Fashion Disaster

I’ve never been particularly interested in fashion. For me, comfort is always going to trump style.

Every. Single. Time.

If I happen to find something that is comfortable and looks great, well that, my friends, is considered a bonus.

When Cadence came along, we spent the first few months of her life trying to put her in all the pretty little outfits people bought for her. Inevitably, she would look adorable for an average of 37 seconds before erupting.

Spit up, vomit, urine, drool, explosive neon baby poop.

We learned very quickly the hard truth that when it comes to babies, simplicity is the key. If it takes you more than 3 minutes to dress the child, you’re setting yourself up for catastrophic failure. Outfits should be chosen based on how quickly you can get them off in the event they suddenly become covered in any of the aforementioned substances.

Diapers and onesies, folks. Diapers and onesies.

Once Cadence began to grow out of the leaky baby phase, dressing her became a little more fun. There are few things cuter than tiny humans running around in miniature outfits and adorable little shoes.

Cadence quickly became a jeans girl (like her Momma). She was always running, climbing, sliding on the floor, digging in the dirt. While she occasionally loved putting on a cute little dress or skirt, she usually ended up annoyed at how it would get in her way when she was trying to climb up the monkey bars or crawl around in the sandbox. She was torn very early between her favorite dresses and her most comfortable play clothes, so when she was finally old enough to start dressing herself, she just took to wearing both and wearing them proudly.

Stevie and I loved it when Cadence could start choosing her own outfits. Every day is a new surprise, and with the exception of her choosing a skirt and tank top in the middle of winter, we try not to meddle. It has certainly made for some seriously amazing outfits through the years, but the best thing about Cadence’s sense of fashion is how perfectly it mirrors her personality. If you could pluck Cadence’s sweet little soul right out of her body and take a look at it, it would be a brilliant rainbow of love and light and laughter.

Here are a few of my favorite hits through the years. First, the shirtless phase, where Cadence attempted to ditch her shirt just about any chance she got…

Then there was the I-want-to-wear-what-you’re-wearing phase, where Cadence stole everyone else’s clothing.

And the I’ll-wear-whatever-the-hell-I-want-even-if-it-isn’t-clothing-or-on-backwards phase…

The sunglasses phase…

The sporty phase (which is really just Cadence throwing on a pair of shorts and a sweatband to run laps around the house while we time her…

Then there’s the snow boot phase that begins each winter and seems to last until either mid-summer or whenever Cadence can no longer handle her feet sweating inside the boots (whichever comes first)…

And the current phase I like to call Madonna-meets-Punky-Brewster, which includes a whole lot of colorful tights, mismatched patterns, plastic jewelry, and assorted headbands…

This week is National Lutheran Schools Week, which means Cadence and her schoolmates get to celebrate their awesome school with “theme” days. Today’s theme was Fashion Disaster which means Cadence pretty much got to dress as usual and, well…she rocked it.