Strapping your baby on and getting on with stuff seemed like a very natural thing to do.
As a busy girl in my early 30’s, I needed all the tools for an easy adjustment to this change motherhood was going to impose on me. So I bought a sling in a nearby baby shop, it all looked straightforward, it had instructions with pictures, I could do that. Then he arrived, he was a long boy and I’m a short girl, it just didn’t go the way I planned. I kept trying but it just didn’t feel right.
So I googled and I found a blog post about a simple piece of cloth and instructions, so off I went to the fabric shop and bought a ridiculous amount of cheap cotton and came home and tied myself in knots. I wasn’t giving up, a friend loaned me a mamas and papas carrier which was tricky to get on and a little uncomfortable once on there. I will not be bet, once he could sit unaided I got myself a big giant little life rucksack which we loved, at last, we had comfort and we could get on the mountains and see the world, but boy it was huge. So we carried Finn as much as we could.
Then along came the next boy, he was long and cuddly too. This time I had a clearer head not so worried about all that stuff that was so new the last time and I found a mammy with a ring sling and said “how do I do that, please show me?”
We got our first preloved ring sling that day and I carried my beautiful boy in that for half of his first year. Yeah, we could make peanut butter sambos for the demanding 3-year-old and cuddle no.2 AT THE SAME TIME!
I didn’t know people bought lots of slings or swapped and traded and tried new things – this of course is a major added benefit to the cuddles. I found myself online chatting to international mamas about life, love and cloth. The babywearing community is a very fluffy place. I find great comfort in scrolling through the pretty slings, drooling over stash shots and wondering how these beautiful mamas managed those modelesque selfies.
I carry my “baby” seldom these days he loves to walk and isn’t even fond of holding my hand. Our slingly cuddles are still very precious and if he needs comfort or rest I will find him, crawling up my back and asking for his “wap”
Of course, I have found the cloth influencing other parts of my life, learning to wrap makes me think about how I put things together, from considering the way I overlap my bowls to how I fold and roll the bubble wrap. When I set about designing a parenting gift I knew babywearing would be prominent in my thoughts.
When I had baby no1 we got lots of beautiful gifts of clothes, nappies and the other practical baby gadgets. Then no 2 it’s another boy, you have all the clothes and tools. So I wanted to design a piece which would have longevity, that you are happy to have on your walls well after the nappies and prams are gone.
“carry my love forever” is me holding my boys tight looking to the future knowing that it’s only a short while that I hold you, but I carry your hopes, dreams and love forever.
