A change of direction.

This post has been a long time coming.  We stopped distributing for Babyidea last year, ending a 10 year long association.  Despite having a varied range of products, the majority of our business with Babyidea was seasonal, focussed on their baby-carrying accessories.  I was sad, but I needed to make a change in how I used my time and spread my work out over the year.  And to that end, I'm working to improve my teaching skills so that I can offer baby carrying consultations.  I'm taking part in a Trageschule UK "Advanced" course next month, and I'm busy preparing for this with the required coursework!  This includes a report of a consultation.  Since I'm not currently providing this as a service, I'm struggling a little with how to find a guinea-pig!  There are established consultants in the area, whose toes I don't want to tread on at all, I believe strongly that it's of benefit to all of us to work together, but I don't think it's appropriate to charge for my time when, despite having wrapped my now-13yo and 10yo daughters for the first few years of their lives, I am essentially a trainee.

So I'm putting it out there this way.  If there's anyone local who is happy for me to train 'on' them, who is available in the next few days (but not this weekend, as I'm away) for me to follow through the process, please get in touch via the Contact Us link on BabyArmadillo.

And watch this space for further news about our consultation service.

the hopeless blogger returns...

I was reminded last night what a hopeless blogger I am, and really what's the point of having a blog, and linking to it if you're not going to use it, right? So, here's a little update! We currently have a 'February Sale' on cold-weather babywearing acccessories at BabyArmadillo, along with our longer-standing reductions, and reductions on merino wool clothing at Fanny Fanackapants.

Babyidea have been busy bringing out a load of new products: the fabulous new 'art' eco wrap; new nappies and accessories including new pocket nappies, bamboo inserts, prefolds and flat multipurpose cloths and a cool new backpack-style nappy bag; a cute new range of organic cotton velour clothing made in conjunction with Fizzy Lemon, the German eco-friendly babywear brand.

Finally, we are at Little Ones Fair again in a couple of weeks time, it's always a busy event with lots of stuff going on, and we love to see our customers old and new in person!

I'll try to be a better blogger in future, honest...

Introducing Fanny Fanackapants...

I started this post back in October. Well October was a bit busy for us, and I really got out of the old blogging habit. But anyway. We moved some stuff around and got some new stuff in and we now have another online shop, which we called Fanny Fanackapants. 'Dillo is still about slings and breastfeeding, the potty and nappy-ish stuff has been moved to Fannypants, as some wag (that's wag as in joker, not W.A.G.) called it, along with a bunch of merino and organic cotton clothes from Babyidea. They're all made with the usual attention to detail and with an eye to getting the most possible use, with adjustable this and turn-up-and-down-able that and stretchy the other. I think they're all fantastic, of course! Not enough to have another baby to model them though.

Anyway, better late than never I guess!

New stuff and specials for August

First up, the new stuff...

Just in time for the sunshine we're getting now, we've finally got some Solarveil in! Courtesy of Kirsty at FrontBackandSides...

FBS Solarveil Ring Sling
FBS Solarveil Mei Tai

For anyone unfamiliar with Solarveil, it's a fab lightweight fabric with built-in sun protection, so you don't need to use any nasty gunk on your baby's delicate skin. It's naturally wicking and quick-drying so it's also ideal for use in the shower or pool.

Kirsty makes really great slings and MTs, with a fantastic eye for detail and meticulous care over the construction, plus she's local to us here at BabyArmadillo which cuts right down on those pesky product miles.

And now for those Specials...

Thinking ahead to the school run? Wondering how you'll keep dry and warm along with your younger offpring or mindees? Or just want to enjoy being out and about without worrying about the weather? Well we're having a bit of a clear-out of our cooler-weather stock in preparation for new items arriving in the Autumn, so take a gander at these:

20% off MaM Coat, Babywearing Winter Cover, Babywearing Dickey and Äiskä, plus The Tube and Fresh Mums Long-sleeved Top

These special prices run 'til the end of August, so get them while they're snug and warm ;)

Birth Club boards

Antenatal club boards are popular but often the clash of parenting styles means that those who make less mainstream choices end up feeling marginalised and in lots of cases leaving the group altogether. So I've set up some boards on the forum on BabyArmadillo, hopefully to give people a space to share information and experiences and support each other. Hope you enjoy them :-)

All systems go!

Woohoo! I've got my VAT number!! And after long hours slaving over margins and mark-ups and net and gross and zero rated and standard rated and pack sizes and minimum quantities (and taken a breath!) I have a new wholesale pricelist.

All I need now is companies interested in the products to send it to, lol. But seriously, if you are interested then drop me a line to info at babyarmadillo dot com There are lots more products there than are currently listed on the shop, including breastfeeding tops, cloth nappies, blankets and soft shoes. All Babyidea products are made with an eye for sustainability and fair working conditions, so if that's your bag, so to speak, do have a look at what we do :-)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I hope today brings the promise of Springtime new beginnings :-)

I'm up at ridiculous o'clock due to my youngest taking herself up to bed for a nap at 7pm, we hadn't even had tea. And while I have lots of jobs to do, sometimes things take a bit more concentration than listening to Dora the Explorer at 2am will allow. Like comparing types of cloth nappy to decide what a realistic and sufficiently profitable RRP would be on the products one can import. Or writing an email in html to send out to previous customers. Blogging doesn't need quite that level of concentration :-)

The email is a bit of a summing-up of news, I'll put the link here when I can get it finished and uploaded. I hope it doesn't annoy anyone, when I haven't had an opt-in-or-out for a newsletter in the past. The setting of RRPs is so that I can distribute a wholesale price-list, which was the point of registering for VAT. I mean, it's pointless and actually could be expensive if it doesn't increase sales.

Another string to my bow will be setting up some local demonstration sessions. This should have been an integral part of the business from the beginning, and any new sling and natural-baby-care retailer really needs to figure out their niche and local interest, because generally-speaking, people like to see how things work and what they look like, especially when the type of product is unfamiliar. The people who know about slings and are confident with the internet already know what they're looking for and how to find it, but there aren't that many of those, and there are increasing numbers of retailers competing for that relatively small customer-pool.

Anyway, enjoy your day, chocolate-loaded or not *grin*

Happy Easter!

a movin' and a shakin'

We had a busy week on the admin side of things last week, a new bank account, working on a merchant account and chip and pin machine, ordered some new accounting software and registered for VAT. The latter meant that this weekend we did a complete stock-take, during which I found something I knew was around here somewhere (the pinks and purples longies found here) and I appear to have misplaced some potties. Most disconcerting.

Registering for VAT also means that it will be easier to market my wholesale items to other businesses. So watch out, I may be spamming your inbox soon, lol.

BabyArmadillo went to the fair...

I drove through the lifting mist and braved the traffic round Bradford this morning to get to Harrogate, to go to the Nursery Fair. Thought I'd have a look-see at what other people were doing and see if there were any interesting products that I wasn't aware of. In particular I was looking for anything sling-related, and something suitable to replace the Helly potties.

There were the usual pushchair, car-seat and cot brand-names. I had a look at the bebe-confort creatis, the car-seat we used for dd4, which now has a quick-fix base which I'm not convinced by... but then I never used ours as a travel system thing. I also had a look at the Britax CosyTot which is meant to have a support cushion of newborns so that they lie flatter and dont have the risk of breathing problems that can arise for particularly small and/or vulnerable babies, but the cushion's not as good as the one in the Creatis IMO.

I wandered round the cot stands, hoping to find a co-sleeper but sadly no. It surprises me really. But I did talk briefly to the woman from The Wool Company, they sell some lovely stuff including wool-filled duvets, really light and v warm apparently (I didn't lie down to test them! Think I would have been asleep, lol.) And this lovely lush underblanket. They go up to super-king-sized. Mmmmmm...

What else did I see? Oh yes...

• Baby Cubes which are clever little boxes designed for storing home-made baby food. Being a BLW-er I wouldn't want to use them for that but I will be suggesting them to Merry at BeadMerrily as bead sorting containers :-) Maybe they'd be useful for EBM too?


• Close Baby Carrier which looks great, organic cotton, lovely and soft, I like the adjustability thing :-)


• The Peanut Shell pouch and the lovely lush ju-ju-be bags from Jellybean, nice, but then so are Sleepytoes ;-)


• Great Kids Toys stock the Learning Tower which I've known about for a good while, rave reviews from unschoolers in the US, and the Knee Rider... has to be seen to be appreciated, lol!


• The PurFlo mattress. Dust mite free, like hammocks, and supports the baby's natural curvature, like hammocks :-)

There was more stuff but I either can't find the brochure I picked up and therefore can't remember what it was, or it's stuff I might be stocking in the future. Watch this space ;-)

Helly potties

The official, calm and collected part:

Helly closed on 31st of December. My current stock, and that at Tiddlybums in the UK and The EC Store in the US are, as far as I know, all that will be available of the Babywunder Deluxe and The Pot potties. There may be some available from European companies, while stocks last.

The mini-rant:

It's taken me 2 months to find out that one of my suppliers ceased trading. Sod's Murphy's Law states that of course they make my currently most popular products, and one that I was going to take to shows and really push this year, and they didn't even have the decency to let me know that they were closing. Gah!

a funny old week

I love it when we get repeat customers, but not so much when the products don't suit them for one reason or another. *sigh*

An enquiry came in for aluminium sling rings (an upcoming product and part of the MaM range) in lots of 1,000. My mind is completely blown that someone out there might be manufacturing 500 slings at a time. I want some of that traffic!!! Sadly we couldn't get the price quite low enough to meet the company in question's current supplier of nylon rings, boo :( The other major frustration has been the disappearance of a supplier, seemingly dropped off the planet entirely, this is not fun as it's one of our more popular products and I'm desperate to place another order!

But on the upside we may soon be offering local workshops and working with local play-gyms to demonstrate slings and carriers and promote babywearing, in conjunction with our 'neighbours' FrontBackandSides so if you're in the area watch this space! The shop is being twiddled with some more (I can't leave it alone, lol) and as the home-page says, there will soon be articles to read as well as the forum and this blog. As usual, if anyone has feedback or suggestions, please feel free to post a comment here or on the boards.

A good friend is in hospital next week for exploratory surgery. I don't want to go into details but I do want to wish her the very best possible outcome and experience. She really deserves an upturn in health fortunes!!

Green Parent magazine

We placed an ad in The Green Parent for the first time, it's out on Friday but we got our complimentary copy today. And in it is a nice little write-up on the Äiskä! I really wasn't expecting it, it's a much-needed boost :-) And hello to anyone reading who has found us through TGP, say 'hi' and remember to let us know where you heard about us when you order ;-)

For those who don't know, the Äiskä is a poncho-style coat, with sleeves, designed to be worn over a child in a carrier on the wearer's front or back. It's fashioned from an exclusively-made fabric, a double-layer interlock, 100% wool on the outside and 100% cotton on the inside. It has generous cuffs which can easily be folded back, a detachable hood and scarf, the scarf can double as a head-support for sleepy babies :-)

Anyway, I'll be watching my web-stats with interest this weekend! Thanks TGP :-)

UK Babywearing Conference

Haven't blogged in a little while, partly because I've been busy trying to set this site up. I'm hoping to get plenty of volunteers so that we can keep everything as 'mother-sized' as possible, if you're interested in helping out, do join and use the contact form to let us know. :-)

Shop news: We have booked a stand at Little Ones Fair again, hopefully this time we won't have any mishaps to stop us attending! The next few weeks we'll be concentrating on preparing to attend. We have some things in the pipeline but they're going to have to wait!

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions we'd love to hear them :-)