After The Tenth..... When The Fun Really Begins

Over the course of the past two weeks, the Sznitken Family Rainbow has become active. We seem to be moving away from ORANGE, as Laney's jaundice appears to be officially gone now and moving right into GREEN. It seems we have been living in a bit of a dream world where the older sister is just in love with her baby sister and has no issues with her. Well just like the "dot.com bubble" and the "housing market bubble", the "Macy isn't jealous" bubble just burst. We are now officially living with someone who is green with envy of any attention her little sister gets.

From what I've heard, we should have expected this, but I thought for sure it wouldn't happen. We took all the necessary precautions; letting Macy go first in everything from diaper changes to getting dressed. We take extra efforts to ensure we are splitting our attention, but it seems in the end that nature has taken over and she's now acting like a normal 19 month old who realizes that her sister is sharing the spotlight. She's a bit jealous.

I have to admit that it isn't all bad. Some of the reactions are actually quite humorous to see. My favorite is the "Hug Chant" which tends to occur when Macy's in her hook-on high chair and Laney is being held by one of us. Macy takes her arms and wraps them around her chest and then begins to chant for you to give her a hug. It is truly entertaining to watch, if you can overlook what is truly going on....

The other day I posted that Laney had reached double digits in pounds. Well last week we hit another double digit milestone, but this time it was in hemoglobin numbers. After stopping her treatments for a week, Laney's numbers actually climbed to 11, which is the cutoff point for continued medication. This new reading meant that after a little artificial kickstart, her body has finally kicked into gear and is producing a sufficient amount of blood stuff. (Remember, I have a Juris Doctorate and that is not the same as a real doctor....... so I don't really know what her body is supposed to be producing, but whatever it is, she's doing it now.)

This was obviously welcome news for two concerned parents but this also means no more shots and no more almost daily trips to the hospital. Annie's free time just jumped from 20 minutes a day to 1 hour and 20 minutes. WooHoo.

Coinciding with her new blood level jumps, is a more awake and interactive infant who has started to discover her tounge and now coos at us. Want to see what I mean?

(She hasn't quite gotten over her spitting-up habit, but I'm sure that will happen in due time)

Yesterday afternoon the four us climbed into the car and headed down to Las Olas, to get Macy some new shoes. On the way to the store, we stopped at Kilwin's the fudge and ice cream shop. While sitting on the bench right outside the store, I couldn't help but reminisce about an evening roughly 11 years ago.

Annie and I were on our 3rd or 4th date and we went down to Las Olas. I think the evening started with dinner, but I'm not certain of that. What I am certain of is the portion of the evening where walked up and down the street window shopping; making a pit stop at a little ice cream and fudge shop. We ducked in and got some Kilwin's ice cream and sat on the bench outside the store to enjoy the treats.

I know that I've said this before, but there is no way that the Scott who was on the date with that beautiful blonde could have ever imagined that so many years in the future he would be sitting on the same bench, with that same beautiful blonde, eating the same yummy ice cream and this time feeding small spoonfuls to our oldest daughter while rocking the stroller of our littlest one; all the while discussing the new toddler shoes we were about to go buy. 

It is amazing how some things change over the course of a decade and yet some things stay the same. (Hence the reference to the beautiful blonde who was sitting next to me on the bench.)