On the Road

Hitting the road with the neighbors for our first trip to the beach! One mile in and we've already stopped twice. Only 7 hours to go!

Swimsuit Season

Violet and I leave for the beach on Tuesday, and so to get ready, I decided to see if her swimsuit fits. What better way to do this than when Matt was watering some plants? Or as our little neighbor Christian put it, "Mr. Matt sprinkle his yard!"

Without a doubt, Violet enjoyed the sprinkles!

Notice the very direct "more" sign in the lower left picture above. As in, "put it here, partner!"

Coming Home

Guess who is moving home from Chile this summer?!

Aunt Danielle and Uncle Lukas!

Let the glory days of spaghetti-eating, fire pit-gathering, niece-cuddling, coffee-drinking, family bonding begin!

I love these guys!

Last Day

Mommy's last day of school!

15 Months - Time to Pump Some Iron

Violet's 15-month well-check was yesterday, and she's clocking in at 24-plus pounds (75th) and 31-plus inches (75th). That's my proportional girl! Her head, however... her head, at 18 3/4 inches, is in the 90th percentile, thus confirming what I have long suspected. She is, in fact, the smartest baby in the world.

She got her shots, including the MMR, which, as one of its side effects, can cause a fever ten days later. Know where we'll be in ten days? The beach. Exactly where you want to be if you're running a bit hot internally.

Finally, it turns out that Violet is a wee bit anemic. She needs some more iron. Which she will be receiving in the form of vitamin drops. Oh joy. This mama plans to sneak them into a daily cup of juice.

So all things considered, not a bad visit!

PS There's a new poll up! Look to your right... a bit higher... scroll up... there it is!

PPS Today is the last day of school for students!

Hair Do

Ponytail attempt. I'd give myself a C+.

I've been trying out a new hairstyle with Violet lately. Poor thing could barely see with her Justin Bieber forward comb. So we're going pony. But I've come to a very unfortunate discovery.

I suck at doing Violet's hair. I send her to daycare with a haphazard ponytail, and when I pick her up, the teacher has always redone it with style. Sigh. I will have to take lessons. She does look cute with her hair up, though!

All the Hoos down in Hooville, the tall and the small...

At the Park

This weekend, along with being our sixth wedding anniversary and the un-rapture, was our neighbor's birthday! he had an awesome biking party at a local park, and while Violet didn't hop on two wheels, she did have a blast.

Sampling the watermelon.

Not the flavor she was expecting?

Who needs a bike when you have a wagon and a willing steed?!

Getting her feet wet.

A walk in the water.

Healed

It's not a bad scene to wake up to on a Sunday morning. Hubby enjoying his first cup of coffee with bedhead baby on his lap, both entertained by some streaming Sesame Street on the laptop. Yes, this is what Violet's hair looks like in the morning. No, I don't let her out in public looking like this... much.

People have been asking, so I just wanted to let everyone know that Violet's eye is completely healed from her eye surgery. Yay God! It was tearing up for the first two days and I was on the verge of calling the doc and demanding my refund when suddenly, presto, everything was perfect (just as said doc promised). My personal theory is that her tear duct was swollen due to the trauma of having a probe jammed through it, and the swelling was keeping it shut to the point that the tears were not draining. Once the swelling was gone, everything worked as it should. (Again, my personal theory, but it sounds pretty good if I say so myself!) So thanks to God, thanks for your prayers, thanks to the doctor and nurses and Children's Healthcare. Cheers all around!

Pants Optional

She's too young to notice that we aren't paying her to do chores, right?

On second though, maybe we better pay up...

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Our latest masterpiece. In true Picasso style, Violet even took a chunk out of the corner.

Procedure

Violet had her tear duct probe procedure today, as all of you who kept up with the blog this morning know. I was posting from my phone, so I kept the words to a minimum. But now that I'm home and at the computer, I can give you all the play by play.

Let me say first that it was a bit of drama even getting to this point. When Violet was born, she had clogged tear ducts. Then one cleared up. Then we scheduled surgery for the other one. Then I thought it cleared up too. So a week before the surgery, I canceled. Naturally, as soon as I canceled, her eye started tearing up again. So yesterday, I called the surgical coordinated (aka: miracle worker) and begged to be put back in our slot. Strings were pulled, favors were called in, and we were booked for 9 a.m. today.

My favorite title.

We had to be at Children's Healthcare at 7:30 in the morning. Violet wasn't allowed food, drink or "nak" before she had the procedure done, and of everything, this is what had me worried the most! You guys know how much Violet loves her snacks. We waited until the last minute and then threw her in the car in her pj's, hoping for the best.

Let me say, Childrens has it going on. The waiting room was nuts with families and kids, but Violet seemed happy enough playing with all the new toys. Then we were escorted to the pre-op area and she got to put on her snazzy gown. I wish I could have accidentally taken it home, she looked so cute in it! Alas, by this point in the game, hunger was setting in big time and we were seeing the "more" sign a lot. Good thing everything was running on time.

Hanging out in pre-op.

We check ID.

The waiting game.

Finally it was show time. I carried her back to the surgical room and my friend immediately knew the jig was up. They put the mask on and Violet cried for about ten seconds before falling asleep with her mouth wide open, mid-wail. Poor thing. It was a little rough on me, not going to lie. But the nurses were fabulous.

The surgeon didn't lie when he told us at our consultation that the procedure would take longer to explain than it would to perform. I went back to pre-op to get Matt, we were escorted to Violet's recovery room, and the nurse pointed out the free coffee. Matt went to get some and the surgeon showed up with "it went perfectly". Not two minutes later, Violet was wheeled in, all tiny in her giant hospital bed. She slept for another five or ten minutes and then woke up, demanding juice and her nak'.

Waiting for Violet.

World's best nap.

Homeward bound.

And that was that! We were out the doors by 9:20. She acted completely herself all day (I had optimistically brought school work home in case she was sleepy all day, but nope). However, her eye has been tearing up like crazy too. So bad that I actually called Childrens to tell them that the procedure didn't work, I wanted a do-over. Or at least a refund. The very nice nurse reassured me this is normal and to give it a day, so I'm withholding judgment for the time being. We shall see. I will say, it was definitely an easy experience. There were a lot of other kids in the waiting area that seemed to have more serious problems, so I'm glad ours is so minor. However, I'd like it to work. So... we'll see what happens tomorrow.

All Done

Done and heading home! Details to come. Thanks for all the prayers.

All Dressed Up, Nowhere To Go

All ready, just waiting... but looking sweet.

Waiting

We are at Childrens Healthcare waiting to go back for Violet's tear duct probe procedure. This place is a zoo, but a fairly cheerful one. Accepting all prayers at this time. Will keep you posted!

Ten More Days

Count 'em, ten. That's how many days (including today) we have left until school is out for the season.

Violet is celebrating that fact with a pretty new pair of sandals. We are ready for summer!

Put your best foot forward.

Buh-buh

I've been counting up the words Violet can say now. It's quite a number. Among them are: mama, dada, Elmo, night-night, snack, more, outside, bird, tweet-tweet (bird sound), dog, cat, and the always favorite bye-bye (buh-buh).

We recently had to say buh-buh to one of Violet's favorite people in the whole world. Ms. Tracey, her daycare teacher, moved to the other campus this week. This makes me sad for so many reasons. Tracey has been such a source of knowledge to me, from the time Violet started daycare. She taught Violet to roll over and wouldn't give in to her pitiful cries during the dreaded tummy time. She couldn't wait for me to come get Violet the day my girl took her first steps - she was watching my face the whole time Violet toddled over. She's given advice on sleeping, feeding, random first-time mom questions. And for a long time, she was the only one in the infant room that Violet wanted anything to do with. So it is sad to see her go, and I'm madly jealous of all the kiddos at the other school who get to spend time with her every day. We miss you Tracey!

Trying to sneak up on Violet to snap a picture... she noticed me too quickly!

Violet decided to play shy...

Even though Violet misses Tracey, snack time always cheers her up!

Technically Speaking

So I have two updates from the technological front.

The first is: I've joined the 21st century twitter! That's right, I finally did it. I'm so far behind the times, lame. But hey, at least I've caught up now. So find me, follow me, tweet me, whatever all the kids are doing these days: @kloughman. My self-esteem will thank you. I'm liking the whole twitter thing, mostly because I can simultaneously post to it and FB at the same time (multi-tasking!). Any tips on fun folk to follow?

My second technological breakthrough to announce is...... Guess who got a Kindle for Mother's Day!

Now, this is huge for many reasons, the biggest being that I have been a rather outspoken opponent of digital readers in any format for a while now. See, for me reading is all about the book. The actual book. With an actual cover by which to judge it. I like owning books. I like showcasing them on my shelves so that other people can see what good taste I have.

And with digital readers, you don't get any of that. You can't snootily hold your reader in front of your face on a plane so everyone will see that you're reading the latest obscure-but-soon-to-be best seller. You can't set your reader on your bookshelf in an artsy display.

But the other day I had a light bulb moment. For our next book club pick, we chose Big Fish (movie tie-in): A Novel of Mythic Proportions. Alas, my library doesn't have it. The library in the next county over (of which I still hold a library card) only had one copy and I was third on the wait list with less than three weeks to get it read. I was annoyed. Wouldn't it be nice, I thought to myself, if someone would invent a device that would let you instantly search for and procure a book without the hassles of driving to a library or sitting on a wait list?

So in that instant, I reversed my entire position on digital readers and decided I wanted a Kindle. And Matt was happy to get me one for Mother's Day. Funny story, though. When he ordered it from Amazon, the site somehow defaulted to our ancient Texas address when it shipped the device. So my Kindle ended up at our old apartment last week and only just arrived today. Amazon was actually very nice about the entire thing.

I'm just now starting to explore (in fact, this post is about to end so I can go back to playing with my new toy) but so far I am loving it. The digital ink it uses is very cool. I love finding free books (hello Jane Austen collection!) and I'm told I can share books with other Kindle users. So... anyone out there got a Kindle? Anyone?

Mother's Day

Did everyone have a happy mother's day? Were you sweet to your mamas? I hope so! As for me, I find Mother's Day much more exhausting now that I actually am a mom. Sure, it's become my holiday too and I reap some benefit from that (more on this topic to come) but I am also so much busier that the holiday sneaks up on me and I sort of forget that while I am a mom, I also have a mom (and wonderful mother-in-law), and they need to be celebrated too!

This year we headed down to Peachtree City for a trip to the park and luncheon with both our families. It is so nice to be able to share the day with everyone at once. Violet wasn't feeling her best (again, more on that later) but she put on a brave face for most of the day and everyone enjoyed the afternoon.

At the park.

Violet and I tag-teamed our gift this year... She colored a picture for Grandma and I put it in a frame.

Violet and "Em-mo"

Even though it was Mother's Day, Mimi couldn't resist getting Violet a present too. After reading on the blog about Violet's new crush on Elmo, she decided to get the girl her very own. And Violet loved it! She has learned to say Elmo's name and is having fun spotting her furry little friend everywhere, on the tv, on her sunglasses, in her room...

Violet started getting cranky around lunchtime, but she perked up when dessert presented itself. As it turns out, she loves trifle. And she was intent on getting as much as she could. The little stinker ran circles around the living room, making a pit stop at everyone holding a dessert glass so she could get a bite!

Yum.

More please!

 

Open wide!

Mmm...

Needless to say, Violet had a bit of a second wind after all that sugar. Which was okay, considering how hard she was about to crash. All us moms and daughters. Sweet girl. Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, Violet got me the new Adele CD I've had my eye on: 21. Somehow she knew I'd want it! Clever girl. It was a long, tiring day, but it was so nice to spend it with my favorite moms and my best girl.

Sleep Study

Ever since the tornadoes that ripped through the Southeast last week, we've been experiencing our own little whirlwind. It generally hits around two a.m. and sounds not like a freight train but a wail nonetheless. Violet is having a bit of sleep regression. And as any parent can tell you, once your child starts sleeping through the night, it is not cool when they stop.

Ah, sweet sleep...

The night of the tornado, we put Violet to sleep upstairs like normal and turned on the tv. The weathermen were in full swing (hey, this is their superbowl) and I was starting to get nervous. Finally, as it looked like things were getting close, I cleaned our our little under-the-stairs closet and retrieved the baby, ready to spring into our shelter at moment's notice.

But the moment never came. So we tried putting Violet to bed in her pack-n-play downstairs in our room. She just stood up and yelled. I laid down with her in our bed. She just rolled around and thought it was time to play. Matt tried holding her in the living room, but she refused to sleep. Finally, a good three hours past her bedtime, I gave up and toted her back upstairs, where she immediately fell asleep in her crib while I lay restless in my bed downstairs with the news on, hoping that if the tornado did barrel through, I'd hear it in time to rush upstairs. (Don't even get me started on the nightmare scenarios I played in my head of what might happen. But the girl just refused to sleep anywhere but upstairs! And our upstairs guest room doesn't have a tv for me to monitor!)

Anyway, the tornado never came our way and all's well that ends well. Except that ever since that night, Violet has been waking up at one a.m., four a.m., other ungodly hours, hollering and carrying on. The first night, she woke up screaming such a blood-curdling cry I sprinted upstairs, convinced I would see a wild animal gnawing on her arm. As soon as I swooped her up, her cries disappeared and she laid her head on my shoulder like all she had been looking for was some company. The next night, with the same screams, I jogged upstairs. The third night, I trudged. I wasn't sure what was going on, but she didn't seem in pain. She just seemed... lonely? Scared? But with each episode lasting anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours, I was at my wit's end.

I consulted everyone. Her daycare teachers. My colleagues. Mothers everywhere. One person laid bets on teething and suggested a dose of pain medicine before bed. Another suggested that Violet was waking up scared of the dark and told us to get a nightlight. A third warned that the little girl was on the verge of developing a habit and hoped we could resist the temptation to rush in a pick her up. This, too, was my biggest fear. But when it's four in the morning and I've been upstairs twice already and I just want to go to sleep, I'll do anything, include indulge my baby in some cuddles.

Sunday night was the worst. From one to three, we were awake, all three of us. In someone's arms, you wouldn't know there was a problem. But the minute Violet felt herself being lowered into her bed, all hell would break loose again. At one point Matt decided that if Violet wanted to be awake, so be it, let's have playtime. That didn't work. At another time, I refused to pick her up and instead wedged my arms through the slats of her bed to try and coax her to lay down. A less than perfect method. It was, in short, a nightmare, and a terrible start to the work week.

So on Monday, we made an evening run to Target for a nightlight. We gave Violet a dose of tylenol, just in case she was having some teething pain. I spent a long time cuddling with her before putting her in bed, using one of her stuffed animals to model getting night-night hugs and kisses, pretending it was getting sleepy, asking Violet to put it in the bed. I sang "Jesus loves me" and prayed for a good night's rest for all of us. She drifted peacefully to sleep...

And woke up at four. Although instead of the violet screaming, she merely stood up and yelled "ah ah ah" over and over until one of us showed up. So maybe the nightlight helped in that regard? But my sleep quota was rapidly diminishing. My colleagues (by the way, hi Katie!) were getting bored with hearing my daily saga recounted in the break room. Things were looking grim.

But last night... last night, my friends, Violet slept the entire night through! I feel as proud as a brand-new mama whose newborn just made it through the night for the first time! Of course, today I was more exhausted than ever (oh irony, thy name is evil) but I hope, hope, this is the nightlight at the end of this tunnel. I promise not to keep you posted, as you're probably as bored as the other first grade teachers by now, but I just had to share.

Brighter days (and nights) ahead? (And completely aside, please note how well Violet's shoes match her outfit.)

Water

Violet got a couple watering cans in her Easter basket.

She hasn't quite mastered the technique of pouring through the spout.

(There, that's better!)

But she sure had fun watering the flowers on her dress!

More please!