Miss Virginia, Wee Baby Division

Some of you probably wonder where we have been hiding this weekend. :) Well, we decided to enter Savannah in another pageant. :) Our last experience was not very positive and we were a little overwhelmed by the fake eyelashes, huge outfits, and competitive attitudes. We had heard that the Tiny Miss pageant was much better in that it was based more on natural beauty and it was a much friendlier pageant circuit. I didn't want our only pageant experience to be a negative one, so we decided to try the pageant with the good reputation.

Tiny Miss is a division of Miss Virginia, and Miss America. It has a really good reputation and is a prepatory pageant circuit for girls who want to try for Miss Virginia or Miss America one day.

The competition started this morning. There was a gown competition and a photogenic competition. Savannah was in the Wee Baby divison, which is for ages 0-23 months. At 11 months, she was one of the youngest, and only two of the babies (her being one of them) couldn't walk. I was a little nervous and thought we were probably at a disadvantage because she was so young and couldn't walk around and twirl in her dress and so forth. Also, the competition started at naptime, of course, and she was very sleepy and wanted to pull the bow out of her hair. :)

There were 15 Wee Babies and we were the very last ones to go out, #15! We had to wait a long time for the other contestants and Savannah was sooo tired. We finally went out on stage and everyone clapped for Savannah. She thought that was kind of funny, so she smiled and when she spotted her Mimi in the audience, she waved. Then, she realized Mimi was holding an Elmo doll, and that definitely boosted her spirits. She waved with both hands and grinned.

We still weren't sure how things would turn out since there were plenty of very cute babies who waved, clapped their hands, and smiled as well. When we went back up on the stage for awards, they called the top ten finalists. Savannah was one of them! I was excited for her. Then they started eliminating the contestants one by one, starting with ninth runner up and going forward. I honestly expected her to be called any time. They got down to the top five and she was still on stage! She began to think it was quite funny everytime people would clap and she would clap with them. :) They then started calling fourth runner up, third runner up, second runner up... we were still on stage! It was down to just Savannah and one other girl. When they called the first runner up and it was not her, we knew she'd won! :) They played the Miss America song and crowned Savannah!

They presented Savannah with a trophy, a crown, a sash, a septor, a diamond necklace, a set of luggage, a Bible, a stuffed animal, and $200! She thought it was hilarious and clapped for herself. What a ham! She has to stay for tomorrow for the big girl crowning ceremony where she will be on stage with all of the queens and get presented with flowers. She will also have a portrait made that will be on the website, and I'll give you the link to that later.

I wish I could show you a lot of cute pictures, but due to child protection laws, no cameras are allowed in during competition. As a mom, I appreciate the protection that offers to all of the beautiful little girls, but also as a mom, I wish I had more pictures!!! :) There will be professional pictures that I will post, but those won't be available for a few weeks. Here is what we have... sorry it is so limited! We will take more tomorrow when she gets dressed up again.

Here are all of the contestants and last year's queens.



If you look closely, in the center of this picture, Savannah is sitting on the lap of a queen from last year. Sorry it is a little blurry, the lights weren't very good with my flash.



Here is Savannah before the competition... not a very good picture of either of us! She was sleepy and I was exhausted from keeping her happy! :)



Here is the queen, who instantly fell into deep sleep as soon as we got back in our hotel room! :)



We promise to make more pictures tomorrow when she is dressed up again... we were just so tired today, and have you ever tried to get a good picture of a tired baby in a poofy dress wearing a crown?! :)