Flashback Friday!

This memory really isn't that exciting, but it is something I wanted to document.

Today's flashback is all about blankies! Each of my children had a favorite blankie. The one they couldn't live without. It was weird that they all attached to a blankie as I don't remember any of my siblings nor myself doing that but, nonetheless, they did. It was cute, but at times...it was a pain. I am a huge sentimental person so the plan was to always save their blankies in the special treasures box for safe keeping. It was just a matter of when they would give it up. The biggest stress for me was trying not to lose the blankies so they would be available for safe keeping.

Here are their stories:

Mikaela had a blankie that was yellow on one side and hearts on the other. She was attached to it from the beginning. There were others to choose from, but her heart belonged to this one. She slept with it for a long time until I finally packed it away in her special treasures box (about 2 years ago...yes, it's true!) None of my kids took blankie everywhere...you know, like the grocery store or church (I think Dalton tried church for a while)...it was just a home thing, doctor's visits or when we would go on trips. With Mikaela we traveled a lot. We lived in Iowa and would travel to Utah and California for vacation to see family. Every flight and drive, we would pack that blankie along for the ride. Blankie brought Mikaela much comfort. One visit to Utah, we stayed a week longer than dad and we were watching some home videos. Mikaela was probably 12 months old or so. She saw the video of a baby laying on HER blankie and HER dad was talking to said baby. She looked at the tv screen, put her hand up on the screen and said in a soft, yet sad voice "da da, blankie." It was so sad, so we decided there would be no more watching videos of said baby and blankie while Mikaela was around! On another trip to California, we packed the blankie. Mikaela was older, but times were tough for our family. The kids relied on blankies a lot during these times. We always packed blankies in our carry-ons so we had them on the plane as well as if we were ever stranded somewhere without our luggage. The kids and I were flying back early on a Sunday morning so we could be in the primary program that day. I was in charge of the program and they kids were in it. So, we were at the airport very early in the am. We boarded our plane home and did our program and all was well. (Aside from pure exhaustion on mommy's part!) Don was coming home that night at 11 pm. At some point during the day, Mikaela realized that she has lost her blankie. Her exact words were, "you mean I've lost my blanket that I've had my whole life?" We unpack and can't find it anywhere! I remember her with it in the airport waiting to board our plane to Utah, but don't remember seeing it anytime after that. So, we call dad to ask him to check at the Oakland airport and tell him exactly where we had been sitting. He comes home and low and behold, he has blankie. Apparently, we left it where we were sitting and someone took it to the check-in desk and it was just sitting on the counter. It stayed at the airport all day and came home safe and sound! Whew...relief!

Hudson's blankie was blue and white checker on one side and Noah's Ark on the other. It was given to us by our neighbor Terry's mom in Iowa. We lived next to the Teela's and the night before I had Hudson, I was in labor while visiting with them. Her sister was also in the hospital laboring all day and was hoping to have her baby after midnight so her birthday would be 5-5-99! I wasn't due till the 25th so I figured I was just enduring braxton hicks. The next morning I wake up at 5 am and I am not having braxton hicks. I am in true labor...but I didn't really know it. That's another crazy story. Anyway, Hudson was born and Terry's mother came to visit her. Terry came over and said her mom wanted to see Hudson. I think she took him over to her house first and I came over a few minutes later. When I got there (it was like five steps away...apartments), her mom had him wrapped in this Noah's Ark blankie. I thought to myself, hmmm...she must think he's cold cuz I didn't have him in a blanket. Then, Terry told me that was Hudson's blanket. Her mother had made it for him! How sweet is that? So, that became Hudson's blankie. I took Hudson on July 3rd to get his Kindergarten shots. I remember this because it was the city parade and Don was in it and we were rushing like mad to get it all done. Hudson took blankie with him to get his shots. With all the rushing, we lost blankie. Had no idea where it was. I went back to the parade route, asked friends, and checked the car. I also called the doctor's office but blankie was no where to be found! Tears, sadness. What am I gonna do? I searched fabric stores for this material (it was very popular at one time) but it was no longer available. I posted on craigslist that I was looking for this material. I would check ebay but, no one had this material. Hudson was devastated. After nine months of mourning the loss of blankie...we had a doctor's appointment. As we were leaving I had a thought to ask one more time if it could be in the lost and found even though I knew it wouldn't be there. I mean, if the girl didn't see it a few days after we lost it, it surely won't be there after this long. She takes us to the lost and found and BINGO...there is Hudson's Noah blankie!!! It was a miracle! And now, it's packed away.

Dalton's blankie is a Winnie the Pooh receiving blanket. We had two of them. They were given to me for Mikaela in a two pack. For some reason, this became Dalton's blankie and fortunately we had two and he loved them both equally. This twosome became necessary because when Dalton suddenly had a dad's house AND a mom's house...there was also a blankie for each house! Dalton was my only thumb sucker, but he would also only suck his thumb when he had blankie. This was a good thing because we could control the thumb sucking...somewhat. Sometimes he would be watching tv and run and get blankie so he could hold a corner and roll it in between his fingers and suck his thumb. Those blankies were always with us and we didn't really feel a loss with any blankie because we always had the two. But, I just found out recently that Dalton had THROWN his blankie at dad's house away when he was done with it!!! WHAT? The sentimental part of me died a little at the thought. Fortunately, I have my blankie which is nicely packed away.

So, that is the saga of the blankies...sometimes I pull them out and remember my sweet babies and their blankies.

They grow up way too fast so...enjoy the moment!