Road trippin'

Jason's Grandpa and Grandma Semro and Aunt Elizabeth were in town from Texas for the last few weeks, and we got to see them several times. First they visited us at our house, then we headed up to Toledo to see them again at Tim and Heather's house, and then the next weekend we saw them again in Michigan! We got some good pictures of all the kids while we were at Tim and Heather's.

Here's Nicole. She just started first grade this week! She's wearing a purse on her head.

Here's Mark. He's taking a break from riding bikes to paint with water.

And here's Rachel, our goddaughter! She's about 18 months old now. We hadn't seen her for quite a while, and couldn't believe how big she got!


We also took pictures of Scarlett, of course:









Her new thing is sticking out her tongue. I think part of it is feeling her first tooth, which is getting bigger by the day. And probably feeling her swollen gums, where new teeth should be popping up any time now.


This weekend we drove up to Frankenmuth for some more family gatherings. The main event was Jason's Grandpa Klement's 90th(!) birthday party. The next day, we stopped in Imlay City so Scarlett could meet the other side of the family -- Jason's Grandma Mann, his Auntie Linda and some of his cousins. It's a long trip, so we divided it by stopping in Toledo again on the way up. The drive home was about five hours straight through, and a little tough for Scarlett. But overall, she did great on her first big trip, especially with all of the parties and new people.

Great Grandpa and Grandmpa Klement.





The Semro clan.

Scarlett is always sticking her hands in my mouth these days.


And here's Scarlett snoozing the day after we got home. We were all pretty wiped out! We had a great trip, but I'm definitely looking forward to a couple weekends of relaxation.

Meeting milestones

We have been working with a physical therapist every Saturday morning since May, and Scarlett's made lots of progress with her gross motor skills.

What we're most excited about is tummy-time. Scarlett has gone from absolutely refusing to be on the floor (she would scream and scream on her tummy or back) to finally, finally being able to not only tolerate tummy time but enjoy it. She can push herself up with her arms now, and hold her head up high, too. We all worked very hard toward this goal, so I'm very proud of Scarlett. Yay!







She's doing great at sitting up, too, and she can sit in the middle of the floor with no help from us for about five minutes or so before falling over now.


We also finally got started with solid foods this month. I tried at first making my own baby foods (mashing bananas, etc.), and she wasn't enjoying it too much. But then the other night I tried a regular old jar of sweet potatoes and she loved them! She ate half the jar no problem.

And we finally got around to fixing our video camera, and this is the first video we made of Scarlett. She's bouncing around in her new seat. Enjoy!

Scarlett's first video from Shelley Mann on Vimeo.

Almost eight months

Scarlett is nearly eight months old now. Oh my goodness. It's been a good couple of months. She's doing lots better with things, especially with eating, which is such a relief. She hits her daily goal almost every day now, and has been gaining weight quite nicely. Next up, solid foods! Ha. We shall see how that goes.

She's also made good progress during physical therapy. She finally seems to like being out of her bouncy seat more than she likes to be in it. She loves being on her back and rolling around, and she's able to be on her tummy for longer and longer stretches. She can roll from her tummy to back and back to side, and is very close to figuring out how to roll back to tummy. We've also been working on sitting, which is I think her favorite skill so far. Here are some pictures of her showing off her new talent.




Here she's sitting on my lap biting on her thumb. She has one tooth so far (but doesn't like to show it off) and she's working on some new ones. She also still has crossed eyes a lot of the time, but she's scheduled to have surgery to straighten them the first week of September.





Scarlett has also been talking up a storm these days. She can make lots of new noises and sounds. Her favorites are mamamamama (sometimes just mama) and baba.

Mom. Are we done taking pictures yet? I mean, come on.

A guaranteed cheer-baby-up activity is looking at ourselves in mirrors. But you have to be very excited, like I am here. That's the only way it works.

And, all tired out. We've reintroduced the swaddle, and it works wonders in calming her down and helping her fall asleep. Now that she's eating better, our newest daily annoyance is eczema. She gets so, so itchy and scratches like mad. So the swaddle helps to stop scratching fits (we also use no-scratch mittens a lot), and we're trying various creams and soaps and detergents and foods and trying to figure out what makes it better and worse. I just made an appointment with a dermatologist today. Yay, more doctors!

Feet.

Out and about

Scarlett is getting a lot better about going new places and meeting new people. Which we're very happy about because for a while she was not only refusing to eat when we weren't at home but also refusing to let anyone hold her besides me or Jason, which made life difficult for everyone.


She's been to Cracker Barrel twice now, including this weekend when we had lunch with our old friends Nathan and Sarah DeArman, who were in town from Reno. Jason, Nathan and Sarah all met while working at Cracker Barrel long ago, so we went for the nostalgia. Here's Scarlett waiting patiently while we all eat.



The DeArmans: Nathan, Caleb and Sarah. Their daughter is due in October!

The Manns. Who knows what Scarlett's looking at.

This time, she's looking at Caleb!

A couple weekends ago, we took a quick overnight trip to Fairfield to see Grandma and Grandpa. Here's Scarlett playing with great grandma Mill.

And here we are singing her favorite song, The Wheels on the Bus.

Scarlett's six months old!

And she's very happy about it.

I am too, even though these six months have gone not a thing like I thought they would six months ago. I remember sitting at the table with my mom after Scarlett's first hospital stay for bronchiolitis, and saying that I just couldn't wait until Scarlett was six months old. Then, I figured, she'd be bigger, stronger, not so vulnerable if she got sick, way past her feeding difficulties.

Well, we're not there yet. She's bigger, for sure, and stronger. But things still aren't easy, especially with her feedings. Every day, actually every feeding, is a challenge. I worry about whether she'll start eating, then I worry about how long she'll keep eating. Then I worry about whether she'll keep it down. Will she eat as much as she's supposed to this feeding? Will she eat as much as she's supposed to for the day? I was never so glad as I was to pull that feeding tube out for the last time, but I do now appreciate its benefits -- it put us in charge of her eating, rather than her.

We are working with a physical therapist every week to bring Scarlett's motor skills up to speed, and she tells us that we've been treating her as if she's fragile for too long. She was fragile, before, but now she's not. And we're grateful for that.

Here's a look at Scarlett at six months:

Her newest skills: She laughs pretty often now. She talks all the time and can make some consonant sounds, including B and M. She's quite good at sticking her tongue out and saying thbbbbtttt. She's very good with her hands, and she has started reaching out and feeling everyone's faces. She started playing with her feet, and she's getting better at tolerating being on the floor and out of her chair.

Her nicknames: Miss Scarlett, Scarlett Marlett, Miss Marlett

Things she likes to do: Sit in her bouncy seat. Chew on all her toys (no teeth yet, though). Play peek-a-boo. Play with her feet. Say "thbbtt." Listen to books. Pull my hair. Yank off my glasses. Cuddle with her stuffed animals. Watch TV. Sit in her bouncy seat. Scratch her head. Try to scoot out of her bouncy seat. Even though she does not actually want out of her bouncy seat. Sit in her swing. Take walks in the neighborhood. Go to the grocery store. Go outside.

Her best talent: Sleeping! It's a good talent to have. She goes right to sleep when we put her down for the night, and usually sleeps from about 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. Jason feeds her a bottle before he goes to bed around 1 a.m., but she goes right back to sleep and doesn't even wake up crying for her pacifier very often anymore. Hooray for sleep!

Here are some more new six-month pictures:

Her "who, me?" look.

Hey, I have feet!

She's cracking up!

Scarlett is still a huge fan of her bouncy seat. In fact, if she had it her way she'd sit in the darn thing 24 hours a day. But for a lot of reasons, we're trying to wean her off of it. Not least of which is she's about to grow out of it! Soon, she's going to be so heavy it'll topple over backward when she sits in it!

To show you how big she's grown, here's a look at two-weeks-old Scarlett, sitting in the chair.


Look how tiny she is! And since that was so much fun, here's a quick look at Scarlett, month by month.

Zero months

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months