Baby must have just finished a minor growth spurt. All of a sudden, it seems, she has a thicker layer of pudge on her feet, making her shoes more snug. And she has developed a cute little bay window, which makes her denims fly open in a very unladylike manner. So after buying her a couple of pairs of cute Italian shoes at Daffy’s on Broadway, I decided to to go the nearest mall and stock up on some new pants. I only intended to buy a couple of pairs. But once I walked into the OshKosh B’gosh, all my plans changed.

All of the winter stock had been cleared out, aside from denims which are a perennial wardrobe staple. I figured I should start stocking up on the colorful little overalls and capris that were being proffered, and I had to get coordinating T-shirts,too, right? Next thing you know, I’ve loaded up on skorts, capris, tops and the denims I actually intended to buy. I also got some socks and irregular hair clips that were being cleared out at reduced prices.

Next stop: Gymboree, where I had hoped to find Baby’s size in an adorable yellow rain slicker that I walked away from several weeks earlier. The item was newly in stock then, and I thought I could save a little money if I waited for a sale before buying it. No such luck. When I checked the racks near me, and asked the sales associate to check too, we both came up empty! I was disappointed, but Baby was so absorbed working on her yogurt fruit snacks that I don’t think she even noticed.

I consoled myself with three yummy items: a dress with a patchwork quilt motif, white pants with colorful butterflies and a few other items, including orange butterfly hair clips. Tell the truth moms: Gymboree is a wonderful store, right?

The tally from my buying frenzy came out to a little over $200, which is not a small amount. But I expect Saturday’s haul to make up the bulk of Baby’s casual clothes for the spring and summer (with carefully chosen fill-in pieces from area tag sales and a consignment store called Milk Money). Actually, the bulk of Baby’s wardrobe thus far has come from the discount and second-had channel. To this day, I’ve only bought a handful of items from full-priced retail stores, most of which came from a European-esque boutique in the Ironbound. (It’s where I got Baby’s luscious 100% silk christening gown.) So yeah, I might be justifying my recent extravagance, but I think we deserve a brief deviation from our normal routine of thrift and restraint.