The best thing about having the one of the first kids in your immediate friends circle? Having friends splurge on cute things for your baby that you love but would never buy. Our friend Heather was in town this weekend and a few months ago she asked me if we'd rather have her buy us something practical, like diapers or something extravagant, like shoes. I think my answer was diapers. And I think I meant it at the time. But thank god she doesn't listen to me.

After a conversation with CP about how we want a little girl in a dress and combat boots, Heather bought us these:




They are my favorite things ever. And she was very thoughtful in getting them for us. They were taken away from us for a day when Heather's rental car was stolen and then taken for a joy ride, used in many robberies, and then crashed into someone's garage. Luckily, the guy was stupid enough to get out of the car to fight the people whose garage he hit, they called the cops and the guy was apprehended. Miraculously, the shoes were still in the car, wrapped in brown paper with a purple bow. So we drove out to some suburb in the middle of the night to reclaim them. So worth it, don't you think?

Also, we hit a milestone today! As far as the Countdown to Robobebe goes, we are now in the double digits. 99 days and counting...

Plans to be not-quite-so-obsessed with buying baby clothes have been completely undone by this onesie:



NX saw it this morning on the Shop-a-holic list from NY Magazine, along with 134 other cute and affordable baby outfits. This is the standout for me, not counting a $54 owl print onesie that would be a ridiculous extravagance even for us. I have been collecting black baby clothes whenever I can, which is easier said than done because black is not a popular colour for baby outfits, unless they say things like "I'm the [beep]" or "I'm [Beeping] Awesome." I'm not ready to start our kid on cussing, especially before they can even talk. But I do think black is a fabulous neutral, the go-to colour in both my closet and NX's. So later today I'm off to Target to acquire the above, and then later next month I'll be stocking up on all the Halloween leftovers, if by "all" you mean "only those that don't have pumpkins and ghosts on them." In the meantime, if you see any black baby clothes - scoop 'em up!

We have a problem.
We are obsessed with buying baby clothes.
Like... really obsessed.

NX called me the other day to tell me: "I think I have a disease." Turns out, despite our repeated vows to stop buying clothes for a baby who hasn't even been born yet, she'd dropped $30 on a baby outfit while trying to buy a present for someone else. In fairness... it is a really cute outfit! They all are. Which is why we've already had to move our stash of baby clothes from a shelf in our hall closet to its own little storage box.

When that happened, we promised to take it easy. We recited the cost of diapers. College. Buying a crib. No more baby clothes! No matter how cute and tiny and sweet they are. And we were great until yesterday, really, a whole 4 days! But then NX e-mailed me about a sale at minisocial.com. She says she was hoping I would tell her not to buy any more clothes. Yeah right - has she seen MY closet lately? No one ever accused me of holding back when it comes to shopping! And they were so cute! And tiny! And sweet! And ON SALE! Oh well... you know the end of this story... It involves a plum and navy tunic onesie and a shawl collared baby jacket.

Here are a few - just a few - of our favourite things:




We're going to have to take this obsession to the thrift store!

Week 23

How does time move so slowly and so quickly at the same time? CP is entering her 24th week of pregnancy next week and it feels like months until the 3rd trimester (only 4 weeks) and years until we meet the baby. But when we think about all that we have to do to prepare, it feels like we're going to run out of time. First is the birthing classes, which last 8 weeks, so we need to get on that. Second is getting the nursery ready if we can ever decide on a color palette.

One thing that has been fun is stroller shopping, which is not different than buying a car. In fact, we met a enthusiastic salesman who turned us onto a variation of a jogging stroller (although neither CP nor I plan on doing much jogging, ever). He told me it was so sturdy even I could get in it and then told me to. I thought he was joking, but he insisted I sit in the stroller to see how strong it was and how smooth a ride it gave. I got in reluctantly, but he was right. I may end up buying one for myself. Perhaps a twin stroller so CP and push us both around.