Chickens before the hatch

I did something this afternoon that maybe I shouldn't have done. I bought baby clothes, and not just any baby clothes--girl baby clothes. We won't even know for another month if this one is a boy or a girl (I'll be 20 weeks in a week but couldn't get an ultrasound appointment until February), but I was completely unable to resist the little wee blouses and dresses that I saw at my favorite kid's clothing store (not least because everything was 50 or 70 percent off). I justified the purchase by thinking that either I could return them if the baby is a boy, or (more likely) keep them to give to friends or family who have a girl baby, or (even more likely) keep them in case we have yet another baby and that one turns out to be a girl. I did buy a couple of gender-neutral items, too, but really the little girl clothes had all my attention.

As with Gabriel, I have no real intuition about whether this baby is of the boy or the girl variety, but it would sure be fun to have a girl. Well, it would sure be fun to dress her in the little summer dresses I bought, that's all I'm saying. But I'd be really pleased about another boy, too: for one, we already have a wardrobe for a boy, and for another, I am pretty fond of them, and of the idea of brothers. Plus, we'd add a sixth to our troop of boy cousins on my side!

The store where I was shopping, called Obaibi, is my absolute favorite--probably half of Gabriel's wardrobe comes from there. In fact I was just stopping in to get him a couple more basic turtlenecks. They have such adorable and well-made clothes at reasonable prices--the European style without the ridiculous European prices of, say, a Petit Bateau. And, they have sales all the time. Let's just say I'm a card-carrying client.

This little blouse is maybe the cutest thing I bought this morning, in a sweet blue/gray color with tiny little owls. Even if it's not my little girl who ends up wearing it, she's going to look adorable.