January Meetings

We have three meetings scheduled so far for January!  Please join us if you are able.

• January 12th - Stafford Saturday Meeting @ Porter Library from 11am-1pm
• January 14th - Richmond Monday Meeting @ St. Thomas from 10am-12pm
• January 26th - Richmond Saturday Meeting @ St. Thomas from 10am-12pm

Our Richmond meetings are scheduled for the 2nd Monday and 4th Saturday of each month from 10am-12pm at St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

Also, check out our lending library options, we have lots, and please "lend" from it!!  We want you to use these carriers!  (You do need to be a BWI member to lend from our library.)  We will be updating the blog soon with the book library we have as well.

Upcoming Meetings

So we have been pretty quiet since International Babywearing Week, but we are still here.

We will be having our regularly scheduled meetings (2nd Monday and 4th Saturday) on Monday, December 10th and Saturday, December 22nd both from 10am-12pm and at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 3602 Hawthorne Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23222.

At the Monday meeting, we will be making babywearing peg dolls, so if you plan to attend please RSVP (rivercitybabywearers@gmail.com or on Facebook).  Pegs will be provided, and if you do attend please bring a canned food item to donate to the food bank.

A January Satruday meeting in Fredericksburg is also in the works, so stay tuned for more info.

We would also like to say "Hi" to the newest Virginia BWI Chapter, BWI of Hampton Roads.

IBW ERGObaby Carrier Giveaway

We were selected as one of 11 BWI groups to host a Giveaway for an ERGObaby Carrier during International Babywearing Week 2012.

The prize is a choice of 1 of the following ERGObaby Carriers:

• Organic Collection (Classic Fit)- Desert Bloom
• Performance Carrier (Active Fit) - Black/Charcoal
• Sport Carrier  (Flex Fit) - Red 

To figure out which carrier will work best for you, check out this video.
 
This giveaway is open to US residents only during IBW 2012 (October 8-14).  The Rafflecopter Giveaway will start on Monday, October 8 at 12:01AM.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

August 25, 2012, Saturday Meeting

Hi Friends! We had a great meeting on Saturday with a wonderful turnout. Folks came bearing questions about ring slings, wraps, mei ties and double wearing. 

There was a slight bit of confusion recently on our Facebook page that I would like to clarify. You do not need to be a member of Babywearing International (BWI) to attend our meetings! We welcome any and all that would like to try on carriers, learn more about the carrier you have from any of our expert Volunteer Babywearing Educators (VBE's), or share and chat with like minded mamas! Non members are welcome to come try on anything, however to borrow from our lending library, you do need to be a member of BWI. To join, please complete this BWI membership application and pay your annual fee of $30. Half of that fee stays with us in our local organization to help us continue to grow our carrier and book lending library, the other half goes to BWI. At this meeting, we gained two new BWI members and have made many new additions to our lending library recently. If you have any suggestions of additional member benefits, please let us know!

VBE Courtney providing ring sling assistance 

VBE April teaching wrap braiding and VBE Courtney adjusting a beautiful ring sling. 

Beautiful Mama and Happy Baby in a wonderfully positioned ring sling. 

Cutie Patootie Baby wear-ie.

VBE April comparing the outside temperature to the central air flow. :)

Babywearing friends

Super mama double wearing in a ring sling on the front and a wrap on the back.

Super mama nursing while entertaining toddler on her back!

Our big kids playing. Feel free to bring your big kids! There's always someone to play with!

Our next meeting is Monday, September 10th at 10 am.

October 13th at 9:30 am, we will be having a yard sale!

July 28th Saturday Meeting [Raffles!]

Hi Friends!! What an exciting meeting we had on Saturday! The weather was beautiful and we decided to hold our meeting in the playground outside the church. The older kids definitely enjoyed that!

Folks who wanted to buy raffle tickets, or buy more raffle tickets, bought them at the beginning of the meeting. We also spoke about what things you all would like to see us do. The possibility of a YouTube channel was brought up, and I am currently in the works of building a channel full of our recommended videos of proper carrier techniques. If you have a video that you love, please share it in the comments below or on our facebook page. We will check it out and consider adding it to our YouTube channel. 

If there are any other things that you would like to see- especially in reference to member benefits, please let us know!

VBE, Sara, having snuggles from her wee ones.

The beautiful Lillian!

 Raffle time!

Our super helper, Isabella, picked the winners for the raffle.

Digging deep!!
 

The winners of our raffle were: Nicole S, winning the Ergo; Melanie, winning the Beco; Laura S, winning the Sling Rings; and Katie Z winning the Babywearing Institute mirror! 

Our fundraiser helped us gain 4 new members and we made $160 in raffle tickets! We will be spending our money to grow our carrier library as well as our book library.

If you are interested in becoming an official member, gaining you access to the lending library, please see this Membership Application Information.

Happy First Birthday BWI of Central Virginia!

Hello Friends! To celebrate our group being active for one very busy year, we held a birthday party! It happen to fall on one of the most hot days of the year- almost 110 degrees! That definitely affected the turnout and length of the party, but for those who came, we had a great [hot] time!

Our historian, Kati, held a few mini photo sessions as a fundraiser. Several folks brought munchies for all to share as the older kids played in the playground. Phew it was hot! 

Several carriers were donated and/or won at the International Babywearing Conference. While we are keeping several for our lending library, we decided to raffle off a few of the doubles as a fundraiser. Up for the raffle is an Ergo Carrier, Beco Carrier, Babywearing Institute mirror and a pair of Sling Rings! Our raffle will be held July 28th at 10am, our regular Saturday monthly meeting.

Raffles!

The Big Announcement:
For those that were not there at the groups Birthday Party on Saturday, we are raffling off two carriers, a set of SlingRings, and a babywearing mirror. The drawing will take place at our Saturday, July 28th meeting. You do not have to be present to win, but I may call you to see what you want.

The Prizes ~ 4 names will be called the first person will have first choice, and so on:
Ergo Original Black or Ergo Original Organic Desert Bloom
Beco Butterfly 2 Robots or Beco Butterfly 2 Lauren
Large Silver SlingRings
Babywearing Institue Mirror

Raffle Tickets:
$1 - 1 Ticket
$5 - 6 Tickets
$10 - 15 Tickets
$20 - 35 Tickets

Also, if you are a memeber of BWI or join before the raffle you will get an extra 10 tickets and also the next 7 6 people to join BWI will get a pair of Large Silver SlingRings!!!

We accept cash, check, and PayPal. Please send PayPal to centralva@babywearinginternational.org and let us know this is for the raffle.

If you have any questions, please ask here or contact a VBE or one of the VPs.

Membership Application

If you would like to become a member of Babywearing International, please fill out the following form:

BWI Membership Form - Central VA Chapter

Unfortunately Google Forms do not have direct links in them, so while a URL is there to be copied and pasted, here they are for easier access:
Membership Agreement
Lending Library Agreement
PayPal Link

Dues are $30 for one year.  Half of that stays local and the other half goes to the national organization.

To borrow from our lending library you must be a member of BWI.  We are also working on a Book Lending Library and other member-only benefits.

April Saturday Meeting

The ObiMama LoveBirds traveling Wrap Conversion Mei Tai (WCMT) made its way through Richmond on Saturday, April 28^th.  This carrier, made from a BBSlen Blackberry wrap.  Jen (the woman behind ObiMama) constructed the WCMT as a short stage 1, meaning it has a 16” wide seat (plus seat darts), and was 16” tall.  It also had 85” long padded wrap straps, her “Zen” version, with 70” waist straps.  It also included padded head/neck roll, legs out padding, and an adjustable hood with a beautiful love bird applique.  This was an amazingly versatile size and fit all wearers and wearees quite well.

ObiMama has risen to babywearing fame this past year, but has been sewing carriers since 2010.  She is based out of Roanoke, VA, so we were excited to try this Virginia-made carrier.  ObiMama also makes silk and linen ring slings, and “featherweight” mei tais which are great for the humid Virginia weather.  We enjoyed having LoveBirds make an appearance at our meeting and are excited to send it on to the next group to try!

March of Dimes

April 22, 2012 started and ended as a rainy day, but 4 members of BWI of Central VA along with 2 kids had great fun walking in the rain for the March of Dimes Walk for Babies.  These dedicated walkers and babywearers got up early that Sunday morning to walk in the rain for the purpose of raising money and awareness for premature babies.  There was some singing in the rain as we walked with our umbrellas while babywearing, but the almost 5 mile walk was not too treacherous and the group finished it in less than an hour and a half.

The walk started and ended in Monroe Park, and it was a neat way to see some of the sites that most normally pass by only in cars.  It was a unique and beautiful view walking over the Manchester Bridge, but coming back on the Robert E. Lee Bridge proved to be very windy and I am not sure anyone stayed dry, except for maybe the babies riding on their parent’s back.  Luckily babywearing made this walk much safer and more fun for the babies involved; one even slept the majority of the walk.   One mom decided to bring a stroller just in case and used it to store their “stuff”; she decided afterwards that it was a horrible idea and wasn’t sure how the babies in strollers could have made it through.   Babywearing sure makes walking for charities much easier!

Babywearing International of Central VA was glad to have several faces present for this walk to show support for helping babies.  They may have gotten soaked in the rain, but they had a fabulous time!  

Monthly Monday Meeting 4/9/12

St. Thomas Episcopal Church has graciously extended our welcome and this week we continued our bi-monthly meetings there. Feel free to stop by the parish secretary's office and express your thanks. Let's also continue to be grateful guests by keeping our space tidy and following the church's traffic pattern when entering and exiting the parking lot.

We had lots of wrap questions for bigger babies and tots, and lots of opportunity to show off back and side carries. Some of these wraps are trickier than others and take a lot of practice to get right, but the payoff is in the comfort and security of the hold.

Double Hammock

Hip Hold

Back Wrap Cross Carry

Coming Up: Our group is excited to be participating in the March of Dimes this month. It is our goal to spread awareness of babywearing while helping a great cause. Several of us will be walking while wearing. If you would like to join our team or contribute to the cause please visit our Team Site.

COTW: Poppins Hip Carry, and 5k Fun!

So we skipped a weekly post of COTW rebozo, mostly because everyone had SUPER long wraps, at least for the carry, and didn't get a lot of pictures. We did learn it though. Last week we did Poppins Hip Carry and had a LOT of pictures! I can't wait to share them all with you! On Saturday, three mamas from our group did a 5k at Washington Henry Elementary school, each wearing their little and taking turns pushing a stroller through the neighborhood path. Afterwards, we had a great lunch meet up with a few of the mamas who couldn't make it that morning. So be prepared for a photo bomb of adorable proportions.. first up.. COTW: Poppin's Hip Carry!

    

We loved this carry! Kati saw it come up in a photo contest on facebook, and we decided we all had to try it. This week's COTW is Ruck, in it's many forms. Tied in Front, Reinforced, Wiggle Proof, and anything else that get's the job done!

For the Washington Henry 5k we walked it, and while my squirmy toddler slowed us down a few times (She desperately wanted to run it, but being on public roads made that a no-go), we still didn't finish last! We ended up with 5.35 KM in 1 hour 5 minutes, and had a lot of fun chatting as we went. We're doing another 5k April 21st at LMES in Mechanicsville, and would love for you to join us! We're also doing the March of Dimes 5 miler the following weekend. Here are a few pictures  from the 5k!

Before the walk

Passed out kiddo :)

We had a lot of fun and hope you'll join us next time!

"Ch ch changes.."

Woohoo! Our paperwork made it's way to the right people, and we are officially "Babywearing International Of Central Virginia"!
We've had a few questions come up, so I'm going to do my best to answer them. There is some background info in previous posts, but I can see how this would be confusing, especially if you didn't know it was coming, and then logged on all of a sudden and the name had changed!

Will we be changing pages?
 Yes and no. Our "group" page that shows up on your facebook sidebar will still be our discussion forum, general shenanigans, etc. The new page that Courtney created helps to link us with our sister groups, and makes us easy to find. This will be more informational- have useful links, event postings, etc.

Can we still wear our RCBW gear?
  Yes. We have picked up an AKA, that's all. When we're doing public events, it would be nice to be able to use our BWI name, but it is hard to get group specific gear with that info on them because the logos are copyrighted. If you would like some BWI gear, they have an awesome cafepress shop, and the money helps BWI, which will help our group! Our blog addy will stay the same, the FB page has been AKA'd, etc.

What changes?
  Most of what changes is internal- our name, our bank account, our VBE qualification (to be a VBE you are supposed to be part of a BWI group, but to have a BWI group you need to have at least two VBEs.. its kind of a chicken vs egg thing), our bylaw requirements, and our billet positions. There is a lot more paperwork involved in being BWI associated, but it helps keep our VBEs and our library insured, and gets us a LOT of support, both in personpower and in printed information. It will also help grow our library.
Speaking of the library, a part of the change that will affect you is that to borrow from our library, you now need to be a member of BWI. That means paying an annual membership fee of $30. Half of that fee stays with the group, and half of it goes to BWI to pay for printed materials, liability insurance for our group, etc. Let me assure you that you are not paying for someone's wage or freebies. I work for BWI, which means I VOLUNTEER for BWI. You aren't helping fund the conference or any events. It is purely "money goes in only to be returned in gear/printed material". the $15 that stays with us is to help us grow our carrier library, fund outreach events, and keep a minimum balance so that our bank account doesn't get grumpy with us :)

We have been following a lot of the BWI rules since we formed the group, and being involved in their events, just because we knew that being part of BWI was something we wanted. It just took us longer than we expected to get all the loose ends tied up.

I hope this helps! Let me know what else I can answer for you!

COTW: BWCC Back Wrap Cross Carry

BWCC Tied Tibetan

BWCC with Ruck Straps

Basic BWCC

Thanks you to everyone who participated and posted pictures this week for COTW: BWCC and variations. Here is the video we used to learn it!

Events Coming Up:
February Saturday Meeting: 2/25 from 10-12 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Washington Henry 5k: March 3rd from 8:45-11 at Washington Henry Elementary School
March of Dimes 5 Miler: April 28th. Sponsor us or Walk with Us!

COTW: Front Wrap Cross Carry

Hello!
  Our group has started (mostly) following the Carry Of The Week (COTW) on one of our favorite websites, the babywearer.com, in an effort to expand our wrapping repertoire and to help new wrappers learn more than just  "that one carry". Last week we did Front Wrap Cross Carry, and here are some of our pictures!

  

  

If you don't know this carry, here is a fabulous video with an adorable baby (yes I'm biased, no this isn't me lol)

This week's carry is Back Wrap Cross Carry, and if you have pictures, we'd love to feature them on our blog!

There was also a meeting on Monday, with some awesome photos up on our facebook page. Our next meeting is Saturday, February 25th at St. Thomas Episcopal Church from 10-12! The following weekend is our 5k at Washington Henry, and it's not too late to register, although you are too late to get a t-shirt. Come walk with us for a good cause and to bring babywearing out into the public eye!

"Sorry for Party Rockin.."

  We realize the blog has been a little dead lately, but that could not be a more inaccurate reflection of RCBW's latest activities. I don't have any pictures for you at the moment, but check out our facebook page and there is some on there!
  Courtney got on yesterday and posted the upcoming meeting details, so scroll down for those, but we do have some other exciting community events coming up! First up is our 5k at Washington Henry Elementary School in Hanover, on March 3rd. The deadline for registering and getting a t-shirt is tomorrow, but you can register after that with out a shirt. We are not registering as a team, but we are meeting up at 8:30 that morning so that we can all walk together. Babywearing and RCBW attire is encouraged, but certainly not required. Strollers are also fine- we will walking through a neighborhood that is close to the school. Registration is $15 per walker, but you do not have to pay for your rider :)
 Also coming up April 28th is Richmond's March Of Dimes 5 Mile walk. River City Babywearers IS registered as a team, but you register your own page and then link it to us. We are also babywearing at this event, and they are SO excited to have us. If you would like to walk with us, or donate, here is our page: http://www.marchforbabies.org/s_team_page.asp?seid=1771516
ANOTHER exciting event that is coming up in late June/early July is the 2012 International Babywearing Conference! This is being hosted in Washington DC by one of our sister groups (more on that in a minute :D), Babywearing International of DC-MD-VA. There will tons of classes, a fabulous speaker, Rachel Coleman of Signing Time, and on Saturday there will be a free day open to the public with basic babywearing classes, a fashion show, and a vendor fair. Come venture with RCBW and check it out!
Sister Group, you ask? Why yes. River City Babywearers is EXCITED to be joining a large organization of babywearing groups called Babywearing International. This will allow us more resources and greater access to carriers, as well as a sense of community to bring into light the awesomeness that is babywearing. This change should be finalized any day now, and we will be picking up an AKA, Babywearing International of Central Virginia. Our blog address will not change, our facebook address will not change (but you might notice a page title change, if facebook is still allowing such. They change ALL THE TIME.) It will still be the same group you know and love, but with more support than ever before.
Recently we've had some great meetings, so I won't touch on them all, but most recently was a tandem class that had a great turn out, with lots of moms asking awesome questions. If you would like another topic-specific class, just ask us! We'd love to work it in. Two of our VBEs also taught a Babywearing 101 Class at Franklin Goose not too long ago, which was a great opportunity for them, and has brought us some fabulous new members. Welcome to all our newbies! We're so glad you've joined us!
That's all for now, but thanks for checking in with us, and we'll trying to stop by more often and keep you in the loop :)

February Meetings

We will be having our regular monthly meetings this month, 2nd Monday and 4th Saturday.

Monday, February 13 @ 10am-12pm

Saturday, February 25 @ 10am-12pm

Both will be located at St. Thomas Episcopal Church - 3602 Hawthorne Avenue, Richmond, VA 23222.

For Monday - Go to front of church and ring buzzer if the door is locked. Let the office staff know you're with the babywearers. The meeting will be upstairs; follow the signs.

For Saturday - Come to the side door on the north side of the church (where the parking lot and playground are). A RCBW member will be at the door to let you in. If you're running late we'll post a phone number on the door for you to call and someone will come down to let you in.

We hope to see you there!