More, more, more

Lately I have been thinking a lot about stuff. We have a lot of baby stuff, and are in a transition period between different types of stuff, which leaves more stuff lying around than ever before. Most of this has to do with Liam growing. He is now too big for the bouncy seat, so it is off the kitchen island and the high chair is now in use in its place. The bouncy is still on the dining room floor though, until we're absolutely sure that we're done with it. The tray is not on the high chair yet, because if it's in place, Liam can still barely see over the top. The tray is sitting on the dining room table until I decide where it will go. We have the jolly jumper out, which is luckily an easy-to-install item, because it goes up and down two or three times a day - I wouldn't want to leave it in the doorway all the time, because it blocks traffic. But this leaves the matter of where to put it when it's not in use. We also discovered last week that Liam is half an inch away from outgrowing his car seat. This means that priority #1 for this week is to pick out a new, second stage car seat. And we'll have to find a place to store seat #1, hoping to use it again in the future. Additionally, I need to pack away even more outgrown clothing, and believe it or not, we are now out scouring the stores for new shorts for Liam to finish off the summer in, since everything he has now is too small and we still have some last summer hurrahs in us. I have one large Rubbermaid bin almost entirely full of outgrown newborn clothing. It's currently in a closet in the basement - a closet that is also crammed with the bassinette, various Boppy pillows, etc. (why can't they make more baby stuff that folds down??) It logically follows that a lot of stuff needs a lot of storage.

You'd think that having so much stuff driving me crazy would stop or at least slow the influx of stuff into the house, but no, that's not the case, either. Every time Liam is able to do something more, I want to make sure he's got the stuff he needs to be safe and comfortable and happy. Today, for example, I need to pick up a few things at Walmart. (Don't even get me started about Walmart. When you are cooped up at home all day with an infant, a road trip to Walmart always seems like a good idea. It gets you out of the house, you can run errands there, and the place is already full of screaming kids so who cares if your own child starts to act up, right? The problem is that once you get wandering the aisles of Walmart day after day, you start to find things that you never knew you needed before, but which suddenly seem vitally important.) One of the things I want to get is a set of those interlocking foam pieces that make a mat on the floor. Our living room floor is hardwood, and I just think a foam mat would make it much more comfortable for Liam to play in there (now that he's getting to that stage). More stuff. Good thing I don't even have it in me to fathom packing up and moving house right now, because I can see how having kids eventually takes you down that road.