Here We Go Again!

If you haven't already heard we are expecting another bundle of joy!  Yay!!!  I am due February 16th and am 11 weeks.  Almost through the first trimester.  With Violet I was sick for about 4 months or so.  Lets see if this baby will make me suffer as long.  Actually it hasn't been too terrible.  Mornings are the worst, but as long as I eat immediately upon waking up I am ok.  So far I haven't puked (yay) and think it's only because I make sure to eat every hour or so.  I notice if I wait too long I can feel a nice puke sesh coming on so I don't let it get that far! 

The hardest part so far has been how exhausted I've been.  I have never felt so tired in my whole life.  My energy level is about a negative 5.  I can go a week without being able to do laundry dishes or anything around the house.  As you can imagine, with a  year old we live in a constant state of toy mania covering every square inch of the floor.  No energy to pick it all up so we just leave it be for now.  I try to take naps when Violet does but I am a horrible nap taker.  I also go to bed as soon as I put her down around 8pm.  Violet is still sleeping good at night but is an early riser.  Usually 6:30.  Can I get an 8am one of these days?

We are so very excited for number two.  I am pretty scared though about having two little ones.  They will be 19 months apart.  Violet will basically still be a baby when this baby comes.  Yikes.  Terrifying.  I starting showing way quicker with this baby.  I already have the tummy I had at 4 months with V.  I don't mind it though since it now looks like I am pregnant and not just fat.  Ha ha.  I have already brought out the stretchy pants.  Got myself some jeggings at Target the other day too.  Its all about the comfort people.  I would really love another girl next so V can have a sister close in age.  My sister Jessica is 2 years younger and we are best friends, talk or text almost every day and are incredibly close.  I want that for Violet.  But of course a boy would be fine too.  Its funny, Justin mentioned the other day that he would love another girl.  Ha ha.  He just loves having a little girl and thinks she is so fun.  Be careful what you wish for honey, you may just end up with a house full of girls like my dad!

trying to rehydrate with daddys giant water bottle

Smart Baby

A couple days ago Violet knocked my socks off with how smart she is.  Justin went out back to do something and Violet watched him go out the sliding glass doors.  She immediately went over to the big basket by the door that houses our shoes.  She pulls one of hers out and hands it to me.  What?  My baby actually knows that we put on our shoes to go outside?  She was handing it to me to put on her.  What a smarty pants!  I didn't want her to go outside so I set it down.  Well miss smarty went and pulled the other shoe out, sat down and tried to put it on her foot.  What the heck?  Aren't you only barely 1?  Today I went outside to feed the big dogs and came back in to find her head deep in the basket, shoes scattered about, looking for hers.  Ha ha ha.

just chompin on babys hand

helping mama vacuum (actually vacuuming with her is super frustrating! ha ha)

4th of July

I almost forgot to show you the cute pics of V on the 4th.  We pretty much laid low that day since her bday party was 2 days before.  We went over to my parents house for some yummy food and relaxation.  Justin and V even took a dip in the pool. 

How cute is my little firecracker?

Sleep Training

As you have heard me complain about for, Violet is notoriously a TERRIBLE sleeper.  I tried and tried and read and read and NOTHING worked.  She finally mastered the nap at about 10 months.  2 two hour naps a day usually.  When she first started doing it I was in shock, I didn't even know what to do with myself!  I was used to two or three 20 minute naps.  So, at about 11 months Violet's night time sleep habits became even worse.  (I thought they were already at the ultimate low).  She went from waking every hour or two a night to waking every 20-30 minutes a night.  And I mean EVERY night.  I would go in, nurse her and put her back down.  By the time I laid back down I had about 10 minutes to rest before I got up again.  From 11 to almost 12 months I got aprox. 2 hours (not in row) of sleep a night.  A couple more weeks of that I honestly think I would have needed to check into the hospital for exhaustion and mental health.  I am not kidding.

I like to be honest on my blog and not hold things back.  That little amount of sleep and not to mention she would wake up around 5:30am for the day was bringing me into depression.  I was beyond grumpy, I couldn't think, I didn't want to do anything including brushing my teeth.  I would get terrible anxiety attacks when bed time neared and I would hold back tears every time I had to get up.  It was eating me alive. 

So, I decided enough was enough.  I understood this whole thing was partially my fault.  I was enabling her by going in there and feeding her every time.  It was just hard to ignore her cries because her room is  feet from ours.  A week before her birthday I began sleeping on an air mattress in our downstairs office.  I turned a sleep sounds website on my computer and cranked it up.  And that is where i slept for a little over a week.  Down there I can't hear her cry at all.  Justin can sleep through it so he stayed in our room.  According to him she cried many times the first night but never for over 15 minutes.  Each night after she cried less and less.  In about 4 or 5 days she was sleeping through the night.  Not only had we sleep trained her with little pain for all of us, I had also weaned her night feedings.  I had also took away her two day time feedings when I started sleeping downstairs too.  After she had slept through the night for a few nights I took away the before bed feeding as well (the day before her bday). 

In conclusion, I finally have a happy healthy little girl who sleeps through the night and actually wakes up happy in the morning.  She does still cry sometimes but I don't go in there anymore and it usually only lasts about 3 minutes or less.  And now she sleeps in till atleast 6, 7 if I'm lucky!  And I am no longer breast feeding which is awesome as well.  I was pretty scared to quit but she took it like a champ.  So folks, if your in the same boat as me, keep trying diff. things.  Crying it out doesn't work for everyone but it sure worked for us.  (Next baby I will be implementing this much sooner!)

1 Year Checkup

Today was Violet's 1 year checkup.  The dr. said she is still developmentally surpassed her age group.  Yay Violet!  So proud of my girl.  The only thing she is behind on is her teeth.  Still only two of those suckers.  They sure are taking their time.  She weights 22 lbs 8 oz, which is actually an oz and a half less than her 10 month appt.  All the walking and running around has slimmed her down alot.  She is around the 75th percentile now.  She is 29.5" tall which is between the 50 and 75th percentile.  It was a great appt until she had to get 4 shots.  Boo.  Every appt ends in shots, no fun at all.

Violet has become so smart lately.  She really picks up on stuff so quickly now.  Whenever I say "did you go poop?" she goes and gets me a diaper out of the basket.  When Justin pulls up after work I say "daddy's home!" and she immediately looks to the door and walks over there.  Sometimes when I go outside for a quick minute to throw something away outside, when I come back in she says "dada!".  Ha ha, I think she is just used to dad coming through that door.  When I ask her if she wants to watch Super Readers she will even go get me the remote (we tape them).  We say go get your baby, or go get your ball or milk and she knows what each one of those are.  Her toys that have buttons on them to make noises or music, she only has to watch me push the button once or twice and she can copy me after that and do it herself. When I say "Lets go eat breakfast" she walks to the kitchen and over to her chair.   It's so cool that she understands what we are saying to her.  My favorite thing she does now is give kisses.  It is so adorable.

She still loves phones, remotes, water bottles and anything that is not really a toy.  She loves her babies and carries them around patting their backs or feeding them a bottle (how cute is that).  She spends most her time sitting on her princess couch.  Giant messes should be her middle name.  We can't pick up in front of her or she will pull everything right back out.  She also still enjoys eating dog food.  Not my cup of tea but hey, its not hurting her any so why not.  She also has slept through the night for about a week now... next post I'll tell you all about how we sleep trained her... and me.

Violet's Birthday Party

Can you believe she is 1?  The last 6 months flew by.  It's so wierd that she is now a little person.  Not just a baby anymore.  She has become sooo fun.  Her little personality is hilarious.  She had a great birthday and loved seeing everyone and definitely loved all the attention.  Check out the party girl on her big day...


She woke up and got to see her two big presents on the back deck.  A playhouse and a water table!

After breakfast at the Ugly Mug with the grandparents Violet played and took a few naps before her partay!  I had to wake her up eventually once everyone had arrived.  I brought her downstairs and set her down in the middle of everyone.  Now this is where it gets funny.  Everyone started snapping pics of her, flashes left and right.  Little miss V stood there perfectly still and posed for the pics.  It was hilarious.  It was like she loved it.  Someone may like to be the center of attention I think!

the headband and necklace lasted about a minute and I took the tutu off so she could run around easier (plus I made cute matching bloomers and her booty looks so dang cute in them)

hugging cousin Landon despite his protests

head lock

taking him down.. gosh shes a tough one huh

ok V- enough is enough, ha ha

Aunt Melissa, Landon and V

Such a fun time!  It is so fun to celebrate kids birthdays.  Now time to figure out where to put the new mountain of toys...

Love this Bday girl

Violet's Party Decorations

I thought I would do two post on Violet's birthday.  One with pics of the decorations and one of Violet enjoying her party!  The decoration photos turned out fuzzy which really sucks but you will be able to get the main idea.  

The theme was Berry Sweet Birthday, so everything strawberries.  We just did a family party and kept it simple since Violet had no idea it was even her birthday.  I figure next year I can do a bigger one with friends.


Heres the invite I sent out (only had to make a few since it was family only).  I created it on picnik and then added the bunting once I had it printed.

The dessert table!  Yum!  Cake pops, strawberry cookie tarts, chocolate covered strawberries and red velvet cupcakes.  This took forever to make!  But soooo worth it!

I made this cute ribbon topiary- I saw similar ones on Etsy and just copied the idea.

I wish you could see the streamers closer up.  I found the idea on a blog.  They are pink and red streamers sewn together and ruffled.  Sooo cute and totally reusable.

We had a bbq- a slider bar.  Cute idea huh.  We had all these different toppings for the burgers like pineapple, mushrooms, bacon, avocado, blue cheese, and all the basic toppings. 

Everything turned out super cute but boy was it alot of work.  I'm glad I don't have to do it for another year!