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