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.

World Cup Rantings

When will this end?
Every four years my country and I put all our hopes and dreams in the hands of a group of individuals who have, in my lifetime, continued to disappoint. With the exception of a handful of memorable moments it has mainly been, how can I put it..........bloody crap!
This year was no exception. Business as usual.

Actually, now I come to think about it, this year was slightly different. The entire team played with less passion and pride than at any time I can remember. For the first time I actually had something in common with the players on the field. We all watched the World Cup. They were just standing closer to the action than I was.

Will this early exit affect my life? No, I still have to go to work tomorrow. But I'm pretty upset at the way we went about booking our tickets for the journey home. I can only hope the players are all made to catch the bus. Do they deserve a private plane back to London? I think not.

From a team of "world class" players, who are paid more in one week than you or I make in a whole year, I expect more.
OK. I'm English. I am no different than any other Englishman in that I, for some strange reason, think we should win every game we play. But, as much as I want to see my country succeed, I want to see them play with heart and passion and show pride to be wearing the shirt with the three lions on the front.

Football, Soccer, whatever you want to call it, is a game played with the feet and the heart. It's about the tension and the desire to win. Where the hell was that desire?
I sat through four games, watching a lackluster team of individually brilliant players, play with no heart, no team spirit, no idea.
I watched teams like New Zealand and the USA, teams that were not expected to do well, play together with pride and enterprise, and although they didn't go very far, they played with a never-say-die attitude. Jealous, yes I was!

In a few weeks when life has returned to normal, I bet the general feeling from the USA lads is that they, although being disappointed, really enjoyed this year's tournament and are proud of how they played. Somehow I doubt the England team will have those feelings.

I think it must come down to pressure. The pressure on the England players is incredible: A whole country of football fans expects the team to win each and every game. Does this pressure lead to players not wanting to make any mistakes and therefore not taking any risks? This seems to produce the lifeless, tired performances we have just witnessed.

Well, in my opinion, after years of disappointment, the pressure is well and truly off.
England, you are no longer expected to qualify for the World Cup. You are no longer expected to get past the group stage. You are no longer expected to get to the final. You are no longer expected to win the bloody World Cup.

So, with that said, in Brazil in 2014, please, please, please play like you want to be there. Remember, there's no pressure, so play like you're enjoying it. Play with heart, pride, flair and passion.
Who knows! We might just win it. Come on England!

In the spirit of unity, the Howard household was split on Saturday and Sunday. Lisa, Cora and Violet in their USA colors for Saturdays game and me and my girls in our England gear for Sundays big match.



































Violet was very disappointed that England were knocked out.

Fun stuff

Check out those baby blues!

A few shots from last week...

Jamba Juice had several offerings for just $1 on Wednesday, so we all had one. Cora enjoyed hers, two-fisted.

Violet thought it was a bit too cold, though.

On Thursday, my mom and I took the girls to the Burbank mall to find Cora a dress for an upcoming wedding. Cora will be the flower girl for Auntie Kelly's sister, Casey.

Here you see Cora running off some steam after she was a good girl during the dress hunt.

Cora, as you know, is not the girliest of girls and I wasn't sure how she'd handle trying on lots of dresses. That morning, I mentioned her being my princess (in jest), and she firmly stated she was not a princess. She is Mowgli.

To prep her, I got out our wedding album to show her our flower girls, Noelle and Mikayla. It was a good idea; Cora understood her role better.
Looking at the big family shot from our wedding, Cora immediately pointed to my grandma and said, "Who's that?"

I told her it was my grandma, and how I wished they could have met each other - through sobs. I really didn't expect the emotions to hit me like that. I hadn't considered the fact that we'd see that photo, and that Cora is mature enough to recognize my dear grandma as someone she didn't know.
Cora wanted to know why I was crying, and then asked where my grandma was. I told her in Heaven, so Cora said, "In Heaven, with God? That's good!"
Leave it to my three-year-old to give me the spiritual comfort I needed at that moment. Yes, Cora, it is good, and we will see her again, thank you Jesus!

On Thursday evening, we went to Scooter's Jungle. You can see our brave little girl in the video here!

Celebrating Stace

Happy Birthday to my best friend and the father to my two lucky girls! We are so blessed to have you in our lives and so thankful for the love you show us each day.

We celebrated Stace's birthday Monday with dinner out and homemade dessert at home. It was pretty cute, I instructed Stace not to look in the fridge when he got home from work, in order to maintain some level of surprise about his cake. Not that he would have been really surprised, but still... All throughout dinner, Cora kept asking about Daddy's cake, when we would have it, where was it, etc. I kept whispering that it was to be a surprise, but she clearly doesn't understand the meaning of the word yet. It became a running joke for the night.

Stace gets two back-to-back holidays this time of year! On Father's Day, he had quality time with Cora in the pool, where she insisted she was swimming when she was jumping around in the baby pool. (Swimming lessons are coming in July, when she hopefully will get over her fear of being in the big pool without clinging for dear life to an adult.)

Stace also had some quality time with Violet, who took a bottle from him very well. She then showed off her new-found head-lifting ability. Impressive, no?

On Father's Day evening, we went to IHOP with my family, to celebrate Father's Day for the two fathers, and Stace's birthday. It was Cora's first time there, and she enjoyed decorating her "make a face" pancake. It was large enough for several Cora-sized meals!

Stace and his girls - Father's Day 2010

And Chris and his grownup girls - 2010
I love you, Dad! Thanks for always setting a great parenting example for us!
With love and best wishes to Gord as well...!

Terrific Tuesday, with smiles

She's smiling! On Wednesday afternoon, Violet and I had some quality time smiling at each other, me smiling with tears in my eyes! She looked so beautiful. This photo was taken Tuesday morning by my friend Michelle, who came over to visit with her daughter Brooke. The smiles she was giving then looked brighter, "smilier," in person, but I'm so glad she had her camera at the ready!
More from Tuesday morning - Michelle and I took the girls to our little park, where they played and we caught up. I used to see Michelle very regularly with Stroller Strides, so we're having to be more intentional these days with our friendship.
Brooke is absolutely precious. She turned 2 a month ago and has been potty trained for a couple of months, is in a big-girl bed, talks a lot, and is easy-going and happy. Michelle and Rob are so blessed! She kept kissing "Baby Violet" and saying, "I love Baby Violet."
On Tuesday evening, we had Colleen and Rigo over for dinner. Colleen was my MOPS table leader, and her daughter Liana Grace was born May 9. It was fun getting the girls together and exchanging "war stories."
Cora loves playing with Lucas. He's a boy, and he's 4 1/2, so that probably has something to do with it! They got along perfectly for several hours, including playing a frantic game of chase in the backyard that included shooting with finger guns. Ahhh, the things boys teach girls!

The Rabbit's carrots

To my regular readers, please forgive my erratic posting. I'm still trying to get caught up with posts from Nan and Pop's trip, while not falling too far behind on current goings-on. Keep scrolling down as I add entries, as I'm keeping things in chronological order. It seems like my best time to blog is late at night these days and I don't always have the energy...

On to Sunday. In the afternoon, Cora and Stace harvested our carrots! It was pretty exciting for us, and they mostly looked really good.

We have a lot of little green tomatoes coming along nicely, and quite a few zucchini flowers. The pumpkin is flowering nicely too. The onions and parsnips are growing well, though they won't be ready to harvest for a while still. Sadly, our strawberry plants are not looking good. Stace planed more a few weeks ago, and only three are still with us. We're not sure what is wrong, but Stace plans to put more plants in a bit further down.

The grape vine and lime tree are looking very healthy, but we're not sure if we'll get any fruit from them this year. Our nectarine tree out front is doing great, so we should have plenty there in a couple of months.

For our Sunday dinner, we had our own organic carrots, with grilled pork chops and potatoes Stace roasted on the grill in foil. It was all delicious!

As we were finishing up, Cora said, out of the blue (is there any other way for a 3-year-old to speak?): "When I grow up, I'm going to marry a squirrel."

She then laughed - she knew she was being funny.

After dinner we drove to CVS and Starbucks, and had a very lovely time together. Sing it with me now, "What a difference, a day makes...24 little hours..."

Big Match, Big Fit

The World Cup.
The best of the best footballers, representing their nations on the biggest stage of them all.

What better way to start it off in our house than with England and the United States taking on each other in their opening games?

Stace, of course, has been looking forward to this with keen anticipation for months. We redid our living room for it, for heaven's sake!

Stace wore his new official England shirt, and Cora wore a "future England star" shirt. Violet and I sported the Stars and Stripes. My dad, disappointingly, did not come dressed in American clothes, but he did bring Bass ale, so we forgave him.
Wait. Bass is English. Hmmmm...

The end result was a 1-1 draw, a win in effect for the Americans and a frustrating day for the English, who thought they should have handled the U.S. handily. Stace's Nan was the only one of us to correctly predict the final score, so good job, Mary!

Some gems (Stace-isms?) from my poor, anxiety-ridden husband: "Bloody hell, Rooney! You might as well have flippin' Mickey Rooney out there! Rooney's crap."
Then, we heard him shout, "C'mon, Lampard! This is the WORLD CUP, not flippin' Stoke! And I mean Stoke sub Hamdon, not Stoke on Trent!"
And after the game, to the former U.S. player-turned commentator: "Shut up, Alexi, you turd."

Hopefully both teams will advance out of their group and give it a good run.

Later in the day, we thought it would be a nice treat to walk to Starbucks for a drink. We took the long way, through the paseos by way of Meadows Park, where Cora played a bit.

When we reached Granary Square, I wanted to stop into CVS to get an ice cream (free after coupon!) as a treat for Cora and me to share. Cora didn't understand, and started to complain. I said I was getting us a treat, which quieted her for a bit, but then she whined and fussed when Stace asked her to leave the candy section and stand with him while I checked out.

The crying continued outside, and reached the point where we decided Cora didn't deserve any sort of treat - we were going home. THEN the waterworks started, and the hysteria. Whoa, Nellie.

She continued crying the entire walk home. It was pretty impressive, actually.
This came after a week in which she was a really good girl, but I guess we all have our bad days. I was very impressed with Stace's calm demeanor during the entire episode, as was the CVS manager. When Stace took Cora outside, the manager came up to me to thank me and compliment us/Stace on how we handled her; he said that most parents he sees let their kids run around the store and act inappropriately. I was so pleased; you sure don't expect to get compliments when your kid's throwing a major tantrum!

All was better when Stace put Cora to bed; while he read her a story they were laughing and joking together once again.

Reality, Week 1

Cora, Violet and I are settling into our day-to-day life together, finding our groove and trying to find a new routine.

On Monday, our friend Heather organized a group trip to a Leona Valley cherry orchard.

It was a gorgeous day (after a weekend in the high 90s), the cherries were yummy and the kids all had fun. Elissa and Harvey went too, though we had to drive separately.

The third photo shows Heather loving some Violet time!

On Tuesday, we went to the opening of a new Stroller Strides class. This one is at the park near our house, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:15 in the morning.

Theoretically, that should work for us.

I'm not quite ready to jump back in; I'd like to make sure I'm handling life well with two kids, cooking meals, cleaning house and having the occasional playdate first.

Also, the new owner of Stroller Strides wants the children to all stay in their strollers throughout the class. I get that, and I see the reasons for the rule, but we'll just have to see how it goes for Cora and how she adjusts to that. She did very well Tuesday at the trial class, and I really enjoyed exercising out in the fresh air again. I might try to go occasionally, starting in a week or two.

On Thursday, our event of the day was going to Target and picking up some deals. Both girls were on their best behavior, and it was a lot of fun. On Friday, we stayed home and Cora and I made a double batch of banana chocolate-chip muffins. Cora was very helpful, again.

Violet update

The top two photos here were taken May 30, so about 10 days ago, while the third was taken Monday.

It is amazing what a difference just a week makes when you're a newborn.

At six weeks old, Violet now looks less like a newborn to me and more like a regular baby, only smaller.

Her cheeks have plumped out, she has a double chin, and her baby acne is clearing up. In short, she's getting really cute!
She is growing fast - she's a solid 10 pounds and 22 inches long. At the same age, Cora was also 22 inches, but 9 1/2 pounds.

With her growth, Violet now fits just fine into her one-size diapers. The top photos show her in a one-size Flip cover, and the bottom photo she's modeling a one-size bumGenius pocket diaper. Yes, they look a bit baggy, but they don't leak at all and they'd fit Cora if I put them on her!

She's already outgrowing some of her newborn clothes, and fits into the cute outfits I bought at the consignment sale a couple of months ago.

Her eyes are still very blue, like her Daddy's.
We haven't seen a big grin yet, but she definitely gives us "happy faces," with bright, wide eyes and an upturned, happy mouth.

Last week, we had three nights where she slept from 10 or 11 until about 4, and then slept after eating until 7 or 8. We then had a few nights where she woke up twice in the night, probably spurred by the 6-week growth spurt I hear about.

Tuesday night, she slept from 10ish until 4, when I gave her the pacifier. She slept another hour, our longest night yet. I wouldn't mind this continuing!

She will get fussy in the evenings, and have trouble taking her late afternoon or evening naps.
But in general, Violet is an easy, happy baby, who already loves watching her big sister play, sing and dance. Cora continues to love helping, and it brings Stace and me such deep joy to watch them together. We are blessed!

Carpinteria

Thursday was Nan and Pop's last full day with us, so we decided to live it up, beach-style.

Cora had been talking about going to the beach with Nan and Pop for weeks, as she remembered our trip together to Ventura in August. It was remarkable to us how her memory is growing.

Since we'd been to Ventura with them several times, and since Stace and I have come to love Carpinteria for our getaways alone, that's where we headed.

It was cloudy when we arrived (surprise, surprise!) so we didn't go straight to the sand. Instead, we took a walk along some rugged terrain that overlooks a hangout for seals and other marine life.

Then we went into town and did some shopping. Cora had a lot of fun at the old-fashioned candy shop, where she chose and paid for her own sweets with gift money from Nan and Pop.

By the early afternoon, the sun came out and we went down to the shore, where we spent an enjoyable couple of hours.

It was a great day - Violet's first at the beach! - and a nice way to end a fantastic time together with Sue and Gord.

A gaggle of grandparents

On Wednesday, Stace and his parents went for a long bike ride around Valencia while the girls and I had a quiet morning at home.

We then went to the mall to have lunch at the Lazy Dog Cafe, a newish restaurant we'd been wanting to try together. We had a great time and all enjoyed our food, and Cora was a very good girl. It's nice that she can now eat out like a big girl and usually behaves herself very well in restaurants. The last photo shows her with her kids' meal "dessert," a make-your-own necklace with sugary cereal and a licorice string.

In the evening, my parents had us all over for dinner, and my dad took some group photos. We had to bribe Cora with getting into the spa for her to cooperate. She's a bit "over" having her photo taken, so we're making a conscious effort to not ask her so often. She's going to be the flower girl in a friend's wedding in July, so we need her ready to smile again by then!

It was a lovely evening and nice for us all to be together for a few hours.