Thank goodness for slings!

I have to say, if you have a baby and don't have a sling, you are really missing out! This wonderful scrap of fabric has the magical capabilities of making your child feel as though they are back in the womb. We had a couple of seriously grumpy days this week, but the sling is the savior of my sanity. For instance, Mommy had the bright idea this week of making sure that Iris is flexible with a schedule, and can live the happy-go-lucky life that Mommy wants to live, i.e. going out whenever we feel like it, rather than figuring out a schedule based on feeding times. This, obviously, resulted in an unhappy baby who got perhaps two hours of sleep during the day. Hmmm, smart, Mommy. The only thing that would calm her in the evening is being worn around in the sling. So the next day, Mommy was a bit smarter and scheduled her errands for just after feedings. Other than the fact that being strapped down in a carseat makes Iris very unhappy until the car starts moving and Diana Krall is playing (I wonder why feeling completely immobile and attached to a bulky seat would do that!), this was a good plan. However, by the time we reached the post office, Iris was still awake. Thus, I adopted the sling, which makes her go (usually) almost instantly to sleep. However, this meant that putting her back in the carseat after finishing in the post office would wake her up and make her mad, so we had a lovely jaunt around Downtown Corvallis, ignoring the "30 minute parking" signs, and visiting Daddy at work. All of which Iris slept through.
Now I am making dinner and cleaning, wearing a baby who doesn't want to go to bed, but who is perfectly happy in the sling! The picture is a mommy's-eye-view of the sleeping beauty. Thank goodness for slings.
Oh, and I forgot to say that Iris has had her first artistic experience last week. We went with Poppy (my dad) to a lecture by Bernard Malamud's daughter. For those of you who don't know one of Corvallis' most praised notables, Malamud wrote The Natural among many other novels, and was a professor at OSU for several years. Iris was quite good and listened intently, and I'm sure, is blossoming into a genius right before our eyes!