2 year old photos

We brought Scarlett to have her 2 year old photos taken this afternoon. Check out this ham! I couldn't believe how good she was. Her behavior recently has been - [ahem] - questionable at times. She absolutely loved the attention she was getting from the photographers. And how cute does she look?! This outfit was a birthday present from Scarlett's Great Grandparents in Burlington, Ontario and Scarlett loves it! Why wouldn't she? It's as pink as it can be!Unfortunately...I'm not quite prepared for Scarlett to look as old as she does in these photos. When did she turn into a kid?! What happened to my baby?! (Whew...I'm okay. I'm going to be okay. Sigh.)
Going to have these photos taken was our first family outing as a family of four and not three. Here we are with two car seats in the back seat. Let's just say it will take some getting used to.We had sent Scarlett to daycare with cupcakes for her birthday, not realizing that they wouldn't have devoured them by 2:45 when we picked her up. Joe ran into the center to get her, and while he was gone Holden started crying - most likely because the car had stopped moving. Scarlett came out of the center being carried by Joe and she was understandably upset that they hadn't eaten her birthday "cupcapes" yet. She kept saying "cupcapes...cupcapes" in the saddest little voice you could ever possibly imagine. She started crying even harder when she heard Holden crying because she doesn't quite understand yet that sometimes babies just cry for no apparent reason. Then, and I'm embarassed to admit, I started crying because I was overwhelmed with guilt that we had sent Bubsy to school with special birthday "cupcapes" and then picked her up before she even got to share them. (I still feel guilty...but rest assured, they're going to have them tomorrow instead.) So...off to a great start. Three out of the four of us are crying and we're not even out of the parking lot yet.
The picture taking itself obviously went really well, but then I had to go to Target to get some new sleepers for Holden. (Why does it seem like you can be perfectly prepared with what seems like hundreds of outfits for a newborn and all it takes is one horrific pooping incident to wipe out an entire wardrobe in a matter of 3 hours?!) Joe and Scarlett went to look at toys and Holden and I went to look at baby stuff. We're all good. We can do this 2 kid thing, right? About 7 minutes later Joe came to find me at the exact second I went looking for him. We met right smack in the middle and both said exactly the same thing "Holden/Scarlett pooped and I really have to pee." A family of four that have all just immediately gone or immediately have to go to the bathroom.
Can I just say that the person who invented the family bathroom is a true GENIUS.
Oh...we've used it before and have always enjoyed the spacious and convenient family bathroom, but man, yesterday that bathroom got so much use I honestly felt like we lived there for a good 28.5 minutes. 2 toilet uses, 5 handwashes, and 2...no - make that 3 diapers changes later - we left for home.
So there it is folks. Our first family outing accurately documented for your enjoyment. We're all going to be just fine. As long as the car never stops moving, Bubsy's dressed in pink, and no one gets poop on their hands.

Scarlett and I make pizza

Because Joe is in school so many nights a week, Scarlett and I are trying to do something productive every night to keep ourselves entertained. (Not that Joe necessarily entertains us when he doesn't have school...but you catch my drift. I'm trying to keep the kid busy.) Last night we made a pizza from scratch. We even made the dough. No applause needed. But who am I to stop you?Scarlett caught on very quickly. I really only had to intervene when I determined that if I didn't, only one side of this pizza was getting anything on it.

Adding the kielbasa as a topping was a last second "oh my gosh we're done with the cheese and she's freaking out because there is nothing left to put on the pizza" kind of decision. It worked out well though...far better than the green martini olives would have I'm sure. It looks pretty good, huh? It wasn't. In fact, it was downright bad. Please notice the fleck of blue on the crust right in front. We were playing with markers right before we made the pizza and Scarlett left little blue fingerprints all over the dough.

We did eat it for dinner. And Scarlett loved making it so we'll definitely be doing it again. I just wouldn't invite yourselves over for dinner just quite yet. We've got some perfecting to do. In my defense, Canadians have never been known for their pizza.

First nightgown

Scarlett got her first nightgown tonight. When asked who is on it, Scarlett enthusiastically replies "girl." She's very excited that there is a girl on her nightgown. Needless to say, the girl has a name (Ariel). I'm sure one day Scarlett will know it. But for now, these are Scarlett's new favorite "girl" pajamas...and her first nightgown ever. And yes...I documented the experience.

Scarlett's first haircut

Sunday afternoon Joe and I spontaneously decided to get Scarlett's haircut. I had wanted to have it cut for quite some time, but feared Scarlett would lose the adorable little flip at the end of her hair. Realizing that EVENTUALLY the child would have to have it cut, we took the risk. (And just say a prayer every night before bed that the curl will grow back.) Scarlett was so good! She made the two kids that were crying look like wimps (that's harsh...but I'm trying to makeup for the whole "Santa incident" that occurred earlier that day). We went to Snip Its, a really cute kid specific salon. There were toys and books and bright colors everywhere. Scarlett was in heaven. Here are some photos documenting the experience.

Here's Scarlett excited to go to "sip sits!"A good "before" shot from the front,and back. Climbing into the cutest, tiniest barber chair you ever saw. (Awwww.) It was just about at this point where Scarlett's stylist asked me if I had been cutting her bangs. I reluctantly admitted yes. She said "it's okay...shhh, we all do it." There are no bang cutters anonymous meetings to attend. Turns out, a whole lot of Scarlett's "bangs" should be her hair. I thought they were getting a wee bit thick myself. This might explain why I thought Scarlett had been looking a little mullet-ish these past few months. The stylist only trimmed what should be Scarlett's bangs, and we're going to let the rest of them grow out. They have lollipops as far as the eye can see at this place. Again, Scarlett was in heaven. Right before trimming the first piece, the stylist politely pointed out the adorable little flip at the end of Scarlett's hair and warned us that it might not grow back. She actually asked "are you sure you want to do this?" before snipping. We nodded...hesitantly. (Please grow back, please grow back.)

Look at all that hair! This wasn't a mere trim. There was about 2 inches worth (of curly flippy) hair.
Scarlett even sat still through the blow-drying. HHmmmm...she hates vacuuming, but loves having her hair blow-dried. She might be on to something.

The reveal!

So that was that. Scarlett looks adorable - and so much older! And I'm no longer allowed to trim her bangs. Here's some pictures of the end result.

Yay Bubsy!

This little piggie...

This little piggie went to the market.
This little piggie went to the fair.
These two little piggies made their way into Scarlett's hair. And Scarlett went "wah wah wah" the whole time mommy was putting them there.Ah pigtails...what a momentous day.

Scarlett's first steps!

Well...kind of. This is more of a re-enactment of what Scarlett's first steps looked like - minus, of course, Joe setting Scarlett up so she is in perfect pre-step position. Come on - you can't really think that we just so happened to have camera in hand for this miraculous and wobbly occurrence. (I will never forgive myself). I assure you though, the actual first steps looked exactly like this, and they were taken by Scarlett without any parental assistance. I'm not saying they're bounding steps. I'm not saying they're graceful steps. But they're undeniably steps...kind of.

I believe this is what they call "cruising"...

Scarlett loves remote controls. We actually took the batteries out of an old remote so she could have her own remote control - so it comes as no surprise to me that a remote control would initiate Scarlett's interest in walking. But really...already? I'm still a nervous wreck about the crawling! Oh...and please notice the overly dramatic extension of her right leg as she "cruises" along. How adorably hilarious?!

Like a fish!

Her first dip in a chlorinated lagoon turned out to be quite successful. It started out as an extra pleasant experience for Joe and I because the front desk attendant waived the $17 family "open swim" fee due the the fact that Scarlett is taking swim lessons there at the end of the month. Swimming is fun, but free swimming is even more fun. Here is a clip of Scarlett first getting into the (freezing cold) pool.

"Wow dad...that's cold!"
Warming up to the idea.

We decided it was time to go home about 30 minutes into the swim because Scarlett's lips turned blue - but other than that, she really seems to like swimming. There was far more splashing and laughing, a little choking, some dunking, and one near-puking experience off camera - but alas, it became slightly annoying to run and retrieve my camera every few minutes. I must have had "new parent" written across my forehead for this family outing. Honestly, who brings a camera into a YMCA pool?!

First time in a high chair

Scarlett used her highchair!! She was a lot neater than I had thought she would be. Don't get me wrong...she still required a hosing down afterwards - but she did very well.

Carrots...blegh.

Oh...and we tried solids again. Carrots this time. There was more dry heaving than I had anticipated.

The first cereal experience...

Yeah...Scarlett is not quite ready for solids.

Peek-a-boo!

Scarlett's first game of peek-a-boo - she lost interest pretty quickly, but hey, can you blame her.