Clothing shopping with children

I woke up one morning this week to frost on the windows and a serious chill to the air. I went to dress baby boy and realized he has no longsleeved anything. Much to my dismay, my groggy not awake self concluded that I was going to have to buy him some clothes, today, with both children in tow.
As any mama knows, something that takes one person an hour to do turns into a painstakingly long and drawn out task with every person you add to the outing. I had a mission. He was going to be warm and I was going to do it a la Mary Poppins with a song and a smile.

First stop, crunchy baby boutique to buy some http://babylegs.net . These things are AMAZING. I got a few pairs so each kid could have some. This was a good bold mood. I promptly put some leggings on baby boy and checked his diaper. Somehow in the three minutes between putting them on and getting to the car, he had a diaper explosion that ruined everything (babylegs included) that he was wearing. As it would go, I had one short sleeved onsie for the child in my diaper bag. Thank God for the second pair of leggings because I didn't have pants for him.

Not to be derailed by a little baby poop, I press on. As much as I love the boutique clothing, I would like both children to have more than one set of clothes to wear. On to a department store. Said department store is a shambles because they happen to be rearranging EVERYTHING in the baby boy area. Back into the car everyone goes. It is now after noon and everyone is hungry. A quick nurse for the baby and a snack for the 'big' kid and I drag us all to the dreaded mall.

Now I am exhausted and overstimulated. All I have to show for our entire morning of effort is a few pairs of leggings. Part of the problem I am facing is that I am picky about what my kids wear. I want them to look like the small child and baby that they are, not mini adults, or walking billboards, or tarted up hottie baby girl. The biggest obstacle of girl clothing is the oversexualization of girls. Yet, there are acres and acres of girl clothes at the mall and elsewhere to choose from. It is annoying to see the hottie baby stuff, but you can totally dress your daughter respectably without too much pain. Boy clothing is oddly more trixy. It is either slathered with characters or 'manly' icons of footballs/sports/trucks. Or it is cool hot skater ware....Something that cool skateboarder guy you had the crush on at 16 would have worn whilst taking a drag of a cigarette and leaning against a building with a look of angst or indifference.

Is it so much to ask to have my 5 month old baby look like a baby, be warm, and not cost me 40 bucks an outfit?

I knew as soon as I entered the mall that it was a very bad call. Worn down and trying to get the job done as fast as possible before both children hit the shopping wall, I just start buying crap. The worst moment came at Babystyle.

That place is pure EEEEVIL! Everything is beautiful and nice. The staff is attentive and helpful. They carry that very simple kind of baby outfit I had in my mind for little baby boy. The sales girl starts pulling out sizes for me while my 2 year old is talking incessantly and my baby screaming as I bounce him around the store.

Three outfits, complimentary bottle of water for mom, snack and juice box for the toddler and

SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS LATER..... I hand her my credit card; defeated and relieved.

Oh and this was after the gap where I somehow bought a bunch of crap with GAP written all over it!

The thing that makes them so evil is that they know I am coming. They foresee the harried mommy who hasn't had a drink of water in hours and forgot snacks for her toddler. They know I am worn down and that I am going to buy whatever they hand to me because I want the outing to end.

Needless to say, I returned most of the stuff yesterday with just baby boy with me. I did keep some of the stuff, but even I can't look at myself in the mirror after having bought a plain blue onsie for $18 that I could have bought at Target for $7.

I clearly need to learn how to sew!