It starts the moment I see the first bud form on one of the hundreds of Shasta Daisy plants scattered throughout our yard. In years past, the hunt for the simple white sundress has been easy--a walk through Baby Gap and we're all set. This year, however, things were different.

Of course, *this* was the first year that I felt the ticking of a clock in the background as I hunted. Usually I have a whole month to find a dress, pick the daisies, and make the run to Picture People. This year, thanks to the move, I had about a one week window. The issue revolved around the flowers, or so I thought. I can't possibly dig them all up to take them to the new house, and the act of digging them up is going to keep them from blooming any more this year. If I wanted to use daisies from my garden (and I did), I had to get the pictures taken no later than this weekend.

If you've been paying attention, you already know I succeeded. What you don't know is that WOO-BOY, was it close. I turned an attentive eye towards Gap over a month ago, but nothing suitable ever appeared. A few weeks ago, I started checking Janie & Jack, Old Navy, Gymboree, Macy's, JCPenney's, Sears, Crazy 8, and even Amazon. No luck. Something so simple was suddenly SO complicated.

In an act of last second desperation, I picked Alexis up from daycare last Thursday and drove to the Outlets. She really is a blast to shop with, as she has grown into quite the little fashionista. She loves to peruse the clothing racks for an outfit she adores, and even has learned to check the tags to make sure something is available in her size before she asks me to buy it.

We dashed through store after store, searching high and low for a simple white dress. Alexis was in on the mission, and kept saying, "There's no Picture Dresses, Momma." She was right--there weren't. The only all white dress we found was instantly nixed by the short person. As she said, "It's too ugly for me."

Defeated and sans white dress, we walked back to Gap. When we had walked through earlier, Alexis had spotted a red and white checkered dress that she really liked. I had told her we could go back and buy it if she continued to be good. I didn't mention the part where it was only $9 and I had a $5 off coupon, instead choosing to let her think I was making some sort of phenomenal offer.

As I headed straight back to the toddler department to grab the checkered dress, Alexis paused near the front of the store. Suddenly, she yelled, "Look Momma! They have one!" We were walking through the big girl department, so I off-handedly replied, "That's too big for you, honey. Good job finding a white dress, though!"

Alexis squinted her eyes for a moment, looked back at me and said, "But it's my size! See, it says four."

She was right.

I don't know whether I should give Gap a big sloppyy kiss for making XS/4-5 dresses, or kick their asses for making it possible that my little baby can already shop in the big girl department.

(This thing with the posing and primping for the camera? Does NOT happen if I'm the one holding the camera. I call it the Great DSLR Fail.)