The constant question

The girls are starting to outgrow a few things and it leads to a bit of a dilemma - what do I do with their stuff?

The twin specific stuff like matching outfits, that's easy.  Send those to the consignment store and get a few pennies for them to spend on more stuff.  Odds are another set of twins ain't gonna be showing up around here and I'm sure the consignment store doesn't get the opportunity to sell matching outfits for twins very often.  My OB has already informed me that he'll probably kick my ass if I show up pregnant with twins again.

But what about the rest of it?  The things that I've bought, the massive amount of things that family and friends have given me in hand me downs.  It makes for a constant question - will we have another baby in the future?

My instinct is always to pass it on.  A blogger buddy (hey Tulip!) is due at the end of December and it only makes sense to outfit her little girl as others have outfitted mine.  I keep shopping around my house and have to remind myself that we're still using some things, don't give them all away before we're done with them!

In my family, I'm the last of my generation, on both sides.  By quite a bit.  One cousin became a grandmother long before I became a mother.  And I missed the wedding of another cousins kid because I was busy giving birth and all.  With the exception of the newlywed, no one is likely to be having a baby any time soon, and even the newlyweds don't seem to be in much of a hurry.  So there isn't really anyone within the circle to rotate all the stuff too.

So, if I give stuff away and we do end up having another kid, I'll have to replace it all and I'll feel like an idiot.  No more freebies are available, I've currently got ALL of them from every household that's in any way remotely connected to me.  But the odds are slim that we'll have another baby, so it's stupid to just let it all sit in a closet rotting away when other babies can be using it and saving another family a few bucks.  And due to some recent events, we are likely to be in a better financial place to purchase baby items a few years from now.

Here's my decision of the day, subject to change of course -

• Overtly matchy matchy stuff will go to consignment, as will equipment that we were disappointed with (like the audio only baby monitor).  
• I will pick out a very small handful, like two or three of my favorite onesies and jammies and store those somewhere in case our family has use for them again.  Because most of those favorites are very feminine and odds are another child would be a boy, I'll pull out a handful of gender neutral staples and store those as well.  
• Anything stained that I can't fix with my oxyclean stain stick, or anything in need of repairs hits the garbage can.  
• Anything in good condition, that would only be appropriate for a girl, and isn't something that would make me cry to give away, that goes to my blogger buddy so her little girl can enjoy them.

But every day, when another outfit is tossed into the laundry bin we have labeled "Outgrown outfits", it reminds me that we have a question constantly hanging over our heads.  Will we ever try this again?