A First Time for Everything

There have been a lot of firsts in the Casa de Loughman lately. First off, I'm proud to announce that Violet's feet have touched the earth! We hanging out on our neighbors' patio last night and A. asked if she could put Violet on the grass. Sure, I said. Why not? And then secretly I thought to myself, why don't I ever think to do cool stuff with my kid like let her run her toes through the grass? I felt like a crappy mom for about 2.6 seconds, but quickly recovered. Violet loved standing in the grass. Oh yeah, did I tell you? She loves to stand up now; can hold all her weight on those chubby little legs of hers.

Then we busted out the swing the neighbors gave us and attached it to their swing set and next thing you know, Violet was rocking away with the big boys! She had a BLAST! She felt so safe and secure, she eventually drifted off to sleep amidst the glow of the sunset and fireflies. What a doll. It's amazing, she's growing so fast that I totally don't realize when she's ready to tackle the next adventure (a.k.a. grass, swing, etc). But as soon as we try it, she's off to the races and I'm amazed at how far she's already come.

 Blurry action shot. Violet did not approve of me stopping the swing to snap a photo, so this is the best I could manage. Check out those thigh rolls!

Case in point. Here is a stunning little outfit gifted to us by the lovely Kelly. Now, I know it's not football season yet. But I'm afraid if Violet doesn't wear it now, by the time I go to put it on her it will be too late and she'll be too big to squeeze into it. So I'm putting her in it now, just in case.

And finally, little Miss Violet slept last night without being swaddled, for the first time since she was born. And it is probably about time. Two nights ago she managed to completely unwrap herself and kicked off the covers, leaving her freezing cold by morning. Today I got her up and her back was soaked with sweat. So we tried something new, one of those sleep sack things where your kid is basically zipped up in a little sleeping bag with arm holes. It worked well enough. She woke up once, but I don't think it was swaddling related. I'm not sure what it was related to, actually, but here's hoping it resolves itself soon. Trekking upstairs to pop the paci back in is far different from reaching over to the pack-n-play and popping the paci back in.

EDIT: Okay, this didn't get posted last night, so here's an update. Violet was so inconsolable last night that we finally got tired of going upstairs. I brought her down around 3 a.m., held her for 45 minutes, then finally conceded defeat and put her in he bed with us around 4 a.m. If the paci wasn't constantly in her mouth (courtesy of me holding it there, naturally) she was pissed. I'm too nervous to fall sleep with her in the bed with us, plus my shoulder was all out of whack from the way I was holding her. Then the cat protested the extra visitor to the bed and had to be forcibly removed a few times. Not a pleasant night, to say the least. I'm almost hoping Violet is teething early, just so there's a reason for this new-found fussiness. Other culprits I have to consider: the lack of swaddling, the dropped feeding, being lonely upstairs, or the fact that she has her parents wrapped around her little finger. Stay tuned.