Babywearing

I haven't figured out this babywearing thing yet.  I love the idea in theory.  Put baby on, baby is happy, I am close to baby, I do things around the house.  Also, moms wearing babies look like they've got this shit totally under control.

I have found it somewhat problematic in practice, however:

• Carrier is highly cumbersome and/or time consuming to put on, and/or drags on the floor.  
• Baby screams during process of being put on.
• Even before you get to putting the baby on, carrier usually requires some prep work and baby needs to be set down somewhere for this.  Baby screams during this process.
• Baby feels awkward in wrap and/or slips down within three minutes of wearing.  Screams.
• Things done around the house while wearing baby take approximately 200-300% of the time they would normally take. 
• In the event baby stops screaming while in carrier, baby falls immediately asleep.  At which time I think, if baby is just going to be asleep, most of the time I wish baby were lying down somewhere else so I could *ACTUALLY* do things.  
• Upon waking up, baby screams.  To take baby out of carrier to comfort and/or feed baby requires the same cumbersome, delicate, and time-consuming process in reverse, during which baby continues to scream.
• Because of the above-referenced screaming, I have been hesitant to attempt this while running errands in public like this dude in a Wells Fargo commercial does.  The closest I've come is putting her on in a movie theater, and I was too stressed about the straps becoming contaminated with popcorn butter to really enjoy that.

I'm sure that most of the above is user error, and part of it may be Eden's personality.  I admit I have not been terribly persistent.  I'm open to new carriers too, but have tried a number already - we currently own a moby, a mei tai, and an ergo, and I have also tried some of my friends' including a ring sling, a boba, and a "woven wrap" (pictured below).  The one carrier I used without a problem is a hotsling, but she's too big for the carry I was able to do in that one now.

I have been referred to babywearing international, which has a meeting once a month during a time I can basically never go.  Oh well.  Unless/until I get better at this, maybe I'll just wear Eden when taking walks.  Carriers are pretty good for that, because it doesn't matter that it takes forever to assemble your baby - you're just going for a walk, after all.

Eden's first trip to Stone Mountain, with Aunt Becca, Uncle Matt, & Katie (who kindly lent me her "woven wrap" pictured here).