Ode to a Crib

It is amazing to me how emotionally attached I have become to this crib. I found it at a garage sale in Issaquah, Washington with my old college room mate while we were both creating nurseries on a budget for the first of our posterity. It cost me a whopp'in $40 and some elbow grease. We used tie downs to get it back to Oregon, cleaned it up, dipped it in a pool of white paint, and then set it up in our little nursery. Nothing has changed. The nursery is still sunny yellow adorned with red, orange and white Chinese lanterns that Gary and I purchased for our engagement party from China Town in LA, the window still has the pottery Barn animal print curtains that matched the crib set and the night light. I guess one thing has changed...the little ones.

This crib once nestled Ansley from the worries and fears of first time parents. Then it protected Miranda from Ansley and as of four days ago it protected our little Ellana from the other two. Somewhere in all this protection the crib was taken down, shoved in a closet, scratched up, used as a dungeon, and put back up again. Finally it required a little love (aka glue) to keep it together. We were concerned about putting Ellana in a crib that was being held up with glue - she weights a lot for a kid her size (hee, hee, hee hee -she has hit 18 pounds though just so you know), but seeing as Ellie is our third child not much concerns us anymore. Funny how that happens. And now again for a time (Don't ask yet...) it needs to be taken down. Yes Ellie is only 1 but all our children are monkeys and this is actually the longest it has taken for one of our monkeys to learn how to climb out of the crib. Ansley was able to escape at 10 months, Ranna was just short of a year and Ellie is 13 months. We feel lucky that we keep Ellie in so long. So after one full day of escapes I made the decision. Take her down, pack her up and store her for another day. Ellie was pretty excited to have a little bed, until that is, we put her to bed that night. It took three days until she actually fell asleep in her big girl bed.

And so...

...until you protect another little angel, just let me just say Thank You little crib for all you represent and all you have given to our little family. For the games of peek-a-boo we have played between your wooden bars, for the extra twenty minutes of sleep you provided for me, and for the peace and joy I feel when I sneak a peek at what you hold inside. Most of all thank you for the comfort that you give my little girls while they dream of things to come.