The Rutledge Family: UGH! Little boy clothing is for the birds!

Okay, I will preface this post by saying that this is a huge pet peeve of mine. I get so frustrated at the turn of each season because most children's clothing companies produce nothing but cheesy and down-right ugly choices for little boys! I mean - are our boys not allowed to be stylish? Are they always meant to be wearing a cartoon character playing basketball? NO! I refuse to except that. I wish I were talented enough to design little boy's clothing, but I'm not so there's no need to dwell on that :( In the mean time, I have in many ways come to enjoy the "thrill of the hunt" in finding decent boy clothing.

*By no means am I implying that my boys always look picture perfect - I realize they do not. They spend the majority of their days on their grandparent's farm enjoying the great outdoors. They wear a lot of play clothes that are hand-me-downs or from Target or the like. However, on the rare occasion that we go out, I attempt to dress them nicely :)

BACK TO MY RANT - why do clothing manufacturers think that every little boy must be wearing a truck, a puppy or some sort of sporting equipment on their chest? WHY do they think I want my 12 month-old wearing a shirt that says "lock up your daughters"??

Let's look at a few examples -

Now I generally adore Baby Gap - but WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?

Baby Gap again, sigh.... they ruined a good pair of shorts that could be worn with anything, with a bright red number stamped on the front. Does that add to the look of the shorts? NOPE.

From Gymboree. The color alone makes me want to gag. Not to mention the ginormous sail boat that takes up the entire left side of this shirt.

But enough with the negative, lets move on to the things that I do love. I am completely the opposite of most women (not that you are surprised!) in that I am not crazy about "baby" clothes. I really like the "big boy" or little man style of clothing. Because of this, most of the things I find that I am crazy about are for Will (sizes 2T and up). I have a much more difficult time finding things for Brooks that are not covered in puppies or monkeys.

Things that I love for Spring -

This awesomeness is from JCrew's CrewCuts. LOVE CrewCuts. I think this would look super cute with black or distressed jeans.

This is also from CrewCuts. Simple. No brand name on the front of the shirt. Goes with anything. Love it.

This is a super cute Spring jacket from CrewCuts. I also really like the neon yellow one.

Baby Gap redeems itself a little here. I like the retro feel of this shirt. Unlike CrewCuts, Baby Gap offers looks like this in smaller sizes like 12-18 months all the way up to 5T. This is great for coordinating outfits between my boys.

I love these little outfits from Mini Boden for Brooks. They also offer these styles in Will's size, but they seem a little too "baby" for my big boy :)

We have another family session with Karen Baker coming up at the end of March. This will be Brooks' one year portraits and Will's three year. I'm already brainstorming outfits for my boys. (On a side note - I love dressing my boys, but absolutely loathe dressing myself, so if anyone out there wants to do that for me, hit me up!!) I'm still playing around with ideas, but I am really digging this outfit for Will -