Wednesday, July 09, 2008

I Can't Keep Up

The summer is just racing by way too fast. June is gone and I feel like I've already lost July. Then, will come hot, humid, nasty August at a fun 8 months pregnant, and then the next thing you know, it will be fall and we'll have a baby. My brain is too slow to keep up with all this.

I was cleaning out one of my many Monica closets this week and started sifting through baby clothes. Since we don't know if we're having a boy or girl, I just pulled out the tiny gender neutral stuff. And, damn if they aren't all nasty looking, somehow. I put all those clothes away after laundering them. And they looked clean when they went in the totes. I was meticulous about it. Now, they have gross spit up stains all over them. It obviously re-emerges later, after the clean-looking clothes have been put away. I tried re-washing them, but they didn't come clean. Does this mean I just toss them all and start over? On the one hand: Yay! Shopping for baby stuff! On the other hand: NOOOOOOOOOO! Shopping for baby stuff. Please tell me if you have any solutions. And, are you not supposed to store clothing in plastic totes? Maybe that was the problem?

So, as you can see, I am trying to pull myself out of denial and trying to get stuff done and organized before I turn into a beached, sweating whale (which I predict will happen in less than 4 weeks.) But, seriously. I am still in denial. I look at those tiny clothes and think, "Really? Again? We're doing this again?" And, then, late at night, when I'm laying awake in the guest bed from 3:30 a.m to 5:30 a.m. coughing up a lung, as I did this morning (AGAIN!) I feel the baby kicking and think, "I can't wait to meet you," and "I hope I'm not giving you shaken baby syndrome in utero by coughing violently for two hours."

On another fun subject: I have to re-audition for the choir I'm in in less than two weeks and I haven't received the music yet (it is an Italian art song) and I have the loveliest raspy, sick sounding grotesque voice right now (see also: neck glands swollen to the size of golf balls, sinus nastiness and annoying gagging dry heave cough for the last week). Due to this other human taking up residence against my lungs, I can't take a deep, normal breath. They are also cutting the chorus down from 130 to 100 people this year. I'm kind of, oh, you might say, stressing out about it. First of all, if I don't make it.....wah! But, if I do make it....how am I going to even participate with a newborn and a toddler and a husband with a variable schedule? Can I even do it? What are the chances that I'll find reliable babysitters that can handle both kids? And if nursing goes well, and the baby doesn't take a bottle like someone else I know (Becca, I'm looking at you!) then what will I do?

8 comments:

joanna said...

I'm no expert on any of that. My clothes have all been stored in plastic totes. I kept the absolute cleanest for the new baby and was pretty sure that a few baby grandparents would buy new clothes for him/her (that assumption worked well when we knew we were having a boy after the girls). I'm not the greatest at no stains to start with. But I wasn't too bothered by a small stain here or there. As for the singing - Oliver always says to me "I wouldn't worry about that" and I always think that of course he wouldn't because he doesn't worry about much of anything. So I take a breath and remind myself it'll work out somehow. How helpful is that?

Unknown said...

No idea about clothes.

I think you're brave for even thinking about taking on something. I agree with Joanna, things will just work out. You'll be surprised at how much you can handle.

Andrea and Ben said...

Speaking of can't keep up - what is with the blog burst! Every day there is something new, I cannot keep up!!
The singing will pan out how it is supposed to. If it happens, you will work it out with a sitter, if it doesn't happen you will find ways to fill that time. Good luck at the audition either way!!

Anonymous said...

Hi, lets be friends. I TOO just got down baby clothes (stored in Tennessee suitcases AKA trash bags) and despite the fact that I *carefully* washed and inspected each and every item before packing it away, they are now covered in mystery stains. My mom told me she has some secret recipe for getting the stains out....Im still waiting. Im due a couple weeks after you so its nice to read your blog...you know, shared misery and all. We're in Okinawa so my thermostat is constantly set at: seriously unpleasant.

The Quinn Report said...

Now, I'm going to run into our steaming garage, pull the stairs down, and pull ALL my plastic totes down from the even more steamy attic to check all the baby clothes!

I know I don't have very many gender neutral pieces (because my mom and I went CRAZY and bought a butt load of pink), so I've already been out shopping for blue necessities. It amazes me how much sleepers & socks cost. I think I've already spent a couple 100 dollars just getting a few things here and there...shit!

Anonymous said...

The way I see it, there will be more stains before the second baby is through with the clothes, and he/she won't care for the first year or two. Just buy a few cute outfits for baby pictures and save the rest for "everyday".

If you still want to clean the stains...have you already tried washing the white clothes in hot water with bleach? Rubbing a paste of baking soda (and a little water) into the stain? Enzyme stain sprays (e.g. Shout)?

In the museum business, storing things in plastic is not considered optimal -- but we're talking two years here, not a century -- so I don't think that's the cause of your problem. It is true that sugar stains (and milk has sugar in it) turn dark over time, even though they aren't visible when freshly spilled (white wine on a tablecloth, for example) -- but washing should have removed those kinds of stains.
--Love,
(Great) Aunt Linda

Kayris said...

I had the same problem when I got out our baby clothes for number 2. She wore very little of her brother's neutral clothing because I found I'd rather dress her in stuff that was completely pink.

Anyway, I've heard Biz gets old spit up stains out.

And for what it's worth, pregnancy tired was completely different from two-kids-and-not-sleeping tired.

Angie said...

Yeah, the same thing happened with some of my stuff and the clothes my sister had saved for me. Neither one of us kept anything with stains. I do think there is something about spit up that hides or something.