Babywearing: the public edition

This morning I needed to make a quick run to the mall...which means desperately trying to coordinate two very different eat/sleep/poop routines and get myself ready to get out the door before anyone has a meltdown. I feed both of them and get prepared to go, but then CBear and Jellybean need dry diapers and dressed. Oh, Jellybean's hungry again. Then she refuses to eat once I sit down with her. Time for another diaper change. Put her in the carseat and then I have to pee one more time because we all know going to a mall bathroom with two kids would be soooo much fun! Oh wait, I forgot to brush CBear's teeth so I do that while Jellybean screams at us from the kitchen, where I so rudely left her strapped in her carseat. CBear "helpfully" shoves a pacifier in her mouth. I quickly throw some diapers in my bag, finally get them both in the car and pull out of the driveway. We leave just before noon. :/

Anyway, I did some deep breathing on the way and was ready to do a little Christmas shopping. This, of course, is not simple either. There are two kids and only one me. I am outnumbered. I do not have a double stroller. Solution: wear the baby! My homemade (I'm cheap) Moby-style wrap has saved me on more than one occasion when I need my hands but Jellybean wants to be held. And it's miraculous...she falls asleep in it every time!

Babywearing in public is hilarious. Seriously, I wish I could capture the looks people give me on camera. They're not bad, mostly they just look confused until they realize it's a baby in there. Sometimes they don't figure it out and they look at me like I'm a crazy person. Old people are the best because they think they're whispering when the whole store can hear. "What...oh, look at that, it's a baby! What will they think of next?" It was especially funny when Jellybean was a newborn and her whole body was tucked in there (now her legs dangle out the sides). One person told me they just thought I was pregnant (um...what kind of lumpy baby did you think I was carrying?). And the best one- I was chased down at Target where a woman demanded, "where did you get your papoose thing?".

Okay, so it's getting late and I'm kind of forgetting where I was going with this post. I guess the point was that I was able to wrap Jellybean up, buckle CBear in the stroller and away we went. I was able to get out among people for a little bit without catastrophe! Got a little shopping done and chuckled to myself at the confused and curious looks on people's faces as they saw us. One woman felt the need to point out I had my hands full (no, didn't you see? My hands are free!). Oh, and I learned some Native American history in line at Sears when a lady started talking about how my wrap was like what Indian women used to wear. She was adamant that people thought the women wore the babies on their back but no! They wore them in front. I have no idea, I just smiled and nodded. The best part was hearing several people whisper about how sweet my sleeping baby was...and there was very little whining from my toddler during all this. Miracle! Made it home before anyone lost it and we started the eat/sleep/poop cycle again.