"Lubby"

Since Anabelle was about, well, this big...

lovey ("Lubby" since she started talking) has been an important part of her daily routine.

This little pink giraffe, found at Target, became one of the stable parts of a nap time routine that, for the first 6 months of her life, was rarely in the same place twice.

Ok, ok, I know that such a young baby probably doesn't really know the difference...  But this momma needed some stability for the sake of her little one (who thankfully was amazingly flexible with the craziness of our lives during that phase of her life- 3 big moves during her first 6 months of life).  However, by the time she was 7, 8, 9 months old, lovey was pretty important to her too!

Lubby has been quite the world traveler.  Oman, America (twice), Bahrain, Greece (twice).  On one of our trips to America, while walking the aisles of Target, I found an identical lovey that also travels with us, "just in case".  

AB would not be fooled, though.  When we showed her the new one, she quickly said, "that's not Lubby.  That's pink Lubby. My Lubby's purple."   You see, original lovey had become so well loved that she had kind of taken on a grayish color, or "purple"according to Anabelle.  New "pink lovey" just didn't quite have the needed softness to her satin edges yet.  And yes, I did say "she". A while back, AB started referring to Lubby as she and we've all just gone with it.  We typically have one of the girls assigned to keep up with Lubby when we're out and about.  Mainly if we are somewhere where AB is going to be napping in the stroller or something or holding it in a taxi we don't want it dropped.  And we definitely want to make sure Lubby is around for nap time or bedtime!  

The below pic is a sure sign that AB is ready for nap time or bedtime.  She is usually willing for Lubby to wait at home for her if we're going out and about, but if we're traveling or going out for the day, Lubby usually comes along.

Lubby has made her way into quite a few family pictures...

All of our family members (and a lot of our friends!) are aware of the importance of Lubby.  Everyone usually helps us make sure we have her when we are leaving or traveling.  She was even left behind at a Crackerbarrel during our travels in the US and Jason had to drive back to get her.  

Once we dropped her while walking out of the doctor's office and didn't realize it.  Over an hour later when I made my way back, there she was sitting on the sidewalk on a very busy street.  

You've probably figured out where I'm going with this!  We are traveling a lot this summer.  We left Amman at the end of June and will be returning mid-August.  We boarded our plane in Amman headed for our first destination- a meeting in Greece.  As I was helping AB get settled into her seat, I asked the older girls where Lubby was.  I was met by blank stares.  My heart sank!  We were some of the first to board, so I found a flight attendant, explained that my 3 year old had lost something very important in the airport and I needed to see if I could find it.  Thankfully, we were in Amman, not the US, where I'm pretty sure security would not have allowed it, and one of the airport workers escorted me back through the airport to look for Lubby.  No luck.  

Don't laugh, but I think I was more upset than Anabelle!  Thankfully it wasn't nap or bed time and she had several friends around her to distract her.  Momma got a little teary though when I realized that this time, Lubby was actually truly lost.  

AB took it all in stride.  After a few minutes (true to form), our little singer made up a new song.  To the tune of "Let it Go" from Frozen, she started singing, "I want Lubby.  I want Lubby.  IIIII want Lubby."  I want Lubby, I want Lubby, IIIII want Lubby.  I want Lubby, I want Lubby."  and on and on it went.  

Thankfully by the time bedtime rolled around that night, it was pushing midnight, she was beyond exhausted and when I retrieved "new lovey" from her suitcase.  She took it, looked at it for a few minutes, and started rubbing the edges of the silk until she found the perfect spot.  

New Lubby is proving to be perfectly acceptable.  Every once in a while she'll say something like, "real Lubby is still in the airport," but mostly she is doing just fine.  

New Lubby has already been to Euro Disney and proved to be a great umbrella in the rain.

She's taken numerous naps in the stroller as we've traveled around.  

I've gotten over my tears too!  Let's just hope we can hang on to New Lubby...

...we don't have another replacement!!