Nobody puts Baby in the corner...

...or in a Goodwill donation receptacle. I know this since I was knee-deep in a Goodwill receptacle this afternoon digging for our beloved Baby.

If you know us, chances are you know Baby. He is the Tigger stuffed animal who has been Jonathan's lovey since he was 10 months old. He is a constant-companion that doesn't leave Jonathan's side except for when he's at preschool (because what drama that would be if he were left at preschool one day).

Seriously, looking at this photo, what mama wouldn't dive head-first into the big bin of junk to search for this sweet boy's Baby?

All afternoon, I cleaned out closets to switch clothes around for spring/summer. I went to hang out with the bestie this weekend and she sent me home with a huge bag of clothes for the boys and I had to make some serious room in their unorganized closets. I managed to get a heaping pile of stuff from their closets to take over to Goodwill. I scooped it all up and put it in a bag and took it over there (this is out-of-character for me...usually, it makes it to the bag and then to the garage to wait until I decide to take it. I was just in a spring cleaning mode).

After getting home from a play date and the Goodwill drop-off, Baby was nowhere to be found. He goes missing from time to time, but quickly turns up in someone's hamper. Or Tupperware cabinet. Or china hutch. Or tool box. I could go on and on with this.

This time was different. We checked ALL the usual hide-outs, and Houdini still wasn't making his presence known. And then it dawned on me...Baby had been on the floor in Jonathan's room this morning. My mind started racing as I pictured myself inadvertently scooping him into the bag with the stuff from the closets. I honestly started to tear up at the thought of losing Baby (don't even get me started on when we lost Benjamin's beloved Bunny at the La Quinta in Abilene...I cried more than he did over that one).

So, I phoned Goodwill. Believe it or not, they had three Tiggers that were recently dropped off. When I got there, I realized none of them were our Tigger. : (

Then they told me about the reject bin. And that's when I went dumpster diving for the first time. And last. Bleh. I guess Goodwill's screening process is very lenient because the only stuff in the "reject bin" was absolute trash. Some of which really made me wonder what in the hee-haw people were thinking about donating it to Goodwill? This ain't no soup kitchen....no food items, please! Gag.

I was somewhat relieved to not find Baby in that bin. Not sure his well-loved self would have survived the clean up process he would have undergone to be welcomed back into our home after being in there.

Came home and about the time I was putting Jonathan to bed, the search began again. He went to bed without him. And moments later, Baby made a relatively boring appearance underneath all the clean clothes in the laundry I was folding. Of all places. Quite the irony that he was in such a clean place while I searched in what I concluded to be the dirtiest. place. ever. Darn you, Baby. You're about to get an eviction notice if you don't quit that.