Goodbye baby clothes...

[bailey0919]

So, if places can have memories, how about items of clothing??  I am going through all of the girls' baby clothes ~ again.  This time, I am really giving everything away.  I know two women who are expecting baby girls.  One with twin girls and the other a singleton.  I have been very blessed over the last three years and really haven't wanted for anything when it came to the babies.  As a result, it is very important to me to be able to bless others by sharing and giving away those things that are needed by someone else.

So I am going through the process of evaluating and sorting all the various items to determine which items go in which box...matching items go to new twin mommy and most everything else goes to the other mommy.  Each item carefully folded and sorted according to size and season.  What strikes me as I perfom this ritual is that for every single piece of clothing, every receiving blanket, every shoe, I can recall a specific memory involving one or both babies. 

There is the pair of tiny white crib shoes that came on the diaper cake my mother made for me.  The shoes are size zero and I was so excited when Kristyn was eight months old and finally big enough to wear them!  Then there is the purple outfit she had on the night I had to call 911 for her the first time.  It was Kristyn's first ride in the ambulance and my real introduction to live with a cardiac baby.

For Kayley, there is the little red holiday dress that I tried on her one night while my husband was out of town.  She never wore that dress in public, but I dressed the girls up and covered my bed with a white tablecloth, so that I could pose the babies for christmas pictures.  They were my real life baby dolls and Kayley turned out to be the most photogenic that night.

And who can forget the little pink polka-dot receiving blanket that I used the first night Kayley was home from the hospital.  My mother helped me swaddle her tightly ~ a skill I would perfect in the months to come...

There is the red jumpers from the girls grandmother, the little purple sunsuits that I loved to put on them, the first swimsuits and coverups... the list goes on and on and on...

I guess I am worried that in giving away the items, I'm giving away my memories, those precious moments that passed too quickly and will never be repeated.  There will be new memories, of course.  Each season marks another box of clothes packed away that no longer fit.  But never again will there be a first season, the first month to three months of sweet newborn time.  The chaos, the sleepless nights, cans and cans of formula, bottles and diapers, the tears (mine and theirs), frustration, agony and ectasy...

So, I am resolved in my current task and I take comfort in the fact that new mommies are preparing to share similar memories with these items.  Perhaps by sharing my babies' things, I can pretend to relive my most treasured moments with my babies.