waiting for baby

The sweetest development in our life is Fiona’s joyful anticipation of baby.  Her favorite spot is on my lap or near it, staring, rubbing, patting, or kissing “mama’s beh-wee” (many, many times a day). 

She likes to talk about her baby brother, repeating all the words we’ve told her: “baby’s growing” “not come out yet.. in a wittle bit”, “gentle mama’s beh-wee”, “bruh-der, like Dean”, “that’s a baby in there”.

Precious times.

   

Fiona’s baby doll gives her lots of practice at nurturing – strolling, rocking, wearing in a sling.  Being a big sister is going to come naturally! 

     

     

hand-off

(no pun intended)

Well, Doll Repair wrote me back with an estimate that is reasonable!  Replacement of both hands may sound kind of iffy, but I think I'm going to go for it.  Stay tuned...

p.s. It's rainy again.  Why else am I so wrapped up in this doll saga?

babipouce

 The short story is that Fiona's Babipouce (which, ironically, means "baby thumb") doll's hand was chewed up by a dog.  I thought this could be a simple fix:  I'd call or email the manufacturer, one extra part would be ordered, they'd sew up my doll, and voila!  Babipouce would be restored.  

But, this quest has been not-so-simple.  The manufacturer recommended a Doll Hospital, and their responses have been a little thin and not helpful.  In short, fixing the doll doesn't even seem worth it.  In the meantime, Fiona has outright rejected her baby doll because of the little mauled hand.  I'm not sure which makes me more sad.  This is about trying to do the right thing - to no avail.

What's more, for some reason, I became committed to saving this poor doll.  But with every email from the Doll Hospital, it doesn't seem possible.  Basically, I'm being encouraged to buy a new doll.  I've tried covering up the hand, but Fiona knows it's not the same, and she doesn't want it.  I know I shouldn't make too much of this, but my desperate string of emails to the Doll Hospital is starting to get ridiculous.  

*************

Doll Repair,

We have a doll emergency!

We have a Corolle Babipouce Pink Striped doll that our little girl adores.  Unfortunately, a dog mauled babipouce's hand.  You were recommended by the manufacturer.  Can the hand be replaced?  We need to know ASAP so we can decide whether or not to replace the entire doll.  We'd rather not do this, as it is only the hand that is ruined, as you can see by the photos.

Can you please give us a rough cost estimate and tell us how your service works?  Photos attached.  Much appreciated.

*************

 Hi 

We could not open.  Send where we do not have to download. 

 *************

Doll Repair,
Thanks for your reply.  Can you read these files?  I made them smaller.  Let me know - I'll try something else if you still can't open them.

*************

[no reply]
*************

Hello,
We're still in the middle of our doll emergency - can you please help us?

*************

[no reply]
*************

[Manufacturer],
I've had really poor luck with [Doll Hospital].  I've emailed them 4 times with photos of the doll but only got one response, saying they couldn't read the photos (I've since reduced the size of photos and resent them, but no answer after two follow-up emails).  Is there anyone else you recommend?

*************

Hi Lora,
Sorry but they are the only doll hospital we recommend.  Did you try calling them?  I used them personally and they were great – don’t know what the problem is.

 *************

[after calling Doll Hospital and being told to send a link]

Hi,
I just spoke with someone on the phone who said to send the pictures of our doll again, to see if you carry the part I need.  They are attached to this email.  If you have trouble reading them, will you please let me know? 

The doll is a Corolle Babipouce Pink striped, like the one seen here. 
http://www.amazon.com/Corolle-Babicorolle-Babipouce-Striped-Doll/dp/B00004TYF2

She is in need of a hand replacement (sewn-in, left hand).  

Please let me know what you can do.

************* 

Sorry we do not have that hand.

*************

Hello Doll Hospital-
I do have a caveat that my doll's hand doesn't look like the links that I sent.  Not sure why - the doll in the pictures on Amazon and Google has a more open hand than the doll in the box (if you look at reviews on Amazon, a few others have complained about this).  Please, please help me with this.  Can I mail the doll to you and you can then decide whether or not you have the hand?  Otherwise, I'm not sure what my alternatives are at this point.

I emailed the manufacturer, who has recommended your service, so you must have some similar Corolle doll parts - perhaps one is a match for my doll's hand?

*************

We may have to replace both. They may be different.

*************

ACK!!!  Different hands?!  What does that mean?  Does anyone else see the incredible imbalance of text of worried-mom-please-fix-my-doll to carefree-doll-hospital?  Kind of unbelievable.

At this point, I emailed the only two other doll hospitals I could find in this country with email addresses (really!), and they each basically told me that replacement of the doll was cheaper than replacement of the hand.  Not much of a choice.  and a bit exhausting.   

If my F of my enFj-ness could reveal itself in a string of emails, this might be it.