Miss Scarlett's Six Month Pictures

Here is Miss Scarlett at six months!

We found a wonderful local photographer who does great work for a very reasonable price.  Both the price and the quality of work is FAR better than what we've had at national studio types of places.

The Princess and the Swimming Lessons

Since June, 10th, both Scarlett and Christian have been taking swimming lessons every Sunday morning.  

Scarlett's class involves a long of songs and repetition.  We take them to the wall often so the can learn - over time - the wall is the "safe place to be."  

She is remarkably calm during class.  Much of the time, she's just looking around, sucking on her hand.  

For the first couple of classes, I kept Scarlett above-water.  On the third class, it was time to put her under.

Needless to say, it was uncomfortable for me - but I know it is part of the process and a crucial step.  The goal of swimming lessons isn't to create an Olympic swimmer, but rather to get Scarlett comfortable in water and over time, help her to know what she is to do if she finds herself submerged in water (i.e., heaven forbid, falls into a pool).

We learned that when submerging a baby, it is important to put her head completely under water.  Apparently, if she's not completely underwater, when she feels air on her head, she'll take a breath.  So it is important to put her completely under water.   Of course, it is just for a moment and then I quickly bring her back up.

And her dunks are always preceded with "One, two, three ..." and I lift her up, and then put her under.  The second week we did this, she got this wide-eyed look on her face as I started the count to three, and I knew she somehow understood she was about to go under.

Today, her teacher commented that it is impressive Scarlett is okay floating on her back (well, I'm supporting her).  She said many babies get upset at the sensation of water going over their ears.  But Scarlett actually seems to enjoy floating on her back.   I love it when she sticks her legs straight up in the air as I pull her along.

Since we're at an indoor swim school, these classes are year-round ... not just summer classes as are at outdoor pools.   Christian is really enjoying himself in the lane next to us, and since both kiddos are doing so well, I think we'll keeping doing lessons for the foreseeable future.   Child drownings seem to dominate the news in the Phoenix area and so to us, it is extremely important that our kiddos learn to swim as well as possible.

A Little Personalization Please

I asked a friend to put Scarlett's name on some onesies ... here's the first one.  Isn't that adorable??

The Princessa's First Uncontrollable Laughter

At long last, Miss Scarlett laughed uncontrollably.  Until now, her laughter has been rather muted and though we know it is laughter, didn't sound like it much. 

But just listen to her now! Sooo very cute! :)

Since we'd never heard her laugh like this, Christian thought she was upset and was hesitant to proceed.  But we convinced him she was laughing ... and he perked up and made her laugh some more!

The Jumperoo

The time has come for Miss Scarlett to learn all about how much fun a jumparoo can be!  Christian absolutely loved this jumparoo ... and I'm sure Scarlett will, too!

Miss Scarlett Turns Six Months Old!

Our beautiful Miss Scarlett is now six months old - can you believe it? Here are the running statistics:

Six Months:
Weight: 14 lbs, 7 oz (5th percentile)
Length: 24.25 inches (5th percentile)
Head: 17 1/4 inches (85 percentile!)

Four Months:
Weight: 12 lbs, 6.5 oz
Length: 23.75 inches
Head: 16.5 inches

Two Months:
Weight: 9 lbs, 15 oz
Length: 21 inches
Head: 15.5 inches

One Month:
Weight: 8 lbs, 9 oz
Length: 21.25 inches
Head: 14.75 inches

Birth: Weight:
7 lbs, 5 oz
Length: 19 inches

Scarlett has essentaily doubled her birth weight. She's a chunky monkey, so she seems to be doing fine. Though, there was a family in the waiting room as we left the doctor's office, and they have a 2 month old baby who is 14 lbs - same weight has Scarlett. She had a much smaller head than Scarlett, but the rest of her (from what I could see) didn't really seem to be larger than Scarlett.

We've just got a petite princessa, I think. The doctor said nothing about her size - in fact, Jonathan was the one who researched the percentiles listed above.

These days, Miss Scarlett is rolling aroud like crazy. If I take my eyes off her and then look back a few moments later, she's completely rolled herself away from her original spot.

She's still waking up twice a night. The first time is often around midnight, and Jonathan gives her a bottle. The next time she awakens is anybody's guess. We're trying to not feed her for that second awakening, because she doesn't need it and we're trying to break her of waking up. But that doesn't always work out as planned.

Scarlett still doesn't like to sleep much in the morning - unfortuantely. But, I am able to (most usually) get Christian and Scarlett to both nap at the same time in the early afternoon. YES! And since both kids are asleep in the evenings (by about 9:00pm or so, Jonathan and I are out of each kiddos' room), we can watch TV, or work on the computers ... or I can do laundry or clean the kitchen, etc.

Scarlett attracts a lot of attention - there's just something about a baby girl that draws people in. I readily hand her to anybody who is interested in holding her. I remember with Christian, we didn't know many people and so he wasn't accustomed to being held by "strangers" and he's always been hesistant around people he doesn't know (not a bad quality to have, I suppose). So I'm hoping that by having Scarlett interact with a variety of people, we can steer her towards welcoming new people, rather than fearing them.

We're still working with Scarlett on eating solid foods. So far, we've done rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, bananas, peas and sweet potatoes. She's just not a fan ... she'll get there one day.

Little side note:  I thought it was interesting that Christian was so much bigger than Scarlett at this age:

Scarlett: @ Six Months:
Weight: 14 lbs, 7 oz (5th percentile)
Length: 24.25 inches (5th percentile)
Head: 17 1/4 inches (85 percentile!)

Christian @ Six Months:
Weight: 17.2 ponds (50th percentile)
Length: 25.5 inches (25th percentile)
Head: 18.75 cm (100th percentile)

The Princessa's First Independence Day

Miss Scarlett celebrated her very first Fourth of July today, which included a little nap while waiting for her first-ever parade to start.  I just can't stand how CUTE she is!!

The evening before at the bike decorating party:

Let the parade begin (and take a nap!)