What am I talking about??? Hand me downs!! Gently and torn up, previously worn clothes!! The hand-me-downs are awesome!! Just awesome!! Allison, J's mom, brought by 7 huge and I mean absolutely huge trash bags of clothes for me to go through the night of our girls' Thanksgiving dinner. I was overwhelmed by the amount and the generosity. As I went through the clothes I was just blown away. Absolutely stunned....there were even clothes in there with the tags still on. Now granted with J only being 9 months older than my Tate and about the same height as Tate I don't get the clothes as quickly, but I was able to fill two huge bags of winter items for Tate!!!
And even better I'm able to pay it forward. I went through and divided the remaining bags of clothes AND shoes (probably 30 pairs of shoes, none of which will fit Tate sadly). I am giving half the items to my assistant at work and the other half to one of the teachers of Tate's daycare. It's very obvious his daycare teacher is struggling and she has an 8 month old little boy, so I know these clothes which span 12-24 months and ALL seasons will come in handy for both her and my assistant whose little boy is 15 months old.
For those who don't know me, I love clothes and make-up. Ok well I used to before I gained so much weight (see post from a few days ago entitled 'Cues'). And prior to having Tate nothing made me happier than going to the mall and shopping. And shoes...ahhh shoes. I'll be 45 next year. Another girlfriend in our 'tribe' will be turning 45 as well. Our presents to ourselves are going to be a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes....I CANNOT wait! Since having Tate I shop for him like I used to shop for myself. And OMG if I had had a little girl I would have been in the poor house. (do not get me started on the horrors of little boy clothing offerings...that's another post or 2 or 4).
But I'm not a fountain of money. I have to have some restraint. There's retirement to be funded, college to be saved for, groceries to be bought, emergency savings to be replenished since being off 11 weeks for maternity leave unpaid, the fact that I have no paid sick time and that it's just me responsible for the well being of my sweet child and myself. That's daunting, unnerving, scary and all around mind boggling, so I'm always counting pennies.
So, though I know this is very materialistic tonight I'm grateful for the beautiful clothes that have been given to Tate and by extension two very deserving children (who will get these clothes after this season). We are so very lucky.
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| Sporting a new outfit courtesy of our tribe! Spiffy!! |
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| Tate's new to him new daycare clothes! |
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| And his new to him new weekend clothes! |
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| His summer and fall/winter daycare wardrobe... of note because there are still so many short sleeved shirts being worn in November! |
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| My favorites!! His festive weekend wardrobe! |
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| This boy has more clothes than his mama! |
I'm a bit embarrassed that Tate has so much when there are so many with so little. I took these pictures so I would always have a reminder of this. I definitely intend to show him these pictures someday, and as soon as he's old enough to understand he will go with me when I donate his toys and clothing. I'm also patently aware that tomorrow is never guaranteed for any of us...no matter how hard we work, no matter how much money we make, no matter who we are. An illness, an accident, you can never know. And in these devestating economic times, I'm even more aware that nothing in this life is a certainty except our dear Father and love. And I love this little boy. I love him so much.
So, tonight I'm grateful for the generosity of friends. They are keeping my sweet boy warm this winter.
So, tonight I'm grateful for the generosity of friends. They are keeping my sweet boy warm this winter.
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