Thursday, March 3, 2011

Ruffles and Lace

While some of you may have read the blog post title and immediately assumed that I was announcing a pregnancy...

and a pregnancy of a baby girl at that.

This post is about just the opposite (well, not exactly the opposite-- I am NOT pregnant and NOT PREGNANT with a BOY either. So don't get excited, Mom!)


The ruffles and lace refer to the fact that almost every pregnant gal I know is having a girl. And after a brief calculation (not counting my own little Noah because he was already born when we moved to the South), I determined that our church has had 8 baby girls in a row, with the next 2 pregnant gals also expecting girls. That's a lot of baby girls.


So, last week, I went to a baby shower for a little gal due in April. Tons of pinkness, purpleness, and everything sweet.

Prior to the shower, I went shopping for a baby gift, and thought it would be so much fun to peruse the aisles and hunt for girl clothes. I was certain it would be an enjoyable experience.

But let me tell you. It wasn't.

It was SO hard.

Sigh.

I'm sure, like my husband, that you are thinking that it was so hard because I want a girl so badly. But actually, it's the opposite again.

Sure, I'd love to have a girl and a daughter. But I'm so happy and content with my boys, I don't spend (or waste!) my time longing or dreaming of girls. I love my boys. I love that God has given them to me. And I'm wholly content to trust Him in determining the gender of our baby's. Boys or girls.


Shopping for ruffles and lace was hard because I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING.



I've been picking blue and green onesies and overalls with matching Bob the Builder shirts for so long that the girl clothes overwhelmed me. I kept finding myself asking, "do kids really wear princess shirts? and "are all those ruffles really cute, or if I bought this would everyone frown and say, "ugh!"

Then I found the colors overwhelming. Though I am a woman who likes to look feminine, I rarely wear pink or purple. So while I shopped, I gravitated toward boy colors, or at least gender neutral colors, because pinks, purples, and mauves, just don't go. I mean, do they? Do they really?

And what's worse, you know how they always say that girl clothes are so cute? I found myself walking right past the frilly dresses and instead pulling out sweater vests and corduroy pants on the rack next to them. SO much cuter.


As I said, it was a hard shopping trip. Utterly distressing. I was completely out of my element. I had the hardest time finding good girl clothes, and even when I did finally make my purchase, I wasn't sure I'd picked the right things.


When I told my husband about it later, he just laughed at my furrowed brow. I think I completely surprised him too.

"Well," he said in an encouraging tone, "at least I know that if we do have a girl, you two won't spend hours shopping together."

Yeah. So funny, Honey.

10 comments:

Kay said...

i had to laugh at your post, because i TOTALLY get you on this one!!

first off, i hate shopping. i do shopping like a scavenger hunt and try to get things done as quickly as possible. i guess that is why i like ebay so much, i type in what i want and the computer gives me a list of basic ideas.

i have 4 boys and one girl. there is ALWAYS so much more for a girl than a boy, hands down!!! i let my MIL do all the shopping for my daughter, she loved pink and i don't, so it was fun for her. i am so thankful that you do love your boys!! i would take 10 boys over the challenge that my one daughter is for me on so many levels.

that church pushed out tons of girls when we were there also, must be the water.... so drink that before you attempt for a girl, eh???

Kay said...

BTW, how on earth do you get those thumbnail posts at the bottom of your blog there???

Rachael said...

I can totally relate! Whenever I have to pick a girly gift...for my niece or a baby shower I often think..will they even like this? Is this too much pink or not enough? What do they like, or what would they want?? Always include a gift receipt and then you know they can exchange/return it if need be :) Tee, hee. So funny. It will be interesting when/if we ever have a girl to see how girly or tom boyish they will be.

Grandma said...

Your mom hopes that she would know if you were pregnant before you posted it on your blog. Ahem! Anyway, I smiled at the rest of your shopping dilemna. I always have a hard time making up my mind when I am buying a shower gift for someone else's baby too. Taste is such a personal thing, and what I like might not be what they would like. Know what I mean? Sometimes gift cards just make sense.

Ellen said...

I have 3 boys and 1 girl and I thank God every day that my daughter is a tom-boy and an athlete. Wouldn't know where to start with ribbons and bows either!

Thanks for visiting me at A Season for All Things. I'm your newest follower. ~ Ellen

Bill & Glory said...

I have 2 girls and 2 boys but the girls are both older than the boys so I haven't seen too many ruffles and lace for awhile, now. I kind of miss it, actually, but I wonder if I would feel awkward in the middle of all those frills and frou-frou!

p.s. Thanks for "following" The Haven. It's such a joy to have new visitors!

Blessings!
Glory

Rach said...

Aww, this makes me laugh. I'm more on the girly side. It's SO easy for me to pick out cutesy clothes for my nieces and so much harder to pick out clothes for my nephews. I just had this experience earlier this week. I had an adorable summer knit dress picked out for Makenzie in 2 minutes and spent 20 minutes trying to pick something out for Wesley, haha!

Sgt Zapple said...

Right there with ya! The pink aisles are like a repellent to me. Everyone always asks if we would try again just for a girl, which seems like a strange question to me. God gave us boys and we are so content with what God gave us which is really the only thing you can be in the end.

Amy said...

Oh your so right. I feel so out of my element in the pink section.

I took Little Bit for a coffee date with the Mom club today and he was the ONLY boy. There were at least 10 other kids there and he was the only boy! Insane.

Grace said...

The downfall of having a girl is...shopping way too much because there are so many options!

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