Oh Baby!

Our summer fun continued with a trip to Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Ga.  BGH is the birthplace of Xavier Roberts' Cabbage Patch Dolls.  I still remember my Cabbage Patch babies - Emily Suzanne and Matthew Reece.  They sat in a basket beside the door of my bedroom for years.

Grace and Emma Kate are right smack dab in the middle of being in love with baby dolls.  Every where we go, we take 2 baby dolls, 2 diaper bags, 2 bottles, and about 2 million other baby items because you never know when your baby is going to need a diaper change, clothes change, new hair 'do, get bored and need to be entertained, etc.  In other words, the trip came at a perfect time.

After we signed in at the front desk, our tour began with the preemies.  These little dolls are cute enough to eat, and they're dressed in the likes of Feltman Brothers and Petite Ami.  Seriously.  We started picking out which preemies we wanted to adopt until we found out their cost resembles that of an insurance deductable paid when having an actual human baby.  Ha.  Moving on.

Emma Kate found a box of Sour Patch Kids candy in the car right before we got out.  Naturally, they were by far the most interesting thing she found.  No, she hadn't eaten lunch yet, but they were compliments of Uncle Brad's weekly gift of candy, it was week 1 of potty training, and most importantly, they were just enough to distract her from the fact that she wasn't pitching a fit every other minute.  I call that a win-win situation.

The search is on.  We encountered Cabbage Patch babies from newborn through big kid, and for every interest group.  Did you know you can get a Cabbage Patch Kid wearing a petticoat skirt and Converse tennis shoes???

It's a girl!  When it's time for a baby to be born at BGH, the doctors are paged, an ultra sound is performed, the baby is delivered and named.  It's fascinating, and fun, and precious.  The name is chosen by the crowd that gathers to witness the birth.  I am proud to say that there is a bouncing baby girl at BGH named after Grace!

So much to take in, we don't have time to look at silly cameras.  In addition to the preemie nursery, tree house, and actual cabbage patch, there are dolls gathered around Christmas trees, riding a school bus, learning in a classroom, and chilling in bedrooms.  

We must look at and touch each and every doll to make sure we are choosing the right one.  Even more mandatory than good hair or the right color eye is what the baby is wearing.  Just ask Grace.

After a comprehensive search and in depth naming conversations, Grace and Emma Kate are the proud mamas of Lydia and Sarah.  What attentive mamas they have been.  Well, Emma Kate has ensured that Sarah has been naked 95% of the time, but what's a little free spiritedness when you are loved?