Jeers (sadly, no cheers)

Lately it seems like every time I turn around someone is breaking my stuff, providing bad service, misleading me and apparently it's my fault. There's nothing I can do about it and really, I should have known better in the first place. When I moved into my office, the movers (who flitted around like Super Mario Bros. on crack, except for Turtle--who was the exact opposite, so slooow) broke my Juki (industrial sewing machine). They cracked the handwheel and take-up lever and it cost $188 to fix it. The whole damn machine cost me $350 secondhand, but in pristine 6-months-new condition; to buy a new one would cost $625. The moving company (E-Z MOVERS in Skokie) offered me $30 based on a valuation of $.30 per pound per article. You have to sign this statement agreeing to this limit of liability at the start of the move. It says "I was presented with the option to purchase additional insurance." I was not, and no, I didn't really pay attention to all this at the time. So, yeah, legally, I don't have a leg to stand on. But it is really frustrating that they broke the one item that I asked them to be careful with. They could have broken many other things and I wouldn't have cared so much. So, cross E-Z MOVERS in Skokie off my list of companies that are a pleasure to deal with. Next up, Yellow Freight. The preferred freight provider for Baby Celebration LA. Very nice when I first call to set up the pick-up of two pallets going to LA for this show. Not nearly as helpful when I call on the second day that no one has come to pick up the pallets and am informed that "pick-ups aren't guaranteed" and that now that two days have gone by, I will need to "upgrade to definite delivery" to ensure arrival on time. Then on the return, I get assessed a fee for not being there when they randomly show up to deliver. Um, I'm not a huge company with a shipping/receiving department; I told them to call my cell phone in advance of delivery. At least give me a day. So, basically, when they are picking up, nothing is guaranteed and you sit around waiting for them for 3 days. When they deliver to you, you better be there, or they will charge you extra money. And shovel attitude at you all day long when you bring up these facts. Lastly, UPS. If John the UPS driver would just come back from Belize (John, why did you quit??? Oh yeah, you're in Belize.) then all would be fine. But since John left, we haven't seen the same guy twice and usually we don't see anyone at all. Must be a ghost driver without the ability to hold solid matter in its hands, because he leaves the packages here for days on end. The beauty of daily pick-up is someone just comes and whisks away your package. And you pay for that beauty, so give me my money back. "Oh, we have to wait till blah blah blah, then call me back with the tracking blah, and we can submit a blah blah." Just refund my pick-up fee and upgrade my Ground packages that were supposed to go out Friday to overnight. 

Our new office

Not completely cleaned or organized yet, but getting there.

Pikkolo positioning tutorial

The black line on the photograph shows that the baby's bum is at or above that line, not properly seated in the carrier. This means the carrier won't come up as high on the back/front of child and will not feel as comfortable as possible for either of you. This "air space" of fabric beneath the bum needs to filled up by having the baby seated in that space. When properly seated the carrier fabric will be rounded out by being filled up with baby's bum. (See photos below for tips on getting this position and what it looks like.)

Proper positioning in pikkolo

Demonstration of placing hands beneath child's thighs to smooth out fabric and make sure child is well-seated in carrier.

Proper positioning in pikkolo

Demonstration of using hands to tug up gently on carrier sides above child's thighs and below buckles to make sure he is seated properly in carrier.

Proper positioning in pikkolo

Proper seated position, fabric spread out from knee to knee and supporting child's bum.

New Digs

Here is a photo of the outside of our new office. We have a 1300 sq. ft. space on the second floor. It's in an area of Chicago called the Kinzie Industrial Corridor. I would show you a picture of the inside but it's still too crazy/messy to take photos. Must get it organized and pretty! As we're off to LA in less than two weeks for Baby Celebration I'm not sure how soon that will happen, but we'll see.

In other news, an update on our progress with various projects:

• we have begun ordering materials for our largest-yet purchase order of pikkolo carriers
• we selected 5 new prints for pikkolos, and will have 2-3 additional solid choices
• we're looking for environmentally friendly fabric options for pikkolo, possibly organic, bamboo, or bamboo blends for a possible future line
• we are planning on many new mei tai prints, most likely available in May-June
• we've got the new pikkolo box in the works; art approved, box printing plate and die being made

and, of course, many more items on our ever-lengtening to-do list!

Pikkolo wearing tips

Based on some comments we've received, I wanted to post a few wearing tips to get the best fit from your pikkolo baby carrier. The waist webbing is meant to go around your natural waist, or even above. If you are used to wearing buckle carriers such as Ergo or Beco lower on your hips, you may be putting the pikkolo on too low. Wearing it above your natural waist will shorten the body and bring the baby higher, so it usually works best for small babies and babies who want to face out (to give them more room to see out). Otherwise, wearing at the natural waist is the intended position.

Also, make sure that your baby's bum is seated deeply into the carrier. If there is "pouching" or rumpled fabric in the area of the baby's bum, then take the straps down, make sure baby's legs are spread as wide as comfortable, smoothing fabric of carrier body out horizontally and bring out and up as you start to bring the shoulder straps up over your shoulders. You may even want to hold both shoulder straps and give a little bounce to get the baby in deeply.

For reference, you may see the photo below of our coming soon khaki carrier. You can see that this 12-month boy who is 30" tall has the carrier coming up to base of the neck. As always, if you have wearing questions, please feel free to contact CatBird Baby.

Khaki/Olive pikkolo

The khaki/olive pikkolo is coming soon. We're just getting them in and shipping out to retailers. For reference on the body height, the baby in the picture is 12 months, and about 30" tall.

A shout-out to Brooklyn

Apparently, someone in Brooklyn bought a fleece mei tai cover and told all their friends. The orders for fleece covers having been pouring in from Brooklyn for several days now. So thank you, Brooklyn, and stay warm! If one of you sees this and sends me your picture wearing it, I'll post it here.