Babywearing/carrying/no stroller

We own three strollers. And we don't use any of them! I sometimes think I must be a nutter but I just can't bring myself to put the boys in them. When Jac was really young we didn't own a stroller. He was really small and light and carrying him was not a problem at all - and I wanted to. I wanted him close all of the time. It was very hard to find a baby carrier that was small and adjustable enough for him - since he came home from the hospital at 4 pounds. As he got older and bigger I just kept on carrying him.

A few months before Nic was born I got it in my head that we needed to get a stroller. That I was going to let my little boy be a little further from me and that I needed to be reasonable - how was I going to carry two little boys. We bought a Stokke Xplory. We used it a bit before Nic was born and some after - but not enough to justify its price tag.

When Nic was about six months old I got it in my head again that I was going to put the kids in a stroller, but this time it was going to a double one, so we got a Maclaren Double. I used it a bit, but again not enough.

When we moved to Pasadena I decided that I needed a jogging stroller, so we got a BOB Dualie. I have used it a few times, but mostly it sits in the car. I just can't bring myself to force the kids into it.

I have very strong feelings that both boys have benefitted greatly from being carried. That they have learned to interact socially in a very positive way through being up at our level. I am struck so strongly when I see kids in strollers that it frequently feels like they and their parents are on different planets, in different planes. When I am carrying the boys, we are together. All three of us are right there, talking, interacting, being together, learning from one another, experiencing the world from the same level, seeing similar things - together! I just can't wrap my head around putting them in a stroller where they will experience a knee-level world, completely different from mine.

But they are getting heavier. When I am carrying them both now I have an extra forty one pounds of kid plus the thirty extra pounds I am carrying on my own still expanded body. Mostly I carry Nic in the carrier and Jac in my arms - and then a bag, or two. It is hard. I can do it, but it is hard. My arms get tired after a while.

I think it is time to figure out a second carrier solution, for my back or hip, so I don't have to carry all of the weight of the second boy just in my arms - although I do have great biceps from it!

I love carrying my kids, and it is only for a few years. Soon they are not going to want to be carried and I am going to miss it.