There’s no doubt about it, this mum works hard to be the very best mum she can (most of the time), but occasionally a task is set before her that challenges her to hilt and she is doomed to fail.

In this case: dressing August.

When dad picks out his clothes, August looks put together in stylish pants and T’s (see helicopter outfit, above), muted colors paired with muted colors, patterns and designs just enough to bring out the boyish charm and making August look ever-so-slightly cool without trying too hard. Oh, he looks cute.

But when daddy’s away and mummy has free range of the closets, somehow August ends up looking like a mismatched patchwork quilt of bad fashion.

Today he wore: A pair of yellow quilted pants with ducks balancing red balls on their beaks, a white T-shirt, black Argyle socks underneath his green fleece “Robin Hood” boots and a navy blue Baby Gap cardigan. Even this mum had to admit it was a bit of an embarrassment. (No photo taken to protect August’s reputation.)

Hey, we can’t all be good at everything. And as they say, variety — in this case clothing styles — is the spice of life.

Tags: Baby Clothes

Over the past few weeks August has been on a bit of a no-sleep-non-stop-crying bender which I blame on the construction project upstairs combined with my thinking that it might be OK for a 2-month-old to miss his midday nap. (What? I must be sleep-deprived! If a child under one year ever, ever, EVER looks you in the eye and communicates that he is not tired enough to sleep and that he can skip his nap, don’t ever, ever, EVER believe him.)

In any case, among other things, this bender caused us skip Halloween since the child was simply too cross to be costumed. I’m certainly glad we didn’t spring for the $30 peapod outfit with detachable foam “peas” and matching hat.

When August is older and he asks me what he wore for his first Halloween, I’ll tell him: a sleep suit. And when he asks me what he did, I’ll tell him: he cried. And then I’ll serve him peas in their pods for dinner. So there, Aug.

(By the way, if you’re wondering what he would have been had he been in better humor, he would have been New Orleans Saints quarterback, Drew Brees.)

Tags: Baby Clothes, Crying

How much does a baby really need?

A pregnant friend asked me this on Facebook. Her friends keep telling her that she should be busy-busy-busy buying-buying-buying.

I beg to differ.

Here’s a short list of what a baby needs:

• A safe place to sleep
• A safe place to nurse
• A safe place to — occasionally — kick up its heels.

Babies also need: lots of love, lots of care, lots of attention, lots of cuddling, lots of bouncing, lots of burping, lots of calming,  lots of cleaning, lots of singing and lots and lots of milk.

Of course, there’s a list of what the mum (dad, caretaker) needs for the baby and that’s different. That list is long:

• Swaddle cloths x 20 (literally) since they come in handy for all sorts of unexpected purposes
• A sturdy crib which won’t break mum’s (dad’s, caretaker’s) back
• A good changing table with multiple covers that can be washed on stain cycle triple hot
• Extra cloths to cover the changing table cover. Mine have seen more action than an airplane lavatory and are worth their weight in gold. (Thank you Auntie Ashley. I’m sure I gave you crazy-eye when you lovingly bestowed those cloths on me, but you were right.)
• A closet/shelves in/on which to stow all the lovely figurines and piggy banks baby can’t touch until he’s 3.
• Baby shirts that cross over the chest rather than go over the head. It’s hard enough to dress a wiggly, wobbly baby without having to yank things across his face.
• Pacifiers, dummies, dibby-dops, choo-chos, call them what you will, but they are the crutch that has saved me countless times. Need.
• The blessed sterilizer by Avent. Admittedly a luxury, but anything, frankly to get out of boiling bottles and dibby-dops (see above).
• Some form of tub in which baby can be bathed
• A Baby Bjorn/Ergo carrier/sling in which to transport the baby to a restaurant for mum and dad’s “date night”
• A good stroller
• Nappies. Lots.

What have I forgotten? In the comments below, share your baby must-haves, like-to-haves and unnecessaries.

Tags: Baby Clothes, Nursery

Sleepy…

Wakey…

Back when August was no more than the faintest outline of the boy he’d become, Michael and I traveled to Tokyo and became somewhat entranced (shall we say) by the consumer culture of Japan. There were things we simply had to have. I mean, it’s Japan — everything there is cute or cuddly or quirky and usually all three at once.

You know how the Japanese love nicely packaged things. Well, nothing wraps up as well as a newborn, so it makes sense that baby clothes in Japan comprise some of the cutest items on the market. And if logic follows logic, you won’t be surprised to learn that our vacation rapidly turned into a shopping spree for the baby-to-be.

Among some of the items we purchased for August: A tiger sleep suit (Year of the Tiger), dinosaur socks, burpie bibs with little leaves, a kimono-esque wrap suit with houses on it and then … this precious item from Miki House.

At first glance, it may look like an ordinary newborn suit, but there are a couple of fine Japanese details:

(1) The top wraps and ties with little ribbons.
(2) The legs and body are cut really wide.
(3) The pattern of teeny tiny cars is just, I don’t know … I think the word is cute?!

So here is August, finally big enough to wear his first Japanese suit and modeling it very nicely, don’t you think?

Tags: Baby Clothes, Newborn