It’s been a while since I’ve done a WEARS THE BABY WEDNESDAY. (My neck/back has been acting up, causing numbness in my hands. The computer aggravates it. Thus I haven’t been spending nearly as much time online.)

We’ve been getting some great feedback from our testers of the Twilli Pie Podegi!! So I decided to post some action shots for you guys to see! And THANK YOU to everyone who has sent me action shots of you & your baby with your pod!

Please LEAVE A COMMENT and let us know what you think about the Twilli Pie Podegi!

Yay! We are back home in sunny Fort Lauderdale. (It wasn’t sunny AT ALL yesterday when we flew in though.) I am very glad to be home. We really missed DH! This fantastic 21st Century Dad was sooooooooooo happy to see Twilli!!! And Twilli was jumping up and down in her mei tai when she saw Daddy at the airport. It was too cute.

We had a great trip. Got to see a lot of people that we hadn’t seen for years. Got to introduce Twilli to a lot of people too! Sunday we enjoyed a church picnic at this beautiful park by a lake. (I’ll try to post photos soon. They are trapped inside the camera. Can’t find the memory card reader.) We thought it would be rained out. But the rain stopped JUST BEFORE the picnic started. The weather was cool and beautiful. And it was great to see Knoxville through new eyes. My architecture studies have informed me about a personality that Knoxville has that I had never been aware of before.

I realize that none of this really has anything to do with babywearing. Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that babywearing SAVED OUR SANITY throughout the trip! Anytime Twilli was tired, disoriented or just OVER IT all, into the podegi she happily went! So many people made comments about how HAPPY she was to be “in there with Mommy”, or what a “great ride” it must be.

One lady at the airport, with baby, bags, stroller, etc. in tow saw me wearing Twilli in the podegi, with my backpack and diy OnBag strapped to me. (I absolutely HATE to have my hands full, and will almost always be happier as a pack horse than to be manually encumbered.) She said, “Wow, you really have your HANDS FULL!” I laughed and said, “Yeah. But not REALLY!” and raised 2 EMPTY hands while shrugging my shoulders. People are crazy. I saw so many people in the airport struggling with strollers or just holding their infant in arms, while trying to keep up with a toddler or other small child. Each time I wanted to point to Twilli and say, “There’s a BETTER WAY!” But I just kept my mouth closed, with a smile and a nod. To each his/her own.

And for those of you who are curious about the next Twilli Pie Podegis, check out TwilliPieDesign.com. There you will find photos of the design “schemes” that are queued.

Photo: 1′Up

Hello everyone. Long time… I JUST NOW got DSL hooked up at my parents’ house in TN. Yea! So I should be posting with a bit more frequency now.

I returned from the Babywearing Conference in Chicago on Sunday. The conference was amazing! I learned so much and met SO MANY wonderful people! It is amazing to see so many like-minded people in one place. And it was very refreshing to be in an environment where I can wear and nurse my baby at any time, and still be part of the goings-on! Twilli responded REALLY well to everyone there too! She got to play with a lot of little babies and toddlers.

The TWILLI PIE PODEGIs were well received! I will be requesting testers soon, so please contact me if you are interested.

I met SOOOOO many influential people in the babywearing and attachment parenting realm! I probably don’t know the HALF of it! I plan to continue seeking wisdom from these people who have “walked the walk” and continue to share with us relative newbies!

It was awesome to traverse the city via public transit. (Gas was $4.47 - $4.89 per gallon there. Eeek!) And I did a LOT of walking! Babywearing makes a HUGE difference in that regard. And I was very pleasantly surprised at how much people helped me with my luggage on the train or in the train station/transfers! I guess I was quite a spectacle with a baby strapped to me, a backpack, a diaper bag/purse, and my suitcase pulled behind it all! lol

I will write more about the conference in the next few days. But I wanted to touch base and let everyone know that we are still alive and kickin’!

We are finally happy done with the TWILLI PIE PODEGI prototype development! We will be making exclusively narrow blanket podegis, for the time being. We prefer the straight straps, although angled straps will be an option. And each TWILLI PIE Podegi will feature at least one piece of reclaimed or vintage fabric. This is an effort to recycle, and thus keep a bit more out of the landfill!

We are happy to introduce the newest Twilli Pie pod, “Water for Chocolate”.

“Water for Chocolate” features internally reinforced and padded baby corduroy straps. The front side of the podegi body has a lovely designer print fabric as the focal point, with a corresponding double pocket. We have also added a TP signature design element of the vertical band of fabric. This reinforces the branding in the logo and forms the letter “T” when the straps are extended out to the sides. There is also a solid blue cotton fabric and reclaimed denim for the “tail”.

The reverse side is solid navy blue twill with the vertical bar in the same designer print from the front. The reverse side of all Twilli Pie Podegis will be solid, or minimal print. We like to be diplomatic, and hope that a more gender neutral side will be appealing to babywearing daddies.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT and let us know what you think of the new Twilli Pie Podegi!

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On top of everything else, our a/c died last week. We are in South Florida, where summer is already in FULL FORCE! So it is very hot at home. I have to admit that these are the days when it sucks to work from home. lol

So yesterday we decided to take a swim to cool off. I was excited to finally use my solarveil water sling in the pool! I have worn Twilli in the ocean with it before. But we hadn’t been in the pool yet.

Twilli really enjoyed being close to me in the water. And she just looks so stinkin’ cute in black! This sling is awesome! It is UV protective too. The ONLY problem is that once we got out of the water, and thus out of near-weightless-baby-zone, Twilli seemed a lot heavier than before. But even when the sling is wet, it is still quite supportive and comfortable.

Just so there is no confusion… I do not make ring slings. This water sling was made by a lovely work-at-home mama in Puerto Rico - Apapachame. I am always happy to give a shameless plug to worthy wahms! Check out her site. Her prices, workmanship, and service are excellent!

*For the babywearing purists out there: y KNOW the rings are quite a bit too low. hehehe They just always inch down when we adjust, and I decided I wasn’t going to worry about it.

TWILLI PIE PODEGI - Out and About & Testing

I’ve been meaning to go to Ikea for a while. So today hubby and I decided to have lunch there and pick up a few things. We got a lot of smiles and looks from people. There were loads of babies there today! And we got a compliment on the podegi from a lovely mama with beautiful month old twin girls!

I decided to wear Twilli in the first TWILLI PIE PODEGI that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I have been testing the heck out of it. Here are my thoughts so far:

I am pretty pleased overall with this design. I LOVE being able to combine fabrics to create something truly unique. I will probably continue to make all of my carriers reversible. I am very happy with the padding in the straps. (It is double layer polar fleece.) I LOVE the long blanket! It is very easy to adjust how high or low baby rides in a front carry. Twilli can “hide” inside or sleep by tucking her arms in and “sinking” down a bit. And it is MUCH easier to nurse in this podegi than any of my mei tais. I was worried that the traditional straight straps would not work with shoulder carries. But the straight straps are much more comfortable than I had expected. My only regret is that I placed the nice white print fabric too low on the reverse. This print ends up hiding under babys bum. So I really only show the Tatsu print side for that reason

Introducing TWILLI PIE PODEGI 2 - for the progressive babywearing daddy

Now for some good news… I just finished with my first TWILLI PIE PODEGI that is designed with the babywearing daddy in mind! It is also the first podegi I have made with angled straps. It is quite a bit more involved to place the straps at an angle. But it seems to be more popular than the straight ones. (Any podegi devotees: What do YOU think?) And it is GREEN! No. Not the color green… but eco green because it uses some reclaimed fabric!

Check out photos of TWILLI PIE PODEGI 2!

I will post action shots soon! The supermodel baby, Twilli, is sleeping.

Hey dads, would YOU wear your baby or toddler in something like this if it were available? PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT and let me know what you think!