Boba Carrier Review and Giveaway

Being babywearing educators we get to use a lot of carriers.  In fact, we own a lot of different types and brands of carriers.  For the past two years I have been in search of a carrier that fit me.  In August we were able to meet the Boba team at a trade show and they were gracious enough to provide me with my very own Special Edition Diaper Dude camo carrier after sharing with them my conversion story and my endless search for the perfect carrier.  Well, I am pleased to announce that my search is over.  We are very impressed with these folks and LOVE all of their carriers.  The Boba Baby Carrier is well thought out and extremely well designed.

Things we love about the Diaper Dude Boba and that set it apart from other carriers:

• Foot straps to help rest weary legs and initiate proper hip positioning
• Infant conversion without needing an insert making the carrier work from 7-45lbs
• Adjustability for mom and dad, infant to toddler
• Pockets, three to be precise!
• Adjustable and removable sleeping hood
• Shoulder strap holders to keep purse or diaper bag in place

As much as we love the Special Edition Diaper Dude carrier the only critique we have for it is that the sleeping hood is to short for a toddler, it only goes half way up Ky's head as you can see in picture of Jentri at the top of the post.  Other than that, we love it!

Boba also has stepped up and made a carrier for the outdoor enthusiest, the BobaAir.  The Air is ultra lightweight, coming in at 0.7lbs and stuffs into it's own pocket for easy storage.  It is 100% nylon and just as adjustable as their 3G line.  We love to take our BobaAir on backpacking trips for kicking around base camp because of its compressibility and weight.

We can see that a lot of love has been put into these carriers and we are excited to be able to share one with you.  Boba has generously allowed us to giveaway one Special Edition Diaper Dude carrier in either Camo or Pinstripe.  The giveaway ends on Saturday, November 24th at midnight EST.

The thoughts and opinions expressed above are our own and in no way influenced by Boba.  We were given a carrier to review free of charge and are grateful for the cooperation of Boba.

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Review: Mountain Mama Half Moon tee

About a month ago I received a cute little package in the mail from our friends at Mountain Mama.

Mountain Mama Half Moon Tee in Raspberry

I was so excited to find that it was their Half Moon Maternity Tee in a beautiful raspberry color. I was super excited to try it on and it didn't make it another 5 minutes in that package.

This was the first day that I wore it to work. Forgive the crappy picture but it's the only one I have.

Ya see, the very first day that I wore it this puppy got put through the mommy wringer so to speak.

I wore it to work that day and it was fabulously comfortable. I've been having trouble with shirts cutting into my under arms and was supper excited that the Mountain Mama Half Moon Tee did no such thing. It's nice and long so all your parts stay covered and it is SO Stretchy! Honest and truly I've put a watermelon under this shirt and it stretched to fit and bounced right back.

Back to the story. Fast forward to that night after work. Kylan had had a few too many gogurts and threw up All Over Me and the Half Moon Tee :D {not awesome} So it immediately went into the washer and thus this is the only photo that I have of it.

It washed up great. I washed it the first time and laid it flat to dry. There was still some residual throw up on it but after a little shout and a second wash it was good to go. A fine test for a mommy shirt don't ya think? And it passed with flying colors.
 :-D

I love the Mountain Mama Half Moon Tee and I'm pretty sure it can take on anything your little ones can dish out AND it is a must for any woman's wardrobe whether pre-baby, pregnant or postpartum.

Inspired by Finn - Baltic Amber Review

Teething for most children (and parents) can be a rough time and our son's first tooth was no exception. Since Hyland's teething tablets had been taken off the market; we were forced to find other ways to sooth our son's teething pain. Many of our friends are into "natural" parenting and a lot of them suggested that we try a Baltic Amber Teething Necklace from Inspired by Finn. After many nights of being up until 1 a.m. with an inconsolable child and after doing everything we could think of to ease his discomfort we decided to give it a try. What could it hurt, right?

Baltic amber is not a stone, but a fossilized tree resin. When baltic amber is worn on the skin, the skin's warmth releases trace amounts of healing oils from the amber. These oils contain succinic acid and are absorbed into the skin acting as a natural pain reliever. You can read more about Baltic amber here.  

We've been using this baltic amber teething necklace over the past 6 months and can honestly say that we think there is some validity here. After experiencing the roughness of that first tooth we haven't had anything even close to it since using the necklace.  If molars really are supposed to be the worse part of teething we haven't even noticed them coming, in fact one cut through before we knew it.  3 months ago our little man cut three teeth all at once.  During this time he was more cuddly than usual but was no where near as fussy as with that first tooth.

We will be purchasing necklaces for each of our future children and are currently debating on getting them for Mom and Dad to help with headaches.  Two thumbs up from us!

We were not paid by Inspired By Finn to perform this review.  Other children may react differently to this necklace and teething presents differently with each child and from tooth to tooth.  We do not claim our findings to be fact or proof of the healing power of Baltic Amber.  Try it yourself to see.

Deuter Kid Comfort III Review

In August of 2010 when our son was only 6 months old we went on a 5 day backpack trip as a family.  Call us nuts, but this experience was very liberating.  For this trip we borrowed a Deuter Kid Comfort III which was AMAZING!  We are currently saving up to get one for ourselves.  Here are a few things we loved and disliked about this kid pack.

PROS:
The main compartment is HUGE!  We could not believe how much we were able to stuff into that thing.  In fact the more we stuffed in the higher our kid sat.  There are plenty of pockets to suit any and all of your needs.  With all of it's pockets this pack held all of our child's clothing, 20 disposable diapers, a few toys, and other personal gear.

The seat is adjustable allowing this pack to grow as your child grows and the shoulder straps adjust for a perfect fit on whomever chooses to wear it.  My wife and I were able to swap packs in the middle of the day with minimal trouble.  Another great feature is the hassle free load/unload on one side for getting your child in and out easily.

Unlike with other kid packs you don't have to worry about finding a place to put the rain/sun shade, it is built-in with it's own storage compartment.  This feature alone was totally awesome!  The Kid Comfort III also has a higher back rest for the child versus many other carriers on the market.  The chin pad made for a great pillow being as our little man would fall asleep only minutes down the trail, and it was easy to remove and wash.

The base on this pack was very stable and unlike other's on the market it doesn't fold up when you put the pack on.  We could see where that feature would be nice, but for on the trail it was nice to be able to pick it up and move it around with out the base stand folding up on us.

This pack offers a hydration pocket where you can put a camel-bak reservoir which as well came in very handy being as when the pack is on you are unable to reach the pockets that may be housing your water bottle.

There is a small zipper pocket on the right hip that is just large enough for a few snacks.  On the left hip is a pocket that houses a mirror which comes with the pack when purchased so that you can keep an eye on that little one.

CONS:
The zipper on the large compartment proved to be a pain to use.  There is a fly that shields the zipper from rain and this fly was a bit snug making it difficult to operate.  The zipper operates in an arching motion which also made for difficult operation.

At 6 months old this pack nearly drowned our little man.  We were able to compensate for this by stuffing more things into the main compartment, which boosted the seat up just enough.

While wearing the pack it was impossible to reach any of the pockets on the sides or rear.  Once you had it on with the child secured in place you really didn't want to take it off just to get something out of it.  Which I guess comes with any backpack once fully loaded.

With these few minor flaws in mind we believe this pack to be one of the best on the market for backpacking with young children and would recommend it in a heartbeat.


Update:
We saw Deuter at the Winter Outdoor Retailer Show a couple weekends ago and got to play with the newest version of the Kid Comfort III.  They fixed the zipper issue we have talked about by getting rid of the flap that covers it.  The pockets are still difficult to reach but they made it so that the kick-out leg locks open when retracted and can be put back with a push of a button. 


In our opinion, they pretty much made it perfect!