Playing Dress Up

Undeniably, one of the best things about having a little girl is the clothes you get to dress them in.

Example 1: Shirt with Fake Flowers

















Before R was born, we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl. This frustrated a number of people who wanted to get us gifts before the baby's arrival. One of my aunts who lives in Texas got around this problem by sending us a huge box of miscellaneous baby clothes, with a mix of boy and girl items. I sorted through them and sent a lot of the boy things to my brother and sister-in-law, figuring that even if we had a boy, G, our nephew, would fit into the clothes before our little one would. When we went through the box, this shirt (that finally fits R!) was one of the items that made me hope I would have a little girl, just so I could put it on her.

When she wore it the other day, R was a little too interested in the flowers for my taste so I'm a little nervous about her wearing it too often, even though I love it!

Example 2: Princess

















One of the best reasons, in my opinion, for keeping the gender of your baby a surprise until the baby is born is that you aren't inundated with baby clothes before the baby arrives. Baby clothes are impossible to resist, and I admit that every time I'm invited to a shower or buy a gift for a baby where I know the gender, I can't help but purchase some item of baby clothing. I even sometimes buy cute baby clothes when I don't have a baby in mind, because J and I are at the point in our lives where tons of our friends and family are having babies and we know that eventually we will have a teeny tiny baby to give this irresistibly cute item to.

Anyway, before R was born, we got almost no clothes as gifts, since people didn't know what we were having, and generally don't like picking up gender-neutral items (because they're just not as cute or they're harder to find, or both), and then after she was born, almost everyone who sent a gift sent us clothes (which was exactly what we needed, so it worked out great).

But one other reason I was glad not to get too many clothing items before she was born was because I thought I wasn't going to be "one of those" moms who dresses her little girl "all girly and pink." I was excited that I had plenty of gender-neutral items that weren't super-girly, and when people gave me girl clothes that weren't pink, I was glad, because I thought it would help balance out the pink overload.

BUT... once I actually started dressing R, picking out outfits for her to wear from her closet... I found myself reaching for the pink stuff first! I thought she looked so adorable in pink! I loved it! Far from being sick of pink, I liked it and I wanted more.

So when one of J's aunts went to Disney and came back with this outfit, I could not wait to put her in it. We had to wait about three months but she fits in it now.

Hooray for pink!

















I can't get enough of the tulle and skirt on this--so incredibly princessy, and so awesome.