There’s something about unpacking them from the boxes of all the clothes special enough… clean enough to save.
There’s something about holding them to your face, smelling them.
Remembering.
Remembering the last time you put a baby in these pajamas.
Remembering how his chubby legs filled out his pants, and how his round belly poured out the top.
Remembering how big you thought he was then.
Realizing how big he is now.
There’s something about a great hand-me-down.
There’s something about putting them on another baby.
Noticing how they’re a little baggy.
Knowing they’ll be a little too small too soon. Knowing they’ll only fit for a small window of time.
Knowing you’ll be packing them away again in the blink of an eye.
The beauty of a great hand-me-down is that, despite the fading and the tatters, or perhaps because of them, we are reminded how temporary phases and stages, favorite toys and clothes and things are in our children’s lives.
All the while, they make us remember what it was like to love a baby in that fleeting moment, and magnify our heart’s ability to grow infinitely to make room to love another who will fill out those pajamas… again… and again.
Kendall is 3 years 5 months, Leyna is 9.5 months old, and we are madly in love with the “space jams” around here.
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20 comments
this is so true. I was thinking about this as I was packing away the 0-3 month clothes (and baby isn’t even 2 months yet)… it goes SO fast! when can I have another one to wear those ‘monster truck’ or ‘cupcake’ pjs? sigh.
Adorable PJs.
They look so much alike in those pictures!
Yep, I had to do a double take to see if that second picture was Leyna or Kendall! Too cute <3
This is beautiful!! I can’t wait to use D’s baby clothes for our next little one, because I know I’ll feel exactly the same way.
p.s. I about died from cuteness overload with the space pjs. 🙂
Those are great pj’s. The funny thing is when I put on regular clothing from first child to 2nd child, depending on what it is, it’s just not my 2nd childs style. And their coloring is different so what looked good on Braden doesn’t look that great on Tegan. I make it work anyway.
so true, but alas I have gotten rid of all stuff that Dixie (1yr. 7mo) no longer fits in, After 2 girls that were very rough on them they just couldn’t last if we were to have another child. Dixie is catching up to Elsa’s (3yrs 7mos) size fairly quickly though, so I don’t know how much longer I can play the hand me down game for. It makes me so sad every time I open the container the clothes are stored in. It makes me realize just how big Dixie is and how much bigger Elsa is. They are hardly babies anymore, but they will ALWAYS be my babies.
Wow, they look ridiculously alike and SO CUTE!
I’m with you on that. Whenever I see my baby girl wearing one of her sister’s old clothes I’m like, AWWW, memories!
Adorable! And there is something extra sweet about pajamas. 🙂
Stop making me want to have another baby!
Sniffle.
um, your kids are so cute I can’t even stand it and holy moly do they look alike.
My youngest is now wearing the clothes the oldest was in when she was born. I get a little teary when I put younger sis in the outfit bigger sis was wearing when they first met.
Waaaaaahhhhhhhh! It’s too early to cry!!!!
Nope, that’s the same baby. I’d swear it.
Love the vintage Kendall picture! I’m glad I’m not the only one who gets a little sad when clothes no longer fit.
AWW I love this post! So sweet, so special! I’m hoping my huge bins of saved clothes will come in handy just like this one day!
Aww, so much cuteness and chub!
I get teary-eyed every time I have to pack away baby clothes that have been outgrown. I hold them up to my husband and say, “Look…oh how wittle bitty they were! Sniff sniff!”
He doesn’t seem to have the same reaction for some reason.
Blogs like this make me want to quit my job and stay home with my kids when they’re small more than I already do… and I REALLY want to… *sigh*
You’re so lucky Jill to be able to do that. 🙂
I really am. I try not to take that for granted.
I love it. Zoey wears Shepherd’s sports jammies all the time, and I love it when they match and reminiscing on him at that age. Especially because our life is so different now than it was then (in a great way). 🙂
So sweet, my youngest is starting to grow out of all of his brother’s hand me downs and it makes me want to have one more just so we don’t have to give them away.
I just cracked open my last box of JD’s clothes that I had stored away. After he grows out of those, O will be taking right from JD’s closet! Crazy how fast they grow!