Movin' On Up

Snuggles is movin' on up... to size 18-24 months clothes, that is.  Fall weather brings with it cooler temps, and he can't wear any of his long-sleeved clothes from last year.  After hitting up consignment sales and outlet stores last week, I found some new and new-to-us clothes for Snuggles, which only means one thing... Time to clean out the closet!

The process of cleaning out Snuggles' closet usually entails packing the old stuff into plastic bins and replacing it with the "new" stuff.  [Did I mention my garage is PILED high with plastic bins full of Snuggles' clothes from the past two years?!  Yeah, we can't even park our cars in there.]

I dread the seasonal transition of Snuggles' clothes, for two reasons:

1) I hate shopping.  The search for new stuff wears me out!
2) Cleaning out the closet is an unavoidable walk down Memory Lane.

Okay, I'll be honest.  I'm usually not a sappy person... But when it comes to Snuggles, I'm a blubbering, snot-running-out-the-nose fool.  Transitioning his closet seems to bring me to a grinding halt in front of a sign that says:  YOUR BABY IS GONE!  As I packed away the size 12 months clothes on Saturday, I could literally see Snuggles' babyhood slipping through my fingertips.  And although I want to strangle him sometimes he tries my patience on occasion, part of me doesn't want him to grow up so quickly!

There I sat, on the floor of Snuggles' closet... Everything I touched had a memory associated with it:  He wore the grey, fuzzy sweatshirt on his first wagon ride.  He wore that striped t-shirt on his first trip to the zoo....  Each piece of clothing I held in my hands was like a fabric snapshot of Snuggles' life.

Cleaning out Snuggles' closet to make room for bigger sizes, I found myself torn between celebrating the new phase in life and missing the baby days.  That's when I found it--the white onesie with the lamb on the front and the big yellow stain on the bottom.  That's when I remembered The Blowout.

The Blowout:  We were at a restaurant eating lunch when Snuggles grunted, made the-face-every-mom-dreads, and then proceeded to poop over the back of his diaper, out the side of his onesie, down my leg, and onto the floor.  It was a Level 5 Blowout.

So there I sat last Saturday, on the floor of Snuggles' closet, holding the poop-stained onesie.  In that moment, I realized it's so important to live in the moment.  We've moved on to new adventures now.  And while I'm sure I haven't cleaned the last of Snuggles' poop-stained clothes, I am blessed beyond words.  Every moment with Snuggles is a joy... even the ones that stink.