Sweet dreams

When they bought this pack-n-play for us almost four years ago, my coworkers at the time could not have known just how useful it would be. It has been our most utilized piece of baby equipment, and many a child of mine would have been at a loss without it.

It was Abby's first bed when we welcomed her into our family. For three weeks, she called this little portable bed home while her crib sat in storage. We knew we'd be moving shortly after her arrival, and it seemed silly to set up a nursery for such a short period of time.

It was Caleb's bed whenever we had overnight guests that needed to use his room for their own sleepy kids. It fit perfectly into my closet, and he slept soundly in those cramped quarters with all my clothes hanging above him.

And it has served Jacob well for his first five months of life, first in my closet before being upgraded to a corner of the guest room. The mattress pad is beginning to sag, and the tiny bears on his mobile often go missing at the hands of his older siblings. But he sleeps like a charm here, and has never known any different.

He'll have a crib and a room of his own soon enough. But I think I'm going to miss these pack-n-play days a little.