Best Gift Ever

When I was a little girl, I always wanted an American Girl Doll. I eventually received a Bitty Baby for Christmas (which I have saved for Eliza), but I never did get an American Girl Doll. My parents bought me an Attic Treasure Doll, which looked a lot like an American Girl, but I knew it was an imposter and was a little disappointed. Overall, my doll Megan was pretty great, though. I loved her clothes and particularly remember dressing her carefully in an ice skating outfit.

 Naturally, most of us want for our children what we wanted for ourselves. For me, this includes an American Girl Doll. With this in mind,  just imagine my absolute joy last week when Haleigh texted me a picture of Kirsten and asked me if Eliza would be interested in having it. At first, I thought she was joking! But no, she was serious. Apparently, the little girl Haleigh is a nanny for decided she no longer wanted her American Girl Doll and its accompanying accessories and was planning on donating all of the items to Goodwill. Haleigh luckily thought of Eliza and saved the doll and its clothes for her.

This morning, Haleigh arrived with the doll and a whole bag of other goodies. It felt like Christmas for Eliza and me!

Eliza has played with her new doll all afternoon!

Tonight, she told Haleigh and me that she wanted to call the doll Adeline. She put on the doll's pajamas and tucked her into bed. Eliza still can't believe that she keeps to keep the doll. We're both pretty excited about it :) So, thank you, Haleigh, for helping me realize my childhood dream of having an American Girl Doll. I think I will live vicariously through Eliza.

And, in unrelated news, I love the new shirt Eliza wore today. I found it at Old Navy on clearance for $1.50--can't beat that!