I feel another purge coming on...

So before I went to the Oscar party tonight I managed to organize the entire nursery. And I came to one rather unpleasant but unavoidable conclusion. I need to give away a TON of stuff.

Basically, I have a veritable mountain of clothes and blankets. I didn't count, but I would guess I have at least 30 or 40 hats, 40 or so pairs of socks, and well over 60 or 70 onesies and/or one piece outfits. There are at least 50 blankets/burp cloth-type deals. Just shoving these things all in baskets, drawers, and on shelves kind of gave me the vapors.

It's not so much that there's no room for these things...it's that I don't think I can get anything done with all this stuff piled around; I won't be able find anything and it's going to drive me nuts.

I should probably wait until the baby's here to see what size he is, how fast he grows, and what I actually end up using...but I think I've developed a fairly decent system for what goes and what stays (and honestly, if I need anything after he's here, baby clothes cost like $2):

Anything claiming my son "loves his daddy" or is "daddy's little helper", goes (you'd be amazed how many things I have that say this - as much as I'd keep them for comedic value, out they go).

Anything pilled, ratty and second hand (as much as I appreciate the thought, if it's a toss up between nice and new and second hand, I'll take the nice and new).

Anything that has no personality. I got enough really cute, unique things that I feel I can let go of the stuff that was obviously grabbed off of a rack and shoved in a bag without being looked at or thought about (like the daddy reference stuff).

I'm keeping anything hand made or obviously thought about, whether I like it or it goes with my aesthetic or not.

According to the "layette recommendations" sheet I got from Kaiser, even with the things I plan on keeping I have at least 10x what I could ever need. Again, I don't want to sound ungrateful; I'm delighted anyone I know took the time to buy me a nice present. But after stressing out about all the stuff and how completely out of control it is half the day I had to remind myself that I don't HAVE to keep any of it; there are plenty of nice mommies in need who would love these things if I took them to a thrift store.

Then I thought how much worse it would be if I were having a girl - the hideous pink ruffled outfits to make her look like a little pageant baby, ahhhhhhh! At least the boy stuff is a lot less frightening.

I also have three strollers and three car seats, most of which require assembly. Will have to decide what to do about these items as well.

Happily I have very few toys or stuffed animals. Would like to keep that trend going.