On Ruby and her feelings for Violet

Today, I headed out to the bank to do some minor business and left Violet home with Ken. He also had to take care of some business and put Violet in her Bumbo seat to play with her pals on the mat. When he came back into the living room, he found Ruby near Violet looking at her. Turns out, Ruby was waiting for Violet to thank her for the "gift" she brought in to her tiny baby...a dead squirrel...recently killed and lovingly presented to Violet on her play mat! Ken yelled at poor, thoughtful Ruby and took the dead beastie outside. Violet seemed to have missed the whole thing as purple giraffe was really interesting to her. The mat is being cleaned ala Silkwood. The squirrel has been buried. I was seriously gone all of 10 minutes.
I think it is quite evident that Ruby likes Violet. It is a big job to catch and kill a squirrel, especially with all of the escape trees we have in our yard. That is catch number 2 for sure, 3 if you count the one Ken found that was just a pile of squirrel fluff...kill #1...that we know of. We hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
Oh, and there was no blood to be found...we figure it had a heart attack and some major internal injuries from being tossed about for fun when it was caught.

Tiny Foot

So tiny and perfect.

My other baby

Ruby has been neglected lately so I thought I would show you her general state of being. She has been doing well lately, not trying to run away, less lonely, still a little clingy, and she does whine until she gets a walk in the mornings. She really doesn't need to whine...it isn't like we have forgotten at all since Keona died. She is just a little high strung. Post walk, she is out sleeping on her dog bed in the living room, dining room, or in Nani's old haunt, the bedroom on the big bed. She will likely start moving out to the back porch again soon as it is cooling off again...finally!
Play with me?
If not, I will play with myself!
playing with the hedgehog carcass near Violet.
I LOVED the new toy Kiki and Mila sent to me...I chewed it up!

All smiles these days

Ok, this kid doesn't stop. As long as she is standing up she is a happy girl! Violet also enjoys laying and kicking, but standing is her favorite. And I did do some reading on what appears to be an old wives tale...that kids shouldn't put pressure on their legs at this age or they will be bowlegged. Whew!
(Oh, and these are out of order, but I can't figure out how to change the order on the new slide show system...I am working on it!)

Jumpey Seat

Alright, we tried this one about 2 weeks earlier than the box said was appropriate. She really didn't get it. Maybe without the footy pjs? I think she will be there really soon, but there was absolutely NO jumping going on and mostly she just fell over into the side. I think the fact that her arms don't come over the top is part of the problem. Look for updates on this one.

home time

Checking out papa.

Tired on Grammy's lap.

Sad and tired...or time for a meltdown!

New Dolly from Rowe.

Weird hair texture dad!
Some highlights from our home time during my parent's visit.
Violet seemed to know them right away...or she was just happy to have new people to entertain her. She had a great time with the constant love and attention. She is starting to really play with her toys and is getting more human every day!

Traveling with Violet

As of 15 weeks, Violet has now visited 9 states. Most recently, she drove with me and my mom to NC for a show (we went to SC on the way...mentioned in another entry). Violet is a very good little rider for the most part...as long as you don't keep her in the car past sundown. I haven't decided if it is a time limit thing...she does ok with 5-6 hours, but 7 turns into 12 fast when she screams and will not settle back into her car seat. Mostly this happens after the sun hits the horizon, so my theory is that it freaks her out to not be able to see stuff. Though turning on the car light doesn't seem to stop the madness. On the way, we had a harrowing final 2 hours, on the way home it was only more like 1.5. I did my best with my cell phone and an image of her in there that would stop her for a minute or so, but then she would wail away again until I found the next distraction. sigh. We will have to figure that one out, or we will always have to plan to stop after 5-6 hours. That is restrictive. I guess when she can play it might get easier....or harder...shudder.
So these are some highlights from the start of the NC trip and the New Orleans trip that added daddy. See the French Quarter with Grammy entry for more!
Audrey and Sophia are the daughters of the friends I met my first year at SECAC. At the time we were all trying to be pregnant and were all struggling. Last year, only a few weeks apart, they were both successful and their daughters are now pushing on 2. They are sweet little girls who were having a great time together. Maybe next year Violet will be able to play too!
Mostly Ken and I went to the conference, but we did get to go to Cafe Du Monde for begnets (I don't know how to spell that one!) Happy little pillows of fried dough...yummm! And a quick walk through the French Quarter back to the hotel before catching the airport shuttle. I guess we need to plan for a bit more free time during these forays in the future.

New Deck Fun

Part of having my folks come down was to give them some Violet time, part of it was for Mom to travel with me to North Carolina so that Violet could come with me, and part of it was for dad to help Ken rebuild the deck since is it a piece of cr#@ made by the idiots who owned....oh, I give up...we basically have to rebuild everything they redid when they owned our home. So to save Violet myriad splinters when she learns to crawl and walk, we decided to get rid of the substandard materials covering our deck and replace them with quality products...but not the best stuff, I mean, we aren't made of money or anything. So, while mom and I traveled to Elon, NC via South Carolina (she has a state thing and it only was supposed to add 40 miles, and an hour or so, but with Violet added more like 3 hours as she was DONE with her car seat) dad and Ken set forth on this project. It is now probably mostly done, except about 10 boards dad and I didn't have the night before they went back north. So finished deck photos to come. Probably after I get new cushions for the deck furniture...so maybe next year. In the mean time, enjoy!

French Quarter with Grammy Pat

Well, this is out of order, but it was cracking me up..the back story is...
My mom went down to New Orleans with Ken and I so that she could take care of Violet so that we could participate in the SECAC conference presentations. So mom decided to take a self-guided walking tour of the French Quarter with Violet on Friday. My last words to her were, "make sure you take some photos of what you see so we can put it on the blog". So...here are those photos. They cracked me up. I really can't tell you what most of these places are, but if you have been there, you might know.

travel updates

I'm in CO this weekend without my family and am missing them. More update on this month's travel tomorrow, but wanted to show what a hard time Ken is having while I am gone.
Horrible, isn't it? Poor thing won't stop crying she misses her mommy so much. Ken is just a crappy dad. What can I say?