The bracelet

When each of the girls were born husband had them all a gold bangle bracelet made.

 

 They were really nice, thick gold with a bell and had their name engraved on them. When they were babies we always knew exactly when they were awake in the morning because we could hear their bell jingle.

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It seemed like each time he had one made that the bracelet would get a little nicer than the one before it. Sophie's bracelet was especially nice with intricate detail throughout.

 They were made with an expander so they could continue to wear them as they grow older. Sadly, when Sophie was about eight months old hers went missing. I'm not sure exactly when it went missing, but I narrowed it down to a two day time frame. I searched, and searched and it never turned up. Yes, I cried. The bracelet was worth a few hundred dollars, but it wasn't the monetary value that bothered me, but rather the sentimental value. This was a gift that their Dad picked out and designed all on his own to give them the day they were born. We kept saying that we would replace Sophie's, but for some reason have never done so. I know, the poor third child syndrome. To date Kylie and Audrey have only taken theirs off maybe twice. Each time was when the bells broke and we took them to the jeweler to be replaced. And each time they acted like the world was going to end when they took them off. Currently Audrey doesn't have a bell on hers because it fell off and she has not yet allowed us to take it off to get it replaced. A few days ago the thought occurred to me that it might soon be time to retire Kylie's. She is eight and a half and it looks like the bracelet has stretched as far as it will go. So far I haven't had the heart to tell her. I think I will be loading up on the kleenex. For me of course.