bows and smocked dresses for my little girl

When I first became a mom, I had a beautiful, chunky baby boy. I was so happy to have a boy {my husband wanted a boy}. And I thought my house would be all-boy. We have always wanted three kids — well I wanted 4, and Marshall wanted 2 — so we are compromising, God-willing. So, after the first, I figured I would have two more boys. And I was so happy with that little vision. Little flannels and polos. I love them.

I never let myself get excited about wanting a girl. And I wasn’t lying {to myself or others} when I said I didn’t need a girl. I didn’t. God really made me satisfied and beyond grateful for the blessing of my boy — and my envisioned future of a life with boys.

So, when I lifted my girl up from the water, I was shocked to see that she was a precious little girl.

To be honest, I had psyched myself out for another boy for so long that it was hard not to call her by our boy-name for a little while.

But then the pink came. And the dresses. And the bows. {And more importantly, her dainty little self — her graceful hands and little quaint voice and sweet breath.} She is all girl.

Of course, when she’s older, she can choose what she wants to wear {and be}, but for now, she is my girly girl. I never knew how much I would love to dress her. And I am very particular. I love pastels and I love pink. Mostly light pink, but I am venturing out into brighter pinks and some purple — ha. My brother and sister-in-law, at May’s first birthday party, bought her a beautiful purple hand-made cardigan with a matching hat. “To offset all the pink,” they said. Ha.  Lots of pink — and I love it.

Here is my girl on her first birthday.

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I’ve found that my two favorite items to buy for her are smocked dresses and sweet, pretty bows.

I adore smocked dresses. I grew up wearing some smocking — and my cousins both dressed their daughters in smocked dresses — Southerners do it right, don’t you think?

Well, I have limited myself to a small number of smocked dresses or else I would go crazy! My favorite source for buying smocked dresses on sale is Zulily. I love that you can get some of these dresses, or tops, for between $20 to $40.

So far, I have bought smocking outfits for: Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July, summer, and now her birthday. I have two dresses for the remainder of the year: Thanksgiving and Christmas!  I have gone a little over-board with it all, when I write it all down, but it has seemed restrained to me :)

Isn’t she lovely?

And bows! I am blessed with a girl who does not mind, at all, me putting a bow in her cute hair! Lately, even at home, I put a bow in her hair. I have found that the best supply has come from the Baby section at Target. They clip nicely, and have cloth around both parts of the “claw”, so not to pull out little hairs :)

All of her bows were in a little basket on the changing table, {here is a post on her Montessori baby room!}, but they were getting lost amidst the diaper cream and socks, so I remembered that a dear mom I babysat for had a wonderful idea — she put her daughters’ bows on ribbons! Genius! I already had a little Peter Rabbit picture, held up with ribbon, up next to the changing table! I think I may change the ribbon color to white, but for right now, I love looking at all the options I have to put in her hair. And I love how all the colors look while hanging up in her little room.

**Please note that I don’t think that girls have to wear all frills all the time!  I loved this article at the Huffington Post on girls — it is very thought-provoking, and worth the read:

Little Maya was all curly brown hair, doe-like dark eyes, and adorable in her shiny pink nightgown. I wanted to squeal, “Maya, you’re so cute! Look at you! Turn around and model that pretty ruffled gown, you gorgeous thing!”

But I didn’t. I squelched myself. As I always bite my tongue when I meet little girls, restraining myself from my first impulse, which is to tell them how darn cute/ pretty/ beautiful/ well-dressed/ well-manicured/ well-coiffed they are..

“Hey, what are you reading?” I asked, a twinkle in my eyes. I love books. I’m nuts for them. I let that show.

Her eyes got bigger, and the practiced, polite facial expression gave way to genuine excitement over this topic. She paused, though, a little shy of me, a stranger.

“I LOVE books,” I said. “Do you?”

Most kids do.

“YES,” she said. “And I can read them all by myself now!”

Are there any ways that you realized you were more girl-y than you ever thought you’d be, after having a baby girl? I’d love to read your posts!

Happy dressing,