Dedication Drama

I’m finding that as a parent, there is very little that is simple about having children. My original plan for Ayden was to have him officially dedicated back to the Lord before he reached six months. But instead of having it done at the church we attend, I wanted to keep the dedication in the family and have my uncle perform the ceremony. This would have required a little bit of traveling to my uncle’s church in Virginia. And again ideally, I wanted it to be during the summer, since this is when the two of us have the most time.
Let’s just say, we got two out of three of our requests: Uncle and summer. The dedication is the last possible Sunday before the start of the summer. Coincidentally, this is also the month my uncle is on vacation from his church, so the dedication will be held at our home. How many people can say that they get a personalized dedication of their child at their home? While our home isn’t entirely put together, it will satisfy the curiosity of some of my family and friends, and allow more people to come. The goal was to keep everything as simple as possible. So instead of keeping everyone here, the idea was to go to Cracker Barrel, where there is homestyle cooking with really that kind of Sunday dinner feel. In addition, for a select few, the plan was for them to return back to the house for some dessert and drinks.
The downside is that while we have more control over our guest list because of the locale, there is still the limiting factor of how many people to invite. Even at the smallest number, I was only able to whittle it down to 30 people! This is with inviting no uncles and aunts with the exception of the uncle and aunt that are helping with the ceremony. So much for simplicity. Looking at the time, I realize that it may not be realistic to invite people back for dessert since it will be kind of late, and duh! I teach that Monday, starting at 8am and not ending until 9:30 at night! What tha heck am I thinking? So in my mind, I’m thinking that perhaps I should do some kind of cocktail evening on Saturday. But there’s a snafu there too in that my youngest, newest godson’s birthday party is going to be that day. So I’m going to be EXHAUSTED by the middle of Monday night.

But is that the end of the drama? No! For his dedication, he has to be dressed in all white. And I wanted him to be in the cutest dedication outfit possible. But I have standards, and my SO (significant other) had pretty much the same idea. The criteria: no ruffles, no lace, no suspenders, and no, absolutely NO bonnets! You would not believe how hard those criteria are to meet and here’s the reason. Apparently, in the early 20th century, the only outfits available were gowns, and with gowns came bonnets. It wasn’t until late 20th century that boys started to get their gender identification from birth. So in my internet searching, I found a plethora of pantaloons, suspenders and bonnets. I wanted Ayden to have a hat, a regular hat. Finally, after searching I can’t tell you how many sites, I found what I thought to be close the perfect outfit: short pants, vest, bowtie and a jaunty newsboy hat with a brim. Ironically enough, that boy’s outfit was located on a website called Pink Princess! What tha heck! So I bookmark the page with the intent of buying it with the gift card I was to receive from the credit union for buying the car. I receive the gift card in the mail the next day, and I’m ready to rock.
As for the shoes, my SO found those on Footlocker, which is great since I acquired a Footlocker gift card from a lost-and-found item that had not been reclaimed for almost two years. The great part about the shoes is although they are white, they are essentially tennis shoes, and versatile for other outfits. So his part turned out easy.
Now back to the outfit. So when I went back to the website and added the outfit to the cart, it was nicely sold out. Again, what tha hack!? What am I supposed to do now? So it’s back to the internet drawing board. And lo and behold, I find his outfit on a site that I’ve used a few times before. Why this site didn’t show up in my original search, I have no idea, but I find two possibilities: a diamond vest and a jacquard vest. While I like the jacquard vest the best, I like the hat on the diamond outfit better. But the diamond outfit has a matching diamond cut cuff. Not feeling the cuff, I sent the choices to the SO and he felt the same. Just to be certain I couldn’t get everything I wanted on the order, I called my website and asked there could be any substitution. Of course not. So I read the reviews and the outfits run small so I decide to go 9-12 months with the jacquard, and I hit another “What tha heck?!” moment. The jacquard only came in two sizes: 3-8 months and 3T! But at least this time, I have a backup, so I order the diamond cut. C’est la vie.
Now I just have to play the waiting game as the items start to come in. Why Amazon? Why have you forsaken me and not had all these things available?