7 blogs in 7 days. Day 1 - That other side of the aisle...the other side of "that generation"

Last year I copied my blog friend Aimee after she did 7 blogs in 7 days. It was great, I cleared out all of my draft posts from summer and before in order to make way for new fall fun. This year we decided to do it again together. I thought we started tomorrow. Ah well, I've been known lately for my dropping the ball...In other news, I also started another 30 day shred today. So it's day 1 all around for me...

Don't forget some comment love to help me keep up with my 7 and my 30! :)

A few weeks before vacation I did all the school shopping for the Lily and Addie's school supplies. I was quite proud of myself having it all done and organized a month in advance, since the past two years I was not nearly as on top of things and was stuck searching for a glue stick anywhere in the greater Portland area. Luckily last year it was only for Lily. This week Lily starts Kindergarten and Addie starts preschool and their backpacks have been lugged around full of their complete supply lists for days.

The thing that I wasn't on top of this year was the school clothes shopping for Lily. This always throws me for a loop when we have a vacation scheduled for the end of summer. I spend the weeks before vacation shopping for clearance summer-y outfits or on-sale swimsuits going out of season. This year, I also kind of put it off knowing that we had a lot of cute summer dresses that only needed a few sweaters and some leggings with Mary Janes that would 'fall' them up and carry her through the first few months of school. I also thought I would find said leggings and sweaters with a quick trip to Target. On Labor Day.

Addie is thoroughly stocked as far as clothes go. In fact she always has been. Besides her sister's ample wardrobe to pick from, she also isn't really growing and at 3 years old just fits into 2T nicely (and even 18month - for shorts / skirts, for that matter), and she has the hand me downs from the 3 Rose girls. But Lily doesn't have any older girls feeding her with their cutie outgrown hand me downs, and she keeps getting taller and taller. And her feet, dear lord her feet! Today I bought her 3 pairs of shoes and 2 of them, get this are SIZE ONE, in Women's. WOMEN'S! My five year old!

Anyway, mostly she is in size 6 for clothes and most of her existing pants are size 5T, a tad short and they "rub" a little. Today I ran to Target to get her a few more pairs of leggings, a couple of sweaters, and some jeans. Target is close and easy and I always can find something priced well for cute stuff. Not. Today. First of all, she has moved from the "Toddler/Baby Girl" section to the "Girls" section. I'm on the right side of the aisle, not the left. And I LOVE the left side.

First since Addie was born I could ALWAYS find them a matching outfit. Size Newborn and 3T dresses, no problem. Need 12-18month and 4T matching Easter Bunny Jammies, I have six to choose from. Matching sisters is not only something that they love, it's something I love. They look so adorable all matchy match. But now they are in a different size bracket, maybe forever. Until they are in their 20s. Yikes. Second, everything costs at least $10 more for big girl rather than little girl. Third, I simply do not like most of the clothes in the BIG girl section for a six year old. Unlike the LITTLE girl section where it is hard to find something that is not simply adorable. Granted I was only looking at Target, I haven't looked at everything that is out there, but I guess I'm just annoyed that I have to try harder to find cute things for my cute daughter. Clothing her has been so easy. It all looks so good on her and when I'm discouraged about not being able to find something for me, I simply buy a basic tunic T and some stretch pants or a skort and she looks adorable. For under 15 bucks. No more. I just looked at Old Navy online and I did LIKE some of the things in her size, but they were like $25-30 for ONE item. It's not that I'm cheap, it's just that I'm used to being able to cloth my LITTLE girl for very little money and I want her to still be a LITTLE girl, but instead she is a BIG girl. When she was a 5T, $100 would honestly buy at least 10 items, more with my smart shopping. Now as a size 6, it buys 4 items, if I'm lucky, at a discount store. Darn.

Not to mention, she still acts like a LITTLE girl. She wanted each and EVERY pretty thing she saw today. I was actually forced to buy a LITTLE girl style pink butterfly sweatsuit that was a little too big for her, made by Haines for $5.99 because it was so soft that she did not want to take it off. I figured she could wear it after some rainy soccer games this winter when it is freezing out. She also BEGGED for some pleather stretch pants, which I did let her try on in the wrong size so that I could blame the size rather than my strict-no-pleather-under-my-roof-rule that Stacy and Clinton have instilled in me. Heh. She just liked them because they were so SHINY. I almost wanted to buy them, but not for $19.99, just to see the look on Lawrence's face when he pulled out her new Kindergarten hooker-wear. It also seemed like one HOT new style (for big girls) is a dress that is T-shirt on top and prom dress from the 80s on the bottom. Of course Lily loved these. Comfy shirt, poofy skirt, what's not to love. Luckily they were short sleeved and I convinced her that we were only looking for long sleeves. I steered clear of a whole section because I spotted a long sleeved tutu goth outfit that I knew she would love due to the tulle and glitter and the black unitard thingy. There was one ugly shirt that she touched the glitter/guitar/peace sign front to "ooo and ahh" and then said "ugh" instead. "Nope," she said matter of factly as she held up her three glittery fingers. "Glitter" she showed me. Sidenote: Lawrence has a REAL issue about glitter and how it gets everywhere, and Lily is so sweet and conscientious about it, even though she loves glitter. Seriously, I sighed relief as I smiled at her sweetness. It's not that she is in charge of what we buy. I can still talk her into and out of anything that I want her to get. But I did want her to pick some stuff and I expected a much more fun mother / daughter shopping trip. Don't get me wrong, she had a blast. But I...just felt old and sad that I didn't like the clothes that were available for her.

And I chuckled at myself at the way I'd categorized our whole life because I couldn't go to Target the day before school starts and find everything I wanted for the first few weeks of school for fifty bucks. By the way, they DID have the leggings I wanted for $4.99, it's just that they were out. So, of course it is the end of the world, right?

Lily is just so sweet and smart and compassionate and strong willed and naive and funny and bossy and worldly. We've worked really hard for the things that are important in life to us to be important to her. Family, friends, love, teaching, God, learning, respect, work-ethic, fun, and boundaries. We are about to enter a new season of life where she goes off to school, and not preschool that we are opting for but one where she rides the bus and kids might be mean and she is entering the school that continues for then next 13 years. It's different and it's exciting and it's sad.

I know all of you moms out there who have kids that are 8-9-10 and into the teenager years are laughing at me, like, "ha, you just WAIT!". And I know. I know I have a lot of school shoppings and first days ahead of me where it doesn't go down the way I'd hoped. I know that a day might come where I BEG for that t-shirt on top and prom dress on bottom outfit + leopard print leggings. I know that there are many days ahead when I'll have to let go of her wardrobe in order to hold tighter to our relationship. It's just that we aren't there yet. And it makes me sad as I think about heading there. My big girl is still only 5. And she acts that way, and I treat her that way.

So I don't wanna dress her like she is 6.