Flip Flops

Eric and I are very blessed by the many people in our lives that love us and love Cate. While I think kids' clothes are absolutely adorable and so much fun to buy, the simple truth is that kids get them dirty. Or wear them out. Or both. Most of the time.

I do indulge on occasion and buy Cate cute new outfits. But a lot of what Cate wears are clothes that are "new" to her. The clothes that have managed to go through one kid without stains or holes or rips. The ones that are still in great shape. Before Cate even arrived, I had friends giving me bags of clothes for Cate. A friend from our old church pretty much outfitted Cate for the first 9 months and gave us this Halloween costume. I have a friend from work who passes down just about everything her daughter outgrows that's still in cute, wearable condition. And most recently, a great friend from our small group, whom we just met in February when our group started, gave us a ton of winter 18-24 month clothes (with a few other outfits Cate can wear now, like this one that she had on yesterday).

In one of the five bags of clothes and shoes she gave me, there was a cute pair of Disney Princess flip flops.
These were big girl flip flops. The kind without a strap in the back. And while I was trying to wrap Eric's birthday presents (his birthday is Wednesday), Cate found the bag of shoes and was trying to get them on. So I helped her out and she squealed with delight when she had them on.
Walking in them was a whole other story. She just sort of shuffled around, trying to keep them from falling off (they're the right size, but seeing as she's still only a few months into this walking thing, I think the toe part threw her off). But she was so happy to wear them. When they would eventually fall off, she'd bring them right back to me so I could put them on again. I did manage to get a short video of her doing the little flip flop shuffle.

I think by next summer she'll really be ready for these real ones (in a bigger size, of course).

And as a side note, and because I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea...yes, we can afford to buy Cate clothes. We're just practical people with generous friends. And yes, I have kept all of Cate's clothes that she's outgrown (except the ones that got really stained when eating or really ripped when crawling on concrete). So if you're someone who has given us clothes in the past, and you find yourself in need of them or want to pass them on to someone else...they're in tubs in my basement and I'm more than happy to keep the traveling clothes (and shoes) going. Otherwise, they'll stick around in case Baby Riggs #2 is a girl (no, I am not pregnant, and am not planning on it anytime soon).

~Melody :-)