THERMOPOLIS — The Good Housekeeping Baby of the Year contest is coming down to the wire, and one Wyoming family already knows their 5-month-old is the best baby ever and are hopeful everyone else will know it too if she wins.
Little Aaila is already Baby of the Year in the Gurtler household, but being the face of babies everywhere for Good Housekeeping would also be good for Wyoming.
“We've got so much going on right now in Wyoming with the fires,” said Nicole Gurtler of Thermopolis. “This is just a chance to spread some positivity and love. It’s something that puts a smile on people's faces.”
The mom of six decided to enter Aaila in the contest on the spur of the moment. She had stumbled on it across Facebook and thought it would be fun.
“I'm constantly posting baby pictures, and everybody's always saying how beautiful she is and that she should be the Gerber Baby and all this stuff,” Nicole said.
The Gurtlers are about spreading positivity. Dad Nathan is a music teacher at Ralph Witter Elementary and recently won a Wyoming grant to buy ukuleles for his classroom.
“I just fell in love with the excitement and joy elementary kids bring to the classroom, and all my kids know all about Aalia Jo,” Nathan said about his youngest. “They are always eager to know how she’s doing and her 8-year-old brother is always boasting about her. This little girl has her siblings wrapped around her finger. She gets all giggly and lights up when they show up.”
Aaila is in fourth place as of Friday, competing against about 90 other babies across America in the online voting contest. If she wins in her group, she will go on to compete in the quarterfinals.
Although only 5 months old, “Aaila is an old soul,” says her profile on the Baby of the Year website. “She loves playing with her siblings, her mama and her daddy. … In the evening, she has what we call ‘the morphing hour,’ where she transforms and likes to make monster noises, growling and such.”
The Baby of the Year will star in an ad campaign for Good Housekeeping and the family will receive a $25,000 cash prize.
The contest itself is a fundraiser for Baby2Baby, a national nonprofit organization that helps children living in poverty with diapers with basic necessities.
If the family wins, they will use the money to help put Aaila’s 19-year-old sister through college.
“I see this as a way to help put Wyoming on the map,” Nicole said. “Just a way to share some sweet giggles.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
