While We Were Waiting: Baby's 1st Bathing Suit

Today

I bought this bathing suit for Audrey at Castle House, a designer kid's store in Hyde Park. The 70% off banner hanging in their front window is what lured me in. I drive by this store regularly on my way to the grocery store and have avoided stopping for weeks. So today when I did go in this shop I assumed the selection would be picked over and I would avoid buying anything. Yeah right. Anyhow, I bought this bathing suit for $11. It was the only 12 month size that was not pink. I not anti-pink (one of my friends is) but I definitely prefer something different. I also bought this Lili Gaufrette shirt for $15. I had never heard of this vendor before. My first buying job was in infants and toddlers. Ok, that was 20 years ago and I worked for a department store, not a boutique. But seriously I can not imagine someone paying $50 for a shirt for an infant. During my corporate retail career I also bought handbags. I googled this vendor and here is what I found out: "European children clothing line that has a chic and trendy style between fashion and revisited fashion", "one of a kind designer baby clothes". I find that crazy and amusing. I can't help thinking how funny that would sound in a funding proposal considering today's economy.

Well both of these purchases fit in Audrey's hat box where I have all the clothes I have purchased for her. This box is pretty full now. We have tried to buy as little as possible prior to our referral, mostly because of superstitious reasons. By we I actually just mean me since I don't think John has bought her anything yet. Anyhow, the hat box was my grandmother's. I have 6 of grandmother's hat boxes (and 4 hats) and I use the other 5 to store my own clothes. My grandmother was such a lady. She had 13 grandchildren and we all adored her. She loved to dress to the nines and despite the fact she was legally blind she worked (own a real estate company) up until she died at the age of 89 in 2004.

Next to the hat box are the books I've bought for Audrey so far. Book purchases are a different story. When I see one I like I buy it. Since this is a category I buy for the conservatory gift shop most of her books came from Krohn. Right now I'm up to 37 books, which considering we have been waiting for 3 years and 2 months shows considerable restraint on my part.

The chart behind the hat box is a "hundred good wishes" growth chart, a Christmas gift from Mom-mom and Grandad in 2007.

This bunny t-shirt is one of my favorites.

The next (very out of focus) picture is of Audrey's room. The poster is the ABC's of Cincinnati. Her bed will go where the black chair is now.

This room used to be a fantastic walk in closet. It has looked like this for almost 3 years now. After our dossier was logged in I wanted to paint it right away so it could air out and she wouldn't breath that new paint smell when she came home. Obviously that turned out to be a non-issue.

Several years ago, before we even thought about adopting, we bought these shutters at an antique store in Bloomington for next to nothing. They sat in our basement for a while until we decided how to use them. We framed them and attached a cork board for our baby's room. We thought this could provide some fun storytelling possibilities. At the top of this picture you can see the pie pan where an old potbelly stove was vented from this room a very long time ago. Our home was built in 1874 so it is interesting to imagine who spent time in this room. Some day I want to try to research our home's history.

This picture with the shutters open shows what we currently have on the board which is a poster of "Butterflies of Krohn Conservatory" on top of a map of Mt. Adams.

This is the first sweater Mom-mom (the name my mom's 1st grandchild gave her) knitted for Audrey in August 2006. Audrey will be my parents 15th grandchild and John's mother's 2nd.