Chesney and I love dolls. I started my love affair with the original Cabbage Patch Kid back when I was in eigth grade, and I've been collecting them off and on ever since.
Fast forward to my own daughters... both my girl got Bitty Babies from American Girl when they were 4. Then a few years ago, Chesney got a "real" American Girl doll. As I looked over the catalogue trying to choose what to give her, I knew I wanted a historical doll because Ches loves to read and the historical dolls have their own little series. Julie happened to be the newest release at the time, so Julie it was (plus, I think I have a little bit of hippie in me... just a little).
Julie took a little abuse. Chesney wasn't the best doll mom and I really wasn't paying attention. It was pretty apparent when Chesney got a new AG doll from Grammy for Christmas that her old Julie was not in the best shape. To be specific, her hair looked pretty much like this:
So I did a little internet research about how to fix her hair.
I tried, I really did.
And I failed. Miserably.
So I looked into the American Girl doll hospital. Honestly, we have this expensive doll here that I was hoping Chesney would some day hand down to her daughter, and with crazy hair... she's not in the shape that would stand the test of time.
Last weekend, after we got home from our Christmas travels, Ches and I packaged Julie up and took her to the store to mail her. Chesney might have pouted a little bit about sending off her doll, but I promised her that the doll would be back in time for her birthday.
Imagine our surprise to come home -- on Saturday morning -- and find a Fed Ex package on our back porch. I hadn't paid for rush delivery and it hadn't even been a week, let alone the two weeks stated by the doll hospital, but I saw the box and knew immediately what it was.
Chesney was pretty thrilled.
For Chesney's birthday (in two weeks), I had sprung for ear piercing for Julie... along with the new head she needed. She was also cleaned and came home in a hospital gown. Really cute. Ches was happy to see her, and promptly had her changed back into her outfit. Then we had to clean out the girls' book shelves so Ches would have a shelf to display her dolls. Julie is now Avery (because we just weren't feeling the name Julie with her new head) and she sits on happily on a shelf next to Harper, the doll Chesney got for Christmas.
And it all started with one little doll...
The new Girl of the Year doll is named McKenna, which coincidentally is Chesney's middle name. I'm seeing another American Girl purchase in our future...
