Lady Love

By now you know that Avery loves Ladybugs.

She really really does.

She has already decided that she wants to be a ladybug for Halloween, which is awesome because we already have a ladybug costume for her!! But it also stinks because it's crummy and old and I want her to have one like this.

Anyway, she love love love loves ladybugs. And this summer while we were at the beach my mom found a baby doll dressed up in a ladybug costume in an antique store!! It was on a top shelf, covered in dust and in packaging from the lady who makes the calendars of babies dressed up. What's her name? googleing... Ooh! Anne Geddes. Avery has never been a fan of dolls and playing mommy. She was always more of a kitchen toy kind of girl. Until mom decided to get her this doll. (Don't worry. She didn't pay anywhere near that much. In fact, thanks to my googleing I realized what a deal she got on this baby, apparently!!)

So now Avery carries this baby doll everywhere we go. She will not sleep without her. In fact, once we left her in Rexburg on accident, and they were the longest days of Avery's life so far. She still will stop strangers on the street and tell them the harrowing tale of leaving her Ladybug Baby all alone in Rexburg! They almost-always leave with tear-filled eyes and a new outlook on life. It's a powerful story of love, loss and recovery.

So that's Ladybug Baby, the newest member of our family. She has been pushed on the swing set, cradled, cuddled, dropped, spilled-on and shown-off countless times this summer. Already this fall she has been shoved in Avery's school backpack three times a week and has seen all of the animals at the State Fair, where Avery even tried to share her smoked turkey leg with her.

Is it wrong to wish that things would never change?