The Baby Bed
“A family is one of nature’s masterpieces.”
George Santayana
A baby crib came into the life of our family just before I was born. My parents were wild for antiques, so they bought a hundred-year-old baby crib in an antique store, to be my first bed.
The baby bed, as we have all come to call it, was larger than a bassinet and smaller than today’s baby cribs. I have no recollection of sleeping in it, but it is still in our family. Perhaps you might think that’s overly sentimental, until you hear the backstory.
Likely, the crib was pretty tired out when my parents got it. But my dad loved to restore antiques, and he brought this one back to perfect condition for his first son and favorite child, me. Just kidding, Mary Ellen.
As you no doubt have noticed, babies grow quickly, and this bed was smaller than usual. So I was onto a new bed in less than a year, just in time for my cousin John Hasting to take my spot. John (6’5″ tall), featured in a number of my posts, outgrew the bed fairly quickly too.
Well, the following January, Mary Grace Kirby, my second cousin, on my mom’s side, was the occupier of the crib. After Mary, came Phillip Steven Plugh, my cousin’s cousin. And then my second cousin, Kevin John Muldoon, brings us to four babies in the bed in three years.
The baby bed sort of took on a life of its own after that, so here’s the list, in order. Every baby had their full name and date of birth written on the rungs under the mattress, once they had slept in the crib, and then it was passed on to the next. There were so many of them that their names are on the front and back of the rungs.
Sparing you the recitation of each baby’s full name, I’ve used their first or nicknames here:
- Hank Frazee
- John Hastings, first cousin
- Mary Kirby, second cousin
- Phil Plugh, cousin of my cousin
- Kevin Muldoon, second cousin
- Cathy King, second cousin
- Heidi Leibenguth, first daughter of my mom’s childhood friend
- Sterling McMurrin, second cousin
- Jill Liebenguth, second daughter of my mom’s childhood friend
- Hawley MacLean, first cousin
- Larry McMurrin, second cousin
- Jim Liebenguth, first son of my mom’s childhood friend
- Patricia Lynch, a kid on our street
- Julie Van Der Veer, a family friend
- Jenny McMurrin, second cousin
- Harris MacLean, second cousin and son of Hawley noted above
- James McComb, my nephew
- John Frazee, my son
- Elisabeth Doody, daughter of a family friend
- Colin Sebern, family friend
- Molly McComb, my niece
- Annie Frazee, my twin daughter, pictured above
- Katie Frazee, my twin daughter, also pictured above
- Jon MacLean, second cousin
- John Fisk, second cousin
- David Plaxen, the kid across the street
- Aimee LaFayette, second cousin
- Sara LaFayette, second cousin
- Riley MacLean, second cousin
- Hunter Garnett, second cousin
- Will MacLean, son of Hawley, second cousin, one generation removed
- Castille Lee, daughter of a family friend
- MacLean Senhenn, daughter of Aimee LaFayette, second cousin, one generation removed
- Sterling Senhenn, son of Aimee LaFayette, second cousin, one generation removed
- Nolan Garnett, son of Hunter, second cousin, one generation removed
- And the very newest member of this very exclusive club- Max Oliver Fisk born 12 days ago on May 10th, 2021. Max is my Second cousin, one generation removed, and the son of John Fisk, noted above. Welcome Max!
To see the bed and all the names of its former sleepers, click here. Now you know why we have kept the baby bed all this time. And yes, we are all a little bit sentimental about it. To make a reservation, reply to this post.
Share this post with your friends!