A mountain of blessings

When we found out we were having a boy, we were happy and also a little dismayed. "We can do that? We thought we only make girls!" If we had a third girl right now, we wouldn't have to change a thing. We have our baby clothes plastic tub rotations, we have our baby girl blankets, and we have toys that we know a girl would like forever to come. With a boy, our first thought was, "well let's hope he likes pink!"

And I'm not saying he can't wear pink if he doesn't want to. If he is effeminate, then he was born into the right house! I am proud that we honor our kids' interests and preferences, even when J. prefers pink but also is a whiz at math and science, and when C. consistently pretends that she's a little boy, but one who cares for and nurses babies.   We pay attention to have well-rounded kids, beyond stereotypes.  But based on most of the kids I know, at some point they start with gender stereotypical play and preferences.  So I bet trains and that Cars movie are in our future somewhere!

Thanks to some serious donations from friends, our little boy need not wear his sisters' hand-me-downs before age 2 unless he wants to (though J. and I already pulled out all of our favorite gender neutral clothes that they wore, so he'll be sneakily wearing girl clothes anyhow.).  We have a full bin of boys clothes at every size up until 2T!

The bulk came from our friends the McCreerys who have 2 boys and have given us every stitch of clothing that their boys have ever worn. 100% of it was handed down to them from other families, several with twin boys. So though some clothes are duplicates or are not necessarily the correct season, there is so much there that our son will be well clothed in any circumstance.

The second major donation came from our friends the McCarthys who have 3 boys and say they are DONE!  They had given away all of their baby clothes after their second and then when their surprise third came along, they had to get all new clothes for him.  So these baby boy clothes are in sparkling condition and will probably be the perfect size at each season.

We are so amazed and blessed. These ladies also gave over lots of maternity clothes, unused nursing pads, and other assorted new baby things that I really appreciate.  He's off to a good eco-start!

 Stage one: the bins!

Stage two: sorted by size!