I've Just Made a Major Dent in my Credit Card

I have a confession to make.

I thought Libby would be much older than she is. I thought -- at best-- she'd be a toddler and perhaps even older. You see, I'm on the wrong side of 45 and I knew that conventional wisdom says that the CCAA does not like more than 45 years between the age of the baby and the age of the mother. Net, net even though I requested AYAP and got approved up to 24 months -- I expected an older child.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm ecstatic that Libby is only 8 months old. I LOVE that baby stage -- diapers and all. I love that I may be able to see her first step, hear her first word, participate in many of her developmental milestones.

I also think that the bonding transition may be easier than it would have been with an older child. Now I'm no expert here -- so what I said may have NO basis in fact. Bonding issues are a big concern for me since I'm a single mom and I want to make sure that Libby is properly bonded to me before I go back to work. My company doesn't give any adoption leave benefits -- so I'm only going to be able to stay home as long as I can afford to take FMLA. (A US law that entitles anyone to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year to deal with Family issues).

So back to my credit card.

Since I had NO idea what size Libby would be -- I didn't buy any clothes. It was a prudent decision. After all, I have about a million outfits stored in my attic from Little Zo Peep. Surely I could re-use those hand me downs for my Libby. .

NOT true. Libby will need some itty bitty winter clothes. Zo Peep was a little under 70cm long when I went to China. That was in late April of 2003 -- so the smallest hand me downs I own are Spring/Summer clothes to fit a child 70 cm long. Based on the translated info in Libby's health report and a little bit of math that I did -- I suspect that she will need a similar size by the time I meet her. But she will need winter clothes -- long sleeved t-shirts, long pants, sweaters etc.

I love Hanna Andersson clothing. They use European sizing -- 50 cm, 60 cm, 70 cm, etc. I have found with Zo Peep that they fit more precisely than most US clothing (where a garment that says 6 mo may be EXACTLY the same size as one that says 9 months and a third that says 12 mo).

Hanna Andersson clothing is also very well made and holds up beautifully after washings. Unfortunately, Hanna Andersson clothing is on the pricey side. For someone like me -- who loves to buy kids clothes in places like TJ MAXX and Marshall's (deep discount stores), I blanch at the idea of spending $20 on a baby t shirt.

So I just finished shopping on Hanna Andersson's sales website. I got 7 pajamas, 3 sweaters, 2 overalls, 10 shirts, 1 dress and 5 pants. They are all color-coordinated to mix and match with each other. This will cover my travels in China and will make a nice dent in the clothes we'll need once we get home.

I'll post pictures once these cute outfits arrive.