A Trend has to Start Somewhere ...

Our Miss Scarlett still isn't sleeping through the night.  She's been scooching around her bassinett a lot lately while sleeping and I was wondering if to shrinking confines of her bassinett were disrupting her sleep.

This is how she looked yesterday morning:

We decided it was time to set up the crib.   She went down, as usual, at around 8:00pm ... and shocked us when she didn't wake up to eat until 4:30am.   That is just about 8 1/2 hours.  YES!

In fact, after her feeding at that time, she stayed up for a bit ... but then let me put her down to sleep ... IN HER CRIB.   Another YES!

She's got plenty of room in her crib now!   Now we just need a mobile, and she's all set.  Until I get the mobile, I put up Hello Kitty wall decals for her to look at, as Scarlett loves Hello Kitty. :)

We'll see how she sleeps tonight.  I'm hoping for the best!

Scarlett at 20 Weeks: The Sippy Cup

Our Miss Scarlett is now 20 weeks old!  And to celebrate being a "big girl," I've been working on getting her to take water via a sippy cup.  And it WORKED!  She's AWESOME! :)

I wasn't too sure how she'd do, since she likes her milk so warm.  So I had the water at room temperature and after a few tries, she started drinking a little on her own.  When Jonathan came home, he held her cup, and she reached for it.

Why a sippy cup so early?  My feeling is that a bottle should be reserved for milk only.  I think if a baby is served milk, water and juice in a bottle, she never knows what she's going to be drinking.  While Scarlett is breastfed, she does get a bottle on two occasions:  

1. Most overnights, Jonathan gives her a bottle of pumped milk and 
2. If I'm out and about, and Jonathan has Scarlett at home.

If I give her the sippy cup, she knows she's getting water - and staying is hydrated is crucial during a Phoenix summer.  

Also, I'm just not a big fan of prolonged use of a bottle.  We've all seen three year olds who are still hooked on a bottle, rather than drinking from a regular cup.

But hey ... we all have our own parenting styles.  Mine is to encourage progression the moment I think a baby is ready.

Scarlett is so interested in whatever we eat or drink - she watches very intently and even mimics our eating motions.  These things are telltale signs that a baby is ready to try solids.   My preference, however, is to wait until she is six months old (which is how we did it with Christian).  That is that is what the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests as does "Dr. Sears" - the current "baby guru."  

But we'll see.  She's an awfully hungry baby and I wouldn't want to deny her Royal Chunky Legs some fine baby rice delicacies. :)

She's a Beauty!

The Bumbo Seat

Our Miss Scarlett loves variety.  She doesn't like to be in same position or the same place for very long - and she makes sure we know it.  So we added a "Bumbo" seat to our arsenal.  It was so cute to see her sitting up like this (she still can't sit up on her own).

Scarlett's Four Month Exam

Scarlett's four month doctor exam was today.  We are happy to report she's perfectly healthy - here are her stats (and past stats for comparison): 

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

We asked about her size, as several people have commented she seems small for her age.   He assured us Scarlett is fine and produced growth charts that show she's in the 25th percentile for girls her age.  And as I once heard, "As long as they are actually on the growth chart, all is well."

Mother's Day

Today marked my first Mother's Day as a mother of two amazing children (okay, three children - if you count Bella.  And we do!).  Alas, I didn't get a picture with both of my kiddos for this special day - drats!



Back in the Stroller

Because of Scarlett's reflux, she wasn't miserable in her stroller (with the pram), which keeps her laying flat.  We hadn't put her in the pram for the past three months or so.

We wanted to walk to the new fire station grand opening, so we tried the stroller gain and I'm happy to report that she slept for much of the walk ... and was content even after she woke up.  Well, until the last few minutes as we were heading home.  She was hot and hungry.

Our Beautiful Princessa

I don't want to brag, but ... :) we get a lot of compliments on what a beautiful baby our Miss Scarlett is.

Just thought I'd let you know. :)

Miss Scarlett at 16 Weeks

Our sweet Miss Scarlett turns 16 weeks old today.  So what is she up to lately?

She's got a lot to say, and quite loudly, too.   She drowns out the TV!   I try to get videos of her "talking," but I suppose having a big ol' camera staring at you can be quite intimidating ... and she stops.

She likes to roll over to her side a lot and a couple of times has flipped onto her tummy ... but she gets upset when she lands on her tummy, so I have to rescue her.

She's figured out her legs can move, and she's been moving her legs so that she can grab her feet.

As you saw in a recent post, her thighs are getting super chunky ... I love 'em.

She's not on much of a predictable sleeping schedule during the day yet, but at night it's pretty much a certainty that she'll be asleep in the living room by around 7:00pm and sleeps for a few hours, wakes to eat, and then sleeps the rest of the night.  Christian goes to bed around 8:00pm ... so we get some downtime in the evenings (which is not something I expected, so I'm thrilled!).   We finally started putting her down in her bassinett in the bedroom when she falls asleep in the early evening.   We had been just keeping her with us in the living room, but it was such a challenge to keep Christian - and everything else - from waking her up.

Miss Scarlett eats A LOT.  Babies can start on rice cereal anytime between four and six months.  My preference is for later rather than sooner, but she's so hungry that I think we may need to start her closer to four months.

Alas, we're still dealing with reflux issues - and some days are particularly bad (I think simply because she's eating more ... so that means more can come back up).

Scarlett has really started to interact with the toys hanging over her little gym.  It's so cute to see her swatting at and talking to her toys.

And lastly ... she's become such a SMILEY baby!  She was so serious most of the time, I wasn't too sure what was going on.  But lately, she's all smiles ... big, huge gummy smiles.  I love it!

Chunky Baby Thighs

The Littlest Princess

I remember when Jonathan got this shirt while I was still pregnant, it seemed like it would be forever before our baby girl would fit into it.

We put it on today for the first time, and it fit perfectly.  She's just growing so quickly!



Baby Bubbles

Miss Scarlett has a lot of spit sometimes ... and I can't tell if she's on the verge of teething or not.  She likes to suck on our pinkies and on her top side, I can feel something "sharp-ish."  I'm quite certain it is a tooth, but baby teeth usually start coming in on the bottom front.  So ... it's hard to say.   I hope the teeth won't be coming in too soon, as I love her adorable, gummy grin! :)

She makes bubbles a lot ... it's so cute!

Random Cuteness from a Smart Phone Camera

Miss Scarlett is 12 Weeks Old

Our little Princessa turned 12 weeks old today.  As with Christian when he was a baby, we'll be getting professional pics at one, three, six, nine and twelve month intervals for her first year.  Babies change so much during that time, and we love to have professional photos to look back on.

I read babies go through a big ol' growth spurt at three months, and judging by how much she's eating and sleeping, I'd say she's got a growth spurt going on.

She's such a serious baby much of the time.  We simply couldn't get her to smile for her pictures - though she was all-smiles afterwards.   At home, she can smile so big that it takes up her entire face and she looks like any moment, she'll give us a laugh.  But she doesn't.

Unfortunately, Scarlett's reflux continues to be an issue.  If she goes for a couple of days without any incidents, I get excited and hopeful the condition has passed.  But then, I'll spit up all over me several times in a day.  

So we still ensure she's upright much of the time, to keep the reflux at bay as much as possible.  And that means she's not getting "tummy time" as much as other babies might.  So she still can't hold her head up by herself very well ... though she has gotten stronger.

She's really good at standing up on her legs (with our support, of course).  And when we pull her to a standing position, she often gets a huge smile - as if she's proud of her accomplishment.

Scarlett is an amazing sleeper - once she gets "in the zone."  Christian is (extremely) loud, and gets even louder when we try telling him to quiet down because Scarlett is sleeping (ah, the irony).  But once she's in a deep sleep, she's out.    Case in point:  we tried a new church this weekend, which didn't have a family seating area, so we had to bring her into the sanctuary.  We were nervous, because we weren't sure if she'd wake up and start crying.

You can imagine our horror when the worship team got on stage and the room went from the din of quiet conversations to VERY loud drums, electric guitars and way too much bass.   Yet somehow, Scarlett slept through it all.   Amazing!!

"Your Two Month Old's Development:  Week Four"

Hands on

Your little one first discovered her hands a couple of weeks back, and now she's downright fascinated with them. Watch as she examines them, puts them in her mouth, and tries to suck on them.

Don't worry if your baby becomes a bit obsessed with her newly discovered digits: This form of self-comfort can be very soothing for your baby — and can possibly give you a little break, too.

Steady now

This week, when you go to pick up your baby, she may be able to lift her head and hold it up for several moments, or even longer, while lying on her back. When sitting with support, she should be able to hold her head steady and erect.

When she's on her stomach, you might see her lifting her head and chest to about 45 degrees as if she were doing mini-pushups. You can offer encouragement by sitting in front of her and dangling a toy.

For a fun game that also develops her neck muscles, place your baby on her back and slowly pull her up by her hands to a sitting position. Slowly ease her back down, and repeat. She should be able to hold her head in line with the rest of her body as it's pulled up.

Your baby may be ready for a jogging stroller at 4 months, but stick to smooth pavement for now. Running trails will be too bouncy for her at this point, unless she can hold her head up well and is able to sit up. When her head is steady, she may be ready for a backpack with good support and a headrest.

Reading 101

Reading to your baby, even at this young age, will pay off. Hearing you read helps your baby develop an ear for the cadence of language. Varying the pitch of your voice, using accents, and singing will make the connection between you and your baby that much more interesting.

If she looks the other way or loses interest while you're reading, just try something else or give her time to rest. Take your cue from her responses.

You'll find plenty of good books to read to your baby — such as Goodnight Moon, Good Night Gorilla, and The Big Red Barn. Choose board books that have large, bright pictures and simple text — or even wordless books that have pictures for you to narrate. At this point you needn't be slavish to age guidelines. Books designed for older children can captivate a baby if they have clear, crisp images and bright colors.

You can even read out loud to your child from something written for adult ears — try reading from the newspaper, your favorite novel, or a magazine. Whether it's Shakespeare or the latest bestseller, if you enjoy reading it, your baby will like hearing the rhythms of your voice.


Your little one first discovered her hands a couple of weeks back, and now she's downright fascinated with them. Watch as she examines them, puts them in her mouth, and tries to suck on them.

Don't worry if your baby becomes a bit obsessed with her newly discovered digits: This form of self-comfort can be very soothing for your baby — and can possibly give you a little break, too.

Steady now

This week, when you go to pick up your baby, she may be able to lift her head and hold it up for several moments, or even longer, while lying on her back. When sitting with support, she should be able to hold her head steady and erect.

When she's on her stomach, you might see her lifting her head and chest to about 45 degrees as if she were doing mini-pushups. You can offer encouragement by sitting in front of her and dangling a toy.

For a fun game that also develops her neck muscles, place your baby on her back and slowly pull her up by her hands to a sitting position. Slowly ease her back down, and repeat. She should be able to hold her head in line with the rest of her body as it's pulled up.

Your baby may be ready for a jogging stroller at 4 months, but stick to smooth pavement for now. Running trails will be too bouncy for her at this point, unless she can hold her head up well and is able to sit up. When her head is steady, she may be ready for a backpack with good support and a headrest.

Reading 101

Reading to your baby, even at this young age, will pay off. Hearing you read helps your baby develop an ear for the cadence of language. Varying the pitch of your voice, using accents, and singing will make the connection between you and your baby that much more interesting.

If she looks the other way or loses interest while you're reading, just try something else or give her time to rest. Take your cue from her responses.

You'll find plenty of good books to read to your baby — such as Goodnight Moon, Good Night Gorilla, and The Big Red Barn. Choose board books that have large, bright pictures and simple text — or even wordless books that have pictures for you to narrate. At this point you needn't be slavish to age guidelines. Books designed for older children can captivate a baby if they have clear, crisp images and bright colors.

You can even read out loud to your child from something written for adult ears — try reading from the newspaper, your favorite novel, or a magazine. Whether it's Shakespeare or the latest bestseller, if you enjoy reading it, your baby will like hearing the rhythms of your voice.

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow"

Cute moment in the Lucero Household today ...

Background story: Since birth, I've been singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to Scarlett when she's fussy. It usually calms her down (which is amazing, considering my poor singing voice). So whenever she gets fussy, and Christian is around, he tells me, "Mommy, sing to Scarlett!"

Today's story: I was in my home office working, Christian was down the hall in his room for nap time, and Scarlett was asleep in the living room. She started to cry ... and I heard Christian start singing from his bedroom - loud enough for Scarlett to hear - "Somewhere over the the rainbow, way up high ... there's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby."

 

Awww, I just love that sweet little boy of mine! He has such a tender heart.

The Ladies of the Home

Miss Scarlett at 10 Weeks

Our little princess turns 10 weeks old today!  Just look at that baby face!

Scarlett has had a bit of a rough week.  For a few days, it seemed her reflux might be going away.  But then it returned full-force with sometimes full-fledged spitting up several times a day.   Somehow, it doesn't bother her one bit ... but it is distrubing to see your infant vomit the entire contents of her stomach.

Scarlett's skin has cleared up completely now, and I'm so thankful. She's got that sweet, baby-soft skin again.  However, her right eye still has a blocked tearduct which means her eye is prepetually goopy/crusty, and is always tearing.  As a conseqence, the skin to the side of her eye is always read and irritated from the saline in her eye fluid that is always draining.   As far as I know, all we can do is massage the outside of her tearducts and hope the blockage clears.  Sometimes it does seem to clear, as the goop is gone and the red, irritated skin appears to start healing.  But shortly thereafter, all the symptoms are back again.   Seems if its not one thing, it's another.

Yesterday, the batteries died on her baby swing ... while she was asleep and swinging away.  You can be sure she let me know - and loudly - that the swing stopped.  And so since then, I've spent a lot of time holding her in my arms, or in the MOBY wrap.  Simply does not like to be laid on her back ... like ever!  Though I can put her down on her mini-gym and she's pretty content for a few minutes.  I've got to get new batteries this weekend if I hope to have any kind of a productive week at work next week.

I've been back to work since February 20th.  I am extremely fortunate and blessed that I am being allowed to work part-time from home with Scarlett here.  However, my days certainly do have their challenges.   For one, I might sit down to work for 15 minutes and then Scarlett needs my attention, and I don't get back to the computer and working again for another hour and a half.

Another challenge is that my boss likes to have a lot of conference calls, as do other people in her department.  I have several calls a week - sometimes as early as 8:00am, which means I must rush home and hope and pray Scarlett is asleep - and stays asleep - during the call.   If it was a call I could just mute myself, that would be one thing.  But I'm expected to fully-participate and contribute to the conversation.

We're working on a major rebranding project at work and I need to contribute as much as possible.  However, after this project, I will need to seriously re-evaluate how working even part-time is impacting me, and our family.   It is becoming increasinly clear to me that even this part-time situation is very difficult to manage most days.

Awwww ...

Miss Scarlett at Eight Weeks ... or Two Months

Designating time is a funny thing with infants.  For the first year, their life is designated weeks.  So on Friday, she was eight weeks old ... but because her birthday is on the 6th of the month, she isn't quite two months old on the day she reaches eight weeks of age.

Perhaps it doesn't really matter.  No matter what her exact age, she's a beautiful Princess! :)

For a few days, she had what looked like eczema across her eyebrows.  It was red, raised and really rough.  I found some face balm at the health food store and have been using it.  I stopped eating almonds (we had a big bag, and I'd been snacking on them a lot ... and now they are gone), and the "baby acne" that was all over her face went away!!!   And now the rash by her eyes is just about gone, too (as of today).

Also, it seems leaving dairy out of my diet really has taken care of her gas issues. 

Overall, it seems Miss Scarlett is sleeping longer through the night.  Though, unbeknownst to me, she's been having a hard time falling back to sleep.  So, Jonathan has been up with her longer than I realized. He's found that if he lays her on her side, on top of his chest, she falls into a deep enough sleep that he can put her down in her bassinet.

Something that has really saved me is learning to use our "MOBY Wrap."  It is a five meter long piece of cotton fabric that allows me to carry Scarlett hands free in a number of ways.  Generally speaking, once I put her on my chest and wrap her up, she calms down and then falls asleep within minutes.  And she stays asleep through me working on the computer, or folding clothes, or talking on the phone, or putting dishes away, etc.   The MOBY Wrap has really allowed me to be more productive while working and that is good, since I'm now working on an hourly basis - so the more hours I can log, the better.

We had Scarlett's two month doctor exam today.  She weighs 9 lbs, 15 ounces ... just shy of 10 pounds!  So she's gained around a pound and a half in the past four weeks.   That's our girl!

We finally figured out how to get her to nearly always take a full bottle overnight.  We thought it was the bottle type that was the key ... and we've got three very different bottles that we were using to see which she preferred.

But with our Miss Scarlett, it is not about the bottle ... it is about the temperature.  She likes her milk warm.  Not just lukewarm, but WARM.  Before I go to bed, I heat up a bottle for her, wrap it up in a heated gel pack, and put a towel around it to hold in the heat.  And then I sleep with it next to my body so that it stays warm for her upcoming feeding.

We do have a bottle warmer on stand-by in our bathroom.  However, when Scarlett is hungry, she wants to eat NOW.  Not in the 2 -3 minutes it takes to heat up in the bottle warmer.

Funny how different children are.  I remember with Christian, Jonathan would give him a bottle that I'd leave out before bedtime.  It was merely room temperature, and Christian took it just fine.

Scarlett hasn't rolled over again since the first time last week.  Though, she hasn't been on her tummy much since then.   Today I put her on her tummy and she was pretty squirmy. I positioned my hands so that she could push against them with her feet and she got some pretty good "mileage."  I'm so curious to see how soon it takes her to start crawling.  

Scarlett continues her cooing and smiling ... she is absolutely charming! 

I hope to get some more videos posted soon.

Last week, we met a baby who was born just one week after Scarlett was ... and wow!  The difference in their head size was amazing!  By comparison, the other baby's head was just so tiny.  I guess Jonathan and I just product large-headed children. :)

It is hard to tell in the above images, becuase the ligth about Scarlett's head is so bright, but her hair is really coming in nicely.  It is so thin still that it is hard to tell what color it is.   Sometimes, it seems to be the same color as Christians.  But depending on how the light hits it, it looks like a much lighter brown - or sometimes a dark blonde.   We'll get it figured out as her hair gets thicker.

Baby Center:

Your Baby - Two Months, Week One

Into complex designs

At this point, your baby will begin to move beyond his early preferences for bright or two-toned objects toward more detailed and complicated designs, colors, and shapes. Show your baby — and let him touch — a wider variety of objects. Good choices include plastic cookie cutters, soft balls, and stuffed animals.

Hear ye, hear ye

Your baby can differentiate familiar voices from other sounds and is becoming a better listener. He also can show you that he's in tune with his environment. Notice how he looks to see where certain noises are coming from.

An ongoing conversation (although still one-sided!) can help your baby develop his sense of place. He may even watch your mouth as you talk, fascinated by how it all works.