I Made a Mei Tai and I LOVE it!!!

When it comes to baby wearing, I didn't have much experience before Isaac came along. Ryleigh wasn't the baby wearing type. My little Miss Independent would rather be in a stroller than strapped to my back. We had a Snuggli with her, and we used it....periodically...more to say we did than for actual need. Here she is at 6 months...one of the 2 pics that we have of her in the Snuggli - the other was taken the same day (she was a chunk, huh???? lol).

And then there's Isaac...my needy, but oh-so cuddly and lovable baby. He was (and still is) a baby-wearing baby if there ever was one. As an infant, he required holding full-time. He spent the first couple weeks in one of the two pouch slings that I made. Here he is at 11 days old...nestled in the sling.

That worked great for a while...but, lets just say that my babies don't stay little for very long. So, it wasn't long before my back couldn't take it any more. So, I switched to the Snuggli for a while until he got a little older.

Then, I tried using the sling different ways, but I didn't like how limited that one arm was. Part of the reason I wanted to wear it was so that I could hold him AND get something done at the same time. So, only being able to use one arm wasn't helping any. Hence, we reverted back to the Snuggli for awhile. Then he just got too big...again, the back wasn't handling the front-carrying too well. So, I've been without a carryer for a couple months now. He's old enough to sit in shopping carts on his own, so I didn't think it would be too much of a problem...it certainly wasn't worth buying a new carrier especially since we aren't planning on having any more babies. Then I came across a pattern (by Sew Liberated/Montessori by Hand) for a Mei Tai carrier.

Of course I had heard of mei tai carriers, but considering that I didn't really use a carrier much with Ryleigh, I never thought about buying one. I couldn't afford one, anyway. I figured the pouches that I made would be sufficient. But, I loved the looks of the pattern I saw and the idea of making one myself. So, I bought it and couldn't wait to sew it up! I spent this afternoon making and I absolutely LOVE everything about it! It was a cinch to sew, it came out great, its comfortable, and Isaac loves it! And it even folds all up into a little pouch. It's going to make my life so much easier!!! Its exactly what I've needed for him! I've spent the rest of this evening wondering why I didn't do this sooner?!?!?!

Excuse the bad hair and makeup in that last pic...its been a rough week. :) I would highly reccommend this type of carrier - at least for back carrying. I haven't even tried it for front or hip carrying yet, so I can't comment on that. :) If you want to sew one yourself, I would reccommend the Sew Liberated pattern - its great! You can check them out at: http://www.sewliberated.com/