Congratulations to our Medalists for our #babywearingrelay Event!

***EVENT NUMBER FOUR WINNERS!***

Thank you to all who participated in our Babywearing Relay Race as Event Number Four of our Summer Babywearing Games!! #babywearingrelay

Congratulations to the winners! Since no one (other than volunteers) submitted more than one photo, no special bonus prize will be awarded. BUT we do have our usual gold, silver, and bronze medal winners! See below for the winning photos!

GOLD -  Lauren Rowan and her husband!

SILVER - Julia Bulia and her baby’s grandfather!

BRONZE - Tina Popp and her baby’s sister!

The GOLD medal winner will receive either $5 off a new membership or renewal OR the opportunity to borrow two carriers at a meeting!

The SILVER medal winner will receive an item made from a woven wrap!

The BRONZE medal winner will receive a BWI of Cleveland car decal!

****Please volunteer@bwiofcleveland.org to make arrangements to receive your prize!

Welcome to Event Number Five of our Summer Babywearing Games!!! Thank you to all who have participated thus far!!

If you haven't participated yet in our Summer Babywearing Games, now is your last chance!! It's time for Event Number Five: The Babywearing Quadrathlon ‪#‎bwquadrathlon‬. For this event, we want to see your photos in all the different types of carriers!

We are always talking about how no one carrier is best for every person, and that's what makes our lending library so great! We give you the opportunity to try the different types, and see what works for you and your baby!

**To enter this event, simply post a photo of yourself wearing one of the four main carrier types: wrap (stretchy or woven), mei tai, buckle carrier, or ring sling. POST EACH PHOTO AS ITS OWN COMMENT! Each vote you receive is worth one point - if you share photos of yourself in ALL four carrier types, you'll get 5 additional points! The people with the most points at the end of the contest will win some awesome prizes and be entered into our grand prize drawing!

This contest will end on August 20th!

Thanks to educator Wendy Haas for sharing these photos of herself and her daughters in the 4 different carrier types!

Congratulations to our Medalists for our #babywearingforthewin Event!

EVENT NUMBER THREE WINNERS!!

I am here to announce the winners of our third Summer Babywearing Games event - Overcoming Obstacles! There were some amazing entries, and it was so inspiring to see how babywearing has helped everyone in their parenting journey! Thank you to all who participated!! #babywearingforthewin

Congratulations to our winners!

GOLD MEDAL - Nicole Duraney

“Helped me eat out in peace!”

SILVER MEDAL - Ashley Nash

“Our first carrying experience was at 6 months. It was a cheap carrier and it killed my back. I called it quits because I didn't know about the wide world of carriers.

A few months ago, I learned about the wide array of carriers and that they can accommodate big kids. My son is almost 4 and has Autism. Overall he does really well when we go out, but when he gets tired he just wants to be up (Not easy to carry a child his size).

I started looking into toddler carriers and found one for a great price. When it arrived, I was clueless. We managed to get the thing put together and him in it, but he was literally sitting on my butt and my shoulders were taking all of his weight. Thankfully, we were only days away from a BWI meeting. We were able to meet up with an educator, learn how to use our carrier, and I was able to learn how to safely get him into it solo.

From that moment on, we have used our carrier and been able to ditch our bulky stroller. We have seen fireworks, gone to zoos and amusement parks, attended parades, and hunted Pokemon. He feels safe and so do I. It's a great place for him to escape from everything else.

I'm currently out of commission due to a shoulder injury. But I am counting down the days until I can carry him again.”

BRONZE MEDAL - Megan Zander

“Tandem wearing has been the best. Baby only wants mama and my newly 2 year old isn't adjusting well to life with a sibling. Both get to snuggle me and I'm not stuck on the couch all day”

The GOLD medal winner will receive $5 off a new membership or renewal OR the opportunity to borrow two carriers from a meeting!

The SILVER medal winner will receive an item made from a woven wrap!

The BRONZE medal winner will receive a BWI of Cleveland car decal!

***Please email volunteer@bwiofcleveland.org for information on how to receive your prize!

Welcome to Event Number Four of our Summer Babywearing Games!!! Thank you to all who have participated thus far - only two more events!!

Event Number Four: Relay Race #babywearingrelay is an event in which we want to see your child being worn by different friends and family members in a sort of relay race! Show us photos of your child being worn by your spouse, best friend, grandparents, even siblings!! If you don’t have these photos on hand, use this as an opportunity to introduce babywearing to your friends and family members! **For ease of voting, please put the photos into a collage prior to posting.**

The photos with the most votes win! Special BONUS prize for the person with the most friends and family members wearing their child!!

Congratulations to our Medalists for our #babywearingUSA Event!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Red, White, and Blue babywearing event! Loved seeing your USA pride and your babywearing pride at the same time! #babywearingUSA
Congratulations to the winners!

GOLD MEDAL: Lindsay Amicone

SILVER MEDAL: Mallory Over

BRONZE MEDAL: Emily Merkel

The gold medal winner will receive $5 off a new membership or renewal OR the opportunity to borrow two carriers at a meeting!

The silver medal winner will receive an item made from a woven wrap!

The bronze medal winner will receive a BWI of Cleveland car decal!

***Please email volunteer@bwiofcleveland.org for instructions on claiming your prize!

COMING UP! Event Number Three: Overcoming Obstacles #babywearingforthewin

This next event is all about how babywearing has helped you, your family, or your child! For Event Number Three: Overcoming Obstacles #babywearingforthewin, we want to see photos showing how babywearing has helped you overcome an obstacle. Maybe you had a newborn with colic, or an infant with separation anxiety….or maybe you just needed to get the dishes done! We’d also love to see photos of how you overcame a babywearing obstacle! Maybe you were too intimidated by the loooong stretchy wraps with your firstborn, but learned to love them with your second! Or maybe you could never quite get a good fit from a buckle carrier, until you came to a meeting and found the perfect fit!

In the photo above, volunteer Stephanie Herb shows how babywearing helps her and her daughter get through “patch time” during which her daughter needs to wear a corrective patch! Snuggles and love from mom are the best remedy for an uncomfortable babe, and babywearing makes it that much easier!

Whatever the obstacle, we want to see photos of how babywearing helped you!  Post as many photos as you'd like in our Facebook Group and be sure to vote for your favorites by clicking the "like" button!This contest will run through Saturday, August 13th! Good luck!

We Have a New Carrier in our Lending Library! The Ergobaby Adapt

One of our Educator's, Erin got to try out the new Ergo Adapt today with her 2.5 year old! It is such a difference on the panel height and width as compared to an original Ergo. And it can fit an infant without an insert! A true infant to toddler carrier--this one is heading to one of our libraries ASAP!  Be sure to keep an eye on our Public Lending Library Page for details!  

Thanks to Ergobaby for their generous donation to BWI of Cleveland!

Congrats to our Medalists for our ‪#‎summerwearinggames‬ Event!

EVENT NUMBER ONE WINNERS!!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our first event in the Summer Babywearing Games! We loved seeing all the photos showing how babywearing helped you to enjoy the summer!

The person with the most votes was our very own educator, Rebekah Kelly, who shared a wonderful photo of herself wearing and breastfeeding at the ocean!

But since we’d rather give these awesome prizes to our fabulous members, here are the real winners!! For the folks who tied on number of votes, we used a random number generator to determine the medal winners. ***Please email volunteer@bwiofcleveland.org for information on how to collect your prize!***

Gold Medal (16 votes) - Abby Mosher

Silver Medal (13 votes) - Carleen Almasy Johnstone

Bronze Medal (13 votes) - Jenn Rose Baker

The Gold Medal winner will receive either $5 off a new membership or renewal OR the chance to borrow two carriers from one of our monthly meetings!

The Silver Medal winner will receive an item made from a woven wrap!

The Bronze Medal winner will receive a BWI of Cleveland car decal!

Now on to Event #2: Red, White, & Blue #babywearingUSA!!

In this event, we want to see your photos that show your USA pride while babywearing!! Whether you're wearing a red, white, and blue wrap, attending a 4th of July parade, or your little one is waving an American flag - we want to see your pics!! Post as many photos as you'd like in our Facebook Group and be sure to vote for your favorites by clicking the "like" button! This event will run through Wednesday, August 10th!  Good luck!

Summer Babywearing Olympic Games!

Welcome to the First Summer Babywearing Olympic Games!

Games will start on Friday, August 5th and there will be 5 medal competitions, plus a grand prize. Each competition will last for 3 days. To enter, you'll need to take a photo or video that fits with the theme of the competition and post it to our Facebook Group with the appropriate hashtag. To win, you need people to like your photo! The most likes for each contest takes the gold, second is silver, and third is bronze. Pictures must be received by midnight on the last day of the contest. By entering this contest and submitting your photos, you agree to allow BWI of Cleveland to share your photos on our chapter blog.

Prizes will be awarded for gold, silver, and bronze for each event. Prizes must be claimed by September 31, 2016 and have no cash value. Prizes may be transferred, but are only good for BWI of Cleveland and may not be applied to any other BWI chapter. Prizes may not be combined. (If you win twice, you can give away or forfeit the lesser prize, and the next photo in line will be moved up.) You may enter each contest with as many photos as you'd like. At the end of the Games, all of the gold medalists from each event will be entered in a Grand Prize contest, for an even bigger prize!

Here's the event schedule:
August 5th through August 7th - Summer Wearing Games: Photos of you enjoying the summer while babywearing! ‪#‎summerwearinggames‬

August 8th through August 10th - Red, White, and Blue: Show your USA pride while wearing ‪#‎babywearingUSA‬

August 11th through August 13th- Overcoming Obstacles: What babywearing obstacles have you had to overcome? ‪#‎babywearingforthewin

August 14th through August 16th - Relay Race: Share photos of your child being worn by different friends and family members! #babywearingrelay

August 17th through August 19th - Babywearing Quadrathlon: Share photos of yourself wearing each of the 4 main types of carriers - buckle carrier, mei tai, ring sling, and wrap! #bwquadrathlon

August 21st - Grand Prize Contest

Good luck everyone and Happy Babywearing!  Let the Games BEGIN!