Sorting through baby clothes

So, fall is officially here. Yay! I love fall. The autumn season has always been a favorite of mine. It used to be that fall was something I associated with starting a new year of school, going back, something new, something fresh. But since 2000, I have happily associated fall with the beginning of my relationship with my husband, Daniel. We went on our first date on August 16th, 2000, but because he was leaving the area for his first year of college, I didn't see him after August 22nd, not again until mid-September. The following year I took tour buses and trains out to Pittsburgh to visit him, and the year after that I moved with him to Pittsburgh. Oh, and two years after that our daughter was born. And lastly, the year after THAT we conceived our son. For those still playing along, that's 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005. ;)

Alyssa is all ready for the fall. She really hasn't grown too much since last year (just upwards!), so all of her pants from last year fit her just fine. She inherited my short legs, so at least this year most of her jeans won't be dragging the ground. I seriously have to roll up the cuffs on 90% of her pants. It's ridiculous!

Ryan, on the other hand, not so ready.... he has new shirts, about ten of them. But he needs pants. I wasn't sure what size pants he had leftover from last year, so I decided to wait on buying new ones until I checked out his drawers. Well, I went through them yesterday, and he's down to one pair of jeans and two pairs of cargo pants. Ridiculous! That kid grows too much. He was wearing 24mo/2T in the summer of 2007, here we are in the fall of 2008 and 5T fits him now. In comparison, Alyssa is wearing 5T loosely, and she's almost two years older than him. Well, that's my chunky baby.

So guess who has to go shopping for more baby clothes. Or should I say toddler clothes, since there's nothing really BABY about a whopping 5 in toddler sizes!

Psst... anyone else who has a horse-sized toddler like mine, check out eBay for onesies. I found a bunch (new! in packaging!) by Gerber that are 4T! I'm stoked!

I love to go baby shopping

I think one of the most exciting things to shop for is a new pet or a new baby. I recently got a pug (four months old, female, beautiful, very well behaved and well mannered), and shopping for her was a lot of fun. But there's only so much to shop for for a dog. A baby, on the other hand, requires a lot of preparation! Baby furniture is just the tip of the iceberg, and even that is a lot. Cribs, playpens, strollers, car seats, high chairs... then there are the optional things like slings, baby swings, cradles, bassinets. But the fun stuff, the REALLY fun stuff, are the baby clothes, diapers, bibs, towels, and accessories like pacifiers, diaper bags and diapering essentials, breastfeeding supplies, toys and musical CDs.

When you think about it, it's amazing that there are literally thousands of items to buy for a new baby. I know we spent a decent chunk of change and time on new baby things for Alyssa. With our second child, we didn't have to get the big things, but we needed a lot of new baby clothes and baby gifts, since we were having a boy, and obviously he wouldn't look too good in pink or purple. ;)

What was your favorite baby purchase?

Tired, getting worn down

I am sleepy. It's only 11pm, but I could totally crash right now. A week ago that wouldn't have been the case. That just goes to show you how much can change in just a few days time. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday were exhausting for me. I got a full night's sleep last night, but tonight I'm not sure how things will pan out, because I have a lot of work to do.

In addition to work, I have laundry to finish up, and a desk to organize. I was going to fix my old laptop for Dan (weird driver issue), but Jason is over and is taking care of that for me (thanks Jason!). I also need to go through Alyssa's drawers. She has a lot of fall and winter clothing in them from last year, and I want to try everything on her and weed out what doesn't fit. Ryan has a bottom drawer filled with clean and in good condition baby clothes that I need to donate, but I'm waiting until I get Alyssa's clothes sorted out. Then I'll run everything over to a local shelter at once.

Appropriate Game Atire

Why is it whenever Football season rolls around, the stores go crazy! Everyone is wearing nfl jerseys, or crazy sports apparel in the upcoming teams colors. You would think that this time of year was one huge party especially, on Sunday's and, Monday's!

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against team spirit or football or anything, I have a favorite team that I cheer for on game day. I actually sit with my husband through the four quarters of heavy hitting and touch down passes if there are any. I think I enjoy it more now that its more that my husband explained to me. Now we spend these two days out of the week watching the Football game together, kind of our date night!

I find myself looking at all the NFL football jerseys & NFL apparel online. Now that we have date nights set, isn't it appropriate that I have an appropriate new outfit? I'm even thinking of painting my up my face too!

Charming Baby Clothes Make the Perfect Gift!

I was out shopping the other day for a little gift for a friend who just had a baby. Everywhere I went they all had the same style of baby clothes. I really wanted to pull out all the stops and, give her something that was fresh and, new. I was glad to find this adorable little layette set that was perfect. I found it at Babybox.com and, it came completely packaged in a nice tulle bag, ribbon and gift card. How perfect! A charming baby gift, that my friend just loved. And, it was as simple as a click of the mouse!