wow… the old cliché that says says, “just when you learn all the answers, they change up all the QUESTIONS”.

that’s how I feel lately. just when things started looking up to us here, we learn that we will have let go of the condo. :sniffle:

thus we have decided to move out of state… out of CUSTOMER SERVICE HELL! but also away from friends, loved ones, etc. I will also REALLY miss the ocean! :sigh:

anyway, I say all that in this post, not only to let you know what’s been going on, but also to talk up Babywearing some more!

twilli was not wanting to be worn much lately. she has been an über NURSE-NOY! :-$ and she has generally been hitting a major dose of what I can only relate to a toddlered-out version of puberty. ARGUHHHH!

when the heck was THAT one “thunk” up? alas, it’s real. it’s relentless. it’s HUNGRY. I’m someones personal HALFWAY HOUSE. [Lord help us.]

what does this have to do with Babywearing?

only EVERYTHING…

I’ll tell ya later. ;-P

Need I say more?

Be sure to check out more Twilli Pie Podegi Baby Carriers.

You got it. We have modified the body/blanket design of the Twilli Pie Podegi, based on feedback from our first round of testing. Now we need a few more families to test the new poegis.

Thanks to the wonderful mamas for providing excellent feedback! You’re the best.

We even re-did (I call it “remix”… a throwback to my old dj days.) this podegi, for a local babywearing mama and her son. She was the first mama to alert me about the blanket width issue. Her darling son is the same age as Twilli, but he has LONG LEGS! We want to keep baby and parent/caregiver comfortable for the long haul. And we wanted to avoid creating different sizes
(ex. Toddler pod, baby pod, etc.) to sort out.

We carefully drafted the body/blanket pattern so it can “grow” with your baby. One of the other testers said she could comfortably hold her 3 year old AND her 5 year old in the new Twilli Pie 2.0!

So head on over to the Twilli Pie Design website and check out the new designs that are available for this limited (hopefully final) round of testing.

Remember, the testers get a $10 discount, PLUS a $20 refund after the questionnaire and photos are submitted.

This is a great chance to try a brand new, one-of-a-kind baby carrier, at an awesome price.

If you would like to become a Twilli Pie Podegi tester, please leave a comment so I can send you more info and determine if you would fit the bill to be a tester.

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!

[We suspend our scheduled tales of babywearing adventures for this memorial...]

It has been a rough week for us. We finally said our last goodbye to our dear feline fur baby, Portnoy, today. His body finally lost the battle to feline leukemia and he passed away in his sleep the other night. Even though Portnoy was “Elliott’s cat”, the whole family feels the pain of this loss.

It is so surreal to not have him come lay on my chest, purr loudly, and suck on my shirt. Portnoy was one of those “golden boy” personalities. EVERYONE who met him fell in love! He was gorgeous and charming and the sweetest kitty I’ve ever met. (I’ve known quite a few kitties in my life. At one time in my childhood, we had 10+ cats living on our 0.8 acre property. lol)

When we learned, early on, that he had FeLV, we knew Portnoy’s time on Earth would be foreshortened. We vowed to cherish every moment… to make each day count. Elliott and I always had a theory that he was a young soul… perhaps a child victim of an untimely, tragic death, in a previous life. (Our 1st cat, James, on the other hand is definitely an old soul.)

Portnoy, we will always love you! We miss you dearly.

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.

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!

Today Twilli is 9 MONTHS OLD! It has been lightning fast. But yet it feels like she was a newborn last week!

There used to be a national babywearing organization called NINO: Nine In Nine Out. It supported the theory that the first 9 months of a baby’s life is an extension of the womb.

I DEFINITELY agree with the theory. Wearing your baby helps them feel safe and secure.

If I had not been able to WEAR THE BABY, there is no way I would have been able to work from home, or get ANYTHING done, for that matter! And breastfeeding has been a Godsend!! Literally. Not only is is the perfect food, mama milk is SAFE anxiety and pain meds for Twilli.

Babies crave SOOOOO much attention, guidance, and closeness. I am so thankful for the bond between us that has been facilitated by babywearing!

I also am so grateful that I can channel my creative talent, by making slings, to help others bond with their baby in STYLE!

Today we rejoice the second birth of Twilli! She IS a new person. She is mobile now (army crawl). She feeds herself. She drinks from the sippy cup. She has 4 teeth. Her fine motor skills are increasing daily. She poops in the toilet. (Can you tell I’m proud?)

A friend of mine is taking us to the beach today to celebrate. I have my fabulous water sling, so I can safely take her in the ocean! And its UV protective! I will try to take some photos, and maybe some video to post later. [Note: We didn't end up getting to go to the beach. But we will go soon. I promise!]

Please leave a comment and tell us how babywearing has saved YOUR sanity/marriage/business .

Ok. I am a day late for WEARS THE BABY WEDNESDAY. We’ve been sick and I’m still grossly behind in just about everything. Anyway, enough whining. We have new babywearing news and photos for you to see!

We are in the process of creating our own TWILLI PIE line of PODEGI (aka podeagi or podaegi) baby carriers. For anyone unfamiliar, the word is pronounced like this Poe-DAY-gee. The podegi is much simpler in form than a mei tai. It has even greater significance because it is traditionally a Korean carrier. Twilli’s grandparents are originally from South Korea. Unfortunately, we haven’t had a chance to meet them yet. But we felt it important to expose her to some of her Korean heritage early in life.

I made my first diy podegi a couple of weeks ago from a great tutorial that I found on TBW – TheBabyWearer.com. But I don’t like how short the body is and I wanted to create my own pattern/design. So I made it much longer and gave it a unique shape. For now, we’ll see some action shots of Twilli, in a ruck sack back carry, tibetan tied. This is just one side of the design. The other side has some other cool fabric. Stay tuned for more photos!

Even though she’s a bit crooked, Twilli is still quite content in her new podegi.

The smile shows our enjoyment! And look at those new teeth!

A pensive Twilli relaxing in her podegi with Mommy.

Have you ever seen or used a PODEGI baby carrier before? Please leave a comment and tell us what you think.