We Are Those Parents...

So, my darling daughter, Ella, has had this one stuffed animal since she was born.  Grammy bought it for her before she was born.  Anywhere Ella goes, "Raffy" goes with her...until today.  Raffy is a hard to find, Webkinz giraffe.  See below.  She sleeps with Raffy, rubs her nose with his tail, carries him everywhere...even to the breakfast table.  When she dances, she moves his head back and forth to make him "dance," too.  He's her lovey.



Today - my wonderful hubby and I have to go to Mailboxes Etc. to have some forms notarized because we refinanced our car for  lower rate. Yay us.  Apparently, in the 5 minutes it took us to walk from the car, to the store, get the forms notarized and get back to the car, Ella dropped Raffy.  We searched the entire parking lot, under cars, in trashcans...even asked the different stores in the strip if they have seen him.  Meanwhile, Ella is lamenting the loss of Raffy by wailing and crying in her carseat, "Waaaa-ffeeee!!!"

We searched EVERYWHERE trying to find Raffy because my sweet little girl cannot sleep without him.  She has her blankie, and thank God Blankie didn't get lost, too.  However, the only 2 items she has with her AT ALL TIMES are Blankie and Raffy.

We eventually heave a huge sigh of guilt, sadness and frustration and give up.  Someone has apparently taken Raffy home....not sure why, but they did.  We drove to Cracker Barrel, since we know they sell Webkinz stuffed animals and pray they might have a Raffy in stock.  They did not...however, they had ONE Webkinz giraffe for $25.  Totally not the same, but we get it anyway and pray Ella might like it.  She did at first.  Then, when she got settled in her carseat, she threw Raffy Redux on the floor and began wailing and crying for Raffy again.  She fell asleep 20 minutes into the 30 minute ride home after wailing and lamenting the loss of Raffy the whole time.  I don't think my heart has ever been so broken for her.  I cried and cried and cried....and then cried some more.  Especially when I put her in her bed.  She sat up in a sleepy daze looking for Raffy again and crying.  I put Bear in her arms and laid her down.  She drifted right back off to sleep.

While she's been napping, my sweet husband, who is totally wrapped up in his little girl, has been scouring the web for a new, identical Raffy.  He found Raffy online, but of course, we can't just order it online from the manufacturer.  Noooooooo....we have to call every retailer around us to see if maybe, just maybe, they have a Raffy in stock.  No such luck.  We called all 10 retailers, and no one has one.  One place, a country store right up the road from where we live, said they were putting in an order soon and would call me back this evening.  Hopefully, they might order a new Raffy for me so we can buy it and be done....and so, we've become THOSE parents.  The ones that will go to the ends of the Earth to replace the lost stuffed animal...even if it's almost irreplaceable.

If we go to these extremes now, I can't imagine what's going to happen when our furbabies pass on...or her goldfish sails the great Kohler Sea.  For those of you unfamiliar, Kohler is a brand of toilet.  SMH

If anyone by chance knows where we can find this hard-to-find stuffed animal without spending a small fortune, please let me know.  My brain hurts after all of this.