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!