The Blanky from Michael

Summer had many beautiful blankets as a baby...some made by Grandma, some given to us from friends, maybe even a couple passed down from her siblings.  But somehow, her blanket given to us from one of Mike's coworkers (Michael) became her very favorite--can't go anywhere without it--blanky.

This special blanket is a purple and grey giraffe pattern print and has a giraffe in the center with little tags around it (Taggies brand).  She uses blanky to go to sleep at night, she snuggles with blanky when she is sad or scared, she even uses blanky to heal an owie or make her tummy feel better when she is sick.  She takes it in the car, to the store, on trips to Canada, to church, to the doctor, she even took it on our big trip across the country to NY/DC.  It was a life saver when we were weening her off nursing...and off her binky.  It also comforted her when we moved houses this past summer.  Blanky is VERY SPECIAL...which is why she took it with us on our trip to Mexico...where it got LOST.

We had blanky with us the entire time in Mexico...through the airport, play ride, rental car, hotel, Xel-Ha, swimming pool, beach, countless restaurants, grocery shopping...until one trip to McDonalds where we left it behind.  I remember seeing the blanket flung over a chair and I said to Mike "you better grab that so we don't forget it".  He grabbed it, and that is the last I thought of it until I was putting Summer to bed that night.  Mike remembered giving it to Tyson in the play area and Tyson remembered leaving the room (without the blanket) while Summer and Jordan were still in there.  Once we realized it was gone, Mike and Tyson drove back to McDonald's in the dark and searched the entire restaurant inside and out for Summer's blanket.  I sat at the hotel waiting for a call saying "we found it"...even when Kya talked to Tyson and he said they couldn't find it anywhere I was sure he was kidding.  Well they came back with no blanket.  Summer had already fallen asleep without it, but I just felt sick about the whole thing.  Mike and I both searched online and found the blanket was discontinued by the manufacture.  But we found one on eBay!!!!

I told Mike to order a new one on eBay.  Summer survived without her blanky.  She asked for it sadly, multiple times a day, but she was fine.  When the new blanket arrived 3 days after our trip, I wasn't sure whether to give it to her or not.  Mike really wanted to, so I agreed.  She was SO HAPPY.  She accepted it as her old blanky, even though it was much cleaner and definitely smelled different.  She just said "Dad found my blanky" and that was that.