I was cleaning and had to go through some bags of old mementos. Okay, fine, they were a lot of Kiddo's stuff, stuff that should be in a preservation box, that should be kept safe -- like the hospital form with her footprints at the bottom from when she was born, her little name tag from then, and the baggie of her hair from her first haircut. Lots of "firsts" were in these bags ... including the hardened skin thing that fell off from her belly button. It took me a minute to realize what it was ... at which point I was totally grossed out.

I kept the friggin' belly-button stub-a-ma-bob. Seriously, why do we keep these things?

The first bit of hair we cut off? That I get ... I am not sure why, but it doesn't seem at all as odd as the belly-button skin-nub-icky I kept. I have heard of some moms keeping the first toenail clippings, which is about the same wonkiness level as the bell-button thing. So far, no word on if anyone kept the first diaper ... I certainly hope not.

Now, I toss a lot of the artwork she comes home with from preschool into the trash, but I kept every card she got from family and friends when she first entered the world -- why? She won't really care what that Uncle Jon said, "Congrats on the arrival!" when she's older. But they are all there. Every ultrasound printout is there  -- as is the menu from the restaurant where we first went out as a family (she was like 12 days old). Also in those bags: a random burp cloth, a pair of itty-bitty socks and 8 tags from her first stuffed animals.

I read about a dad keeping his kids' binkies when they are done with them ... that would have been something cool to keep. But again, why I think this is cool versus her first shoes, which I did not keep? No clue. Maybe because she was such a binky girl, but who knows.

What is the wackiest baby keepsake you saved?

 

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