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!

Five Weeks of L♥VE

This week in the life of Violette...

Wednesday - 1 month check up and first vaccine at Pediatrician's Office

Dr. Bloom gave her an A+! But she was SO MAD at us for the shot... she "turned violet" and cried REAL TEARS! It was the first time water spouted from her eyes! I know that celebration shouldn't be tied in with tears - but this is a formative milestone, so we shall celebrate it! After about 20 minutes (and a mini anxiety attack from Mama) she calmed down. (Mama needed a donut after this one! Well deserved!)

Thursday - Her First Fall
Today Violette wiggled her little butt right out of her Fisher Price My Little Lamb. NO JOKE! It scared the $%#^ out of me! Thankfully she was just on the futon on my office and landed on the cushion... that could have been tragic! She will be strapped in from this point forward! The doctor said she was strong and was doing really well with her head movement but this is just RIDICULOUS!  She just startled herself and cried out for help, but when I picked her up she stopped right away so I knew that she was alright. Silly girl! Stop doing stunts!

Friday - Just hanging around the house with Mama

I thought I would dress her in her pink outfit with the printed violets from YaYa today - and she had a FIT! It fit her perfectly, nothing was itchy or pushing on her... there was no reason for her to freak out that much... I tried to take it off of her but she was so worked up that I couldn't get it off of her without her flailing about. LOL. Even her whales couldn't calm her down! It's literally the only thing we own that is that shade of pink which makes me think she just didn't like the color - I wrapped her up in a swaddle so she couldn't see it and she finally fell asleep from exhaustion. When she woke up she didn't seem to care that much. CRAZY KID.

We also tried another type of bottle today, the MAM bottle  because my cousin recommended it. We weren't impressed because she spit up HALF of what she drank both times we used it! (And as any mommy knows, pumped milk is like liquid gold... not something you want to waste!) She did like the MAM pacifier though... which was strange. We will have to stick with our Tommee Tippee Bottles for now - she really likes them but they leak a little bit so we were hoping to find something better. I think we might try Dr. Brown's next. If any of my mommy friends have a different recommendation we would love to hear about it!

Saturday - Lunch at Backwoods Inn with Grandma & Grandpa Sawyer
It was nice and quiet there and the food was pretty good. (Not worthy of a yelp review in my opinion, but Jeremy seemed to adore his Alaskan Crab Salad.) We decided it's a good place to meet up for future visits.  Violette was sleepy most of the time but woke up to eat in the middle and then fell right back asleep! Hopefully she will be more social in the future... at a month old we really can't do much!

After lunch we stopped at Vons for a quick shopping trip, but Dad wanted to stay in the car with Violette (who was sleeping at the time). Of course she woke up while I was inside and got pretty fussy. Jeremy got creative instead of calling me to hurry. He had a tent set up with swaddle blankets to protect them from the sun, and had Violette laying on his lap when I got back. LOL. So silly...

Sunday - Enjoyed another bath in her TummyTub

Her second time in the TummyTub - this tub is reminiscent of the womb and she is so calm when she is in there that we decided to make it part of an bedtime routine. This time Daddy and I were a bit more coordinated and prepared - and even took a picture! We will try to do a video once we get better at it.

Monday - Visit from Auntie Carla and Wonder Week Leap One
Carla stopped in after her morning at court to meet Baby Violette. (She had stopped by the hospital but Vi was still in NICU - so she missed her the first time around.) It was a nice visit and we were SO GLAD that she could come by. I was starting to get stir crazy... it happens when I don't see my friends for awhile.. :)

Today Violette hit her first leap in the Wonder Weeks theory. (It's a study with a book and an app that tracks 'fussy' stages of babies and deciphers the growth spurts and brain changes that cause the fussiness that couldn't be explained by environmental needs). It seems that her head circumference is growing right now, and I will notice her crying much more, but mostly wanting to be held or have us at arms reach for the next 9 days. (which explains why she wants to hold my hand when she sleeps, takes a pacifier, eats, etc!)

After this 'leap' we will notice that she is more aware of where we are when she hears our voice or noises, can focuses more with her eyes and see things farther away than before. Also her tear ducts will be fully formed (which we found out on Wednesday!)

Tuesday - Field trip to Santa Clarita
Today we met Margarita at Panera Bread for lunch (Vi slept through the majority of it... she really likes to sleep at Restaurants this little one. Once she can partake in real food I am sure that will change...). Afterwards we went to visit Dr. Good so that I could get adjusted (FINALLY!). Doctor Good got a kick out of Violette's entrancement with his paint color (it was a dark blue gray tone.. but she was enamored by it!). I was impressed at how every vertebrae in my back and neck seemed to pop with this adjustment! It sounded like I stepped on Bubble Wrap! I think that's proof positive that Pregnancy does a body BAD!

Violette has a little rash on her face because she spit up and daddy was too sleepy to notice so she got put back to bed right on top of it... (Yikes!) Her face was not happy in the early morning, all broken out and scratchy! I washed her up really good in the morning and treated it with Aquaphor all day. After bath time tonight it seems to be doing a lot better.

This Leap is proving to be right on - she is determined to be held at all times, so I decided to break out the baby wearing wrap that Jeanna gave me... I had to watch a few you tube videos to figure it out but alas... with a little tweaking I think I have got it! She slept right on top of me while I was doing dishes and prepping for dinner in the kitchen. SCORE! I think it will be pretty helpful in the next week or so.