CeeeeCeeeee
https://youtu.be/v1dL19uajDI?si=mEtWJFf5mSvyJqzx
Shanann has gone live to show her facebook friends “a day in the life of Cece.” The video begins with Bella sitting in her mother’s lap with her blankie and sucking her thumb. Shanann tells her viewers not to pay any attention to the living room because Celeste had made a mess.
The camera turns and catches Cece running out of the room. Shanann wants to get up and film Cece for the sake of the audience and so she tells Bella that she needs to go make sure her sister isn’t climbing the stairs. Bella doesn’t want to move from her snug spot on her moms lap but she has no choice and Shanann goes to find Celeste.
“A day in the life of Cece,” Shanann repeats as she follows her toddler out of the room. She finds Cece climbing the staircase but doesn’t go and get her immediately. She shows the viewers the mess Cece has made with her toy food. She turns to retrieve her youngest child from the stairs and calls her a “monster” as she tells the audience what kind of havoc Cece has caused that day. These are the reasons why Thrive is amazing.
Cece wants to be put down and as Shanann stands her on the floor she declares “Thrive to the rescue.” She thanks someone in the live chat for commenting on Cece’s cuteness. Which is the point of the video, right? To show how cute Cece is and how much work it is to keep up with her.
The sound of an airplane can be heard in the background. Cece hears it and looks up. SW tells her what it is but she never looks over at Bella for her reaction. Its almost as if Bella has become invisible.
Shanann again mentions the mess Cece has made with her toys. She asks who wants to come and babysit? Cece slows down and is looking at her toys in the floor and so Shanann finally brings attention to her oldest child.
Bella is standing silently holding a baby doll and her blankie. Shanann tells Bella that she is a good mommy. Bella has just woken up from her nap and still looks quite drowsy. Bella looks around for Cece and says “Cece’s not going anywhere” to Shanann. She was trying to tell her mom that Cece was ok and that she and her mom could go back to cuddling. But Shanann doesn’t understand what Bella is trying to tell her.
Shanann brushes Bella’s observation aside and continues to talk about how much of a handful Cece is and that she walks 15,000 steps a day just chasing the toddler. Cece begins climbing back up the staircase and Shanann goes to get her down once again. Shanann points out that Cece’s shirt says ‘One of a Kind’ and she agrees that she is “one of a kind.”
Poor Bella is constantly ignored for the tiny tornado that is her baby sister.
Shanann then says something kind of disturbing. She claims that she wouldn’t be “a very nice mommy” if it wasn’t for Thrive. What does she mean by that? That she would be the opposite of a “nice mommy?” Is she saying she would be mean to her baby if she didn’t have Thrive to help her control her temper? It’s a very odd statement to make.
Shanann points out the differences in her children. Bella had always been calm and played quietly. While Cece on the other hand had bounds of energy and was anything but subdued. The camera finds Cece running from room to room and climbing the stairs.
Bella, seeing and hearing all of the talk about Cece’s rambunctiousness, yells out loudly in a sing-song voice. But Shanann pays no attention and continues to focus the camera on Celeste.
Shanann asks Cece to clean up her toys and the baby grabs a basket as if to do what she’s been asked. But as she squats down she begins to scatter the toys with her little hands. A large German shepherd crosses in front of the camera’s view. This is Frank and Sandi’s dog Onyx. When Shanann’s parents moved in with them, they brought their two dogs. Along with Deiter, that made 3 dogs, 4 adults and 2 children in the home on Saratoga Trail. Chris describes Onyx as a “heat seeking missile” to investigators. He also commented on the dynamic in the house, saying Shanann and her mother would butt heads almost daily and mostly concerning the raising of the children. Chris eluded to the two women having very different ideas on parenting. Did Sandi not approve of Babywise? Did they argue about the nightly doses of Benadryl and Tylenol? Or the 6:30 bedtimes after the 3-4 hour naps everyday?
Cece is still going strong and climbs the staircase once again. Why didn’t Shanann place a baby gate at the bottom of the staircase? It seems incredibly dangerous to allow this 16 month old to climb up and down the staircase.
Bella attempts to talk to her mother but Shanann is busy talking to someone in the live stream. Cece continues to go up and down the steps. The baby wobbles while she stands at the edge of the landing. Shanann has the camera on her and is telling those watching that she thought about taking Cece with her to Dallas but even with Chris there to take care of their toddler, Shanann would be completely distracted and wouldn’t be able to “network” like she planned.
Bella is still standing in the same spot since the beginning of the video. She has laid her doll on the chair and is tending to it as if it was a real baby. Bella’s almost compulsive need to nurture is a bi-product of Babywise. Bella had been left to CIO since the day she was born. Shanann made it known to everyone that when Bella would cry in her bed, no one was to go into the room to comfort her. These actions by Bella’s caregivers have left her with feelings and even a need to care for others. “Sleep training” has caused profound issues with both Bella and Celeste that would manifest itself into strange little quirks that would become more and more pronounced as the girls grew older. We can see Bella taking extra special care of her little sister on many occasions as well. She even showed a motherly extinct toward Koral. Bella was a soft hearted empath who had been left to CIO in the dark since the day she was born
Imagine hearing your baby crying incessantly in fear and need and your wife not allowing you to comfort them. Chris tells police after the murders that he and Shanann didn't know what they were doing when Bella was born and because of that he wasn't able to bond with Bella like he had with Celeste. I believe the same goes for Shanann. She had a much stronger bond with Cece than she had with Bella. I also believe that Cece would have been subjected to the same parenting techniques if it hadn't been for Shanann's parents moving in within a month of Cece's birth.
Cece grabs one of the toys from the floor and says “hot dog.” I want to point out that Cece is talking like an average 16 month old child. But a year and half later, at the time of her death, she had fallen way behind linguistically. Her speech was barely coherent and had not advanced much from the way she spoke here.
Cece now has a plastic banana and she puts it in her mouth. Shanann tells her that the banana is “pretend” but Celeste continues to chew on it.
“Pretend. English,” her mother says sarcastically. Shanann takes the toy and puts it to her own mouth and mimics eating it. To the baby, this is the same thing.
“You guys see why I Thrive? I know every mom out there needs Thrive,” she states. She claims to leave Thrive for anyone that babysits her kids if they aren’t already a Thrive customer. I find this strange as Shanann admits herself that she didn’t feel the effects of Thrive for 2 weeks. Another quick ad for Thrive.
Shanann picks up the toys and talks to Cece. Bella is gone from the spot where she had been standing throughout the video. Cece sees the basket of toys that her mom has picked up and she reaches for it. Shanann holds it down but Celeste gets it and over turns it anyway, scattering the toys once again.
Shanann tells Bella “she made a mess again.” Bella makes a sound of distress or disappointment as she stands with her baby doll watching her little sister move from one mess to another. Cece sees the cardboard box lying on the floor next to the glass coffee table and climbs on top of it. Bella is looking around at the mess of toys and voices her anxiety. Shanann focuses the camera on Cece, who is attempting to stand on the box.
The coffee table in the center of the room is an absolute accident waiting to happen. I can’t imagine allowing my children to play near it. To me it is a death trap for toddlers.
Shanann attempts to pull her 1 year old off of the box by the back of her pants but gives up and begins to greet newcomers to her live stream. Bella approaches her baby sister sitting on the box and calmly maneuvers herself into a sitting position on the other end. Directly between Cece and the edge of the glass coffee table. Cece begins to fuss and whine about Bella being on the box, causing Shanann to scold Bella.
“Bella, Bella, Cece was playing on that first,” Shanann tells her oldest. She has failed to recognize that Bella has sat down in order to keep her sister from playing on it. Her mother had just told Cece to stop standing on the box. Bella hears that and sits down thinking she is helping her mom keep Cece safe. Cece attempts to pull her sister off of the box by the back of her shirt and is stopped by Shanann. Cece quickly moves onto the next activity and Shanann continues to talk to her audience.
Cece moves around the glass table and makes it back to the box and once again tries to bulldoze Bella from her spot. Shanann asks Bella to move off of the box so that Cece can get back on it even though Bella sitting there has stopped Cece from standing on it just like Shanann wanted. Cece pushes her older sister several times and Shanann continues to ask Bella to get up but Bella ignores them both.
Shanann tells Cece to be nice and this prompts Cece to try and give Bella a kiss. But Bella isn’t interested. Cece tries again but Bella turns away from her. “No,” Bella says. Shanann tells her to give her baby sister “kisses” but Bella flatly refuses.
Bella has no desire to show affection in order to please her mother. Her mom pays little attention to her. Its all about Cece.
Shanann tells the people watching that both of her girls are “Thrive K.” Shanann spends a lot of money on Thrive supplements for her children and yet, they still seem to be sick more often than not. “Alright guys, say goodbye. I think they are getting bored with you guys,” she says to her children. It is such a weird thing to tell her kids. This is a clue to how wrapped up Shanann has become in her new “influencer” status. Her children were just living their lives while their mother films them. They weren’t meant to be free entertainment for the MLM cult.
Shanann films her youngest child climbing back up the stairs and mentions that she has to go and get her before she falls down them but makes no move to actually do so. The camera silently watches as Cece climbs higher and higher. Shanann tells her to sit down but Cece doesn’t listen to her repeated instructions. Bella loudly tells her sister to “sit down.” She is scolded for speaking up. Bella begins walking toward Cece on the stairs. Shanann calls her name several times but Bella doesn’t acknowledge her and keeps walking. Exactly how Celeste responds to repeated demands.
Bella reaches the staircase and turns to look at her mother. Shanann tells her viewers that she has to end the video and the camera turns to find both girls climbing past the first landing and up toward the top of the staircase. Bella stops at the gate at the top of the steps and turns to look back at her mom. Cece begins to shut the gate with Bella in the way, startling Shanann. “She’s gonna break it,” she says, voicing the reason for her alarm. I initially thought she was afraid that Bella would fall back down the stairs but she was concerned with the gate breaking instead.
This video is another excellent view into the dynamic between mother and daughters. Bella is consistently ignored while Cece’s every move is showcased. Bella has started to show some signs of unhappiness while the camera is on. Her quiet and reserved nature is no match for the extroverted personality of her baby sister. Bella has spent her short life being ignored and that will only get worse in the days, weeks and months to come.