Seven months

Our Violet is seven months old, on that downward slide towards her first birthday.

Hmmm. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I adore her as she is, and wish she could stay this smiley and snuggly forever.

She is truly a joy, so full of happiness and grins for everyone. She gives us kisses - I think! - by chewing on our chins. That won't feel so good when she has teeth, but no signs of those yet.

In recent days she has succeeded in pushing herself from lying down, up to sitting. That was a feat she was working on for at least a week, rocking and pressing up on her elbows.

She still isn't zooming around the room by crawling, as I thought she would be by now. It seems she is content with her speed of travel, and her mode - crawling two paces, then lunging, then rolling.

The photo of her with Cora is from her doctor appointment this week, when we got the second half of her six-month shots. I put her on the scale, and she was 16 pounds, 4 ounces, in her clothes and diaper.

Foodwise, she enjoyed a bit of banana last week, and grabbed at some of my dinner tonight, but not much goes down her throat.

However, she opened up a Farley's baby rusk (a kind of cracker) from Nan and Pop in her Advent Calendar on Dec. 1, and she loved it! We gave it to her to hold, and she gnawed on it for a while and ingested a good deal of it. I think we'll need to buy more of these we go to England in a few weeks!

The last photo is from Violet's eye exam last week. The doctor said her eyes look great, and she might even see a little bit better than other babies her age.

The photo shows a test where the doctor holds the two cards, one with a faint outline of a face, and watches to see if her eyes go the card with the face.

Four days together

We had a marvelous four days as a family for our Thanksgiving break!

It was great having Stace off four days in a row, with no big plans other than our day of feasting together.

On Friday we did a bit of Black Friday shopping - Stace got a router and table at Sears, I picked up the Shark steam mop I've been wanting from Kohl's.

On Saturday, we took a little family trip to - guess where - YES! You got it, the zoo!

It was Violet's first trip, though I'm not sure she got a lot out of it other than a day out.

If you look close, you can see a giraffe behind Stace and the girls in the second photo. And doesn't Cora look pretty in the third one?

The next photo shows Stace and the girls in the plastic bubbles in the prairie dog exhibit.

Because the weather's been cold, we were lucky enough to see the beautiful snow leopard out in the middle of the day.

After the party, we went to a birthday party for one of Cora's friends. When the girls had gone to bed, Stace and I watched the Russell Crowe version of Robin Hood.

On Sunday, we followed our usual routine of church and web-talking to Nan and Pop and Dean, Jen and Euan. While we were doing so, Cora brought in a beautiful hand-picked mini bouquet of flowers from the garden.

Stace and Cora also put up the Christmas lights Sunday - here you see them hanging big balls in the mock plum tree.

A Coraism from the day - Stace and Cora were working in the garage, and Stace questioned why there were so many leaves in the garage after Cora had supposedly been sweeping them.

"Because, Daddy, I didn't want them on the driveway!"

Bigger than the doll

I'd better post this 6-month photo of Violet with the Duckie doll, as she's seven months old on Saturday.

Took the photo a couple of weeks ago and didn't get around to posting it...

It's a little grainy, but I love how her expression mirrors the doll's. They look alike, apart from their coloring!

And, for comparison's sake, Violet and the doll when she was two weeks old.

Bathroom remodel

Thanksgiving is here, which means it's been two years since we moved into our house. We are still so thankful for that!

We're even more thankful now that our house looks like a place to be proud of.

You might remember, we bought a place that needed some work.

At this point, we've improved the living room, dining room, playroom, Cora and Violet's rooms and the spare bathroom.

For some rooms, that just meant paint, baseboards and window coverings. For others, that meant a complete gutting.

Next on the list was a quickie remodel of our master bathroom.

The first photos here show the state of the room before.

It was pretty bad. Paint all over the place, falling-apart faucet, no baseboards, light fixture installed on bare drywall, drywall showing through on the opposite wall...

Stace repaired the walls and painted the room a brighter creamy color. He then put in a new extractor fan, light fixture, faucet, towel bar, toilet paper holder, shelf and vent.

He also repainted the cabinet and put new hinges and knobs on the doors. We just need a few more decorations and it will be done.

Someday, Stace wants to gut the room, and tile out the shower and install new cabinetry and an expanded counter, stealing a couple of feet from our closet for the bathroom.

But for now, we are very happy with our clean, fresh bathroom! Thanks, Babe!

Next up: The Kitchen. I think that project will consume 2011!

Thanksgiving

We hosted our little family gathering for Thanksgiving this year, and it was a yummy and happy time together.

We definitely feasted - turkey, cranberry-sausage stuffing, green bean-mushroom casserole, roast potatoes, yorkshire pudding, cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes.

At one point, Cora looked up from her full plate and said, "I have too much food!" That in itself is such a blessing in our world, where too many people go without.

We then went around the table to list our other blessings. Cora listed the following: food, family, Daddy, friends, Mummy, Violet.

After dinner we broke out a new game - the classic Chutes and Ladders. Later, we sang as Stace played guitar.

And then there was dessert - Grandma made pumpkin pie, and we had it with real, freshly whipped cream. Oh yeah.

Violet enjoyed some of that whipped cream off Grandma's finger.

I had tried to give her a bit of sweet potato at dinner, but her tiny baby stick-out-the-tongue reflex is still strong, so she didn't swallow much.

Cora's recent artwork

Stace helped at Cora's Skipper Club class last week, and here is her turkey of blessings. I am showing this because the first thing she mentioned was cheese. I mean, YES. Aren't we all thankful for cheese? I am, her dad is, and you must be, too.


She also colored this turkey recently. Stace and I were impressed with her choice of colors and with how well she stayed in the lines. She is taking a lot of care with her coloring lately.

Another Skipper Club worksheet. The kids picked out food they are thankful for - and Cora wrote out the words! Stace wrote them first on a different sheet of paper. The third word is "sweet," for "sweeties." And she wanted to list "grapes, but there was no picture of them, so Stace drew them and wrote the word.

The other day, Cora was writing letters on her chalkboard. She first told me it said, " I love you," and later she said it was "meep" or "neem." I can't remember which. She likes those words though, both of which she made up.

Thursday, November 18

It's been a while since we've run that popular feature, Day in the Life of Cora AND Violet - so here goes...

7 a.m. - I hear Violet talking to herself, so I get up, prepare my coffee and open the living room curtains to prepare for her morning feeding time.
7:20 - Violet greets me from her bed with a mixture of happiness and annoyance for making her wait so long. We settle into the couch for our morning drinks.

7:40- Violet is finished, so I change her diaper and put her in the playpen to play while I get dressed and ready for the day. Ideally, I'd love to get ready before I begin caring for the girls, but Violet usually wakes up too early for that to happen.

8:25 - Cora comes out with a cheery "Good morning!" Her mood sours when she finds I've served her oatmeal in the ceramic bowl I microwaved it in, rather than one of her plastic bowls. (We make a double-batch every couple of days to save cooking time.)
This descends into a crying fit about the bowl, which leads to Cora spending some time in her room.

8:35 - I eat my breakfast with Violet in my lap, as she got fussy while playing on the playroom floor.

8:45 - Cora joins us, after I threatened to end breakfast time if she didn't come to eat. She insists that it wasn't silly to be upset about the bowl.

9 - I change Violet again and put her down for her morning nap, and Cora finishes eating.

9:30 - I clean up the kitchen and Cora cleans up her bedroom and gets dressed. "My (stuffed) animals don't want to clean my bedroom, so I'm doing it," she says.

9:45 - I rearrange the furniture to vacuum the tile floors, to prepare for mopping.

10:10 - Violet is crying, as the vacuum woke her up. I give her the pacifer to try to calm her back to sleep.

10:30 - Cora and I are mopping. I give her the old Swiffer with a cloth so she can help; she actually does the job in the hallways. "We have to make it nice and clean for when Daddy comes home," she says. Violet is crying again, so I again try to calm her back to sleep.

10:45 - I get Violet up. So much for a good morning nap; she normally sleeps 90 minutes to two hours. More house-tidying and lunch-making before we get ready to take Cora to preschool.

11:30 - We drop off Cora at school and I feed Violet in the car. Then we go to Old Navy, where Violet entertains herself by blowing raspberries while I try on clothes. We later hit Walmart to get an ink cartridge for the printer.

1:30 - Pick-up time for Cora! She is very happy to see us, but is upset that she left by the playground a tiny white rock she had found for me. She didn't have any pockets to put it in, and Ms. Diane wouldn't hold it for her.
We quickly look for it, but can't find it. "I'm sad my rock left," she says as we drive home. "Maybe someone threw it in a tree. ... I wish I could get that rock home. Maybe one of my friends took it home with them."

2 - I change Violet, swaddle her and put her down for her nap. Cora and I read a story and her devotion book before her nap. I then have about two hours to relax and work on a computer photo project.

3:40 - Cora is still awake, and asks when she can get up. I tell her 20 minutes - and within five minutes, she is asleep.

4 - I hear Violet waking up. I get her at 4:15 and feed her while I read to Cora after I wake her up. Cora asks me to take her stuffed opossum out of her room; it has scary eyes, she says. Two nights earlier, the Eeyore and Tigger she's had since birth had to go, too.

Cora explains that her chalkboard drawing shows her on the right, dressed up as a "little boy monster." You can make out the toes on her feet, and what looks like a tongue is actually her chin. Next to her is Ave, dressed up as Spiderman.

4:45 - I change Violet and put her in the high chair to play while I make dinner, and Cora watches a short video.
5:15 - Stace comes home, bringing Starbucks holiday drinks as a treat! Then we sit down to dinner - breakfast for dinner tonight.

5:45 - Cora and Violet play in the playroom while I wash dishes and Stace rests. Cora says she is making Thanksgiving dinner, and finds a turkey leg, corn and other appropriate food.

"Don't put Violet next to the stove, because it's hot," she warns me. "I'm wearing my hand gloves, so I can touch it."

6:30 - We make a trip to Old Navy - I get a new coat, Stace gets some shorts ($3 each!) and sweaters.

7:30 - Family Movie Night! Well, the beginning of one, at least, as it's too late to watch a whole movie. We make popcorn in a pot and watch the first half hour of Babe.

8:30 - Cora is in bed

9 - Violet is in bed, a bit later than normal.

Stace and I sing songs while he plays his guitar, and then it's bedtime for us, too, around 10:15.

Life

Some random bits from our last week or so...

We spent our Friday night checking out some new stores that have opened at the cool, gorgeous, outdoor part of the mall.

You can see Cora here showing off her new orange hat. Orange is her most favoritest color; it is always the first favorite she lists when she is asked for her favorite color. She then goes on to list other colors that also rank as "favorite."

It is the same when you ask Cora her favorite animal, or her best friend - you get a list. I guess the concept isn't quite clear yet to her.

Anyway, near a wing of several children's stores, the mall has a wall that patrons can write upon, so Cora wrote her name.

The time got away from us and we didn't get home until after 9. With one kid, that's not such a big deal, but when you have two to put to bed, it means a late night for everyone.

And though Violet sleeps well for an infant, she doesn't sleep in very often, so I was pretty tired on Saturday!

The next photo shows Cora drawing on her chalkboard, with her flower light on the wall. Both were purchased new from Ikea the other day. Stace painted the chalkboard's trim and insets to match her dresser.

The light has helped with bedtime. Cora can see plenty well to read by it, and then can turn it off herself, so she hasn't been clamoring for the door to be open, or her main light to be on.

And next, a few photos from the park the other morning. Violet was loving the swing, and it was really fun for me to push both my girls at the same time. And in the other shot, Cora is playing hide-and-seek with a friend.

Violet is speaking more these days, good old baby talk - ahh-daa-daa and the like. It's great fun, and Cora gets excited too. "Violet's learning how to talk!" she squeals.

Cora has been naming her dolls very creatively lately. "Aweela," "Haleela," and "Hameena" are some of the names I've heard her use.

Saving and Splurging

Since Stace wrote about his favorite hobby, I thought I'd write about mine... stretching his paychecks!

Ralphs was having some great sales already this week, and then they offered to double coupons up to$2, so that $1 off coupons became $2 off.

Those combined helped me get $156.27 worth of groceries, shown pictured here, for $33.07.

And then I thought I'd show a couple of splurges.

First is this diaper cover, my favorite at the moment. It is so well-made and the fabric is just too cute, and it will last until she's potty-trained.

And, Violet's new outfit...

We received a gift card to Baby Gap for her, and for some reason I felt compelled to spend it all at once.

The dark blue jeans are great, and I think they were a good buy that she'll get to wear a lot.

The shirt... Well, it is really cute (if a little too big)!

I'll just say it cost more than what I normally spend on my own shirts.