a new arrival

Announcing a new arrival to the Harris clan: little miss Tallulah Mae! Though sometimes she’s called Abigail. Her name seems to change regularly, depending on Lynley’s whims of the day. You see, Lynley is four. And she changes her mind about things quite often. Tallulah/Abigail is her newest baby–a cabbage patch baby, straight from Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia. On a girls’ trip to Atlanta this spring, my sister Nicole, Mother, Lynley and I visited Babyland General and, after much deliberation over the hundreds of “children” available, adopted Tallulah. Here are some fun images of our visit, including some of a “birthing ceremony” we got to witness.

Babyland General Hospital, where Cabbage Patch babies are born.

The “nurse” who registered our visit to Babyland–very busy crocheting a baby blanket for one of the newest “deliveries”. Lynley signing the visitor’s book and gaining admittance…
Checking out all the new deliveries in the “nursery”…
All the babies in the cabbage patch, just waiting to be born… Here is one of the “LPN’s” (Licensed Patch Nurse), getting ready to assist with the birth of a new doll underneath the magic tree. He arrived shortly after an intercom announcement that a Mother Cabbage had gone into labor, preparing for delivery of a new cabbage patch baby. With him were pink and blue bunnybees, there to pollinate the cabbages with pink or blue crystals to determine the baby’s gender.
He determined how much the Tree had dilated and injected the cabbage with “Imagicillin,” an experimental but highly recommended drug.

Almost there….

And there she is–another beautiful little baby girl!

Lynley got to hold the new baby shortly after she was born. The gathered crowd named her Jessica.

Baby Jessica in the viewing nursery where all newborns just after birth…
I guess it’s the old teacher in me, but I was a big fan of the classroom and the little students. They were quite well-behaved! (I will admit, though, that the adult-sized cabbage patch teacher doll freaked me out a little – that’s her over on the left).

Lynley trying to decide which baby to adopt. This was Sandi Charlene, one of the frontrunners until she found Tallulah.
Lynley with Tallulah, shortly after the adoption. Her original name was Victoria Eileen but that didn’t quite suit Lynley and it had to be changed.  A happy little girl and her baby…
Sitting on the front porch, rocking Tallulah like a good little mommy.

As an aside: When my sister was about Lynley’s age, my grandparents visited Babyland General and bought her one of the earliest cabbage patch dolls. Given the condition it was in and its age, it is valued at $3000 – 5000 today. Unfortunately, Nicole, who can be quite unsentimental at times, threw her away a couple of years ago. Oy vey!