Keep your clothes on Sarah!

I have a nudist living in my home. She's a very small girl, with an outie belly button and sweet loving eyes. No, I'm not talking about Bethany, although she does fit the description and these days she's quite often seen running around sans pants, thanks to potty training efforts. But rather I'm talking about her best friend, her buddy and her pal, Sarah.

(before)

I have mentioned Sarah before, but I don't think I've ever really stressed what an important member of the family she is. You see, Sarah has been a part of my life for many, many years, longer than Bethany's been alive and longer than Corey's been around. She is one of my old Cabbage Patch Dolls.

(after)

Back when I was a very tiny girl and Cabbage Patch dolls were the hot new thing, my Dad waited for hours and fought the crazy, mad parents for a Cabbage Patch baby for me. His name is Orsen and he quickly became my bestest pal ever. I packed him everywhere, although if you asked me, he was a she and wore dresses (see why God gave me girls...he was afraid of how I would dress a son I'm sure!). I loved Orson dearly and thus began a love of all Cabbage Patch babies everywhere. As I grew older I added more and more of them to my collection and played with each and everyone.

I had one that when you squeezed her arm she cried, you'd feed her a bottle or kiss her cheek and the very real sounding cry would stop. She has since malfunctioned and when she's crying the only way to make her stop is to club her upside the head or chuck her to the ground. Good thing I'm old enough to know that's not how you stop my kids from crying.

Anyways, about a year ago my Mom who is amazing at saving all of our old toys that were special, pulls out a bag of stuffies and dolls for Beth to play with. Almost immediately she found Sarah and began to play with her. Not long after, Sarah came home with us and has been a pretty important part of Beth's day to day life ever since.

Snuggling, watching " 'Trawberry Land"

Bethany has tons of different dollies she could play with, many of which are brand new, one of which is a new Cabbage Patch - Alexis that Audrey "gave" her when she was born. And as much as Alexis is Sarah's friend and B plays with her when it comes down to the wire it is Sarah Bethany wants. We forgot her at Grammy's the other day and Beth asked for her continually all the way back from Hope and was upset enough we had to stop at Grammy's to get Sarah before bedtime.

You see Sarah is not only Bethany's buddy she's her comfort. We are in the middle of many a transition for B, including but not limited to falling asleep without one of us in her room, no soother at nap times soon to be no soother at all, potty training and just generally becoming a big girl. Those are tough changes for a small girl to handle and having someone to go through them with you is a big deal. I had Orson so why shouldn't she have Sarah. In fact, it just might make my heart swell each time I watch her sing Sarah to sleep or check to see if she's sick. Because the things she does for her baby are the things I do for her and it's reassurance that she knows how to love, what love is and that she is very loved. It's also so sweet listening to Bethany's version of "You are my Sunshine", which always ends with a VERY loud "EVERYDAY!"

The only problem with Sarah is she doesn't like to have her clothes on. In fact she hates it. I will dress her when Bethany is doing something else and leave her awaiting B. The second she is discovered I am informed that "Sarah's hot", "Sarah no likes those clothes", "Mommy! NO!" and off the come and poor Sarah is naked. And it's not like Sarah has only one outfit, I've made sure there is variety, you know in case what she had wasn't in style. It is 15 years old ya know. But noooooo, she can't get dressed. Maybe her tooshie just likes the breeze? I finally convinced her to let me dress Sarah last week for church by telling Bethany, "It's embarassing to be at Church naked, we don't want anyone to see Sarah's bum." That worked until the service ended at least.

(about 30 seconds after I dressed her this morning for the above picture, this happened)

Anyways, it's cute. At least it's her baby who won't keep her clothes on not mine!