It started sometime last year, I believe, and God knows if it’s still going but I’m going to hop right in on it anyway. This paragraph sums it up nicely:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 random people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week… LOL… but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I’m going with 3 random instead of the 3 first because I’m really hoping to draw folks out to comment on this one. I’ll close comments on Friday.

I finally made a push to get some pacifier clips up on etsy and into Monkey Beans Baby. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on whether you view it as a WOOHOO! SALES! or Crap, now I have more work to do), a good bit of my girly clips got bought up almost immediately by some very good friends before I even had the chance to put the remainders into the Monkey Beans Baby shop. I’ll update the shop with what I have left sometime tomorrow.

Anyhoo, since it is the grand ol’ opening of my etsy shop, everything in it will be up to 40% off through the end of April. That means all the pacifier clips are $3.00 right now! (Do I sound like an informercial yet?) I’m off to buy more ribbon later this week, too, so if you have any requests, convo me and we’ll figure it out.

Jennie, the gal from Little Lids on Etsy and I made a trade earlier this month. I made her a Mei Tai and she made me two(!!) of her adorable hats for Ben. They’re so flippin’ cute in person. Unfortunately, since Ben is a willful child and gets all rambunctious with things on his head, I didn’t get very good pictures but I’m still trying!!

And the Mei Tai:

I love that so many of my girls make things. I’d rather buy from friends than some faceless (and most times heartless) corporation. You can be sure it comes with good juju. Check out some of my friends’ shops at the end of the post. Also, be sure to keep my stores (MonkeyBeansBaby & MonkeyBeans on Etsy) bookmarked. New stock is coming in soon! And, as always, I’m open to custom orders & trades!

Karen : Accessories by Mrs. Red
Julie : Hydroxide
Jennie : Little Lids
Mandy : Mandy Magoo
Valerie : My Wee Feet
Julie : Ohlieoh
Melissa : The Babymonster
Mandy : The Goofy Tooth

I decided, since well before becoming pregnant, that whenever I had children, I’d be one of those “babywearers.” I’d carry the child on my belly, my back, my shoulder, my hip because it was good for them. Period. So I finally took the time this past month to make myself a sling.

I, honestly, wasn’t a huge fan of this fabric when Eric first found it. I agreed to buy it because I thought he wanted a sling out of it for himself. Of course, he scoffed at the suggestion when we got home, “That’s a mom thing.” My attempts to show him grand pictures of manly daddy-men wearing them were met with, “He looks like an idiot,” and “I don’t want to look that stupid.” So I used it to make one for myself.

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Please ignore ridiculous faces – blame them on my husband’s insistant calls of, “Now, VOGUE!” And, since I obviously do not have a child, I used my Cabbage Patch doll – I swear I don’t carry her around like that all day…Seriously. Stop staring at me like that.

I enjoyed making this sling immensely. It was a little bit of a challenge but didn’t kill me. Luckily, I’m fortunate enough to have a great group of mommies that are purchasing some from me. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to do something I love for friends, and hopefully for a living someday soon. You know, if I ever have any time after this kid is born.