Cousins

It started when I was on bed rest. The bags, boxes, and bins began to arrive. They slowly took over the nursery closet, then the spare bedroom closet, then eventually the entire house. And they were all full of one thing: hand-me-downs!

Charlotte and Jensen have four cousins: Laird, age 5; Piper, almost 3; Haven, 20 months; and Knox, 14 months. Not only does this mean lots of fun (and craziness) at family get-togethers, it also means that we are up to our eyeballs in hand-me-downs! I would say that about 90% of Charlotte and Jensen's wardrobes are hand-me-downs from their cousins. Which has been an incredible blessing and so much fun--when I go into their closets to pick them out something to wear, it's like I'm going shopping...without having to spend lots of money on clothes that will only be worn a few times!

Because, as I'm quickly learning, babies grow fast. And it seems like they out-grow things even faster. So I decided that last Friday would be project day: I would pack up all the hand-me-downs that Charlotte and Jensen had outgrown. I recruited my mom and Tammy (her daughter Renee lives in NYC and was having her first baby via c-section that day so Tammy was desperate for something to keep her occupied!) to help and we set out on what turned out to be quite the project.

Looks like a lot, right? And this isn't even all of them. This is only what C & J have outgrown so far. Also, my mom has another huge bin full of outgrown newborn clothes at her house!

We finally got everything sorted and packed up. Along with the hand-me-downs, I also made sure to pack up the new items we had either received as gifts or bought for Charlotte and Jensen, so that they can pass some hand-me-downs to their new cousin (whenever he or she should happen to arrive). Whew. I feel much more organized now!

On Friday night, Brian headed out to the Rangers playoff game with his dad and two brothers-in-law. I was a bit jealous of his outing, so I stayed home and had a small pity party and a large glass of wine while watching the game on TV. On Saturday, we packed up Charlotte and Jensen and went to Brian's parent's house to celebrate Laird's 5th birthday. There were gifts, cupcakes, and a pinata! Here are some pics from our Saturday...

While smacking the pinata, Laird said, and I quote, "You want a piece of this?!?" I was cracking up.

Charlotte and Jensen got lots of quality cousin time as well as time with both of their great-grandmothers and their great-grandfather. 

Jensen and Mema Shelton

Charlotte and Mema Hickman

C and J chillin' with cousin Haven. A few things about this pic: First, check out Jensen's outfit...appears to be shorts, right? It's actually long overalls. They kept creeping up his legs. Looks like another outfit is ready to go to the hand-me-down pile! Second, shortly after this pic was taken, Haven sat on Charlotte's arm, prompting a Charlotte-style freakout, and tummy fun was over.

As we were leaving, sweet Piper decided she wanted to give Jensen lots of love. She was giving him hugs and practically sitting on top of him in his car seat. Fortunately, Jensen loved it (as you can see).  Something like this wouldn't fly with Charlotte!

So that was our weekend...now for a look at the week ahead. Take a second and go back up to the pic of my mom sorting through clothes. See that smile on her face? She's not smiling because she just loves being put to work sorting hand-me-downs at my house. She's smiling because she knew that the very next day, she'd be blowing this joint and going to Canada. That's right, she and my dad have returned to their hometowns for a week...leaving us Grandma-less. It's currently Monday at 1:00 and I have survived so far...we'll see what the rest of the week brings!