Bringing Up Bella Eveline

I look at myself as a very doting, loving extremely neat and clean mother.  I actually brag that I think my daughter has the cleanest booty in Broward County.  And I love making Bella look adorable at all times, dressing and undressing her several times during the day – cue the OUTFIT CHANGE!  Not just for pictures, mind you, there could be a very good reason.  Like throw up.  No girl wants to hang out in a onesie with vomit on it.  Trust me.  No matter what your age.

Daytime Clothing

That brings me to the “ease of clothing change” factor.  No one told me that the best outfits for infants are ones with snaps.  And lots of them!  Top to bottom, back to front.  That way you can open the whole outfit up, lay baby on top of it and then snap her into it, rather than having to SHOVE her into it.  Invariably, being snap-challenged, I get all the way to the top or bottom and realize I missed one along the way and I have to start all over again!  Another thing I learned is that footed outfits are great for newborns.  Nothing like having to chase a sock around the house all day.  Socks NEVER stay on babies.  Unless you get the 80s retro tube-sock kind that we put on Bella.  Yeah, she looked cool!  Maybe there is a million dollar invention waiting to be discovered in there somewhere, but in the meantime, I used the footed outfits most of the time.

However, the clothing that emulates “real” clothing often doesn’t have a lot of my beloved snaps.  Every morning when I try to dress Bella, I have to pull some kind of clothing over her head.  And every morning, on cue, she screams at the top of her lungs.  It starts as a low squeal and if I cannot get her hands through the armholes fast enough, she ends up howling like a wolf.  I find each day I treat it like a self-test to see how fast I can dress her to avoid the tantrum.  Keith can clearly hear the “Bella’s getting dressed” time from across the house.  It’s very strange.  I have no idea what gets her so upset.  I know she trusts me, she definitely can breathe, she even looks pretty darn ADORABLE when I am done.  So, I am left to wonder, does she hate the daytime clothing or does she think I am trying to smother her ?