Playdate!

We had lots of fun while I was on maternity leave after Violet's birth. One of the best memories was of our standing Wednesday afternoon playdate with Amy and her daughter Lucy. They made soup in Livy's kitchen, drew chalk pictures on the easel and played like it was bed time. They would lay in the bed, tell Amy and me "goodnight", pull the covers over their heads and giggle. Lucy loved to sketch on Liv's magnetic sketch pad. She would cover the whole pad with squiggly lines and say "Olivia, is that enough?" Liv would barely stop what she was doing to say "No." Lucy would continue drawing squiggles and asking if it was enough. At some magical point that was only known to Liv she would decide that there were enough squiggles and she would respond with "Yes." At that time they were both satisfied with Lucy's sketch and moved on to other games.

Growth spurt!

Last night Violet slept from 7pm until 5am! She ate then went back to sleep until 7. Woke again for more food and then went back to bed by the time I left for work at 8:45am. Right now she's big enough to wear clothes for 6-12 months. And her feet are quite big. She is also very long which makes it hard to keep her in footed pajamas for more than a few months.

Violet has the sweetest disposition. She hardly ever cries. In fact I don't think I've heard her cry in weeks. She fusses at us when she's tired or hungry but rarely goes into a full crying spell. She's such an easy girl to put to bed as well. I just swaddle her and lay her in bed, give her a kiss and walk out the door. She will look at herself in the mirror, smile and coo until she falls asleep. Easy!

An interesting case of Iwannabea Ladybugitis

Olivia was inspired by the rocks we painted to look like ladybugs. So she took the Sharpie pen and put spots on her belly. When Chris came out to the front porch she hid under the table and said "Dad will be so upset!" Of course he wasn't mad but he turned to me and said "Are you nuts?" Perhaps a little.

Violet turns over for the first time

Violet turned over to her tummy for the first time yesterday morning while cuddling on the bed with me and Chris. I think it took her by surprise; first she started to laugh. And when she laughs it is a full body laugh. Her smile takes over her face. Her eyes change shape and her dimple appears. Then she turns her head to the left and raises her shoulders up toward her ears. And then her whole body makes a "c" shape. It really is quite charming. So it was in the middle of this smile, when her body made a "c" that she rolled over to her left side. She lingered there for a while and then she squirmed around enough that she made it all the way onto her tummy. It was so great that both Chris and I were there to see it happen together.

I am long overdue for writing Violet's birth story. I think it's time that I write it before the hard work of a full time job and taking care of 2 kids under the age of 3 turns my brain to total mush.
Violet almost came into the world early, around 32 weeks, so I was ordered to go on bed rest. That seemed to convince her to hang out in utero a little longer. Christmas was approaching and I was dilated 2 cm. The doctor thought that I would deliver the week she was on vacation. But no, little Violet hung on. Then she was almost induced on New Year's Eve. We were pretty excited at the possibility of having the first baby of 2010 but then my doctor realized that the 31st was a Sunday and her office was closed. So the birth day was moved to January 3rd and we were set to start the induction at 7 am. Violet wasn't due until January 8th but I was in a lot of pain and it looked like she was going to be a big girl so Dr. Oliver decided we could induce before the 8th. I was more than happy to comply.
So on the morning of January 3rd Chris and I woke up at 6 am. Grammy came to the house at 6:45 to watch Livy. We thought she would sleep through our departure but she stumbled out of her room rubbing her eyes. We told her we were going to the hospital to have baby Violet but her primary concern was getting Grammy to read her new Charlie and Lola book to her.
Once at the hospital things happened pretty quickly. I was hooked up to the IV and they started the pitocin drip. I could feel the contractions and I could also see them on the monitor. There was a monitor for Violet's heartbeat too. I found it very reassuring to listen to her heart beating. After a few hours I got an epidural and whew that was not a pleasant experience. I had a spinal block with Liv and that was so much better. The epidural made my hips and legs so numb that I had no control over them until late that evening. Anyway the contractions continued and I felt nothing.
At 11:50 the nurse checked me and I was 8 cm dilated. She called the doctor and the other nurses to get them ready. Dr. Oliver came in to check on me. She told me that Violet would certainly be born by 2; things were going very well. As she and the nurse left for a quick lunch she said to push the nurse's button if I felt any pressure that made it feel like I needed to push. Ten minutes later I told Chris he'd better push the nurse button because I was feeling a lot of pressure. And for good reason; I was a full 10 cm dilated and the nurse could see the hair on Violet's head!
The nurse told me not to push; I needed to wait a bit for my doctor and nurse. I didn't have to wait long though. As soon as they arrived the pushing began. On the third contraction "little baby Violet" came into the world looking absolutely beautiful. It was 12:42 pm and she weighed 7 lb 15 oz. She was 20 inches long and had lovely dark brown hair. She had enough hair that the nurses that bathed her spiked it up. Too bad we didn't get any pictures of her first hair do.