After almost three years of putting away Julianna’s clothes for “the next person to have a girl,” we have busted out one, stuffed to the top bin. My first reaction was the same when we put them in – Gosh, this stuff is cute. Then – Why does she have so much stuff?! Oh yea – because shopping for a little girl is so much fun and everyone we know either did it for us… or we got the hook up from one friend who basically gave us everything her very stylish daughter wore. (Thanks Courtney.) Now, it’s our turn to pass along that favor. Then I realized, hand me downs can be sad.

Of course, Julianna was very excited to help unfold everything as we made the transfer from the big bin to a bag. I didn’t think anything of it, then my husband who was just standing there watching us said, “My heart can’t take it.” I said, “What? Us giving her clothes away?” He said, “Yes,” then looked at Julianna and said, “Mommy and daddy love you so much and we don’t want you to grow any bigger.”

Then it hit me. This was kinda sad. For every outfit we were giving away, I started thinking about what she did in that outfit. (I know this because since she is the first child, we have more pictures and videos than we need of her doing anything and everything.) So, I know what she was wearing the first time she went down a slide, the first time she crawled up a step, when she had her first outing at Costco, wore her first hat and celebrated her first Christmas. I was reminded of the jammies that looked so much cuter on her than in the drawer and what she wore on her daddy’s first Father’s Day…  and so much more.

Then, she started acting like a two year old and rolling around on the bin holding all the clothes, so the emotional moment ended. But still, it is sad.