Olvera Street

We planned to go to the beach Tuesday, but a glance at the weather forecast said it was to be cloudy and cool on the coast.

Instead, we decided to take the Metrolink train to downtown Los Angeles and show Sue and Gord Olvera Street.

We missed the noon train we had hoped to catch, and so instead we killed a couple of hours by eating lunch at Hart Park and getting Cora a much-needed haircut.

You can see her pretty hairdo in the top photo, on the train, where she shows me how to put on Violet's bow.

The ride down was pleasant, and conveniently came right on time for Violet's feeding. It's interesting to get used to having a newborn again, with the every-three-hour feeding routine, after three years.

The next photo show Sue and Gord outside Union Station downtown, and then a couple of photos from Olvera Street. The area right across from the station is where Los Angeles was born, and is now a Mexican style market with stalls and restaurants. We looked at the goods and had a meal before catching the train back home. Cora missed her nap, and fell asleep in the car on the short ride home from the Newhall train station.

Memorial Day

We spent Memorial Day morning at SClarita's ceremony at Eternal Valley Memorial Park, where our Young Marines staged a special reenactment of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. It was pretty cool, as were the flyovers by WWII aircraft.

The girls did well during the ceremony. Violet slept through it, and Cora did the best she could as a three-year-old at a grownup event.

Toward the end she got the blanket out and relaxed - it kept her quiet and calm for a good 10 minutes, so I was fine with it!

It was good to take time to honor and remember the soldiers who fight to keep us safe. I struggled to keep my tears from showing as the band played the fight song for the Navy, in which my Grandpa served a 20-year career. He's been gone nearly 11 years now, as has Stace's Pop, who served in the Royal Army.

I told Cora about what we were doing, about how soldiers fight to keep us safe from bad guys. She then said that she would protect us from bad people by fighting them, by throwing things at them, like toys and airplanes. I said, "Airplanes?" "Little airplanes, toy airplanes," was her answer.
(This is similar in vein to her announcement that when she was in Aladdin, she hit Jafar with her pool noodle, and he died.)

After the ceremony, we we picked up a Subway lunch and picnicked at Placerita Nature Center.

And after Cora's nap, we headed down the street to Genia and John's, where they had some friends over for a barbecue.

Recovering with television

After our big Saturday, we all needed a day of rest on Sunday. My big event of the day was a trip with Sue to Starbucks at Granary Square, where Melanie was picking up a shift.

In the afternoon, Stace and his parents went to Best Buy to complete our new television stand...

In April we bought unfinished alder furniture for the living room and Stace spent a couple of weeks finishing it. After seven coats of varnish and sanding between coats, it is beautiful and so smooth to the touch!

All we needed was a new TV, according to Stace, who began working on me on this a year ago. Why did we need a new TV? The old one worked fine, we hardly watch it - we haven't even had cable for 18 months, for goodness' sake!

Three words - World Cup Football, starting in a matter of days.

Stace researched televisions for months and we got a 42-inch Panasonic LCD flat screen. Our cable will be hooked up in time for the all-important opener in our house, June 12 England vs. USA.

Another welcome to Violet

On Saturday we had some friends over for a Memorial Day weekend barbecue to celebrate Violet's arrival.

Since she was born mid-week, a lot of our dear friends who live farther away weren't able to make it out to meet her in the hospital. And, as a second baby daughter, I didn't want to have a regular baby shower.

Our weekend gathering was a lot of fun, and the first we'd pulled off since the prior February. For a lot of the guests, the house looked very, very different from the last time they'd been over!

In the top photo, Grandpa shows off Violet to Christine and Melanie. Then we have "Uncle" Keith manning the barbecue. I mistakenly bought non-marinated carne asada; thankfully Keith and Scott knew how to turn it into a yummy tortilla-filler.

The guest of honor was held by several friends, and dozed a bit but never dropped off into a real nap. So she went from about 1:30 until 9:30 with only some dozing, and some overtired, over-stimulated fussing, despite my best efforts in the dark solitude of our bedroom.

Thanks to our friends who drove out, and brought gifts and food and drinks! And, thanks to our family who helped clean up!

Cora's paint job, and a trip downtown

On Thursday, Cora had her final Terrific Tots class of the session, and her special guest was Nanny!

Nan went along to work in the classroom, and she picked a great day to work - it was the end of class party!

We (I!) will miss this class over the summer, and will look forward to it in the fall.

On Friday, Stace and Gord continued their mini makeover of Cora's bedroom, with Cora's help. They repainted the ceiling, walls, wainscoting and bookcase/hutch unit, and we finally put her pictures up on the wall.

The color is a little closer to seafoam than sage, and it's really pretty. The whole room looks similar to before, but much cleaner and brighter.

While they worked on that project, Sue, Violet and I obtained Violet's birth certificate so we can get her passport. We drove to downtown Los Angeles to visit the county health department's public record's office, because we need the certificate faster than you can get it normally. We'll be heading to England on the last day of July.

After getting the paperwork, we had lunch at the Walt Disney Concert Hall's cafe, and then went into the county Hall of Administration.

We visited with some of the people I used to cover when I was a reporter, including county Supervisor Mike Antonovich. We were all very well-received; the last time I was in their office was when Cora was about the same age, when we made the same trip downtown for the same reason.

We also checked out the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, where we parked and had coffee when we arrived. Despite a bit of traffic on the way home, we had a great day together, and it was fun to show Sue downtown Los Angeles for the first time.

Nan and Pop are back!

Nan and Pop heard so much about our fun getting 99 cent ice cream on Tuesday night, they flew over to join in the fun!

Stace and Cora picked them up at LAX on Monday night, and they are enjoying getting to hold and kiss Violet, and Cora of course.

Nan and Pop brought over gifts for both girls, from themselves and other friends and family members. Here you see Cora loving her new play tent, which she has set up with her blankie and other toys.

On Tuesday, Cora had her Terrific Tots class, and in the evening we ate dinner outside before heading out for ice cream.

On Wednesday, Nan and Pop woke up when Stace went to work (early!), and took a long walk around Valencia. Mid-morning, they took Cora with them on the bus to the mall. With the addition of Violet and her car seat, we've actually lost two spaces in my car, as there isn't enough room between the car seats for an adult to sit. So, I can't drive we three adults and two children anywhere, and we'll be taking both cars whenever we all go anywhere. But, we don't plan to leave SClarita too much, so that won't be much of a problem.

The last photo is from the big park across McBean from us; we four walked there Sunday evening after dinner so Cora could run around.

Lastly, I'll note that our Violet Mae is one month old tomorrow! Stop, time, stop! I do love this newborn stage, particularly since she is my newborn. It's so amazing to look at her and know that however many weeks ago, she was inside me.

Violet is still doing very well. We're generally getting up for nighttime feeding around 2 or 3, and around 5 or 5:30, and then get up for the day a bit after 8. Not too bad. She has a stuffy nose now, and I'm using that blue bulb syringe the hospital gave us to take home to try to clear it. Never had to use this with Cora so this is a new experience for us!

A series of firsts...

Violet is now three weeks old, and we celebrated with a trip back to Baskin Robbins, a first bottle, and a first bath.

Cora also had her first bottle and bath at three weeks old, and with Violet, she was very excited to help with that first bottle.

Violet took about three ounces of pumped milk very well, and Cora was very pleased to be able to feed her sister. If you open the top photo to see it bigger, it appears that Violet will keep her baby blues... we'll see!

Violet's first full-immersion bath went very well. She was quiet and alert for most of it, and seemed almost to enjoy it, at least until Dad rinsed off her head and water went into her eyes.

Cora, on the other hand, screamed her way through most of her newborn baths.

Wednesday was a very nice day - the bottle and bath went well, and we had a nice lunchtime visit with a friend of mine I hadn't seen for a while.
After dinner, we took a nice family walk around the neighborhood, with Cora on her bike. The warm evening was perfect, after a couple of cloudy and cool days.

After Violet's bath, she actually went to sleep around 9:30 p.m., so much earlier than the prior two nights. (On Tuesday night, she wouldn't settle into sleep until almost midnight, and I ended up with her sleeping on my chest.) On Wednesday, she was awake for most of our lunch date, and maybe that helped her fall asleep earlier in the night. She then woke up for feeding about 1 a.m. and then at 4 a.m., and then at 7 a.m. Then we dozed until 8:30.

Today, Thursday, she's been very sleepy again. I wonder if we're in for a long night?
Even if we are, there's a big difference for me this time around as a mom - I know this infant period will be over in the blink of an eye! I'm not worried about sleep as much as I was with Cora. (Granted, easy for me to say, since Cora slept so well so young, and Violet isn't doing too badly, either.)

On Tuesday night, we made our return trip to 99 Cent ice cream night at Baskin Robbins. The last time we all went together, we were exactly a week away from Violet's arrival. Stace and Cora went back the night Violet was born on their own.

The final photos show Violet inspecting the activity mat - Cora liked helping her with it, and was trying to teach her how to hold the toys.

Violet at three weeks

Here's Violet today, at almost three weeks old. She's still a sweetie, sleeping much of the time. When she's fussing and won't settle quickly, I put her in a carrier or wrap, and she then quiets down and generally goes to sleep. The pacifier/dummy helps at those times, too. She's still so light, I barely notice the weight on my chest.
So here's Violet, above, and Cora, below, at about the same age.

There are similarities, but I don't think anyone could confuse them.

Getting bigger, and kisses

Our tiny peanut is becoming less tiny!

OK, she's still smaller than the doll (whom Cora named Duckie as well), but at her two-week checkup Tuesday, she weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces! Normally the professionals want to see newborns back up to their birthweight within two weeks, and our Violet shot way past her 6 pounds 10 ounce birthweight.

She also grew two inches, to 21 inches, if the nurse got the measurement correct. It's a little hard to imagine that she grew that much in two weeks...
Compared to other baby girls her age, Violet's weight put her in the 22nd percentile, and her length was at the 76th percentile. Her 19-inch birth length was in the 33rd percentile.
Dr. Brockett said she looked beautiful and healthy.

Another big-girl sign - Violet's cord stump fell off Friday. Sleeping wise, we've been going to bed around 11, and she wakes up once or (usually) twice before 7 a.m. Now that nursing's going well, it isn't too bad to wake up with her, since I can bring her into bed to feed and go to sleep while she's nursing.

Cora and I visited Juliana and Maya on Monday, and the girls had a great time playing in the back yard.

Two Cora tidbits - when she is blown a kiss, she likes to catch it in her hands and then eat it.
And when we put her to bed, she now likes to name a number of kisses and huggles for us to exchange before we can leave.

This started several nights ago, when I kissed and hugged her good-night, and left, and 10 minutes later or so, she called out, demanding more kisses and hugs. So the next night, I asked her how many she wanted, and said that would be what she got, that I wasn't returning later. She said, "One-Two-Three-Four-Five-Six-Seven-Eight. I want eight kisses and huggles."

From then on, the number has increased, and she always counts out every number. It worked well for a few nights, until last night, when after we went through the routine, a half hour later she called out, demanding more kisses from me. I refused, not wanting to drag bedtime into the 10 p.m. hour, and Stace and I heard her for quite some time, yelling, "TWELVE! I want 12, Mummy! Twelve kisses and huggles!"

Around the house, and Mother's Day

My fourth Mother's Day started off well - Cora was helping me change Violet's first diaper of the morning when the baby started fussing. Cora helped put her pacifier back in, and Violet was happy, much to Cora's delight. Cora then said, "I love you, Duckie!"
Doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Stace spent the morning with my dad, watching Chelsea win the league by kicking tail in their last game of the year. He felt bad about leaving me home without breakfast in bed on Mother's Day, but I encouraged him to go watch the game, as he really hasn't watched much football this year, and this was a huge game for his favorite team.

Anyway, the morning went awry as I tried to get we three girls ready and out the door for 10:30 church; it was to be our return after a few weeks' break. We left quite late, and when we finally pulled in next to Stace's car, he got Cora out and noticed that she was bare-bummed under her dress. Sigh. So, back home we all went. We later laughed about it, but I wasn't laughing this morning. We were able to make the noon service, and it was, to be expected, an encouraging message for all the moms in the room.

In the second photo, you can see Violet's brick on the church walkway (you might need to blow up the photo to read her name clearly).

The rest of the photos are from around the house the last few days. Violet enjoys her pacifier, especially in the evenings. The photo of her sucking away shows the first time we gave it to her.

Then, you can see Cora entertaining her (snoozing) sister. She loves playing with Violet already. When I change her diaper on the changing table, Cora will stand beside me, holding Violet's hand, shouting, "Help! Help me, Duckie! I'm falling into the river!"

Cora's imagination has been running wild. In the car the other day, a motorcyclist passed us, and Cora said:
"When I was little, I was on a motorcycle, and I got hit by a car, and I got hurt."
Sadly, she must have overheard Stace and I discussing an accident just like that last week, when an off-duty Sheriff's deputy lost his life. I told Cora, "I'm so glad that didn't happen to you! I love you and don't want you to be hurt!"
But, she insisted it did happen, a long, long time ago, when she was very little.
"And then," she continued, "The ants helped me. The ants with faces, from the Ant Show, they helped me." She was referring to the ants in A Bug's Life, the movie that became a show she's seen at California Adventure.

Cora also surprised us when she came out with the following... She had taken the doorknob cover off her door and kept opening it and shutting it, and at 10 p.m. Stace told her that if she opened the door again, he'd put the lock back on.
Cora: "If you put that thing back on the door, I'll cry. Then, I'll knock the door down, and then you won't have a house."

Not sure if that's more funny or frightening? Aunt Patty pointed out that it shows very logical, if-then thinking from such a little girl.

Happy Mother's Day to all the great moms I know and love, especially mine!