People have been asking us for weeks when Tess has her “fussy time”, and we’ve nonchalantly said she doesn’t have one per se. Well, you can all stop laughing up your sleeves. She declared herself this week – and in the future, we’ll take that kind of question as a warning! Between 5-7pm, our sweet, adorable, quiet baby becomes a shrieking, inconsolable gremlin if we have the audacity to put her down. This from a child who, the rest of the time, settles into her swaddle and goes to sleep without a peep! If we hold her, she’s fine: calm, asleep – her normal self. She’s even learned to resist being peeled off of a parent (from her favored wide-arm tree frog hold) by using all of her strength to lean back in. I’m impressed, with some trepidation. It’s a reminder that the big personality requirement to join the White/Wemple/Oplinger clans will not be an issue. today, just to prove the point, she kept it up until 9:30. 🙁

I’m the queen of “what will this mean down the road?”, and I fear this may not bode well for parental freedom of movement as she grows! I can’t say this is even a first-world problem at the moment – more a joy – but we’ll see what this leads to by the time she’s a bit older.

Dave and I both worked some today to make sure we didn’t fall behind. To quote him, I tried to be a hero to let him sleep last night – and we’ve been paying for that choice. Gotta make sure we both stay rested enough to function! Then we headed to Max and Patty’s for a little 4th fun. We can’t ignore the holiday altogether, but when we got there some of our friends had been sick at the beginning of this week. Sadly, we had to turn around and head home. We miss our people, but we protect the baby at all costs. The heat was a bit worrisome anyway. We have to make sure Tess doesn’t even know we’re having a heat wave. 🙂

To our people: we’re the ones with the crazy rules, so please do not ever feel bad if we decide not to attend something in order to keep her safe! It’s our responsibility, not yours, to ensure we’re following the rules. Unless you’re coming to our house, in which case – be careful! 🙂

PS: We can all thank Sassy for the adorable red and white blanket! Tess may not know its a holiday, but we can keep her looking sharp. Happy 4th, everybody!