Mini Babies R Us

Now that we have toddlers, there is quite the collection of stuff Sam and Anna have grown out of growing in our basement. Just this weekend, I retired our jumperoo and exersaucer from our living room. Now our living room seems huge! We were only really using them to contain babies for a minute or two and Sam and Anna have been so over them for a while now. We have baby clothes from preemie to 9 months boxed up in our basement (both boy and girl wardrobes; from summer to winter clothing), all our bottle paraphernalia (two drying racks, oodles of bottles, nipples, formula pitcher, etc.) and baby food making stuff, my extra large pregnancy pillow is taking up residence in the corner along with the infant car seats and 4 bases, bags of infant toys, and a play mat the size of Texas. I have pregnancy books, Bella bands, maternity bras and a few leftover maternity clothes. We have Bumbos, bouncers, swings, mobiles, car seat covers and snowsuits among other things I am sure I am forgetting. After hauling the jumperoo downstairs, I remarked to my husband that it's starting to look a little like a mini Babies R Us down there.

Because we are not planning on trying to have any other children, I don't foresee any of the stuff being used by us again. Because it took 4 years for us to become parents, most of our friends are past the first baby stage. I also don't foresee anyone we know having a first child in the near future to give some of our stuff to. Since the possibility of relocating to another state because of a job offer is very real right now, it seems like this is the right time to start purging the unused stuff out of our basement. Plus, as Sam and Anna get older, I know they will grow out of more and more things and the pile in our basement will grow and change with them.

I started posting a few things on craigs.list yesterday evening... and already got 6 emails about our rainforest jumperoo. (side note: I got the thing for $20 off of the same place in excellent condition. The same thing was listed for $40-$50 multiple times when I checked, so I posted the price as $30. It looks like we'll be making money off of that used rainforest jumperoo!) Almost everything I had started posting had at least one interested person. Whatever doesn't get sold there can go to the local consignment shop just a few blocks from our house.

My mother is a pack rat and so I usually have the opposite problem and have a hard time holding onto stuff unless it has a very clear purpose. So it surprised me when I hesitated in replying to the emails. I'm thinking that this is probably because I have so many memories tied to the things in our basement. Maybe I'm beginning to understand my mother's need to keep almost everything, just a little bit more.