Swaddle free and other new tricks!

It has been a long time since I blogged! Scarlett has been moving and shaking and developing at a very rapid pace! I've been working a lot so it almost seems as if I'm missing it. Paul assures me that I spend a lot of time with her, but as quickly as she is changing, it seems like I must have missed something! The biggest change in the last week is that we've (finally) weaned Scarlett off of the swaddle. I can't take any of the credit -- on Friday Paul was home with her and was determined to say goodbye to the swaddle. Last week she had been getting out of it no matter what we did, velcro and all. She would fall asleep with it on and wake up with her upper half out of it and looking very proud of herself. I guess in a way she was weaning herself off of it. In any case, she was napping well without it so Paul decided to try it at night. First night without the swaddle she slept 11 1/2 hours!! She kindly slept until almost 10 am on Saturday at which point we finally had to wake her up! In general it is going really well. The only trick is that it takes a really long time for her to fall asleep. We're still putting her in a sleep sack, but even with that she crawls all over the crib, sits up, pulls herself up on the crib, kneels to play with her rain forest toy etc. until she is finally so exhausted that she can't hold her head up anymore. Regardless, once she is asleep she sleeps really well. We've had to wake her up every day since.

Her personality is still just great. She has such a sense of humor. In the last week she has taken up head banging, discovered all sorts of new facial expressions, and has started tilting her head to one side when she is smiling really big (sort of a flirtatious thing). She is also trying to clap her hands and is constantly doing this old man thing where she covers her gums with her lips and smacks them together. She is also amazingly resilient no matter how terrible a situation we put her in. On Sunday we went to a polo match in Poolesville, MD. I know, sounds strange. Paul's friend Frank invited us to the match and put us on the VIP list (tent, free food and drink) so we decided it would probably be the only time in our lives we would go to a polo match, so why not? Well, a good reason not to go would have been the weather... It was nearly 100 degrees and horrible humidity. Scarlett decided to skip her morning nap that day so we were out in 100 degree heat for 3 hours with no naps... Despite having every possible reason to fuss and cry, she was perfect the entire time. She wasn't quite as vivacious as she normally is, but she was still friendly with people and never fussed once. I was particularly surprised since she was stuck in our laps rather than crawling around.

Paul and I have been continuing to give Scarlett new foods and are now introducing spices. Her favorite appears to be the sweet potatoes and cinnamon combination. We were at Spider Kelley's last week where I gave Scarlett a little taste of the guacamole that came with my meal. Next thing I know, Scarlett is scarfing it all down! They had to bring me another side of it so I could actually have some myself. We still haven't really found any food she doesn't like. She has also had chunks of fruit, fruit-yogurt melts, and little cheerio-type things. She is doing pretty well with all of it but we typically have to keep stuffing the solid foods back in her mouth until she finishes them. She LOVES drinking out of a cup. We are only brave enough to give her ice water, but that is about her favorite thing in the world anyway. She has pretty much mastered the Nuby cup but she thinks she is quite proficient at a regular cup too. Let's just say she isn't quite as good at it as she thinks she is.

In not so happy news, Scarlett has a staph infection! She has what we thought was a pimple/white head on her neck. She has had it before, but it went away and we didn't think anything of it because we knew that baby acne was a common issue. When Paul picked her up from daycare on Monday, Betsie said she thought it could be a staph infection. We still figured it was nothing, but we called the doctor anyway. They told us to try a warm compress for 5-10 minutes and put some ointment on it but if it didn't go down significantly by morning to bring her in. Paul ended up taking her into see Dr. Jasani who confirmed that it was an infection and prescribed her some ointment. She has the larger spot on her neck and another small spot in her ear. It is no big deal but they had us keep her out of daycare today just to be safe. Her spots are already almost healed but it is sort of noteworthy since we have been amazingly lucky to avoid health issues to this point.

This weekend will be Scarlett's first Independence day but more importantly, Jacy, Joel, and Liam are coming to visit! They get into town on Saturday morning and are staying until the following Friday night. We have to share them with Jacy's family, but we can't wait to see them and get the kids together again! I haven't seen Liam since he was 1 month old!!! Time has flown by...

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Fathers Day week!

Well, its was a long time coming, but my first official Fathers Day finally arrived (although Shonna and I did cheat and celebrate both Mothers and Fathers Day last year). What a day! I woke up with 3 generations in the house, had brunch at Eat Bar, Dropped Nana off at Reagan, went swimming with Scarlett for the first time, then had pizza and beer. Thanks mom and Scarlett! I received awesome sunglasses, and some fun family swimming toys as well. Scarlett was her usual self. Smiling, playing, grinning for strangers, and of course not sleeping. Scarlett would rather perform for a crowd than take a nap. On top of that, she considers ANY amount of sleep a full nap. For example, she slept for 10 minutes in the car yesterday, woke when we returned home, and acted as if she slept for 2 hrs. She did the same thing today after brunch (5 min), but we REALLY wanted a nap as well, so waited her out and she finally went down again after an hour. She was up 45 min later... Regardless, she is fantastic. I've said it before but we are soooo lucky with Scarlett. We can take her anywhere and she just goes along with it. No fuss, lots of smiles. I hope all Fathers Days will be as good as today was.

Was it all perfect? Heck no! Eat Bar (bar/restaurant) HAD the greatest brunch meal I've ever tasted, pastrami hash, and they cut it from their menu. If it doesn't sound good to you then you haven't tried it. Eat Bar has a habit of dropping great dishes from their menu. Shonna's favorite used to be their grilled cheese and tomato soup. According to Shonna, its the best grilled cheese she has ever had, and believe me she is an expert. I'm sure Scarlett will get Shonna's grilled cheese lover genes, and fully expect to stock the house with Campbell's tomato soup and Kraft. The only other issue today was that IT WAS 97 DEGREES and we wanted to spend the day outside. We would have sucked it up, but I read somewhere that scorching sun isn't very good for 7 month olds, especially those with mommy and daddy's pigmentation.

As for the rest of the week, Nana wrote a blog so you know my mom was in town. We had a great time, and we couldn't have appreciated her help more. Our day care provider was out of town, and Nana allowed us to work, interview, and go out on a date. A DATE! I believe it was our 2nd one this year... and at least this time we chose a good movie this time. "Get Him to the Greek" is pretty entertaining, much better than "Hot Tub Time Machine". Its possible that the movie was funnier due to the wine, but we will let you know when it comes out on video.

Thanks Nana!

Guest Blogger: Nana in the Hizzy

It's all about Scarlett. How lucky I am to be her Nana and spend a week with her to myself all day. Each moment is something new. Excitement over a new touch or toy. Something new to look at. A new way to try to sit, crawl or stand. New food to savor, not too sure about some of them. The only thing that stays constant is her illuminating smile. The light of our life that shines through those bright blue, wonderful eyes. She has a radiating smile that consumes our world. It is infectious. I know when I have to leave, it will still be with me. Much love to you Scarlett from Nana

New Baby Jail and Summer Fun!

Just a few pictures to show you what Scarlett has been up to! You see her lovely bathing suit and sunglasses that her Auntie Cheryl brought to her from L.A. -- quite the little starlet! Her new baby jail arrived, which has taken over 1/6th of our living room and replaced the pack and play when she is in the house. She loves to crawl, sit, and stand up holding on to the fence. She can look pretty pathetic though when she decides she has had enough alone time and grabs onto the bars! More to come...

I'd rather move than talk

Well, its official. Our Doctor said babies take one of two roads at the mobile stage- continue talking and making strides to improve their verbal skills, or move on literally, decreasing their verbal attempts, and try to move and shake as much as possible. Scarlett's motivation is to crawl, walk, and dance as fast as possible. She could care less how quickly she can talk. Over the past few weeks, she realized that she takes more pride and enjoyment in movement than the simple act of talking. We first realized this during our initial experience at a kiddie park. We put her on a swing and all she wanted to do was go faster and higher... AT AGE 6.5 MONTHS! The higher we pushed her, the happier she was. If she was swinging at the speed of a normal baby twice her age, she wasn't excited. If we pushed her to the limits on the swing, she not only smiled, but laughed, giggled, and was as happy as she could possibly be. Babies twice her age or more have actually made comments, and even challenged their parents to make sure they were swinging higher than Scarlett. We should have known Scarlett's preference considering she gets her biggest thrill if we toss her in the air, swing her around, and flip her over our shoulder. The more the better, the faster the better. In other words, it looks like the words "mommy" and "daddy" will have to wait. At least the consistency of these outbursts anyway... She does say "dada" on occasion, and goes through verbal spurts. Mostly she just wants to move anywhere, anytime. She has now moved past the awkward crawling stage and now can't get enough.

What does this mean? Well, we now have to lower her crib because she has already started grabbing the top to pull herself up. We would rather her not fall over the top and land on the hardwood floor, so its about time we reduce those chances. She has started to crawl across the living room, so now we have to "baby proof" the house. We purchased a gate for the entry way, a cushioned floor, and we are waiting on delivery of what we are calling a "baby jail". She will have a 20 square foot play area, fenced off for her playtime enjoyment- a bigger and much more fun version of her pack and play. Is this all for Scarlett's enjoyment? Heck no! It gives us the assurance that we can leave her on the floor and not worry that she will end up sticking her finger in a light socket. She doesn't have teeth, but we would rather not take the chance of her gnawing on wires. Our dog Axel already did that when he was a puppy. Although he simply shook it off, we don't want to take that same chance on our human baby.

All is well in the house. Scarlett is active, happy, smiling constantly, and obviously is excited to enter her next stage. Is she a little more difficult? Yes. Is she even cuter than she was before? Well, she is at least AS CUTE. Hard to compare one stage to the next. Will she manipulate us? She is already trying and in some cases succeeding, but we will enjoy every second of it.

Sprayground!