) that make up the HugaMonkey Squad then come to the Baby Day Expo.

Here are the goods:
-March 28 and 29
-Salt Lake City, Utah South Towne Expo Center
-Free Baby Slings
-Free Bananas
-On the spot custom baby slings
-3,000 babies crying at once (ok, maybe not)
-For more info visit Baby Day Expo

If you haven't noticed the organic baby sling banner at the top of the page, we're going to add some eco-friendly baby slings made of some awesome fabric!

We want you to tell us what you think. Which fabrics should we use? Which colors look the best and which patterns are fresh? Let us know. You can vote for your favorite by visiting our organic baby sling page.

Oh yeah, after you vote, don't forget to enter for a free baby sling!

We also made a very official sounding press release that you can read here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/03/prweb765774.htm.

The part of HugaMonkey I enjoy the most is shipping the baby slings. I love to see all the orders stacked up all pointing the same direction.

We used big boxes (USPS Box 4) in the past but have recently switched to a smaller more concise box (1096S).

The baby slings fit in just right that it makes my heart melt in an extremely organized fashion!

From one of our customers, Tasha in Utah.

Sling Sizing
I have found that it is handy having a couple of different sizes. I use a small for my newborn baby and a medium for my 20 month old child. I also have found that it is fun to have a couple of different colors so that I can match the sling with my outfit and I feel like I’m all put together!

Baby Wearing Learning Curve
It did take me a few times to learn just exactly where to put the sling on my shoulder to make it the most comfortable. It took me a few times as well to figure out how the baby would be the most comfortable in the sling. But, I got it figured out and I love it! This sling is easy to adjust to whatever position you want your child to be in. It is easy to put on and it only takes a minute versus some slings and wraps and baby carriers that take 5 minutes plus to put on.

Breast Feeding
I have learned how to comfortably nurse the baby while wearing the sling. You should see it, it’s great! I was nursing my baby while I was doing makeup at a Mary Kay Party. I have also nursed while fixing dinner or doing braids in my daughters hair. I have to admit that it is always better to nurse without the sling, but with 4 other children it is sometimes necessary and always convenient, and it works great!

Hooray! HugaMonkey Baby Slings is featured on Killerstartups.com. It's a website that reviews new/startup companies. Take a look and if you think we're a killer startup (which we are), vote for us using the Killer badge in the top left corner, leave a comment or both!

Reason 3: It saves my sanity

Another couple of years and another move later, baby 3 shoots into this world in just 36 minutes flat. We've bought our first home with all of its ensuing projects. We started a business. We volunteered. Some days I can't, can't, can't do it all. Sometimes I snap under the pressure and turn into Momzilla - which always makes me cry as  read more »

There are dozens of sites out there cataloguing the various benefits of baby wearing. Baby slings provide parent/child bonding, leg and muscle development, a calmer child, reduced post partum depression, and on and on and on. These are all very important, and I encourage parents and care givers to read up.

However, I wanted to take a slightly different approach. In this cyber world of emoticons and acronyms, I'm going to do my darnedest to make these pixels express my feelings about baby slings and why I do it.

Reason 1: It feels good

Flashback. The year, 2002. Handsome hubby and I have been married for just 10 months when our baby girl couldn't wait to surprise us. Nine months later, there she was: head full a black hair, big blue eyes with the loooongest eyelashes, and that funny gobbler chin. We were both in school and working, but I knew I couldn't bear to ever leave her, and my incredible husband afforded me the great blessing and honor of staying home with my baby. Were we poor? Heck yes! But we had faith, a beautiful baby, and we were happy. I carried her in the ugliest  read more »

Sometimes I'm a good dad. Sometimes I'm a bad dad. Because I really love my kids and want the best for them, I found the following tips very helpful.

1. "You're the best!"

What they hear: "Your job in life is to make me happy."
A better way to say it: "You should be proud of how hard you worked."

2. "Watch your language!"

What they hear: "I've tuned out what you're really trying to say."
A better way to say it: "I'm so glad you came to talk to me, but I have one request for the future. I find that word offensive, so please don't use it."

3. "We can't afford that."

What they hear: "Money is the answer to everything."
A better way to say it: "The store is  read more »

I found this neat little anthropological/historical tidbit at the US Mint:

Many cultures around the world have been using baby slings of one type or another for thousands of years.  When I was an anthropology student at the University of Utah I studied quite a bit about maternal health and economy.  Most of our subject material was of African tribal mothers who are twice as productive when harvesting mongongo nuts then mothers who held the baby on the hip with one arm.

Quoting from Wikipedia:

Here at HugaMonkey we've known this all along - its just nice to have some smart scientists back us up!