Let me try to explain with the following story:

Last Friday afternoon, I just had to get out of the house with the kids. We didn’t have enough time to go to the pool, but it was too hot to be outside without being in the water. And I just needed a break. At the end of a fairly long week, I was craving a little bit of “luxury”…A trip to the coffee shop could have done the trick, but I decided to take it to the next level and headed over to the local “finer foods store”. My reasoning was that they almost always have food samples, which is such a treat for me (and C loves it, too!), and I could pick up some crackers and dip for a BBQ that we were hosting the next day. 

Being a finer foods store, I knew that I would want the kids to be contained, but since we do not have a functional double stroller this means that C rides in the stroller and Maria rides on my back in the Ergo. Because it was so blasted hot outside, I decided to wait until we got inside the air-conditioned store to put Maria into the Ergo. And that’s when things got interesting. We headed inside the store and I parked the stroller (with C inside it) to the side, and then proceeded to start putting Maria into the Ergo. Immediately, I felt that all eyes were on me! Two or three very nice older women who work at the store asked if I needed help, but of course I just smiled and said, “Oh, no thanks, it’s actually very easy!” But for some reason, this time it wasn’t easy. As Maria sat precariously on my back, I couldn’t seem to get the second shoulder strap up and into position! I struggled, I huffed and puffed, and the very nervous women said things like “Oh my goodness!” and “Is she alright?!” Finally, one of the women did come to my rescue – she pulled Maria’s leg down, untangled my strap, and we were set. And me? Well, I must have been quite a sight – red-faced, both from embarrassment and from bending over for a few minutes while trying to get Maria into the Ergo, hair stuck to the front of my face, and now carrying a very unhappy, crying baby. 

So, needless to say, my relaxing trip to the store was less-than-relaxing, but I must say that C behaved very nicely in the store, we did pick up some lovely crackers and dip, and the samples were quite delicious. And, of course, who doesn’t need a good dose of humility once in a while

*Just a note: I LOVE the Ergo and would recommend it to any parent looking for a comfortable, easy to use baby carrier (www.ergobabycarrier.com). Despite the above story, for the majority of the time the Ergo is very simple and easy to use, and babies seem to really enjoy riding in them. Although it is a bit of an investment up front, it doesn’t cost much more than other carriers or slings and in my experience, it is much more versatile and can be used for a longer period of time. Maria is 9 months old (!) and I envision carrying her in the Ergo for many months to come!*