I Remember

So, my friend and former nanny is pregnant. She's due August 3rd and it's a girl! Time to get excited? Not really. More like time to get stressed. Now I have to give you some background as to why.


First off, I was never into babies or kids at all. I didn't want children. They always seemed to love me but I could never really figure out why. I didn't know what to say or do with them and I found their mothers so very annoying. I got no pleasure from knowing how advanced little Lisa was. I didn't want to know about their first steps or words and never bothered to feign interest. The last thing I EVER wanted to hear about was the whole pregnancy part....ugh! Then I was told that I couldn't have children.

Everything changed. I had been challenged. Who can say no to a challenge?

My unofficial family of two immediately started the long process of trying to become an unofficial family of three. We had few ups and many downs (of course the biggest up was my baby!). The downs taught me that this was more than a challenge. I wanted a baby. I wanted my baby.

When I finally made it out of a first trimester, I knew that I would not disclose the sex of my child. Truth be told, from the beginning I was praying for a boy - an adorable, little momma's boy. Why? Mostly because I hate pink! My mother - Jennifer - surrounded me with pink everything - coat, earmuffs, bedding, sneakers, hand muff - you read right - hand muff. I loved (and still am quite obsessed with) purple but there was pink mocking me every time I opened my eyes. Jennifer just believed, as many do, that girls should wear pink. I remember worrying that everyone would take me back to those pink days by buying every pink item the stores had to offer for my baby. How would I politely tell friends and family to leave all pink where it lay? Was it proper to put it in shower invites? Add it to the registry notes? I started to have nightmares of pink bedrooms. I even imagined a defiant daughter screaming at me that she loved pink and not purple! So I prayed and prayed for a boy! I wouldn't force my sun to wear purple but I knew I wouldn't have to explain why he wasn't in pink. My prayers were answered and I had a beautiful sun who is so addicted to his mommy!

Two years later, I am excited to talk about my sun. Everyone better listen to me when I talk about when he learned to walk or what funny things he said. And what story is better than a "what I was doing when my water broke" story? He consumes my life! Ha, well most of it. I do sleep...with him cuddled up right next to me! I love everything about him and I love shopping for him. But I did notice that the boys' section is tiny compared to the girls' section in stores!


So imagine my excitement as I got my sun dressed to go shopping for his nanny's shower! I was smiling all big and ready to tear the place down! I had plenty of snacks and juice ready to last at least 3 hours. Then I was attacked - by pink! It was everywhere. That huge girls' section that I was so jealous of the past two years was tainted! You see, I have this rule when shopping for children's gifts: I don't ever buy a gift for someone else's child that I wouldn't buy for my own. So pink was out of the question! And the ex-nanny was not a fan of pink either. Now what?

Now, with just a month until the due date, I am perplexed by all the pink shopping roadblocks! I have such an array of colors to choose from for my sun - red, blue, yellow, green and , yes, purple! But these roadblocks have left me looking confused in the stores! So here I am - vowing to you that I will search everywhere that I can to find quality girls clothing that is cute, a great bargain and NOT PINK! I know I'm not the only one out there that's tired of all the pink! Let's give our girls a choice to express themselves with other colors! Let's get it! No more pink, PLEASE!!!