Shop Therapy

a couple of weeks ago I went shopping with a friend to the outlets.  what better way to have some fun with this than to try a little shopping therapy?  cute little baby clothes, blankets, toys.  trying to envision the fun stuff:  clean baby smell, wrapping them in a warm fuzzy baby towel, covering tiny toes with impossibly tiny socks.  it was even fun to have Moo and Slim along to help pick stuff out.

let me just say, I have never been a "shopper."  I was not a mall rat, didn't like clothes shopping (rather hated it, actually) as a child, a teenager and even an adult.  i really never liked shopping until i had kids.  I love finding bargains on school clothes, picking out things i hope they will like.  it seemed fitting to find a little fun looking for some new things for this kid.  and it was fun.  seeing all of this stuff that I have had no reason to look at for years.  checking out whatever "new" animal is in fashion this year (lots of monkeys and even some polar bears [note the outfit in the picture]--particularly cool because that is my husband's favorite animal.  I was even a little proud to find it).  and brown is my new gender-neutral favorite color.  goes with anything--pink, blue, brights like orange or lime green--and most importantly it is NOT yellow.  proabably my least favorite color.

and watching the kids get excited about new baby outfits was, well, exciting.  I keep finding myself watching my kids and wondering what this one will look like.  what particular combination of features is cooking up in there.  will the baby have smooshy cheeks like Moo (still does) or maybe Slim's drooly grin?  will it (and please, don't take offense at my use of the word "it"--I find it so less stuffy than he/she or him/her--i'm really not that PC.  and I do know it is a BABY) be as large as my first two newborns??  (God help me!)

so my worries are different now, and less panicky and more curious.  and I'm having fun.  no matter how crazy it gets later, I can have fun now.  and if things get too heavy--there's ALWAYS more shopping.....