my new ring sling

this is just great. i'm addicted. i just wish i had gotten addicted to this first before cloth diapering. i'd have done my money better justice =P.

my first baby carrier i bought for myself is Littlepods pouch, made by a local Malaysian mom. i made this purchase about 2 months after Dayana was born. i was still blur to the whole idea of babywearing and i had yet to get addicted to online forums so i wasn't very choosy over my first carrier. lol. i wanted one in red but they didn't have it in my size =(. the store owner suggested buying L size, saying that some mothers prefer pouches that were a size bigger. when i went home to try it out, i could practically fit three Dayanas in there. hahah. i immediately took it back to the store to get an exchange, settling for S size. but even S size was still big for me (that's the problem with small lean people. people envy us for having a high metabolism rate but i don't see what's so great about it because it's difficult to get sizing!).

now that we have a maid to help with the housework and the baby while i'm at work, i've loaned the maid my pouch so that she'll be able to look after her as well as getting the household chores done. but the idea of sharing a pouch isn't too appealing to me as i'd have to wash it everytime i wanna use it. at least i had a reason to get a new baby carrier =P. so the search for a second third baby carrier began. lol.

been eyeing Hotslings pouch for a long time, but because of the hefty price i decided against it =(. Molina carried Hotslings in her store, but the design i wanted in my size wasn't available. then i looked into ring slings. indonesian maids would usually gendong the little ones using kain batik lepas, but i have no idea where to get one. since ring slings have been getting very good reviews in the forums, and they're adjustable too, i thought of giving ring slings a try. after asking around for information from some of the local moms, i decided to get one from Syaz. she was having a sale on her blog so i managed to grab one before they were all out. my intention of getting this ring sling was for my maid to use so that i wouldn't have to share my Littlepods anymore.

Everyday Hostling in NYC

but i fell in love with the ring sling as soon as i opened the package and laid eyes on it for the first time. the ring sling was made from linen material in an earthy color (more guni-ish if you ask me =P), with pink trimmings to match its hot pink sling rings. terus tak jadi to give it to my maid to use, hahah. went back home immediately to try it out. Syaz helped me to alter the tail to a shorter length so that it wouldn't sapu lantai. the ring sling had a handy pocket sewn on the tail to chuck in small items like your purse, keys, etc. i like =D.

my new Jumpsac RS!

me and my little girl!

however i don't think i've quite mastered the technique of using a ring sling yet. i wore my daughter in the ring sling to Ikea with my mom and sister earlier today, and i started to get mild back pain (or was it shoulder pain?) after an hour or so. and when i do the hip carry position i notice Dayana gets slight reddish marks on her legs. i wonder if that's normal or not. i have yet to get her into a comfortable sleeping position in the sling too, because she fell asleep in the sling for a while, but my mom commented that she looked a bit uncomfortable with her head flopped to one side.

there were sooo many people at Ikea, i really don't know what is it with people and Ikea. there were alot of families pushing strollers with their kids in tow, and some parents were walking around carrying their sleeping child in their bare arms. i didn't bring my stroller because 1) it's bulky and too heavy for me to handle alone, and 2) it's a niusance to maneuver a stroller among the throngs of shoppers in Ikea who don't even care whether they ram their shopping carts into your feet or not. i wonder why those parents would rather carry their kids until their arms fall off instead of investing in a decent baby carrier. and most strollers will end up carrying their store purchases instead of the baby! i did notice one lady carrying her sleeping child in a nice dark blue ring sling. but i think she's foreign. i like wearing my baby. for one thing, it keeps my arms free =P.

i ended up buying a Quilt for Dayana. my mom ended up buying like no tomorrow at Ikea =P.

anyway, i didn't want to spend too much for my first ring sling, so i didn't really care about the design or color. however now that i've tried one, i've fell in love with a whole bunch of ring slings, in such yummy colors too! actually i've fallen in love with wraps that have been converted into ring slings - slingified wraps!!! =P. i don't think i'll ever fancy a wrap because it looks really difficult to lilit around yourself and i know i don't have the patience for that. haha. but some mommies (like Ito) who are really good at it make wearing a wrap seem so easy. and look cool too. some wrap designs i've started to fancy are the Storchenwiege (Ulli, due to Aida's unbelievable carboot find), Vatanai (Maruyama, due to someone's photo post in one of the forums, i love the pinkish color tone), and Girasol (no thanks to Syaz promoting her Chococabana which is a lovely shade of blue, ahhaha). but wraps are really expensive! sigh.

Storchenwiege Ulli

Vatanai Maruyama

Chococabana Girasol

so for now... i think i'm just gonna daydream at the moment and just settle for drooling over all the yummy ring sling images that i've saved into my laptop.