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Chapter 21 – Will's Wardrobe

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Ever walk into a favorite store just hoping to window shop and find out that they are having one of the most kick-bootie sales ever? 

Yeah. 

So…storytime.  I was having a crummy day because my favorite midwife & three others were leaving our maternity practice to pursue other ventures.  And I found out that my preferred doctor was also gonna be unavailable to deliver because of a shoulder injury.  Also, there is a good chance that the ONE midwife left won’t be able to be present for labor coaching.  In layman’s terms, our labor plans went flying out the window.  Sure, it reminded us that no matter how well you prepare yourself that plans are, well, just plans…and that nothing is concrete….so to expect the unexpected.  But it also took a chunk outta my gung-ho-with-laboring-spirit.  So I was in the midst of bathing in a tub of self-pity when Jeremy suggested a little retail therapy.  I love when he does that.  

So I walked into Baby Gap hoping to comfort my spirit with the sights of the cutest little man clothes ever…and what does the sales lady say?  Yeah.  Additional 50% off all sale & clearance priced items. 

I swear the heavens opened up and the angels sang and the trumpets sounded and then Jesus Christ said “Bless you my child”.  Right there in Baby Gap.      

Let’s just say that shopping + a face to face with the Awesomest dude ever = one very happy Katie.  Just check out some of the cool things we were able to score:   

When we got home, I added it up.  $645 worth of clothing for $135.  It was a Baby Gap miracle.  Little onesies for $1.  Pajama sets for $4.  Three packs for $3.  And since my sister told me that babies need to be changed several times a day…well, I feel like it’s a good start to a wardrobe.  I stress the word “start” because most of these purchases were for a variety of ages…all the way up to 2T. 

Now…this is totally random but do you wanna see how different Jeremy & I are?  Like a peek into our personalities?  Let me show you in terms of baby clothing:      

Jeremy is serious & manly.  His test for baby-clothing-approval is a simple question “Would I wear it?”.  And in most cases, he wishes that some of the little-guy-gear came in a bigger size.  Sure, the overalls aren’t something he would wear…but they show his southern roots.  He prefers timeless looks that show a rugged love for the outdoors.  He’s also very sporty.  VERY sporty.  And of course, he has a passion for classic logos.        

I, on the other hand, am a complex creature with multiple personalities.  I see an Native American inspired sweater one-piece & think about how Will can be like mini-Tonto.  It stems from a love for dressup…which I credit entirely to my creative-lovin mother.  But I still like simple classics too that have a sporty edge.  That’s probably why I love my boyfriend so much.  And then lastly, there are the cow pajamas.  That pick could stem from an unhealthy breastfeeding fear.  Hey, if I am gonna become a dairy cow…my offspring is gonna be one also.  Or it could be from my great appreciation of all types of humor.  Because let’s face it….there is nothing funnier than pranking your kids.

So anyone else out there like pulling pranks on your children?  Or maybe your parents pulled a good one on you?  Please tell me about it…I need to build my arsenal.  Or maybe you were in the dumps & retail therapy pulled you out?  Where?  When?  Whadja buy?  Or perhaps your birth plan went out the window too and you had to wing it?

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  1. Don’t stress over the birth plan too much. I didn’t particularly like the nurse assigned to me that day, but she and my OB work very well together- so in the end everything went okay. You and Jeremy are going to be so focused on each other and that beautiful little boy you are about to meet, it really doesn’t matter who else is in the room.

    I didn’t have to change Avery’s clothes very often during the day, instead I found that I needed to change a few times! I had permanent spit up marks on each shoulder all day long no matter how well I tried to anticipate the burps.

    Oh yeah, I did some retail therapy this weekend on Etsy 🙂 I love having something to look forward to in the mail!

  2. I love the cow pajamas! I feel you should make your kids wear silly (but cute) things as much as possible. They only let you do it for a short period of time. About three and a half years in my experience.

  3. Make SURE you have a midwife! Find a new one that you love and trust- don’t do it alone. That is my advice. The books and the classes just don’t do labor justice. You need someone by your side that knows exactly what you’re feeling and can get you through it, not just someone telling you to breathe and relax. Just my 2 cents.

  4. LOVE IT!!! I have to say, I am super jealous b/c I LOVE a good sale (esp at baby gap!!!), but we already have a good wardrobe going 🙂 My sister gets lots of adorable Baby Gap clothes for my sweet little boy.

    love it. love it. LOVE IT!!!!!

    p.s. I agree with Jen. As long as Jeremy is there, he’ll take care of you and your needs. He seems like a great hubs… err… boyfriend (hehe) and he’ll know what your best interests are.

    Jackson’s birth was (in theory) going to go exactly to plan. He was induced at 41 weeks and we were able to schedule a time that our midwife was on duty, but the unexpected still happened. My labor went from 0 to 60 in an hour, the nurse anesthetist took FOREVER telling me about the risks of having an epidural (“WHEN DO I SAY OK!?!”) and my blood pressure went through the roof. But, in the end, my husband was there to make sure my needs were being met and sweet sweet Jackson came out beautiful and perfect and healthy. Which was God’s plan. 🙂

  6. OK, so this is very off topic but since you’re having a bad day, I thought I might have just heard something that will cheer you up.

    I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but a recent study came out that said pregnant women should eat bacon every day.

    Seriously. Apparently, pork helps develop a part of the brain that will make babies smart little cookies. I heard it on the radio on my way to work and thought, “Katie Bower would LOVE this!” And here’s the article they were referencing: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1804198/why_pregnant_women_should_eat_bacon_and_eggs/index.html

    Hope that made life even happier after retail therapy!

  7. Love the outfits you both chose!

    Quick question – are you planning out how old your baby boy will be at certain times of the year and buying clothes accordingly? Does my question even make sense? I’m just thinking that everytime I visit my friends’ kids they grow so much.

  10. Sandy –
    ABSOLUTELY. We do try. I even have a cheat sheet of ages in my phone. Although, I must confess, I have bought little items that are clearly winter/fall & Will will possibly be wearing them during the summer. I figure that the little bambino needs some variety for each season…heck, I sometimes wear long sleeves in the summertime – why can’t he, right? But I am just praying that for the most part he is average in size…Jeremy was average & so was I as an infant…so here’s hoping that everything fits when its supposed to!

    XO – KB

  11. Unintentional as it was, my mom peed on me (big time) at birth. Not exactly a “prank”, but I DO credit it for my lively sense if humor! 🙂

  13. i just scored some amazing deals at old navy yesterday. they had 50% off their clearance, too and i got t-shirts for a buck! it was amazing!

  14. Sorry to hear about your midwife situation. I don’t know if you have considered this, but I hired a doula for both of my boys’ births. I cannot recommend hiring a doula enough! I got some fantastic massages and other relaxation work, she advocated for me when my husband was desperately trying to keep me calm, she explained various stages of labor while they were happening, kept notes on when things happened for our birth story – I could go on and on. Just a thought.

  15. Those are so cute! I definately can see that if you let your husband pick out all of Will’s clothes then you will have a lil’ mini Jeremy running around. Which I don’t think you’d mind. Good picks.

  17. Don’t put too much effort into a birth plan. God will laugh. It’s what he does. each birth is different and I haven’t met a single mother who had her child’s birth go according to plan. The goal is to come home with both of you alive and well. That should be your plan.

    Now the little girl in my belly just kicked up a storm when I read Baby Gap. Must go see if the sale is still going on!

  18. It will go well. At the end of it, you will have a perfect little baby…

    And that child of yours, going to to be one well dressed baby.

    I am on retail high of spending $35 on Sunday at a fabolous estate sale…sigh…

  19. Oh yes I have indulged in retail therapy! I hope to someday (soon) be purchasing little bean clothes and that will be even more fun! I’m stressed over my birth plan and I’m not even pregnant yet! Glad you got some “therapy”. I so love your blog! (delurking here)

  20. I haven’t really done any pranks, but I heard of someone who used a sharpie to draw a huge face on her pregnant belly, with her outie belly-button as the nose, to surprise everyone during labour.

    A friend of ours used to refer to his wife as the “Dairy Queen” when she was breastfeeding. I’m not sure if you have the Dairy Queen fast-food restaurant chain in your neck-of-the-woods, but you kinda need to know about it in order to get the joke.

  21. I love the clothes! And the prices? Your little man is going to be the envy of all the little guys around. I love the sweaters and those moccasin looking shoes.

    We never really played pranks on the three boys, but I probably should have. We took them in for a nice professional photo once, and one farted, then they all started laughing, and then another started drooling because he was laughing so hard. They were rolling around on the ground, and I’m standing there wondering if I should laugh or cry. I was so embarrassed, but the photographer was great. We have a photo of it and I will use it if necessary if they bring the wrong girl home someday.

  22. I’ll tell ya about a birth plan gone wrong…I ended up going into labor a month early, so of course, NONE of the three doctors I had been working with in rotation during my pregnancy were available/ on call when I went in. THEN, there were problems with my blood pressure, so I had to take a medicine that made me have “slight flu like symptoms.” Slight my AUNT FANNY! I felt like I had been hit by a truck and was basically in and out of conciousness and throwing up the whole 15 hrs I was in labor. THEN, about two seconds into the first push, my sons heart rate dropped dramatically indicating the cord around his neck. So we had to do an emergency C-Section (all that work for nada! haha), and normally, dad’s can scrub up and be in the room, but when they put me under general anesthesia, I could feel them cutting, so they had to put me completely under. Due to hospital policy, Dad’s are not allowed in the room for safety reasons if the mother has to be put completely under. THEN, bc of the medicine they gave me for high blood pressure, I had to be slowly weened off so it didn’t cause problems, so I was unable to see my son after he was born for 24 hours. Everyone else saw him first 🙁 He was a month early and weighed 3 lbs 14 oz and couldn’t breathe, regulate his temperature, or eat on his own…and was in the Neonatal ICU for 3 weeks straight, almost an hour away from where we lived.

    Today, almost 2 years later, he is a healthy 30 lb, blonde curly haired, goofy toothed grinnin’ terrible two year old and the love of my life.

    So if thats not a birth plan gone to crap, I don’t know what is. Moral of the story, like you said: Plans are just that; plans, and the best you can wish for is a problem free, healthy and safe labor and delivery for both mom and child, no matter what happens.

    Good luck!

  23. Katie, I hear you in the nervous about nursing department. I totally planned on breastfeeding but was totally going to do it out of obligation and was dreading it. However, it turned out to be a great experience and I nursed our daughter till she was 14 months old. The first days/week might be rough, but . . . you will figure it out and once you do it’s fantastically freeing. Meaning you can go anywhere w/Will and you don’t have to worry about taking bottles, formula, heating, measuring, etc. It’s fast, and convenient, the best food (health-wise my daughter got maybe one cold her whole first year), oh, and free! Can’t beat that! It was so great to be able to go shopping and places and just take Sophia and know that I could feed her anywhere. BabiesRUs has a wonderful nursing room, so that was a great place to go. (And looking at all their cute stuff’s nice too!!) Just wanted to send a note of encouragement – it won’t be as bad as you think.

    Oh, and I moved back home two months before I delivered our daughter (hubby was deployed) so I didn’t know the doctor at all, and have to say, I didn’t care either. Things will all work out!

  24. I wonder if one of your midwives would assist in a home birth (maybe this is something you’ve discussed elsewhere on the blog that I missed, actually). I recommend watching “The Business of Being Born” to see how awesome home birth can be, coming from someone less than pleased by her hospital birth with the doctors and nurses hopping out of clown cars and rushing around… well not really, but I’ll share the rest after you’ve delivered your sweet and healthy (easy to deliver) baby boy. Also the book “Easy Labor” details ALL the pain management options from natural birth through general anesthesia for C-sections. I felt comforted by the fact that I knew what the options were all about, even though I did without the drugs until the epidural that kicked in after I had delivered (which I asked for in desparation and frustration with it being offered so much despite my refusals)… if you don’t want it and feel the urge to push while they’re trying to give it to you, you should tell them to bring in the lady with the gloved hand to find out if you actually need it or if you need to push now.

    I do like a good laugh at my sons expense, though, and at my mother in law’s expense… I dressed him in a skull and crossbone hoodie when she baby sat him once (I did actually think it had guitars when I purchased it… nope, grabbed the one with skulls off the rack by accident… and pulled tags without noticing? uncharacteristic, but I probably had a baby tired of shopping on my hip when I grabbed it.). So the MIL tells my husband when he picks up little Dominic “A lady at the grocery store sneered at me, and asked ‘isn’t he a bit young for black clothes and skulls?'” I laughed out loud (at the fact that I dressed him in skulls for my MIL and that someone made a comment about it!).

    We love Paul Frank (at Target!) and anything with a band logo on it (also at target!), being that we’re total music junkies at our house. Baby boy has been dancing to James Brown from conception to today! I also loved making the transition from footie PJs (which he still wears sometimes) to the two piece pants/t-shirt sets because he started looking like such a miniature boy! … and they are easy for night time diaper changes to boot!

    Fun times; I’m pumped that you’re having a boy…it seems like everyone around me is having girls and all my other blog stars are sporting baby girls these days. Moms of boys are lucky ladies; you won’t be able to get enough of the little guy!

  26. Oh my goodness, those cow pajamas. And the Beatles shirt. And those shoes!

    Sigh…when did my baby turn into a big boy?

  27. love the wardrobe styles of BOTH of you. i think i’m a bit of a mix (without the southern). growing up in Minnesota, the lumberjack look came naturally (thanks dad!) and the whimsy came from being the 3rd of 4 very creative and artistic children. although i must say there are a few choices that are a little too whimsical, like the cow print body suit. at least nothing looks too glow in the dark, so far.

  28. I hit up this same exact sale last week! My cousin and his wife just had a baby, and I got them the cutest clothes for 50% off clearance prices at Baby Gap. It was awesome.

  30. Retail therapy works, for sure!! Congrats on your awesome finds! And on having a husband that knows about retail therapy!! 😉

    I was feeling down the other day and just went to the mall to window shop, like you said. I walked into one of my favorite stores and pick up some stuff in the clearence section. Another customer is walking out of the store and asks if I might spend over $50. Well, maybe…. $25 off coupon in my hand. Ahhh, random acts of kindness! 🙂 I go to the checkout — additional 30% off the clearance stuff! It was a good day. 🙂

  31. Don’t stress about the birth plan – so often those go right out the window anyway as soon as you go into labor. Be careful buying too many clothes in advance – you never know how fast or slow baby will grow. Everyone told me to buy big and bought me big but I have a petite little one who runs a size behind!

  34. the shoes are my favorite. I love fun shoes on boys. At all times my son has either a pair of red shoes or bright green. lOl

  35. Hey Katie…I am a longtime lurker…and can totally sympathize with birth plans gone awry. I wound up switching doctors FOUR TIMES while pregnant for a myriad of health insurance reasons, and in the end I never even had one in the delivery room. Here’s my story if you would like a distraction:

    http://growingsnyders.blogspot.com/2009/07/now-i-know-why-they-call-it-labor.html

    Try not to worry…it is really such a short portion of your life, now matter how much it hurts or goes kablooey in your face! In the end, you and Will will fall in love and live happily ever after. 😉

  36. what great GAP finds. I’ve watched the sales come and go on gap.com for baby clothes b/c the sales plus shipping and handling aren’t that amazing there. our BabyGap and GAP stores left our mall. it’s sad.

    the birth options are really important to me, too so I can understand your loss. we actually thought we would be moving to an area with a reputable birthing center and two well known midwives. but then we decided not to move. so I worked w/ an ob here and have heard great things about the hospital, like they have a birthing ball on hand, labor/delivery room is very nice, my doctor won’t “make” me be on my back and in stirrups for delivery, but I can take whatever position is most productive. but I still mourned the loss of a more relaxed, familiar environment. THEN! I just found out about a certified midwife about 30 minutes away. I knew about her, but didn’t have endorsement, so I just received that from someone who has used her, and just today talked w/ her about her university training and 31 years of experience. So while I’m 10 weeks out, at least I have a great doctor I trust in case, and know the hospital route won’t be SO horrible, and after 7 or so months of doctors visits and healthy biofeedback, I can trust I’m probably okay for a homebirth, too. We’re praising God for that. Just trust Him with your preferences and desires. He knows your heart and what you will need.

  37. Hey Katie! I have a son that just turned one last Saturday. I don’t give unsolicited advice out very often, but be careful about buying too many clothes for the little guy ahead of time, even if they are on super sale! Sleepers and onsies are great to get ahead of time, but regular clothes can be tricky. My son had so many clothes that would have fit great had the weather agreed with his actual clothing size (which is not always true to the months they should be)! We have lots of very cute clothes with tags still on that we have had to put away for #2 someday because he was either too big or too small for them once the weather was appropriate. Ohhh, and even though you go through 5 outfits a day when they are 0-3 months, you will get SO MANY 0-3 month outfits from everyone you ever knew that you probably won’t have to buy any yourself (except of course for the cute ones you just CAN’T resist)!

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