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!!