The Great Kids Clothing Exchange 2011

The last week I've been going through closets. Sorting out old clothes to get rid of. The last few days have been the kids closet's turn. A couple times a year I also have to put away the small clothes and get out the bigger sizes for the boys (since apparently they don't understand the meaning of 'you-are-my-babies-stop-growing-up-please'). So while I was sorting through the closets I also did what I like to call "The Great Kids Clothing Exchange". And it seriously was a huge ordeal with 3 kids! Size 5T, 4-5, 3T, 6 months, and 6-9 months clothes all got packed away. Sizes 6, 6-7, 4T, and 12 months all got brought out and organized into the closets and dressers. Winter clothes were all packed away in bins and shorts and sandals were busted out. Shoes were also a part of this. Size 12, 7, 0, and 1 were all put away into the 'shoe bins' awaiting their turn on the younger brothers' feet. Size 9 and 3 were brought out once again.

And the kicker? I seriously about teared up a few times! It was SO hard to put some of those clothes away! Really not too hard to put away Kadan's clothes, since in another year they'll be brought out for Zack, and 2 years after that again for Cameron. Zack's were a little harder, but not terribly bad. Cameron's clothes were the worst! All these adorable little baby clothes. So tiny. And they may never get brought out again. I hate putting away baby clothes. It seriously tugs at my heart every time. How sweet they were in this outfit or that funny little thing they did when wearing that outfit. They crawled it this or laughed in that. One very very hard item to put away was a little sweatshirt with a castle and a dragon on it. My brother got it for him for Christmas. Not only is it insanely adorable, but I LOVED putting him in it because it matched our little one's nickname. That's one I'm sure I'll never get rid of. I have a few items from each boy that really just stuck out with memories. Even if we don't have any more kids (or just any more boys), I'll save those items.

I should be greatful that little mini Cameron is finally in 12 month clothes (kind of.... his pants still tend to fall of quite often). The fact that he is 14 1/2 months old and I just put away the 6-9 month clothes I guess proves the hard time he had growing. He is doing really good the last few months. But it was all those months of barely gaining weight last fall that has kept him little. Seems like his metabolism is finally working right now, he's on the right track to catching up weight-wise. It's a bit bittersweet though... being grateful he's growing and being a little tearful that my mini baby isn't quite so mini anymore.