Shopping for bébé

Dressing a baby is great fun. Think back to all those cute doll clothes. Did you have dollies? Did you have a shoebox crammed full of clothes or a little closet for them? With a baby it's a real closet. A real live doll. More fun than you can shake a stick at.

I have to admit that I buy most of baby S's clothes at used clothing stores. I only buy about 25 percent of his clothes new. Sometimes it's just necessary to find something new like t-shirts and socks, and sometimes it's just a coup de foudre , something I must buy for him because it's so unique and cute, but the rest is all used. Hey wait, used does not necessarily mean ugly or destroyed. I usually find him really nice things. And, finding used clothes allows me to buy him better quality clothes we normally couldn't afford at near nothing prices. For example yesterday I bought him a beautiful shirt with a label from pricey French baby store which normally sells baby t-shirts for about 25 euros. It was so well made, so soft and honestly looked like it had never been worn. I bought it for less than 2 euros. He'll wear it for the standard three months. It will then be put in a box in the basement for another baby, maybe not even our baby. Such is the rotation of baby clothes. I don't see the point in buying expensive new clothes when he outgrows them so quickly.

French baby clothes are very expensive. There seems to be two levels of quality. VERY nice and then complete garbage. The very nice things are sold in snobby, little overpriced stores with polished wood floors and usually an annoyingly severe woman who asks you incessantly what you're looking for. I love the clothes in these stores but they cost a fortune. A pair of baby jeans cost at least 65 euros. Baby jeans at that price for less than three months of wear! Then there's the bas de gamme, the supermarket variety clothing stores. These clothes are awful. The stitching is falling out or double stitched. The t-shirts fall apart in the washing maching. Nothing can be dried for fear of tearing or destroying it. The clothes just look cheap. I prefer to keep my eyes alert in the baby troc for labels from the very nice stores. I am well trained, but it isn't so hard actually. You can spot the very nice clothes on the overfilled racks in the troc very easily. When you only have two quality levels for clothes, it's simple. Crappy clothes can be seen a mile away. And in thetroc they're usually the same price, crappy or nice.

So, yesterday I bought baby S two beautiful shirts from Natalys, an adorable Babar sweater, a pair of Italian baby shoes in copper toned leather, never worn, and a Kenzo hat all for about 14 euros! Shh, I'm not telling...