Giana has been doing a bit of baby modeling lately. Her adorable face – combined with her Hispanic descent on the white Minnesota landscape AND the fact that her proud papa will show her picture to anyone who looks – has lead to several  jobs for Target.

Her first job was when she was 12 weeks old. It was innocent enough. She just had to lay there with her up&up diaper on and smile. No problem. Well now, she’s almost six months old. At some point during most weeks, we load up the car and search out a tiny studio for a go-see or a photo shoot.

I thought we were getting the hang of this baby modeling thing, but today was a tough one.

As soon as Giana woke up, we loaded her into the car and rushed to the fancy industrial space-turned-trendy studio. And we waited. And waited. And waited. Apparently, the model who would be posing as the mommy in the shoot was having some hair difficulties. Her absolutely gorgeous hair wasn’t quite gorgeous enough for this photograph, apparently.

And after two hours, my previously smiley (and now squirmy) baby was close to nap time when she was finally called to the makeup chair. (Makeup for babies mainly involves some hair combing and lotion, sometimes a spot of blush on the apples of their cheeks.) The lady started taming her stray hairs when she found “the lucky curl.”

“The lucky curl” is was a unique spot on Giana’s head. It was a group of ten-ish hairs behind her left ear that were about two inches longer than all the rest of the hair on her head. When the makeup lady found the lucky curl (also sometimes called the Hasidic curl by her father and I), the lady asked what I knew she would ask. I took a deep breath, said yes,

and she cut it off.

Now, if this would have led to a successful photo shoot where Giana looked great and her photographs would be used in the baby catalog, I *think* I would have been fine with this first haircut. However, since we were now walking on to the set about a half hour past nap time, I knew it was all for nothing. As expected, Giana squirmed, allowed herself to be distracted for a minute or two, then broke down – all she wanted to do was sleep.

I think we are done with baby modeling. It was fun while it lasted, but I miss her curl already.

She is conquering!

Giana started rolling over and over and over in bed. She makes loops around until she is face down and her head is where her feet started.

We had to unswaddle her because she would fling herself over even when she was tightly wrapped up. The bad thing was that she couldn’t get back on her back. Or get her face out of the bars of the crib – yikes. After a couple of days, she stopped hitting herself in the face long enough to fall asleep.

Now, we are conquering another sleep aid-turned-distraction – the pacifier. With her newly found mobility in the bed, the pacifier often gets pulled out of her mouth as she rolls. This leads to crying until the pacifier is found and re-inserted into her mouth. Today, we removed the pacifier and dealt with the baby’s wrath.

First nap without pacifier = 20 minutes of crying

Second nap without pacifier = 8 minutes of crying

Long, uninterrupted naps without mom running in to find the pacifier = PRICELESS

She did so great! Her time fussing got a lot shorter for her second nap. After the initial crying, she has slept longer and deeper during both naps. If tonight goes as well, we will all be sleeping great!

The days and weeks are flying by. It feels like summer and Giana is already five months old!

Let me sum everything up – she is the nicest, smartest, cutest and bestest baby ever. It’s true! Every day, Rafa and I are just more and more amazed by her.

What Giana likes:

• Napping on schedule
• Being the center of attention
• Carrying on a conversation with us
• Trying out big girl activities (like joining us at the dinner table!)

• Playing outside and flying in the air

• She still loves her baths and cuddling after

• Putting everything into her mouth, including her fists

• 
• And Pepe

• Taking her vitamins

We had an awesome day today, hanging out as a family. It’s hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, we had to carefully plan trips out of the house to coincide with her naps (i.e., we tried to plan trips that she would sleep through). We live in a very different world these days!

We left for lunch, at lunch time. Giana snoozed a bit while we were eating. She had a quick bite at the table with us when she woke up, then she liked looking around Ansari’s Mediterranean Grill as much as we did. Back in the car, she entertained herself by playing with her hands and talking to herself. At the lighting store and West Elm, she was content looking around at the bright bulbs or cat napping in her stroller. We continued walking around Centennial Lakes to enjoy the 67 degree day. Once we got home, we all laid in bed for a rest!

Upon our return home from our successful trip, Rafael looked at me and said, “Wow, was it really that easy?” Yes, it was. Our girl is growing up every day. She is fun to hang out with all day. She is flexible with where she eats and naps. She entertains herself a little and is willing to let herself be entertained by other new surroundings.