Alas, all the little Zoomlians were shivering in their shorts. It was time for the Dreaded Clothing Switch (that would be "switch" as in a hazel stick across the back of your legs).
Time to measure all the Zoomlians, to discover they are, er, zooming up by 1 1/2" - 2" each in the last 6 months. Time to figure out sizes and haul out the clothing bins.
I keep all the kids clothes (well, not the ones in current use) in about 30 of the 18 gallon Rubbermaid bins stacked in a row in the back basement. They sit across from the row of comic book boxes, eying each other to see which will ultimately win out and dominate the entire back basement -Bwahaha! I think the clothes may be winning, since I also have a number of odd garbage bags of clothes here and there, too.
The bins are much better than the cardboard box system I had used and much better than when all the clothes were in odd garbage bags (frequently with several sizes and genders in one bag). I really really TRY not to do that anymore since that way lies madness. I'm not sure how it keeps happening...
Anyway, today is my day of triumph since I have 6 dressers full of clean, usable, seasonable clothes. This will be followed by a night of anguish as I try to put everything away in the correct bins and get them all back to their neat row.
All this is not what I dread (much). What I dread is putting away the baby clothes. Can Oob really be in 6-9 months already? And Leena's clothes are worse! She will be too big for these next summer. I may never be given another little girl to wear them... At least with Mxyl I know Zorg will look great in them soon. Or Choclo. I have a hard time picturing Oob in Mxyl's clothes.
I have 6 kids. How many people get to have 6 of them? 6 babies to hold and snuggle and nurse. 6 first smiles and first belly laughs. 5 first steps and first words and first knock knock jokes. 4 first words read, first day really and truly potty trained, first writing their names. It goes on and on, opening into ever wider worlds of first robots built, first bikes and kites and trains. Ever wider, ever farther, all and each a bittersweet gift of God.
It seems trite: They're getting so big. The time goes so fast. I remember yesterday when they each were so small. Gee, you have your hands full. But it's all true and I am thanking God for every moment here and now with my hands and my heart full.
2 comments:
But then, you know, when you get it all done, the weather turns hot again and everyone's begging for shorts. I'm putting it off at least another three weeks, judging by the forecast.
I have a HUGE pile of all the boxes of clothes falling over and mixed together in the attic. It's waiting for the weather to get cool enough for me to go up and resort them. Then I'm going to put them in a more accessible part of the attic and hope to do better next time!
I keep part of one drawer as "summer clothes" so we still have something. The weather has been nuts here: 90 one day then 70 a few days later! Fortunately, part of one drawer was still winterized so they weren't actually shivering in shorts!
I ought to take pictures now with everything neat. They fold and put away their own laundry, so it doesn't last long...
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