Two Months of L♥VE

Well, it's official. I am the mother of a two month old! YIKES! How the time flies by! We had her doctor's visit on the 21st, complete with weigh in and vaccinations. It was a rough day for sure. I am glad we snapped her 2 month photos before we left for the appointment!

Her weigh in was great! She is currently 10 lbs 12 oz and marked 23 inches tall! That's a lot of growth for one month! She still fits her newborn clothes, but is starting to grow out of a few of them. We actually broke out a few of the cuter 3 month outfits that are for shorter babies so that we can make sure they get some use! But as far as standard onesies go, she still swims in the 3 month size so we stick to the NBs.

An amusing fact... she is in the 75 percentile for height and only the 25 percentile for weight at 2 months. I am not sure how they gauge that, as most babies don't show growth queues this early... but that's what they say! (at the bottom of the chart it says that it was based on health surveys done in the US between 63 and 94. So this means that the formula is nearly 20 years old. Hmmph.) So is she underweight? Is she going to be an average height? No & probably not. The doctor said she is VERY healthy, very muscular - and even asked if she had started rolling over because her muscle definition told her that it would happen in the next few weeks if it already hadn't. As for height, the doctor believes that she will be close to my height, as I am nearly 6 foot and her daddy is taller than me. Me thinks they need to start that chart around 6 months, OR reconfigure the formula on new data.

Some fun news! Violette is now able to SMILE at her mama or daddy when she sees us. It's common around this time for babies to have their first 'social smile' and she is right on track! She can also focus on one object and follow it about, she currently likes to focus on artwork or a toy (she likes her doggie rattle, and of course her play mat... lots to look at there!). She chats away while she is on her mat, or basking in the sunshine... (her vocabulary consists of AH! and OH! and sometimes UH!) but she is doing really well with her words. Please visit our YouTube page to see her in action!

She also does her tummy time every day, (which explains the MUSCLES the doctor saw!) but prefers to do her push ups on mom or dads shoulder.. so she can see more than the floor or blanket. She has started to push off with her legs, too! Last night she and I were playing with the word UP, and when I would say it she would push up with her legs into a standing motion. I understand that she probably doesn't know what UP means, but I was excited that she would wait for me to say the word before she would push up. :) {I would have attempted to video tape it, but this activity required both of my hands.}

On another note, we are in leap 2 of The Wonder Weeks. She is a happy, playful girl one minute and crying uncontrollably, fighting sleep and only wanting mom to hold her the next... This leap lasts 2 weeks and we haven't even passed the first week. Needless to say it's been rough on all of us. Nothing helps, not baths or lavender... none of the advice received. It's just a leap, and we are going to have to wait it out. She has taken to enjoying being wrapped up on mommy (aka she loves the practice of baby wearing!).

As I type this one-handed, she is laying on my shoulder with her mommy hug grip. If I attempt to put her down when she falls asleep, uncontrollable screaming ensues... until I pick her back up. I have tried to pass her off to dad, and she screamed some more. Ugh. Only 8 more days! (we hope.)

This past weekend we had a sitter (one of Vi's aunties) come and watch her for a few hours while Dove and I went out for an anniversary dinner (3 years already!) at The Smokehouse. Our anniversary is the 27th, but we knew getting help on a weeknight would be rough. It was a great evening with delicious food and an awesome dessert. We finished early so we ran to the grocery store... obviously we were savoring the time together sans bebé. When we got home she had played quite a bit and just laid down for a sleep. :)

Over the weekend we did another walk in the park (which she slept through again). We know that she is too young to take in the green grass or enjoy the daylight (she isn't even supposed to be in direct sunlight for a few months). The walks are for us - and for the dogs! - who feel pretty cooped up all week long.

Overall we are all doing well, aside from the grumpy leaping that is happening. She is healthy and happy (most of the time) and we are still enjoying every minute! (even the tears, because they mean that she is growing right on track!)

Off to tend to a snuggly newborn!
Until next time...

7 Lessons in 7 Weeks

I can't believe that seven weeks have passed now... (Seriously don't think I've slept but 3 days total in that time!) But in my sleepless stupor I've learned a few things about this kiddo... here goes!

1. Violette's a morning person. It's her happiest time of day! (Just like mama!) Too bad dad has most of that shift and he is definitely NOT a morning person lol.

2. She loves to look at pretty pictures! No matter which room we are in her eyes always find the artwork on the wall and study every bit of it! Her two favorites are the whales (three Orcas in a teal blue oasis) in her bedroom and the "rhythm of the islands" print (jazzy cubist/impressionist rendering of island life) in the dining room. Mama loves art too (I minored in art history!) And I'm very excited about Vi's apparent art love!

3. She's all about the road trips. I'm sure it's the vibration of the car and the white noise of the wind... it used to put me to sleep when I was her age too! She does not however like long trips that interfere with her naps or feeding schedule. No, no, no. Nothing more than 3 hours allowed... EVER. Or mom and dad pay for it for a few days... What can we say? Nothing beats the comfort of home.

4. She's definitely got her preferences. As far as brands go, she likes two kinds of pacifiers (MAM & Soothie), two kinds of bottles (Dr. Browns & Tommee Tippee Anti Colic Bottles). She also likes certain blankets more than others, and ONLY likes to be swaddled in Aden + Anais Swaddle blankets. (Thank goodness Miss Veronica got her some of those! Only now she is spoiled! LOL) I will be writing reviews of the loads of products we went through to get to these conclusions in the coming weeks. ;) 

5. She loves listening to music. Doesn't matter what genre. They say babies like what you do because they are introduced to it in the womb... but she loves 60s style Oldies, upbeat Jazz or Pop during the awake hours and prefers dreamy Classical music or slower Jazz ballads when she slows down for the night. She also loves the lullabies that her Auntie Jenna recorded for her. There's nothing like being serenaded to sleep by someone you love!

Mama like to sing Madonna's "Dear Jessie" to her, as well as "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies and when they play them on Pandora she makes excited noises as if she's singing along. Lol. It's happened a few times! Totally makes me laugh!

6. She doesn't like when Daddy works on his shift. She wants every last minute of his attention... and let's him know it! That's her time! Lol. He complains but I know he secretly enjoys how much she needs his love. She's only happy when he's holding her close.

7. This kid hates headbands. Like HATES them. Look at this crazy face! I did try about 3 different types over the course of a couple days. (Just to make sure!) The result was the same. That's why I had the camera ready on the last round! Lol. She's totally cool with beanies but doesn't dig the bands. It's okay Violette... mommy thinks they're a little overkill too. Lol!  I only tried them for two reasons... one because they were gifts, and two because I'd been asked if she were a boy a few times. It's cool though. She can be a tomboy. I'll let her. (Lord knows I was!)

What's In a Name...

It just occurred to me that I have yet to explain to you where what inspired our Little One's name.  Her daddy and I actually decided on both a boy and girl name long before we even decided to try for a child. Shortly after we got married, a few of our friends started to have children. There was arguments about not being able to agree on a name and feeling stressed for time as well as stressed to choose the 'perfect' name, and a few actually only chose one name and were surprised when the ultrasound was wrong and they weren't prepared with a second choice.

We started a list of contenders and would go back and forth on what we liked and why. It had to have a real meaning to us, and sound nice when spoken by either of us. After much deliberation, we decided on...

Violette was named for three of her great grandmothers: Eola, Esmerelda and Charlotte

Eola, translates to Viola, which translates to Violet

Charlotte, inspired us to use the "ette" {french} spelling

Esmerelda, We knew we wanted to use an "E" for her middle name honoring both Esmerelda and Eola

Violette: [v(eye)-oh-lit or vee-oh-leht]

{French} a native, wild species of flower distinguished from the pansy family; a purplish-blue hue

Elora: [ehl-or-uh]

{Hebrew} God is Light 

{English} God gives the laurel, the crown of victory.

I use both the English and French pronunciations depending on which language I am using, which was also one of the deciding factors of her name - it had to sound beautiful in both languages! And it does!

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Six Weeks of L♥VE

We have hit another milestone at Week Six! This is the week that mommies generally are all healed up from child birth, and babies start to show off their little (or big!) personalities with smiles and freely expressing their likes and dislikes. We are also still in her first leap of the Wonder Weeks, where her head is growing a little bit and with that comes some behavioral challenges.

Wednesday

Aquaphor is pretty amazing stuff! Violette's rash has almost cleared up completely in just two days! Of course I washed it thoroughly with warm water before applying, but that was it!

Today Violette and I took a field trip to see Dr. Medrano. She slept in her stroller listening to Pandora the whole time from the waiting room until the examination room. When Dr. Medrano walked in the room and started talking she woke from a dead sleep and smiled as big as she could! She totally recognized his voice from when she was in my tummy, It was SO FUNNY! No doubt it was because we saw him almost every week, but I had never seen her do that to anyone besides her Dad and myself so I was pretty excited. Overall the appointment was good - this Mama is all healed up and cleared for exercise! YIPPEE! Now I can start that Mommy & Me Yoga Class I have been wanting to take with Violette!

Thursday

Violette was VERY clingy today. She held my hand almost the whole time! And when she let go she would peek out at me from under her eyelids to make sure I was within reach. Poor baby really needed her Mama! This is more of that 'leap' stuff I am sure. Only a few more days until this leap is finished! 

Friday

"Today I helped Mama with the dishes and the laundry! Only the running water, dishwasher and dryer noises made me REALLY sleepy, so I slept in my lamb in the kitchen for almost 2 hours straight! Mama was happy because she got to do all kinds of chores like folding and putting away the laundry, and picking up most of the rooms. She felt totally productive by the time Daddy got home from work. I even slept in my cradle for my other nap time - I figured she needed a little bit of a break after needing her so much yesterday - but only for today. Tomorrow I am going to make her hold me some more."

^Mama is going to have to remember that trick!^

Also we received our order of Dr. Brown's bottles today, please GOD let these be the ones that work! Dad said we aren't allowed to buy any others - and poor Violette certainly doesn't want to suffer these tummy troubles forever! I will write a review on all of the bottles we have tried after this and let you know which one is the winner! Fingers crossed!

Saturday

Today Dad had to work - setting up a new client nearby. I had wanted to do some errands before I realized it was Saturday - DOH! The doctor had said we should avoid busy places until she hits 2 months so I should go during slow times through the week - I honestly thought it was Friday! Anywho, this will go on Monday's To Do List. - Instead Violette and I hung out around the house. (The Mama-razzi took lots of unnecessary photos and posted them to her Instagram, too.)

[wondering why the pups were yelling at the heater repair man]

The big excitement for today was that the heater broke last night - blowing cold air! we put lots of snuggly blankies on Violette to keep her warm but knew we had to get it fixed stat! We contacted home warranty first thing and they sent someone out same day. The man was very nice, even though he had to traverse our attic to the horribly placed heating unit. (We think the previous owners had it installed when they put in the new roof, so there is very limited access!) Anyhow, the indoor unit was fine but when he went on the roof it seemed a part on the condenser had broken, and it was the piece that blew the hot/cold air into the house. Thankfully he had the parts with him and made the change quickly. We could feel the difference almost immediately, and his little gauges were reading a 15 degree increase!

Sunday - Violette's First Superbowl!

This evening we went out for our first official family outing to visit Kalin & Javier's new house for the Superbowl XLVII! The game itself wasn't anything amazing (except the Seahawks KILLED the Broncos 43-8, well done Seattle!) but the company was awesome! Violette slept most of the time - even with the loud TV and all of the conversations happening... everyone was amazed at how good she was! She slept right through the Bruno Mars halftime show! (which everyone else enjoyed quite a bit!) and only woke for a little bit to eat and then she got grumpy right before we left when a cup was broken and the sound startled her. We had a great time and LOVED K&J's new house! So happy for them!

Side Note - Today was Groundhog Day as well and our old pal Phil saw his shadow so (unsurprisingly) we are going to have 6 more weeks of wintry weather. (I wanted to note for my journal's sake that this year the US suffered a Polar Vortex and most states had record levels of snow fall and cold temps! Cali was cold for sure, but not as cold as everywhere else... even Florida had a spell!) So thank you Phil for confirming what we had already guessed!