I know..."cuter" isnt' a word. Moving on...I love shopping for baby clothes. Understatement of the century. I love shopping in person, online, in magazines, EVERYWHERE! The problem is...some baby clothes are ridiculously expensive. Most baby clothes are expensive. I mean, honestly. I've gone through size NB-6months in just the past 4 months of his life and we're always moving on to the next. It's just not cost-effective to keep M.D. in the latest and greatest trends. That is, unless, I can get them for CHEAP!! I was very excited to see that Carters.com had a super-sale going on the other day: take an additional 20% off of already clearance-priced items.

I thought I'd share some of the cute things I found. Most of them are still for sale on the website and, in fact, a few have dropped further in price since I purchased them!

Layered-Look Button-Front Shirt (Ivory)
Current Price: $4.99

Long-Sleeve Layered-Look Graphic Tee (AKA Bad Ass Baby)
Current Price: $3.99

2-Piece Pants Set
Current Price: $5.99

So, I wasn't lying! Super inexpensive, adorable, baby boy clothes! The only downside...$6 shipping. I'm always a fan of hunting around for free shipping, bonus coupons, etc. to make my shopping experience even more satisfying. Kohls usually has free shipping & I get those awesome 30% coupons in the mail which are amazing! Where do you hunt for inexpensive (but cute) baby clothes??

Baby Portraits. Gotta love 'em. Or not. I have always been a big believer in the documentation of a child's life from birth to...well...when you stop wanting to take their picture because they no longer agree to smile at you (because they hate you). I figure I've got a solid 13 years in which to get as many pictures taken of M.D. as possible so that when he's in his mid-20's and having children of his own he can look back and say...look how cute I was...doesn't our baby look just like me?!

We were lucky enough, for M.D.'s newborn pictures, to have our neighbor offer to take them, in our home, for free. JACKPOT!! He normally charges $200 per session so we were so thankful for the gift when we had nothing but moths fluttering out of our pocketbooks and bills coming in from the hospital where M.D. and I hung out for a few days after he was born. (That beef broth sure was expensive!)

So when it came time for M.D.'s 2 month pictures we had a decision to make. Would we pay some professional photographer to take his photos again...or suck it up and go to a department store studio? Once we realized that we are NOT the Trump family we decided to suck it up at take the kid to a local chain store...let's call it the classier version of Walmart.  I scheduled his photos a month in advance...because I'm that type of psychotic person...and when the day came we got him all gussied up in his cutest outfit and hauled off to the rich-man's Walmart. We arrived and were told by the overly-happy receptionist that they were running, about 5 minutes late.  No problem! We had, infact, prepared for this! We had a list...a short list...of miscellaneous items which needed to be purchased at this particular store anyways. So, I sent Steven off on his merry way to pick up the items and M.D. and I found a chair in the thimble-sized waiting room and proceeded to wait.

45 Minutes Later...1 bottle of formula....1 diaper change...1 LARGE spit up all over cutest outfit in the world... MULTIPLE MAJOR MELTDOWNS...and 1 mom about to lose her shit. We finally get called into the studio 45 MINUTES LATER! I wanted to take the receptionist and strangle her with M.D.'s vomit-soaked shirt. The photographer was not much better...I got Mason to at least STOP CRYING and stare in her general direction..but she didn't take the picture. SHE DIDN'T TAKE THE PICTURE!!! She wanted him to look directly at her and SMILE! I'm Sorry..but would you also like $1 Million and a pony?!?! I was not in the mood to explain..so I let her squeak her toys and talk her goo-goo talk at him until I could tell he thought I had dropped him off at the mental institution...at which point...he melted down. MAJOR meltdown. It took everything in me not to meltdown with him!

We got a total of 3 pictures from that day. 3 PICTURES. After 45 minutes in the waiting room and 15 minutes in the studio. 1 HOUR OF MELTDOWNS FOR 3 F-ING PICTURES! All I've gotta say is that this boy better appreciate his 2 month pictures. I hope that photographer learned a valuable lesson in shooting photos of colicky babies.
For 6 months...we're making the investment for the REAL photographer...or we'll just skip 'em :) NOT!

<-----This is the closest thing she got to a smile from Mr. M.D. that day. Gotta love him for being stubborn like his 'ole Mom :)