Meeting Lovey-Bear

While my mom was in town, we loaded up the girls & headed over to The Florida Mall for some shopping.  One of the stores on our list was Build-A-Bear.  We had a gift card that has been sitting around for over a year now just waiting for the perfect opportunity to be used.  Gaga in town + a very motherly 2 year old that has a fetish for stuffed animals = that perfect opportunity.

Charlotte quickly picked a bear over the other animals. One, because she is a fan of bears & two, because I was directing her attention to the cheaper end which was populated mostly by bears : )

First she took him over to the stuffing machine & got to press on the piece on the floor to fill him up with stuffing. It was kind of funny because she couldn't press on it with her foot & watch the bear get filled up at the same time so it was a really uncoordinated effort by a cute little 2 year old. Thankfully, Gaga could help her.

all stuffed & stitched up

getting her all washed up

We also headed straight to the sale rack to pick out her outfit.  Gaga helped get her dressed in her lovely teal gown with sequins, her white sequined shoes & even got her a pink satin headband complete with a flower on top. 

All the while, little missy sat quietly in her stroller chewing on her toy & grinning at us every time we looked her way. I have a feeling that a trip to Build-A-Bear might be a bit more expensive in a few more years!

After getting her stuffed & dressed, Charlotte hopped up in my lap & helped me fill out her birth certificate.  She does love to type on the computer so this was right up her alley! We gave her the name "lovey bear" since we already have a "bear."  When Char says her name it sounds like "yuvy bay" which just makes me smile.

Then our beloved "Yuvy-Bay" got inside her new house as Charlotte calls it. I said "Char, smile at mommy!" and this is what I got.....

Oh my, she is a hoot.  It was a fun experience & Lovey Bear has been cared for very well for the past week.  Our trip to the mall was fabulous minus one thing...when we got back to the car & were loading up we realized that Eloise was missing a shoe. I went on a wild goose chase around the mall for the next 20 minutes in hopes I would come upon it. I didn't & I ended up with really sore pinky toes from them rubbing in my shoes on my mad dash. The sad part was that they were Charlotte's first little pair of shoes : ( When I called Rob looking for some sympathy, his response was "honey, she's a baby, she doesn't even need shoes." Well, I guess he is right & I am a little sentimental.  Our best guess is that Elo's buddy that rides next to her in the stroller removed it & stuck it in a bin at Bulild-A-Bear.

We ended our outing with a trip to Chick-Fil-A. We really like it....I mean REALLY like it. We like it so much that playing Chick-Fil-A drive-thru is one of Charlotte's favorite imaginary games. She always says "fyes pees & kickin (chicken), tank you" I felt a little better about losing the shoe after I indulged myself in my extra large "fyes."

So, thanks to the McCracken family who gave Charlotte the giftcard that led to our little Lovey-Bear who is now a part of the family (of animals) that sleeps with her every night.  You can never have too many stuffed animals right? That is such a lie ; ) In fact, I just laid them all out in a row & let Charlotte pick 3. I put the rest in the closet. Lovey-Bear, Lambie & Aurora the tiger were the chosen ones. I am sure we will trade it up in another week or so but for now, Lovey-Bear will get lots of snuggles!