random antics...

Violet is such a goon lately. She is starting to talk SO much more. Lately she has been going on and on on these random tangents of talking. She'll blab and blab as if she's telling a story with her arms waving, hands pointing, and facial expressions.

Today's the due date

No progress. I'm pretty disappointed. After last week's false labor episode on Sunday morning I had a little hope that maybe it would start up again. But today I'm due and nothing. The midwife said I am not dilated at all.

Cervical pain

I have been feeling so much pain in/on/near my cervix this pregnancy. I never experienced this when I was pregnant with Violet. I am HOPING that is it is a good sign that I'll efface and dilate - since I've been going to the chiropractor this pregnancy, maybe my muscles are looser? I don't know. Just wanted to document that. :) I'm 4 weeks away from meeting our next baby!!!

fush! fush! fush!

Violet is obsessed with flushing the toilet. When she poos on the potty - or if I go, or if Dave goes, or for that matter, if ANYBODY goes on the potty, she notices and insists on flushing. The first time she got to do it, she would have a royal meltdown with screaming and crying if she was unable to flush - but after a few days, she realized she wasn't going to be allowed to flush for every single person in the house. We're at Grandma Martha's house for Thanksgiving this year in Chicago. The big meal is at Uncle Roger and Aunt Mary's in Naperville tomorrow.

Hep mama! Hep mama!

Violet has really been obsessed with helping lately. She says "hep mama! Hep mama! Hep mama!" if I'm doing something in the kitchen...so we pull up a chair, she stands on it, and "helps" me measure out things, pour stuff into bowls, and basically plays in the drawer that has all the measuring cups/spoons in it. It really slows down my progress, but I don't mind unless I'm trying to MAKE progress baking for the shop or something. She isn't allowed in the kitchen when I'm bakin'. But this morning we made pancakes, and she helped measuring all the ingredients...the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, milk, oil, and even cracked the egg. She squeezed it with all her might and got her hands all eggy, but miraculously, no shell fell in! So, I went with it. She even ate 2 pancakes and got a kick out me flipping them from side to side.

Tonight she insisted on helping Dave assemble the casserole we planned for supper. She repeats everything he says! Its sooo cute!

Starting to feel ready for this baby!

I am now 7 mo pregnant!

I should post a new belly picture. I really feel like this baby moves a LOT more than Violet did while in utero. Maybe my muscles and uterus are more stretched out this time. Who knows. I've been seeing a chiropractor to help me get "balanced" (my right side was really tight!) and loosened up for delivery. I'm attempting a VBAC. I'm feeling 50% confident it'll happen.

So...Violet is crazy. She knows so many words now. We got her a book of First 100 Words and she can point out almost everything. Car, duck, truck, train, milk, ball, baby, blanket, etc...it goes on and on. She likes to say "uck uck!" for "stuck". She says "shoes on! shoes on!" all the time and wants to run around the house in her shoes. Her favorite thing lately is holding anything with a strap on it on her shoulder like a purse.

She got to be with my parents last weekend. Dave and I went to Sara and Andy's wedding in MN. I think my mom and dad had a lot of fun with her!!

She stopped using her left hand to guide the spoon into her mouth. She used to insist on using both hands to spoon food to her mouth, but suddenly she dropped the habit.

She will be 2 very soon!

This baby is still mystery baby! We don't have any names picked out. Its so hard picking names.

I went to the ER last night

I must have caught some kind of virus. Wednesday night (Sept 12th) after eating supper I felt a little weird. I went to bed that night, and woke up at 3 am with an incredible urge to throw up. I barely made it to the toilet. Everything I had eaten came up. I tried drinking a little water to wash my mouth out and went to bed. I woke up again at 7:00 am the morning of the 13th and threw up the water and more food. Yuck. Dave had just left for a short trip so he was gone. I tried to stomach 1/2 a banana, but I also threw that up. I had an appointment with the midwife for my 25 week check up and I brought up my concerns with her. She said I was pretty dehydrated and said since I couldn't keep food down, to stick to a liquid diet. I went to Fareway and got Gatorade, Sprite, Ginger Ale, and foods for the BRAT diet. Turns out I couldn't keep liquids down either. That night...I was feeling so miserable. Taking care of Violet while feeling horrible was really hard. I was hungry, yet didn't have an appetite...I was thirsty...but couldn't keep down liquids. I paged the midwife that night and asked her what she thought I should do. She suggested I go to the ER for fluids. I called my mom and she drove down to my house. She's too sweet. She left Mason City at 10:30 and got in at midnight. I took off to the hospital at midnight, and left at 4 am. I immediately felt better!! I went home and slept from 4:30-8:00. My mom stayed to help me while I rested and she left shortly before Dave got home from his trip at 3 pm.

Update on Violet - 19 mo - and I am about 6 months pregnant!

Its been awhile since I posted. Violet is now a full-blown toddler! She's running around everywhere and climbing up on everything. She is talking so much more now. I'm going to try remember everything she can say: mama dada gaga up ice Abby Baba - blanket gara (garage) poon (spoon) obo (oatmeal) hah-dah (hot dog) wawa (water) muh (milk) bah (ball) poopoo car buh-um (button) fan hat bub-bye! luh-oo (luv you) hungry hi buh (book) caca (cracker) uh oh dog cat puh-puh-puh (porcupine) - her current favorite animal in the animal book papa (sometimes for grandpa) ba-room (bathroom) ba (bath) cup shoe some form of the word "diaper" Ah-AH (all done) duck stuck liy (light) muh-muh-muh (more more more!) -- which usually means "I need help with something!" paypah - paper joos (juice) peees (please) teeth gah-ih (got it) some form of "noodle" - it usually sounds like "goo-gah" cheese owie eyes arm hand boah (boat) something for "train" - not sure I could even use letters to make the sound she makes! gaga = banana hah! hah! = hot bihr = bird mmmmMMAAHHH = a kiss nih nih = night night I'm sure I forgot some....but thats the majority I think. I think I'm going to stop keeping track!! That was hard! She loves the jack-in-the-box that Grandma Jo got her. She winds the knob to play the song herself, but she holds the top that pops up down so it doesn't scare her in the middle of the song. She knows exactly when its going to pop up and she even slows down when its about to! It took her awhile to get used to it. She was scared at first, but she's slowly warmed up to it. She likes to drag things around the house too. She has formed an attachment to her little yellow pillow and her two blankets. The pink one and the purple one. She can't sleep without them, it seems. When its time for naptime or bedtime, she says "baba! papa!" for her blanket and pillow. When she does get them, the pillow gets a big hug. She fights to shove the whole pillow under her belly, then watches carefully as we lay BOTH (not one or the other) blankets on top of her. Then the fan gets turned on, and she goes to sleep after kicking her leg repeatedly for awhile. The napping thing is a little confusing. She is always so exhausted at 10 am and thats her normal nap time, but she goes down for a nap and doesn't sleep, and if she does, its for 15 min and she's up whining. So, I'm going to try push that nap back to after lunch, then maybe she'd sleep longer. She is eating almost everything we eat now. I don't fix her any special meals. She likes meat! She'll munch on pieces of chicken, pork, beef, and ham. She still likes chunks of cheese and a pile of pinto beans. The other night I got her to eat a big bowl of broccoli with cheese on it. She loved it! She must have been really hungry. She's not as whiney and clingy for my time. She is venturing off to play with toys on her own more. It gives me a little rest time as right now I'm 6 months pregnant and rest is much needed. I consider Violet 100% poopy-trained. She'll usually tell me if she has to go poopie, and we go take care of business on the toilet. I don't know when I'll start with the pee. I might get ambitious and get her trained before this baby comes...who knows. It is nice not having to change poopy diapers! She sleeps from 7:30-8:00 pm (bedtime) to around 8:00 am. I love that she doesn't get me up at 6 am like some of my friends' kids do. My mom taught her how to get a strap of a purse over her shoulder. Now all she wants to do with something with a strap is put it over her shoulder. So, she's been dragging her black diaper bag around on her shoulder all day. Then a toy with a string on it, then a little green bag with straps...anything. Dave says "oh no! she looks like a 'little girl' way too soon already!" I'm nervous about how she'll do with the new baby. She gets really jealous if I pay attention to other kids or hold other babies. So far, this pregnancy has been going great!! I only got a slight rash on my belly that lasted about a week. I haven't been sick, I've been eating well, and the baby is very healthy. I thank God so much for no problems. I've kept my weight down this pregnancy...managed better this time around. I have gained about 20 lbs so far. I gained over 50+ with Violet. Thankfully though, I lost all the weight before getting pregnant again, so my starting weight was 170, a weight I'm happy with. I'm trying to stay under 200 with this baby. We need to decide on names!! We're still tossing some around. Definitely not decided though.

update...

Well, its been a month since writing anything here. I should at least put on here a belly shot!! With baby #2...we are keeping the gender a surprise again. I am 22 or 23 weeks along now. I have already had my 20 week ultrasound and everything looks perfect. What a blessing! I just hope I go into labor on my own this time so I avoid a c-section again. Either way, the goal is to have a healthy mom and baby, no matter how he or she comes out.

Violet is crazy. That's the only word I can come up with to describe her. Her hair is wild and curly, and her personality is shining. She loves to giggle. She likes finding little things that "surprise" me so I react when she surprises me. Her giggle is sounding so much more adult like. She is running everywhere and climbs up on everything. I tried writing down everything she says, so I'll try again and hopefully I won't miss anything.

mama, gaga (dada), ca = cat, ga = dog, bir = bird, obo = oatmeal, mah - milk, wawa - water, up, heh = help, uh oh, poopoo, ba = bath, baba = blanket, baba/paba = pillow, papa = grandpa, puhpuhpuh = porcupine, byebye, bah = book, luh-oo = love you, mah-mah = more, muh = milk, Abuh = Abby, hah = hot, baby, tee = teeth, cheese, hot dog

28 words that she uses consistently! That's pretty impressive I think for her age. The pediatrician said at her 18 mo check up that 5-15 words is normal for kids her age.

I got her to eat broccoli smothered in cheese last night. She wanted bite after bite!

She loves having phone conversations. She will bring me a play phone and want me to have a conversation with someone, then say "bye bye!". She gets a kick out of it! Also, when I talk to Dave on the phone, she'll run over and say "gaga gaga!" then have a "conversation" with him...which always turns out to be him asking her to say things. He'll say "bye bye!" and she'll repeat with an enthusiastic "bye BYYYYE" in a high pitched voice so I know when they're done "talking.". She gave the phone a big kiss saying "mmmmmmmmMMAAAAAAA".

She's totally poopy-trained I think. If she has to go, she'll tell me "poopie" and if I set her on the toilet when she says that, she'll go poopie. I think that's amazing!

She has 12 teeth. 27 lbs, 33 1/4" tall.

Clips and steps

She's mastered so many things in the last week: - eating with a spoon. It only took her 4 days to get it right and not dump it upside down before it hits her mouth. She eats her oatmeal all by herself in the morning. The first day was a complete mess as well as the 2nd. I had to hose down the whole eating chair she uses. The next couple days were much, much better. - eating with a fork (sortof). I gave her a plate of lima beans and she ate 1/2 of them by stabbing each little green lima bean with a fork. - She walks down stairs with nothing to hang onto now. The outside cement steps are a breeze. I hold onto her hand doing downstairs in the house because there are so many and if she fell it would be a huge fall. - She LOVES clipping things together. The plastic clips that hold her down on the changing table, the clips that hold her life jacket together, anything that clips together! She can't unclip it yet though, so when she does get it together, she gets so excited, claps, then gets frustrated that its stuck...so I unclip it every time so she can keep playing. :)

I never find time to sit down anymore!

17 months old now. Wow! Almost a year and a half. I am going to make this brief...but sortof detailed. I only have a few minutes and I feel like (lately anyway) that if I don't do something as soon as I think of it, it won't get done at all. Thats how it is with journaling online. Violet is running around now (not so much walking!) and to sum up her personality, I would say a giggly copycat. She's always copying everything we do, from our expressions, to how we move our hands, to how we "dance", for example: Dave was explaining something while we were eating breakfast, and he was knocking his knuckles on the counter. Violet started doing the same thing. Then he knocked with both hands, and she followed suit. Every time she copies something, she looks at us to get attention and laughs. She loves kissing. She'll walk up to me and go "mmmmmm!!" and expect a big "muuahhhh" in return. She lately started banging her face into ours very quickly and "kissing" us every single time. She still uses her sign language a lot. She's 32 1/2" tall, and 25-26 lbs. Not sure on the weight...it goes up and down a lot. She likes bananas now. Sometimes she'll eat a whole one as fast as me. Sometimes she'll take one bite and refuse the rest....so I never know how bananas will go over. Anything else I remember, and I'll try come back and post it!

Our first trip away from Violet

So, Dave and I decided we needed to do 2 things: Get away together and not be "mom and dad" all the time (mostly for me though...) and also celebrate our 4th wedding annivesary. I was able to get the weekend off baking for the coffee shop, and Dave lined up his mom to watch Violet for us, and we booked a trip to downtown Chicago. My initial feeling was nervousness, only because this was my first trip away from Violet overnight. I knew that she would be fine, so I convinced myself to enjoy myself and talk myself into believing that she would be perfectly fine with Martha. I had no worried whatsoever about Martha's ability to take care of her...goodness...she's practically overqualified, but I worried about Violet being with someone unfamiliar for 2 days. Tonight is our last night in Chicago. We arrived here Thursday late, but we left our house very early Thursday morning. Very early is like 8:30 for us. Violet was awake for the first 2 hours of the car ride, and eventually fell asleep for an hour, and then was awake for the last hour. We drove right to Dave's grandma's house and had lunch with her and Aunt Joyce. The 17-yr locusts were out in full force, buzzing so loud that you needed earplugs. I got a headache just listening to them for a couple hours. She served cold cut sandwiches, melon, pineapple, potato salad, and chips. Then Dave tackled the light fixture above the kitchen table for his grandma, so he and her went to Home Depot while Joyce and I stayed to play with Violet. After an hour, Dave got back and Violet needed to go take a nap. I headed downstairs with her to the guest bed to see if she would go to sleep, but she would only calm down to rest if I was laying next to her rubbing her back, so I ended up taking a nap too. That was nice to sleep during the day. Once Dave was done with the light, we went out to dinner at Max & Erma's with Martha, Florence and Joyce. Violet was a little less than behaved, only getting a minimal amount of sleep during the day and refusing to eat the chicken and broccoli we offered her. We got her to bed at Martha's house around 9 pm, and then headed downtown. The feeling of taking off without the car seat in the car or Violet's familiar babble from the back seat was really weird! Refreshing and disheartening at the same time. I already missed her, but kept thinking how much fun Dave and I would have the next couple days, and got excited. So, we checked into the fancy Conrad hotel. We were in room 1213, a king suite with a view of Michigan Avenue and the lakefront. Very, very nice. Huge bathroom, comfy bed, and basically all the best amenities. We slept well that night. Friday morning we woke up at 8:00 (I think I officially lack the ability to sleep in now because I'm programmed to wake up when Violet does!). We got ready for the day, and ate a delicious breakfast at the restaurant at the hotel. We took a cab to the Museum of Science and Industry that cost us around $20. We saw old airplanes, trains, genetics research and displays, a prenatal development display, the human heart, human brain, an old historic main street, historical robot world, the insides of a navy submarine, ate a brownie ice cream sundae, etc. I can't remember every exhibit, but each one was 100% different from the other and it took a lot of brain power to take it all in. We felt exhausted after 2 hours, and decided to leave. We discovered the public bus route came by the museum, so we waited, and once it arrived, were happy to know that the fare was only $2 per person. Much better than our cab ride expense on the way to the museum. The bus would have taken us into the heart of Michigan Avenue, but we saw a Land's End store and decided to hop off early and shop there, because we had 3 gift cards to the store to use up. I found 2 pairs of sunglasses and some maternity clothes, and Dave got a pair of leather flipflops. We headed back to the hotel to drop off our things, and stayed there for awhile to rest and appreciate the relaxing silence and escape of the noisy atmosphere on the streets. After about an hour, we decided to head back out for some dinner and get to Millennium Park in time to get good seats for the show that night. We had our hearts set on Mr. Submarine, but when we got there, we found out it was closed down. We were disappointed, but had a 2nd option knowing that we had just passed a local sandwich shop a block away, and went there instead. We were surprised at how delicious it was. We ate our sandwiches in the park and waited for the show to start. We got seats to Mendellson's Elijah. We didn't realize it was more of an opera. Definitely talented singers, orchestra and choir, but after an hour (we waited for the intermission), we took off to explore more things and enjoy the nightlife. We meandered through the park and enjoyed watching the families with young children hop around the fountains with changing faces and water shooting out at random times. We ended up back at our hotel, tired from all the walking. Dave had a desire to go out and find a nice place to get dessert. The concierge recommended a place called Phil Stefani's which was supposed to be a block away from the hotel, but we headed the wrong direction and never found it. We ended up at a smaller restaurant that had seating on the sidewalk outside. It was around 10 pm by the time we sat down. We split a strawberry-rhubarb salad and chocolate fondue. It was fun to enjoy the warm night and watch people as they walked by. There is no shortage of interesting people to look at. Saturday morning we were able to sleep in til 9:00. We had a desire to check out this new breakfast restaurant called Yolk, so we got ready quickly (because we were so hungry!) and got down to Rush Street. We hailed the first cab we saw and it took us there. We paid $6 for that taxi fare. The restaurant was hopping! We got seats at the bar, sipped strawberry-orange juice and looked over the menu. Dave got a corned beef hollandaise sauce dish, and I ordered an omelet with 3 kinds of meat, tomatoes, and onions. It was an absolutely enourmous amount of food, but we finished it and were very happy with our satisfying breakfast. Our next stop was the Art Institute. It was a 1 mile walk from the restaurant. I think the combination of the hot, muggy air and our full bellies made both of us extremely groggy and tired. We got our tickets at the Institute and started walking down the hall to the first exhibit, but both decided we couldn't move on without some coffee or something. We drug our feet down to the café and slowly sipped our coffee hoping for a pick-me-up. Dave said he could have fallen asleep right there on his arm no problem. We sat there for a long time, just hoping we would wake up. We were so full....and tired. The feeling eventually left and we perked up a little bit. We strolled through so many exhibits...and the last one we saw was the "contemporary" art. Weird, really weird art. Some things I am sure I could have scribbed, framed, and stuck on the wall to fit right in. Just silly...to us. We didn't get it. Anyway, we had enough of the quiet art institute. I was kindof bored actually. Dave was disappointed at the lack of armor on display, as he was hoping to find some items he remembered seeing as a child to show me. We found out 1/2 of the armor was in storage, waiting for renovations and the moving of art wings to be relocated. Oh well. So, after the Art Institute, we decided to walk back to our hotel (another mile) and made a pit-stop at Caribou Coffee. We got iced mochas, Dave had a cookie, and I had a cup of fruit, granola and yogurt. We weren't really hungry...but ate anyway. We got back to the hotel and laid around and relaxed, enjoying the peace and quiet again. I worked on a sudoku puzzle, I think. We changed clothes and put on nice attire for our dinner out. We decided to try Lawry's Prime Rib restaurant, and had reservations set for 8:15. We had about 2 hours to kill, so we shopped at Crate and Barrel and found some gifts to give Martha as a token of our appreciation for taking care of Violet while we were away. Dave got some ibuprofen to try relieve a sore back muscle ache, and then we had our dinner. We both ordered Prime Rib...but enjoyed their signature "spinning salad" the most out of the entire dinner. The restaurant gave us a complimentary strawberry trifle for dessert for our annivesary. :) So, here we are in our hotel room after having dinner at Lawry's. We are planning on getting to bed a little earlier than the last 2 nights because we have an earlier morning. I am really excited to see Violet!! This time was much needed for Dave and I...to get some 1 on 1 time, and remember what it was like before kids. Its amazing how much our little daughter consumes our life and it gave me a renewed appreciation for Dave, as well as a reminder that we need to do this time away thing (even an evening) on a more consistent basis to keep our priorities in order.

Violet's appointment with the cardiologist

Today was a traumatic day for Violet. She had her EKG scheduled at 11:30 this morning so the doc could get a better idea whats going on with her heart. Before I go into it, I'll say that the results were outstanding. She only has a minor innocent heart murmur that poses no threat to her health or physical activity!! Praise God! I'm so happy! So, we left our house around 10:45. I got to the hospital check-in window promptly at 11:15 so I could spend some time filling out paperwork. I think I filled out 3 forms and then later they found that I missed one so I had to fill out another one. The information they need is incredible! Violet was happy as can be, waving and smiling at people. She sat in her stoller and played with some animal stickers while we waited. We were then called to come back, so I left the stroller in the waiting room while we went back to the doctor's rooms. The nurse talked to me a little bit and explained what was going to happen. She said an EKG is a very simple and quick test....the most time consuming part is hooking her up to the machine with all the stickers and everything. The moment the two nurses came in with the machine on wheels was the moment she got a sour face and started crying. She immediately wanted to bury her head in my shoulder....but when I wouldn't let her, her screams only got stronger and louder. They took her blood pressure with the little cuff and it was normal I think...her heartrate was around 190 (way high!) because she was so stressed out. Once they got all the little sticky patches on her skin and hooked up to the machine, we tried to calm her down with toys, books, stickers, a toy frog, anything to keep her distracted and calm enough for 10 seconds so the test would run successfully. Thankfully, she found comfort in one of the nurse's green plastic frogs on a string and the test came out fine. Once they finished, she got unhooked and and nurses left, telling me the cardiologist would be in to see us soon. She then was happy as a clam again! She walked around the room exploring things and grabbed a few books and magazines from the magazine rack hooked to the edge of the countertop in the room. We scanned through a few magazines for distraction purposes. The doctor came in about 5 minutes later and talked to me a bit about murmurs. He tried to listen to her (as I sat her in my lap) but the scareyness of the stethascope and his presence sent her into a crying frenzy again. He grabbed stickers and anything we could find to try calm her down again. Eventually she stopped crying and he could listen. He said he heard the murmur faintly, but that it was an innocent one and there was no hole in her heart, just extra whooshing of blood in her heart valves that poses no risk to her health. He was happy to hear that and give me a clear diagnosis for her and not to limit any of her physicial activity since "nothing was really wrong" that needed medical attention. He said he'd like to hear her heart again in about a year's time. His next suggestion was to take an X-ray of her chest area to make sure that her heart is the right size and shape for her body and age. So, I got a lab sheet to go re-register in radiology, a separate wing of the hospital. She was happy to get the stickers off her skin and put her shirt back on. We walked back to get the stroller and I put her in with some melon chunks to eat while we traveled through the hospital. She happily munched away. While we registered for that, I called Dave with the good news. He was happy to hear it as well! So, we got to radiology and soon after settling down playing with some toys in the waiting room, the nurses called us back. I wheeled her down the hallway, and they came out to ask if I could possibly be pregnant. Well, I told them "Yes! I am!" and that of course, meant that I couldn't be in the x-ray room with Violet. So, the two girls took her away from me kicking and screaming while they did the x-ray. Thankfully, they were quick and painless. I couldn't see anything, but from what they told me, they had Violet sitting in a chair strapped in with her arms held over her head. The screaming was hard to hear sitting in the hallway by myself...but she stopped temporarily. They nurses said once she got strapped into the machine she was fine. Weird. Anyway, they gave Violet back to me and we got her shirt and shoes back on. I was free to go, but curious if I could see the pictures of the x-ray. They said sure! So, I walked back to another room and got to see a couple of the x-rays of Violet's chest. Nothing really crazy....a lot of bones and a thing in the middle of her chest where her heart is and an air bubble obviously in her stomach...kindof funny. Probably from her frantic screaming. We were both thankful to be done. I put her back in her stroller with some fish crackers and she ate those all the way to the car. Almost the moment she got all buckled in and the car started moving, she konked out and fell asleep. The whole 30 minute drive home she slept, and when I pulled in the driveway and turned off the engine, she continued to stay sleeping, so I put her in her crib at home to sleep more, and she slept for around 2 1/2 more hours. She definitely needed the sleep because the whole morning at the hospital caused her to skip her normal 10:30 nap. That was our day. She got over it, but most of all I'm glad there is nothing wrong and that she doesn't need to get the echo-cardiogram on Friday that was previously scheduled in case something more serious had been found out. *whew*!! Glad today is over!

Violet's heart murmur

Its hard to even type those words in the title of this post. Its hard to think that your baby has anything wrong with her when she's barely been sick in her life. I switched pediatricians because Dave and I didn't like the other guy (Dr. Pranger). For many reasons, but to avoid ranting, I'll just say we are glad we switched. We are seeing Dr. VanSickle in Waterloo (she's with Covenant, not Allen). She is much easier to talk to! I am glad we switched. ANYWAY, she checked Violet at 15 mo. We are late in scheduling this one, so she's closer to 16 months. She heard a heart murmur. I don't know how serious it is, but she said that at this age, any heart murmur is more serious than one in a child that is less than a year old. She asked if our other doctor heard it. I said no. She was surprised. She said that the only thing to do is see a pediatric cardiologist for a preliminary EKG test (which is a quick test) and then depending on the results of that, she may or may not need the ECHO-cardiogram. The echo test is more extensive, which would prevent Violet from drinking or eating the morning of the test, and she'd have to be sedated for an hour to lay there for the entire test. Most patients don't have to be sedated for this test, but because of her age, she wouldn't be able to lie down for an hour controlled. So.....I don't know whats going to happen. Tuesday next week is the initial exam with the cardiologist. He'll perform the EKG and then let us know from there. I'm just praying everything is alright and trusting God to see us through this.

definitely showing!

Okay, so now I'm about 2 months pregnant! Dave and I started telling people this week. The first person was Hannah, my friend from MOPS. She was happy for me. The next person was my brother Jay. He was surprised and happy all at the same time. Rachel was excited! Then I told Marisa, then mom and dad (mom said she couldn't stop smiling!), then Dave called his family...then on and on from there.

I have a definite pooch on my belly. Its so true that you start showing earlier and earlier with each pregnancy! I guess all your insides are stretched out and its easier to just pooch out than stay all tucked into those muscles that were so tight before the first pregnancy. Anyway....'ts alright!!

Jeanne had the most excited reaction when I told her! She was practically screaming that she was excited for me. Wow, it was great to hear!!

The pic I posted is around 8 weeks pregnant.

sleeping issues....

...and we're both having them. Since I found out I was pregnant, I have been waking up in the middle of the night (maybe around 3 am) and not being able to get back to sleep. Sometimes I would get up and move to the recliner in our room or the couch out in the living room to try fall asleep, but most other times, I toss and turn and try to get comfortable again in the bed, and it takes me forever to do so. Its so frustrating. I wake up very unrested and grouchy. This has been happening for about 2 weeks I think. Violet, on the other hand, has figured out how to shove her legs through the wood slats of her crib. One night she started crying (and usually we just let her fuss herself back to sleep because if we go in to her room, it becomes a bigger deal than if we just let her calm herself down), but this time it wasn't just crying. She started screaming, and it lasted for longer than 15 min. I felt so bad when I walked in there and found her in the corner of her crib face down, with both legs through the crib slats totally stuck. Her chubby little legs were squished, so I pulled her free and rocked her back to sleep while she calmed down from the screaming. That took her around 30 minutes to calm down. The next day at nap time it happened again, only this time it was only 1 leg. The next morning it was one leg. Why is she doing this?!! Its so annoying for both of us, I think. She gets stuck and hurt and can't sleep. She makes us get up in the middle of the night to rescue her. Hmmm. I hope hope hope this is a phase and she learns not to do this!

we have a babbbblerrr

Lately Violet has really started becoming more vocal! She babbles senseless talk all the time and acts as if she's having little conversations with herself...usually following up a babble with a little giggle. She can copy a word we say (not really sounding right but its a valiant effort). She's repeated book, sticker, chicken, all done, poopie...all kinds of words. I know I listed a few words that she uses, but I can't remember what they are and maybe there are more than last time, so I'll do it again: mama dada (or gaga...but lately she refers to both of us as mama) gaga (for banana) buh baba Abby ca (for car) puhpuh (for poopie) wawa (water) rara (sounds like wawa but when I ask her to say Rachel she says acka) bah! (for ball) uh oh oooh (with lips pursed) as a fun sound effect She's advanced physically too...she practically runs places, plunking her little feet as fast as they'll carry her when she's excited to go somewhere. Lately she loves to be covered up in a blanket. She'll squeal in laughter and giggle and try work her way out of it. She recognizes Grandma and Grandpa (my mom and dad) and I think its great! My dad stopped by, and she walked right up to my dad and he picked her up, and she was totally OK with it. If any stranger did that, she's freak out and want mama. She is 31" and 25.5 lbs. Dave wanted me to document a daddy moment he had today. After we got home from church Violet had to go poopie, so he stuck her on the toilet and she started going, but immediately started crying hysterically. It became obvious that the poop she was trying to push out was too big. Dave took a little peek and saw the terd trying to come out but it was too big. He asked for a pair of rubber gloves, and helped Violet get it out. Violet, if you are reading this later on in life, I know you'll appreciate the documentation of this event in your life! It was just really the first time you've had trouble in this area, and dad had to deal with it, not me. :)

the american baby due date predictor...

First Day of Your Last Period:Mar 15, 2007 Your baby's delivery is expected to beon or around Dec 20, 2007. Congratulations, you are in week 6 of your pregnancy!

I just found out I'm pregnant!

Last night I tested positive, and this morning I tested positive. Woohooo!!!!! Dave and I are a little shocked about this, but we're pretty happy about it. My last period was March 15, so this could mean I'm only a couple weeks along already. My last period before getting pregnant with Violet was March 30....so the due date for this baby might be in the middle of December because her due date was Jan 6, 06. I'm just speculating at right now...but its so cool! My mind is racing because I don't FEEL pregnant, but I don't remember feeling pregnant when I found out with Violet. I was on day 41 of my cycle (way late!)...still no period....so I tested. I was skeptical of being pregnant because my periods had been so weird and spaced apart. I just keep thinking of a baby room...needing to build Dave an office off our bedroom for another baby room (that takes our guest room out of the picture, kindof sad), money, timing...Violet will be about 2 when this baby is born. Wow! Noone knows yet. This is a private online blog so I don't think anyone is going to find out anytime soon. I want to wait until around 2 or 3 months along, maybe after my first OB appointment when they check me out and see everything is OK. My mom had 2 miscarriages, so I know this can be a real option, but I pray that it won't be. Ok, so this is my "i'm pregnant" post! Yay! Its definitely not as much of a shocker as the first baby because our lives have already changed because of Violet, but this time is more thankfulness that Violet will have a sibling and that God was willing to give us another baby. Don't get me wrong, the thought of 2 little ones running around is a little daunting, but I know God will help me! Wow...

Dave's 31st birthday

Dave turned 31 today! We celebrated by inviting 2 couples over to join us for dinner...Scott and Jeanne (who have AnneMarie) and Todd and Hannah (who have Norah). Unfortunately, Norah had a high fever, so Hannah had to stay home with her. They all came over around 5 pm. Dave picked out a delicious menu to make on the grill. It included scallops, shrimp, chicken, and onions all marinated and grilled on wooden skewers....along with the grilled feta cheese appetizer. Jeanne made a really yummy potato salad made with miracle whip (Dave's ultimate favorite!) and Todd brought over sodas and margaritas. We had a great night! The meal turned out excellent. We had white cake with coconut frosting and ice cream for dessert. He blew out all 31 candles in one breath. Violet was running around showing AnneMarie different toys. AnneMarie took her first steps by pushing the walker toy that we have. Jeanne said it was the first time she'd seen her do that! I think she'll be walking by a year! Her b-day is June 8, 06.

learning to use a spoon

Tonight after dinner (my mom was here for the day helping me) Violet got some applesauce for "dessert". My mom tried giving her the spoon with some applesauce on it, seeing if she could get the spoon in her mouth ok. She did great! Then we tried letting her scoop out the applesauce on her own. My mom held the bowl at a comfortable angle, and at first, Violet would dip the end of the spoon in the applesauce (not scooping anything yet) and put it to her mouth, so she was understanding the bowl-to-mouth spoon thing. After a few bites, she figured out how to maneuver the spoon to scrape up the side of the bowl and get some applesauce on her spoon. She was feeding herself from a bowl with a spoon for the first time, and we got it on video too. yay for violet! She's growing up so fast. Its so fun to watch!

teeth!

She has 2 lower molars (one is 90% through and the other one is 60% through)...and just within the last day, is showing little tips of a top molar! Its hard to see her suffering through this teething stuff...especially when I brush her teeth and the gums bleed a lot. But....Yay! she can start chewing! She was eating chicken chunks and macaroni shells for dinner. I was breaking up the pieces of chicken really tiny... but she kept shoving them off to the side of the tray. So, I gave her a nice big chewy soft chunk of chicken, and she put the whole thing in her mouth and ate it with no problem. It was an "ah ha" moment...where I figured she can handle bigger bites of food.

things are looking better

Well, Violet seems to be adjusting. She took two decent naps the last couple days. She knows the sign for milk - she makes a little straight-fingered "fist" and wiggles her fingers in and out of that position quickly when it seems she wants anything to drink, not just milk. She must be confused...but either way, I think she knows that it means sippy cup, and whatever is in it, water, milk, or diluted juice, she'll take it. She uses the sign for hungry when she is hungry, and when I feed her, she eats pretty well. I tend to forget how quickly she is developing mentally. The first year of her life it was exciting to see her gain strength and mobility, but now that she's walking/almost running, her mind is taking off so quickly. Yesterday she was walking around sucking on the straw of her sippy cup of milk. After a little while, I noticed she didn't have it anymore, so I went looking for a missing sippy cup. I searched room after room and found it nowhere. I thought I would just try ask Violet if she knew where her cup was, half expecting her to ignore me or not understand. I asked her, "Violet, where is your milk?" She put her hands up and turned her palms upward, to indicate (at least I think) that she didn't know. She made a noise along with her hand movements that sounded like "uh..uh"...I can't even explain it with letters....as if to say "I don't know!" I think its a game though, that she plays...when someone asks her where something is, she automatically "doesn't know" then acts like she doesn't know, and then goes to find it. I asked her again "Violet, where is your milk?" She walked proudly over to the garbage can, pulled on the handle to open it, and looked down into the garbage. There was the sippy cup of milk. I laughed, mostly in amazement that she understood me and answered my question....also amazed that she remembered putting it in there. I pulled it out of the garbage, which thankfully was barely full ....rinsed off the straw, and gave it back to her. Absolutely hilarious. :)

day after weaning...

...she WON'T SLEEP. She screamed for a total combined time of 2 hours ... my failed efforts at getting her to nap during the day. She laid on my shoulder (all sweaty!) and fell asleep for about 30 minutes. This is interesting. I think she's going through withdrawal. I think I'm doing the same! She sat in my lap today facing me and her hands were pushing against the front of my shirt. Hmm. I hope tomorrow is better.

her words

I decided to make note of what Violet is saying now: mama dada gaga (which she uses for dada most of the time) ca baba ba caca (cracker or Koko)

weaned

Today is the first day I have gone without nursing Violet. I guess you could say she is weaned. I have very mixed feelings about it. I am happy because I know she weaned herself. She never fussed about not getting it nor did she seem to want it throughout the day. We had gotten down to just once in the morning only....and now we're done. I had absolutely no idea I would feel this way. I am sad too. I will miss our cuddle time very much. I am pretty sure that if I offered it to her she would take it, but my supply is so low that she would probably stop and get frustrated. She's done that couple times in the last two weeks. Thats when you know ya ain't got much left to give her! Part of me is comforted in knowing that she stopped in her own time...just over 14 months old. I am glad that it won't be a habit well into her 2's...because I read somewhere that breaking a baby of something after 15 months gets even harder. *whew!* She is very good about eating food -- which I am happy about, and she has taken well to whole milk in a straw sippy cup. She knows it is in the fridge - so if she is thirsty she will walk over to the fridge and strain for the handle, then make the sign for milk.

she's getting so smart

I got home from running a couple errands while Dave watched Violet on her lunchbreak. I think I got home around 3:45 pm. (i know, a late lunchbreak!) She was just walking around aimlessly, then sat down in the middle of the kitchen and was quiet. I asked her if she was tired and at the same time, doing the sign for tired, which is putting two hands together next to your cheek with your head tipped sideways. She put both hands on her cheeks and squished her cheeks together, then started walking towards her room, then went to the closet to try turn on the fan. She knows that the fan going on means sleepy time. I put the shades down in her room and Dave started rocking her to sleep. Wow...then she just fell asleep. She is starting to communicate so much with us regarding her wants and needs -- it is so nice. Dave said that he was feeding her some crackers for a snack. He asked her if she wanted more, so she signed "hungry" which is putting her hand up to her mouth. She ate another cracker. He asked her if she wanted another one. She signed hungry, and she ate another one. He asked her if she wanted another one, and she signed "all done" which is either or both hands waving no in front of her. She held her hands up to be pulled out of the chair. What a little communicater! This is so fun. :)

still 2 naps

Awhile back I posted about getting a hold of the napping thing. Nope. I guess I will just not mess with her schedule and let her figure it out. She is still taking 2 per day (which is a pretty good deal actually, for me!). She fell asleep this morning at 9:30 after waking up at 7:30. She slept for an hour. She fell asleep again at 3:00 pm this afternoon and now its 4:00 and she's still sleeping. I guess she just needs 2 for now.

Texas / sign language

For some reason, its a big effort for me to sit down and write out things that I want to remember. I can't trust myself to remember everything, so I know someday I'll be glad to come back to this and read with Violet all the fun things she's done. Dave and I took Violet to Dallas, Texas with us to visit our friends Shawn and Kim over their spring break. We went March 14-19, 2007. I was initially nervous about traveling with Violet. My mind wouldn't stop worrying about her ears on the airplane, what she was going to eat, and when she was going to nap, or how she would sleep at night time. Shawn and Kim tried getting a car seat for Violet at a nearby thrift store, but when I asked them more information about it, we discovered it had been expired. It turned into her eating chair. It worked wonderfully. We decided to buy a Cosco Scenera convertible that RF to 35 lbs. It'll serve as our 2nd car seat. It was inexpensive and light, so we packed it in a duffle bag and checked it through the airlines. The trip overall went practically flawless. I nursed Violet on the plane rides going up and down (even though I am down to just nursing once in the morning now, I wondered if I would produce enough milk...but she seemed contented). She even slept on almost every flight. Dave did an awesome job helping with every aspect of Violet's care. He held her on the plane rides when she was sleeping. She was so cute sleeping on his shoulder. :) We visited the Fort Worth zoo the first day, and Violet had such a blast. She was in her stroller most of the time, but she had a few opportunities to get out and walk around. Every animal she saw, she would point her finger towards it and go "ba!" She was interested in everything, with almost a constant smile on her face he whole time. She had chicken nuggets and french fries for lunch! The drive to and from the zoo was close to an hour in length, so thankfully she slept during the car rides and those equated her naps for the day. The next day we went to the Dallas Auto Show. Dave was drooling at all the new cars. I was interested, but I think Shawn and Kim only had a mild interest in going, but went with that plan with us in mind. We strolled around for almost 2 hours. The next day we went to the Dallas Arboretum/outdoor botanical garden. Everything was in full bloom and very fresh, fragrant, and colorful. Violet again was looking every which direction soaking in all the new sights. We had a picnic while watching an Irish dancing show on the grass. Violet had a turkey/cheese sandwich, some goldfish crackers and a few orange slices. She ate very well each day...and I was happy. She is weaning herself, and part of me is very happy and part of me is very sad. I know she won't nurse forever so her taking the initiative to eat food instead of nurse is a good sign. The trip overall went really well. We were able to reconnect with our friends who we don't talk to much on the phone. We just don't do well on the phone. I made some scones with Kim the last night and we talked about being supportive to our husbands despite their struggles that make us feel disrespected. She was encouraged by our talk, and I'm glad for that. I feel the Lord used me to encourage her and give her a new perspective on Shawn's struggle. I had been praying for a time to bring that subject up, and I'm glad God gave me an opportunity. Sign language is so fun! I am not going all out...just teaching her the basics. She already can sign "more" "hungry" and "milk". I'm trying to teach her now "tired" and "potty". She picked up the "hungry" sign in just one day. Today we were at the grocery store and she put her hand to her mouth and opened her mouth. I asked her if she was hungry, and she did the sign again. I got out a little container of goldfish crackers and set them beside her in the shopping cart seat, and she munched away happily. Its so nice to have her communicating with me without fussing and getting frustrated at me playing the guessing game.

swimming

Violet and I went swimming at the YMCA this morning with the MOPS group. She had a lot of fun!! She wasn't too crazy about it at first, but she found the shallow steps where you get in and found going up and down them the whole time very fun. She held onto the metal handrail next to the steps too. I swooshed her around in the water, she loved that. I even stood her up on the edge of the pool and she jumped in while I held onto her hands. Every jump caused a big smile to appear on her face and even a giggle! Everyone went to McDonalds afterwards. I got Violet some chicken nuggets and she ate 3 of them (I think). She was so tired out from all the swimming activity (for an hour and a half!) that she fell asleep in the high chair there with a piece of chicken in her mouth! It was so hilarious. Her eyes slowly closed and her head fell to the side. Everyone thought it was so cute. Poor girl...she konked out on the car ride home and then took a long nap at home. We're leaving for Texas to visit Shawn and Kim on Wednesday. The river is supposed to elevate to flood levels, so we're going to prepare the house and leave...and trust God that nothing will happen to our property. All we can do is prepare and pray.

da da da

After the ga ga ga she got the da da da sound. Dave loves hearing it. :) Sometimes I don't know what the point of this blog is. I might go back and read it someday. I guess, I meant to say that I don't know what direction to take it. If its a mom-vent session time, or a "report on how Violet is doing" spot. Oh well...sometimes I just come here and type, and most of the time its regarding Violet just because I am with her 24/7 and she's constantly changing. If I don't write some of this down, I know I'll forget. She is turning into such a goofy toddler. She is so fast. I turn around and she's across the room doing something. She can push and pull things with her little strong body....even go down the stairs. We taught her how to do it when we were in Mason City at my parents' house...and she loved the cushy carpeted stairs, and took to it quite well. Here at home, the stairs are hardwood, so maybe she won't slide down them quite as well. She is down to nursing twice a day. I like the personal freedom. I tend to stress about what she's going to eat...but I've been planning so I don't feel that way. She loves cheese, toast, any kind of cracker, soup, a mixture of meat/potatoes/veggies, yogurt, milk, bananas...almost anything. She is an excellent eater. She weighs around 24 or 25 lbs right now. I found something that keeps her occupied for at least 10 minutes. She will eat one of those Quacker rice cakes (which are really made with popcorn) - but walk around incessantly while munching on it. She walks around to the dog's bowls and shakes her head no (because she knows not to touch it), then takes a bite, walks around the counter, stops to chew and swallow, takes another bite, walks across the kitchen, hits the cabinet or the fridge, chews and swallows, takes another bite, then crawls into the little space where the broom used to be next to the fridge, sits down, and quietly munches on her snack all alone in the corner. She'll do the same thing with toast. Sometimes she ventures off into the living room or her bedroom. Dave and I try not to laugh at her because we don't know how much she really understands, but its so darn cute that we can't help but turn around and snicker. Today she decided to hold out her toast to the dog and Abby's mouth snatched it up right out of her hands. She wasn't too upset by Abby taking her snack. She did smile and thought it was mildly amusing. I hope she doesn't continue to do that. We're still struggling with napping. Today it was 10:30 am and I was hoping to wait closer to noon or 1 to put her down, but she was SO tired and cranky, that I had no choice. She fell asleep at 10:35 no problem, lights out...who knows how long she'll sleep. We're going to Texas next week Wednesday for 5 days to visit Shawn and Kim. I'm nervous about the difficulty of traveling with all our stuff with her, what to do about food, how to keep her entertained, what she's going to break of theirs, what to bring for clothes, etc. *sigh* I know we'll get through it. I hope we have fun. Oh, and Violet is getting her first molar. Last night when I was brushing her teeth I saw the little white ridge of the tooth starting to poke through. I knew she was teething!!

da da da

After the ga ga ga she got the da da da sound. Dave loves hearing it. :) Sometimes I don't know what the point of this blog is. I might go back and read it someday. I guess, I meant to say that I don't know what direction to take it. If its a mom-vent session time, or a "report on how Violet is doing" spot. Oh well...sometimes I just come here and type, and most of the time its regarding Violet just because I am with her 24/7 and she's constantly changing. If I don't write some of this down, I know I'll forget. She is turning into such a goofy toddler. She is so fast. I turn around and she's across the room doing something. She can push and pull things with her little strong body....even go down the stairs. We taught her how to do it when we were in Mason City at my parents' house...and she loved the cushy carpeted stairs, and took to it quite well. Here at home, the stairs are hardwood, so maybe she won't slide down them quite as well. She is down to nursing twice a day. I like the personal freedom. I tend to stress about what she's going to eat...but I've been planning so I don't feel that way. She loves cheese, toast, any kind of cracker, soup, a mixture of meat/potatoes/veggies, yogurt, milk, bananas...almost anything. She is an excellent eater. She weighs around 24 or 25 lbs right now. I found something that keeps her occupied for at least 10 minutes. She will eat one of those Quacker rice cakes (which are really made with popcorn) - but walk around incessantly while munching on it. She walks around to the dog's bowls and shake her head no (because she knows not to touch it), then take a bite, walk around the counter, stop to chew and swallow, take another bite, walk across the kitchen, hit the cabinet or the fridge, chew and swallow, take another bite, then crawl into the little space where the broom used to be next to the fridge, sit down, and quietly munch on her snack all alone in the corner. She'll do the same thing with toast. Sometimes she ventures off into the living room or her bedroom. Dave and I try not to laugh at her because we don't know how much she really understands, but its so darn cute that we can't help but turn around and snicker. Today she decided to hold out her toast to the dog and Abby snatched it up right out of her hands. She wasn't too upset by Abby taking her snack. She did smile and thought it was mildly amusing. I hope she doesn't continue to do that. We're still struggling with napping. Today it was 10:30 am and I was hoping to wait closer to noon or 1 to put her down, but she was SO tired and cranky, that I had no choice. She fell asleep at 10:35 no problem, lights out...who knows how long she'll sleep. We're going to Texas next week Wednesday for 5 days to visit Shawn and Kim. I'm nervous about the difficulty of traveling with all our stuff with her, what to do about food, how to keep her entertained, what she's going to break of theirs, what to bring for clothes, etc. *sigh* I know we'll get through it. I hope we have fun.

ga ga ga

...her new noise. She got the G noise and constantly makes a ga ga ga ga ga noise. Its so cute!!

I think we're making progress

Ok, I think I've got more of a feel for this napping thing. My last post was more of a vent. I talked to a friend of mine yesterday whose daughter is a few months older than Violet. She said that when she moved from 2 naps to 1 a day, she made it around 1 pm but initially struggled to get that far in the day like I was having trouble with. I tried but Violet couldn't seem to make it that far after waking up so early...around 7 am. So, when she gets tired and whiney at 10 am, I make her a snack, sit down, and read some books or involve her 1 on 1, keep her engaged, and get through the melting down stage. She seems to do pretty good, then before you know it, its noon, so that means lunchtime, then I brush her teeth and then put her down for a nap. I've done that for the last 2 days and its working great! She slept at 1 pm two days ago until 3 pm, then today she went down at 12:40 pm and slept until 2:30 ish. That gives me a 2 hr time window during Violet's nap! I hope we can keep this up. She goes to bed around 8:00...that is a good time. About nursing, we're doing good. I've gotten her down to nursing just once in the morning when she wakes up, then once again later on in the evening sometime before she goes to bed. She is really into food, which is great. She will eat a big bowl of oatmeal and 1/2 a banana (maybe a whole one!) for breakfast, then have some cheese for a snack, then eat some chicken/potato/veggie "thoup" that I made her (she loves it!), then maybe a few crackers, drink some milk, then eat whatever I have for dinner along with me...maybe a burrito, some white beans, or fruit. Lots o' poo in one day for a little squirt! I plan on keeping the 2 times a day nursing until she wants to stop. I'm going to miss it a lot!

bananas?

Violet is into bananas again. Hmmm...I wonder how long this'll last! She ate a whole banana today after eating some potato fries for dinner. Her newest little saying is copying me and Dave when we kiss her. We make it a big deal to say "muuhhhAHHHHH" and she copies us by saying "mmmmmmmMAAA" . Its so cute!!

naps...blah

We don't have a nap schedule anymore. She usually wakes up at 8:00, then goes down for a morning nap sometime around 10 am but only sleeps for a half hour. She'll take a longer afternoon nap, but I have no idea what time or how long for. This lack of schedule is annoying!

she's finally on the mend, i'm going downhill

Well, Violet is now feeling better. I just noticed that my last post was Feb 5...and today's the 18th. She was sick forever, it seemed like. Today her nose finally stopped running. We went through so many boxes of kleenex, and the edges of her nostrils are scabby and rough from all the wiping. Poor kid. Her cough is lingering, but she's finally better. I have flu symptoms. I've got the chills, hot flashes, a fever, body aches, head aches, and my throat is very sore. Dave took Violet out to the pharmacy together (to give me a break) to get me some oscillococcinum and some other meds to take care of the flu symptoms. It so far is helping a little. I am going to start baking for Cup of Joe. I am excited and a little nervous. We'll see how it goes...the owner calls me tomorrow to let me know which day I'll be baking for.

sometimes...

Sometimes the days with Violet get long. She is so sick right now. Well, not SO sick, but an annoying sick. She's got a runny nose that needs wiping every 4 seconds it seems like, and she keeps coughing. When I hold her I can hear and feel the wetness in her chest. If she could blow her nose really hard and cough really hard, I feel like she could blow the cold right out the door, but its slowly dripping away and its dragging on me. She just walks, constantly....everywhere. She'll drag a toy with her somewhere, then leave it there, then go get it, then bring it over to me, then want it back, then go get something else, and the cycle starts over. I feel like I am feeding her 24/7. She nurses in the morning, then an hour later she eats some sort of breakfast. I give her all sorts of things...fresh fruit, cereal, cereal bars, toast (not all at once!) and she sortof picks and chooses what she wants to eat. I never feel like she gets a decent amount of food in her. For lunch, I bring out a few things and she takes a couple bites...again...I never feel like she eats a whole lot. I don't even know how much she's supposed to be eating in one day. I'm in the weird mix of nursing and giving her food....and its confusing. She likes noodles. A lot. And cheese. I made a chicken noodle soup tonight, and she wolfed down all the egg noodles she could find, and I gave her a couple carrots and celery and a little shred of chicken, and it went in the mouth and promptly back out. I think she sees the bite of food on the fork, and decides to put it in her mouth just so she can spit it out. No need to push it away with her hands...just use the tongue. She's learned that the red bib she's got catches everything she spits out, so I guess its always there for later. Sometimes I clean out whats caught and put it back on her tray...and she rarely notices the difference. I just started whole milk this week. Her first sip was out of the straw cup that she's had water in for the last few months. She was fully expecting water, but got a gulp of the milk, took one weird look at the cup, and pushed it away. She did drink another sip, then pushed it away...like she likes it, but decides she doesn't want it at the same time. As Violet was whining tonight ... I looked at her slobbery nose and sighed. I got sick of her and felt bad about it, because I know these days of her being so young are numbered. Dave said to me like "ya know, if you had my perspective on things, I'm not sure you'd feel the way you do..." and of course, my first inside reaction was to get upset...because I felt like he was telling me something I already realized. Of course I know...my job is draining and gets old, and the whining and cranky sick Violet days seem very long...and he did say that he recognizes that and there's room in my day to feel exhausted...but at that time I just wanted him to let me be exhausted.

Violet exploring snow - pics

Violet's left handprint

pics of exploring snow

Violet explores snow for the first time - comments

Last week I took Violet outside on the deck to explore snow for the first time. Now that she’s walking steadily, I thought, why not? So I bundled her up in her new birthday boots, coat and hat. It was a fairly mild day outside so I left her hands bare so she could touch the snow. She seemed happy to be outside. Her attitude was very mellow and concentrative. She methodically plunked from place to place on the deck, like a little wanderer, stopping to look at things that interested her. She squatted down to poke the snow, then sat to stay a little longer and figure it out. She picked up a chunk, squashed it between her fingers then looked confused. She found a little ball of snow and stuck it in her mouth, then promptly spit it out. Violet’s method of “spitting” something out is to stick her tongue out as far as it’ll go and hope it falls off. That made me giggle. She found a tiny little twig with a ball of snow on the end. She carefully pinched it and walked over to me and gave it to me. At one point she walked over to the sliding glass door and peered inside at the dog. I asked her who was inside, and she quietly peeped “Abuuhhhh” (the dog’s name is Abby). I asked her to say it again and she said a little louder “Abuuhhh”. She definitely knows the dog’s name. We stayed outside until her little cheeks got red. Her purple pants were dirty from sitting in wet, dirty snow. I thought her hands were getting cold so we came inside. I am pretty sure she had fun. We tried going outside again a few days later, but I had the 2nd layer of her coat on which is stiffer, and the sleeves are so long they covered her hands. She kept tripping on the driveway and accidentally did a face plant in the gravel near the driveway and got sand and mud all over her face. Needless to say, she wasn’t too happy about that, so we came inside and wiped her face off. That time wasn’t the most fun, but we’ll do it again! Its nice that she’s walking all over now … I don’t have to carry her everywhere.

bananas

Violet doesn't really like bananas. She's kindof weird. She'll eat one or two bites then push the rest away and refuse them. Maybe she's taking after her Uncle Jay who doesn't really care for them either! I found that if she does eat more than 2 bites, she's not in her high chair. If I grab a banana then head to the living room, she will follow me and open her mouth for a few bites, but rarely will she eat a lot of it. I know...nitty gritty detail...but when I think of them, I blog it! Thats what this online journal is for, right?

sprout!

she figured it out

Seems like today is the day she figured out how to stand up on her own in the middle of a room without pulling up to stand. She got into the crawling position, got both feet under her, and just stood up and started walking. She's got much longer hair, and its so adorable up in a clip on the top of her head sticking up like a little sprout. She's gaining hilarity. I think thats how you spell that word! She thinks everything is funny!

Violet turned ONE today!

Little Violet is a big girl now! I posted earlier this morning, but now the day is almost over and its been a great day! I'll give a short report on how the party went. We woke her up with a few songs (including happy birthday!) and videotaped it. We spent the morning getting ready and preparing the food. We cut up the fruit (pineapple, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries) and made the strawberry creamy dip, baked the pepperoni bagel bites, made the (dyed blue and purple) cupcakes and frosted them (purple and yellow dyed frosting), and mixed up the grape punch (made with red and white grape juice and sprite, topped with strawberry sherbet). We made the pumpkin muffins last night. Dave decorated the house with pink and white streamers. I kept Violet up later in the morning for a later nap...so that she would stay awake long enough to make it through her party from 2-4. She slept from around 11-12:30. She had her lunch which was potato cheesy soup. She's really eating a lot more food now and nursing less, maybe 4-5 times in a day, which is a lot less than a few months ago, which was around 8-10 times a day. So our guests started coming around 2. All in attendance were Grandma and Grandpa Hardinger, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Jay, Molly Hart, Nathan and Marisa Anderson and Devin Anderson. We all ate for a little while, then played the 3 games we had planned. They were: Guess how many cheerios were in the jar, guess how much Violet weighs, and a "how well do you know Violet" quiz. Rachel won the cheerio guess (actual was 633, her guess was 585), Marisa won the weight question (actual was 23 lbs, her guess was 22 1/2), and Molly got the most questions correct! Violet tried helping open her presents. Obviously, she didn't really get it. She loved finding new toys to play with though! She got a pink piggy bank with plastic coins, a couple new toys, a stuffed monkey, new books, some pink booties, some clothes, a silver bracelet (from Great Grandma Rowena!), and a contribution to her education savings fund. Oh, and yes, she stuffed her face with the cupcake we gave her. Frosting was all over her face! Her favorite thing to play with at the end of the day were the collection of balloons that Grandma Jo brought. She loved to squeeze them tight and let them go, and watch them float back up into the air.Soon everyone left and things got back to normal. We got the house cleaned up. Rachel is staying the night, and Jay is hanging out with us tonight, so we're all talking. I'm going to stop typing and join the conversation! Goodnight! Welcome to year 2 Violet!

the morning she turned 1

Its 7:39 am and I'm awake much earlier than I usually am. Its the morning of Violet's first birthday! I feel so giddy...like its my birthday or something. Dave was up around 6:45 am doing something with the fire and I woke up, realizing that it was almost the moment that Violet turned one...exactly...at 6:59 am when she was born. I stayed awake to see the clock! I'm weird like that. I thought about video-taping the clock but then realized that would be a little obsessive. It would have been fun, I guess...but oh well. Dave climbed back into bed to stay warm (on this chilly morning - its like 4 degrees outside or something very cold) and we started recalling the events of exactly last year. Some odd-early time in the morning we had opted for a c-section for the birth after very hard but unprogressive labor, and Dave recalled announcing "Its a girl!" after she came out. Then we settled in for a 5 day stay in the hospital. So much has happened in this year. Today we're having a little party for Violet. Dave and I put up pink and white streamers all over the house. We got all the appetizers ready, sortof. There's some stuff to do yet, but we're mostly ready! We are having pumpkin muffins, fresh fruit cups, mini bagel pizzas, maybe ham & cheese puff pastry roll ups, grape punch, and cupcakes. She's awake. I just heard her make some noises down in her crib. I think we'll get out the videocamera and sing to her or something to greet her this morning. I need to go wake up Dave! K...I'll write more later about the party. Happy Birthday Violet!

brush those teeth!

My sis...Violet's favorite Aunt Rachel is going to be starting orthodontic school this summer. She's moving to Oklahoma! She came to visit Monday and showed us the proper way to hold Violet while I brush her teeth. As you can see in the pic, she's pinned down and held in place! She has 5 teeth (2 lower centrals, 2 upper centrals and 1 lateral) and her 6th tooth, the other lateral, is coming in right now. She sucks on her upper lip a lot to relieve the pressure. She isn't really crazy about getting her teeth brushed, but she tolerates it. She has her first dentist appointment with the "doc" her Grandpa Jon on Friday the 19th. The 2nd pic here shows how she just loves to stick her fingers in holes. She is sticking her fingers through the little plastic hook holes that the shoulder straps hook onto. They weren't hooked in this pic, so she found them and kept her little fingers there until mealtime was over. The last pic is Violet ripping magazine pages to shreds. She grabs the magazine paper with two hands and pulls hard with all her might! The piece that ends up in her right hand she chucks behind her, and she continues to grab the remaining piece left in her left hand with both hands and tries again to pull it apart. Sometimes she doesn't get it to rip, and she tries again. If it doesn't rip by the 3rd try, she chucks the whole page behind her and grabs for something else. I know she loves doing it, so I start a tiny little tear for her and it makes for a big RIIPPPP making her face break into a big crazy smile. It must be satisfying to her or something.

that finger...

Violet's "comfort" thing is to suck on her finger. Just the index finger, not two at the same time, but just one. She usually turns her hand upside down and knaws on it until its soaking wet. If you look at the pic in an earlier post of her standing up in the pink outfit for the first time, she's doing it there. Its seems like a phase though...she'll do it a lot in a day, then stop for a day. She got to go on her first snow sled ride the other day. Dave and I walked down to the mailbox and back and she sat in the sled behind us the whole time. I'm not sure if she loved it or not, but it was an activity to get outside and see a change of scenery for once. The winter blues are getting to us! I hope we have fun outside this summer. She'll get to run around and discover all sorts of things! Oh.....we had her 1 year pics taken at JCPenney on Monday the 15th. I know, 5 days early, but I figure she'd look pretty much the same 5 days later! I wanted to get it out of the way and done with! She did so good. She kept wanting to stick her finger in her mouth every time the photographer would make her smile and jump back in time to snap the shot. We got some great ones! We ended up choosing the pictures that reminded us most of Violet's personality. We picked one of her standing up on her own with jeans and her white shirt (which has an adorable little "smirky" smile), a pic of her sitting on a white stool with her "crazy evil grin" and her favorite purple stuffed bear, and a very reflective and curious Violet pinching the #1 on a birthday cake with a pink background. She's not looking at the camera, she's instead looking very intently at the #1 on the cake with her little lips pursed in concentration.

She's walking all over the place now!

Its been a long time since I've written much on this blog. I don't feel like messing with the font or size, because today I'm sick, achey, and stuffed up. Violet has changed SO much. I know all parents say that about their kids and it sounds chiché but its so true. Violet has gone from a crawler to a walker for good now. She cruised along furniture for a long time but within a couple weeks she just took off and is now walking from room to room and carrying things with her. I'm not used to finding a toy relocated, but I guess I'll have to get used to it! She will be 1 on Saturday. A full 12 months has passed since we came home from the hospital, and it feels like last week, I swear. She is 23 lbs and around 31" tall...though the height is a guess and the weight might be a 1/2 lb off since we sit her down on our scale and it rounds up or down a 1/2 lb. She growls a lot. She sees a stuffed animal, she growls at it. She growls at Abby, our dog...but she stopped saying Abby, I'm not sure why. She boldly says "BA BA BA" and occasionally mutters a "mama mama" here and there. That's about it. Her "new" thing...and these "things" last maybe a few days or weeks then fade away, is laughing at everything she does. She'll grab a toy cup and bang it together with something else, laugh to herself, and look at us to see if we were watching, then laugh again. We are having a small party for her on her birthday here at our house. We ordered some cute invitations online but they haven't arrived yet...which makes me upset. But...only my parents, Rachel, Jay, Molly, Nathan, Marisa and Devin are coming. I hope she likes her first cupcake! I'm sure she'll figure out how to do this sooner or later, but she can't yet stand up on her own in the middle of the floor without something to pull on. She will use anything...someone's pant leg, the cabinets, or a chair to stand up with, then she'll take off walking, and she'll even stop walking, bend over to pick up something and stand right back up, so I know she could do it, but I think its just a matter of figuring out how to do it herself. She LOVES the bathtub -- even more than she used to I think. She goes right up to the tub and starts squealing and screaming before I even get water in the tub. She is increasing in her agility and ability to move around, slide across the bottom of the tub, stand up in the tub and move around...basically everything she needs to start being a toddler, not a baby! Its amazing to me. :) Right now here's her "schedule" .... give or take a 1/2 hour with naptimes. She's mixing things up lately. 8:00 wake up, nurse with me in bed (Dave usually brings her up to me so I don't have to get out of bed!) 8:30 breakfast of some kind, usually toast or cereal 9:00-11:00 playtime 11:00 nurse, naptime until 1:00 1:00 lunch 2:00-4:00 playtime, small snack 4:00-5:00 nurse, nap (this one is getting very short!!) 5:30 eat dinner, play around until 7:30, take bath, 8:30 nurse, bedtime