Meet the Convertible Onbuhimo!

So those who know me know my latest obsession is babywearing. It really helped me with my postpartum depression and it is super convenient. I currently own a baby k'tan, a mesh water ring sling (Beachfront Baby), a woven wrap (Ethos Cascade Mint size 6), and a mei tai (Infantino Sash). I have yet to own a soft-structured carrier (SSC) being poor students so I thought it would be fun to put myself into a drawing to be a tester for a brand new carrier from my favorite babywearing company Ethos! This is a local Utah company and for every wrap they make, they donate part of the proceeds to different causes :) Another reason why I love them is that they are super interactive on facebook and they even put together fb groups for wrap design ideas that customers come up with! So cool :)

Anyways, I am hosting this patent-pending brand new carrier by Ethos for a week. Meet the Convertible Onbuhimo! It is a two-in-one soft-structured carrier and onbuhimo (waistless carrier)!

Top is SSC mode and bottom is onbuhimo mode. The buckles midway down the panel tuck in, the strap buckles clip into the waistband buckles and the waistband just tucks in between you and baby for the seat.

At first I had a difficult time adjusting it to fit me but I think it is because it's a traveling carrier and it is my first time doing more than just briefly trying on a SSC. Once I got it all adjusted I found it to be very comfy. I could hardly feel him on my back in waistband mode.

I was excited to try it in onbuhimo mode as well! It was a bit difficult getting Eli on my back without Adam's help but I'm sure it would be easier with an older baby. Being 10 months old, he is fully safe in an onbuhimo because he can sit unassisted and has full upper body control but his legs are still pretty short. Once I got him up there, I was surprised that I didn't miss the waistband like I thought I would. I felt more free to move and Eli LOVED it (he was more free to move too). It just felt like wearing a backpack :)

After wearing it a few more times, the only issues I had was that I didn't have much room to tighten, especially in onbuhimo mode. I'm not super petite (about 5'6 and 175 lbs) so I was surprised by this. It would definitely be comfortable for more plus-size parents.

*Later edit: After the testing, Ethos fixed this ^ issue.

After testing is completed, Ethos will have the Convertibu available for purchase at Ethos Babywearing either using their wraps or your own to convert. I can't wait to see how this takes off!

*I am not paid for any of the affiliated links. This is just my honest opinion :)

May Update

Here's how the last month has been!

Adam: is grateful to be done with classes and finally have time to work on his prospectus. He is also trying to get as many hours as he can with BYU Online and preparing to teach DigHT 215 again. The biggest thing he's been doing is playing on every intramural team our ward is participating in. That means games for coed ultimate, coed softball, men's softball, coed kickball, coed soccer, or men's soccer every week night. We've begun the tournaments for all of these and so far coed softball, and coed kickball are done. It has been fun for him to hang out with the ward and be active.

Ashley: has also been doing intramurals. I was on the ultimate team but then I got roped into doing softball as well because of lack of girls. It's been fun! I'm getting better at ultimate and playing softball brings me back to the days of playing baseball with my dad in our yard. The rest of my time has been consumed with keeping up with Eli which is getting harder and harder to do :) 

Eli: is 9 months old and constantly on the move! He is crawling fast and getting into EVERYTHING. We've worked on baby proofing everything which has helped but then he learned how to pull himself up and cruise. Now he constantly wants to climb all over us or any uneven surfaces. He also has decided he does not want his diaper changed because it means sitting still for more than a second. So changes usually involve crying and us pinning him down with our legs haha. He is growing so fast and we can see him walking any day now. He has one little tooth and we think he's getting another one soon. He's a crazy little guy but we love him :)

Fun things we did this month!

Adam and I went on a date on the anniversary of our first date! We went to Provo Beach Resort and played croquet and arcade games just like we did 5 years ago. We had also collected enough tickets from the past few times of going that we were able to get one of the nicer prizes. Adam was extremely excited about our new wireless headphones :)

We also went to Scandinavian Days in Ephraim, UT with Stephanie and Anders. Luckily it only rained for the first bit after we got there. It was fun eating Swedish meatballs and seeing all of the fun booths. Utah is all about their festivals. It seems every town has their own "Days"! Steph and I want to try to go to more this summer if we can :)