Let me begin this post by stating the obvious: I have loved my baby fiercely, from the second she was handed to me and I have unequivocally enjoyed every stage of her development. That being said, I don't look back at the newborn/infant stage and get those ooey, gooey feelings that a lot of my mom peers seem to have. I'm not going to try to pretend that I was not a sucker for my new baby. She was/is my world. And those newborn/early infancy moments were not lost on me. But, it was tough. It was tiring. It's over...well, for this round at least.
So while others are waxing sentimental over the memories of the teensy version of their kiddos (I'm not knocking this, I think it's the norm), I am thanking my lucky stars that those days are a happy Facebook photo album memory (my actual memory of those first months is pretty foggy). Infants are amazing, but from my perspective, you work incredibly hard to keep them happy, healthy and safe the first 9ish months and then after that, the hard work pays off and your high maintenance infant turns into a kick-ass little pal who you get to take on the world with (the world of baby gym, swimming lessons, and the zoo...but the world, nonetheless).
So while I'm not a sentimental mom in the traditional sense, I've recently discovered a chink in my armor...Claire's old clothes. This week, we retired Claire's baby Crocs and moved on to a "big girl" pair and the thought of putting them away, made me pause. I remember wiggling them onto her feet and watching her clip clop around the store with the price tag dragging behind her (Grammy had no choice but to buy them for her). They saw us through mud, sand, and puddles and while I'm not trying to plug Crocs, they freaking rock for toddlers/kids. So I had to sigh a little when I thought about the fact that they were off to the storage closet. Yes, I know they are just a pair of shoes but the reality is that they were an everyday, tangible part of that little snippet of time. A snippet of time that I loved.
Alas, her baby Crocs aren't the first sigh-inducing piece of Claire's clothing and I'm certain they won't be the last. Thumbing through the archives, I pinpointed a few other such articles.

First, there's this cardigan. Maybe it's the fact that it looks like something that I would wear myself. 

Then there are the pink bunny PJs.

Oh and this hat.

I can't forget her pink trimmed hickory overalls.

Then there are the shoes in question.

Like I said, I'm attached. But there is a silver lining...

It turns out that Claire loves her big girl Crocs. She put them and did her little stomping jig while saying "shoe, shoe, shoe" and then requested that I leave them on her. On to a new snippet.