Daughters

Hanna Andersen, love their stuff

This is all great until she decides jeans are better and chews her nails. HAHA MIne is 16 and all tomboy. My 13 yo is a girly girl though.

I have 2 daughters, so I don't really know differently - i am sure boys do many of the same things or things pretty similar. My girls also do plenty of "boy stuff" and some of the most joy I get is seeing a balence of the swet and frilly wiht the rough and tumble. Also, iis a fine line between spending into oblivion and being frugal with girl stuff, so some of this isn't "all the time" stuff.. Here is some of the girl stuff I have liked doing with /for my daughters, although clearly not all is for an infant.

Special mother daughter pictures (in coordinating outfits of course)

Having tea parties for her and her friends (with real little china cups and finger sandwiches)

Hair bows, colorful tights, and mary hane shoes - of course all the beautifully coordinated outfits at Gymboree and Hanna Anderson.

Going out with the women in our family for a Christmas tea at a nice restaurant.

Manicures for a birthday or first day of school.

Letting her play with my jewlery and perfume and makeup.

The joy she gets in wearing "lipstick" = burt's bees lip balm!

American Girl dolls (I admit, I am sucked in)

Rumba pants (the little bottoms with ruffles under dresses)

A gorgeous fancy long Christening gown.

Letting my daughter get her first pair of fancy dress boots which make her look a lot older than 7.

Leotards and ballet skirts and tutus for dance class or just to dance at home with the cutest little ballet slippers you ever saw. And a aby Ballerinas class!

Rain gear - matching rain coats with cute little boots and umbrella.

A dollhouse, real, not the pink plastic barbie kind.

Collecting dress-up clothes, especially at sales after Halloween - princess and fairy dresses, crowns and Mom's old high heels.

Wands!

Playing for hours with scarves, just scarves.

Baby dolls.

And looking forward to ear piercing and spa days with a teenager and Mommy and Girl trips to NYC and buying a wedding dress... wait, I am getting ahead of myself... :)

PS - I forgot bubble dresses until I read the post about play clothes. When my girls were infants and toddlers, I LOVED Carter's bubble dresses - knit dresses with a built in onesie. Great for playing but still very girly!! They wear really well.

PPS - :) Oh, an dstart buying bicycle shorts in different colors in toddler and preschooler sizes to wear under dresses as she gets older. When you need them, they are hard to find or expensive. In our house, we could never have too many.

Oh, how fun! I had three boys before I had my first girl (I then had 2 more girls!, so 3 of each, in that order). My first daughter loved hats. I had hats for her for most of her outfits. Cute hats, like from baby gap. I loved dressing her in dresses and leggings (I don't like baby stockings personally, nor frilly dresses). BTW, I'm pregnant now with our tie-breaker! It's been 5 years since our youngest was born, so we are all very excited about the possibilities.

I am one of three daughters and have 6 nieces... I know you are excited, but just remember that at 7 months you have no idea if she's a girly girl... you are and that's great, but don't assume that she will be! The three of us are as different as can be... I'm the girly girl, but my sisters really aren't.

"Must haves"... play clothes! Babies can't move and play in ruffled dresses. A girlfriend of mine specifically asked me to get her daughter PLAY CLOTHES for her first birthday because all she had was ruffled dresses and "cute outfits". Rompers and simple smocked dresses are pretty, but practical.

Same stuff you would have for your boys... nothing "different" aside from hair accessories. Carter's, Macys, TJ Maxx, Marshalls... they outgrow it quickly and since you aren't planning another child try not to spend a fortune!

Enjoy her!

For us southerners, smocked dresses and bows are the staples of a southern baby's wardrobe around here. My daughter had enough hair for a bow since the day she was born. She tells me know she feels like something is missing when she doesn't wear one. (she's 8) ha ha.

Here are some of my favorite name brands:

http://www.vivelafete.com/bebe.htm
http://www.amandaremembered.net/
http://www.shrimpandgritskids.com/

Enjoy your girl!

go to any Carters store & look at their line-up! It's a great place to build a wardrobe.

& pretty much anything goes when it comes to style....pick what "speaks" to you. & honestly, it's not any different from dressing boys. Most moms just want their kids to look cute, too!

My only advice is to make doing her hair a routine now...so you wont have all the fighting about doing the hair as she gets older :)

My favorite stores/sites for girls clothes are Carter's, Gymboree, and Hanna Andersson. I love that their stuff is stuff they can play in and be comfortable and it's easy to clean - cute and girly without being fancy-shmancy. Careful on the Gymboree though - they make it easy to get addicted with their mix-and-match outfits, matching accessories and Gymbucks!

Just remember not to pigeon-hole her though, or expect her to be all girly-girl pink and bows - she'll be her own little person and might end up being more of a tom-boy, especially with 2 big brothers around! My daughter is 4 and is a nice mix of both - the kind of kid who wants to wear a pretty sun dress while playing soccer and making mud pies.

Sigh, I was too practical when my daughter was a baby, dressed her mostly in leggings and cute T's, thinking she would wear dresses later. Now she'll only wears jeans and knit pants. Enjoy the cute clothes while you can :)

One tip, my daughter hated ponytails or barrettes in her hair, would rip them out. I used bobby pins until the day (age four) that she swallowed one. No more bobby pins for several years for us. I recommend headbands.