the fabric of our lives

Yeah so I haven't blogged about Thanksgiving or Christmas or out of town visitors of the grandparents or friend varieties or Lily's Birthday or New Years...once you've lost momentum it's hard to get going again I suppose. But it's my blog and I can blog if I want to/when I want to. So what you get is about today, Jan. 12.

It's approximately 53 days until we start our drive to SLC (because we are MOVING). Today I packed my first boxes. But first, I unpacked 19. I shall explain.

I have always packed away my "too small kid's clothes" in Target brand diaper boxes. They aren't very big, but neither are kid's clothes, so I thought it was a pretty good system. But I just needed to face the fact that it is just not practical to move 19 little boxes of clothes that I may never need again. I know 19 does sound like a lot. At least 3 boxes were just newborn blankets. And nearly all of my kid's clothes come from secondhand stores. It's not like I have a Gymboree problem (ahem, ahem). =)

So I went through all the boxes and made a huge pile of clothes that I can bear to part with. It surprised me how sentimental I was about it though. I can still tell you who gave me every single piece of clothing as a gift for my new babies. And oh the knitted and crocheted sweaters, socks, and blankets. LOVE people! 19 boxes of LOVE! And all the love I had for that new TINY baby as I put E or L in the little footed pajamas, onesies, and their first swimming suits. And the clothes I bought the day I found out I was having a boy and later a girl. And the Sunday dresses and little ties and sweater vests. Oh man, it was enough to make me want a baby, until I remembered the other 23.5 hours in a day with a new baby, when you aren't putting them in an adorable outfit.

Also, I should point out truthfully that looking at LOTS of those clothes reminded me how FREEZING COLD Kansas City and St. Louis are in the winters. Those drafty houses we rented didn't do us any favors and my kids had lots of fleece to show for it. What did the world wear in the winter before fleece anyway?

So I have finished repacking my girl clothes, newborn to 3 mo. in 1 diaper box and 6-24 mo. in a "medium" sized moving box. Thank goodness. That makes a lot more sense than a bazillion little boxes. What was I thinking? An added bonus of getting rid of the diaper boxes is not being reminded how much money we've spent on diapers during the last 4.5 years. (And there went $14, and another $14, etc.) Tomorrow I shall finish tackling the boy clothes.