{Baby Style} Maximizing Cost Per Wear

I love baby clothes. Like, really love them.

This is rather surprising to me because before I had a baby of my own I never gave baby clothes a second thought. At baby showers {before I was pregnant} everyone would ooh and ahh over all the sweet, tiny clothes, and I would kinda sit back sipping my punch and think, "What's the big deal? They're clothes."

Oh how differently I feel now.

Shopping for Maylin has become one of my favorite things to do. In fact, I rather like to think that I'm curating her wardrobe, one carefully selected piece at a time. When I shop, I first scour the entire store to see all my options. Then I go back and hand pick those items that are especially unique, or cute, or versatile, or that "look like Maylin." I really evaluate my purchases, thinking about what she already has in her closet, what spaces need to be filled, and what she can wear with each article. Then I purchase the clothing that make the final cut. Thank goodness baby clothes are {usually} less expensive than my clothes! This, of course, may or may not contribute to the amount of clothing I buy for her. ;)

It is not an exaggeration when I say Maylin owns more clothes than I do {ask my sister, she's seen the inside of my closet}. But even though she has so many clothing options, I still want her to get more than one wear out of her clothes. It makes me kind of sick to my stomach to think that she could only wear her clothes one time before they're outgrown. You see, I'm trying not to be overtaken by consumerism and materialism. It makes me feel a little better if she wears her clothes several times over. {It also gives me a chance to mix and match.} This led me to today's outfit.

This sweet little top Maylin's wearing is actually a newborn dress. That's right people. A newborn size dress turned five month old top. I paired it with printed striped leggings in a contrasting color to make the turquoise really pop. This particular dress/top has stretchy elastic around the neck and arm holes, which makes it super easy to slip over her larger-than-newborn head. Of course, Maylin is small for her age anyway, so this works quite well for us. I used the same trick here.

So, I encourage you, if you have small children and want to get the most cost per wear from their clothing, try out this easy idea and use a small dress for a cute top. Too bad it doesn't work that well for adult size clothing.

Oh, and don't let anyone tell you dressing a baby is like dressing a doll. It's better.

Way better.

Dress: Target

Leggings: Target

Headband: Carter's