New Year’s Baby to cover entire county; looking back at 2015 babies

 

by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor

The Presque Isle County Advance’s 2016 New Year’s baby contest starts the new year at midnight tonight with one major prestigious rule change. It covers the entire county.

For many years there were two simultaneous contests going on in the county one for the Onaway Outlook and the other for the Presque Isle County Advance.

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With the merger of the publications from earlier this year, the contests have been consolidated into one more robust contest for the entire county. So, is it going to be interesting to see what community has the first baby. The winner could be on the front page as soon as next week.

Not much else has changed with the contest. There are great prizes that have been donated by county merchants and the baby has to be born after midnight.

All the other rules and a list of generous, community-minded businesses are listed on in this week’s edition.

Another tradition going back several years is to catch up with the previous winner. This year, there were two winners to look up.

Anka Grace Grzesikowski, the daughter of Cory and Shannon (Mason) Grzesikowski of Onaway, was born three weeks into 2015.

The Outlook’s 2015 baby came into the world Jan. 21 at 2:52 a.m., which was a couple of days before her due date.

Fast forward 11 months, Anka is crawling. That started a few weeks ago. In the last week, she started to stand.

One thing is clear, she really loves to talk.

“Her favorite words are ‘mama,’ ‘dada,’ ‘baba,’ ‘nana,’ ‘papa’ and ‘hi,’ ” said Shannon, who was pleased to report that her first child’s first word was “mama.”

Her favorite Christmas gift was a talking Elmo.

“Anka is a good-natured lovable child,” said Shannon.

Anka has two stepbrothers, Zeb and Zane Grzesikowski of Rogers City. The grandparents are Al and Norma Grzesikowski, and Tim and Pam Mason, all of Onaway. Her great-grandparents parents are Lois and Bruce Price and Shirley and Carol Mason all of Onaway.

Ariana Trinity Bober was the Advance’s baby in 2015. She was born eight days into the new year at 1:56 p.m. Her mother is Alyssa Bober of Rogers City.

Ariana was born with a heart murmur that still lingers, but she is doing well in growth and development.

“She will stand,” said Alyssa. “She is not a fan of walking on her own yet. For being a month early, she is doing exceptionally well. On an occasion, they still hear the heart murmur. If it is s

till present during her one-year check up, they will do an echocardiogram.”

Her favorite Christmas presents have been a floor car and a VTech baby tablet.

Ariana’s family has grown in 2015.

Alyssa’s fiancé has become part of the family and he has a son and a daughter. The couple plans on getting married July 9, 2016. So, Ariana will have a stepdad, a brother Andrew and sister Lilyanna.

Her grandparents are Wayne and Jennifer Bober of Rogers City; and Liza and Gerald Ruiz of . Steve’s parents Dave and Shirley Budnik of Posen already have accepted the infant as one of their own.

Her great grandparents are Alexander and Sylvia Forgetta.