Who Are You Wearing?

If a baby ever makes it to the red carpet (and honestly, I would see that as a red flag), his answer to the question, "Who are you wearing?" should be one of the following:

Photo courtesy of georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu

Not those Carters, dang it.

This one:

Tried & true, bright & fun, and they have super sales

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Sold @ Target--cute & inexpensive

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(The Mecca of incredible shopping and adorable dresses for little girls; lots of brands, including Carter's and their store brand Jumping Beans which I love.  They have great mix and match separates and run super sales!)

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So fun, so funky, so bright, so Euro.  Kinda pricey retail, but if you can find it on sale or in a consignment shop with the original tags still on the garments, which I have done several times, get it.  

Great quality. 

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Do I purchase $30-$40 jeans and sweaters for my daughter retail here?  No.  

Do I purchase leggings out of the little bins on the tops of the free-standing racks in the middle of the store that were from last winter but will fit my daughter this winter for $1.59?  H -to the- ELL yes.

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My girlfriend, who is following each of these directional posts as the days leading up to her due date tick by, is learning everything she'll ever know about parenting from me.  I have a duty here, people.  She needs my honest opinion now more than ever.  Her unborn, gender-surprise baby's every comfort depends on what I think.

Dress your wee babe like this:

From birth to as long as you possibly can: Side-snap t-shirts, footie pj's (I like the Gerber ones with the zip, they come in a pack of 3), blankets for swaddling, little socks, little hats.  Everything at this stage is little.

ER wore footie jammies for the first several weeks of her life, in her waking times as well as her sleeping times.  The times that I did try to put a cute onesie on her resulted in difficulty.  It's just SO MUCH EASIER to lay a baby in a pair of pajamas and put their arms through the arm holes and legs into the leg parts, then trying to put something over their head.  Their heads are so floppy.  Go for pj's.  Your baby doesn't give a poop about what she's wearing as long as she is comfortable and dry.  Don't get caught up at this stage in making them look a certain way.  Unless you want to.  But that's not what I would do.

Here's my sweet girl at 6 weeks old.  In jammies.  Ready to run errands.
She doesn't care, I'm telling you.  She's happy as a clam.  

Later in life: Whatever is MOST COMFORTABLE for your little ankle biter.  ER didn't develop a noticeable preference for clothing until she was around 2.  She definitely likes to choose what she wears these days, but I make it easy for both of us by offering her a couple of choices.  I do NOT open her closet and say, "What do you want to wear today?"  That's opening yourself to your little one choosing a snowsuit in the middle of July, or a sundress in the dead of winter.  And then you have to break the news to them that you're vetoing their decision.  That's crushing to a toddler.  I promise.  Set them up for success every time.  Toddlers love to be responsible for making choices that affect them...and even ones that don't.    

This summer I washed the same selection of dresses over and over and over.  Capris weren't as popular this season, and shorts never came into the picture.  As a matter of fact, we don't even own any shorts for ER right now.  She's a dress girl.  And wears them well.  

The bottom line is this: babies grow fast and go through clothing like crazy, whether they're growing out of it or spitting up all over it or pooping out all over it.  I packed away many things that ER never wore because she didn't get to a certain outfit in a certain season, or it was just too fancy/complicated, etc.  My one word rule for dressing babies is "SIMPLE."  Make it easy for your baby and easy for you, since you're the one who has to do laundry.  I can almost guarantee with 100% certainty that you are not going to be interested in handwashing delicate little newborn outfits and hanging them up to dry in the first couple months with your newbie--especially if you had a C-section.  Laundry post C-section blows, btw.  

This $196.00 cotton/silk infant dress from Chloe
is the enemy.  Shit, do you know how many pairs of
jeans from Coldwater Creek I could get for that much?
Or how much food we could buy?
Or how many times I could fill my minivan with gas?