She works hard, she plays hard...April and May

The end of April brought a visit from my folks, Grammy Pat and Papa Walt...somehow I have no photos of them, I think my camera was lost for a time, and we used Ken's, so I will have to find them when I get back. Most of the month of May, Ken and I have been working nonstop trying to get the house ready for sale. You can see some of the mess in the house around us. We are noticing a lot of changes in Violet's awareness, and her personality and will coming out. She spent a lot of the month nodding emphatically, one up one down, but has now learned to shake her head "no" which is sad. She was so accommodating only saying yes. She also has more hair, and more curls coming in every day. Right now she looks a bit like Art Garfunkle, with the rim of flyaway curls, and not much on top. Hopefully that will change soon.
Enjoy!

Bathing beauty

I know...another bath? I just can't resist. We put her in the sink as the bathtub is hard to get to for our old aching bodies. She likes it. Oh, and the last slide shows you how curly her top is getting.

Zoooooo trip

Ok, so we went to the zoo for the first time, as I mentioned. And here are the images worth mentioning from that. She really didn't much get looking at the animals, except for the meerkats. Which I can't find the photo of...must be on Ken's camera. Maybe this time next year she will be more into it.
At least she looked cute in her sun hat (made by a friend of Ken's mom) and her elephant outfit. Which you can only barely see in the photo of her riding on Ken...the small red detail is a line of elephants...

11 months

Thought I would send out a little happy since I am awake at 3 am even though Violet isn't.
She turned 11 months on Sunday. It was not ceremonious as we are working on the house upgrades. We finally felt like progress was being made last night when the siding had been replaced, the top or the railing on the deck was redone and the back door is scraped and will be painted over the course of the next couple of days. The last huge thing is to replace the sink in the bathroom and then we are so much closer to being ready...of course there is a LOT of cleaning to do...sigh...cleaning. Violet is enjoying the process as many of our friends and neighbors are coming over in the evenings to babysit. She is so curious about new people and people she knows and how differently everyone plays with her. She is very social, and fortunately, very easy going, so most people are enjoying these evenings of fun.

This photo is a little old, she now looks a little like Art Garfunkle with a crown of fluffy curls that are oh so slowly trying to reach the front of her head.
I will download more photos soon.

a story to share

Violet is getting to be a big girl...11 months this Sunday. Hair is getting curlier and curlier (and thankfully starting to fill in slowly in the front of her head). She is getting to know what makes other people smile, laugh, and talk to her. I guess this is two stories...
1 Today we went to the GI testing for her belly. While we were waiting for the doctor to show up, Pam, our tech person was talking to V and Ken started making her dance her Irish jig. Because Pam had her all rialed up, V was really hamming it up, kicking her little feet like mad and smiling like a crazy leprechaun. Pam immediately went and got the other techs, and some other people to come in an watch. V had an audience and boy was she hammy. Another attention hog in the family...what is a mom to do???

2 On the topic of when not to laugh.
V has been doing a bit of hitting at people when she is being held and gets excited. I don't think she means it as a bad thing, she is just a bit flail-y. However, this evening she hit me a couple of times, and in good parenting fashion, I said, "no hitting" and took her hands and held them together for a few seconds. Then I said, "Violet, hitting hurts mommy, no more hitting" and let go of her hands. She immediately and precisely hit my leg 3 times and then in true V style, nodded her head hard from top to bottom. Just one nod. It was as if she was saying, Violet will hit...and she will do it like this. She caught me off guard and I laughed out loud...whoops...now hitting is a funny game. Crud. The nodding is pretty cute though. She will also crawl up to Ruby and just look at her and then all of a sudden, nod the big nod. We don't know what she thinks it means.

Oh, and 3...
She now waves bye bye. Awwwww.

Violet takes her playing very seriously. Ken shot this series of images after some teeth came in so she was pretty happy. I just love all of the faces she makes. Some have attitude, some just happy, some full on giggling. She is really getting to be pretty fun. Today we are off to the zoo with Grammy Pat and Papa Walt. This is her first trip to the zoo so we will see what she thinks about all of the big animals. If they are anything like Ruby for her, she will just want to touch their tags!

Violet- months 8, 9 and 10

Ok...no time to blog because of working...so here is the catch up in a nutshell...
1 st Karaoke party, learning to pull up and walk around things, still don't want to eat much- going to the GI Docs on May 9, playing playing playing, eating things I shouldn't eat, a visit with cousin Darla and friend Annette in Jackson, MS, more playing, images with mommy because people say she doesn't exist, loving on daddy, daddy taking creepy photos of which mom only includes one, diaper girl, smiley girl, tormenting Ruby. I think that does it.

Oh, and a sweet story...
I went to the Chiropractor the other day and Molly was watching Violet at the front desk. A random client started blowing raspberries and making sounds at Violet and then she snapped at her...with her fingers, not going crazy. Violet looked at the lady's hands, looked at hers, and tried to snap. At first it was just her thumb against her ring finger. Now she "snaps" all the time and it is more like a real snap movement only with no sound. She is the incredible snapping baby. I will try to get a video posted...it is, dare I say it, precious!

Waiting for word

Hi All-
Just got back from my photo conference. Had a fantastic time and was able to stop thinking so hard about things and job status for a short while. Other things I do to keep my mind off of things are...
Chasing Violet around and telling her cords aren't baby toys.
changing diapers.
playing hedgehog toss with Ruby.

Ok, 2 days later and still no images...Ken put together a dramatic interpretation of Violet with her 6 teeth since she rarely shows them off. Enjoy...watch for more photos soon!

Such a big girl

And More!

Violet titled the last set.
She is really getting good at typing.
The big chair is her new favorite place to play. I just sit in front of it and catch her when she crawls off!
And there are photos of me too...Ken just has them all on his camera.

More recent Violet

Always on the go and wanting to touch everything in sight. And then taste it. And then taste it again. She definitely knows her name as we say, "Violet, that is not for you." 4 million times a day.

January and February photos

Well, here they are...the image I promised from the past couple of months. It turns out that Ken has been the better parent this past little while as I have gone back to work and am precariously balancing all of my hats. So, now that I know I have fallen down on the mom job, I will get my camera back out.
Enjoy Jan and Feb...more to come!

What happened to January???

Hello out there all you patient friends and family members!

Well...going back to work has added many layers to our schedule. I miss the good old days of the first 6 months when I didn't have to shower, Violet was very sleepy, and napping could happen whenever she was out. Sigh...

So, the past couple of months we have been crawling (army, and now up on knees and elbows), teething (Sharky and Chompers, two on the bottom), seeing Mandy and her boys (2x), not seeing the birthdad (he didn't show), finalizing our family (on January 6, yay!), going back to work (Ken again, me for the first time since she was born), walking holding onto fingers (still wobbly, but determined), sitting up for long periods of time (since 6 months), and pulling up from sitting to standing at her jungle toy (just last week!). I don't think I will ever have time to put all of the photos together, but I will try to put the big ones in a slide show soon. Since these are the only images from the past 2 months ready for upload, this is Violet at the art openings this month with our pal Stace. She is very serious in public and will make a fantastic art snob someday.

Watch for more soon!

Joys of 2009

Hi ho-
Violet is changing every day. We had a great Christmas with families, which included a stomach virus for me, Violet, Ken, Steff, Kiki, Mila, Brian, Lucy, Esther, and Jane...it was a doozy! We also got to stop through St. Louis to see Janet, Eric, Teagan, and meet little Lazslo who is a cutie pie.
Violet was spoiled in all the right ways by her cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. We now have to hold her or be playing with her when she is awake or she makes tiny whiney noises, though that could be because of the new tooth that made itself known on January 1. We are back to a baby that wakes up at night at least once and is fussy for a while when she does. Sigh...I remember the good ol days when she slept through...sigh. Anyway, I will post more photos in the next days...school is starting up again and between getting ready for going back to work, which I am looking forward to, and getting the job applications out, which I abhor, and getting ready for a show that I have to drive down and install the second week of classes, I am not exactly feeling on top of things. Sorry to say, the blog may have to wait...maybe my sister and sister-in-law will get posting some photos so I can put it off a little longer...hint, hint. You can link to their blogs from my home page.
a photo or two from before we left...
rolling over in my bouncy seat
so I can do pushups!
I now sit
so I can play
MONSTER BABY!!!!
give me the keys, I am ready to drive!

baths are so much more fun now that I can sit up and splash! (I know I don't look like I am having fun, but I was)