Here is what I won't do. I'm not going to give you any
crappy advice. I'm not going to tell you to enjoy your infant boy now because
before you know it he will be growing a hipster beard and dropping out of
college.
I'm not getting involved with your circumcision decision.
I'm not going to tell you whether to breastfeed or bottle feed. I would like to
point out that even though I breast fed for a grand total of seven years, I
would really like the breast feeding activists to shut up.
I am going to pass on practical, non- crappy advice that was
given to me at my baby shower. Advice that I have then passed on at countless
baby showers I have attended since. I have shared the advice verbally. I have
also written it down in the special blank journals that hosts of the baby
shower put out for guests. They do this
so that everyone can write something inspirational to the parents to be.
I believe my sister-in-law gave me this advice. I'm starting
to notice a pattern here. My sister-in-law gives me advice. Then, years later,
after implementing the advice, I blog about it. This is an excellent
arrangement for me. She's given me a great deal of content.
If you are a brand new parent or parent to be, you will be
gifted many beautiful baby clothes. There will be your family and friends baby
shower, your work baby shower and the gifts that come as soon as you send out
your birth announcement. People will visit you in the hospital after you give
birth and many of them will bring clothes for the baby. Your mother's friends
will also send you baby clothes. This is only right. That is because your
mother sent their daughters and daughter in law baby clothes when they had
their babies. There is an unspoken agreement between all of these women.
You will get all kinds of gifts. Experience has taught me
that if the gift is from your mother's friend, or your mother-in-law's friend,
it will usually be clothes.
If you are very fortunate, someone might actually make
something especially for your baby. My God!
There is nothing like the feeling of opening a gift and discovering someone has
crocheted your baby a sweater!
This will not end when your baby is born. There will be
subsequent birthday parties where clothes will be given. Then there is what I
call freelance clothes gifting. This behavior is most often seen with the
child's grandmas or aunts. The grandma or aunt has seen something darling at a
store or craft fair. They may have spotted a baby clothes sales event. They buy
these clothes for the baby. Then they send them or bring them over. And it isn't even a holiday!
Then there are the hand me downs. What a bounty! You will receive tons of clothes from childbearing
friends and family.
If you are lucky, you will like most of the baby clothes you
receive. If there is something you do not like, you will appreciate it when
laundry day has come and gone and your baby has had their 3rd leaky diaper or a
massive spit up and all the burp cloths are dirty.
Then there are the clothes, so fetching, so adorable, so
amazing that you cannot believe your good fortune. This is when you truly
appreciate that you have a real live baby to dress in whatever you like. The
teeny cardigan that perfectly matches the baby's eyes. The fashion forward
outfit that is hip but not too hip.
You've been buying clothes for yourself for a long time. If
you're anything like me, maybe you've spotted the perfect sweater dress at
Marshall's. This thing is name brand, but the price is just outrageously
reasonable. Then later, you find some nubby tights that match the dress without
being too matchy-matchy.
If you are a guy, maybe you could substitute a vest or
shoes. Unless you don't think about clothes, then skip this part.
You wait in a really long line while reminding yourself that
you're not paying retail. While you're waiting,
you plan the debut of this new outfit. You don't want to waste the first
wearing on just anything. Christmas eve mass seems about right. Maybe the
secret Santa gift exchange party.
So you receive something for your baby. A tiny onesie with
tiny bunny rabbits all over it. There's a matching pair of pants but close
inspection reveals a pattern of baby chicks.
The clothes are a little too big for your baby now.
Naturally, the specialness of these clothes along with their quality - these
are not from Target - cause you to come to a very logical and understandable
conclusion. You will save these special clothes for Easter.
You will feel very smart and congratulate yourself on the
multitask-y planning ahead. Until you get the outfit out and try putting it on
the baby. It's Easter Sunday. It's baby's first Easter. And try as you might,
you cannot put these clothes on the baby because the baby has outgrown them. There
is no negotiating. You can't even squeeze it over that poor baby's head.
This, my first-time parent friend, is a baby clothes planning
fail.
As counter intuitive as it may seem, no matter how special
the outfit, how handmade, how hand dyed, how plush, how utterly adorable - you
must put it on the baby as soon as it is feasible. My own method with the
cutest things was to dress the baby in it while it was still a little too big,
but not ridiculously so. Then they kept on wearing it until they outgrew it.
Which, depending on the outfit and how much the baby demanded to be fed, could
be as little as two times.
I am the mother of three children. All of my babies were
fat. But one of my babies was the fattest. That baby was my daughter. I'll have
you know that she is a completely regular height and weight teenager now. She
wasn't destined to be a giant.
When my daughter was 3 months old, she was no longer on the
growth chart at the pediatricians. She skipped entire sizes of baby clothes.
There was one day when I dressed Hannah in five different
outfits that had been gifted to us just so I could photograph her in them. On
this brisk April day, I put Hannah in the tiniest little bikini because I knew
it would not fit her come summer. My easy-going baby cheerfully endured more
wardrobe changes than a Victoria’s Secret model with surprising equanimity. She
smiled for all of the pictures too.
The good news about not saving the nicest clothes for a
special occasion is that you will get tons of compliments at baby group and the
Stop & Shop. These days you can also post pictures of your new baby son
wearing a miniature imitation leather jacket on Facebook. If that isn't a
special occasion, I don't know what is.
With all this baby clothes-gifting combined with prodigious
growth, you'll need to keep on your A game with the baby's drawers and closet.
Keep those things circulating! You don't want to miss the window of opportunity
for the Hanna Andersson romper or tee shirt from Brooklyn just because you
forgot about it.
You can try ignoring my advice because "this won't
happen to me." It's your choice. But don't come crying to me when it
doesn't work out.