Generosity at it's finest

I posted a few weeks ago about appropriate things to say to pregnant women. It's a good one. Read, share, learn it. Knowledge is power, y'all.

Anyway, in that post, I talked about how people can be kind of inappropriate without realizing it because they are EXCITED for your baby and this big change in your life. I realized today that I have some pretty fantastic people that have shown their excitement in a wonderful, normal and APPROPRIATE way.

They give us things.

That sounds greedy, but when you have your first baby, the vast expanse of choices can be OVERWHELMING. Just looking at something as simple as diaper bags can take you forever. At least, much longer than your pre-expecting self thought you'd ever mull over a diaper bag purchase. When I started sharing news of our bundle of joy, a new overwhelming feeling took over. I was overwhelmed with people volunteering their product knowledge and actual baby things with us.

- My sister offered up her crib. Her boys are 11, 10 and 8 now, so she has no use for it.
- A co-worker and his wife are selling us a breast pump and giving us a bouncer and a bumbo seat.
- A great friend gave me several sacks of maternity clothes in my hour of need. Seriously... it's like I have a whole new wardrobe with the pieces she offered.

People are thrilled to get rid of their gently used baby things Usually, they are done growing their family and have these extra items laying around. They want to see someone get some use out of it! Luckily for us, we are on the "old" end of the spectrum in the Midwest for beginning a family, so many of our friends have children already or are completely done having children. (There IS a bright side to waiting to have a baby, friends! --actually there are many, but that's a different post for another day) That's how they are showing their excitement and love and for that, I am forever grateful. There's enough happening in life right now just growin' this little person that they've taken some guess work out of a lot of decisions. They've saved us money. They've saved us stress and research.

THANK YOU to you all! And if you're pregnant and friends are giving you love in the same way, pay it forward when you're finished!