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10.04.2009

Welcome Home Cottontail.


Like most places in the country, we had a cold and rainy weekend.  On Friday, after feeling a little bit of cabin fever, we decided to get out and go to Mall of America for something fun.  We all bundled up in our warm stuff, because seriously it's been in the low 50's here, and headed out!



It didn't take long for me to start filling up our stroller with stuff for this little peanut!  We found hats, socks, the cutest halloween costume in the world, and then...


WE LOST OUR MINDS.


We were on a mission for pretzel bites when we passed the storefront for "Build A Bear."  We let Ava look at all the stuffed animals in the window and to our surprise, she started leaning toward them, talking and grinning at each one.  It was so darn cute.  
And then I said it.  
I told Travis, "I kind of want to take her in there and build her a bear."  I honestly thought he would laugh and talk some reason into me, but then HE said it.  
He told me, "I do too!"  
Can you say "FIRST TIME PARENTS???"  Although we would love to believe that we made our little girl's dreams come true that night, she had no idea what we were doing!  But, we did make our parenting dreams come true :) We happily walked through each step of the build a bear process and presented her with the sweetest little bunny at the end.  Like some kind of parenting rite of passage, we acted like fools, spent our hard earned money and tried to convince Ava that she's always wanted a bunny (we) named, Cottontail.
And yes, we bought it all...hook, line and sinker.

After we decided that she loved the bunny the most (actually, if we're honest, WE loved the bunny the most) we got in line to have it stuffed.  

And then we learned more than we ever cared to know about the history of "Build A Bear."

And after carefully choosing the little heart we wanted to enclose, Ava's new bunny was ready for a kiss, which she does not know how to give :)  

We managed to escape without any outfits or props for this little bunny (we do have some common sense) but we did labor over the details of the "birth certificate" that came with it!  You should have seen us discuss what to name this bunny-it's Cottontail for the record.  I'm sure we sounded ridiculous!  But, anything for Ava, right??  Doesn't she look thrilled??  

Ok, so we may have lost her interest in the store, but once we all got home and got her ready for bed, she loved her new bunny!  She kept talking to it and trying to lick it.  Yeah, I'm not sure what that means, but we're taking it as a sign of love!  

So, we have a new little member of the family and another stuffed animal for Ava's room.
I'm sure it won't be our last visit to "Build A Bear" but it probably won't be as exciting for Travis and I as it was this weekend.  Seriously, we were into it.  It's amazing what parenthood will do to you!!


Have we ever mentioned that we LOVE having this little girl in our lives??

8 comments:

Erin said...

That is so cute. Before Alex even came into our lives Chad and I went and he built me a dog. Alex loved the dog as a baby and loved that it barked. So her grandma took her to build a cat and she loves them both. She loves that they make noises and sing to her. She also has that bunny as Santa gave that to her last year!!

I am glad you guys had fun :) I am sure that wont be the last time you are there!

Lindsey said...

So sweet!

Heather said...

I cried when we took Connor to Build A Bear last Spring to get a special animal for him and one for AK before she was born!!! It is just the sweetest thing. I love Ava's bunny!

Faith said...

So funny!

Toni :O) said...

Oh golly, we LOVE Build-A-Bear! Her bunny is so adorable! Took my daughter there for the first time earlier this year...it was ridiculously C.U.T.E.! We've gone back for outfits and accessories twice. I just wish the fluff on her bear would have held up better...it's looking rather bad actually and I was a tad disappointed in that but my daughter still loves her pink Cinderella bear!

Jesse and Stacie said...

I love how excited she looks with her new bunny! :) I bet Ryley would LOVE to get a hold of it and shred it to pieces :) We went to Build a Bear on a field trip with preschoolers and it was quite fascinating! You could spend a fortune with all the accessories.

Holly said...

We have the same bunny! We normally end up their about once a year for some special occasion, but I am with you on no outfits etc... How fun!

Unknown said...

After we found out we're having a little girl we went to Build a bear and built the cutest teddy bear for her. We each got to put a heart in the bear and we bought it a t-shirt that said, "It's a girl." It was a good day and fun memory.