On most Saturday mornings, Michael gets together with some friends at the elementary school that is right down the road from us to play soccer. Shaelyn and I decided to go one morning and watch. Since I knew there would be no trees or shade to hide her in, I decided to put sunscreen on her to protect her baby skin. She's not quite 6 months old yet, but her pediatrician said it would be fine to go ahead and use the sunscreen now. So I rubbed it all over, grabbed her sun hat and a blanket, and set off for the park in the stroller. After being there for about 15 minutes, Shaelyn seemed to be pretty lethargic and kept rubbing her eye a lot. It was really sunny and she had her hat on, so it was hard to see what the problem was. After about 30 minutes, I realized what was going on - she was having an allergic reaction to the sunscreen! So we came home and called the doctor, who said to wash it off and give her some children's Benadryl. Within the hour, she looked like she had never even had an outbreak. Poor girl!
Here you can see her blotchy face and swollen eye from the sunscreen. We suspect she got a little bit of it in her eye, which further irritated it. The doctor said that there are over 30 ingredients in sunscreen and it would be hard to isolate the one she's allergic to. He said if we wanted to put sunscreen on her again, we would just have to try out different brands on little spots on her face (since this is where she had the reaction) and see if she reacts or not. Because it's summer, I didn't want to wait until we could find a sunscreen that works for her before enjoying the outdoors, so I went to Babies R Us and found some things that would allow her to be shaded while enjoying being outside. I love these things and recommend them to everyone else with a baby!
We got a "sun dome", which is basically a little tent made just for babies. It has three windows in it so that air can get through, and the front has a mesh flap that can be open or shut. Here she is at another soccer game "grooming" her friend, Clara. See how much shade they are getting!
Shaelyn loves riding in her stroller now that she can sit up in it. Only problem - the stroller doesn't provide enough shade. We used to go on long walks, but when there was too much sun, we could only stay out for a few minutes. So I found this excellent canopy extender that allows for plenty of shade in the stroller - now we can take long walks again!
So onto what you really want to see...
PICTURES FROM WET N WILD!!!!!!
Of course we took some pictures of Shaelyn in her bathing suit before we left - she is such a ham! She loves having her picture taken.
Our friends got there before us and found some great chairs that somehow managed to stay in the shade all day. We got there about 10:30, so the sun hadn't had long to warm up the water. We took Shaelyn in the Lazee River first. As soon as the water touched her feet, she started to cry. I don't blame her - it was COLD! But Michael and I shared a double float and Shaelyn sat on my tummy. She was happier at that point because she wasn't in the water, but still a little fussy. We got out of the Lazee River and headed over to the chairs so I could feed her. She ate and immediately fell asleep.
The husbands and wives took turns watching the little ones so the other could go on rides. I had a lot of fun riding rides with my friends Nicolle and Andrea while Michael watched Shaelyn. We had lunch and decided to let Shaelyn have another go at the water. There was a little kid pool where our chairs were that was 9 inches deep in the entire pool. It had all kinds of fun things for kids to play on and get wet. But it was great for babies too! There were some swings hanging over the water, and since Shaelyn likes to swing so much, I figured that would be a fun activity for her. She LOVED it, and I couldn't stop grinning! I loved watching her giggle in the swing, and I couldn't believe what a big girl she was sitting up in a big girl swing! Of course we had to document this with 50 pictures and videos!
While she was swinging, Michael and I kept splashing her legs with water so she would get used to the temperature. This time, she loved it! We got her out of the swing and let her stand in the water. She started stomping and splashing, and eventually looked down at the water and roared at it. She was telling it who was boss!
After getting used to the water in the kiddie pool, we took her on the Lazee River again. This time she was having so much fun, she was roaring at everyone else in the river! Then we packed up and headed home. After 6 hours of being at the water park, Shaelyn fell asleep in the car and had a very long nap. What a day! And who would have thought that playing in 9 inches of water could be so much fun?!
