The kids got clothes from Daddy today...

Today as I was hanging away clean clothes in the kids' closets, I suddenly realized that Devin was about to outgrow some clothes in his closet that he'd never worn before! Price tags still on and everything!

These outfits had been hanging in the kids' closet since before Catty was born, and I'd just gotten so used to them being in there for them to wear "one day", that "one day" almost came and went without them ever being worn!!



Let me explain.

Long, long ago... wow, almost four years to this very day!! Don and I found out we were pregnant with our first child. And we were so freakin' excited we couldn't stop jumping up and down with excitement!

I said, "Come on, let's go shopping for the new baby!!" It didn't matter to us one bit that we didn't know the sex of the baby - we drove to the mall and ran around buying whatever looked cute to us!

Me being the female, I was a little more practical, buying up onesies and ruffly baby doll dresses and adorable little getups in the tiniest sizes I could find.

When I met back up with Don, I was kind of baffled to see that he'd gathered up clothes in sizes ranging from 2T to size TEN!

I said "Don, don't you realize the baby won't be able to wear those clothes for YEARS??? Those are clothes for toddlers, and like 4, 5 or older!" Man that seemed impossibly far away!

Don looked sheepish, and he shrugged his shoulders and said, "The kid'll grow, right?"

I laughed and didn't say any more about it. I was just glad that Don was as happy and eager to shop for the new baby as I was. Then I noticed that everything Don bought was for a boy.

I said, "What if it's a girl? She'll be sad you didn't get her anything!"

So Don ran off and came back with some pink sneakers that were HUGE!! I was expecting little tiny newborn shoes, but nope, he got shoes for a full grown kid! I laughed and tossed them on the pile.

Of course our first baby was a girl, so we just kept all the clothes that Don had picked out for his son hanging in the closet, waiting...

And then we got pregnant with Devin.

And then Don died.

And then I had his son.

And now, 2 years later, here I am realizing that the day has finally come - Don's son is finally big enough to start wearing the clothes that Daddy had picked out especially for him, before he died. And coincidentally, Catty's shoes also are just the right size for her too now!

How surreal, Daddy is dressing his kids two years after he died... Isn't it strange that all of the clothes Don picked out for his kids - before they were even born - were clothes they wouldn't be able to wear until several years later? Kinda makes ya wonder...

Well, here's Devin wearing his little racing suit that Daddy picked out for his little boy. Looks super-cute on him, doesn't it?



And Catty... oh, how her face lit up when I told her I had a present for her from Daddy!

"My Daddy?? I got a present from my DADDY??" She was so proud, so happy, so excited!! And I struggled to keep a brave smile on my face, while inside I was crying for my 3 year old girl who was getting the first - and last - present she would ever get from her daddy.

Here she is, showing off her new shoes that fit her just right now -





She's so thrilled about her gift from Daddy!!

How wonderful that Don was able to give presents to his children - even the one he never got to meet - years after his death.

How tragic that this is all they have to remember him by... *cry*