Baby Wrangling

Dressing a baby is a skill. It takes practice. I've got it down now, but at the beginning? Wow.

My husband still curses me in the morning when I lay out the "difficult" outfits.

A few tips that work for our daughter ...

Snaps and buttons are better than zippers. Most sleepers have a zipper front, which is easy in the middle of the night, but they "creep". The zipper front balloons out and needs to be tucked in just so when swaddling or nursing. Also, along those lines, I don't really like shirts and onesies with those crossover things on the shoulders. They always seem to stretch and grow through the day, so she ends up with her shoulder out or showing lots of cleavage. Snaps and buttons by the neck are better for us.

I find that Gerber stuff runs really small. Our daughter is very average sized (with short legs) and she barely fits in the 12 months onesies at 5 months. It does mean, however, that Gerber stuff can be really great for newborns because most other clothes will just be too big.

You can spend a FORTUNE on children's clothing, and I might in another life as Mrs. Surplus Income, but it is just too wasteful now for outfits she will only wear once or twice. I really like Carter's stuff for PJ's and everyday daycare clothes - washes and wears well and is inexpensive. You can generally catch great sales at Macy's or Kohl's. (And for the expectant mothers out there - their stuff is sized 3 months or 6 months or whatever, not 0-3 and 3-6 like most clothes. Totally confusing to me as I washed and put away clothes in those last few preggo weeks. Which pile? WHICH PILE?).

Every company has different sizes and obviously all of it will fit your child better or worse depending on their growth parameters. I find this to be a great annoyance, but I guess it shouldn't surprise me because it is pretty much the same when I shop for myself.

Here are some of my favorite kid's clothes - please add your comments below with your favorites!

* Hanna Andersson: A good friend of mine gets PJ's here for her boys and they are so cute.

* Mini Boden: Our nieces are always delightfully dressed and their stylish Mom finds good stuff here.

* Gap Kids / Baby Gap: I like their basics and Brennan's favorites. Their skinny leggings are especially good for our Girl because she has short legs and few pants fit her. They are also great for under dresses when it isn't warm enough for bloomers.

* Zutano: I really like their fun, colorful prints. And, I don't think their clothes ever have writing on them, which is sometimes hard to find.

* Tea: Again, great patterns without words. Not too grown up or too babyish. Plus, each collection is designed to mix and match. The Little House in the Creekwood Shops has a nice selection.

* Robeez: These are great little shoes and we are just starting to fit in the 0-6 month size.

* Trumpette Socks: This is probably the one baby clothing item that we have washed and worn the most. I love, love these socks - they are hard to kick off and SOOO cute!

As for clothing rotation ... our Girl has an embarrassing amount of darling clothes and it just kills me to find something in her closet that she hasn't worn and can barely fit into. She has a small closet in her room and a dresser. I loved hanging every itty bitty piece of clothing before she was born, and then promptly forgot about all of it because I was only digging in her drawers for PJ's and onesies.

I try now to peek in her closet once a week or so to see if there is anything that needs to be washed that she might fit into, then it goes into the clothing rotation in her drawer. Anything that is too small moves right to a storage box (and keep that storage box somewhere close to baby's room until it is full, otherwise you'll never make it to the basement to put the stuff away). Making it Lovely is a cute design blog. The writer just had a baby and she has a good way for labeling your boxes. Even better, share those boxes with your friends who have younger babies.

On the bright side, it is now a lot more fun to dress your baby than yourself!