Throwback Thursday #3

So today we're going to go back... way back! Unfortunately I don't have easy enough access to childhood pictures to put them up on these posts. I mean, I could get them because my parents took an awesome amount of pictures, but it's enough work that I'm forgoing a picture from the actual time period. But this TBT post ties into the inspiration for our baby's nursery!

When I was about 6 years old, we were walking through the mall and I saw a teddy bear in JC Penny that I just had to have. You know how parents feel about stuffed animals. ANOTHER stuffed animal? But apparently my parents saw my intense need for this bear because one of them snuck away at some point in the mall trip and bought it. So for Christmas that year, I got Ted... full name Ted E. Bear. I was a pretty creative kid :P. Ted quickly became my stuffed animal bff. You know how most kids have a doll or stuffed animal that is special to them for their whole lives? Well, that's Ted for me. For the next few years, my parents would get me the JC Penny "Bear of the Year". And they were cool, and they joined my brood of other stuffed animals. But no one ever compared to Ted (I think they got the hint about 3 years later and quit buying me a yearly bear!). Ted went on all our family trips with us and slept in my bed every night. He went to "summer camp" at my best friend's house in 5th grade to learn how to read. On road trips, my parents would let him sit up front for a good view, and he would have to close his eyes in tunnels because he was afraid of the dark. I took Ted to sleepovers and dressed him in clothes. There were quite a few years where he lived in the crack between my bed and the wall, but he was still there. He went to college with me, though he got kicked out of bed at that point. In our current house, he has sat with a couple other special stuffed friends.

When we found out we were going to have a baby, I immediately knew that I wanted Ted to be accessible to my baby. I could have him on a shelf where he can't get messed up, or I could let my baby love on this little guy who brought me so much happiness when I was little. So then it just clicked.... a teddy bear nursery! We had already painted the nursery a light green when we moved in, knowing that it would be a nursery some day. And one day I got some awesome shimmery, tan curtains on clearance for the room just to have a window treatment in there. Well, I fell in LOVE with those curtains and they just happen to be perfect teddy bear color! So the vision was born. Ted sits on a chair that has been through the past few generations of our family, on a little teddy bear chair pad made by the baby's future Godmother, just waiting to be snotted on and have food wiped all over him. And I bet he wouldn't have it any other way :).

I think this was my 5th birthday, so not totally accurate but gives you an idea ;).