Today UPS brought a little box filled with our new colors of Diapees and Wipees. These are the cloth travel packs to hold a few disposable diapers and wipes so they don’t get scrunched up in your big diaper bag or purse, and so you can grab something small and just go without the big bag sometimes.

At $15, they’re a popular baby shower gift choice.
Anyway, we restocked our bestseller, Carnival, and added four new choices- pink camo, green camo, metallic blue dots, and smart blue stripes.

Personally, I’d pick the stripes :)

Here is a neat article from CNN.com about what it’s like to be a little baby. Click for their page to open in a new window.

Here are some excepts from the newborn section of the article

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As she picks him up, he’s flooded with her scent and a dim memory of his other world — the place where his body floated and he first recognized the scent that’s hers alone. But now, two weeks after birth, he’s in a vast, dry place called home. She brings him close to nurse and he roots with his mouth, guided in part by the smell of colostrum and the smell from the scent glands on her nipples. Her scent links him to everything he craves: food, warmth, touch. He latches on and the sweetness of the liquid is vaguely reminiscent of the smell and taste of amniotic fluid — both are affected by his mother’s diet. Already, sweet is his favorite taste.
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He cries a high-pitched call for help. As he cries, cortisol, known as the stress hormone, and other hormones, like adrenaline, spread through his body, slightly increasing his temperature and heart rate. His mother lifts him from his crib and encircles him in her warm, familiar arms, and his cries immediately lessen.
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With vision of roughly 20/300 — about 15 times worse than normal adult vision — he sees her as though looking through the thick, curvy glass of a vintage Coke bottle. Even up close, she’s slightly blurry: His eye muscles aren’t able to provide consistent focus. Intuitively, she holds him about a foot away, where his vision is clearest. Even then, what he sees in the blur are movement and contrast, the way her mouth moves to say “Hello” and the way her teeth flash from between her darker lips.

Perhaps it’s for the best that he has limited vision. Perhaps it keeps him from being overwhelmed by seeing every detail of faces, hands, tables, and lamps for the very first time. His eyesight seems to provide just the right amount of stimulation for his developing visual cortex, which takes the images he sees and tries to make sense of them. In the meantime, he is able to see (fairly well) what’s most important in his world: his parents’ faces, his mother’s nipple.

This homemade photo gives a good view of the body panel of a 4th gen Beco in cocoa butterfly print. This fabric is another nice gender-neutral choice because it is made in shades of blue, brown and khaki but the design has a touch of femininity, so it can go both ways.

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Baby is 15 months old and 24 pounds, wearing a size Medium (15-30 pounds) Super Whisper Wrap in Froggy pond print.

This particular diaper cover is actually a hand-me-down so you can really see how well the colors, velcro, and leg elastic have held up. We’re not kidding about offering products built to last!

Click to see the photos bigger in a new window

Funny, I never did blog about the arrival of our Pedoodles brand boots for babies and early walkers!
They come in three colors- pink, green, and blue/grey.
They come in three sizes- 0-6 months 6-12 months and 12-18 months

These Pedoodles boots are entirely lined inside with faux lambswool and they are incredibly easy to put on becuase they open really wide with velcro entirely down one side. The outside is top quality leather suede and a rubber sole. You can see in the photo how flexible the soles are, that is really important for a baby’s developing feet.

Beco Butterfly pics of a 16 month old in a front carry position.

Photos are taken to see the adult’s back. One with both straps bucked, one with the waist undone.

Click for larger images in a new window

This week we have fresh shipments in transit from:

Belly hugger for breastfeeding

Pikkolo baby carriers

Babylegs

Happy Green Bee dolls

Peanut Shell nursing cover-ups

Diapees and Wipees

Bummis diapering starter kits, diaper covers, biodegradable liners, and swim diapers

Today I made a page with photos of the Beco Butterfly Parts . I think they will be very helpful to people considering a switch from their 4th generation Beco to the new Butterfly design. The differences can be hard to tell from the outside but if you look from inside, you can really see it…

This baby boy is 16 months old and weighs 26 pounds.

photos by bricks = right
photos by fence = wrong

All images enlarge in a new window if you click them.

RIGHT

The pictures of a front carry in front of the bricks demonstrate proper front carry positioning and everybody feels comfortable.

WRONG

The photos of a front carry in front of the fence demonstrate improper positioning. You see in the first photo, it looks mostly the same. but when we unbuckle the Mia fabric, it reveals that the baby is actually riding under the Y of fabric that belongs against the adult. this is safe and “did the job” but was not so comfortable. the baby is too “pinned” in there, and the straps extending around him meant there was less available for the adult to adjust, and that their curves and padding simply hit the wrong spots. If you’ve been doing this and thought it was working, don’t worry, but do look at the official Beco DVD and learn to put your child is the seat they are meant to ride in. You’ll both be happier.

WRONG back carry

This baby is pressed under the Y instead of in his seat. His chest touches directly to mom’s back and his back touches the carrier body. This would be the normal way to use en Ergo or an older Beco or a Pikkolo or one of the asian-style tie-on carriers, like a mei tai. It is NOT right for the Butterfly! The new Beco Butterfly was designed and safety tested with a baby riding in the carrier’s built-in seat. There is a seat area for a tiny baby and a seat area for a larger baby or toddler. Always use the seat!

RIGHT

A proper back carry position for the Beco butterfly

RIGHT

A good look at the baby correctly buckled into the carrier harness. This allows a look at the inside. In this case, we were switching him from the wearer’s front to back without taking him out.

I just snapped these shots of the Beco laid down, just to show the colors and shape better. The prints are Mia and Addison. They’re both blue but the style isn’t masculine so they’re a good cross-over choice for baby boys or girls, being carried by moms or dads.

Click to open larger in a new window.