Baby's first crawl! And Other Mommy Bragging

I'm just gonna say it. My baby is freakin' ADVANCED! In just a few weeks, Violet has gone from sitting up on her own (Halloween weekend), to combat crawling, to THIS!

She is already pulling herself up to her feet in the crib and play pen! My mom tells me that I was walking at 10 months so maybe Miss V is taking after me a little. Needless to say the baby proofing is moving right along. First gate is installed, the parlor doors are being closed more often. She's already crawled onto the heater grate in the floor and freaked out when she realized it was TOO HOT! No injuries but that was quite a scare for mommy. We're gonna have to figure out a solution for that one....

Here's Violet playing in the fountain at Grandma Eliza's church! (no, we were not getting baptized) She loves water, just like her Daddy.

Let's see, what are some of the other things she is doing? She is now stringing together several syllables at a stretch. It almost sounds like she is talking (in alien baby speak). She laughs and giggles more than ever. She has figured out that if she waves things like string around in front of the cat, that she will have a devoted playmate. I still have to really watch the cat though. We've already had a few "misunderstandings" with Pandora about the proper use of teeth and claws around the baby. 

With very little crying or fanfare Violet sprouted he first two lower front teeth on Halloween weekend. She seems only mildly irritated with the teething pain. We're keeping the Tylenol, Oragel and frozen toys handy. I think the teething does interrupt her sleep. She's had a harder time lately. Been keeping mommy up late and waking a little more frequently before 3am. This is a drag but I'm sure it'll pass. I guess its a good thing I'm not working because I'm getting way less sleep nowadays. 

There is one area where Violet seems to be behind the curve a little. She has bottle issues still and she isn't really interested in eating baby food. 

I try feeding her a little every day and she's just not into it at all. About the only thing she enjoys is grabbing our drinking glasses and blowing bubbles in the water but she doesn't actually try and drink any of it. This of course causes her whole front side to get wet which she doesn't seem to mind. AND she's doing this really weird thing where she can twist her tongue sideways, almost upside down, in her mouth! Its freaking Jonathan out. I'm convinced it has something to do with muscle control (ie. she has none in her tongue) and it is something she'll grow out of. Maybe once she has better control of her tongue she'll start eating human food a little more? 

Happy 1st Halloween Baby!!!

Like most of our friends, Jonathan and I are REALLY into halloween. So it was no surprise when I started dressing Violet up early. We got a few costumes and holiday themed clothing items handed down to us and I just couldn't resist one on sale at Babies R Us. Violet was a good sport throughout the whole month. Daddy was a little less enthusiastic. He thinks I'm embarrassing her. Well... he's RIGHT! I only have a precious few years before I have no more say in what my child wears. I know this from first hand experience. 

We met Irene and Natasha at the park one afternoon for some more swinging and sliding. Good thing they weren't wearing the same skull sweatshirts... because they do actually have the same little skull sweatshirt....

Grandma came to visit the week before Halloween and we had a nice time hanging out. I got to decorate the front yard and we spent a little time out there taking pictures. Violet was totally busting out of the little velvet bat costume. The snaps kept popping open and she was only barely able to sit up on her own for these pictures. She kept flopping over into the grass. But with a little patience and help from Grandma we got some great pics!

We had a total of 7 pumpkins to carve. We did two the previous Wednesday at Marisa's pumpkin carving party. The last 5 we carved on Friday night before halloween. Of course I have to be all fancy and special with the electric pumpkin carving knife so it takes a little longer but the results were fantastic as usual.

On Saturday we dressed Violet up in her butterfly halloween costume and did another photo shoot in the front yard. Grandma had picked up the giant rubber duck at a store on the island so of course we had to have the baby riding the duck! That evening we headed over to Chez Neumansky to see their fantastic decorations, meet up with other friends and hang out. Violet didn't deal really well with being out so far past her bed time so it was kind of an early night. 

On Sunday we continued our tradition from last year. I made beef stew and we hung out on the porch steps while the candy grubbing children came by to beg for treats. A couple of the neighbors happily had some beef stew, Gwydion & Anna came over to hang out and shoot things with air soft rifles and Jonathan got to show off his lightsabers to anyone who came by in a Star Wars costume.  

And we made it through another year without the house getting egged! Success!

Almost 6 Months!

Sorry its been a while. I'm better at posting the short quippy things on Facebook. It's hard to find the time anymore to type anything more than a few lines nowadays. Violet keeps mommy on her toes! But here's 2 videos to make up for it. 

Violet is just about 6 months old now and officially MOBILE! She's rolling around like crazy and  pushing herself back and forth a lot while on her belly. She's even getting up on her hands and knees! But she doesn't seem to have the coordination to keep it up for long or go anywhere while in this position. Just a matter of time I guess.

Mu-Shu doesn't seem to like the baby much but Pandora is ALL OVER HER! They have been rolling around and playing together for a while. I have to keep a pretty close eyeball on them though. Pandora can play a bit rough sometimes. But Violet loves her so much. She gets all excited and yammers at the cat when she's close by. 

Don't want to brag too much but we are SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! Most of the time anyway. Violet goes to bed between 7-9, depending on her naps that day. She usually wakes up once around 11 or 1 for a quick feed or diaper change. But sometimes she'll skip the 3am wakeup all together!  She'll wake me up anywhere between 5-7am but usually I can coax her back to sleep if I bring her to bed (after Jonathan is up for work). She pretty much always sleeps in her crib now. I think she's a bit big for the co-sleeper. She rolls around too much and wakes up when she hits the sides and having her in bed with the two of us AND the cats is just too much so we're sticking to the crib.

Mommy has been trying to teach herself some sign language and we're already using it with Violet. She won't start signing back for a few more months but it's going to take mommy a while to learn so we're starting now. Please do not confuse me with one of those evil sancti-mommies. Yes there is a slight twinge of guilt over not being able to teach her a different language. (mommy and daddy are ign'ant americans and we can't afford our spanish speaking nanny share) This is more for my convenience than anything else. Trying to avoid the temper tantrums and communication confusion surrounding the early toddler time. 

Halloween is coming up soon! I promise more posts where we will be showing off all the totally heinous costumes that I will be damaging my child with. Here's a preview!

And here's one of Violet and Daddy. Keeping cool during one of those stupid hot days we've been having this year.

Violet Rolls Over! And Some House-wifery.

We've been busy over here at Villa Vona. On Sunday our precious little Violet rolled over for the first time! Yeah, I know, it's not that big of a deal but we were pretty excited to get it on VIDEO! Along with her rollover practice we've been trying out the whole sitting up thing. She still needs help with that for a while but I think she likes the change of scenery. Violet has been even more vocal lately. Lots of talking.  She is especially good at telling us when she needs changing and when she's hungry. And yes, we can tell the difference...

Violet is 3 months old now so we've been trying to get her on a sleep schedule. Not too hard actually. (The other parents HATE us) She seems to get tired and cranky around 7:30-8:30 most nights so I just take her to her room, feed her, wrap her up and rock with her. It can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour but she eventually knocks out. Some nights are harder than others.

I have been trying to do other things during my time off besides playing with baby. Although I can EASILY kill most of a day just hanging out with her and have zero regrets.

This is my first attempt at landscaping. Well, the beginning of it really. I plan on dropping in some compost soil and planting a few trees back here. We're thinking dwarf lemon, peach and some blueberry bushes. Then next spring I'll be getting my dahlia tuber order from Swan Island in Oregon and then I'll have PRETTY flowers in my yard!

I've also been doing a little baking and cooking when Violet lets me. Its easier if I let her sit in the kitchen with me in her jumper chair. I'm getting very tempted to make bread. I've always been scared to but what have I got to lose but some time and flour? 

Violet Speaks and Smiles!

Here's the first video of Violet talking! Well, babbling really. We swear she said "glue!" the other day. We spend lots of time each day having little conversations with her. Its so much fun and so freakin' cute.

Our pretty human baby is still getting to know our fur babies. All three cats just LOVE Violet's room. Mu-shu spends hours sleeping in the crib. Lucky likes the rocking chair and anywhere with a sunbeam. Pandora is all over the place tearing things up as usual. We even catch the cats on the changing table occasionally. Pandora has shown the most interest in Violet. She likes to climb on my lap while we're nursing and lay up against Violet's back. It's cute but it gets a little warm sometimes! 

We spent fathers day relaxing and hanging out. Breakfast was at Jim's Cafe. We met Dan, Irene and Natasha at Franklin park in the afternoon. Then daddy spent a little time teaching Violet how to play X-box. Violet LOVES spending time with her daddy. 

Just can't put her down!

LITERALLY! I cannot put my baby down. Not much anyway. The little buggers need a significant amount of attention in the first few months. It's rather tiring but I know it only lasts a little while so I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I can. (and forget about the fact that I'm getting NOTHING else done) I know a lot of folks say, "oh you just need to let her cry it out" or "you don't want her too dependent on you" or my favorite "you'll spoil her if you hold her too much." 

Sorry but I'm not buying into this train of thought. I believe there's a significant amount of bad American "habits" when it comes to parenting. Consider that in other cultures all over the world, colic doesn't exist. Researchers think it has to do with how much babies are "attached" to their parents and family members in these other cultures. Yes, I've been reading the Sears books and the Happiest Baby book. These theories make the most sense to me and even more important, the practices are actually working for us, which in my opinion, sells it the best.

But enough preaching.
Let's get on to the BABY! Violet is doing wonderful. and I have the 240+ pictures to prove it. She's almost 8 weeks old now. She is smiling and grabbing at things pretty regularly. She's gooing and gaaing at me and her daddy when she's in a good mood. She still naps a lot which is about the only time I can put her down for a little while. She also likes laying in her crib and watching the blinky music light (ironically it's a Baby Einstein product) but I always feel bad when I leave her there so I can get other things done. Luckily she only tolerates it for a short while and starts squawking like a lost cheetah cub when it's no longer entertaining for her. 

I am getting better from the surgery slowly. Just started lifting some weights yesterday. Trying to walk faster when I go out. It'll be time to start looking for work soon. Not looking forward to that. Partly because the idea of leaving Violet during the day makes me sad.

Welcome Violet Kira Vona

Violet Kira Vona was born on April 24th at 9:37pm!

She weighed 7lbs. 14 oz. and was 20" long.

Mom was in labor for about 25 hours and we ended up having a c-section after baby got stuck. It was not the best birth experience ever recorded. (more on that later)

Baby is 100% healthy, mom (and dad) will recover.

The Painted House

With Baby on the way Jonathan has been working hard to get the house squared away before we have zero energy to do anything ever again. After all the "fun" we had painting the baby's room we figured it was time to do the rest of the house! So Jonathan has spend many many days over the last several weeks painting like crazy. It was very un-fun for him but the results were FANTASTIC! We're extremely happy with our color choices. (you can pretty much only get away with this when you have 12' ceilings I think)














This was after the first coat in the entry way. Pandora REALLY likes ladders. She would climb them whenever we had them set up. Unfortunately she had a hard time getting down on her own so Jonathan had to climb up and get her.


This is the finished entryway. We got this great silver paint that looked so pretty on the trim!















Our dining room (and the living room) are red with black trim. At first we weren't sure about the red but after a couple of days we got really happy with it. I'm glad we kept the red a little muted rather than brighter. Both rooms look really dramatic now. Jonathan is going to add metallic gold highlights on the trim and there's some other details we want to do but this will get us by for now. We love it!














Our bedroom is a lovely plumb color (with more silver trim). LOVE IT. Waking up in this room actually makes me happy.














And here's the token belly shot of me and Lucky NOT HELPING with the painting.

Baby Shower!

I have often said that I have the best girlfriends.
But I'll say it again... I HAVE THE BEST GIRLFRIENDS EVER.
Christine & Shannon threw me an Alice In Wonderland Tea Party Baby Shower!!! The weather cooperated so we got to be outside the whole day. There were teapots everywhere! I even got to use my wedding china tea pots! It was such a perfect afternoon with my friends. Mom flew in and Eliza made it back up from So.Cal in time. It was really nice to hang out with the girls for a whole day too. I know I won't get a chance to do that for a while after baby comes.














Here Natasha gets to see what a baby shower looks like. She tried so hard to attend her own shower we thought it was only fair she get to come to mine.














And of course we were all ecstatic that Ambrosia and Iggy made it to town in time! We hope to be seeing more of them soon. :)














This would be Baby's first fight skirt. Natasha got one too. Irene and I cannot wait to teach our daughters how to beat each other up with sticks. "Remember baby, you can ONLY hit someone in the dome!!!" Although I'm thinking we'll probably have to build our own little dome at home and do fights here. Something tells me if we try and harness our kids up at the local park jungle gym, some Alameda Mommy group will take issue with our parenting techniques...















Here's all the moms!

Baby's Room is painted!

Well, after a little trial and error with the trim color (green is bad) we finally finished painting the baby's room! This is Jonathan, very hungry and totally over it. I was pretty much over it too. All that crawling around climbing ladders and trying to not ruin the floors was a lot for us to get through with my growing belly and his bad back. But we made it! And we're really happy with the results. Now there's just the rest of the house to paint.....

Here's the latest pic of "the belly." I'm now 28 weeks and heading into my last trimester. (about 7 months) Baby is kicking all the time and moving around lots! She seems most active when I'm trying to sleep or sitting on the couch. She is heavy! I'm now lugging around about 2 lbs. of actual baby and about 18 lbs. of extra tissue and fluid housing the baby. Last night I got woken up by my first leg cramp. That was interesting but not nearly as bad as the round ligament pain I was having from weeks 14-24. Now begins all the prep work. Classes at Kaiser, setting up the rest of baby's room, planning for my maternity leave from work. Lots to do! We're trying to pace ourselves.

Here's a little fun in the basement! Jonathan's parents got him this awesome work bench for the X-Mess and both our parents hooked us up with a whole bunch of great tools & gear for working around the house! I'm betting this will all come in pretty handy in the near future. It's just really nice having a central location for everything. Before, our meager set of tools were spread all over the place.