Closing the Door on 4

In her little Orbit, her very first carseat

Both cribs have found new homes (albeit possibly temporarily). The baby clothes, with the exception of a few "keepers," have been given away. The pack-and-play was tossed (stained with poo and frankly, a rather sh*tty playyard to begin with). The Orbit infant travel system, and recently our Babybjorn Travel Crib, have been sold on Craigslist. Other baby items, like nursing pillows and electric pumps, await donation or sale or being loaned out to needy friends.

We are officially closing our doors to the possibility of a fourth member of the Loquacious clan, and barring an "oopsie" blessing that would truly be an act of God, we are complete at 3. The only step left to take is an outpatient snippity-snip for Hubbs, and then we can finish that chapter of our lives entirely.

With her Gong-Gong and Pau-Pau... I still miss you, Daddy! :*(

I thought I would be more torn about this decision, since I originally wanted to have two little people in my life. I suppose that if God were to intervene with a miracle and give us another, I would probably be okay with that, too, but honestly, since my "One and Done" post, I have felt entirely at peace with Hubbs' and my decision. Though I know that I will occasionally miss the magic of carrying a life inside me, and the delight of holding a newborn skin-to-skin on my chest, I am excited at this age and in this stage of my life to simply pour my time and attention into Little L, and invest in traversing this grand adventure called "growing up," with her.

I spent so many hours on that rocking chair in that first month...wow.

The tricky thing now is balancing my packratitis with a desire to retain and store just a few special items from Little L's infancy. It's not always easy to know what to keep and what to chuck out. As I sorted through our bins of baby clothing, I would come upon a really cute outfit that she wore (often) in those first few months of life. Then I'd see an outfit that was gifted to her by someone special in our lives. Next, I'd spot something else that held a special memory for us. Soon, I'd find myself at the bottom of the bin with a "donation" pile that barely amounted to anything, and a "keep" pile that was just as big as when I first began my sorting.

Quacker Jack is a keeper.

I suppose that, as she gets older and there are more items to sort and store or surrender, I will get accustomed to purging and the bin of "0-2 years" will become the "0-5" bin. For now, however, I think I will hold on to her little outfits and first wool booties and teething keys that she loved so much.

How do you decide what to keep and what to get rid of? What have you held on to, maybe for a little too long?