International Babywearing Week

I have been feeling some sadness lately that the things that defined me as a young mother have gone. I am still the same mother but the seasons has passed. I find it strange that people who are meeting me for the first time don't know that I am a babywearing, EC'ing, homebirthing, lactivist, attachment parenting, crunchy mama.

Nutmeg is almost 3 and it is no longer remarkable that she doesn't wear diapers. I never have occasion to strap her on my back - she would rather be running. I no longer make enough milk to feed the world and grow the chubbiest baby that you have ever seen. My "Got Breastmilk?" bumper sticker is somewhere in the pile of stuff that I never look at. I don't speak up during labor discussions because it hardly seems relevant NOW that I gave birth to my babies upstairs on my own bed in this very house. That Nutmeg's birth was the single most glorious achievement of my life.

So when Mommy Bee reminded me that it is International Babywearing Week I felt compelled to make a statement saying this is one of the defining activities of my life. Babywearing made me the mother I am. Babywearing created income, identity and some of the most precious moments of my life. Through babywearing I have taught others how to connect with their precious children. Baby wearing inspired me to make art.

Through babywearing I have lost weight, made friends and been the object of curiosity. I was so used to people staring at me for having a baby strapped to my back that I hadn't noticed that they don't stare anymore, I am just another mother with 3 adorable moderately behaved children. Unremarkable.

When I received my first sling I put it on with a sack of potatoes to practice before the baby came, I have never, ever looked back.
I went everywhere with my baby on my back from hiking up a slippery muddy slope in search of a view to jumping on a trampoline.

This is a compilation of art I have created about babywearing, others have made for my babywearing business, and photos of me, my children and my baby carriers (all homemade.) The slide show is crude- I have no idea how to do this properly.

Thanks to the lady at the Breastfeeding Class for introducing me to slings, to Tracy for insisting that I try a wrap and to my babies for riding around for 7 years.