A Trip to the Cabbage Patch

Russ and I both were lucky enough to have maternity/paternity leave from our employers so for the last 10 weeks we've been in baby holding, toddler chasing bliss. But with our time off quickly coming to an end (sniff, sniff), we our trying to get in some outings in with the kids. Last fall, I had planned on taking Rhiannon to Babyland General before the old facility closed. The old facility was originally White County Hospital and is the hospital where my mother was born. So, it would have been sentimental to visit. Unfortunately, being put on bedrest in September ended those plans. But last week, Russ and made the trip to Cleveland to visit the spanking new Babyland General Hospital, home of the Cabbage Patch Kid, with our sweet little girl and our cabbage patch kid, Henry.

Let me start with an explanation. I LOVE dolls. As a child, dolls were my favorite things to play with. And as I got older, my mother bought me a doll every Christmas up until Rhiannon was born. Now she gets all the dolls. That being said, I was so stinking excited to visit Babyland General. I couldn't wait to see the dolls and to see Rhiannon's reaction to the experience.

Here she is pointing out letters on the sign.

The new hospital is amazing. It's a huge mansion that sits in the middle of the White County countryside with a view of the mountains. And the hospital did not disappoint. There were dolls every where. In cribs, in a school bus, in a classroom, in big kid beds, in a tree house, and in the cabbage patch. We saw a baby delivery and they named the little girl, Rianna James (no one ever spells her name right) after Rhiannon. Such a fun day.

We told Rhiannon that she kid pick out any doll that she wanted. She found a doll that she liked. A bald headed girl baby doll with green eyes and cute butterfly sleeper. I was excited because she wasn't one of the cloth face dolls that can clost up to $300! Good girl.

Here she is picking out dolls.

But then, she found Grover. Yes, the blue monster from Sesame Street. What is he doing at Babyland General? Home of the Cabbage Patch Kid Dolls?? However, he was found. And he had magnet hands and feet. Rhiannon immediately dubbed him "Ballet Grover" (because she already has a Grover doll at home but not sure why he's a ballet dancer. . .) and carried him around along with her doll. Well, Russ and I made her choose between Grover and the doll. Surely, she would choose the doll right? Wrong!! After much turmoil, the decision was made and Grover was chosen to go home with us. Out of the the hundreds of dolls we saw that day, we ended up with another Grover doll. At least it only cost us $11.