What to Wear, What to Wear

I've long known that (should I actually manage to reproduce) I was destined to be a baby-wearer: back in 2013 when I first popped Eaglet into an Ergo carrier I was immediately, 100% hooked by the convenience, comfort, and cuddle-factors (it's pretty adorable to have a little one "Muh!"ing out a rhythm into your chest as you hike).  Eaglet's mother has since gotten into baby-wearing in a Massive Way: she has an array of truly beautiful woven wraps, and can do all sorts of amazing things with them (I privately think of it as "baby origami").  I was intrigued, but also sort of figured it would be too much fuss for me.

But then Neeps was born, and since he was too itty-bitty for an Ergo (without a special insert) I started using the lovely Moby wrap a friend gifted us.  At first it was, indeed, somewhat fussy and awkward and I never seemed to get it right the first time... but then the more I did it, the better I got at it, and soon it actually felt easier to me to pop him in and out of that than to "fuss" with all the buckles and cinching of the Ergo.

But he's cusping on 15lbs these days, and stretch-wraps (like the Moby) start getting not-quite-supportive-as-you-might-prefer around this weight.  Which meant it was time to up my baby-wearing game!

But damn, woven wraps are expensive.  Especially the really pretty ones I tend to lust after.  And while I'm well within my rights to spend my disposable income on whatever the hell I please, Beauty-Lusty Jenny O was having a damn hard time justifying to Pragmatic Jenny O why we should drop close to $200 on a length of cloth when we don't even actually know the basic wraps, yet.

::cough::

And thus I ordered myself a learning wrap (on clearance!).  It's what's known as a gauze wrap, which means it will be cool and comfortable in the summer (important to this prone-to-overheating-woman), but it has it's drawbacks, as well (not as soft as I'd like, for starters).  It arrived yesterday, and after a run through the wash I put it to the test on today's walk by using the ultra-beginner "front wrap cross carry":

SUPER bright out today

It did pretty well, comfort- and support-wise, but I think I'm going to wash it a few more times, to try and soften it up a bit more (although Neeps thoroughly approved of it's nom-ability).  That being said, the way it's designed really does make it super-easy to learn the wraps on, so I'm looking forward to expanding my repertoire to the point where Beauty-Lusty Jenny O might actually stand a chance at wining a fiscal argument.