The Generosity of Others <3

These aren't spectacular photos, they are just to give you an idea of how amazing all the people in our life are!

So far we've bought only two major things for the babe. A car seat (a Maxi-Cosi on the German economy) and a crib/toddler bed/head board, which was sold to us for an *unbelievable* deal by a lovely lady I met while working at the coffee shop:


So many other things have simply been given to us, like three Boppy pillows and an armload of handmade blankets:


Enough Burt's Bees to take us into the next lifetime:


Toys, bags and boxes of toys, a majority of which will go into a large rubbermaid box in the attic for future Birthdays and Christmases:


A Combi compact stroller:


Endless receiving blankets and towels:


Diapers!! I did buy some of these, but they were also a great deal sold to us by another base mum, more were given to us and the rest will be traded for :)


Clothing! All the way up to 3T! These will also be stored in the attic for future needs:



And last but not least, a much loved rocking chair was passed onto us this week:


It was stained by hand years back while our friend was pregnant and she finally wanted to find a new home for it. I've been looking for one high and low at antique stores, Möbel (furniture) stores, on-line, in the BX's and haven't found anything I thought worth purchasing. I was so excited when she asked me if I needed one! I love that it was loved and used and now I can continue that :)

I think some of this is about how I don't like saying no to things, especially when people want to pass along anything useful (as I'm writing this the Today show is doing a piece on hoarding and being a pack-rat!) but I'm setting limits for myself so that it doesn't get out of control. I'm going through all toys and being as selective as I can, the rest will be donated to the church or orphanage, and the plastic bin will be gone through before anything is purchased in the future. The clothing won't be kept unless it's 3T and under, since we'll be moving when he's just turning 3 and we will purge stuff at that point anyway (that's the pattern: move=purge).

I had kind of a rough day/week and so I needed to sit and focus on what good people can do for one another. Thank you for letting me share with you the kindness of our friends and acquaintances- and some total strangers!

We are very rich indeed.

;-)