The stats (and maybe some videos?)

Violet did so well at her 6 month wellness visit. (She does at every visit, actually, and we could not be happier about this! She is happy and healthy, save for a few tears following a shot or two!)
Check out that bed head and the sadness!

She is 18 pounds even and 27 inches tall. That's like 72 quarter pounders with cheese...36 double quarter pounders. MmmMmmM! Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris? I don't. And that's okay because I have no intention of visiting.

Since she is constantly babbling, I figured I'd put up a video to show off her "dadadas" finally. Here she is!




And in honor of her 6 month birthday, here is the song she was born to. Enjoy.



P.S. Here's one to lighten the mood, t-t-t-totally!

Happy Half Birthday, Half Pint!!!

That's right! Little Miss Violet is 6 months old today! We spent the day cuddling, snuggling, playing and singing. Tomorrow is her well visit with her pediatrician and we are excited to see how much she weighs, how tall she is and even what new foods we can start her on next.
More and more often these days, she is babbling and is still going on with the "dadada" and "babababa" talk. It is extremely adorable and melts our hearts! Her belly laughs and her little hugs are to die for. She is constantly holding her toys in her feet and often gets any sort of ring or loopy toy stuck around her arms and legs. She is quite the roller, too!

We don't always find the time to update here as much as we'd like to - we are trying to enjoy each moment with Violet!
Here are some pictures we took today.

Also, Lea has entered a giveaway. Check it out! EcoBabyBuys Blog Giveaway!!!

Rhymes with Engine

"mention"? That's as close as I can get, and even then I'm sure it's my northeast PA insult to enunciation that is approximating the rhyme.

Violet is almost six months old now, which means that six months have almost zipped by in the blink of an eye.

Garanimals exist for the benefit of dads just as much as they help kids coordinate clothes. This weekend I was confronted with the impossible (not improbable, impossible!) task of finding a onesie to match V's peach-colored pants. I chose wrong. I'd swear there was a sea of peach lost somewhere in the floral pattern of the onesie I selected. But to reiterate, I was wrong, I chose wrong. Had I been selecting a grail, I would have been turned to dust. Luckily I wasn't, so I got a second shot at dressing V. Enter Garanimals, match zebra-to-zebra, ping-pang-boom, and Violet rolls out of there looking like a million bucks.

Violet is still having fun with solid foods. For breakfast, Violet eats a treat we make, called porridge. The name has little to do with actual porridge, but after looking up the word (porridge) to ensure correct spelling, I found that we weren't far off. Violet's porridge is a puree of apples or bananas, rice cereal and water to control thickness, and a slight hint of cinnamon. Yum!

In other news, we have another addition to the family, the iPad! This thing is a monster of awesome and it's never out of reach. The first great thing we discovered was Skype video calls. You have some family over here, some family over there, and bleep-blip-blop I'm talking through the intarwebs. I'm aware you don't need an iPad for that, but the iPad is the perfect device for the job. Also since this is our first iOS device with a camera, we are excitedly and excessively firing up the Hipstamatic. Enjoy...

Violet encounters the Creepy Crawler - a laughing matter

In this video, Violet is having a great time playing before bed. Just when she thought it was going to be a normal night, she encounters the Creepy Crawler. The Creepy Crawler, or CC for short (or my hand if we're tearing down the fourth wall), lurks under the sheets, waiting to strike. If you get too close CC will GRAB YOUR HAND and scare you so much you'll LAUGH YOUR SOCKS OFF!

Five Months! Awesome!

Yep, Violet is five months old, and then some. Check out her web album for the 5 month photo shoot. Her official weight as of last week's vaccination appointment is 16 lb, 12 oz. She is doing all the awesome things that five-month-olds do. Violet is rolling, and I mean lightning fast rolling. In fact, it's not rolling in the traditional sense; it's more of a quantum superposition. Violet seems to be in a state of being both on her back and on her stomach at the same time, flipping the instant we turn our backs!
More awesomeness - she prefers to stand up by herself with a little help from Mom and Dad. She's been standing for awhile, but now she will actively stand up from a sitting position. I keep saying she will be walking before she's crawling.

Violet is a super eater, champion of the spoon. She has loved everything we've introduced so far. The best part is that she's willing to go back to vegetables once she has tasted the awesomeness of fruit. Let's see what Violet's got cookin' in the kitchen.

• Sweet potatoes
• Butternut Squash
• Green Beans
• Avocado
• Bananas
• Pears
• Apples

That's all (for now) folks!

March-ing along...

So hey, hello! What's going on? It's been a bit since we've been around these parts. Mike has been working and comic-booking, I have been stenciling, fabric painting and getting acquainted with my new sewing machine. We are deciding on what is going in the garden this year and planning trips for the Summertime. Most importantly, we have been preoccupied in the best way possible - enjoying Violet and all of the wonderful things she does, of course!
She can almost sit up unassisted. Her eyes are getting darker, but they are still green with brown flecks. Her hair is getting a little longer. She babbles and coos more and more often each and everyday. She has been in 6 month clothing for a few weeks now. (She is a tall baby!) The foods she has tasted and liked so far are: sweet potatoes, butternut squash, green beans, avocado and bananas. She is petting the animals and laughing at them nonstop. She is in love with her Uncle Thom! He visits a lot and they are pretty much bffs. :)

Oh, green beans! How I love to NOMZ you!!!




Nothing too crazy to report, I suppose. She will be 5 months old on Thursday, so we are pretty excited for that. Milestones are always fun for our wee family of three. Before you know it, Spring will be here, the snow will finally melt away and we can get out much more often with our bundle of cuteness.

Solid Foods, Game On!

Violet did great with the sweet potatoes. She honestly loves them and loves eating. But we need to build some variety, so we introduced the butternut squash, or cucurbita moschata, which roughly translates to 'Noble Pumpkin of Sweet and Nut'. To prepare for feeding time, we'll need the following:







We've been toting this Magic Bullet around for years, 6 to be precise. It is usually stored for a year or more at a time, only seeing the light of day when we (a) decide to make an Orange Lazarus (ummm, OJ, ice, vanilla, vodka, I think), (b) move to a new house, or now (c) puree some fresh baby food. Storage trays are a must-have. It's basically an ice cube tray with a lid, which is perfect for dividing and storing meal-sized butternut-squash-sicles. Bowls and spoons, derrrr! Nothing fancy here. We used my baby spoon for her first feeding, but because it was the only spoon we had. I recommend those rubber-coated spoons, which we use now. Riot gear is optional, but the situation can get messy quick. I recommend using at least the face shield.

Violet is such a good eater, and she knows it too. I had to grab the flip cam for last night's introduction to butternut squash because she wants so badly to use the spoon herself. The only distraction she has while eating is deciding "is there more food on the spoon or on my hand, and which should I put in my mouth first?"

1. Sweet Potatoes, baked for 45 minutes at 400 F   
2. Butternut Squash, halved, seeded, then baked for 40 minutes 410 F   
3. Green Beans, TBD
4. Avocado, TBD, and so on...