While Baby Tula grows, the people that make up our company continue to be our essence. We continue to work closely with our community and have, from our early days, worked with real families for our photo shoots. We would like to introduce you to the families that make up Baby Tula. Mothers, fathers, and children that enjoy Baby Tula carriers and the closeness that babywearing brings them. Meet Jess, Joe, Elliette, Juniper, & Beacon!
Tell us more about you two and your family! How did you meet or anything fun you want to share on our blog?
We both were born and raised in the little beach town of Encinitas, California. We went to the same high school, but were only there together for one semester and never met. We met while I (Jessica) was in college and Joe was working with my best friend at Starbucks. She was crushing on Joe’s best friend, so she came up with a plan to go together to see Joe’s band (This Holiday Life) play at Soma in San Diego because she knew Andrew would be there. It was a great night and the rest was history. We got married July 2006 and just celebrated our TEN year wedding anniversary!
We love walking around our neighborhood and spending time with all our family that is all still local. I have been doing polynesian dance since I was 10 and now Joe is a part of that. He plays all the music we dance to and Ellie is learning to hula! We enjoy nightly dance parties in our living room to Justin Timberlake, Rihanna and Taylor Swift.
How old are your children?
Elliette will be 5 this September
Juniper is 3
Beacon is ONE! (Just had his birthday on the 4th of July)
How is babywearing, carrying your child in a baby carrier, a part of your family?
When the babies are little it is absolutely essential. As a new parent it was so hard to learn how to calm my fussy new baby girl but wearing her was always a sure fire way to get her to calm down…. so Elliette pretty much lived in the thing! Ellie and Juni are only 21 months apart so the carrier came in handy when trying to do ANYTHING outside the house. I remember climbing all around the play ground with Juni on me so that I could keep up with Ellie’s exploring.
You guys are always so easygoing at the photoshoots. What are some things you try to remember as a parent to stay calm?
We really try not to take ourselves too seriously. Parenting is hard, that is the truth, but freaking out about every little thing that goes “wrong” only makes it harder. We try to give ourselves grace as much as we can. As long as our kids are safe and they know we love them… we think we’re doing a pretty good job.
We also really love to see our kids figure things out for themselves. We let them take risks even it it means a cut knee or bumped head. They know their bodies pretty well because of it, we think. They are pretty capable and adventurous people and that makes us happy.
Is there a favorite photoshoot that you have done with Tula?
There have been some pretty fun ones! That’s hard. But I think the obvious choice is the zoo. Because who gets to go to the zoo after hours and have the whole place to themselves!?!? It was a beautiful afternoon and the kids loved it! They got to run around and we didn’t have to worry about them getting lost in the shuffle. I love when I see them having fun at the shoots. They don’t care that we’re thinking about lighting and clothes or whatever… they are just being kids and having fun!
Then there is the flower field shoot I got to do with just Beacon. There isn’t a lot of just mommy and baby time with 3 kids so that was a really sweet morning for me and it’s so fun to have pictures that captured that.
How does your Tula carrier help you to keep doing what you love?
I don’t know how I could do what I do without my Tula and I love what I do. Being a stay at home mom is hard work but I wouldn’t want it any other way. And especially when I had 3 kids, 3 years old and under, I needed both my hands to hold the “big kids” hands while I wore baby in the Tula. How people do it without baby wearing? I have no idea.
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