The End of a Good Thing...

If you know me very well, you know I love babies...real ones the most...but fake ones are a very close second. I have always loved dolls. I always had a lot of dolls as a child and I have passed most of them down to Kendall. I love watching her play with and love them as much as I did. I have to be honest and say that on my list of "specific prayers," you know the ones after "happy and healthy," I did pray that if I had a girl I really wanted her to be a girly girl and like girly things, including dolls. Before you start thinking that is selfish and awful of me, you should know, I was MOST concerned with health and happiness and I always made that very clear...the other things were just "in case God was taking requests" (also on that list was "a child with personality" which God has chosen to give me twice and probably laughs in my face everytime I want to pull my hair out because of their "personality.") But for those of you still thinking I am terrible, stop for a minute and picture ME with a tomboy. Point proven.

Well, my prayers were granted. Next to me, I have never seen a child that loves babies (real and fake) as much as Kendall. And it is SOOOOO fun!!! So this year for her birthday, my mom took me, I mean, Kendall (and Maygan, my neice and June, my sister-in-law) to The American Girl Doll Store. It was incredible!!! I loved it! I mean, she loved it! I told Ryan I wanted to work there!

I don't know the story behind the place or who invented the store, but he/she is truly a man/woman after my own heart. Even the bathroom stalls had a place to hold your dolls! It was the end of a great Birthday Celebration for my sweet 4 year old!

Introducing......

Allie Ellie Allie Mallory

First her name was Allie. Well, I knew she picked that name because Ella's American Girl Doll is named Allie. So, in an attempt to sway her away from choosing the same name as her best friend, (You never know how some people are going to feel about you choosing the SAME name for your child...) I pretended she said ELLIE. Well, she went with that for a while. And everytime I heard her say Allie, I would just casually say, "Yes, you have Ellie. Ella's doll is named Allie. But Allie and Ellie will be sweet friends." Then I noticed she was having a hard time remembering her baby's name. She came in one time and said, "Mommy, I am trying to tell my other babies about my new baby. But, I can't remember her name." I reminded her it was Ellie. She said, "But I really want it to be Allie." I tried to reason with her that Ella had an Allie and it would be too confusing. Again, she went with that for a while. Finally after about 3 days of living with Allie/Ellie, she asked me to ask Jill to ask Ella if it would be okay if she named her baby Allie, too and then they could be twins. Luckily, Ella is easy going like that and she said that would be fine. PHEW! Ella, Kendall and Allie and I thank you!

What joy! I remember feeling the same way the first time I adopted my first Cabbage Patch Baby from the Patch.

A final picture of Allie Ellie Allie with "her friends" before leaving the store.

Lunch at the Bistro...

What a good little momma!

Kendall and Allie Ellie Allie watching Maygan's doll in the salon!

I loved how everything was on her level and perfect for her to look at and play with. If we are ever bored we are just going to go in there and play. Not spend any money...just play!

She wanted to pose with the dolls for pictures like they were famous people!

When we got home, we decided to curl Allie Ellie Allie's hair with sponge rollers and Kendall's too. (A first for Kendall...most of them were out by morning.) We have had so much fun already with our latest addition to our family.

I am proud to say she is Happy and Healthy and after today...I am GLAD I prayed for a little girl that loves baby dolls as much as me, because today could not have been more fun!!!!