Our Wall Street Journal Appearance

Well people it happened! While they didn't mention the blog at all the Wall Street Journal did in fact write an entire article about skinny jeans for toddlers and babies and they sent a photographer to MY HOUSE to photograph me and Ava for the paper. It publishes tomorrow but is online tonight! Yay!

Do These Jeans Make My Diaper Look Big?

As Skinny Jeans Shrink to Baby Size, Parents Pay Up, Retailers Cheer, Everyone Else Worries What's Next

My comments:

1. The seriousness of some parts of the article and Ava's serious face in the photo is funny but I guess not surprising considering it is an article in the WSJ on toddler skinny jeans ;) The photo above cracks me up! Did I ever mention that my kiddo will do just about anything you ask her to in a photo shoot? :)

2. Ugh my face in the photo is bizarre and you can't tell I am 7 months pregnant - oh well - still fun and worth it! I think I am trying to get her legs into the jeans but I could also have been just talking. I wish I could show you the rest of the photos though we got some amazing ones. Fingers crossed I will be able to get the CD of them.

3. Two of Ava's skinny jeans were gifts and the other two were purchased in a buy one get one for $10 promo - just for ya know the financial record ;)

4. How it happened: The writer was doing research for the story and came across this blog post I had done about Ava wearing skinny jeans, she emailed me, then called me, then I sent some photos of Ava for the article and they decided to send a photographer to my house Monday, then today I got a call they were publishing the story tomorrow morning on the cover of the lifestyles section! Cool and a little surreal all at the same time!

Here are some photos my husband took while the WSJ photographer was at our house, which can I mention she was so great and Ava had seriously SO MUCH FUN (they are blurry because we set the shutter speed etc. so it wouldn't mess up what she was doing).

Really don't be afraid you can leave a comment here instead of on Facebook I know you can ;) ya know or here AND Facebook ;)

Baby & Toddler Fashion Inspiration Sources & Designer Discount Sale Event Clubs

So, buying baby and toddler clothes as we all know is very, very fun! I was recently asked why I thought I put so much time into Ava's clothes and I thought well because it is 'fun!' but there must be a little more to it because if my husband dresses her for school in something that I think isn't quite right I will change her clothes ;)

(Ava in her skinny jeans for toddlers)

I noticed over time that the only retail choices are fairly boring and that I had to resort to mixing basics from Target and Old Navy with more exclusive online retail lines to find really cute looks for Ava - especially the older she gets! When you walk through major retailers it seems like all toddler's wear are shorts and screen print t-shirts mixed with some dressy special occasion clothes - haha which is probably true for most kids! Ava on the other hand wears mostly dresses, skirts, and outfits made up of mixed pieces. When she does wear shorts I would say the top is usually something really cute.

So when I am trying to find new clothes and looks for Ava these are the places where I head for inspiration:

* The online magazines online magazines Small and Papier Mache - seriously if this is all you did you would be golden ;)

* Blogs like Design Mom (search 'new-to-me line') and my friend Nada Manely's blog beautymommy

*Retail sites like Crew Cuts - jcrew.com's kids line has a great 'look' section or Baby Gap has top trends. Also, Tea Collection has a very fun blog.  H&M's website (photo above) is awesome. There are a few good online boutiques (like Poppy and Clementine) and once you find a few brands you like their retail sites are good sources for tons of cute photos - for example I am loving some of the photos at Right Bank Babies.

Finally, a huge source of inspiration comes from the designer sale clubs that send you emails each day with their new sales. There are awesome deals on designer kids clothes, much cheaper than you could even buy used on ebay like halabaloo and luna luna. I also think that it would be really hard to discover these designer brands otherwise, so these sites kind of do the shopping for you. Most of the deals will end up similarly priced to Gymboree or Janie and Jack which is pretty good considering they are so much cuter! Thanks to my mother-in-law and friend Nada these are the children's ones I am currently subscribed to:

www.babysteals.com (just one item per day at 11am ET)
www.kidssteals.com  (just one item per day at 11am ET)
www.hautelook.com
www.totsy.com
www.theminisocial.com
www.zuilily.com
www.btrendie.com

Another post by me on toddler clothes here :)

A New Skirt I made and some easy, quick, free sewing patterns

First, I really wanted to find some patterns to make that were easy and quick! The first one I found was this skirt from Oliver + S. I couldn't use the selvedge for the interior seams since I was making it for a 22 month old and that would have been huge so i used the selvedge for the bottom hem instead and cut the piece based on where I wanted it to fall on Ava. You only need 1/4 yard or even less for a toddler skirt.

My first try - which is sometimes a wash - turned out pretty good. It is a little big, but cute because Ava doesn't have any long skirts - her shirt is pretty big too actually. I could totally rig up one of these for myself - oh, oh or a tiny matching one for Lilly!

Here are a few other patterns I think look very, very easy - 

Popover Sundress from Oliver + S

32 minute messanger bag from Amy Smart via a guest post on Design Mom

Fabric Flowers from the Idea Room

Adding a Ruffle to a Hoodie from the Idea Room

Ruffle Butt Onesie from Ucreate

Vintage Baby Hankie Dress or baby shirt from Trey and Lucy (omgosh so adorable, so easy!)

Toddler Easter Dresses on the Brain

I have been thinking of Easter Dresses. Ava's dress last year was pretty casual from Gymboree. I loved it because she wore it all summer without the onesie under it and looked so adorable! Plus some of Ava's dresses have been really dressy and i think a more casual easter dress is fun. I haven't been totally impressed with the selections at Old Navy, Target, Children's Place or Gymboree this year - which is odd because they usually all can come up with some cute spring dresses.

Last Year's Dress

This is my niece Elliana's dress, from the Daisy Fields line at Baby Gap - Adorable!

I am considering this Fresh Yama dress from Matilda Jane for Ava, gosh their clothes are so adorable!

These luna luna bubble sets are cute! But really they look a lot more casual in person. I love Luna Luna and Ava has had a couple of really gorgeous outfits from them. 

Lilly Pulitzer Eleanor Dress - So sixties - so cute! Ava also might be a bit too chubby baby still and it may be a little stiff looking on her. I am not totally sure about the tigers but Ava would adore them!

There are also quite a few that have popped up on ebay NWT that are just perfect!

skinny jeans for you and your toddler

*** Update the Wall Street Journal covered the blog post here - online on 8/11 in the paper on 8/12!
**Better pics of Ava in her skinny jeans here  and here on Flickr

So Michelle, my fabulous Texas friend occasionally breaks away from her 3 kids under 3 years of age to put a box in the mail for my daughter of some hand-me-down clothes. This time in the box there were TWO pairs of toddler skinny jeans in hot pink and bright green. Ava has gotten so many compliments on them that I had to share!  Apparently, she is starting a fashion trend because three other lucky toddlers have pairs now after seeing her in them. Ava's are from Carter's but I have been told that Baby Gap and Baby Gap outlet are the only place not online carrying them now for girls under 2.

So here is my munchikin in her green skinny jeans - very long story about why these are so horrible and fuzzy - I think Ava's head is actually distorted they are so bad. She has a little room to grow into them actually!

And here is Michelle's middle child London just after he turned one in the boy version of skinny jeans from Target. Obviously she was not having technical difficulties when taking this picture :)

 This got me thinking, if Ava looks good in skinny jeans with her chunky legs and diaper butt, then maybe I should stop shunning them. So I tried some on today on my way home from work. Still not working for me, they just make my hips look really wide. I know if I had on knee high boots then they would work but is that really the point of skinny jeans - how do you know they are skinny if they are shoved in a knee-high boot?

So in conclusion - Skinny Jeans = no for me. Skinny Jeans = yes for toddlers, both boys and girls.

More on the skinny jean fad from Pink Cupcake Vintage.

What do you think - are skinny jeans for your toddler?