PAXbaby.com Giveaway. Because babies are an accessory.

a Rafflecopter giveaway Paxbaby specializes in babywearing accessories, with what seems to be an emphasis on wraps and mei tais. I've never tried either, but I'd like to!

Boba, part 2

ALL OF THE THINGS. I MUST SEE THEM.

KITTY! I am in the THING!

Leoling isn't quite sure how he feels about the Boba yet. Unlike our old carrier, this model only does an "inward facing" position, whether in front or back carry. He was generally used to hanging out in "forward facing" position. He likes looking at All The Things, and always preferred it that way. As you can see, even in our photo attempts, little dude was trying to see everything.



So! First impressions of our Boba-ventures around the house and the library:

The Good:
* The carrier was light.
* This put a lot less strain on my shoulders than the Infantino Swift.
* The roomy bottom area seemed to distribute Leo's weight more, so less pressure was on his crotch/hip area
* Unlike the Swift, I can actually ratchet this thing down to nurse in. If I leave the rain hood attached, I can even flip it over so I can nurse him without showing everything or digging out the nursing cover.
* Leoling seems to like being able to snuggle in against my stomach
* It has POCKETS. There's one in the belt area (about under the baby's bottom area) and one along the top, where the detachable hood can be tucked in.

The Bad:
* It's a little tricky to get the waist belt and the strap that connects the two shoulder straps behind my back hooked up
* I'm used to wandering around with baby in front and a backpack on the back. It's trickier to sling the backpack forward to fish my stuff out of it while handling the thicker shoulder straps of the Boba.
*This attaches at waist level. The old one was a bit above waist level, so I could somewhat bend in it. Sort of. This one feels a little less stable when I stoop.
* It's a little tricky to get the shoulder connector unhooked.
*Leoling is used to front carry, and feels that being tucked in against my chest keeps him from seeing everything.

So far, we've only tried the front carry position. I want to get used to that before testing out the back carry. Leo is also a little small for the standard front carry, but I'm pretty sure he has surely graduated to 15 lbs since his last weigh-in a month ago. He feels just a little loose in the current set up, but he is at the lower weight limit FOR that setup. It seemed like he might be a little big to test "newborn holds" in yet, though.

Overall, I think I like this carrier a lot more than the Swift. I could see spending the extra money, for sure. It's still tricky to do much while wearing him for me, but I am a singularly graceless creature. I could see it possibly making it easier to nurse and get reading or homework done, though! He actually tolerates an inward-facing carry with this one.

Boba!

A wild Babykitten has appeared! He started out taking a carrier break on a blanket, but...well...

The babykitten will soon get to try out riding in style in a Boba 3G carrier I won in a giveaway. I need to read through the directions a few more times to work out how to use it, but it looks really good, and it's nice and lightweight. It should be way easier to transport than the Infantino Swift we've been using!

I haven't given the carrier itself a try yet for the reason above, but I definitely have to give a shout out to Boba's customer service. I didn't even PAY for the thing, and they had it to me within a week. They are also fantastic about communication, even if the Boba has nothing to do with Boba Fett. (Yet. We got the new Safari pattern, so I MAAAY possibly figure out a way to decorate it with a Fett, if I don't go with a kitty or something to honor the baby's interests.) Check this thing out. Totally customizable, no?

Of course, I'll post pictures of the one we got in action once I've gotten it worked out. It's not any more complicated than my prior one, but I'll let you in on a secret...I didn't put the one I have NOW on until I'd spent two days studying the thing and checking out video clips. Trust me, the Infantino Swift isn't rocket science.

The Swift wasn't a bad little carrier, per se. It's not ideal--generally you want the leg holes to be positioned in such a way that the baby's hips are supported, so we don't use the current carrier for more than an hour at a time without breaks for Leoling. It's pretty easy to put on and adjust, but it does have some wearer size limitations. It fit me alright at 5'3, but my 5'11 husband couldn't get it on right for the life of him. Before the kid hit 14 lbs, it was fairly comfortable, but now it puts a bit of strain on my shoulders, no matter how much I play with the adjusters. At a cool 15.oo, you can imagine why I bought the thing. It only allows for front carrying (either outward or inward facing), and has a weight limit of 25 lbs.

I'm so excited about trying out the Boba because it does both front AND back carry (inward facing only). It also has an upper weight limit of 45 lbs, which suggests to me that it's a nice 'piggyback aid' when hiking around farther than your little guy can walk once they're off into the realm of toddlerhood. I didn't realize this when I was reading the description, but it ALSO has a rain hood. Considering the slanting, soaking rains of the wild Midwest, this is a great feature to find as long as little dude will put up with it!

Reina Examines Her Mail

Mine, all mine, and your bag, too!

Reina got her sample of Purina Healthy Weight from Walmart.com a few days ago. The offer is still available!
Purina Cat Chow Healthy Weight sample and coupon

There's also one for Purina Active Life Dog Chow, if you are so inclined. We don't have a dog, so I won't be trying this one out, but it is the same company.
Purina Active Life Dog Chow Sample and Coupon

The certificate is for a free bag of dog or cat treats, and was gotten with the instant win game currently on the Walmart Purina page. It nets a mailed certificate good for a 6 oz bag of treats up to 3.oo in value for your furry friend.
Purina Dog and Cat Trick or Treat Promotion


It was good to get a pleasant surprise in the mail, as it came with, literally, half the check I had mailed out to pay our internet bill. I suppose it got torn in half in transit, but we got the half with my bank information back, so that's a good thing. Leo got no samples, but he forgave me for not letting him eat Reina's treat voucher. I think, anyway.

Coupons and Samples, oh my.

Baby Stuff
Here's a deal from the Lansinoh Facebook page. Printable coupons do require finding a printer to use, blech, but two bucks off two boxes of nursing pads or milk storage bags isn't too shabby.
2.00 off Lansinoh Nursing Pads / Milk Storage Bags

This one's more of a "Mail-In Rebate" deal. If you go through a lot of Beechnut baby food, the savings could add up. Leoling of the kitten babies seems to like Beechnut more than Gerber, so I hunted around a bit to see what I could see.
Coupons for Beechnut Wrappers

It looks like you have to sign up for Orajel offers with an email address, so I'll let folks know how spamariffic it seems to be. However, this also nets you printable coupons for a dollar off any Orajel product for kids, and a dollar off baby toothpaste. Apparently the numbing agent in regular Orajel might be bad for babies, but the Naturals seems to work pretty well for us with our little guy over the course of cutting his top and bottom front teeth.
Orajel Savings Deals

Cat Deals

This one is a list of Arm and Hammer coupons, including the ultralast clumping litter, which is Reinacat's favorite.
Check out that Arm & Hammer Goodness

Here's a free sample deal through Walmart.com for a Purina Healthy Weight Cat Chow sample and coupon. We tried a little on Reinita and our old orange cat friend when I got this before, and both found it catceptable. This also leads to a Purina Active Life dog food sample and a deal for cat and dog treats.
Free Sample of Low Fat Kitty Food from Purina

Other

Here's the free sample deals I've signed up for that have worked so far:

Purex Laundry Detergent. (Let me know if this just leads to a "you already claimed this" note!)
Purex detergent sample

Nescafe Memento drink. I haven't tried mine yet, but they sent me a chocolate and a caramel flavored coffee drink mix packet along with a dollar off coupon within three weeks of registering for it. It might be fun to try!
Nescafe Memento sample and coupon

Gnaaah! Kheeee!

My favorite agents of Chaos, Reina and Leoling the Kitten-Baby
Don't believe them, that's totally their mess.

Or so says my 7 month old as he tries to figure out what in the world Mama is up to. Since becoming a mother, I've found myself reading through a plethora of blogs, and though time is a premium for me, this seems like something I could do to natter on about baby things without flooding Facebook. Ha, ha! Disturbing bachelors. That's something I really shouldn't do, you know?

Anyhow, I've been spending some time trying to hunt down deals, product samples, that kind of thing, while the child nurses, and I often run into things that seem like they might be a good deal for my friends who are parents or who are looking into parenthood. I figured I might as well start putting those links here instead of filling people's Facebook feeds with such things. To be honest, I'm also trying to figure out how folks get companies to send them samples for reviews. I'd be more than happy to get my parent friends in on the secret if I find it, because samples and free advertising for others seems like a pretty good deal all around.

Why Herding Cats? Well, for those of you familiar with my child-chasing career, this is probably obvious. In case anyone I don't know stumbles onto this, however, I might as well explain. I love children, even as I'm bewildered with them. I may be pretty new to the Mom game, but as the eldest of ten and someone with over eight years of experience working in schools, I have seen plenty of evidence as to how chaotic children can be. This isn't an issue, but it certainly leads to just as many interesting times as trying to herd cats around. (It also can result in an equal amount of purring, meowing, and milk consumption. Good thing I like cats, too!)