Showing posts with label babywearing conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label babywearing conference. Show all posts

7/01/2008

Chicago Babywearing Conference 2008

New Blue Embroidered Ergo Baby CarrierSneak Peek of New Ergo Baby Carrier design! This is behind the scenes during the fashion show. Total mayhem behind the scenes but up front, all went smoothly! There are two more photos coming up; another of the blue and one of the black. Gorgeous! Also, I heard tell of a pink! I am so excited! And all these new gorgeous Ergos are organic!
SoBeBabies Exclusive Pretty in Pink Action Baby Carrier My booth - check out the new Oopa Baby slings! Most of these are as yet not even on any website! The slings on the left are EllaRoo. Yummy too! The mannequin is wearing the SoBeBabies exclusive Pretty in Pink Action Baby Carrier.
Sneak Peek New Scootababy Baby CarrierThis is a total tease. Sorry, I didn't get a good photo of the new Scootababy. I guess we're all just meant to wait. Another peek of the Pretty in Pink Action Baby Carrier on the chair.
Oopa Baby Skirt This was after the conference ended. Poor girl just fell asleep on the floor! But check out that gorgeous Oopa Baby skirt!
New Black Embroidered Ergo Baby CarrierAh, there it is! The gorgeous embroidered organic Ergo Baby Carrier. I've heard people complain that Ergo is un-hip. Not anymore! I can't wait to see how these will be received!
Detail of New Blue Ergo Baby CarrierDetail of the New Organic Blue Ergo Baby Carrier with embroidery.
Haiku Grab Bag, Ergo Baby Carrier, Oopa SkirtThis is me one morning in my room. I must admit that after a few days, I switched to wearing the Ergo Baby Carrier exclusively. My little one is four and she just didn't walk anywhere. And having the Haiku Grab bag around my waist helped a lot; no extra strain on my shoulders. Normally, I use it as a shoulder bag but the Babywearing Conference was extreme babywearing for a suburb girl. Just the walk from the dorms to breakfast and then the conference pretty much did me in each day! Oh! Loving those shoes? They are indeed Doc Martins! They belonged to my older daughter and are one of the many reasons I just had to have another girl. Yup. I'll admit it. I was not over her gorgeous clothing and baby toys. Two girls was right for us. All that yummy pink girl energy! Love it!
SoBeBabies boothThis is a photo of the booth mostly set up. That was a lot of work!
SoBeBabies Booth This was the booth before setup got underway. My little angel was amazing! The most natural of shopkeeper's daughters! Amazing!
Mothering Tao Lotus Buckle Carrier I hope I get this right! This is a sneak peek of a prototype buckle carrier by MotheringTao. It is called the Lotus, I believe. She also has a cross carrier in the works, and I believe that is called the Baby Zen. I do hope I am not messing up the names. This carrier was in the fashion show. What is so cool about it is it goes around the torso, covering the perhaps less than slim middle of the new mom. It's so much easier to put on than a traditional Asian torso carrier. I was able to do it without any advice or coaching; you can't go wrong! It can be worn front or back. There were still some kinks that needed to be worked out. When the conference DVDs come out, you can see it being modeled. This is a very interesting modern take on a traditional baby carrier.

Fashion Show Behind the ScenesA behind the scenes fashion show peek. I was modeling two carriers. This is a Lemon Balm Essentials german woven wrap. It was short for me (I'm tall) so I did a hip cross carry. Did I mention that my little one wound up napping every day? She hasn't napped in ages. So during the fashion show, I was actually changed. We did a rehearsal and then straight into the real thing. I did two changes and she stayed asleep until waking up on stage during my second walk. Thank goodness she didn't fuss! I can imagine that is a strange way to wake up. I am just so relieved; I'd been apprehensive about the fashion show for months because I just could not be sure I could count on her to allow me to wear her.

6/25/2008

Sneak Peek of My Course

Here is a sample page from my Saturday Course, Soft Pack Basics. Send me good vibes on Friday and Saturday so my presentations go well! Oh and that gorgeous baby carrier? It is one of the ones I mentioned in my last post. It is an Action Baby Carrier in a gorgeous SoBeBabies exclusive print! My little girl has quit her babywearing strike, but that doesn't mean she'll get in just anything! I know this one is a safe bet as she helped me pick out the fabric!

6/22/2008

Babywearing Conference Preparation



Starbucks Near Babywearing Conference

First things first. Just checking out that there are lots of Starbucks nearby. It looks like there is one in every direction so that's all right.

No seriously, that's not all I've been up to. I've been having packages shipped to IL for ages and have finished writing, printing, colating and stapling my 2 courses. I've just been by the airport to check that this strange part of my display part that wouldn't fit in a box is okay to take as carry on. The TSA dude was pretty amused but as I was so earnest, he did go check with his supervisor to be certain all was well. No idea if I'll need to check it on the way back but that's okay. I just don't want any extra delays on the way there since checkin is just one hour. Plus waiting for checked bags to appear is a huge anxiety issue for me. I haven't checked bags in years and last time I did, sure enough, they didn't appear. Thank goodness they found them and delivered them to our hotel the next day.

Laundry is up to date and most of the packing is done. Lots of last minute errands tomorrow. A friend returned a borrowed Yamo today, freshly laundered. That will be one of many from my personal SSC stash that I use for my classes. After my classes, I am going to finally let go of my stash of demos.

The thing I'm most looking forward to is meeting so many friends. Seeing some of Chicago will be nice but I am not sure how much I'll get to see. I have decided to skip the stroller and I don't know how much my little one is going to want to get dragged around the city but we'll see. I am not even sure I'll have much extra time to explore. Really, I'm more of a relax and chat kind of person.

6/21/2008

2008 Babywearing Conference is Nearly Here!!!!

The 2008 Babywearing Conference in Chicago starts in just a few days! I am so excited and look forward to meeting people from around the country and even around the world. We all feel like we're going to meet celebrities and dear old friends we've never met!

I don't know what to be more nervous about. I have a booth, so of course a lot of planning and investment have gone into that. I've never done anything like this before so I hope I'm doing it all correctly!

And the whole reason I'm going in the first place is because I am teaching two classes! On Friday, I'm teaching Advanced Soft Structured Carriers. I look forward to this because I'm so passionate about SSCs more than any other baby carrier. There are going to be some exciting new SSCs debuted at the conference. That is all I can say about that right now! I sure hope the Fashion Show gets put up on YouTube during the conference so you can all see what I mean! I will try to post some photos if time, battery life and technology allow!

On Saturday, I am teaching Soft Pack Basics. Saturday is the open day and people from the greater Chicago day will be attending by the thousands to check out what is new and exciting in Babywearing! The volunteer committee has done an extraordinary job; everyone in a 100 mile radius is aware of the time and date! I am thrilled to teach this class and help these lovely families get an introduction to a style of baby carrier that they probably were not aware of and that they are going to totally fall in love with!

Stay tuned!!!

3/31/2008

Introduction to SSCs at Babywearing Conference

So I'm teaching a class at the Babywearing Conference in Chicago in June. The class is Introduction to Soft Structured Baby Carriers. I was thinking I could get a little advanced but then I realized that my class is during the open day so beginning babywearers may be there. That is totally cool; babywearing advocacy is so important to me and I do believe that buckle carriers are more palatable to mainstream parents.

So I am totally open to what to cover. I was going to do as much of the material on The Ergo Lady's Tips and Tricks as I could. And I want people to get to try at least one carrier. I haven't started planning so I am open to suggestions!

1/23/2007

2nd International Babywearing Conference 2008: Carrying The Future

Hope to see some of you at the next babywearing conference!




I wasn't able to attend last year and I am not yet sure where we'll be in 2008. Will my younger daughter be old enough? Will my husband be able to get the time off so he can come too? These and other exciting answers will unfold over the next months. Meanwhile, I'm an armchair attendee for sure!

Oh and speaking of armchair conferences, last week was the BabyWearing Bonanaza in New York City and the press is pouring in! I already have gotten a few phone calls and emails from people who attended. One complaint was the crowds! What a great complaint! Seriously! How exciting that is that so many people are getting on board with this exciting new trend (ha ha ha ha I can't seriously say that! There isn't anything new about babywearing!)