Our cutest baby

Well folks, this is how it all went down. One night last month, my friend Tiffany was hanging out at our house while Tom worked late. She mentioned that the local radio station was having a cutest baby contest and suggested I enter Bethany. Clearly, she is the cutest baby, so we got to work at picking out a picture. A voila, she was entered.

The voting didn't start for a few more weeks and in those few weeks my enthusiasm about the contest wavered a bit. In order to beat out the 450 other babies, it was going to take some work. Was I up to the challenge? I decided "no". But then halfway into the contest, I decided $1000 was worth the effort so my crusade began. And after weeks of begging friends and family and total strangers for votes, we are proud to introduce our very own Bethany Fanning, Baby Idol 2009:

On Thursday the radio station called to say that we had made the top ten but not to tell anyone. They said to be ready on Sunday between 2-3pm. And if they didn't show up by 3, that means we didn't win. So, we got home after church, picked up the house a bit, got Bethy all dressed up and waited. And about 2:10pm the door bell rang and there was the crew with a bouquet of balloons and a great big check. It was so Publisher's Clearing House! Bethany was just interested in the balloons and wouldn't even crack a smile. We had a great time accepting our prize. But the fun didn't end there! They let me know that they would be calling Monday morning to talk to me on air. Aaaah! Nervousness!!
So this morning I woke up about 5am, thinking through what I would say and worrying about how stupid I would sound. Bethany was up about 6am to eat and then went down about 7am for a nap. In the anxiety of the morning (they were going to call at 7:45am) I made a huge mistake. I put Bethany on our bed for a nap and forgot to surround her with pillows. So, about 7:25am I hear a very loud scream from the bedroom. And there was our baby idol flat on the bedroom floor screaming. For those of you who don't know, she sleeps just fine in her crib at night but refuses to take naps there. It has been an ongoing battle for months- hence the napping on the bed. I knew the day was coming when she would become too mobile to sleep on our bed, but was hoping it wouldn't involve a fall. So I scooped her up and Tom and I consoled her and thanked God that she didn't hurt herself. At that moment, I accepted the realization that I will not win Mommy Idol anytime soon and we all moved on.

The radio spot went great- I even got a few laughs. We set up the pack and play for Bethany to nap in and our day has gone down hill from there. She, of course, is not pleased about the pack and play and has spent many, many minutes crying in the pack and play, and very few minutes sleeping in it. On top of that, at lunch today, I decided it would be cute to give her a cheerio. She proceeded to gag on it and throw up all over herself (we had just fed her green beans, nice....).

Now, we had a way too tired baby who in one day has fallen off a bed, puked on herself, and spent a great amount of time crying in her new "cage". We know how to celebrate big here at the Fanning house!

So, this afternoon we all jumped in the car and went for a ride. She got a nap. We got some peace. And all is good again. We're taking Tiffany (the friend who encouraged us to be in the contest) out to a Japanese steakhouse tonight. So that will be fun. And tonight, I know we will all be ready to see our beds! But it's been a good day! A very good day!

Thanks to everyone who voted. You can check out the video of us winning at island106.com.