As I have said before, if I could be a toy, I would be one of Nadie’s baby dolls. She is an excellent mother! Just recently, she has added another doll to her already large collection. This one she purchased with a couple of Walmart gift cards she had acquired over the past months. She was bound and determined to get SOMETHING at Walmart that night. Finally, she settled on a doll. Another doll. And this is how Big Baby became the newest member of the Rudolph family.
We call her Big Baby because the doll is just big. She fits into regular baby clothes with no problem. This was the draw for Nadie in the first place. It gave her an opportunity to more easily acquire clothes for the doll AND to use real diapers (which had not even occurred to me.) Nadie has given her several other various names. Laura, Allie, Claire, Catalina, and Addalee Rose to name a few. But, as she can never remember the name she decided on, the big baby is now Big Baby.
For almost a week now, Big Baby has been Nadie’s constant companion. And as always, she is taking excellent care of her. However, this new family member has caused a few issues. On several occasions Stephen and I have had near heart failure from seeing Big Baby in odd places. She can look very life-like when you aren’t expecting her. Like when she is sitting at the kitchen table, or when her head is peeping out from under a blanket. Also, when there is an unpleasant odor in the room, there is the issue of who has the dirty diaper: Big Baby or Oliver? Nadie finds it frustrating to have to sniff two bottoms to discover the perpetrator. Thus far it is always I that draws the short stick on this one and gets to change the stink. Luckily, after a lecture on waste, landfills, and garbage, Nadie has started potty training Big Baby. Maybe I can get her to train Oliver while she’s at it.
It’s interesting to see how this baby doll has impacted this family. As we are prayerfully and seriously considering adopting another child, I can’t help but wonder how it will change our family. Not just having another person in the family, but the process. I have heard it described as a roller coaster ride. Having ridden the Oliver Express for the past two years, I know all too well how that can be. Can this family handle another roller coaster ride? How will it change us? These are just a few of the questions that I have to be wary of. Stephen and I know that the Lord is leading us to do this and the Enemy would love to see us stumble in fear. And fear is NOT of the Lord. So, we are buckling in for the ride. Getting our house in order, both literally and figuratively. Yes, it will challenge us. It will change us. But God is moving and He is good. And, in the mean time, we have Big Baby to keep us in practice.
