Outgrowth

Thought about my theme of growth all day. First thing to stand out: we have OUTGROWN this house. Yikes. I am trying to box up any things we don't need to use between now and are hopeful estimated move time of May/June- like photo albums, some books, extra craft supplies, stuffed animals, games, some toys, and picture frames. Trying to declutter a very cluttered house in order to sell it soon. Overwhelmed doesn't sum up my feelings, but I am trying to focus on the promise of new spaces- hopefully bigger spaces to come in our new home.

The boys are really struggling with this whole process. We have put some of the toys they play with less down in the basement. My logic is, the less I have to clean in the home come selling time, the easier it will be prepare for buyers. Hunter doesn't understand why we have to take stuff downstairs. He thinks we can just go down and take the things back up. As time is passing he is less and less worried about it. I just keep explaining he can have everything back when we get to the new house.

Decluttering the basement was perhaps the hardest part. I'm no where near done, but I did start there. I saved most of the boys baby stuff because both boys were accidents. I was on birth control! After Hunter was born I was sure that another surprise baby would come. Now, 4 years have passed and I would be interested in another baby, but Theo is absolutly not hearing it. To quote him, "These ones are already almost out of here!" I'm also not gonna lie- I cried when I went through some of bins of the baby stuff. I took some of it to a consignment store, set a few things aside to save, and the rest is in garage sale piles.

Ben caught me putting some of the baby things in the trash. Things that don't work anymore. Stuff he has outgrown. He lost his shit over the old magnet game with farm animal halves that you match- the one that responded "pink pig" one day when I hit it with my butt. Ben cried over this toy... I felt like a terrible mother, but I new the right thing to do was emphasize toy did not work anymore, and we were mising pieces. I told him, "We can't just save everything that doesn't work because we like it."

I know his tears are likely a byproduct of his deeper feelings about the move. He's worried about a new place, new friends. I have tried to stay the course of positivity- saying things like, "You love that your Daddy is in the Army, right? Well, Army people have to move, it is part of their jobs." And, "We're taking all our stuff with us, and the dog and cats. We'll make a nice new home for ourselves there, with new friends. It will be fun." I've also added we can come back to visit, and send letters, etc.

So for now, I'm balancing between outgrowing this house, cleaning it up for sale, packing, and dreaming about what sort of place we'll end up living, and staying sane. Wish me luck.