6-9 month top, 9-12 month tights and 12-18 month skirt...
If you squint you can almost see the famous tooth
A better view of the tooth (and tonsils LOL)
9 hours ago
Friday, 17 February 2006
Children's Clothes
So I've been doing my quarterly sort out of Lia's clothes as she's just moving up into the 9 - 12 month stuff and I've been struck by the lack of standardization.
I should first of all point out that clothes are my real weakness when it comes to Lia. We don't go overboard on toys but I can go nuts in a clothes shop (which is weird as I don't own that many of my own and have no desire to).
I mainly shop at the supermarkets unless places have a sale and I've always got clothes in advance as I buy the end of season stuff for the next year(I got next years winter coat in the sale on Boxing Day).
And I do have limits, apart from 3-6 months where some of the stuff really didn't get used much (I put that down to me not thinking about how much time she'd spend just in a body suit or sleepsuit) she's normally got just enough to get through a week so I don't have to wash too much.
But on the whole, she's spoilt for choice of what to wear. Anyway, on to the point of this post...
Now don't get me wrong, I know babies come in all shapes and sizes so why would their clothes be any different but the differences are so marked in some cases that I don't understand the thinking behind it.
Take for example two skirts that I have for her. One for 9 - 12 months that I bought from Tesco (mainly because it had well funky tights included) and one that is 12 - 18 months that I bought from M&S. I picked up the Tesco one and measured it on her only to realise it'll be much, much closer to 12 months before it fits. No probs, but as I was sorting through I found a much smaller looking skirt, the M&S one. This one I tried on her and it fit absolutely perfectly!
So, the one for her age group falls off if she stands up but the one for twice her age fits? Now to me that's a bit more 'give' than I'd expect.
I've had this with clothes from Zara tpp. I don't shop there very often but when we were in Greece last year we were given the most HIDEOUS outfit for Lia that I went and exchanged almost immediately (not bad, I got five tops and a jacket for the same price as a trouser/cardigan set). I bought the next size up for her as I knew I didn't need any more clothes but when I looked at them properly they were at least a size smaller. Then when I checked out their sale at Christmas and got stuff I had to buy a size larger than I needed as everything in there seems to be a size smaller than everywhere else.
Oh and while we're on this subject, why do most stores size theirs in age but a few (H&M for example) size just with random numbers? I got a couple of summer dresses in their sale but spent ages trying to find out whether I needed size 82 or 96 or whatever - what's that all about?
And why are some parents prepared to pay stupid money for clothes their kids wear for three months? I don't even look in Mama's and Papa's as their stuff, even in the sale, is so overpriced I'd not even bother with it.
I remember when I was in hospital after the birth there was this real chav in the bed opposite (seriously, it was her 8th child by four fathers of various shades of brown and black and the guy she was with wasn't the father of the latest one, he'd already moved on).
Anyway, this poor little mite was an emergency caesarian delivery and as barely over 5lb. This woman dressed her up in this HUGE burberry outfit (tasteful pink and brown checks) and informed me it cost £60!!!! I looked at Lia in one of her '3 for £4.50 Tesco sleepsuits' and wondered if I was a bad mother. LOL
I should first of all point out that clothes are my real weakness when it comes to Lia. We don't go overboard on toys but I can go nuts in a clothes shop (which is weird as I don't own that many of my own and have no desire to).
I mainly shop at the supermarkets unless places have a sale and I've always got clothes in advance as I buy the end of season stuff for the next year(I got next years winter coat in the sale on Boxing Day).
And I do have limits, apart from 3-6 months where some of the stuff really didn't get used much (I put that down to me not thinking about how much time she'd spend just in a body suit or sleepsuit) she's normally got just enough to get through a week so I don't have to wash too much.
But on the whole, she's spoilt for choice of what to wear. Anyway, on to the point of this post...
Now don't get me wrong, I know babies come in all shapes and sizes so why would their clothes be any different but the differences are so marked in some cases that I don't understand the thinking behind it.
Take for example two skirts that I have for her. One for 9 - 12 months that I bought from Tesco (mainly because it had well funky tights included) and one that is 12 - 18 months that I bought from M&S. I picked up the Tesco one and measured it on her only to realise it'll be much, much closer to 12 months before it fits. No probs, but as I was sorting through I found a much smaller looking skirt, the M&S one. This one I tried on her and it fit absolutely perfectly!
So, the one for her age group falls off if she stands up but the one for twice her age fits? Now to me that's a bit more 'give' than I'd expect.
I've had this with clothes from Zara tpp. I don't shop there very often but when we were in Greece last year we were given the most HIDEOUS outfit for Lia that I went and exchanged almost immediately (not bad, I got five tops and a jacket for the same price as a trouser/cardigan set). I bought the next size up for her as I knew I didn't need any more clothes but when I looked at them properly they were at least a size smaller. Then when I checked out their sale at Christmas and got stuff I had to buy a size larger than I needed as everything in there seems to be a size smaller than everywhere else.
Oh and while we're on this subject, why do most stores size theirs in age but a few (H&M for example) size just with random numbers? I got a couple of summer dresses in their sale but spent ages trying to find out whether I needed size 82 or 96 or whatever - what's that all about?
And why are some parents prepared to pay stupid money for clothes their kids wear for three months? I don't even look in Mama's and Papa's as their stuff, even in the sale, is so overpriced I'd not even bother with it.
I remember when I was in hospital after the birth there was this real chav in the bed opposite (seriously, it was her 8th child by four fathers of various shades of brown and black and the guy she was with wasn't the father of the latest one, he'd already moved on).
Anyway, this poor little mite was an emergency caesarian delivery and as barely over 5lb. This woman dressed her up in this HUGE burberry outfit (tasteful pink and brown checks) and informed me it cost £60!!!! I looked at Lia in one of her '3 for £4.50 Tesco sleepsuits' and wondered if I was a bad mother. LOL
Tuesday, 14 February 2006
A Tooth!
Tuesday, 14 February 2006
We have a tooth!
Or at least we have a hillock poking out of the bottom gum but it's the beginnings of a tooth. It appeared yesterday, I swear it wasn't there in the morning but when I picked her up from nursery there it was!
Despite all the dire warnings from people she seems totally un-fazed at the moment and is sleeping just fine. She's still got the ends of a cold though and I'm praying it goes before the Greek Grandparents arrival on Sunday.
Her eyes have totally cleared up too which is great and so I'll be hovering round her with a camera and I'll get that picture posted sometime this week.
Or at least we have a hillock poking out of the bottom gum but it's the beginnings of a tooth. It appeared yesterday, I swear it wasn't there in the morning but when I picked her up from nursery there it was!
Despite all the dire warnings from people she seems totally un-fazed at the moment and is sleeping just fine. She's still got the ends of a cold though and I'm praying it goes before the Greek Grandparents arrival on Sunday.
Her eyes have totally cleared up too which is great and so I'll be hovering round her with a camera and I'll get that picture posted sometime this week.
Thursday, 9 February 2006
We interrupt our usual schedule...
Thursday, 9 February 2006
So I can ramble on about some stuff that I've been thinking about for the last couple of days.
This internet thing is amazing when you stop and think. Forget the twisted dark side that we hear about so often (and that AOL seem to want to petrify us with in their TV ads) and think about the people that you have met that you've formed some sort of connection with.
I have friends that I met on the internet, I have people I actively dislike who I've met on the internet. Some of them I've met in real life and still like or dislike as I did before I met them which has led me to think that I can pretty much judge people through their writings on this here www and know that my instincts are right (but I am prepared to be proved wrong of course).
As I have mentioned before I cross stitch. Because of this pasttime I found a bulletin board on the www and became part of an online stitching community about four years ago now. Throughout this four year period I have seen the best and the worst of people on the internet. I have played my own small part in some events, good and bad, and I'm sure there are a number of people out there who have strong opinions about me, also both good and bad.
Sometimes I do sit on my hands and try and ignore things, sometimes I post things that maybe I should have thought twice about but I have never posted something that I didn't totally believe in and I have never posted anonymously about anything. As in real life, if I have something to say, I say it and, if my mouth (or my fingers) get me in trouble then I take the consequences.
However, there are some that use the internet as their personal playground, they have multiple identities, create fictitious personalities, minipulate others, write hateful things and generally abuse the system that we all like to think of as 'nice'.
Take for example eBay. I love eBay, I've bought and sold many, many things on eBay and will continue to do so but it amazes me that people are actually surprised when buyers / sellers are fraudulent. How many people do you know in real life? Now categorise them on a sliding scale of who you'd trust with your life and children and who you'd keep hold of your valuables around.
MILLIONS of people use eBay. If you apply the sliding scale from my last paragraph that means THOUSANDS have the potential to be untrustworthy. So why are we all so surprised when it happens? Yes it's horrible, yes you never want it to happen to you or someone you know but it is a fact of life, like it or not.
Going back to the stitching communities, you can apply the same sliding scales there. Generally, most people are great, friendly, pleasant, trustworthy and all-round good eggs. But still people are surprised when something not so nice creeps in to the daily round of 'look at what I'm stitching'. I'd say the active stitching community that I'm aware of is probably around 800 - 1000 people (mainly women) with maybe that many again who look around but don't join in.
So, put that many people in a room and work out how many you'll get on with. How many will have a different opinion of things to you, how many you'll hate on sight and how many will make no impression on you whatsoever.
This internet thing can bring people together from all corners of the globe but what it can't provide is the tolerance you need to remain part of a huge community and not get upset by someone else's ideas and opinions once in a while.
It can't give you the intelligence to not post something in a public place that is likely to hurt and upset people.
It can't give you the wisdom to stop typing and hit the delete key until you've counted to ten and calmed down.
I'm as guilty as the next person of posting without thinking, I'm sure in the last four years I've upset some people and, whilst I stand by every word I've typed and I've never written anonymously there were times that I might have done things slightly differently if I'd thought about it longer.
But I'm still here, I'm still posting and I hope all of you do to as, even though I may disagree with you, vocally or non-vocally, I still get a kick out of this thing called the internet
This internet thing is amazing when you stop and think. Forget the twisted dark side that we hear about so often (and that AOL seem to want to petrify us with in their TV ads) and think about the people that you have met that you've formed some sort of connection with.
I have friends that I met on the internet, I have people I actively dislike who I've met on the internet. Some of them I've met in real life and still like or dislike as I did before I met them which has led me to think that I can pretty much judge people through their writings on this here www and know that my instincts are right (but I am prepared to be proved wrong of course).
As I have mentioned before I cross stitch. Because of this pasttime I found a bulletin board on the www and became part of an online stitching community about four years ago now. Throughout this four year period I have seen the best and the worst of people on the internet. I have played my own small part in some events, good and bad, and I'm sure there are a number of people out there who have strong opinions about me, also both good and bad.
Sometimes I do sit on my hands and try and ignore things, sometimes I post things that maybe I should have thought twice about but I have never posted something that I didn't totally believe in and I have never posted anonymously about anything. As in real life, if I have something to say, I say it and, if my mouth (or my fingers) get me in trouble then I take the consequences.
However, there are some that use the internet as their personal playground, they have multiple identities, create fictitious personalities, minipulate others, write hateful things and generally abuse the system that we all like to think of as 'nice'.
Take for example eBay. I love eBay, I've bought and sold many, many things on eBay and will continue to do so but it amazes me that people are actually surprised when buyers / sellers are fraudulent. How many people do you know in real life? Now categorise them on a sliding scale of who you'd trust with your life and children and who you'd keep hold of your valuables around.
MILLIONS of people use eBay. If you apply the sliding scale from my last paragraph that means THOUSANDS have the potential to be untrustworthy. So why are we all so surprised when it happens? Yes it's horrible, yes you never want it to happen to you or someone you know but it is a fact of life, like it or not.
Going back to the stitching communities, you can apply the same sliding scales there. Generally, most people are great, friendly, pleasant, trustworthy and all-round good eggs. But still people are surprised when something not so nice creeps in to the daily round of 'look at what I'm stitching'. I'd say the active stitching community that I'm aware of is probably around 800 - 1000 people (mainly women) with maybe that many again who look around but don't join in.
So, put that many people in a room and work out how many you'll get on with. How many will have a different opinion of things to you, how many you'll hate on sight and how many will make no impression on you whatsoever.
This internet thing can bring people together from all corners of the globe but what it can't provide is the tolerance you need to remain part of a huge community and not get upset by someone else's ideas and opinions once in a while.
It can't give you the intelligence to not post something in a public place that is likely to hurt and upset people.
It can't give you the wisdom to stop typing and hit the delete key until you've counted to ten and calmed down.
I'm as guilty as the next person of posting without thinking, I'm sure in the last four years I've upset some people and, whilst I stand by every word I've typed and I've never written anonymously there were times that I might have done things slightly differently if I'd thought about it longer.
But I'm still here, I'm still posting and I hope all of you do to as, even though I may disagree with you, vocally or non-vocally, I still get a kick out of this thing called the internet
Tuesday, 7 February 2006
No picture for a while....
Tuesday, 7 February 2006
Just thought I'd let you know you'll have to wait a bit longer for the next picture as Lia has a bad case of conjunctivitis and I don't think she'd ever forgive me if I took a picture of the way she looks now.
She's okay with it but her eyes are really puffy and red. We have drops that have to be put in four times a day (boy is that fun!) and at least they've stopped the gunk that was clogging her eyes up so badly.
I now have to have another day at home as nursery won't take her for 24 hours (fair enough). I should be able to get some work done at home though which should limit the holiday I need to take.
We've also both had another stinky cold but thankfully this one doesn't seem to linger too much. I had two days of feeling completely lousy and bunged up but today is much better. I'll be glad when both our immune systems get up to scratch so she won't bring the germs home and I won't catch them so easily.
Anyway, as soon as the eyes settle down I will get that promised picture for you.
She's okay with it but her eyes are really puffy and red. We have drops that have to be put in four times a day (boy is that fun!) and at least they've stopped the gunk that was clogging her eyes up so badly.
I now have to have another day at home as nursery won't take her for 24 hours (fair enough). I should be able to get some work done at home though which should limit the holiday I need to take.
We've also both had another stinky cold but thankfully this one doesn't seem to linger too much. I had two days of feeling completely lousy and bunged up but today is much better. I'll be glad when both our immune systems get up to scratch so she won't bring the germs home and I won't catch them so easily.
Anyway, as soon as the eyes settle down I will get that promised picture for you.
Thursday, 2 February 2006
Eight Months Old
Thursday, 2 February 2006
Okay, the more observant of you will have noticed there was no seven month update as that fell on 1st Jan when I was in the middle of my ear infection 'fun'.
I'm also a day late with the eight month old post AND have no picture to share so I do apologise. I'll try and get a good pic this weekend but we've actually been busy taking mini-videos of Lia on DF's camera so that my parents can take a DVD with them on holiday to Oz to show her off to all the relatives down there (at least one of whom reads this blog so B, you have been warned!! LOL)
Anyway, Lia is now moving up to 9-12 months clothes. She's been in the 9 - 12 month pj's for a while now but I'm just starting with the body suits and tops as most of her extra length is in her top half (she seems to have inherited her Mum's short legs). We're also hoping she gains some weight quickly this month as she needs to be almost 1kg heavier before she can be in the next size car seat. It's a bit of a problem as she's so long she doesn't fit in the baby one that well any more and always complains about being so squashed in.
No teeth yet (despite the red cheeks) but we've had a couple of rough nights this week and she really didn't want me feeling her gums this morning so you never know.
Development wise she's more got sitting up pretty much mastered and she's much more balanced now. She's also making moves towards crawling but nothing major (she managed about a foot and a half in a backwards direction last night but it took her about 10 mins). Her fave occupation at the mo is rocking backwards and forwards at high speed. This has led to some bumped heads (hers and ours) but as her balance improves, there's less and less bumping (which can only be a good thing)
She's still tucking into her food like a good 'un. Her typical food regime is morning bottle, large bowl of ready brek, lunch, afternoon bottle, afternoon snack, dinner and then bedtime bottle! And we're not talking small quantities here so I don't think we're going to have to wait too long for that weight gain!
So she's had her first Christmas and New Year and was very well behaved for it all. We've booked our flights for this December as her second Christmas and New Year will be in Greece. It's a bit odd for me as this will be only the second time that I haven't spent Christmas with my family (the first DF's parents and sister stayed at our house) but I'm sure we'll have fun. Lia will be 18 months by then so will have much more input in the whole day.
I think that's about it. As I said, I'll take a pic this weekend to give you all a visual update.
The main excitement of this month is that DF's parents are coming over for the last week and we're going to stay at my parent's house (my parents being in NZ and Oz) which means we can show my in-laws a new part of England (Kent) and also all stay under the same roof (they normally stay at a hotel when they come over as our house is tiny). I'm not too stressed about the visit as we've got plenty to do and talk about (all those BFG Celebrations to discuss) so hopefully we'll all have fun.
I'm also a day late with the eight month old post AND have no picture to share so I do apologise. I'll try and get a good pic this weekend but we've actually been busy taking mini-videos of Lia on DF's camera so that my parents can take a DVD with them on holiday to Oz to show her off to all the relatives down there (at least one of whom reads this blog so B, you have been warned!! LOL)
Anyway, Lia is now moving up to 9-12 months clothes. She's been in the 9 - 12 month pj's for a while now but I'm just starting with the body suits and tops as most of her extra length is in her top half (she seems to have inherited her Mum's short legs). We're also hoping she gains some weight quickly this month as she needs to be almost 1kg heavier before she can be in the next size car seat. It's a bit of a problem as she's so long she doesn't fit in the baby one that well any more and always complains about being so squashed in.
No teeth yet (despite the red cheeks) but we've had a couple of rough nights this week and she really didn't want me feeling her gums this morning so you never know.
Development wise she's more got sitting up pretty much mastered and she's much more balanced now. She's also making moves towards crawling but nothing major (she managed about a foot and a half in a backwards direction last night but it took her about 10 mins). Her fave occupation at the mo is rocking backwards and forwards at high speed. This has led to some bumped heads (hers and ours) but as her balance improves, there's less and less bumping (which can only be a good thing)
She's still tucking into her food like a good 'un. Her typical food regime is morning bottle, large bowl of ready brek, lunch, afternoon bottle, afternoon snack, dinner and then bedtime bottle! And we're not talking small quantities here so I don't think we're going to have to wait too long for that weight gain!
So she's had her first Christmas and New Year and was very well behaved for it all. We've booked our flights for this December as her second Christmas and New Year will be in Greece. It's a bit odd for me as this will be only the second time that I haven't spent Christmas with my family (the first DF's parents and sister stayed at our house) but I'm sure we'll have fun. Lia will be 18 months by then so will have much more input in the whole day.
I think that's about it. As I said, I'll take a pic this weekend to give you all a visual update.
The main excitement of this month is that DF's parents are coming over for the last week and we're going to stay at my parent's house (my parents being in NZ and Oz) which means we can show my in-laws a new part of England (Kent) and also all stay under the same roof (they normally stay at a hotel when they come over as our house is tiny). I'm not too stressed about the visit as we've got plenty to do and talk about (all those BFG Celebrations to discuss) so hopefully we'll all have fun.
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