Monday, November 4, 2013

Storytelling Sunday - My Precious 11

So what is in my beautiful hope chest?  One thing you will find in there are baby clothes, carefully wrapped in acid-free tissue...
Although all my girls are officially now "twenty-somethings," I still have these remnants of their newborn days. The outfits in which we brought each of them home from the hospital.

In the center is Sarah's outfit. Being born at the end of June, a summery little bubble suit was appropriate. Being a new mother, I thought "dress up" was required. Honestly, that was a woven, not a knit, so I can't imagine it was all that comfortable. But hey, in my defense, I didn't make her wear it all that long.

Here's Sarah in that outfit for her hospital picture at just three days old:

Rachel and Becca were born in September, at a time when the temperature in this area is quite variable. And as I was a more "experienced" mother, I was all about comfort and ease of dressing rather than "dress up" by then. Becca wore the little sleeper on the left, Rachel the one on the right. Since there is nothing in the photo to give you a size reference, let me tell you these two were little. Becca came home weighing 4 lbs, 11 oz and fitting only preemie size clothing. In fact, the only thing that fit her properly was a sleeper we took off a cabbage patch doll! For the first few weeks I called her "peanut" or "Little Roo." Thankfully neither of those nicknames stuck. Rachel was 5 lbs, 11 oz, but even that seemed tiny to me as Sarah had been just shy of 8 lbs at birth.  My girls were swimming in these outfits when we brought them home.

Here they are at just over two weeks old:
Rachel is on the left, Becca on the right, and the little sleepers are still a little too big on them. No worries. By the time they were about three months old, they had caught up to their peers in size and Rachel had put on enough baby fat to make those worried-old-lady-wrinkles on her forehead disappear. In fact, this picture isn't a good indicator of her personality as truthfully she was the happiest, most easy-going of my babies.

I have no idea why I'm still hanging onto the baby clothes or what I will ever do with them - I once had plans to scrapbook them but can no longer find the plastic "shadow box" style page protectors I was going to put them in. I know they were on the market once - 12x12, about 1/4" thick, front and back snapped together, with a binder edge with holes that would fit in a post-bound album. But I haven't seen them in years. So in the meantime, those outfits remain wrapped up in protective tissue in the hope chest, a poignant reminder of my life twenty-something years ago. 

This post is written as part of Sian's Storytelling Sunday. But before you hop over to see what everyone else is sharing, do tell me... have you saved baby clothing? What do you plan to do with it?

11 comments:

Missus Wookie said...

Cute dress and your comments made me smile - my sister's twins had to wait for a specific team kit to arrive before they left hospital :)

I haven't hung on to baby clothes - except a couple of leftover bits found much later. A friend of mine has just created a quilt from the box she'd put up in her loft.

Think they still sell those page protectors, I've seen them not that long ago...

Becky said...

I haven't got any baby clothes, just the shawl my Mum knitted. I think that it is lovely that you still have them. Thanks for sharing :-)

alexa said...

These are lovely photos ... And the cabbage patch comment made me smile and gasp in recognition of how tiny she must have been. I have kept anything my Mum knitted or stitched - in the hope, I guess, that one day I will have a granddaughter to wear them!

Anonymous said...

I can understand your wanting to keep these outfits. I still have the one I bought Gracia home from the hospital in. I bought a white babygrow and then knitted a cardigan, hat, bootees and mittons - 1 set in peach and one set in aqua as I didn't now if I was having a boy or a girl. I was so glad I could give the aqua set away.

scrappyjacky said...

I've only kept the beautiful shawl my aunt knitted.....it is delicate and 'lacey' and must have taken hours to make....and all 3 of mine used it.

Jo said...

This is such a lovely post with beautiful photos. I still have lots of my daughter's baby clothes but I don't know what to do with them x

Sian said...

Oh, this is lovely! I know why you are hanging onto those baby clothes..I have done it myself, and I can't quite put it into words either. I have to laugh when I look back - our hospital had a rule that all babies had to go home snug and warm, in a "snowsuit" - you know, those puffy all in one things? Fine for TTO, who is a February baby, but a little bit over the top for our May child..TTO was 4lb 11 when he was born and I can remember sending his Dad out to buy special, extra tiny suits. You are bringing the memories flooding back - it's brilliant, thank you! Your girls look beautiful in their special outfits

debs14 said...

I know exactly why you are keeping them - the same reason I have Rachel and Jon's up in my loft! Too precious to give away. I thought my Rachel was small at 5lb 10oz but it seems she was not so tiny after all when I read your post!

Lisa-Jane said...

Wow how precious do they look on those! Its funny you say about the size because the sleepers look so much bigger than the summer suit. I bet they had that problem of ending up with both legs in one leg of the suit too!

Karen said...

I loved this post; the photos and the story are wonderful. I think I have a few true baby clothes packed away, but not having a hope chest, I'm not sure where they are. I did keep a few clothes of Matt's that I passed on to Caleb. Matt was a skinny little stick, and Caleb is anything but, so he's never been able to wear them. There's a green velour dinosaur costume I'm hoping will work in a year or two!

Cheryl said...

I love that you still have these adorable clothes (which are not nearly as adorable as your babies). I have a few small shadow box style protectors, but not the big ones. And I'm with you - I haven't seen them in years!