17 months....WHAT?!?!?

How is it possible that last month my big princess turned 3 1/2 and now we are only 1 month and 1 day shy of little miss turning 1 1/2!?? Slow down girls! Scarlette had a HUGE growth spurt and is now 34.5" tall and 27 lbs. Savvy is still hanging out at 22 lbs and I'm not sure how tall she is, but I'd venture to guess she's right about 30". She won't stay still long enough for me to measure her! Scarlette is doing very well as we are getting her plugged in to Balboa and meeting with a myriad of specialists. She has a lot of upcoming procedures/appointments but so far nothing too worrisome. Savannah is just a little spitfire! She runs, not walks, everywhere! She gets into everything she shouldn't and she learns new things every day! She's also a little mimic! If you put your hands on your hips or point your finger at her, she does it right back at you without missing a beat! I'm definitely going to have my hands full when she expands her vocabulary! We are loving sunny San Diego, and can't wait for it to get just a touch warmer!

Here are both girls on Easter last week:

14 months!

AHHHHHHHHH my little baby is 14 months old! It just goes by too fast!!!! She is the sweetest, most loving little girl and is a total sponge when it comes to learning new things! I haven't had her stats checked recently but she's about 21 lbs and 29" tall. Her biggest accomplishment this month: WALKING! She took her first steps the day after Christmas, learned how to stand up on her own on Dec 30, and is now walking about 50% of the time! She is now talking up a storm (unintelligibly) and doing a little bit of singing/humming as well. She has gotten 3 of her 1 year molars and now has 11 teeth. Love my sweet cutie patootie!

Just a little update on the girls....

Scarlette is now 3 1/4 years old holy moly! I just can't even believe it! In the last six months or so my baby has made HUGE strides in her gross motor development. She can now sit unassisted for hours at a time, she still topples over but it's become more controlled, and although she doesn't bear weight through her arm she does put it down as if to support her weight when she's about to fall. She has been standing at our coffee table for a little over a month now, she needs supervision for this at ALL times because she WILL fall when she loses her balance. We are working on teaching her how to bend her knees when she wants to get down, as for the most part she will keep them locked if unguided. She can stand for a few minutes at a time and very much seems to enjoy it! We have also been helping get her into a hands and knees position, and unbelievably just in the last week she has become strong enough to maintain this position on her own for a few seconds!!! She isn't yet strong enough to hold her head up in this position, but we are going to keep practicing! Pray for my sweet one! Pray that she gets stronger and stronger every day, and with practice and help we can get her walking soon!

My Savvy turned 13 months a week ago, and that was almost as hard as when she turned one. Her capabilities are fascinating, I keep thinking: "She's SO smart" but I know every parent thinks that! Savvy learned a few new "tricks" since she turned one. She has learned how to blow kisses, say: "woof woof", "woah", "co-co", "num-num (nurse-nurse)" and "uh-oh". She has learned the signs for more and milk and will now sign all done, more and milk unprompted as a means of communication! She understands what they mean! She has started standing on her own, and loves walking holding our hands or her push toy, but still does not want to take any steps on her own. She is so good about playing with her toys and she LOVES to share. She will give you anything and everything she has just because she wants to give it to you. The only thing she won't give away willingly is her binky, unless you tell her it's time to "nurse-nurse" then she will take it out of her mouth and try to put it in whoever's mouth is closest to her for safe keeping. She has cut another tooth, making her total 9 teeth, and she weighs 20 lbs 13 oz at her last appt.

LOVE MY BABIES!

My baby is ONE!!!!

Wow, even a week later, and I still can't believe it! How did she turn into a big girl? How is my little tiny baby one?! I remember bringing her home from the hospital like it was YESTERDAY. I remember how sweetly little she was, and how I would just hold her for hours because I knew how fast it was going to go, and yet I'm still not ready. She's SO big. And so smart! I know every momma says that, but Lord, she is SO smart! Some of our milestones.....

Savannah has 8 teeth, is 20 lbs 9 oz and 29 1/4" long (at birth she was 8 lbs 3 oz and 19 3/4" long :0) )

She knows how to sign "all done" and "more", give high fives, give kisses, give hugs, and waves "bye-bye" and claps when we say "yay!!". We are working on the sign for milk now.

She crawls EVERYWHERE and LOVES to push around her ride on toy!!!

She sings, talks, babbles CONSTANTLY, but her only real words are mama and dada.

She drinks all her water from a straw sippy cup, and we are working on giving her breastmilk from a sippy as well.

She LOVES people food. Her favorites are: corn, tomatoes, bananas, cheese and chicken.

Bath time is her absolute favorite! Lately she's actually been "swimming" in the tub and loves it! If we would let her she would stay in the tub for hours!

A lot of people have asked me how long I plan to nurse Savannah. I plan to let her wean herself. We are working on milk from her straw sippy during the day and nursing only at night. We are also working on sleeping through the night, and I'll be the very first to admit that this is her biggest issue. Savvy still gets up multiple times a night to nurse and it's wearing me down! We are going to have to be firm with her because she's so smart and knows how to get her way, but she's my baby and I'm not ready to subject her to that yet.

Savannah is funny, and loving, but sassy and spunky as well! I love my silly little peanut!

ZipZac!!!!!!

I am NOT blog-savvy, so I don't know how to post a link on the side of the page to Scarlette's background of medical conditions, so I thought this would be a good refresher post! http://www.theskrovefamily.blogspot.com/2010/11/very-short-background-on-scarlettes.html

Today I found out how many people care about our little girl. SO many of you saw the need for Scarlette to get her very own ZipZac and immediately started PM'ing me ideas on how to achieve this goal. We now have our very own fundraiser set up for her thanks to the amazingly kind Andrea Tansil, and in a few hours have already raised over $300!!! we are a 1/4 of the way there! AMAZING! If we go above and beyond the goal of $1200, I would very much like to purchase another ZipZac for Scarlette's dear little friend Sammy who just started school on Tuesday and would benefit as much as Scarlette from this chair! I am truly so grateful, as is the rest of my family for your kind generosity and sacrifice for our little girl. She's a princess and she deserves her throne! Thank you again Andrea for feeling led to do this for our family, you will never know how much it has touched us.

Here's the link if you feel led to donate, even $1 will get us one step closer:

http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=9025&url=princessscarlette

A year ago today....

Was Scarlette's heart surgery!!!! Can you believe it?! It's already been a year! I seriously cannot believe that it's already the anniversary of our little bean's heart surgery AND that she's going to be 3 in less than a month! Just amazing! The day before Scarlette's surgery she weighed in at 17 lbs 1 oz. Today I'm happy to report that she weighs 26 lbs 9 oz! That's incredible! An almost 10 lb gain in a year! She can now sit on the floor unassisted for up to two hours! She can bear weight through her feet when holding her arms/hands, and she can push up onto her hands when in tummy time. I can adjust her into hands and knees position but we still need a lot of assistance for that one. I'm just so amazed at God's goodness and glory. And BEAMING with pride at how far my sweet little SJ has come!

Here's a picture of Scarlette's heart surgery scar today, 1 year post-op! Here's a link to her scar two weeks post-op: http://theskrovefamily.blogspot.com/2011/09/scarlettes-scar-2-weeks-post-op.html

It's absolutely amazing to me that this tiny thin white line is the only evidence that my baby's heart was temporarily stopped and repaired. There are some truly gifted, talented and amazing people out there and I thank God that we were able to witness first hand how He takes care of His own.

We are going to celebrate Scarlette's heart-aversary today by doing a little early birthday shopping at Target, TRU and Crazy 8 and then we get to go to her therapy company's annual family fiesta and socialize with other super special kids and families!

I am SO amazed at how far my princess has come and at the same time how far she still has to go. Please pray with me that she continues to get stronger and that one day soon she will be able to walk and maybe even talk or communicate with us. Thank you Lord for giving me such a strong, and sweet precious little soul to guide through this life. I hope we are making You proud!


Love,
the Skrove's

7 months old...really?

Where did my little baby go? Where is she?!?! I know she was here just a little bit of time ago......babies grow up way too fast! Savannah is already 7 months old! She's huge! And she's acting more and more like a baby and less and less like an infant!

Weight: 18 lbs 14.5 oz
Height: not sure
Clothes: Still fits in 6-12 well, but she can wear some of her sister's 12-18 month rompers!!!! 3-6 is out of the question!!!!
Sleep: She seems to be getting a little bit better at sleeping. We put her down at 8, she's up to eat between 11 and 12, and then again around 4. This morning she slept in until 9. Oh it was wonderful!!!!
Teeth: still just the one, but I have a feeling that's going to change VERY soon!
Mobility: Savvy is moving!!!! She scoots backwards and she can rotate herself 360 degrees! Her new thing is when she wakes up in the morning she rolls onto her tummy and then proceeds to cry because she is stuck and doesn't know how she got there!!!
Food: Savvy is getting food every day! We have been working on oatmeal and baby food, and yesterday she even got a little bit of mashed potatoes!

Savvy LOVES the water. She has been to the pool a few times and we just got her a blow up pool for the house. I hope her big sister learns to love the water as much as she does, because both Mitch and I want to spend lots of time at the pool this summer! She also loves her bath time and splashes incessantly while in there! She sits very well, and rarely topples, although she hasn't learned how to get herself INTO sitting yet!

My BIG girl Scarlette is going to be 3 years old in 3 months. Now THAT is absolutely crazy! She is doing amazingly well and seems to be progressing at a much more rapid pace recently. We practice in her stander every other day, and she tolerates it and her braces well. She is getting baby food twice a day and usually averages about 6-8 spoonfuls per feeding. The trick is, we have to have the tv on. The distraction helps her eat. We don't understand why, but we don't care! Whatever makes her eat we will do! We have also been practicing sitting and standing unassisted daily. She can sometimes sit for up to 30 minutes before toppling. Unfortunately she does not know how to right herself or get herself back into sitting, so we need to make sure the area is well padded. Scarlette now weighs 23 lbs 14.5 oz and we are so excited! I can't wait until she hits 25 lbs. At one year old she was just 11 lbs, so she has come so far, and it's amazing to witness. There have been a few issues with her tubes, and it's looking like she may need them replaced, as well as a tonsillectomy for her breathing issues. Now that she weighs so much more than she did last October (19 lbs, what her sister weighs at 7 months lol!) I think the doctor will be more keen on removing her tonsils.

Here's a picture of the girls from Father's Day yesterday! Everyone had lots of fun!