Before Pickle was born, LPD and I had discussed whether or not we would want to get him Christened. We both grew up in fairly Christian families where Christenings are ‘the done thing’, but as adults I think it’s fair to say we’re both pretty secular. Instead, we decided to honour his arrival with something that meant something to us (in the same way holding a traditional Christening means something to those with faith). We decided to celebrate his first walk up the Clent hills, and thanks to Slumber Roo and their wonderful Beco Gemini baby carrier, we were able to do that in style!
The view from the top – the climb was oh-so-worth-it!
On Sunday 9th October, we gathered our immediate family and some of our wonderful friends (including Pickle’s baby-friends!) and set our sights for the top of the Clent hills. With six babies in carriers, and two dogs, we must have looked quite the troupe as we ascended – and a wonderful advert for babycarrying.
The Clent hills aren’t the steepest or tallest of hills, but blimey did it feel like a slog when carrying a four month old! I’d purposefully chosen a route that I thought would be baby and pram-friendly just in case some of our friends didn’t have a babycarrier, but as we all turned up pram-free for some reason I decided the short but steep route would be the best way to go. I’m not sure I’d choose that route again…!
Wonderfully, we were sent a Beco Gemini baby carrier from Slumber Roo, and I can’t sing it’s praises highly enough. If I thought walking up the hill with that was tough, I can’t imagine how much more difficult it would have been without our Beco! And I have to say I felt pretty cool wearing it. I LOVE the Scribble design and Pickle was so happy and comfortable in it (he loves it so much he just wants to chew on it the whole time). I carried Pickle on the way up the hill – god knows why I got the short straw there – and we swapped at the top of the hill so LPD carried him down. We used a fabric stretchy sling when Pickle was first born which was okay but there’s no way I’d have felt it up to the task of proper outdoorsy walking and it would have been too much of a faff to have swapped over half way through the walk. With the Beco Gemini, there’s just three easy safety buckles that makes it super easy to switch around.
Slumber Roo also sent us this AMAZING babycarrying hoody that kept both Pickle and I nice and snuggly warm!
Although I’ve already mastered getting Pickle into the babycarrier on my own, LPD needed a bit of help at the top of the hill.
After the walk, my parents wonderfully hosted a little get-together back at their house (it would have been a REAL squeeze to fit everyone at our house, impossible even!) and LPD treated us all to one of his hog roasts. He’s started up his side business this year – Arrow Valley Hog Roast, and I can’t believe how well it’s going. This was the first chance I’d had to sample his pork baps and even though you probably think I’m biased – they were REALLY good! The best crackling I’ve ever tasted, hands down. Well done, LPD! If you’re after some mass-catering in the West Midlands area, you need look no further.
Arrow Valley Hog Roast – looking good!
It was a wonderful day. It was chilled and relaxed, no ceremonies or speeches, but just a fantastic gathering of some of our favourite people and just the first of many walks I hope to share with Pickle. If you’re trying to think of a way to celebrate your baby’s arrival without wanting a traditional Christening, I definitely would recommend thinking of a ‘first’ you’d like to honour instead. That might be a walk, like us, or it might be something else your family enjoy – first trip to the beach, first National Trust outing, first time to the zoo… even a first roast dinner! We can’t thank our family and friends enough for making this a really memorable day for us, the first of many family walks I hope with our new Beco Gemini carrier, which I’m sure you’ll be hearing plenty about over the next few months.
Please note: Slumber Roo kindly sent us the Beco Gemini carrier, and a Boba Hoody for use on our walk. All opinions remain my own, and as always, completely honest.
Random Musings
What a lovely idea. I think it’s great that you still chose to do something to welcome Pickle and have a bit of an occasion. And I definitely think you got the short straw having to carry him up the hill rather than down lol!
Debbie
Becci - The UnNatural Mother
Ohhhhh I like the look of the baby slumber carrier. My Pickle is just starting to grow out of hers and i need a new one. I love the idea of having an alternative Christening. We are what we call ‘quietly religious’ so we did have a church service but had a toned down version.