Nesting instinct

#GIFTED

During the last few weeks of my most recent pregnancy my nesting instinct kicked in and I felt an overwhelming desire to get our home and family ready for the arrival of baby number three.

The nesting instinct had me wanting to prepare for my newborn and have our home clean and tidy so that it was a welcoming and safe environment that would help us protect our baby in a loving way.

I found myself giving the house a deep clean, getting all baby essentials organised, packing hospital bags with military precision and having a spring clean with items no longer used going to the charity shop. After noticing a few marks on one of the bedroom walls I even decided to re-decorate the whole room as the grubby looking paint was screaming at me every time I walked past it.

Easy Feel Babywearing - Full Buckle Ergonomic Wrap Converted Soft Structured Carrier in Toddler Size review

Even though Jelly Bean is a busy, walking toddler now babywearing still plays a part in our life. Whilst our babywearing routine has changed and we do not babywear every single day, multiple times a day as we once did when he was a little baby we do still love babywearing. It can be handy when my busy toddler’s legs are too tired after play and adventures. It is helpful when he is tired and needs a nap when out and about so I can get on with the day. It is a lifesaver when my toddler is under the weather and poorly or teething and wanting to be close to his mummy.

Also with Jelly Bean getting bigger and older the wraps, carriers and slings we use have also changed. We have long said goodbye to stretchy wraps and reach for ring slings and buckled carriers for quick carries and toddler worthy woven wraps for longer babywearing experiences.

Didymos Didy Meh-Dai (DidyTai) Waves Silver review

We are passionate about babywearing and over the years we have used a variety of slings, wraps and carriers. One of our favourite style of carriers is the meh-dai.

The Meh-Dai is a babywearing carrier made from a rectangular piece of fabric with four straps sewn to the corners - the bottom two straps form the waist straps and the two top straps are the wrap straps. Meh-Dai’s can be used for front, back and hip carry.

Meh-Dai’s available on the market vary greatly with there being differences in the type and design. Briefly meh-dai’s vary by some of the following details -

* size - infant, standard, toddler, one-size

* fabric - woven wrap, cotton fabric, canvas inner body

* strap style - wrap, padded, padded to wrap

* waist style - padded, un-padded, structured

* body style - un-contoured rectangular body, contoured body, seat darts, cinching features

* hoods and headrests - sewn on, removable or none

Babywearing adventures

I love babywearing.

There are so many wonderful benefits of babywearing.

From my very first experience of carrying Bug nearly 6 years ago in a Moby Tattoo Noir stretchy wrap, I fell in love with babywearing.

Kangaroo Care with KangaWrap - babywearing review.

My love affair with babywearing started a little over 5 years ago when Bug was born. My mum had kindly bought me a stretchy wrap (which we sadly lost in a house fire) and from that first carry I was hooked. I carried Bug till he was around 4 years of ago in various carriers and was upset when our babywearing days came to an end.

When I found out I was expecting Jelly Bean one of my first thoughts was that I would have a little baby to babywear with once again. Starting from scratch again for babywearing wraps and carriers (thanks to the house fire) having loved the stretchy wrap so much with Bug I made sure to get a new stretchy wrap ready for our second born. From the first day that we welcomed Jelly Bean into the world I have carried him on a daily basis and he loves to be carried.

As I love babywearing and love to try new wraps and carriers I was delighted when KangaWrap kindly sent us one of their wraps to try.

What if I won the lottery? What would I buy?

As a dreamer I often find myself dreaming about 'what ifs'. One of the common 'what ifs' I find myself thinking about is 'what if I was lucky enough to win the lottery'.

If I was fortunate enough to win big on the lotto, perhaps having won a life changing prize playing one of the world's biggest lotteries on Multilotto, then I would inevitably spend some of my winnings on a dream forever home for my family, a new family car, a once-in-a-lifetime family holiday and finally getting married and having my dream wedding after 5 years of engagement.

Whilst I would be over the moon to win a large enough lotto prize to do the above, any winnings would of course be gratefully received. If my lotto win was a more modest one, or a large win with a some winnings left to spare after the above purchases, I would love to treat each one of our family to a gift of something they would love.

Summer babywearing wishlist.

As Jelly Bean gets bigger and heavier it is fast becoming apparent that our stretchy wrap cannot handle carrying him as well as it once it, considering he is now 9 months old I think our Boba stretchy wrap has served us well and been loved lots, numerous times a day on a daily basis!

With Jelly Bean outgrowing the stretchy wrap my thoughts have turned to what other wraps, carriers and accessories I would love to get so that we can carry on and compliment our babywearing journey.

With a summer of adventures with my boys ahead of me I hope that babywearing will be something we can still do (dependent on us being able to afford a new wrap or carrier). As babywearing will help us all enjoy adventures allowing Jelly Bean to be close to me and at the heart of the adventures and I love to dream about things I would love to buy if we were fortunate enough to have some 'spare' money in our tight family budget, here is my summer babywearing wish list -

Babywearing with AmaWrap.

As I mentioned in our review of the Rockin’ Baby Ring Sling review I love babywearing.

When Bug was born my mum kindly bought me a stretchy wrap which I adored. That first wrap sparked my love of babywearing and I carried Bug on a regular basis over the years, moving from a stretchy wrap to a mei-tai.

As I loved babywearing so much with Bug, when I found out that I was expecting Jelly Bean one of the things I was most looking forward to was babywearing once again with a little baby. Since his birth I have worn him on a daily basis using either a stretchy wrap or a ring sling.

Wanting to explore the world of babywearing a little more and try other brands and carriers I was delighted at the chance of trying a new stretchy wrap – the AmaWrap Baby Carrier.

Rockin' kids clothing - Rockin' Baby kidswear collection.

Recently we were fortunate to be able to try out a Rockin’ Baby Ring Sling. As Jelly Bean and I enjoyed the benefits of babywearing in the beautiful Rose of My Heart Reversible Ring Sling which we fell in love with thanks to the lovely design and high quality I was delighted to see that Rockin’ Baby have branched out from rockin’ babywearing ring slings and pouches to a rockin’ kidswear collection.

The Rockin’Baby kidswear collection is a lovely assortment of clothing from newborn to aged 10.

As I love and appreciate Rockin’ Baby’s charity initiative ‘Mother to Mother’ where for every sling purchased they give a Hero sling to a Haitian mother in need, I love that they have incorporated the ‘giving to those in need’ concept to their kidswear range.

The new giving charity initiative for the kidswear collection is called ‘Child to Child’.

If you buy an item from the Rockin’ Baby kidswear collection they give an item from their bright, colourful and high quality Hero clothing collection to a child in desperate need. The Hero clothing collection consists of rompers, onesies, t-shirts, dresses, pants, shorts and leggings, all of which will also be available for sale.

Hero clothing

Babywearing whatever the weather.

Since Jelly Bean’s arrival I have been able to fully indulge in my love of babywearing once again, especially as my days of wearing Bug were becoming ever few and far between.

As one of the reasons I love babywearing with Jelly Bean is that it enables me to carry on having fun and adventures with Bug I have been looking at the different options out there to help me babywear whatever the weather – especially as we love having adventures in all kinds of weathers including the rain, cold and wind.

Our motto is ‘get the clothing right for the weather and our adventures can carry on regardless’.

 Bug enjoying a very wet day at the beach

So that our adventures can continue with Jelly Bean being part of them as I keep him close to me, I have been considering the options below for babywearing whatever the weather.

Rockin’ babywearing with Rockin’ Baby.

As I loved babywearing with Bug I planned to babywear with Jelly Bean from birth.

I’ve always found babywearing to be rather special and magical, it is divine to have baby close – close enough to kiss in fact – helped keep them happy and content, and for me has always been sleepy dust lulling baby to sleep. Not only is it great for closeness and a happy baby, it also gives you a pair of hands free to carry on with all the glamourous household tasks that need doing.

Baby wishlist.

Whilst we are fortunate enough to have kept all of Bug’s baby things including clothes, toys and other baby essentials and do not really need to buy anything in particular for Jelly Bean’s arrival there are a few things that I would love to get.

Being super excited about the arrival of our second baby I cannot help look at all the lovely baby products available on the market and lust after a few things that we never had with Bug.

I do not need these things but want these things.

As I am in the midst of nesting I find myself creating baby wish lists of gorgeous and useful things that would be the cherry on the top of all the things we already have for Jelly Bean.

Lottery win wishlist.

Like most people, I have dreamed about winning the lottery. Dreaming about what I would do if my numbers came in and I won big.

Whilst I may not play the lottery on a regular basis I do dabble every once in a while in the hope of having a little win, or even better a big win!

When I am feeling a little lucky I will pick up a lottery ticket whilst shopping or buy online lottery tickets, then cross my fingers and hope that lady luck is shining down on me and that my numbers come up.

Admittedly if we won BIG many of my spending dreams would be rather predictable ones such as going on a wonderful family holiday and buying a house. I’d also love to treat loved ones to things they desire the most. Putting money aside for our children’s future and a rainy day would also be top of the list if our numbers came in for a BIG win.

Whilst the idea of a BIG, life-changing win is a wonderful dream; I would be more than happy with a win of a few thousand pounds to help make life that little bit easier and enable us to get a few key things that we want most at the moment.