Big Baby Announcements

If you saw the title of today's blog and anxiously read down thinking, "OH MY LANDS ALIVE! Nicole must be pregnant!" then we must have never met in person.

Because if I was "announcing" a pregnancy, it would be less of an "announcement" and more of me curled up in a tiny ball in the darkest, coldest corner of my basement crying uncontrollably and freaking out and asking "Why?" so many times that you gave up trying to answer.

This post is actually in celebration of two of my favorite baby girls, one of which I haven't known very long. Because her existence on planet earth is only 5 days.

Meet Lainey Emersyn:


She is Zach and Lauren's little sister and a mighty cute one at that. I really was tempted to run out of the hospital with her and raise her as my own, but they had some kind of high-tech homing device on her leg so it probably wouldn't have worked out.

Also, a good friend's mom was Holly's nurse, and she would've put the kibash on the baby-borrowing altogether. Oh well, I will just settle for holding her anytime I am in her presence and babysitting as often as possible.

Then on Friday, I was hired as a nanny to watch one of my favorite babies in the world. EVER.

Her mother has apparently forgiven me for nearly choking Audrey on a french fry at 6 months old and scarring Payton for life when she had the misfortune of being with me for an unexpected gynecological exam at the doctor's office. (No time to explain, but just remember that desperate times call for desperate measures.)

Anyway, we all had a ball with Reese this weekend. She is easy-going and loves to eat, which makes me think we should try to adopt her.

My favorite things about Reese are that she is CUTE and NOT SLIM. Not to mention smiley with blue eyes that just won't quit.

Lilly got to play big sister (as opposed to just bossing people around because she can) and loved feeding Reesey Piecey:

It only looks like she is choking her. I hope.

This is Reese's attempt to look stoic after downing some sweet potatoes:

She pulled it off quite well, don't you think?

However, this is the reason I think I am done having babies that look like Jackson and Lilly:

That is not apple juice on her back.

Or on her legs. Or on her stomach. Or smeared every which way:

I had to use nearly a whole pack of wipes, at which point it dawned on me that I should have just put her in the tub. But my pursuit of cleanliness paid off despite the folds of human skin deep enough in which to lose a quarter.

Or massive amounts of poop, as it were. But we triumphed and got her into some jammies:

Per Reese's request, I handed over the cell phone so she could attempt to call China and make some arrangements for a play date with some international friends. Or maybe she just wants to eat them...I'm really not sure.

I had quite a bit of Super Bowl cookin' to do, so I enlisted a little helper. Her job was to hold the froggy straw and look sweet.

Reese's other job was to unroll the paper towels as many times as possible.
Mission accomplished!