Beach!

On Friday, the girls went to a two-hour science class called "Motion Commotion," where they made a marble rollercoaster and balsa wood airplanes. Their friends Emily, Charlie and Tommy went, too; their mom Patrice had invited us to do the class with them.

At pickup, I mentioned that we were planning to go to Stevenson Ranch to listen to a summer concert, and Patrice and Geoff and their kids met us there.

This turned into a sleepover for our girls at their house - yes, both girls! Violet was over the moon to be included - Emily is a wonderful girl who is sweet and kind to Violet. Vi also loves playing with the boys, so it worked out very well.

Both our families were free on Saturday, so we all went to the beach together. We headed up to Carpinteria, a gorgeous beach we haven't visited in years.









It was a perfect beach day.

The weather was warm enough, the water refreshing, we found free parking super close, and the kids (and parents) all had a ball. Geoff, Stace and the girls swam several times out to the floating platform you can see in the water.

Sleepover!

Violet had her first sleepover this week, when a late-evening playdate turned into an invitation from our good friend Sara, Alli's mom.

Thanks to Sara for sharing all these sweet photos. The park photos are from the picnic following the last day of school. Violet ran over to Sara, who is a photographer, and started posing and begging Sara to photograph her. Such a ham!

Violet and Alli started squealing when they heard the news that Vi would stay over Wednesday night. It was around 9 p.m. when I left, and Sara sent me updates throughout the night.

Violet had no trouble at all being away from me, though she did have trouble going to sleep. She was having too much fun!

Sara said Violet exulted, "We're going to stay up 'till the midnight!"

The girls pretty much did. The next day, they were tired, of course.

I picked up Violet around noon, and we planned with Sara to head over to our pool around 2:30 after lunch and a rest.

Violet rested by playing quietly in a bedroom rather than napping.

Just as Sara texted that she and her girls were on their way over, this is what I found in the playroom. Silly girl. After a power nap, we had some pool fun together.

Sleepy girl, dancing girl

 Before Violet moved into her toddler bed, she slept during her naptime about half the time. Since we've moved into a bed, that's dropped to maybe one day every two weeks.

That's NOT to say she doesn't still need a nap! Often if we drive somewhere in the late afternoon, she drops off in the car. After our big park day on Tuesday in Montrose, she couldn't make it through dinner.

 On Saturday, Cora went to a Hart High Show Choir fundraiser, where the elementary kids were taught a routine by the high schoolers.

Stacey, Violet and I went to my parents' house to watch the Dodger/Cardinal playoff game. (This is one of those rare times I do wish we had cable!)
We also got to catch up with the NEWLY ENGAGED Auntie Mel! It was fun to look at her wedding research online.

On the way to Cora's performance, Violet of course fell asleep.

She even slept through the performance, a lively and loud version of "Under the Sea" from the Little Mermaid.

Daddy has his hands full with these two!

After the show choir event, we went to Petsmart for cat food and litter. It was an adoption day for a kitten rescue, and I figured the girls would enjoy seeing the cats, along with the small mammals, birds, fish and lizards.

But, for the first time, Cora fell in love with the kittens to the extent that she was crying when I said we couldn't bring one home. She cried off and on the rest of the night, and her sadness carried into Sunday.

"I want one of my own, that I could take care of," she said. Spencer and particularly Sebastian are too big for her to carry, she said.
I tried to explain that we can't handle three cats, that she's lucky to have two fabulously loving cats, and that kittens grow up in a matter of months anyway. But, there is no arguing with a girl who wants a kitten.

For her part, Violet said she wants to get rid of Spencer and Sebastian so we can get a dog.

Another Coraism: "Mom, are there really other planets?"
Me: "Yes..."
Cora: "Is New Jersey another planet?"

Catching up

 Isn't it typical - I finally get the blog all caught up, after weeks of feeling behind because I was sick. And then our laptop dies.

Yep, our dear Toshiba bit the dust at the ripe old age of 4 1/2. Not bad for a $400 computer. Ironically, we had backed up everything and ordered a new Dell a week ago, the night before it crashed itself to death.

While we wait for our new one to arrive, I'm borrowing Melly's laptop to try to catch up here on the blog.

The week before the computer died, we got ready Tuesday morning with no running water, as the water main that runs between our house and our neighbors' houses burst.

This flooded out the back yard and several rooms of our rear neighbor's house.

While the water was off and the workers were rerouting the main, they hit the gas line, so we also were without gas much of the day (though we could sure smell it in the air). Luckily it's not cold here during the day, and no one was hurt.

The work took several days, and it was a bit exciting to have it all going on right in front of our house.

The next weekend was Remembrance Day/Veterans Day, and Cora had Monday off from school.

With the longer weekend, Cora proposed having Violet spend the night in her room, with the girls sharing the trundle. Violet was very excited about this plan, too. She brought lots of animals, blankies and her pillow.

Listening to the girls giggling and talking  together was a lot of fun for me and Stace. An hour later, Cora was asleep, as she had been up early for school.

Violet took a while longer to drop off to sleep. There was too much fun to be had in Cora's room: books to read, stickers to cover her shirt with, CDs to try out. Since she sleeps in a crib normally, being free was, um, freeing.

We let them sleep in Cora's room Friday and Sunday nights, and both nights went about the same. Here's how we found Violet on Monday morning, crashed out on Cora's bed after we finally got her to sleep about 10:30 p.m.

 Also over the weekend, Stace and the girls put in the winter garden. This was one of the first times Stace really encouraged Violet to participate, and here, she's watering the new peas. They also planted lettuce, cauliflower and carrots.

Toddler Violet

Violet is 13 months!
OK, I'm just a couple of weeks late in marking the occasion on the blog.

She's walking everywhere, still in that stiff-legged and cute way. And she's a toddler in more ways than that one - she's having little temper tantrums when she's mad, and she doesn't put up with Cora doing whatever Cora wants when they're playing together.

In these photos, I'm learning and relearning that I can't leave things on the changing table within Violet's reach from her crib. First, it was the toilet paper roll. Then, the diaper drawer was open and she pulled out a lot of diapers to play with.

Now that Violet is walking, I find her often attached to my leg. For several days, she would bite my leg when she was holding on - I had to nip that one in the bud! No biting for the last week or so, thankfully.

This week has been a bit rough for Violet. Monday and Tuesday nights, she was up in the night and wouldn't settle down to sleep.

On Wednesday she had a fever, which lasted for over a day, and then progressed into the cold Cora has also had.

Wednesday and Thursday nights Violet slept fine, but then on Friday night she woke up at 1:30 and didn't fall back to sleep until after 4. Violet's never had a night this bad.

Flipping through the toddler sleep book, it mentions teething, learning to walk and illness as all being reasons to wake up in the night. Hmmm. In addition, I've weaned Violet to nursing only in the morning and evening in the last week or two. So I guess I shouldn't be shocked that all the above is affecting her sleep.

The sleepy trip home

We are back home now, unpacked and trying to catch up on sleep.

Sleep we missed out from travel, jet lag, and a couple of weeks of sharing a room with our darling Violet Mae.

I shared here last week that she had slept through the night, and she did do that - a few times. Most nights, though, she didn't.

I'm blaming teething, a virus, jet lag, and just the fact that she sleeps so darn lightly. Cora would have a dream and say something, and the next moment, we'd be hearing Violet shouting, "Gia! Gia!"

I had trouble getting Violet to settle back down without nursing her, and I haven't fed this baby much in the night since she was 7 weeks old.

The photo of Stace is from mid-morning Friday, after he took the early morning shift downstairs and let me sleep. And the photo of Violet with Gord is from our dinner date Wednesday with Stace's Nan, when Violet wouldn't sleep in her crib for Sue.

Anyway, with two nights back at home, things are definitely improving. Saturday night, after we got home from LAX, Violet slept until nearly 5 a.m.; with our own jet lag, Stace and I would have been up before long anyway. Sunday night, Violet woke once, but cried herself back to sleep within five minutes. She and Cora were both up Monday at 6 - not bad for our second morning home.

And, as for our trip home, it went off as well as I could ever hope. We had the bassinet fixture for Violet, and Stace had to sit behind us, but all was fine, and he helped out as much as I needed. Violet took an hour nap, and later slept for about three hours. Cora put herself to sleep about five hours into the trip, and I was able to close my eyes for a couple of hours and watch some television. With two small children on an international flight, that is a real treat.

Other than Violet not sleeping well, our time in England was a dream. Cora was so well-behaved, as was Violet.

We had a lot of fun with our family and friends, and even got a few stunningly warm days (like the one pictured here). We look forward to seeing Sue and Gord in two months, and everyone else again at Christmas!

Two Months Old!

Our baby girl is two months old!

Violet Mae continues to delight us.

She is now smiling and cooing, and is especially chatty when on her changing table. She loves being on the changing table, clean and dry, and she doesn't like being wet or dirty.

She is still very easy-going, and very, very kissable, with her soft chubby cheeks. She can hold her head up pretty well, doesn't mind "tummy time," and has rolled from her tummy to her back a couple of times already.

She has been sleeping a solid six hours at night since six weeks old, and has been sleeping seven straight for the last couple of weeks. Normally I try to put her down around 8 or 8:30, and then get her back up around 10 when I'm ready for bed. I feed her, change her and put her in the bassinet, and she will either sleep through until 5 or 6, or wake up around 4.

When she wakes at 4, I give her a pacifier, and she goes back to sleep until 5 or 6. At that point I bring her into bed to feed her, since Stace is getting ready for work, and we'll then doze until around 8. (I'm very fortunate to have a preschooler who sleeps till 8! But then again, we choose the downside of a late bedtime...)

Stace and I took Violet to her two-month well-check today, and she is growing very well.

She is now 11 pounds, 1 ounce, putting her in the 55th percentile. Not too bad for a baby who was 6 pounds 10 ounces at birth, and 15th percentile a few days later!

She is 22 1/2 inches long, also the 55th percentile, and her head circumference is 15 inches, which is the 35th percentile. Cora, for what it's worth, weighed less but had a bigger had at her two-month check.

Violet also had two shots today. We'll go back in a month to get a couple more.

Dr. Brockett also gave us a prescription for Violet's case of thrush, a yeast problem in her mouth that is pretty common in breastfed infants.

She said the thrush also might have played a role in the breast infection I've had the last couple of days. It hit me Sunday night with a flu-like fever and achiness; I got antibiotics on Monday and they are helping a lot.