Simplified Mom: GIRL does NOT have to equal PINK

When Rick and I found out we were having a girl, my immediate reaction (once I finally stopped calling her a "Him" since I thought she was a he from the get go) was NO PINK.

Now don't get all crazy on me. I have a rational reason for saying this.

First off, my brother Rob, hates pink. I don't mean "dislikes". I mean HATES. If he could annihilate one color from the planet, I can guarantee it would be pink. Then he had a baby girl. Oh, don't think he changed. He just learned to adjust. He's secretly sorry he isn't color blind. You should have seen the torture his daughter's baby shower was for him. "Awe, so cute. So PINK. Thanks! You guys shouldn't have (or should have in any other color, really.)" It was painful to watch. I'd say 90% pink. Pink camouflage (which is just wrong on so many levels I can't even tell you.) Pink blankets, sheets, diapers, onsies, shoes, hats, gloves, jackets, barrettes... EVERYTHING PINK. Poor guy was miserable. And I don't really blame him. But seeing him go first I had the foresight to strongly suggest that people interested in getting gifts for Ada steer clear of all things pink. It kinda worked... sort of...

And it was a kind of game at my baby shower because if something was pink when I opened it, my good friends would all be heard under their breath saying "Oooohhh, they didn't get the 'no pink' memo. Whoops.". And I had to politely say that "some pink is okay but without restrictions, people just get out of hand with the pink stuff."

And let's be practical -- which I am. I'm not going to deny the fact that if and when we have more kids, I plan to reuse as much as I can from kid #1 for kid #2. So we are either going to have another girl, or a boy dressed in pink flowers-- unless I swap with my friend Jen who had a boy and has all blue. What happened to all of the other colors of the world?

Which brings me to the point of: When is a children's clothing designer going to start making really cute baby stuff using the rest of the colors in the rainbow that aren't blue or pink. Ever hear of ROY G BIV? Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue(omit), Indigo, Violet? Brown, Black, White, and Cream are all good too. But pink, baby blue -- the curse is in the name of the color, light green and light yellow really get old after awhile. Everything in moderation, right?

People are predisposed to immediately say girl=pink and boy=blue and that is just crazy. Do you know what happens when people do that?