his lovies

brandon was given three lovies as a little baby.

1. my mom gave him monkey (not pictured). who we did carry around everywhere we went until a nightmare of a trip to the zoo with grammy & grandpa dallas. short story: monkey goes to zoo with us, monkey gets lost at zoo, mommy throws temper tantrum because of the sentimental value including calling her mom and crying about it, does not enjoy the last half of the zoo, does not want to check lost and found because no one would have turned it in, mother-in-law makes me...monkey is safe and sound in lost & found. either someone honestly turned it in or someone saw it and had planned on taking it home but saw me so upset and felt guilty about taking the monkey. whatever the case, i was so glad the monkey was returned, and vowed that it would never leave the house again.

2. my dear friend gave him mr. owl. or "hoot hoot" since brandon can't say mr. owl yet. it used to light up, but then the battery died. or the little button on his foot to make him light up died. either way, it doesn't light up. but brandon doesn't care. he loves that owl. he chews on one of his silky feet. it's disintegrating away. kind of gross and sweet all at the same time. we know when brandon is sleepy and is ready to crash his crib because he will roam the house looking for mr. owl calling out "hoot hoot" in between thumb sucking!

3. my other dear friend rachel gave him mr. giraffe. we want to call him something else, but we just can't think of the perfect name yet. rachel gave it to him after melinda's baby shower. i fell in love with it, but when i went back to target to get brandon one, they were all gone. and i've never seen them restocked since. i almost died when she gave him to me. i mean to brandon. :) he used to just keep him in his crib, but now he totes him around the house. he has figured out how to twist the little metal "key" and make him sing. he'll sing a little bit. then brandon will talk to him. then he'll twist the key some more and he'll sing. brandon will talk back. just like they are having a conversation. it is so funny! i need to get it on video!

and obviously my kids see this camera way too much. brandon just put his lovies on the stairs and looked at me like, "go ahead...take their pictures!" ha ha

if you have a name suggestion for mr. giraffe, please post in the comments section! we'd love to hear what you might name him!