Introducing Scarlet Serafina Estelle

Scarlet is my redheaded, blue eyed outcast. She looks nothing like the rest of our family. But she looks a lot like our extended family. She was born in Alabama 2 weeks early, and on that day, she had white blond hair. Within days, it was ginger colored.

Scarlet kept her 'baby smell' the longest of all my children, and though she is nearly two years old, she still has the warmest, most scrumptious cheeks in the world. I could kiss them for hours. That is, if I didn't eat them first.

This angelic face is actually the source of every single gray hair I have. She was a vision of perfection- a mother's dream, until the day she learned to crawl. Since then, it's been a rocky road with lots of blood and bruises. This little darling has become my worst nightmare. (You know, every family has one, though you always think it'll be a boy.) She is the kind of kid that does everything in the book. You know, how, with my first two children, I didn't need baby gates because they didn't dare go up stairs without me? She climbed OVER baby gates as soon as she could stand. My older children had tiny little toys like Polly Pockets and Lego's because they didn't put things in their mouths. Scarlet, from day one, has to taste everything. And we know that she'll never ever starve. Not in a million years. This kid can find food in an empty concrete room. She'll eat anything. And she's the kind of kid who shoves KEYS into electrical sockets. Yeah. She does all the stuff you always hear about but never see a kid do.

She's a survivor, though, I'll give you that. A true fighter. In September of last year, she pulled a television and dresser down on top of her and suffered a fracture in her skull that went from her left ocular bone all the way around the lower crown of her head to her right ear. She spent nearly a week at Primary Children's Hospital, and came home with a palsy in the right half of her face because of some nerve issues. Over the course of 6 weeks, though, she healed completely.

And she continues to scare the crap out of me every single day.

Still, she's my baby girl. She's the one who always has a baby doll tucked under her arm. She names them all "Pink" because it's her favorite color, and she is the most affectionate little thing around- aside from her biting habit which she picked up in order to defend herself because, you know, being the third child, you have to have some way to get what you want. LOL. She loves her family. She idolizes her brother, and he adores her right back. Mahone always wears a Super Man cape, but Scarlet rarely goes an entire day without demanding that I call her "Soop gull" (Super Girl- which was her costume for Halloween.) And she'll fly around the room with both fists out in front of her. Just like Mahone.

Funniest thing Scarlet said today: "Mama, that's like in Ratatouille?" (She says as she points to my computer mouse.) Close enough, baby. Close enough.