Bay gaga over Emma's baby face

KIM DE LEIJER
BRIAN McNickle and Meikyla Sherborne are "over the moon" after their daughter Emma was voted Hawke's Bay cutest baby.
Emma Jane McNickle won first place in Hawke's Bay Today's Baby Photo Competition for children aged up to 3 years.
The 5-month-old is the first child for the Hastings couple so they decided to enter her.
"She's our first baby so we thought it would be something to put in her scrapbook," said Ms Sherborne. "We were over the moon, blown away, really."
The couple told all their family and friends to vote for Emma when she appeared in Hawke's Bay Today on Monday, September 15.
As first place-getter Emma, won a Camponie high chair, a Cam Rally booster car seat from the Baby Factory and sleepwear from HotMilk.
Ms Sherborne said the win was "perfect timing", with Emma due to start solids soon.
"It'll really save us money," she said.
Emma was born on May 12 at the Ata Rangi maternity ward in Hastings weighing in at 7 pound 7 ounces. Two weeks premature, Emma was a surprise to her parents who were expecting a boy. Her early arrival meant Mr McNickle was able to celebrate his birthday with her on May 20.
Ms Sherborne described Emma as a "great sleeper" who loved to laugh.
"She's starting to recognise our voices now and she gets quite excited looking around for us ... she's doing really really well."
It was the first time the competition had been run in Hawke's Bay and it proved popular.
APN group marketing manager Maria Sisson said entries closed within five working days of opening in Hawke's Bay because the maximum number, 180, had been received.
"It was a fantastic response from the public," she said.
The national competition ran in five APN regional newspapers - The Rotorua Daily Post, Wairarapa Times-Age, The Oamaru Mail, The Northern Advocate and the Bay of Plenty Times.
Entries cost $15, which included a photo sitting and two photos. People voted via text or through the official entry form.
Texts cost $0.99, with proceeds going to the Royal New Zealand Plunket Society.
More than 30,000 votes were received nationwide, with $8129 raised for Plunket.
Ms Sherborne said she was pleased the money was going to Plunket, who had given her "fantastic support" as a first-time mother.
She has found the experience of motherhood to be "very demanding and rewarding".
"I'm amazed, it's so different having your own child," she said.
The couple are planning on more children in the future but for the moment they are enjoying watching Emma grow.
Ms Sherborne has no doubt who Emma gets her award-winning genes from.
"My husband ... she's got my blue eyes but everyone says she looks like her Dad," she said.