Review: ERGObaby Carrier

As a family we like strapping babies to us. It's so much more convenient than pushing a cumbersome pushchair around, especially when you go up into London. We did the Ice Age exhibition at the British Museum with a buggy recently and it was a complete waking nightmare. Wifey has struggled with a lot of different slings, mostly due to post pregnancy SPD and the weight distribution, I on the other hand haven't been able to use any of them because I'm a big bloke and aside from the actual baby rucsacks, I can't get into any of the baby carrying devices easily. I once managed to strap Fifi to the front of me but the straps were pretty much like cheesewire and it wasn't a nice experience all told. 

By big, I mean I'm 6ft 4, have a 44 inch chest and weigh rather too much. I can often get my arms through the straps but come nowhere close to getting the straps done up. The ERGObaby Carrier fits me, and from that perspective I suppose it would fit any well endowed Mum who has trouble with the smaller baby carriers. They also do an extension set for the straps so fuller figured people can use it too. Something as simple as catering to us hefty people is such a benison. As the name suggests, the ERGObaby Carrier is pretty strong on the ergonomic side of things, both for the baby (up to 4 years old too, so not so much a baby as a mini person) and the adult carrying them. It disperses most of the baby's weight between the hips and thighs, which helps to eliminate compression of the spine when hanging by the crotch and it also balances the baby's weight to parents' hips and shoulders, and alleviates physical stress for the parent apparently.

How does it work in practice then? We went to a preview screening of Epic the other day and decided to carry Danger rather than push him as we have to leave the pushchair in the lobby and it's a bit of a faff. At almost one and a half now, Danger is more suitable for the back rather than the front since, how can I put it delicately, his feet dangle and kick at a rather unfortunate height for a man. Ahem. I needed a bit of help strapping him in initially but Wifey says this is a lot easier with a bit of practice. A lot of the time she wears it side saddle on her hip, which is apparently brilliant. But back to me, I had him on my back and could feel him snuggling against my back, which was nice, and occasionally pulling my hair, which wasn't. 

After we'd walked the mile or so from where we'd parked (Charlotte Street) to Leicester Square, I didn't feel the tell tale pull on my shoulders or the slight ache in the small of my back that I tend to get using rucsacs generally (with or without a baby in them). I took this as a good sign and on the way back, Danger even went to sleep in the ERGObaby Carrier, a pretty good sign he was comfortable. 

Fiddling with the carrier itself, the stitching looks pretty solid and the materials are high quality, something to be fair you would expect in a carrier costing the best part of £100. On the other hand, it will take kids up to four and if you're planning a large family, I have no doubt that it will last you through several babies. It folds small when not in use, so you can let you toddler toddle about without being encumbered by an unwieldy sling while you're out and about. It's also machine washable, which is useful too.

All in all, this seasons best accessory is a baby, and I'm glad to finally be able to strap one to me comfortably.

Hanging Tough

Dude! I mean Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!!

Danger is now completely mobile and a bit of a threat to humanity generally. He's learnt to smack people round the head, something I reckon he's got from his big sister who has a vicious streak a mile wide at times (the rest of the time she's the perfect little girl). The extreme violence can out itself in odd circumstances too. I popped him in his bath yesterday but in doing so had to remove his teddy from his clutches. Danger took exception to this and spent most of his duration on the bath slapping me. So I did what any self respecting Dad would do and washed his hair to distract him. Smack me will you???

Having two siblings that are quite a bit older (the boy is 6, and Fifi is 4), means that Danger gets reasonably well looked after but also copies what kids considerably older than him do. His throwing is incredible for a one year old and his football skills are considerably in advance of the boys at that age. He's already twigged you don't pick up a football, something the 6 year old still occasionally forgets.

We're getting a constant chatter from him now, with the odd actual word thrown in but his comprehension is excellent. He makes a very good gopher when he isn't trying to beat the living daylights out of you...

When I went SIM only on my phone contract

It was about 18 months ago I decided to venture off piste in the world of mobile phones and ditch a contract phone and go SIM only. I'd found increasingly that contracts were getting longer, heading towards 2 years or 18 months at best, and when the pace of technology is moving so quickly, for example there was comfortably under a year between the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the S4, it seemed daft to be stuck with a subsidised contract handset that would be two or three iterations out of date by the time it came to swap it. Even if I wanted to do it early, some networks might get a bit funny if I decided to sell my mobile whilst still under contract to fund the next one.

So I switched to Three's SIM only rolling 1 month contract and overall it's been pretty damn good. I pay an extra £4 a month for their completely unlimited data, and until last month it even allowed me to tether with no problem- tethering is basically letting other wifi devices piggyback on to your phones 3G connection- even though that wasn't strictly in my contract terms. It stopped last month which is a bother but since I pay £13 a month, I can't exactly complain. Previously, whilst under contract, I was paying £35 a month for an iPhone 3GS, with fairly limited data and minutes. Who sends texts nowadays? I certainly don't and I still had to pay £99 for the iPhone as an "upgrade" at the time.

So when I got my SIM only deal I shopped around until I found a Motorola Atrix on a deal of the day site for £99. It was a Tegra 2 based device with a fairly good screen- not up there with the £500 megaphones but certainly a good phone and a lot better than the cheap budget devices. It was a two week wait for delivery but it was worth it and I haven't really looked back.

Part of my How to Budget guide involves looking at your monthly fixed costs and seeing what can be altered or reduced. Reducing our mobile phone outgoings from about £50 a month for the pair of us to £18 has saved us over £30 a month, and that is well over £360 a year. In fact, it only took 3 months for my phone to pay for itself and after that it was pure savings all the way. Obviously if I wanted a £500 megaphone it would take about a year and a half of the savings to cover the cost but I can't see me walking around with a top of the range device. I'm the sort of person who will having the next tier down as it offers better bangs per buck. Do I think I really need an 8 core mobile phone right now? Probably not!

Carex Launches National Live Life Hands On Awards

To celebrate its 20th birthday, Carex has launched a nationwide competition to reward 20 busy pairs of hands around the UK!

The Carex Live Life Hands On Awards celebrate all the great things that we do with our hands. Carex wants people to share a day in the life of their hands, showcasing the real life moments that hands unlock, every single day. For me this would involve quite a lot of washing, as I tend to change a few stinky nappies and wipe the odd bottom or two over the course of a day.

Entries can be a couple of sentences, a short written diary, some photos or even video footage. Rest assured, the activities I've mentioned have NEVER been videoed.

The competition is open to everyone, from busy mums, professional gardeners and nursery nurses to dustbin men, gymnasts, mechanics and lollipop ladies.

Carex will pick 20 of the most compelling entries to each win £500 worth of Red Letter Day vouchers, plus a year’s supply of Carex hand wash.

The Red Letter Day vouchers can be spent on anything from a complete chill-out weekend at a luxurious spa, an adventure trip with a partner to a family weekend with the kids. But better something without the little darlings eh?

To enter The Carex Live Life Hands On Awards visit www.carex.co.uk/carex-live-life-awards

Car door etiquette

Don't worry, I'm not going to bang on about people parking in parent and baby spaces without kids or anything like that, oh no, I'm going to have a moan about kids and car doors. Ever since she opened the door on our hired Skoda Yeti while I was negotiating a round about in Northern Italy, Fifi has been obsessed with car doors. Until recently she's lacked the physical strength in her hands to open the doors from the outside and this has universally been declared a good thing.

Unfortunately now she has the strength in her hands to open the doors and frequently does. This is by no means always a bad thing, if it's raining and I'm carrying Danger, it is in fact a good thing as she and the boy can get into the car rather than standing around like lemons in the pouring rain. Of course there is always the fear that incessant door slamming will eventually see someone get their fingers caught in the door but the first proper door related accident wasn't one I was expecting at all and fortunately I wasn't present for it either.

On the way back from a play date yesterday, Fifi managed to fling the car door open with such vigorous enthusiasm, poor little Danger was sent flying by the force of the impact. Even several hours later, one side of his face was red from the impact. His vision was clear and he was himself though; the same little indestro-baby that we've come to know and love but my, he took a battering. That one incident at least wasn't malicious (although Fifi has been a bit spiteful recently, something I need to look into the root cause of), more a result of general heavy handedness on the part of our daughter. Nary a meal goes by without her watering the table by knocking over her drink at some point. She's just a bit cack handed.

Not that Danger would have considered this as he was clobbered and sent flying of course. Fifi's now on a permanent ban from opening or closing car door. Probably until she or Danger are 16.