The Traveling Cradle

Almost eleven years ago, when I had my first baby, Garrett, my mother gave me a cradle as a baby shower gift. It was a beautiful shade of honey. (Nice picture hua? See the cradle there with the balloons attached. I was 21 years old. Do you know I went another 6 weeks before delivering that child? I gained 60 pounds! First time mothers- we eat everything in sight… why? Because we are pregnant- and we can.)

My mother had strict orders, as she usually does. (Long ago we nicknamed her The Drill Sargent– we have learned to not be offended by her. We explain this to all newcomers of the family.)

Her orders were this: as each new grandbaby was born, we were to pass the cradle from one child to another. At that time, I was the only one married, but she had high hopes that all of her ducklings would marry, have ducklings of their own and use this cradle. (My mother gave birth to five kiddos- Crystal (that’s me!) in 1977, James in 1980, Jake in 1982, Josh 1983, and Amber in 1986. Then, her and my dad finally bought a television.)

Garrett was the only grandbaby for six years. Once I used it for him, we passed it on to a few close family friends as we waited for more babies to be born amongst the siblings. Really, we were waiting for them to graduate and get married, since they were all still in school….

As each family used the cradle, we wrote the baby’s name on the bottom of it along with when they were born. The first few were written with a silver marker. Not the best for photographing, but here is what it looks like.

Soon, all of my mother’s children married, and apparently none of them had televisions either. Not every grandkid has been able to use the cradle because everyone started having babies all at the same time. My mother went from having one grandchild to fourteen grandchildren, in less than five years.

As the cradle continued to travel, it unfortunately encountered some water damage while one of my cousins was using it for her little boy.

The damage was bad.

When my cousin was done with it, the cradle traveled to my sister-in-law Lynn. She tried her hardest to fix the damage giving it a good scrub with sandpaper and a coat of stain. Try as she may, she could not hide the water stains, but Gracie Lynn soon arrived and the cradle was still used- after all tradition trumps everything, The Drill Sargent’s orders!

By the time Matthew was born, the cradle traveled back to me. How could we fix this water damage, or could we?

Well, you know my friend Kim? Her husband Mike, who is resolved to the fact he will always be known as Kim’s husband on my blog, has some serious carpentry and staining skills.

So the cradle traveled to Kim and Mike’s house for a while. And man, did Kim’s husband do a job of perfection! I could not have been more thrilled!

We went dark. The results were amazing! Completely changed the look of the cradle.

Matthew, my final baby boy, had a beautiful, dark, old fashioned looking cradle to use, and we added his name to the bottom….

Before we knew it, my sister, who is ten years younger than me, found out she and her husband were expecting their third bundle of joy. Should I say their f.i.n.a.l bundle of joy- cause she is done birthing kids! (her words!) And, they too finally purchased a television.

This is one of my favorite photos of my sister and me. I was a junior in high school and she was seven or eight. It took me until she was in second grade to appreciate her and her reasons for calling me Sissy. 🙂 I heart photobooth pictures.
In preparation of Karlee Kay’s arrival, the cradle traveled on to my sister’s house.

On January 27, 2010, at 7:56 am, Amber, The Drill Sargent’s baby, gave birth to her final baby, sweet Karlee Kay. The Drill Sargent was a grandmother again! (Isn’t this a gorgeous picture? My sister-in-law Crystal, yes her name is Crystal, is a photographer. She does amazing stuff! She can be found on Facebook under McWhirter Photography- look her up and become a fan.)

This very picture confuses my uterus for a moment. Thank goodness my tubes know better, as they are tied now, but if they weren’t, I just might convince myself to have one more baby. There is something about a newborn that just melts my heart. (Except for the two and a half years between having the twins and Matthew. But obviously, my heart came around.)

As the cradle traveled over to my sister’s house, so did the baby girl clothes I had purchased in the last few weeks of my pregnancy with Baby Matthew. Remember, Matthew’s gender was a surprise and we thought he was a little girl. A few weeks before his arrival, I purchased little girl clothes, as I just knew pink was the color I would need.

My mother quickly scolded me and told me that was bad luck and I was jinxing myself.

Someday I will learn to listen to her.

When I packed my hospital bag, I packed all girl clothes and two uni-gender sleepers. Boy was I surprised when he was born. Pink was defiantly not his color.