obsession

those of you that know makena know that she loves her baby. OBSESSED with her baby is actually more accurate. nanea has never had something like this that she so needed all of the time, so it's been a new experience for me. we've "lost" baby before, but in the way that we knew she was somewhere and just had to look or go back (scour the house, go back to the baby sitter, or recently return to the osh kosh store to retrieve her from under a clothes rack that she had been left under while playing when she knew it was a no-no), but, we've never truly LOST her. until today.

we've been in northern ca for about a week, staying with family and having a great time. needless to say, the kids and their lack of sleep has been driving the moms bonkers (dads don't arrive for the family camping trip until tomorrow night). we had a super busy day, taking the kids to the zoo and then fairy tale town, dropping them off and then heading to costco and safeway to buy all the food we will need for 20 people camping for 3 days. not to mention coming home and then cooking the 2 dinners we'll eat while there (though that was all holly and i mainly poured wine and offered moral support) and cooking the 5 kiddos dinner.

upon arriving home from the store(s), makena began asking for baby. well, we'd been gone at least an hour and a half, so i had no idea where she was. the hunt began. it was not in earnest at first, but we had all 3 adults and 4 of the 5 kids a-hunting. we searched everywhere. in dressers, closets, behind doors, under pillows, washing machine and dryer, even the fridge and freezer. nada. hours. nada. we finally called the restaurant that we ate at for lunch, thinking that perhaps it was left there. no luck. in spite of that, we (holly, makena, tess and i) headed there to see for ourselves. at 9pm. all the while an exhausted makena whispering, "baby? baby?" in her car seat next to me. disappointment once we arrived and i got back in to the car to an expectant little makena only to tell her it wasn't there and we'd keep looking. she just nodded her head and then lay her head to the side of her car seat and went to sleep. no thumb and no baby-hat-rubbing/flicking. just about broke my heart. we got home, i put her to bed, put nanea to bed and started to look a bit more. finally gave up. shortly after, everyone started getting ready for bed and yaya turned down her bed. lo and behold, she found baby. tucked under the pillows. the same pillows we had looked under 2, 3, probably a dozen times between all of us looking for her. sweet justin even texted his mom to see if she had seen baby before she left for dinner. so, crisis averted for now. baby has been tucked into makena's sleeping arms where she will happily wake up to her in the morning.

so, in tribute to makena's baby obsession, here are some photos i just discovered that makena took of her. there is no substitute: