The Gerber baby doesn't have anything on this!

So a few weeks ago, an acquaintance calls to say that Huggies are looking for a foreign baby to be in an ad for them. This sounds mildly amusing and lets face it, free photos of our baby lure us into this prospect. Niamh (my daughter) goes to the audition with her daddy and after establishing that its too bad she isn't blonde and blue-eyed, her hair, in fact, looks quite red in photos, and apparently, this is the next best thing. I have to admit, we were a little bit too excited that she got the job (what does that say about us as parents?? pimping out our kid??).

Dom took Niamh to the audition, so it was my turn to take her to the shoot. So when asking my fabulous fiance, Dom, who has many redeeming qualities, what the details are, the following conversation takes place:
Me - 'how long is this going to take?'
Dom - 'i don't know, not long'
Me - 'not long...as in, half an hour, or not long as in, all morning? i need to pack the diaper bag'
Dom - 'i don't know, not that long, just pack some stuff'

So 6 hours later, I call Dom to 'take over' as 'not long' is indeed, almost a full working day for adults (what's that in 9 month old time??). This involved two runs to Wal Mart to buy more baby food and snacks, two mommy-enforced nap breaks for Niamh, one toy destroyed on set after a fit resulting from repeated taunting with the toy (apparently wiggling a toy in front of a baby isn't the best way to get their attention if said toy is not going to be given to them right away), one ripped set prop, multiple diaper changes, a comb which physically had to be taken off the set in order to move on with shooting and up to seven alternating Chinese staff whose sole purpose was to 'coo' at the baby.

All in all, the reject photos we were sent were pretty damn cute, but I think Niamh's career in modeling may have ended before it even began. I'm not much of the stage mom type, as it turns out! But it will still be one of those random, funny stories we can tell her (every time she has a new boyfriend), and hey, we got some good photos out of it! Stay tuned for Niamh's print campaign which should run for the next two years in China!

Eat your heart out Gerber baby, we've got the Huggies cutie...