Well, that’s it.  No more baby crib.  It has been disassembled, loaded in the shed of disheveled furniture we don’t have room for in our tiny house, and replaced with a ‘big girl bed.’  I got misty eyed, saying goodbye to what has been a part of our household now for the last 4 years.  Not just the crib, but babies.  Little babies, which in my case were both so small when they were born that the newborn sized clothing was too big on them.

I remember helping my husband assemble the crib for the first time in preparation for Brianne.  It was an absolute menace…as was taking it down for the last time.  It’s as if the crib itself needed to get one last word in.  Before Brianne was born, I would sit in the room we had fixed up for her and stare at that empty crib and all it’s pink frilly glory.  After sleeping by my side for a month after my C-section, she spent her first night in that crib.  I checked on her no less than 10 times to make sure she was breathing.

In preparation for her little sister being born right after she turned two, Brianne got moved to a big girl bed early.  At 18 months, she slept right through the night in her big girl bed and never turned back.  She was so happy!  I never expected Little Lauren, now 18 months old, to be ready for a big girl bed herself.  Yet, in Lauren’s vocally persistent way, she made it clear that she could no longer sleep comfortably through the night in her crib.  It was time.

Freshly adorned with Tinkerbell bedding, Lauren climbed up there and had a little ‘big girl bed’ party for herself.  Slept through the first night, and never turned back.  That first morning the loud thud of her falling out of her big girl bed ensued a sprinting panic, and there she laid on her back looking up at us with an ‘Oops, I forgot I had to climb down’ expression on her face. “I’m al-wight!”

Now, all I have are memories of the crib days.  St. Pat’s Day morning finding Lauren sitting up for the first time in it.  Brianne jumping up and down with the giggles each morning.  Lauren kicking the wall trying to express her unhappiness with her 7pm bedtime.  Lauren throwing dolls, socks, books, and anything she could reach to throw over the edge of her crib to express her unhappiness with her bedtime.

So small.  They start out SO SMALL!  So small that every little thump at night made me jump up and check on them…or make my husband get up and check on them.  Now, it’s whomever they call that has to get up.  Which was real funny to Jim (my husband) because they call out for mom a lot.  I’ve gone from being so worried about them and all their tinyness to “1-2-3-not-it!” when they call for ‘Dada’ at night.

No more baby coes…now it ‘s terrible two tantrums and four year old sass…

With every new stage that my kids enter, I’m tempted to look back and cry over the time that’s already passed by so quickly.  But then, I look at these two beautiful living reminders that life is great… that I get the privilege of hanging out with all day…and it’s hard to feel sorry for myself.  Brianne is now starting to read books to Lauren, and Lauren is now starting to boss Brianne around.  With the passing of every stage, comes a new one full of new reasons to laugh.

Happy Memories…

Megs