scarlett: 5 months old

The biggest item to note this month is Scarlett's milestone and personality growth. I've loved getting to know this sweet girl and her smiles.

I mentioned Scarlett's screech in previous months. Oh man, Jeremy's dad even recorded and showed it to people at work. Did I mention it was all day, all night, happy, tired, excited, angry, hungry, non-stop. It was a little rough on us. She lost her voice this month, and had a sad little coo. It eased my soul, and I didn't feel so tired and overwhelmed all the time.

Scarlett feeds at 8 pm and goes down for the night. Another feeding at 11 pm and sleeps until 5 am. I feed her at 5, mooooost of the time she sleep until 7, we're trying to convince her another hour doesn't hurt. I was trying to feed her every three hours 11, 2, 5 during the day, but I allow cluster feedings if I can sleep at night. I'm wondering where we go when we start solids next month. I can't remember... Mamas, help?????

How did we start sleeping more? 1) We weaned out the pacifier. (it was getting difficult with it falling out every 10 minutes in the middle of the night.) 2) We got rid of the velcro wrap (swaddled with just a blanket, and then got rid of that too). 3) Introduced a lovey. (she is always holding her blanket square whenever we get her from her crib.)

Scarlett has been rolling over back to front all. the. time.  plus, she rolls around the room to get closer to Amelia as she plays. She sits up by herself for a few seconds at a time. She has been so much happier these days, and I truly think her big spirit was frustrated in a body that couldn't move how she wanted it to. She coos, and watches, and giggles and follows, and life is just easier these days. She takes two naps a day, and they range between half an hour to two hours. May the odds be ever in my favor.

Moved up to size 2 diapers, wearing 3-6 month clothing, sweetest hands and toes. Her haemangioma is looking lighter these days, but remains about the same size. No teeth yet (!), love her light hair coming in, her sweet fair skin has got me all sorts of worried in this summer sun, has increased nursing time to a good 10-15 minutes. Loves holding play spoons and her grouchy ladybug, loves to give a gummy smile, loves all the attention in the world.

Oh yes, I have been wearing Scarlett a lot these days. She grabbed the hot pan while I was cooking and instantly got these huge blisters on her right hand. Lavender oil, tylenol, a pediatrician visit, hand wrapped with silvadene, a heavy guilty mama heart, and a week later, the second degree burn has reduced to a few scabs. Thankfully, it wasn't any worse.

I love my sweet Scarlett Anne.