To trash or not to trash

I find myself stuck in a personal struggle as well as space struggle of baby crap!!  Well I AM a mom of two under to, so I mean that both figuratively, as well as literally.

Do you know how much crap you have to buy when you have a baby?  Crib, stroller, exersaucer, bathtub, swing (MUST HAVE A SWING!!!!) cradle, co-sleeper, baby monitors, bottles, nipples, bottle brushes.  Oh, I could go on and on. (So can your money)

I have known I wanted babies since I was a little girl.  And being an only child, I knew I wanted LOTS of babies.  Back then, I wanted 5.  (Actually, if I won the lottery, and could hire nannies, I WOULD have lots more babies.  Biologically and adopt)  I would be the Angelina Jolie - sadly, and larger version of her, but I would be her!  :)

When I was pregnant with my daughter, my husband and I did what every first time expecting parent does -   Takes their first trip (of many) to Babies R Us.  (Ours was after our first ultrasound appointment where we saw the heartbeat, and it was confirmed we had a bun in the oven.)  Once you step inside the store, you are immediately overwhelmed of all the crap you are going to have to buy to keep the child that is growing inside your body alive and safe once s/he enters the world.

Once I realized how much stuff we "needed" (because this is what the store and all your friends tell you that you MUST have or you will have failed as a parent), you also realize how much all of this stuff COSTS.  $$$$$   Good Lord.  You need a part time job to pay for all the things your child will use for only months (sometimes weeks) of their life.

I made the decision then that anything I bought, I would do best to buy something gender neutral.  And that I was going to try and get pregnant with another baby as soon as I could.  I didn't want to have this baby, store all this stuff away for 5 years, get dirty, or have it break, and then have to buy everything all over again. 

So here I am, present day.  I'm in my 30's, my husband is in his 40's.  We have one boy, one girl.  (How more perfect could it get?)  But am I ready to be DONE?  Am I ready to rid my house of all the baby stuff that I no longer need, but keep it - just in case....?

I had a c-section with both children, and was asked about 17 times during my prep, if I wanted to get "fixed". I kept saying "no, no, NO".  I don't think I'm planning another baby, but I sure as hell didn't want the option taken away from me if I ever changed my mind. 

Obviously when you think about babies, you think (now that I have all the baby crap) further along than the fun stuff you add to your baby registry.  You think of diapers - $.  You think of formula - $.  You think of another mouth to feed - $.  Another college fun - $$$.  Oh my. (Not to mention being pregnant all over again.  The morning sickness, the indigestion, being so tired, waddling around, and the sleepless nights of a newborn)

We live in Florida, so we dont have a basement.  And our attic is our roof.  Our house is so teeny tiny, and my son is getting out of that phase of babyhood where he crawls, so there is no need for the swing, bouncer, jumper, exersaucer, and even his car seat   Because he is so huge, he now has to go to a booster seat.  

So what do I do the stuff?  Should I give it away to goodwill, or 2nd hand store?  Or do I store it - JUST IN CASE - that baby bug decides to bite...

I guess no one can make that decision except me.  Until then, my house will stay cluttered with the crap that we no longer use, because I just can't part with my "baby stuff" just YET.... :)