Witty’s

Does it get any better for a toddler than a day spent at the beach playing in tide pools?

Maya had a fantastic time at Witty’s Lagoon today playing with her friend O who is a little older.

Despite the fact that she was shivering from the cool breeze, she couldn’t stop herself from exploring the hermit crabs, sculpins, seaweed and barnacles on the rocky shore of this incredible beach. It’s days like this when I remind myself how lucky we are to live in on this incredible island!

On the way home she fell sound asleep and had a three hour nap. This is the life.

Baby Carrier Conundrum

As an avid hiker, I’ve been testing and researching various baby carriers in an attempt to figure out which will best meet my needs. I have been asking everyone I know about their carriers. I have also been unabashedly approaching strangers on the street whenever I see someone with a baby in a carrier and interviewing these people about their product satisfaction. We have a great all-terrain stroller which I love, but it just can’t go on some of the more rugged hikes. I also enjoy the workout I get when I’m carrying Maya, not to mention the cuddly feeling of having her up against my chest!

I narrowed my options down to the following:
1. The Baby Bjorn
2. The Ergo Baby Carrier
3. A Standard Baby Hiking Backpack (eg. the MEC version)

My sister gave me her old Baby Bjorn. My husband and I loved the Bjorn, and used it extensively, until Maya weighed over 10 pounds, at which point I found that I needed more support; it put too much pressure on my shoulders. Then it was between the Ergo and the MEC pack, both of which offer added waist support. After trying on both, and talking at length to many people who had purchased them, I found that those who were more serious hikers, especially those who liked hiking for longer periods of time, claimed that the Ergo gave them the best support without discomfort. I was worried that the baby wouldn’t be able to see if she was on my back in the Ergo because she sits lower in it than in the MEC pack. However, I observed some older children sitting in the Ergo on their mom’s back and they clearly could see over their mom’s shoulder. Also, the manufacturers of the Ergo claim that it supports baby in a healthier (i.e., a more “ergonomic”) sitting position which avoids spinal compression, unlike other carriers that allow baby to hang from the crotch. The Ergo is highly versatile as it allows for carrying baby in front, on your back, or on your hip. So, I bought an Ergo today and noticed that Maya was more content for much longer while sitting in it than she ever was in the Bjorn. In addition, I felt no discomfort and was able to wear the Ergo comfortably for over an hour. I can’t wait to get out for some longer hikes with it as the summer weather arrives in our beautiful city.

Stroller flat

Mamaberg, Daddy Chaddy & Baby Maya

While my husband, baby and I were shopping at Superstore in Campbell River with my sister-in-law, I noticed that my Bob Revolution Stroller was mysteriously hard to push. I looked down and noticed that one of the tires was flat. We bought this rather over-priced, high-ish end stroller because it’s like the ATV of strollers and we like to hike and walk in all kinds of hard-to-get-to places. Also, “The Bob”, as we like to call it, is good for jogging, which I thought I’d like to do to help burn off the baby weight (except it turns out that stroller jogging is no fun because you can’t pump your arms which drives me insane, so instead I just wait for Chad get home from work and be with Maya so I can go for my tri-weekly run). Anyway, I know that a flat tire is totally fixable, but we were out of town when this happened and it was a Sunday, and we were planning a hike, so we had to go without the stroller until we got home, and the weirdest thing was I was totally upset about the flat. I felt like my freedom was inhibited and I couldn’t just go anywhere I felt like going with the baby at any time. Strange that I’ve become so dependent on a baby buggy. I was also annoyed that the tire was even prone to such a thing as being punctured, since it’s sold as this “skookum”, indestructible kind of machine. Of course, this is totally irrational, especially since the flat turned out to be from a cactus thorn that had gradually worked its way through the tire (I’d most likely rolled over the thorn while we were in Arizona), still I wanted the stroller to be puncture-proof! The upside of all this is that we had brought the Baby Bjorn with us and so we just popped Maya in there and still managed to enjoy a beautiful hike along the Oyster River. I got the tire fixed today, it cost about $13.00 and took about 5 minutes… I clearly have a knack for blowing things out of proportion–but that’s just me!