Dear Violet,

You love your dad, and the way you look at him brings me close to tears. You think he is the funniest guy in town. Every morning you wake up and watch him get ready for work. You catch his eye, and he stops putting on his tie, bends down and plays with you for a minute. You've recently learned how to 'anticipate' a tickle, and he has so much fun watching you laugh and laugh while he tickles your belly. If he's in the room, you're smiling from ear to ear, and watching every move he makes. It's such a joy to watch, and your dad and I talk all the time about how we're living the best years of our life right now, with you.

This is you this morning, watching dad put on his shirt and tie- you can just see the trail going from your eyes to the part of your brain that says "I like him!"


We still go up to the office all the time to help dad out, and you get restless after a while, but you are so patient, and your dad LOVES to have you up there to play with you when there's no one else there.

Here's you two goofing off in the exam chair.


You fell asleep at 7pm tonight, which was pretty early... it's now almost 1:30am, and you've just woken up and are sitting in my lap right now, wide awake. I hope you decide to go back to bed soon!

Love,
Mom

Dear Violet,

(For background, read my old blog)

Tonight I walked around the house, putting you to sleep singing "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" by Bob Marley. I could tell you'd fallen asleep when your fat little cheeks were pressed just perfectly into the corner of my neck, heavy and warm, smelling of sweet milk. You'd finally given up that tension in your muscles, and I couldn't help but take a deep breathe and give you a little squeeze. I enjoy having you go to sleep at 8, so I can have my "me time," relaxing and/or working, but when I finally get you to sleep I don't want to put you down. Standing there with your little arms wrapped around me as you sleep is always exactly where I want to be.

You're trying to crawl right now. You'll be 6 months old this month, and you're 'swimming' on the floor, ready to go! You have such determination in your face sometimes, it's so funny. You're a very patient person so far. Patient, loving, goofy, laid-back, and sensitive... Those are the personality traits I see. You startle easily too- I have to sing to you while I use the hand mixer or you'll start crying from the noise! You're a good little sous chef, though. You sit in your bouncy seat or your excersaucer in the kitchen and watch me cook. I love that you let me cook. Sometimes you get restless and I have to cook with you on my hip, but I don't mind that. You try to grab EVERYTHING I hold, though, so it can get pretty tricky! You're in a very grabby stage right now! I'm littered with scratches and marks on my face from your little clammy hands exploring my face while you nurse, clawing at my cheekbones.

Trying to get that knee up-


This is you being goofy the other day-


I was playing around with my camera today, testing out different white balance settings and what ISO my Rebel can handle, and got these 2 new favorite shots of you-



I hope you enjoy this blog- I want you to know just exactly how important you are to me, and I hope this gives you a little glimpse...

Love,
Mom