Emily was the first grandchild on both sides of our family. Bret's extended family on his dad's side also has very few small children and lots of aunts and uncles that love to spoil small children. I have mentioned before that my mom works in a department store. Add on top of that three baby showers and you have a recipe for LOTS of baby clothes.
When we first moved from KS to PA I sold a lot of her baby clothes. Palmer had just been born and Bret was adamant that we were not going to haul four large tubs of clothes with us to PA. Although I was a hormonal mess his promise that by the time we had another baby girl we would want to purchase new clothes anyways. So I sorted out my favorite outfits and sold most everything else. My favorite outfits only took up about two tubs instead of four.
Shortly after we moved to PA we met new friends that had a baby girl. Thinking about all of the clothes that were just sitting in storage I asked if they wanted any hand me downs and they eagerly accepted. I loved the fact that Emily's clothes would be used and not just sitting. It eased the guilt of lugging it all with us and the fact that she had so much. What surprised me most was how much I enjoyed seeing Em's clothes on this other child. I had forgotten some of my favorite outfits and seeing them again was a reminder of lots of memories. I still give hand me downs to people and everytime I see a new outfit on them it makes me smile. It has been over five years since I have seen some of these clothes and it reminds me of when Emily was a baby. The best part is that little baby girls are pretty easy on clothes. Albeit there will be new stains here and there but overall they are all still in pretty good shape.
As we prepare for our third child I wonder if those baby girl clothes will be used again in our house. Although we don't know what the sex of our baby is both Bret and I think it is probably a baby boy. My solace is that even if it is a baby boy at least other baby girls are getting to be dressed up in the fancy dresses, hats, shoes, etc that Emily once wore. A new baby boy will still have hand me downs from Palmer but nothing in comparison to what Emily had. The bright side is that I can always go out and buy a few new things for a baby boy and not feel like we already have so much.
1 comment:
It's nice to hear about this from your perspective. I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of friends giving me their daughter's clothes for my daughter. I was so happy to get them, but I couldn't help but wonder why they were being so generous. (I know a lot of them want to have more kids, so wouldn't they want to keep them in case they have another girl?) I've noticed how happy it makes those friends to see my daughter in their hand-me-downs. It's nice. I guess they figure I'll return the favor if they have another girl (I certainly will). It's a wonderful way of feeling supported and loved and I hope to give that feeling to others!
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