Hello all,

[this was originally written on LiveJournal]

Welcome to Juliet's LiveJournal! Please excuse any teething pains (pun intended) while I'm getting used to this format. I'm a relative LiveJournal newcomer.

Cassandra and I went on a hike in McKinney Falls state park today, trying out the idea of using the frontpack (opposite of backpack) for moving Juliet around. She was not too keen on the idea when she was put into it facing me. I think the problems were:

1) not able to see much; she kept looking left and right but her view was blocked by the straps of the frontpack

2) serious lack of breasts; she kept bonking her head into my sternum, which I wasn't too keen on and I imagine she didn't like it any better.

So, after a few minutes we switched her around to face frontwards. This requires folding down the flap of the frontpack which is supposed to be supporting her head. She propped her arms over it and looked around in all directions, and seemed much happier. After we had been walking for a while, of course, she fell fast asleep. Which more or less makes it a moot point as to whether she can see or not. But I guess fast asleep facing frontwards is more satisfying for her than if she were facing backwards.

After wandering around the more-or-less dry watercourse (that at other times is the waterfall part of McKinney Falls), we did a loop around a 3 mile hike and bike trail. I was wheezing a bit from cedar fever (note to non-Austinites; this is what they call a juniper pollen allergy here), and carrying a 13 pound baby on my chest probably didn't help. But we made it the whole way, and it seemed to be an easier way to do things than the stroller. Especially when we went off-road.

Family legend has it that I saw large parts of the western United States this way in my first year of life, but I was on Dad's back, seeing things backwards. I wonder if the frontpack thing which I have now will work okay if put on backwards? That's something to try next time, I guess.

Well, more later. Welcome to the new blog!

ross