Laundry Day

When Caleb was born, he was as easy as they come! By a month old he was sleeping 13 hours through the night. When he got his first tooth I didn't even know he was teething until it had been in for a little while! He ate great, he smiled all the time and he played by himself really well! Dream baby!! (Watch out for those dream babies; they are lulling you into a false sense of "I totally got this"!!!)

One night, though he wouldn't sleep. He cried and just wanted to be held. He was only a few weeks old and I was still recovering from a C-section, and I still really needed sleep, so I took my shirt that I had worn that day and laid it on his bed and laid him on it. He slept the rest of the night without a peep!

The next night when he started to fuss, I once again broke out that shirt that I had worn and gave to him. Again, instantly he was quiet and slept peacefully the whole night. I don't know when it happened, but it became standard that every night I would take off my shirt and tuck it into bed with my baby. Gross I know, but when you have three boys, a husband who works two jobs, and your going to school, you totally do what works!

Well Caleb turned one. We were in North Carolina on a family trip with my parents, and we drove 4 hours to a beach house. It was so much fun! I also happened to be pregnant again. An hour into the trip, Caleb is screaming for my shirt. I had forgotten to leave one out of the suitcase and we were driving my dad's pickup, so the luggage was tucked into the bed. 

Kevin is pleading with me to make it stop, and Micah and Kyler are plugging their ears. Finally Kevin turns to me and says in desperation, "Just take your shirt off and give it to him!"

we are driving down the interstate with lots of people on either side of us, my family is following in a long line of cars behind us and you want me to strip?!? They already think I'm the crazy one in the family! Micah took his shirt off and gave it to him. Caleb chucked it to the front of the truck and screamed louder. 

Desperation, people, makes you do things you aren't necessarily proud of. Once he had that shirt, he slept like a rock for the rest of the trip. Thankfully we stopped shortly after that and I was quickly given a shirt from the suitcase in the back. 

We were at some peoples house once and this lady had a shirt on that was exactly like one I had. Caleb started tugging on her shirt and whining, "shirt". It was one of his first words and I am not even joking!

When we first started leaving a dirty shirt with out babysitter, we got weird looks. It only took us forgetting it once and they would always ask, where is the shirt?? When my mom came to stay with the three boys while I had Liam, she agreed to it on one condition, that I leave at least three dirty shirts with her! 

As he got older, Kevin complained that it was weird having a little boy dragging around women's clothing in public, so we tried getting him to take a blanket. He would waddle into my room, dump my hamper and choose his favorite shirt, leaving the blanket like....well like anyone else would have left a dirty shirt . I would find my clothing stashed in weird places all over the house. Laundry day was devastating for this kid! It was kind of awkward.

So I sat him down around the time he turned two and told him he could pick one shirt. That would become his shirt and he would have to leave all of my other shirts alone. It took him a little while to leave my other shirts alone, but after spritzing perfume on it a few times, Caleb finally attached to the one shirt. This poor shirt is torn and falling apart, but its the most important thing in the world to him! 

I actually had another shirt just like it, and so now every once in a while, Caleb and I will get in an argument over whose shirt is whose. I honestly never thought that scenario would happen until I had teenage daughters!

Today I did laundry and both shirts got thrown in the laundry. While I was folding this load, Caleb found both shirts. He lifted them both up, buried his face in them and said, "This one smells like mine!" I asked him what his smelled like. He said, "It smells like black!" (Both shirts are black) I said well what does mine sell like? "It doesn't smell like black, like mine does." and he danced away as happy as can be!

So I hope this blog could put to rest any questions you all may have had. Yes we are officially the weirdest family in America! Go home tonight and hug your family close thanking God for them!!