Baby Steps

This past weekend, our church held a large parking lot sale. Anyone who wanted to participate could bring their junk (I mean, lovely treasures) to the church parking lot and attempt to make some extra cash. That, and some extra room in the garage!

I used the opportunity to promote and sell some of the items in my etsy shop The Framed Frog. I also had noted that there were some things taking up vast amounts of room in the house that did not need to be there anymore.

There were baby bibs everywhere! Apparently, having three little ones in three years really enlarges the bib stash. Only the Spud uses bibs now, and even then it is sporadic because his poor mommy is lucky to get him fully dressed each day. So in they went into the sale.

I surveyed the linen closet and decided the mountains of folded baby blankets really needed to go as well. The Drama Queen insists on sleeping with the same blanket every night anyway, and the boys are big fans of the quilts their great-grandma made. I carefully stacked up the various Pooh-adorned and fluffy fleece blankets and marked them for sale.

So far, so good. Although it made my heart a little sad to get rid of these sweet reminders of recent baby days, the thought of a much cleaner closet and new things to come made it a lot easier.

On the top shelf of the kids' room's wall closet, I spied a vary familiar froggy face smiling back at me. I reached up and pulled down the Froggy Tales crib set that all three of the children had enjoyed. The sheets and adorable quilt were crisp and clean still, but a thousand memories lingered in the threads. I stood there for several minutes, wondering if we should sell the set. After all, what was the use of it sitting around? Those crib bumpers take up a lot of room! And should another Frogster join the family later on, we could always get a new crib set for the newest tadpole. I agonized over the decision because I didn't really want to give it up. It seemed then that all things baby were gone.

I eventually (and with much encouragement from the nerd) did put the whole set in the sale. (perhaps secretly hoping it would not sell, which would obviously be a sign from God to keep it) And when the nice young family walked away from my booth, clearly thrilled to get a nice set of bedding for their expected child, I smiled. And then I ran to the bathroom and cried for a few minutes.

It's strange - I am so ready for my little munchkins to be more independent and more helpful around the house, yet I am not really ready for them to leave the baby stage. Oh well, I guess it all comes in baby steps. And selling that bedding was a BIG baby step for this momma...