The mom guilt hits heavy for this new mom of two. With my first daughter, everything was shinny and new. She was our precious baby, and in addition to all of the coolest stuff she had to have all of the greatest fashions for a baby. Her closet and drawers were overflowing with lovely dresses and adorable onesies with coordinating socks and bibs galore. As she grew out of each size, her garments were carefully laundered and stored in hopes that one day a baby sister might also wear her wardrobe.
Fast forward three and a half years. Baby sister is here, without any further shopping an entire wardrobe awaited my new baby. Great, since we are on a budget, but here’s where the mom guilt sets in. While I was sad when my oldest out grew baby clothes and couldn’t fit into the newest fashions I saw in a store, I can barely look at baby clothes these days because I know we don’t need a single thing. My poor second child is doomed to live a life of hand-me-downs.
Please don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of the cost effective and green sentiment. But how will I ever justify buying new things for poor sweet baby girl. Sure she has a few filler pieces from friends and family, and I had to buy some warm items for her since her sister was three months old in the summer time… but it’s not the same.
Mom Guilt!
So when I was asked to shop CookiesKids.com specifically for my baby girl I was excited to have a reason to buy things specifically for S. Yeay – something to ease my guilt. At least for today.
Having never shopped CookiesKids.com before, the first thing I noticed is that the site has TONS of stuff. Like wow! And the prices are great (even justifiable for second-kid syndrome). Since there are so many options, I was a big fan of the “view all” feature. Of course, the page was super long, but that was so much better than scrolling through page after page. You can also narrow your choice with the selection tools. (I will warn you that in the baby section, narrowing by size is a little wonky. There are several different ways to say the same size and they each pull up different items. So it took a bit of extra work.)
These are just a few of the drool-worthy selections I considered for S. See everything else I considered in my Google+ gallery.
Another problem I found shopping for a baby was the lack of a size chart. I have a big baby (13.15 lbs at her two-month appointment). So, while she is still just three months, she has actually out grown a few 3-6 month outfits. I even had her in a 6-9 month outfit today. It isn’t every outfit, just those that run small, but it makes it hard to shop for her without a size chart. There are size charts available for bigger kids, just not in the baby section.
I found these to-die-for shoes that would be ADORABLE, but I just don’t get shoes for babies that can walk. And too bad for me, the biggest they come in is a 3. Since K didn’t start walking until 14 months, that’s way too small. But wow are they cute.
After way too much debate, I chose these two outfits for S in size 6-9 months with the hope that they will run on the small side.
Since I love a good deal, I did a quick search for a coupon code before placing my order. Yeay, I found one for $5 off an order (HappyHoliday through 1/31/12) and another for free shipping plus 5% off orders over $50 (JanDeal). Also I realized I could get 2.5% back from Ebates. And here’s a hot tip, CookiesKids has a referral program. If you sign up for CookiesKids.com through my referral link we will BOTH get $10 to shop! (Yes, the coupon codes can be combined with Cookies credit – I did it.) So be sure to sign up with my referral link so I can earn more clothes for baby girl.
Of course, while I was shopping for S, I had to take a quick peak at clothes for K and I could not resist buying these oh-so-perfect Strawberry Shortcake PJs for my Strawberry fan.
So how did I do with sizes? Purchasing the 6-9 months for my 3 month old was the right call. The purple outfit is a perfect fit now (14 weeks old). The pants are a bit long, but the top is just right (maybe even a little snug). There is no way she will be able to wear this by the time she is six months old. The little purple skirt will probably fit longer, so after the outfit is too small I’ll pair it with something else. The pink outfit is bigger, it fits now but there is room to grow too (especially in the pants). I really like the the onesie in the pink outfit because it has a soft stretch to it, so it will fit for a while certainly through the cooler months.
Most of all, I am excited that I have two brand new, fancy outfits for baby girl to wear. Doesn’t she look adorable?!
Disclosure – This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.