The Shirt

Back when Jacob was a baby, we were flat-out obsessed with moose.  I mean, they're cute, they're Canadian, and it was the mascot of the hockey team that brought us together.  So why not?  It really started when we'd been dating just over a year, around the time we got engaged, and Craig bought me this adorable floppy moose when I got my wisdom teeth out.  From that point on, on any trip we took, we always checked the shops for a moose.  It only got worse after Jacob was born, but once the stuffed animals and other toys started to take over the house, the obsession waned a bit.  But I still cherish the ones I have for the memories they represent.

Well, when Jacob was a baby, I gladly snapped up every moose-related outfit I could find.  We had quite a few over the years.  Even now we have a shirt that Carter was gifted that says, "I Moose Give You a Hug."  But one of my favorites was this sweet outfit.

Jacob, around three months old

Oh, that picture just gives me all the feels.  Where did that baby go?  How is he almost 10, and how have we spent all these years struggling so much?  Man...it's a lot to take in.  Anyway, I loved that outfit.  And his little beanie pierogy, too :)

At some point when Jacob was around two, I happened to find the same shirt, minus the matching pants, on a clearance rack at Babies 'R' Us in a "48 months" size.  At the time I never imagined how "cool" of a four-year-old we'd have, so clearly it wasn't Jacob's style by the time he hit that age!  I'd also hoped we'd have a newish baby when Jacob was four, and at that point he'd been true to size, so I bought it just in case!

Well, when Carter was born, of course I couldn't wait for him to fit into this outfit!  In the meantime, I almost forgot about the other shirt and then suddenly realized one day when I was home with both boys that Jacob would be outgrowing it rather quickly by then.  Carter was only a couple months old, but the outfit just fit, so we did a photo shoot just like Jacob's!

He was a little younger, but the thought is there!  Then I decided we needed to attempt a brother shot, but of course that was hard when Jacob didn't even want to be near Carter.  But he still put on the shirt and briefly humored me...

And then we recreated his original shot...haha!

Fast-forward five years, and the shirt had been hanging in Carter's closet for a while, always with the thought that I'd take his picture someday, too.  Well, a couple weekends ago when I was making room for his summer clothes and knew this one would be packed away for good, I realized we never took a picture.  Now it was borderline too small on him, but back to the blanket we went!

Carter is actually quite a bit older here than Jacob was in the picture above.  Jacob was still a couple months shy of five, and Carter is about six months older than that here.  It's funny, though, that because they are just so completely different in looks and personality, it's nearly impossible for me to reconcile that they could be similar in age in these pictures.

The shirt is now packed away and someday I'll need to decide if it's worth keeping the baby one as a memory, and the big one just in case.  Probably not, but you never know.  It was cute while it lasted, though!