little lady, BIG piano

As a pre-Christmas gift we got a BIG piano mat for Violet. We thought it would brighten up her tummy time adventures. Plus we are HUGE fans of introducing music in as many ways possible. Violet has tons of fun on the piano. She was a bit slow to pick it up (a literal 1-note show -or- 2 notes away from rivaling Green Day). However her determination and keen ear for classical piano has made strides of improvement to her technique. Below I am posting some video I shot on Violet's first day with the piano.



Yes, I know, she is lagging on the crescendos slightly. But not bad for a kid. These nights Violets will play some accompaniment while her Dad belts out a Billy Joel tune. Sometimes she'll play a trick and do a key change during the bridge. We have a laugh.

See you at the coda.
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Ho-Ho-Holy Presents! (& Hello 2011)

What a lovely first Christmas it was for little Miss Violet! (Or as we are calling her these days - besides the Papoose - Miss Agoo and Pollywog.)
She scored big in the present department. Must be because she was such a good little girl and she made sure to squeeze three visits in with Santa, to boot.

I would go down a list of presents she received, but I think I would lose track. We are still trying to find space for all of her new stuff and this kiddo just turned 3 months old! (Yup, 3 months and 2 days old today to be exact!)

Oh hai! I am 13lbs & 10oz and I heart Fozzie! Wokka! Wokka!

On Christmas Eve, Mike and I exchanged presents. We do this every year. (Scored a Barnes & Noble color Nook...w00t!) We figured since Violet would not know the difference, we would help her open her gifts. She passed out at 10:30pm and I had to wake her up at 8:30 Christmas morning. This child is definitely like her parents! We are sleep hogs! (Quick side note *** She has been sleeping through the night for almost 3 weeks now. A lot of parents have different ideas of what sleeping through the night is for them. This is what it has been like for us - she sleeps,unswaddled, for 7-9 hours, sometimes 10. We have to wake her up in the mornings half of the time. It's nice bc when she wakes up, she is changed and fed and then will take a half hour nap. Other than that, she is very much wide awake and as active as she possibly can be and rarely naps.)

Back to Christmas! We hosted a very informal breakfast here at our house. We actually did not end up eating until after noon, but that's okay! Food, presents, bopping around, naptime, etc.
We then headed over to Gigi and Grandpa's for Round 2. Insanity. Presents, presents, lots of insanely delicious seafood and oh yeah, did I mention presents? Sheesh!

Too much mistletoe!

So happy, grateful and thankful to our families for thinking of Violet and being so generous and thoughtful! While we appreciate the gifts, we would really rather have our friends and family spend time with Violet (not money.)

This has been our best Christmas yet and I have a feeling that each year, it's going to get better. After all, it's all about the children and the wonder, awe and magic of the holiday season!

Violet has started the early signs of teething. This has been going on for about two weeks. Just the other night, Mike noticed and pointed out that her two top teeth are actually showing through her gums. I wish I could get a picture, but she probably would not sit still long enough for it. She discovered her feet on Christmas Eve. What a trip! I am pretty sure she was mesmerized by the stripes on her BabyLegs and then noticed her wiggly little toes. Now she cannot stop grabbing at them and pulling her feet up toward her face. She cannot stop laughing anytime she sees one of our pets. She also adores my mother and father's Golden retriever/Chow Chow mix, Sammich. She babbles and drools and coos and says A-GOOOO a lot! That is why we started calling her Miss Agoo. One of her new best buddies is a frog named Tad (get it?) so we started to call her Pollywog. Har har...
We crack ourselves up. She cracks us up.

On New Year's Eve, she met her four cousins. Hartland is six, Lillian is four (soon to be five - this month!) Grace is three and Ellis is two months old. Yup, she has a little cousin. (It's so funny to think she is older than another family member...heehee) My older brother and his wife - who were also celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary that night - came to visit and ring in the new year with us. Of course, Violet and Ellis just chilled and were being. well, babies while the girls danced and sang and played around and (hopefully) had a blast! The adults toasted at midnight and all was well! <3Glowy Christmas eyes!

P.S. We have so much video footage to go through, so once it's finally edited I am sure Mike will post something fun!

Prelude to a Christmas update

We've been so busy and we would like to post a proper update. We will soon, but for now PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had these taken here in our home when Violet was 5 weeks and 5 days old. (She is now 12 weeks and 1 day old.) Tom Bonomo is not only a fantastic photographer, but we are pretty sure he is the Baby Whisperer. Violet loves him! She loved him 7(ish) weeks ago and she loved him when he stopped by last week with more prints! We have to admit, we love him, too. (He works super quick! We had images for our Christmas cards in the blink of an eye! It took us forever to choose which prints we wanted, though. We love all of the images! We also did not want to post these before Christmas bc part of our gifts to our parents = framed 8x10s of Violet...we had to keep it a surprise!)
Without further ado...

Seasons Greetings!

The tree is up. It's trimmed, lit and decorated. Cookies are being baked (gingerbread men and of course I am making fudge bc Michelle's recipe rocks!) and the choo choo is choo choo-ing and wee baby Violet is coo coo-ing. Okay, so she is not so wee anymore, but you get the idea. Violet's first Christmas is nearly here and even though she may not realize what is going on and even though she will definitely not remember this, we still would like to make it special for her (and for us!) Yes, we get giddy about the big red dude, too. We love the sounds, smells and feel of the holiday season and it just tugs at our heart strings that we can now share and experience it all, finally, with a beautiful baby of our own.



(As always, more pictures have been added to our albums, so check them out if you want to see more of Violet and her cuteness!)

Santa and Mrs. Claus came to town in their shiny sleigh, accompanied by ambulances, a fire truck and the kind volunteers from the local hose company. They brought candy and even stopped in to visit little Violet in our home. They really liked our tree and said that it reminded them of "old times." They said that they were amazed how alert and intelligent V seemed for her age (our pediatrician says the same thing) and how well behaved, calm and pleasant she was. I am so proud of her! And if she is anything like her father, she will be quite the little genius. (hee hee!) I sent the Claus couple off with a tin filled with oatmeal chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven to keep them all toasty for the rest of their stops. (We were their first home.) Enough bragging!



(still using the Canon & Flip 'til Mike builds the ultimate super computer...aka one that can handle the Nikon's awesomeness!)

And now for something completely different...

I know that in previous posts, Mike and I have touched (he attempted to be gangsta about it) on cloth diapering. I have some pictures I should have posted before, from my cell phone, of Violet sporting her cute fluffy butt. (Moms who CD tend to call it 'fluffy butt.' Not only do I find this cute and funny, but I am calling it that now, too!) Cloth diapering is coming along quite smoothly. Her onesies even fit over them, for the most part! When they don't, we dress her in a top, her CDs and a pair of BabyLegs. I am becoming addicted to cloth diapers and baby leg warmers. It's adorable and I cannot help myself!



We don't just use Fuzzibunz (we use Swaddlebees-EcoNappis and GoGreenPocketDiapers) but I just so happened to snap a cell pic when I received this fluffy mail :)

Havin' fun with the D3100, 2 Month Styleee!

Well, well, well! Look who is 2 months old! Actually, 2 months, 1 week and 5 days old! Turns out 1 week and 5 days is exactly how much time I needed to set up Adobe Premier and splice this footage. When I was not editing, I was busy being a dad, a husband, a rocket scientist and solving world peace one pizza shop at a time.
Violet's still having fun playing, napping, talking and laughing. It's hard to catch it all on video, especially when I'd rather enjoy the moment with Violet, Lea and myself.





Our diapers are made of cloth. No matter how many times they are defecated on, they keep coming back for more. Your disposable diapers scream at the first fart. Your disposable diapers need therapy.
::drops mic::

The Papoose is loose!

Violet has been quite vocal and active, I am happy to report! She had her 2 month appointment today. (She is 2 months today!)






We have her on a very delayed vaccination schedule and her one shot in her leg did not phase her at all. She didn't even flinch. Not only am I shocked by this, but I am very proud of my tough little lady! The stats: 11 lbs and 23 in long. How about them apples?! We spoke about baby-led weaning, too. That won't start until she is 6 months old anyway. For those not in the know, this has to do with consuming solids and I will still be BFing.

Hanging out with Daddy, happy as can be at her appt.!






I really thought the questions and unsolicited advice would stop once she was born, since it seemed neverending while I was pregnant, but I was dead wrong! Here's the big one - "How is she sleeping?" - that I will now answer: On her back, with her eyes closed. ::blinkblink::
(P.S. on the whole sleeping deal - V laughs, coos, babbles & smiles in her sleep a lot!)

By the way, we have been cloth diapering and it is much easier than I had originally anticipated. Such a relief. So we are saving money and the environment, all while V is sitting pretty in her cute little FuzziBunz, SwaddleBees EcoNappis, etc. Love it!
I guess I am becoming a crunchy granola mama! Breastfeeding, babywearing (yep, we have a sling, an organic Ergo and a Moby!) cloth diapering mama...then hopefully baby-led weaning as I've stated earlier. Maybe I should get her an amber teething necklace and call it a day (or do an at-home water birth for future baby Hursts!) Okay so maybe not? But I have been reading up on infant potty training. Who knows? We may try that, too?


Eek! Don't mind my tired, blemished, non-made up, new mom face! :P

On another note, Santa is visiting our neighborhood on a train tomorrow, so we are going to try to take a few snapshots and we really hope that it snows. There is snow on the ground in our backyard right now. Just a light dusting, but still, it is snow! This weekend or next, we also plan on putting up Violet's first Christmas tree, while watching some claymation holiday specials and sipping on hot cocoa. (Loaded with marshmallows, of course!)


P.S. Still figuring out and breaking in the new camera, so a lot of the photos and all of the videos are still from my oldie (but goodie.) We're getting there, folks! :)




This is what Violet & Daddy look like when they watch The Walking Dead. Mike is somehow immune, but Violet, apparently, was fresh zombie meat!

Eight Weeks and Something to Say

Violet turned 8 weeks old last Sunday (11/28). She's got a lot on her mind, issues she's very passionate about. The other day she said to me, "Hey, I see all these YouTube people talkin', when do I get my shot?" Well here's your shot, kid.



Here's a compilation where we caught Violet talking to Momma / Daddy / the camera / her stripes (really anyone who would listen) in the eighth week of her life.

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