Satori Smiles

Not fluffy mail, but we’re excited about our packages that arrived today!

First up was some wood scraps and stuff from Casey’s Wood Products. I ordered some wooden blocks for an upcoming creative craft. While I was on their site, I also got some wooden eggs for Easter, an assorted wood bag, and other cute wooden miniatures.

For $2.99, I got this Assorted Wood Cutouts Bag. I think it will be great for playing with math/geometry, or for using in various crafts. The 1 1/4″ wood cube blocks were a quarter each. Eggs were 18 cents each I believe.

Assorted Wood bag

I should’ve known they’d all make a good toy! But darn it, I forgot to order larger eggs! No worries, their shipping was SUPER FAST! I ordered 3 nights ago, it shipped out the very next morning at 8am, and I got it 2 days later!

Casey's Wood products package

Next up, Amazon came with this:

Scholastic Treasury of 100 Storybook Classics

I got this Scholastic Treasury of 100 Storybook Classics (Scholastic Video Collection specifically for a long road trip we are going on next week. (We’ll be out of town for a week and a half.) Satori will be able to watch her favorite stories on DVD! And look, there’s quite a few FIAR book DVDs in here!

DVD books

No, it’s not this one, but it’s from the same photo shoot. EDIT: The infamous photo even made it on the Ellen Degeneres show on April 3!

Let me explain first.

Peekaru normal front carry

My very good babywearing friend here in Denver has a wonderful product – the Peekaru Babywearing Vest. Last fall I did a photo shoot and she asked me to take a shot that shows the baby in a forward-facing position, like people wear Baby Bjorns. Note that most of the babywearers I know do *not* wear their babies forward-facing, but she wanted to show it could be done, for the millions of Baby Bjorn wearers out there. So she put on a carrier, with her baby facing out, and this picture was born. It has put a smile on many a face (and I admit many a chuckle), and I thought it was so super cute…

Peekaru vest - forward facing position

However, now people are poking fun at it. Glamour magazine requested this particular photo in high-res, and the Peekaru owner sent it. Before you knew it, it’s posted everywhere! Major blogs, radio shows! I feel bad for Melissa, getting all this publicity as a joke, but I’m hoping it will get more people to know about her amazing products. Check out her website at Togetherbe, she manufactures the Peekaru vest, the FreeHand Mei Tai, and more. Or, get a Peekaru (or baby snuggie) at the Baby Sling Outlet (while I’m still open).

People can be so cruel, and Melissa is devastated. I feel bad for the part I took in taking the picture. But dang it, it’s a great product and a cute picture! It’s just showing a unique way to wear the vest…

Here’s the way MOST babywearers will wear their Peekaru.

Peekaru back carry

When Satori was born, I just wanted to be a stay at home mom with her, like my mom was for me. But then I got into babywearing, discovered a huge market of *gorgeous* work-at-home-mom (WAHM) and comfortable slings from other countries, and realized no one was offering them ALL for sale in one place with immediate shipping. The wahm slings had 6 week wait lists, and buying a Didy from Germany could also take 6 weeks. So I decided to offer that service, thinking it would be a few slings shipped out a week.

Boy, I seriously underestimated the demand. I kept my business at home, became a WAHM (work at home mom), but it was too busy to juggle both a toddler and a business. Nannies at home didn’t work. Sadly, Satori had to go to daycare full-time.

I feel those 3 years went by so fast and I didn’t really get to know my own daughter. Instead, I quickly got to know babywearers and manufacturers all around the world. Business got so busy I had to hire local shippers and stay-at-home moms to help me answer emails/phones/live chats. When visiting Disney, and seeing a mama with a Storch and baby on her back, I asked her where she got it. Why, Attached to Baby, it’s a great store! Blushing furiously, I said that was me. I don’t often ask people, just if I see a cool wrap job or my favorite style of carrier – the Mei Tai.

Eventually the stress wore on me, always feeling guilty about not being the mom I wanted to be. I never really planned on all this, so I knew I would sell. And last fall, we sold it to a family in Seattle. I still had lots of inventory to sell, and started up the Baby Sling Outlet site, which is only a few hours of work a week.

David and I made a plan to be *totally* done with it in 3 months. This Monday we told our daycare we’re keeping Satori home full-time. Her last day is Monday.

My dream of being a full-time stay at home mom for my daughter has come true. This is also exactly two months after I started “homeschooling” Satori. Our relationship has blossomed, I’m really getting to know her. We always knew she had a great sense of humor, but now I know how bright and eager to learn she is. She really loves this learning at home, and I’m so happy I can focus on it even more!