Oh, Look at her cute little shoes!

OK, I have a 10-year old son. When he was a baby, I never even thought about putting shoes on him until he was walking. Why bother? I had heard everyone talk about how baby shoes never stayed on. He couldn't even keep socks on and once he outgrew the little sleepers with feet, I often got evil looks from strangers for having my child outside in January with bare feet (c'mon people, he wasn't playing in the snow or anything!)

However, when I was pregnant with Grace, a guy I worked with talked often about Robeez, these cute little leather moccasins his daughter was wearing. At first I thought it sounded a little silly, but I decided to research these little shoes to see what all the fuss was about.

After reading many rave reviews, I went to ebay and made two bids, hoping that I could win one pair and check these little shoes out. They are available in a few boutiques and at Stride Rite in my area, but the styles are limited and I am picky. Much to my surprise (and Aaron's dismay), I won both pairs. The shoes arrived and boy were they cute!! I carried them around for awhile just to show people what my future baby would be wearing.

Then came baby...

Grace was born large, but with tiny feet. However, when she was just about a week old, I pulled the Robeez out because they matched one of the darling, girly outfits I had for her. "These will never stay on those little feet," I thought. But they did! I have attached a picture of Robeez in case you've never seen them, but they are almost like "leather socks." They have elastic around the ankle that is magically tight enough to keep the shoes on, but not so tight that it is painful to baby. Grace now wears them all the time and the only time she seems to notice they are there is when she goes to chew on her toes and can't get to them. Fortunately, she thinks the Robeez are quite tasty too.

One drawback to these cute little shoes...they are pretty pricey. At $26 a pop, a mommy could go broke trying to match all the outfits. So, we buy a couple of pair of shoes and buy all the outfits to match the shoes...just kidding! :) You can get the less popular styles on ebay for a little less, but when you start bidding on the popular styles you could end up paying even more for them when you factor in the exorbinant shipping some sellers charge. My favorite place to buy them is www.whatshebuys.com. They charge no tax or shipping and they send out a 10% off coupon with your first purchase. I have had great experiences with them and the Robeez arrive quickly and safely packaged. A word of warning about the knock-offs...I have seen them at Target and have taken them out of the package and touched them. The "leather" (if it is real leather) is not the same. Robeez are durable and soft leather with suede bottoms. The imposters feel more like pleather. I personally haven't found any girls styles available that were as cute as Robeez, but that could just be the selection in my local store. While some might think it silly to spend money on these baby shoes, I like them and hey, I earn my own money and when the bills are paid, I will spend it how I want to (after discussing with hubby of course), so no passing judgement please! :)

Oh, and just to save you a little embarassment, the correct pronunciation is Rob-eez, not Row-beez. I only know this because the woman who created them was on Yummy Mummy one day. She named them after her son.