Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Belle Baby Carrier

I have a baby carrier that I love. It's a contraption made of a waist strap, a big pocket for William, and two shoulder straps that cross in the back. The whole thing is made of fabric, so I can roll it up and put it in my diaper bag. I can carry William facing in or out, and it's comfortable for both of us. I use it at the grocery store, Elizabeth's volleyball games, the library, Target... pretty much anywhere that I'm going to be standing up or carrying William up and down stairs. It's much easier than his car seat.

We get a lot of comments that go something like, "Well that's the life!" and "Must be nice to be carried around all day." Some days we don't get many comments, and other days we get lots of crazy ones. Here's a few of my favorites:

3 year old boy at Target:
"MOM!!! That baby is HANGING there!! MOM!!!"

Young woman at Target to her 2 year-old girl:
"Look at that baby. Poor baby. Poor, poor baby. You used to be a baby. Poor baby."

Old lady at HEB:
"Well that baby is just precious. Look at him riding in that! Have you taken a picture of him? You should take a picture of him."

Man in an elevator at the Dr. office:
"Just like hangin' in a tree! Now he knows what it's like to hang in a tree! Just like hangin' in a tree..."
I guess that makes me a tree.

Cashier:
"I guess you liked carrying him in your belly for 9 months?"
"Excuse me?"
"You're still carrying him on your belly!"

Lady at HEB:
(after a long conversation about how William must be a magician because he apparently makes his nose boogers come out of his eye)
"Now, I ride motorcycles and that would be the perfect way to ride with my new niece!"
I reply with stunned silence thinking about how illegal and dangerous that would be.
"How much does one of those things cost?"
"This one was $90."
"Oh! That's expensive! Can I buy yours from you?"
"No. I'm keeping this for a long time. We have to go."

Monday, November 2, 2009

November

Things are good. William's still working on crawling. He's getting better at getting up on his hands and knees, and he's started rocking back and forth. I'm glad that babies grow gradually.

I think last November I went to a study abroad conference in Merida, Mexico. My favorite part was sitting in pretty curly-iron chairs eating coconut ice cream at a 100-year-old ice cream shop on the main square of the city. This November I'm blending batches of sweet potato and cleaning light blue lint out of the dryer filter. Probably just as sweet.

Halloween was good. William was a dino and we went to Elizabeth's volleyball game with all four grandparents. Bill stood up and cheered in the aisle, Karen held William until he fell asleep (then Curtis took over), I got to sit by my mom, and my dad wore earplugs. I think everyone watched William as much as they watched the game. The coaches daughters, an angel and a fairy, came by and gave William a bag of candy; his first trick or treat candy. Like good parents, we ate it all for him.

Curtis has had a busy school week. He had a test on Thursday, quiz on Friday and test today, Monday. His math symbols look like another language (I guess it is). Most of it is math shorthand, and I definitely cannot read it, much less understand what it all means.

I'm sure there's dino pictures on facebook, I haven't had time to look. Here's a couple that we got: