I guess I am THAT mom

The kind of mom who thinks it's fun to dress her kids the same. Sigh. I know it's probably tacky, but I just couldn't help myself. It's just for a little while, before Fly starts getting all independent-like and demanding to wear only certain outfits. (Right now, he doesn't care what I put on him.) I mean, it's just a couple of shirt, right? And they have to wear clothes anyway. It's not like I dress the boys the same every day.

Yes, I sound exactly like a person in denial.

Someone please tell me this is completely within my realm.

Or direct me to good group therapy.

You might be a reformed white-trash mom if...

I've heard you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl. Once a country girl, always a country girl?

Is that true for white trash too?

What I mean is, maybe I'm white trash and don't know it. Or maybe I'm still white trash -- just a little bit reformed.

Tell me what you think:

You dress your child in camo,



but the pajamas are from Baby Gap.

You own a pair of faded, frayed shorts like this,



but you never wear them.

You often look like you're still in the 80s,



but only because you just woke up and haven't done your hair yet.

Your husband keeps a pair of rusting motorcycles in the yard,



but, well, I have no defense here.

You asked for it, you got it

After my Breast Fest post last week, some of you blog mamas suggested you'd love a "I love the smell of breast milk in the morning" T-shirt.

Well, guess what?



It's a reality.

Click on over to the Growing A Life Cafe Press shop for a bib, onesie, T-shirt or mug with the "I love the smell of breast milk in the morning" line. What do you think? Is it ugly? Too plain? Would you like a picture? Feel free to leave anonymous comments.

All profits are going to help breasts everywhere (lactating and non-lactating) in the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization.

The dress bib concept

This past weekend, JP got up with Flybaby and fed him his cereal so I could sleep a bit. When I woke up, I was shocked to find which bib JP had put on Fly:



I had to set JP straight.

Me: Honey, um. This bib is really nice. It's one of Flybaby's dress bibs.
JP: "Dress bibs?"
Me: Yeah, see, it doesn't have any stains on it and the bear is made out of a sweater. I use it for when Fly has to look presentable. But for feeding him, it's better to use a bib that's already stained. Like this one:



JP: Well. As long as it doesn't involve him wearing a dress, OK....

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Also, you should know about a Blog Blast contest sponsored by the Parent Bloggers Network and Light Iris. Write a blog post on Friday, May 11, about What Makes You a Mother? and e-mail the link to the post to PBN. You (or I) could win a $100 Spa Finder gift card.

Baby cool by Havins

A while back, I entered a contest by Havins Originals and Crazy Hip Blog Mamas to win some cool kid tees.

I didn't win.

But Havins was so nice that they sent me two shirts anyway! And Flybaby loves them.

Either I need help, or I need to give it

Hi, I’m Damselfly, and I’m a babyclothesaholic.

Hi, Damselfly.

Thanks. This is my first meeting, so . . . . I haven’t admitted my baby clothes addiction to many people yet. Just a couple of my closest friends. You know, I was in denial for a long time.

Admitting your addiction is the first step.

You know, I have heard that a lot, but until you really live it, that doesn’t mean very much. I mean, the meaning becomes practical and real to you after you get past the denial stage.

Like, why am I doing so much laundry? Is it because I change my baby three times a day just so he has a chance to wear all of these clothes? No, it’s because he spits up on the outfits -- really, it’s true -- and he simply needs to be changed. Or, what about buying clothes in the 12-18 month size even though Flybaby is just now getting into the 6-12 month size? It doesn’t hurt to plan ahead. It’s nice to know there will be some clothes in his drawer when the realization hits that he’s grown out of his current size. What about trying to dress him in the 3-6 month size clothes because they are just too cute, even though they are on the small side?

See? Denial.

I can’t let my favorite baby T-shirt go just because it’s too small! The cute little race car bodysuit. The red romper Fly wore once, for Christmas. The adorbale three-piece outfit with matching hat with the little raccoon. Tiny shoes and baby jean jackets and a Hawaiian shirt with overalls to match. It's too much to bear.

So many clothes, so little time (before Flybaby gains another two pounds per month and grows out of yet another outfit).

Flybaby clearly doesn’t need more clothes. But I have developed a passion for baby clothes. I think it happened about a month before he was born, when I didn’t know if he was going to be a boy or girl yet, and I started looking at adorable outfits and trying to imagine what s/he’d look like in them. I became obsessed.

So, what to do?

I’ve decided I need to turn my baby clothes passion into a way to help people rather than a way to go into debt just to clothe my kid. (Just kidding -- I get most of Fly's things pre-owned.) I need to channel this energy into a way to give clothes to children who really need them. I don’t want to just turn over Fly’s grown-out things to charity, though. No, that’s not enough. Maybe it will be someday. But for now, I have to be hands-on about this, or else it won’t work for me. Bring me a child who needs some togs, and I’ll whip up a wardrobe for him or her. That kind of thing. Let me sort through bags of donated clothes and organize them by size for the next kid who walks through the door. Can't I do something like that?

I asked a friend who volunteers at a center for moms if there was a chance . . . ? And she said there might be in the future, but they're a pretty small operation now where any volunteer goes through the small number of donations -- it's not a job dedicated to just one person.

Any other ideas? Do you have experience in working with charities or whatever they are called these days? Maybe know something about the land of baby clothes? Or a good 12-step program?