Since our roadtrip vacation kind of went to the back burner in light of the job, car and financial stuff we decided to have a bunch of mini “staycations” (vacations close to home and on the cheap) while enjoying N’s extended break from working.

Last weekend we took Everly to her first cave and had a so much fun. N has blogged about the cave and our restaurant fun here. All our adventures out and about have allowed us to really put our new baby carrier to the test!

You see, Infantino has included me in a test drive program and am getting to try out one of their brand new carriers this month, the BALANCE- Ergonomic Carrier by Infantino. It is perfect because she’s getting too heavy for our other carriers.

I’ve been packing Everly around the house and garden since the carrier arrived. Baby wearing is great for including baby in daily chores while freeing those arms! I love to wear Everly on my back because it gives more cooperation from gravity and allows her to be able to see what is happening all around her better. It lets me actually get stuff done too.

This carrier is way more comfortable for us than the other two carriers we already have (a Snugli and a Rockin Ring Sling). For me there is much less strain on the back and shoulders with the BALANCE carrier. Yay for a happy babywearing back! Back and shoulder pain was the main reason why I stopped babywearing these days.

When you’ve got a child weighing over a 5th of your body weight it tends to begin making the baby wearing process more of a strain, in my opinion.

So far my only complaints with this carrier, and this wont really apply to everyone, is that the adjustable waist strap doesn’t get small enough to comfortably rest on my “natural waistline” like it is supposed to. The strap rests over my hipbones and after using it for awhile it begins to really hurt the tops of my hipbones. Yeah, I know throw the rotten tomatoes at the girl with the tiny waste line…

Other than the waist strap it is great! It’s got great padding on the waist strap and shoulder straps and is super comfortable. My husband agreed that it is by far the most comfortable of all our carriers for him to wear. Being able to see him wearing Everly brought to light another complaint for me.

The carrier literally smashes Everly against us with regards to her neck and shoulders and she was visibly annoyed with not being able to see or move much. She would cram her one arm under her and pull the other arm out of the arm area. It seemed like she was trying to get leverage to push herself up and away from us a bit, so she had more space. See:

I’ve found this issue is easily remedied with the positioning and flapping of the natural bucket seat. It can be worn so baby is higher up and less face smashing happens. We figured this out later on our staycation fun.

The BALANCE carrier really is a great item for active families or parents looking for comfortable babywearing options. The main selling points for us were #1 the front to back versatility and #2 the ergonomic design. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a comfortable versatile carrier.

We’ve also had other staycation fun like almost daily playground visits, lots of backyard fun time and we even ventured across the Indiana/ Illinois border to check out Cave in Rock State Park.

Getting out and about really helps to bring enjoyment and distraction, which is much needed right now. The thing is, going far away and spending tons of money isn’t totally necessary for a good time.

Today was cool enough to open all the windows, doors and turn the AC off. We didn’t go out and about today. I actually never left the house but the fresh air in the house just breathed new life in to everything. My mood was much better, we all had fun doing simple stuff.

The simple stuff is the best. I would have never guessed how much easy enjoyment could be had just by a simple visit to a playground too. Every loves her playground time and we love that she’s happy and exploring.

Although those playgrounds and all their climbing have sure started us down a path we weren’t ready for, the climbing stage.

I am a participant in a Mom Central campaign for Infantino and have received various Infantino products as part of my participation.