I still can't really believe this but my darling little man is 1 today! How can a whole year have passed since he made his spectacular appearance arriving before the paramedics and midwives at approximately 1.38am with just hubby here (and a sleeping Henry upstairs).I blogged his birth story here. Please excuse the lack of sleep typos and a year on I struggle to find the time to edit it.
Happy 1st Birthday Isaac
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I cannot believe a week ago I was going to bed panicking about the next day. How time flies. The show was amazing. We were busy from the minute the doors opened at 10am. The show was very well run and I was even interviewed by metro radio! You can here it here.
Here is the summary of my day I wrote for Natural Mamas.
Alarm goes off, it is 6am! The alarm is never set on a weekend but it is today. I have 30 minutes to eat breakfast and get me and Isaac dressed. We need to leave at 6.30 to drive to show venue and set up. My mum has come to stay to look after Henry as hubby has to work. She helped me load car last night. Slightly weird to hear myself on the radio in the 7am headlines as I drive to venue (apparently it was repeated every hour till 12 but hey I was too busy to listen by then). Arrive at the venue at 7.15 and spend next 25 minutes unloading and taking boxes, bags, hanging rail and mannequin up to show room. I have the prime spot next too buggy park, stand 1, as organisers want to limit the number of buggies and encourage the use of the on the sling hire option. Takes me an hour or so to set up. Isaac spends time sitting having his breakfast. Proud of how good it looks when finished. I know it won't look as neat in a few hours. 10am event opens. Let the madness begin. So glad to see Carrie of Slings North of Tyne Library arrive, I'm struggling to cope already. See so many slings and carriers, only ever seen more in one place at the Natural Mamas Big Camp. Stall is busy all day but at 12 I have to abandon Carrie, I need to grab a sandwich, feed Isaac and I am due on stage at 12.20 to demo. Glad my day job is teaching, you can't hold a microphone and demo. Teacher voice it is, project, project, project. Demo completed I run down to stand and let Carrie go get her lunch. Hires continue and so do sales! Amazing feeling spreading the sling love to so many. 4.30pm finally can stop, show closed and time to pack up the stand. Chuffed to bits with how the day has gone bt even more excited by the prospect of a nice glass of white wine and putting my feet up. I will need to sort slings and tot up sales etc but that can wait. I need to relax now. 8pm and to bed I go. I have never sold slings. The library has always been impartial but by selling slings is a way I can develop the library. I hope to have a good range of instock and custom orders available soon. This way I can sell them rather than always having to direct you to vendors. The show proved their is a market to borrow and hire. I hope they can happily coexist.
I have no idea if the show will go ahead in 2014 but if it does I think we will definitely be there. Possibly without the poorly baby. Who despite having a chest infection and generally being grotty was a perfect little demo doll all day.
I know not everyone can make it to the library but that doesn't mean that they should miss out on carrying their baby (big or small). So The North East Sling Library offers sling hire across the UK and NE region.
So, how does it work? 1) Look on website and see which sling you would like to hire. 2) Email me [email protected] to say you would like to do a postal hire and tell me which slings you are interested in. 3) I then check to see if they are available. If they are I send you a hire form by email. If not I can give suggestions of others that are similar or tell you when that sling will be back. You then have two choices. You can either print form off and return with 2 cheques (hire fee/ postage and deposit) or you can send 2 PayPal payments. 4) Once I have form and payment I post sling to you. You get 2 weeks from they day you receive (or postman attempted to deliver - not when collected from sorting office). 5) At end of hire post back to me by the method I sent to you. For slings over £50 in value this is special delivery, under £50 recorded delivery. 6) Sling received and inspected. As long as no damage etc deposit returned (paypal or the cheque ripped up). What does it cost? It costs no more to hire a sling by post than it does at the library in terms of hire fee and deposits. All I ask is that you cover the cost if postage. For most slings (£50+ in value) it costs £8.25 for special delivery. Some slings which weigh under 500g are £6.95. If you want box posting this can push to next price catagory (over £11). If sling is valued at less than £50 I post recorded delivery. Prices for this are £3.70 for 2nd class small parcels under 1kg, £6.30 for medium parcels. 1st class is £4.10 (2nd class) and £6.75. Full details here http://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/RoyalMail_OurPrices_April2013.pdf I know Royal Mail prices are getting stupidly high but as the library makes no profit with all funds raised going into the library I cannot afford to absorb the increased costs. Therefore I can also offer courier which is cheaper, trackable but does take a few days longer to arrive. Your 2 weeks would start from 1st attempted delivery.
For example it is £5.22 for a medium size parcel weighing 1kg with signature on delivery and insured to £100. http://www.myhermes1.co.uk/our-prices%20-dropoff.htm Even with postage costs added a postal hire is still much cheaper than making a costly sling purchase. |
AuthorI'm Rachel, an experienced babywearer and consultant. In July 2011 I decided to establish the NESL to help the NE to carry their babies big and small. I'm mama to Henry (5yrs) and Isaac (2yr). Archives
February 2015
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