spring clean

can i call it spring?  we set a new record for longest snowfall, a nearly 60-year record at that.  i'm totally not proud of this sort of record.  disgusted, rather.  on saturday, when we were getting dumped on, i was a click away from alaskaair.com.  i was sooo ready to hop a flight - anywhere!  but, sunday came and the snow went.  now, we've had blue skies and warmth behind the sunny-sun.  i've been in tank tops; the kids already have some pink on their cheeks; and ben's working on his sunglass tan lines... bring on summer!

you'd think this would have left my system after the baby did... more nesting.  but, in my defense, i was robbed of those last few weeks and the weeks in between.  baby tess' room was never finished and because we didn't know she was a she, i had my rubbermaid totes of jack and dylan's baby clothes, just taking up space.  6 totes to be exact.  plumb-full of teeny tiny clothes.  some small enough to slip on a man's foot.  oh, they're so wittle!  you kinda forget how small they are (until you're pushing one out...) and then before you know it, they have triple-chins, and their wrists look like they're hiding rubber bands.  starfish hands and double-dimpled elbows.  ugh.  totally delicious.

with anticipation of my cousin coming to visit, i wanted to clean up tess' room so sammi had a place to sleep (since tess and i are still doing the co-sleeping insanity-dealie).  i separated out the girly clothes from boy clothes - pinks and yellows into the closet, trucks and puppy dogs into my largest tote - those boy clothes are headed south to a super-deserving and loved friend who is expecting a boy in september.  i admit, i was a little teary-eyed to say bu-bye to jackie's baby clothes, but nothing excites me more than knowing my girlfriend's little boy will be sportin' his duds.  after all the clean up, i had an overflowing tote for her, one tote of my favs that i just couldn't part with and five empties to return to the crawl space.    

fast-forward to this morning, i spent jackie's school day between the crawl space and the great room.  tote after tote, eight totes in all, of MY old clothes.  i guess i got to thinking - why am i holding onto these things?  when am i ever going to wear these things again?  mostly, i came across work clothes, dressy-type tops and bottoms from my office, high-heel days.  oh, those are long gone!  if i can't wear my smartwool socks or the shoe's not waterproof, forget it!  

it was a morning of walking through the 2000's, even some high school clothes.  wow.  remember wearing overalls?  i had two pairs.  doc martens?  i was so bold.  abercrombie & fitch?  goodbye.  i did put aside my soccer memories:  the cleats i wore in my last game, my nike shinguards, jerseys from my select teams.  it's hard to let go of some things, despite the pain from the memories.  other things?  a cinch to toss in a pile - a top from a first date, a dress from high school graduation, an outfit from an interview, a flannel from a sadie hawkins dance - like i said, a walk through my old life.  pre-kids, pre-benji.  a really odd concept!  none of it made sense to keep, almost like holding onto the past - and for what reason?  i'm happy to donate these countless pounds of clothes, and i wish them all the best in their new future closets.

and, what spring clean would be complete without the 6-month teething cleaning?!  i sooo enjoy taking the kiddos in.  it's humorous to hear (and watch!) their conversations while dealing with strange instruments in their mouths.  jackie was very polite, throwing out pleases and fank yous without being prompted.  dylan was little miss shy but so cooperative.  miss kathy asked her to open her mouth real wide, and dylan just that, including her hand open wide - see?  silly thing!