Bless This Mess: A Bed for Booni?

Sorry it's been awhile again. We've all been sick. Brooke had Strep, Parker had an ear infection and I had a Sinus infection that lead to an upper respiratory infection. It's been fun. The kids are all feeling much better and as soon as this nasty cough goes away things will be back to normal.

Actual Date: Friday, February 11, 2011

A few days ago, the World almost ended.

You didn't notice?

I sure did. Brooke accidentally forgot to take her special Bunny to school with her and I seriously thought it was going to shatter her world. Surprisingly she didn't freak out as bad as I thought she would.

Don't get me wrong, she freaked out. Just not as bad as I was expecting.

She's had this Bunny, or Booni the Boonester as he's known around these parts, since she was a born and he's been with her through a lot. She's slept with him every night for as long as I can remember. Well except one horrible night in Carson City, NV....

We had loaded all of our bags on one of those luggage carts and I threw Booni right on top so we would know where he was at when we got to the room. The only problem is Booni didn't make it to the room...

We asked all over the hotel to see if anyone had turned it in but we had no luck. I felt so bad since I was the one who had thrown him on the luggage rack. Poor Brooke was about 16 months old and her heart was broken. No one got much sleep that night.

The next morning before we left I decided to ask at the front desk one more time to see if by the grace of God someone had turned our sweet little Bunny in and as luck would have it, someone did! They had found him in the parking lot. He must have fell off the luggage cart. I wish I would have gotten a video of Brooke being reunited with her Booni. But I was too busy crying from relief. I had felt like the worse Mom on the face of the planet but now all was forgotten.

Anyways back to present. Brooke forgot her Bunny at home and she cried when we got to school but she wasn't hysterical. She was just really upset. Her teacher asked what was wrong and I told her. Then she told Brooke that she could borrow one of her special sleeping pets (stuffed animals) and that seemed to cheer her up a little.

On my way out I told the Assistant Director that I would run the Bunny back by on my way to my Dentist appointment in an hour. She said "Why don't we keep it in my office and if she is really upset I'll give it too her." That sounded like a great idea to me because I'm sure we need to break her of Booni before she starts Kindergarten next year or that will be a nightmare.

So I brought Booni to the school and put it in Mrs. Deborah's office. Just in case.

Guess what? She didn't need him! They said she whimpered a little bit once she got laid down for nap time but she never once cried. I was so proud of my big girl!

On our way out we stopped at Mrs. Deborah's office and Mrs. Deborah offered a great suggestion. She told Brooke maybe she should make Booni a special bed that he could sleep in while she's away.

That night when we went to bed Brooke asked if she could make Booni a special bed. Of course I said yes.

There's Booni in his own special bed for the very first time. Brooke and Ava are so proud of him.

But Booni, Brian and I are proud of Brookie.

We're working on it still. I've suggested that we try to leave him in his special bed while she's at school but she will have none of that. However he has spent several nights in his own bed. That's a start right?

I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures of Brooke and Booni throughout the years.

This is when he was nice and new and still pink... and had his original nose, and lots of fluff... you can bet almost 5 years later Booni has aged some.

This was about the time that she started NEEDING Booni. She would be sound asleep and then minutes later she would wake up and cry. I found if I turned on Bunny music box and handed it to her she would cuddle him right up next to herself and go right to sleep.

They've been inseparable ever since.

You can hardly see him in this one but I just love her little face here.

When Ava came into the picture Brooke was such a good big sister she had enough love for her Bunny and her new baby sister.

2 year old Birthday pictures.

Again you can hardly see him here but the girls are so adorable I had to throw it in.

This was from a few years ago in our old California house . Brian set up tents in the living room for us all to have a little camp out. Brooke set up her chairs in front of her tent. One for her and one for Booni.

Brooke took this one herself. She wanted to use my camera to take pictures of baby Ava. Then somehow Bunny ended up making his way on the scene as well.

If you look closely you can see that Booni is missing his nose... That is because on a visit to Uncle Chris and Auntie Jen's house cousin Chloe (their dog) chewed it off. After some quick plastic surgery work from Grandma, his face was saved with very little scaring and very little stuffing fluff lost.

Booni's been there for Brookie through it all. She's my only child who is attached to a lovey and I thank God every day that she has him. He's been able to comfort her during immunization shots, first day at school, bumps and bruises, and numerous allergy tests.

That's what she was doing in this picture. It was shortly after we found out she was allergic to peanuts and she was having some testing done. She never once shed a tear. The nurse was amazed. She said usually the little one's her age scream bloody murder. A few times she would scrunch her face and squeeze Bunny and Daddy tight but she was so brave through the whole thing.

Booni was there for her first night in her big girl bed.

More allergy testing.

This one is one of my very favorites of the two of them. We were at Uncle Chris and Auntie Jen's house again in Reno, NV. Brooke set Booni up on the back of the couch to watch the snow come down with her.