It takes a lot of time and you have to go through a lot of bad ones. Before I had a baby, I thought the simplest way to figure out what kind of gear I would need was to read reviews on sites like Baby Gear Lab and Baby Center (if only parenting were this simple.) As ergo was consistently named one of the best carriers, I felt fortunate when my sister-in-law re-gifted me her never used ergo carrier. Unfortunately, my baby did not feel the same way. I quickly discovered why the ergo was never used by my sister-in-law. Whenever I put my baby in the ergo, he cried. Not cute little kitten squeals, but full on pterodactyl type shrieks. So desperate was my little one to escape from the ergo that he would arch his back and use his feet to launch himself off of me in some kind of deranged baby suicide attempt. There was nothing ergonomic about the ergo for my baby or I, so we moved onto the baby k’tan. I loved my baby k’tan – it was soft, comfy, easy to put on and oh so cuddly. It rem...
When I was a senior in high school my mom came into my room and had one of the briefest and realest conversations with me that I have ever had. I was working on college applications and still in the process of figuring out which schools I would apply to. I had created a list of 10 schools. Most were schools that had admission standards that I could meet, in cool locations, and close to friends who I had grown-up with. I think she knew at the time that I was looking at schools that fit that criteria instead of investigating other important items such as: - Which schools specialized in the majors that I was interested in? - Which schools had a proven track record of helping undergraduates find employment after graduation? - Costs of tuition versus benefits So, my mom comes into my room and says to me, “Son, you can go to a state school and we’ll be fine, or you can go to a private school and our family will struggle”. I nodded, and understoo...