Grazer

The cute little black and white cow in this picture holds special meaning for our family. His name is Grazer, and he was the very first stuffed animal "friend" to sit with Abby in her warming bed after she was born. Most of Abby's NICU pictures show an army of little, fuzzy friends surrounding her as if watching over her care and providing some sense of normalcy. One of the stipulations was that they had to be clean, and if one fell to the floor by accident it had to be taken home and washed before it could take it's post again.

Grazer managed to jump out of Abby's bed several times during her 6 month stay... but usually made it back after a good washing. One morning when we approached Abby's spot in the NICU we saw Grazer sitting alone on top of the shelf with a little sticker that said "Grazer has fallen on the floor." It made us smile as we realized the nurses new that this little cow had a name and must be special to Abby... or really, special to us.

Josiah has taken to this soft little friend. This is the first "object of affection" for him. He was playing on the floor a few weeks ago while I was putting his clothes away and I saw him select this cow out of a large crowd of stuffed animals. He immediately hugged the cow close to his cheek, smiled up at me and then rocked back and forth while sucking his thumb.

Since that day Grazer has snuggled with Josiah at every nap and bed time. We think it's neat that he chose something that already holds special meaning for us, and also a new connection with Abby.