A War Begun…

War.  Over Religion, Land, Money, Freedom… and free baby carriers, apparently.  A war.  I can’t describe it any other way, an epic battle, two sides clashing in cyberspace both wanting the same thing… free fluff.  One one side, the BWI of Greater Austin Discussion Group (that’s us) and on the other side… Sneaky Corn Ninjas of Central Iowa (perhaps not their real name).  A battle fought hard by both sides, but in the end only one could enjoy the spoils of war — this tattooed baby wrap from Wrap Your Baby. Because we are a nonprofit, getting anything for free is always a boon to us, BUT getting a wrap for free is particularly exciting.  These things cost enough money that I’d rather keep my husband in the dark about their actual price (I know I’m not the only one, fess up).  This one was a particularly interesting blend (bamboo and linen), but more importantly… it has TATTOOS!!  As perhaps the last non-tattooed person in the Greater Austin area, owning a tattooed wrap felt cautiously rebellious (perfect for relatively square me), but WINNING a tattooed baby wrap was worth going to war over. I excitedly went over and liked the comment that corresponded with our group, “BWI of Greater Austin.”  It had…..drumroll… 14 likes.  Fourteen???  I can get 14 people to like a status I put up about the color baby poop, COME ON!!  Other groups had close to 80 and 90.  Then, it clicked.  Not caring that it was a free wrap, I insisted (perhaps demanded), WE WILL WIN!  We will not be outdone by the likes of Adelaide, Central Iowa, and the Amish Country of Pennsylvania.  We will have free tattooed fluff IN AUSTIN! Apparently (and thankfully) I’m not the only inherently competitive babywearer in Austin.  So, it started — the groundswell.  In an hour there were 200 comments on the post!  People tagging friends, calling out fellow members, making a list and checking it twice — you MUST go like this comment. Buried in those 200 comments was the beginning of our struggle against a formidable enemy, an enemy we just could not shake, BWI of Central Iowa.  They just kept sneaking up on us, like ninjas.  Sneaky. Corn. Ninjas. And thus the legend of the Corn Ninja was born and we declared that they were our sworn enemies: The groundswell continued and we had a comfortable lead against the Sneaky Corn Ninjas of Central Iowa.  Then we declared that perhaps we had another, hot-accented and sun-kissed, enemy in The Ozzies.

But alas, when the dust settled, it would be just the two of us, The babywearers of Greater Austin vs. The Sneaky Corn Ninjas of Iowa and we were not going downwithout a fight: Later that afternoon, the Sneaky Corn Ninjas of Central Iowa were 50 votes ahead of us, but sheer determination and shameless begging helped us close the gap.  At this point everyone agreed it was a war and the only respectable way to wage an online war is through memes.

Oh, there were memes:

Also, when at war, call upon your allies.

We were fortunate to get quite a bit of help from our baby wearing brethren from all over the Great State of Texas.  San Antonio, especially, but babywearers from Dallas to Corpus Christi, and El Paso to Houston all supported our Austin area group! Perhaps, that was the most humbling aspect.  The incredible support we received from throughout the state and from within our Discussion Group was astounding, impressive, incredible, and…. humbling.

We are an incredible group of parents and care-givers who love to wear their children close and help educate others about how to do the same.  From far and wide we came together for this (sometimes silly) cause, to add to our lending library, so others could try this wrap.  So that babywearers in our area could benefit.  If nothing else, this was was humbling.  Thank you for ALL the babywearing love.

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Oh, you want to know if we won??  Well, I’ll say this, we got a wrap, but I think Iowa won and I’ll explain in our next entry! If you enjoyed/ heard about/ participated in our epic battle against the Corn Ninjas of Central Iowa, we’d love to hear from you in our comments!!