[Marco Esquandolas]

Ahh, bugger! Here's the deal-my neighbor has been pg twice with kids staggered in ages to my kids so that when I was done with each of my pg's, I loned her my mat clothes with the full understanding that she could borrow them and return them when done. After pg #1, no problem, got them all back. After pg #2, I noticed a few pieces missing when she ret'd them, but wasn't worried about it at the time so I never said anything to her.

Well, I just started looking through them last night to start washing them up and seeing just what I had. That's when I realized that I'm missing a TON of mat clothes that I loned to her!

Almost every piece I bought for my 2nd pg is missing that I loned her. Here is where it gets sticky-she borrowed from me and from one other woman and I noticed that I have a few pieces of the other woman's clothes instead of my own in the bags. I am missing complete outfits, a dress, a skirt, couple pairs of shorts, and literally like 8 prs of pants and ALL my mat t-shirts!!!! GRRRR.

So what do I do? I KNOW I loaned these items out to her and it has been a good 2 yrs since she ret'd what she ret'd so I'm figuring some mystery woman out there somewhere has a LOT of nice quality, expensive maternity clothes, that are MINE. Should I even ask her about it?? Should I just let it go b/c it has been so long? We're neighbors and we're on good terms and our kids play together occasionally so I wouldn't feel too terribly awkward asking her if she still had them, but I need to know 1) if that is really a good idea after all this time and 2) how to politely go about asking, b/c right now I'm really annoyed.

Of course it figures that it was all the really nice pieces I bought with my 2nd pg and not the ratty stuff that has now been worn through 4 pg's combined!! I now only have 3 pairs of mat pants and they are the stretchy boring, ugly rough ones. All my cool preggo cargos and appliqued capris are gone!

What should I do????? I'm sorry to sound so whiney over material things, but dangit, maternity clothes are expensive and if I had all my stuff back, I wouldn't even need to buy so much as one new piece and now I'm gonna have to recreate a wardrobe!

 

[Kiki Runs]

Ugh. That does suck. I would probably bring it up and ask if she's still in contact w/the other mama. I'd say something along the lines of "I was going through the maternity clothes the other day and noticed that some of them weren't mine. It looks like some of __________'s and my clothes may have been mixed up when you returned them. Do you have ________'s number? I bet she'd like her clothes back - some of them may have special memories for her. I know some of my clothes do."

That way, it gives your friend an opportunity to "help" you out, rather than feel like you're coming down on her. It may have been a mistake, after all.

Since it has been a while since these transactiions took place, though, you may have to be prepared to let it slide. The other mama may have moved or just not be willing to return your cool clothes.

Quote:

I'm sorry to sound so whiney over material things, but dangit, maternity clothes are expensive and if I had all my stuff back, I wouldn't even need to buy so much as one new piece and now I'm gonna have to recreate a wardrobe!

I think you said it all right here. True, they are just material things, but they're still important to you, and you're still going to have to replace them if your friend can't get them back.

I'm sorry you're dealing w/this. I hope you can work things out.

 

[Penelope]

This sounds like a perfect and totally diplomatic solution to me.

 

[Ravin]

I agree. Approach it like you're asking for her help, not accusing her of anything. It can honestly be confusing. I'm pretty sure as I've outgrown my borrowed items I've put them back in the bags for the right people, but I can't be 100% sure, kwim?

 

[Marco Esquandolas]

Thanks, mamas for your thoughts and ideas! Truly, I'm sure it was totally innocent, but the sheer volume of clothes missing just put me over the edge (ummm, hormones

). I can pretty much kiss them goodbye b/c it has been so long. I think I just needed to cry to someone over it and all I got from dh was that it has been too long and get over it already.