violet thirteen months

Happy Birthday to our sweet Violet girl!  Since I missed the twelve month window (as well as her 1 year checkup), I am doing this post at 13 months.

Weight: 21.5 lbs (80th percentile)

Height: can't remember but 95 percentile

Teeth: 14 (just missing the bottom canines)

We had a small birthday party for Violet at a park near our house with some family.  Violet loved the cake that Auntie Leana made for her (purple ombre!) and ate almost the whole thing!

Sleep:
We were doing so well!  I night weaned Violet around 11 months and she began sleeping longer than 2 hour stretches.  Thank God for that!  We still had trouble getting through the night, and she was usually in our bed around 5am for an early morning snack.  A few weeks ago she got an ear infection, then we took a trip to Santa Cruz, then she got a cold, and sleep is terrible again!  Once she's feeling better its back to the sleep training grind.

Social:
Violet is a mix of a social butterfly and a mamas girl.  She will sit in random people's laps at story time and is much more friendly at this age than Kennedy was, but if anything is amiss, she wants mama!  Daddy won't do and she can be very attached when she's not feeling good.

Favorites:
Books: This girl looooves books!  She would be happy if we read books all day.  Some favorites are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Katz lift-a-flap books, I am a Bunny, and any Bonyton book.

Foods: Cheese, bananas, and grapes.  I'm still nursing her a little bit, mostly before she sleeps and if she has an early morning wake up.

Songs: Knows the hand motions to almost all the songs we sing in music class plus twinkle twinkle little star and the itsy bitsy spider.  Loves to dance too!

Toys:  This girl is a blanket girl!  She loves dragging blankets around the house and is a major snuggler!  She also loves stuffed animals and drawing with our magna doodle.

Skills/Milestones: 
Violet began walking right around a year and now she is off and running.  She is also an excellent climber and can get herself up and down almost anything.  Totally terrifying!

Claps, high fives, puts things into a container, scribbles, gives kisses (the cutest!)

Words: Too many to count!  Knows all animal sounds, ball, book, bear, bunny, Kennedy (deedee), puppy, Mormor, Elmo, mama, dada, arm, toes, nose, all done, yeah, no, hi, bye, hello, hop.  There are more but I'm blanking.

Violet, we love your contagious joy, you energy, and your sweet disposition.  May your light always shine for Jesus!

happy birthday violet!

I just found this post in my drafts... seven months ago now but here we go!

Yesterday our sweet Violet girl turned one!  We met some family at the park by our house and had a little celebration for our sweet girl.  Violet had a little bit of a rough time. Maybe she was depressed about getting a year older or maybe it's the three molars coming in along with a double ear infection being treated with a medication that gives her a terrible stomach ache.

The highlight of her party was consuming the beautiful cake that Auntie Leana made for her.  We had a "violet" party with purple decor, so Leana made her a purple ombre smash cake with violets piped on the top.  It was so cute and Violet LOVED it.  She ate almost all of it and it was at least three cupcakes worth of cake!

Violet, as you grow into a little girl, I pray that you will continue to bring joy to those around you.  I pray that you will be a sister who encourages and forgives.  I pray that you will be eager to learn, brave, and confident of your identity in Christ.  You are so loved.

life lately

I had to do an update because Violet has literally exploded with life in the past two months!  It started with a week where she learned how to clap her hands, stand on her own, and put a ball into a hole.  From there, she has said her first words, taken her first steps, and is so interactive.

The words she says are: Elmo, Mormor, Bunny, "haha" for monkey, and she clicks her tongue for horses and ducks.

She's definitely not using walking as her mode of transportation yet, but she can do it when prompted!

I can't believe she's going to be one in less than two weeks!  My BABY!!!!

And for your entertainment, here are some funny things that Kennedy has said recently:
"Mom, when I get to be a grownup, I can drink wine and cut with a BIG knife."

Sure sweetie, just not at the same time...

While reading Snow White and seeing the witch's magic potion: "Mommy, that's her wine."

Um, I didn't think I had a wine problem, but maybe I do??

violet ten months

Violet is ten months old!

Stats at 9 Months- Height: 28 inches (75%) Weight: 19lbs 3oz (75%)

Oh, how we love this little nugget.  She is a busy bee these days, crawling around exploring everything!

At ten months you:

• Have six teeth.  They all came in at once, and they are so great!  They look so funny and large in your mouth.  I love it. 

• Have the most delicious thunder thighs I've ever seen.  They're truly glorious.  I just want to gobble them up.
• Crawl and pull up on everything.

• Point.  This is my favorite.
• Love food!  You love to eat table food, yogurt, purees; you'll take it all.  

• Love banging on the table like it's a big drum.  Music class must really be influencing you :)

• Are still a total mama's girl and I love it.

• Also, we don't sleep anymore.  I've sleep trained you to go to sleep by yourself initially, but you wake up every hour or so and have to be nursed back to sleep.  I'm so tired.

Violet Elizabeth, you are a gift from the Lord.  My prayer for you is that continue to bring joy to those around you and be a reflection of Christ's love.  

a few new house updates

So, I've been in major purge mode lately.  We have so much junk that we never use, and I want it out of here!  I've been taking stuff to the Goodwill, handing down baby items to friends, and- the funnest thing- selling stuff on eBay and craigslist.  Any money I make, I can justify spending on house stuff because, duh. Free money.  Some stuff has sold for a lot more than I thought it would (7 year old pottery barn pillow cases for $27!), some has sold for very little (99 cent never worn pumps), and some is sitting in our closets waiting for some lucky person to scoop it up at a bargain price (brand new subwoofer?  anyone?). Anyway, I'm having fun with it and enjoying the emptier closets and decluttering process.

Moving on, here are some of the updates we've done lately:

• Added a chalkboard behind the range.  Ordered a cheapo one off of amazon, then Doug used some "reclaimed wood" to create a chunkier border.

We had an engagement party for Owen and Leana last weekend.  She's now in charge of any and all future chalkboard drawings.

•  Bought new couch pillows that are more modern.  Next up for the couch is to order a new cover.  I'm thinking a medium grey.  And hopefully not as sloppy looking...

•  Another "reclaimed wood" project.  Doug built me a new media console for a "house-aversarry" present.  I make up holidays to get stuff ;)  I still need to stage it with cute stuff, but I love it so much!

I have never liked our old one, and I'm so glad to see it go!  

• An amazing Mother's Day present from my in-laws.  Replaced the clock, which had recently stopped working, on my gallery wall. 

•  New side table to replace the clunky mahogany one that was there before.  This change made a huge difference!

 And lastly, I found this gem of what the house looked like one year ago when I thought I would never have a home again!

And look at it now!

kennedy two and a half

Wow!  I have a two and a half years old!  Whew, doing the toddler thing is tough.  Patience in the midst of the agony of letting a two year old dress herself and the comforting of a sad toddler over dinner put on her plate in the wrong order is really hard, but it comes with so much joy!

My favorite things that Kennedy has said lately:

• "Thank you for my baby sister mommy!"
• "I made a BIIIIIG poop!"
• "I like your booby mommy.  I like your BIG booby."  Apparently I have one big boob and one little boob?
• "I went in the house at nursery, and Conor came in to see me and I told him 'Leave me alone!'"

Kennedy loves:

• All things princess and dressing up.  Our dress up collection is awesome, and Kennedy requests that her dress be unbuttoned as soon as we get home so that she can take it on and off to try on her different costumes.

• Watching tv (sad but true.  We try to limit it to less than an hour a day.)
• Taking care of her dolls and babies.

• Playing in the back yard.
• Dancing.  Especially to the Frozen soundtrack. I know.  We're those people.  But it's SO GOOD!
• Singing.  We have doing doing a little music class through music together and we LOVE it.
• Washing her hands in the sink.
• Wearing dresses that she can twirl in.  In fact, they're pretty much all she'll wear these days unless I distract her as I'm trying to get her dressed with the tv on and M&M's in her mouth.

Kennedy knows:

• Who made the world and everything in it.
• Everyone in the family's full name.
• Countless songs.
• How to climb up onto just about anything.
• How to make her baby sister crack up.

• How to go to the bathroom like a big girl!  She's completely potty trained except for night and naps and has only had two accidents.  They were both in the first few days of potty training, so we're doing really well!

Kennedy is tentative and shy in a lot of situations.  She is not one for large groups or parties.  She loves spending time alone with mommy or daddy and is very nurturing and concerned about others.

She also got her first haircut.  Doug basically gathered up her mullet in his hand and snipped it off in one cut.  It looks super cute and still makes pretty epic pigtails.

Kennedy, I pray that we can love you the way that you need to be loved and nurture your uniqueness.  That we can teach you how to love the Lord and put others before yourself.  We love you more than you will ever know Kennedy Jane.