Beco Butterfly Baby Carrier Voluntary Recall

Yesterday, Beco Baby Carrier announced a voluntary recall of the Beco Butterfly Baby Carrier. You can read the full text here:

Beco Butterfly Baby Carrier Recall

If you purchased one of the affected baby carriers, you should have been contacted by now by the vendor you bought it from. If you have not heard from them, please contact them immediately to find out about repairing your Butterfly Baby Carrier at no cost to you.

Swiss Strolli Rider Spring Madness Sale!

The Swiss Strolli Rider is now 25% off regular prices! Hurry! These go back to full price on March 29th!

We moved!

Well, SoBeBabies is no longer South Beach Babies! We've moved to north central Florida and we love it! So many trees! No more condo living for us. An actual sweet little house with a yard and a pool. A pool which is currently full of leaves from those trees. Sigh. Shortly, I will do the daily dredging. It's all good. Very meditative, in fact. There are actual seasons here! At night, you can tell it's winter! And yet, we have a citrus tree in the backyard!

Active Mom Carriers

I love getting new baby carriers in! We recently got our first shipment of Active Mom Structured Baby Carriers (AMC II). We were lucky enough to test these and give feedback on the design. The finished product is amazing.

I was so glad to find out that many people had the same reaction I did during the testing process; we just wanted to pet the carrier and didn't get to using it right away because it's so pleasing to so many senses. I can't say this of any other baby carrier. The fabrics are very lush and rich. And soft and so nice to the touch. Sort of like petting a kitty. Plus the foam is wonderful and makes for a super comfy ride.

Another great thing about the AMC II is the minimalist green packaging. I love working with environmentally responsible vendors.

New at SoBeBabies: Active Mom Structured Baby Carriers!!!

My order is nearly ready to ship to me. I can't wait to see how the silk looks and feels. I had one of the testers with the Minky lining and I mostly just pet the fabric before even wanting to try putting in a baby. It was very cool to find out I wasn't the only one with that reaction to this baby carrier. I have to admit I've never reacted like that before or since but the Active Mom Structured Baby Carrier is so yummy, you'll see what I mean!

Beco Butterfly

These just arrived! The newest innovation by Beco Baby Carriers! Everyone has been anticipating the Butterfly and it is going to live up to our expectations and even exceed them! Of course the fabrics are the beautiful Beco look that we have all come to know and love. And the details of this carrier are exquisite. The comfort is as good as or possibly even better than the Fourth Generation.

After watching the DVD, I was able to confidently play around with my Butterfly. Buy this baby carrier and you will never need anything else!

Like a frame backpack, you may load the baby into the baby carrier first. But unlike a frame backpack, there is no frame between you and your baby. When I started babywearing, frame backpacks were one of the baby carriers I tried. I found them bulky and uncomfortable. The Beco Butterfly has added the versatility of a frame backpack without the bulk and discomfort.

The newborn insert features narrower leg openings to accommodate a little one's shorter legs. There is another insert for older babies. These unique inserts allow for much safer loading and unloading and especially for much easier and safer back carries. Since the baby gets loaded into the carrier first, there is no need for hip scoots or Santa tosses and that scary moment of time when you can't see your baby and don't have a good grip. With the brilliant design of the Butterfly, you simply put your baby into the carrier and start putting the shoulder straps on first, then go ahead and secure the waist strap. This is the same way you would load a frame backpack.

These are sure to be a fast seller so grab yours now!

I think I'm in love!

I recently hired someone who is helping out with special projects and shipping.

It's so funny - people always ask, "Where did you meet her?"

The fact is, we've never met! Not yet, anyway, but we will in June at the Babywearing Conference. Until then, we are getting to know each other and learning things about each other.

Recycling, reusing, and avoiding waste is very important to me. So I sent her an email asking her to save all the packaging she got. I was in a bit of a panic, thinking she'd been throwing it out all this time. Some of the products do seem to come with an awful lot of it!

And do you know what she said? She's been using the paper that comes in the boxes to put on her daughter's playroom wall for "murals". And she already saves this kind of stuff.

Sigh!

It doesn't get any better than this!

I have my period and don't even know it!

I have used a Diva Cup for over a year now. I love this thing. I wish I'd always known about it. It is so much better in every way than tampons, sponges and pads. I never buy any of those things any more. I feel very off the grid!

What is the Diva Cup?
It's a silicone cup that stops the blood from leaking. When it fills, you rinse and reinsert. There is also a rubber version, quite similar.

How do you use the Diva Cup?
Put the cup in in the morning. I am able to wear it all day without leakage. At night, I remove, rinse and reinsert. I can do this for my whole period. I can swim, exercise, go to the bathroom, whatever! There was a learning curve for me but it's been so worth it. Every once in a while I don't do it correctly so now I know to dance around a little to make sure it's in correctly.

Where to buy Diva Cup?
I'm not going to tell you! Just google it and find a place near you. It is around $40, which sounds like a lot of money but come on, you know you spend that on pads and tampons within a few months.

I think my favorite parts are that I never have to worry about changing pads/tampons in a public bathroom. That can be such a pain. And now that I am always with my kids, it's even better!

Just one more thing

So I thought I was done but then I tried my website in Opera and it would not give me the lock. Picky, picky. After some serious digging, I uncovered yet one last image that was not https and now Opera likes me! LA LA LA LA LA!

Online Security: SSL

I consistently work on ensuring a safe shopping experience. I've come a long way in this regard. As far as I know, my website is very secure, but I am always open to hearing about any issues.

Like yesterday, a customer called and said she was not comfortable ordering because there was no lock on the browser. I had noticed this before but hadn't addressed it because, well, an entrepreneur always has a million things on her plate. But if it's costing sales, it suddenly becomes Issue Number One.

So after frantically researching this, it turns out that the issue was due to some images from external websites that were not being addressed by the full secure pathnames. If a website is set up for SSL, you can get to the same place by using either the http:// pathname or the https:// pathname. Some external images were not being accessed by the secure pathname, even though the script was created by the vendor. Their bad!

I've kludged my way through and put in proper secure pathnames to all external images and now the lock shows up. But not on all browsers. So read the article for more ideas to ensure you are buying from a secure website before sharing your credit card information.

Please note that my site was secure all along. Now it's just able to show that it is secure.

Proud Sponsor of the Babywearing Conference 2008

I am proud to announce that SoBeBabies is a Proud Sponsor of the 2008 Babywearing Conference. I've also been asked to speak about Structured Baby Carriers!

Demo & Used Baby Carriers 50%-99% off Sale!

So what was I taking all those photos of? Go check out my online yardsale and see!

Behind the scenes

Sometimes people get the impression that SoBeBabies is a large corporation or at least a staffed small business. Nope. It's still a one-woman show.

Today, in trying to get at my actual inventory, not just the overflow, I decided to tackle a much-needed project and clear out some extra stuff. I'm in the process of listing amazing deals in my online yard sale. Here's a peek at some of what's involved in that.

See that strange contraption? It's a small light box I picked up on eBay. I am somewhat in love with it. It all comes in its own bag which folds up like a large briefcase with a handle. It comes with that small tripod - the camera isn't on it because I needed to take a photo of the whole setup - and it includes two super nifty lights that fold down into nothing and fit in outside pockets.

I have found that the lights don't throw anywhere near enough light so I just use it outside on my balcony and harness the power of the Florida sun. I still need to do a fair bit of work on the images after the fact. The background still must be extracted and the images properly cropped and sized. All in all, it takes a good 5-10 minutes of work per image to get it listed, sometimes more. And this is after getting the hang of this process; it used to take 30 minutes or more.

So that's a sneak peek behind the scenes!

P.S. Some of the photo editing was done with a toddler on my lap. Once she finally drifted off for her nap, I popped her into bed and carefully sneaked away. I had to hit the floor once because her eyes popped open. Then I tiptoed ever so quietly away and hopefully I can now finish up listing my yard sale!

ScootaBaby Hip Baby Carrier

We are fully stocked on the Scootababy Baby Carrier and it is being very well received.



So what's so wonderful about the Scootababy?

Easy of Use
The Scootababy is so simple to use. It comes with instructions but really, you just put it on and pop your baby in. It's totally intuitive. And you can wear your baby front or back safely on the very first try without someone to help you! It is also easy to switch sides; no need to rethread or struggle with buckles behind you.

Comfortable Hip Carrier
There are plenty of hip carriers out there but none of them accomplishes the two important things that the Scootababy does. First, the Scootababy supports the baby's weight mainly on your hips with the wide, padded strap. And second, the shoulder design on the Scootababy means that the strap spreads the weight out well and doesn't ride up your neck.

Baby Can See!
You baby can easily see to the front or the back since he or she is sitting on your hip. Baby is happy! You are happy!

Oilily shoes

I got hooked into Oilily when my first daughter was around two. A crazy friend of mine had been dragging me to their seasonal sales and I was overwhelmed and couldn't get into it at first. But over time, seeing her daughter appear in such cute outfits, I started to make the effort to overcome my fear of the price tags and dressed my daughter in The Most Fun Clothing Ever!

Over the years, I got more into boutique clothing and I am always just that much happier when my girls have on something super cute.

We got a huge shipment of Oilily Girl's Shoes in a few weeks ago. Nearly all the photos and descriptions are uploaded. My older daughter nabbed a pair of blue sneakers. They are very retro and she adores them. All the moms notice them when we're out and about. I know they probably think I'm nuts, dressing my girls in Oilily but I don't care. I can admit it. I am that shallow and I still love my girls naked but I happily admit I really love seeing Oilily on them. Truth be told, most of us are shallow in that way but it's somehow not okay to admit it. It gets whispered to me over the phone often enough that I am going to boldly declare it.

I care what my girls wear!

So come on over and check out some Oilily Shoes! And subscribe to the SoBeBabies Newsletter. Those on it just saw an Oilily coupon. Lots of holiday sales are being announced every day!

Just for fun

We went camping a few weeks ago in Key Largo. We went with four other families who also homeschool their kids. It was so relaxing. The kids played together all day and well into the evening and were thrilled to wake up and see each other first thing in the morning. What a treat!

I haven't paddled in years. I used to be an avid whitewater C1 paddler. A kayak on flatwater isn't the same but it sure was fun!

When it was time to pack up, my three year old was not happy to see the tent disappear. She wanted to always sleep in there!

The Ergo Lady

Many people know one of my first huge babywearing loves was the Ergo. Most people probably don't realize that I created a whole website devoted to The Ergo Baby Carrier!

This website is chock full of information on how to use the Ergo but it was badly in need of a facelift. I had been hard at work on this for ages but my computer crashed badly and I lost a lot of data. Recovery has been a slow, ongoing process.

Today I unveiled the new look for The Ergo Lady. Stay tuned for more updates over the coming months.

I'm going to see Hathor at the LLL Conference!

I am so stoked! I am going to see Hathor speak at the LLL Conference on Friday! I've been looking forward to this for months and months! This is the coolest thing ever!

Donated a Baby Carrier

I was reading Stephanie's Adventures in Babywearing Blog, and she mentioned Jodie, an amazing mama who is adopting a premature baby. I offered them a gift certificate along with some suggestions on a baby carrier that might work for such a tiny baby and I am happy to say she has taken me up on it.

I love that more and more adoptive parents are using babywearing as a means to help the bonding process. This little baby will need all the loving he can get after this rough start and I know he couldn't be going to a more wonderful family. I wish them the best of luck!

Woman Owned Business: The Goddess Store

The Goddess Store is owned by a fascinating mama called Goddess Carmen. She's got two adult children and loves to dance. And her store has always intrigued me. I've found some very interesting treasures there.

I was totally thrilled when she agreed to host the monthly babywearing meetings in her dance studio. I had been looking for a new location for a few months and hadn't found anything that worked for people. The Goddess Store has generously hosted the meetings for over a year. Going forward, we will have a new location.

Carmen also hosts other events such as poetry readings. I went to one and found it, um, illuminating! The Goddess Store participates in the Art Walk, where people enjoy wine and cheese as they wander from store to store in Downtown Hollywood.

Woman Owned Business: Delicious Organics

When my first child was born, I had discovered how wonderful it was to have groceries delivered to get through the rough patch of recovering from birth and getting used to no longer having hands. And since my little one was so high needs and couldn't just happily sit in a shopping cart, I enjoyed grocery delivery for almost a year. But I grew tired of the lack of organic items and went back to shopping.

I've been shopping at Delicious Organics since I was pregnant with my second child. I felt silly at first but I was very exhausted and this service really helped out a lot. I told myself after a time that it was frivolous to continue to have groceries delivered when I could perfectly well shop myself, but the fact is, here I am three years later, still getting practically all my groceries delivered. I feel very lucky that I can have the highest quality organics brought right into my kitchen. Getting through a shopping trip with my kids in tow totally stresses me out. Getting everything in from the car is exhausting.

Annie and Jack started this business out of their house. Then they mortgaged their house in order to grow the business. I was so impressed watching them start with so few offerings. Every week, I'd ask about such and such a product and Annie would add in everything I wanted, keeping it if it did well. She still continues to answer emails within minutes, seven days a week, practically 24 hours a day. The website now is so robust and I know exciting changes are coming.

Through all this, Annie seemed to breeze through a pregnancy, birth, and raising a toddler. Annie and Jack work with their kids underfoot when necessary. They went from a tiny staff to a huge staff and from their kitchen to one small warehouse to what they have now - a few adjoining warehouses.

I wish them continued success with their business. I love that they intermingle their life and raising the kids with their values of bringing the highest quality organic food to this area.

Woman Owned Business: Yogarosa

I learned of the Yoga Rosa studio indirectly through a local mom who does prenatal yoga. I might blog about her at another time but right now, I want to talk about Rosa.

Rosa may look friendly and approachable, and the truth is she is all that and more. But I am also learning that she's a savvy business woman who helps other local business women to network. This really touched me deeply as I think it's so critical for women to help each other out. And most women who are also moms can get quite isolated so having support of other women is very, well, supportive!

My daughter has been taking kid's yoga with Rosa for a few months and I am so pleased with the quality of the classes. I've paid for a lot of classes over the years and have gotten quite picky so I know what I'm talking about when I say these classes are excellent.

My daughter is doing yoga. Real yoga. She is not being disciplined or entertained. And she is enjoying the process. That's really all you could ask for.

The classes I took at the studio were impressive. I showed up once with a very bad cold, and couldn't do much because of my coughing. The instructor had me do a few things for that and soon I was breathing freely. This was such a gift after days of struggling for air.

I love the light, open, airy studio with windows on two sides. I also am very intrigued by all the props. At first, I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of using so much "stuff" to do yoga, but I am really getting how helpful it all is. My daughter is loving hanging upside down on the wall. It's her absolute favorite part of the class.

We'll attend classes at YogaRosa as long as we are in the area!

Kid's Slings

What a great day! All three styles of kid's baby carriers arrived in the mail today and my girls couldn't be happier! I can't wait to get some photos of my girls with their dolls.


First of all, we got the Beco Toy. This fits both my girls very well. At first, I wasn't sure how to do a front carry and manage to keep the shoulder straps on. Then I crossed the straps and it was quite simple. We all love the gorgeous purple colors. There are actually a few different prints. I can't wait to get them listed. The back carry is very easy with straps not crossed.



Next, they tried the EllaRoo Children's Mei Tai. My older daughter knew exactly how to use it. I was very proud! Like a real mei tai, this is suitable for front and back carries, and I'll be teaching my girls a hip carry as well. It's so pretty!



The third kid's sling is an actual sling. My daughter found this the easiest to use and currently this is her favorite. She's got her dollie in there right now, sleeping peacefully!

Woman Owned Business: Synergize Weight Loss

I just heard about this place recently and was enjoying the helpful emails Shondelle, the owner sends. And then she sent one with a free offer for three semi-private trainings.

Now, I've worked out a lot in my life. I think I know a thing or two about fitness. But the fact of the matter is that since becoming a mom eight years ago, I have made a few aborted come backs, and slimmed way down after both kids, but I've really not been fit for all that long. I'm at my highest weight ever.

I wasn't sure what to make of trainings from a weight loss center.

I also wasn't sure to make of semi-private trainings. I had a personal trainer once and was considering body building at one point. I was training for the Whitewater Open Boat National Championships. I couldn't quite picture how you'd train four people at once.

As it turns out, this couldn't have been better. It was just the kick in the pants I needed.

I work a lot. I've turned out to be a bit of a workaholic. I value the seriousness in myself but the sedentary nature of what I do is taking its toll on my health.

The camaraderie of working out with a few other women really does help. It's not like we're standing around chit-chatting or anything. But just seeing them doing their best and being serious and focused was right on.

The workout is deceptively simple. I have done interval training in the past but the thing is, I was super fit when I did that. Self-motivation has become more difficult for me. I was a member of a local gym for two years and was just plain bored there. This was just better.

The trainer had us rotate through stations, spending around 45 seconds at each station. The maneuvers were ordinary enough but doing them for 45 seconds is challenging. By the end of each circuit, each of us has faced our own individual limitations. There was also some aerobic interval training. The entire workout is an hour.

After just one workout, I felt back in it! That hasn't happened for me for years and years! I felt like I was really doing it again. Tonight I just did my second workout and I am feeling so grateful. I really want to keep momentum this time. I think this is going to do the trick.

Local Woman Owned Businesses

There are so many absolutely wonderful businesses in my area. These are businesses with amazing women at the helm. Businesses I want to support because of what they have to offer and who I interact with. Businesses I am so grateful exist and that I want to support so they continue to exist.

So I am going to do a series highlighting some of these businesses so you can see what I am lucky enough to see.

Just for fun

An actual conversation today with a customer who was really fun to chat with:

-Hello! This is SoBeBabies.
-Hi! I was talking to you earlier. About that carrier I asked you about before - did you say the waist band had a stain?
-No, I didn't say anything about a stain. There is no stain.
-(Laughing) I didn't say stain!
-Oh sorry. I picked up the call on my cell phone. What did you say?
-I asked if the waist bands were the same.
-(Kidding now) What's that? Are they in Spain?
-No no! I said, 'Are you insane?'
-No. But thank you for asking!

Mystery Shopping and other scams

This blog entry I just read inspired me to blog about my experiences before I started my business.

I was absolutely desperate for income when I'd been home a few years and we hit rough times. But I didn't want to compromise on being with my little ones. I would not consider daycare. That is not for us. My children will be with me. Otherwise, I just don't see the point. If I was a single mom, that might be different.

So anyway, after a brief stint doing some transcription of focus groups and finding I could not make any money at that, I decided to sign up as a mystery shopper. I found an ad in Mothering Magazine and stupidly thought that made it legit so I started off foolishly - I spend money for who knows what. You can actually sign up for free.

Whatever. Never mind I was beyond broke and we were living off our credit cards. Those scum suckers were happy to steal $50 or so from us.

So that didn't pan out. I then just spent days and days going to mystery shopping websites and signing up. It took forever; some of the applications were quite involved. After all that, many of them had no offices or work in my area. They probably just sold my information.

Whatever.

Finally, work started to come in! Yay! But boo. The work was hard. Very hard. And I was trying to do it with two kids. In the end, I made about $5/hour and was only able to ever make about $40/week. It just wasn't worth it.

They say people can make a six figure income mystery shopping. I doubt that. I suppose if you work your way through some special secret ranking system and start to get better paid jobs, you could. We got a couple of really awful free meals out of it and a bit of cash but the stress just wasn't worth it.

Start a business selling something you love and feel passionate about. So much more rewarding! Or do anything that moves you. But not mystery shopping. Unless you really love it and have a knack for it.

I'm a Hathor Groupie

I love Hathor! Oops, I mean Heather. Well maybe I do mean Hathor as Heather makes it perfectly clear that Hathor is an ideal. Oh heck, I love 'em both. And I am a total groupie. So I can't wait to go to the La Leche League conference and see Heather in real life! Or Hather. I wonder who will actually show up. Whatever. I'm so there!

Cure for shopping addiction

I'm cured! I'm cured!

Okay. I'm not.

But I thought I was! I really did!

Here's the thing. I have always loved shopping. Well I knew that hadn't changed. But a few years back, I found myself a stay at home mom and the shopping got a bit out of hand. We were down to one income and I had loads of free time. A bad formula, to be sure.

Then we relocated and hit some rough financial times. Shopping wasn't an option. Heck, eating was really not an option but we did it anyway.

So then things turned around for us and I realized I was cured of my shopping addiction! I was no longer spending more than my husband's earnings on stuff we could totally do without.

But recently I had an epiphany. I'm not cured at all.

So, why am I not shopping?

I am, actually! It's just that I've channeled it into a more healthy outlet. It turns out that some of the reasons for my shopping addiction have to do with enjoying the hunt and touching new things. Once new things are not so new, I need to move on. (Gee, thank goodness I am not like this about relationships.) Well, since I am the Chief Bottle Washer and Head Executive Buyer for SoBeBabies, I guess that itch is getting scratched without me going out and spending all our disposable income on junk. Plus, it certainly doesn't hurt that I don't have time to shop, not even online. eBay sometimes beckons to me but I seriously can't spare the time.

Email Marketing

I've been working on better utilizing the features of our newsletter email marketing company. Email marketing is very powerful. I should know. I live and breathe the stuff because my husband works at Enflyer! You'd think that would mean that I was using the service to its best possible advantage but of course that's not always the way it works when it's all in the family!

Recently, I've started to make more of an effort to use more of the amazing features I've been paying for. I'm now encouraging more people to sign up to the SoBeBabies mailing list by offering a signup incentive on every page of my website. And I've finally created separate lists so people can pick and choose which list(s) they want to be on. I've noticed people signing up since I added this feature.

I'll have a new email template set up shortly so my mailings will look more like my website. I had a great template but now that I've got a better logo, done by Kimberley, I am loving incorporating it into everything.