Can I share with you my most hated aspect of parenting? The clothes. The endless buying and washing and outgrowing and changing seasons, over and over again and again. I despise the entire process.
For starters, I am the only one in charge of the clothes. I guess the day Alice was conceived, Hatta and I signed an invisible contract stating that I would oversee all things clothing. I would be in charge of ensuring our baby had warm clothing in the winter and bathing suits in the summer...every single year for the rest of her childhood. Easter dresses and Christmas tights, all on me, and do be sure you buy during a sale. I suppose I should just shut up and be thankful that we can afford to buy Alice clothing, first world problem I know. Still, it's exhausting.
Please, someone, explain to me why I'm the only one to notice when her pants become capris? Which presents another aspect of this problem, what to do with the outgrown clothing. Not only is it my responsibility to purchase new size 5 leggings in the middle of the season (hmm, does Hatta even know what size Alice wears?) I have to sort and box up the size 4 leggings that are no longer an acceptable length. Every season it's a juggling act to comb through boxes of hand-me-downs, pull out the appropriate clothing for the season and box up everything else. This all translates to piles of outgrown clothing stacked up in various places as the season starts winding down. And please repeat this process every single freakin season for years and years and years.
Four times a year, it's the same, survey the clothing, force Alice to try on clothing, sort through hand-me-downs, force Alice to try on more clothing, wash everything, buy new clothing to fill the gaps in the wardrobe, wash more clothing, remove old clothing from drawers, stack around the room, wonder where in the hell you are going to stack yet another large Rubbermaid container in the basement, cry tears into your tequila, repeat over and over again.
I do apologize for this rant, I suppose I'm just a touch bitter after four and a half years of the same and with another season change barreling down upon me I'm feeling the blood boiling inside at the upcoming task. My mind is already in spring clothing mode, with preparations for summer being made when sales arise. The only comfort is knowing I'm not alone. All of my girlfriends with children are also solely responsible for the children's clothing too. Maybe I should coordinate a strike, instead.
Shouldn't some of those Rubbermaids be shipped off to Goodwill? Just to save your sanity? Little kids don't care if they only have five pair of pants and three dresses.
ReplyDeleteI save all of Alice's outgrown clothing for my two year old niece and my good friend has a daughter two years older than Alice so I have all her bins of outgrown clothing as well. Don't fret, I donate my fair share to goodwill.
DeleteI feel your pain. There are 3 of them. The mom is constantly buying clothes that they don't need, and I'm in charge of sorting through the current collection, culling the things that are too small, washing, folding, putting away, organizing and for the love of all things good in this world how many socks do those girls need to wear in the course of a single freaking day!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhew, that felt good. I actually just screamed it at the computer. I may or may not have added a "Dammit, Patrice!" ala Robin Scherbatsky. To make my clothes sorting drama that much more fun, mom often buys clothes that dad hates and I'm the one in the middle. Then she lets C pick and choose from A&O's drawers despite the fact that they're a size smaller. Then she yells at me because C is wearing clothes that are too small. Why can't they just be naked? Or wear jammies (with butt flaps for easy trips to the potty) all the time?
Oh, I just commented on a post about the joys (cough) of clothing yesterday. Such a pain! My kids are small for their ages, so Trinity (4) is just now fitting into 3T stuff, while Gabe (3) can still wear 18-24 months. Simon is the only one wearing clothing that corresponds to his age. But despite the fact that it's been this way since they were tiny, my MIL (and to a lesser extent, my mom) still insists on shopping for their ages. So I'm stuck with tons of clothes that WILL fit them eventually, but with no space to put it. And I never have time to take it back to exchange, so my kids either wear a lot of stuff that's too big, or have to wait a year or two before they fit into the outfits they were gifted for birthdays, holidays, etc. Definitely a first world problem! But a pain nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteIt's like you're in my brain. Getting out the spring clothing is actually on my task list for tonight. It's almost 9:30 and I haven't started yet, if that tells you anything.
ReplyDeleteHoney, you're singing my song. As this season change is upon us, I'm about to jump of the roof. (Don't worry, though, I'll land in all of the outgrown clothes.) I have five kids, and I don't even know. It's crazy.
ReplyDeleteI love shopping for my kids clothes. I hate paying for them, but I love shopping for them. Especially girl clothes. I feel like half of Bella's wardrobe are things that I would want to wear in adult sizes.
ReplyDeleteHowever storing it? HATE IT. I have two kids worth of A SHIT LOAD of clothes in assorted boxes mostly by size. MOSTLY. I keep them all because I'm not done baby making yet!