I am a packrat who married a packrat. We have a lot of stuff and acquire more frequently. A year ago we had a baby who requires a lot of stuff. And I was drowning in stuff....Agh! To start over: This weekend Josh and I finished the long overdue task of increasing our storage space by first rewiring, then insulating, then putting new flooring down in our garage attic. Before Hudson came along we were using the nursery room for storage, so we had many, many things to evaluate before restoring them. I am one of those sorts of people that requires an intervention to dispose of a sweater...from high school. So, the past few weeks have been really reflective.
Just another testament to how your thinking changes once you have a baby has been shown as I sort through things that I have moved countless times and kept for over 15 years. Some things, like my favorite children's story The Monster at the End of this Book by Grover move to our everyday bookshelves so I can read it to Hudson. (The irony was lost on him.) Other things quickly work their way to the trash in hopes he never reads them!
Sadly, many memories went into the recycling or trash or our latest garage sale to make room for the things we just have to keep: Hudson's stuff, or more specifically, baby stuff in general. I am shocked at all the necessary baby gear that we had to have for year one that is obsolete! Seriously?!?! No longer do we need: bouncer, swing, baby tub, bottles, burp cloths, bassinet, pumpkin car seat, bases, walker, doorway jumper, Bumpo, more bottles, infant part of the pack'n'play, and not to mention newborn/baby clothes galore. Holy smokes! If I knew so much of this gear was "first year" specific, I don't think I would have stressed over picking it all out! And you just have to keep it...........right? (I feel grandmothers out there hoping for more grandchildren frantically nodding heads.)
So, anyway that has been the news around here. Heather sorting through boxes of memories while Hudson "helps". And by helps I mean he has been taking one two hour nap midday for the past week. Keep it up, little buddy!
3 comments:
ugh, the stuff battle. I'm no help. I am also a member of the packrat club :P
Oh honey.....you honestly have no clue until you walk in my shoes. We sold our 40-acre farm this past December. So, for the first 6+ months this year, we have spent weekends moving from Point A to Point B.....only 4-5 miles.
We have moved from a FIVE bedroom farm house to a three bedroom home. Did we use three bedrooms at the "old" house as bedrooms? No way! We used every square inch for storage - floor to ceiling - wall to wall.
On top of the three "extra" bedrooms at the "old" house - we had a front porch (room) and a back porch (room) that we used for storage.
What was stored in all of these rooms? Hmmmm.....let me see.....stuff from Scott's parents (farm had been in his family for 50+ years), stuff from Scott's house, stuff from my apt., stuff from us, John Deere collectible items, boxes of Longaberger baskets and pottery, clothes with tags - and I mean with tags - from every size range (from the single digits (boy do miss those days) to the double with the "W" after the #) and etc. We had been married about 11 1/2 years by this time. So, we should have had my apt. stuff and his house stuff taken care of.
What was funny.....right after we finalized Whyatt's adoption, I rented a community building and had a sale. I sold a lot of stuff - household items, clothes, baby clothes (from Gregory - the little boy we were suppose to adopt and Whyatt) because you know - Whyatt was is it - we weren't suppose to have any more kiddos.
Let me take a moment to talk about the clothes: at my sale, people were actually asking if I had owned a clothing store at one time. Clothes ranged in size from 6 to 16w. Like right.....I'm ever going to get back to a size 12, 10, 8, 6! I dated a guy about 18 years ago that participated in rodeos (ride em cowboy). So, I even found my red pair of red boots and my size 8 red pair of jeans!!!
Note: Within two weeks of having this sale - we found out that we were pregnant - ooops - had to start all over again!!!
Where are we today.....three storage sheds are rented in a nearby town and are full, storage shed out back of our garage - you guessed it - full!
Scared to get rid of the baby stuff now - scared we might "do it again"!!! :) :)
So.....I understand where you are coming from!!! :) :)
Love ya!! :) :)
Hey you! I need a new email address where I can contact you??? How is life without teaching? I know part of you probably misses the kids but let me assure you...I would rather be hanging with my little one right now. I am finding it hard to get back into the swing of things and balancing work and home. I miss being able to clean and do laundry during the day throughout the week. Now I am back to cleaning on the weekend, blah! Give Hudson a kiss for Tan and I!
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