Violet at 5 Months

Our ViVi is really coming into her own personality this past month.  Violet prefers to briefly contemplate someone new before deciding whether or not to smile.  Violet saves her instantaneous smiles for Will, Lucy, Emma and of course her mama and greets each of us slightly differently.  For Will, she sticks out her tummy when she spots him and starts waving her arms and smiling.  We can now officially say that Will has three daddy's girls.  Or maybe better yet, three little girls have Will!

When Violet sees Lucy, she breaks out into a huge grin and looks so adoringly up at her big sister.  Lucy has gained another faithful little sister, and has proven herself worthy of Violet's adoration.  Lucy loves playing little mommy to Violet and knows exactly what Violet needs at any given time.  Her favorite thing to do lately is carry Violet around, which only happens under adult supervision, but Lucy still beams with pride.

Emma talks so sweet to Violet and never seems bothered by crying or my preoccupation with her.  When Violet sees Emma, she starts wiggling around like she is ready to play.  Here Emma is below, showing Violet the frogs that Lucy collected and talking in her special baby talk voice:  "Oh, Violet, see?  These are frogs!  Say hippity hop!  Oh, Violet!  Aren't they cute?"

Violet has definitely transformed from a baby blob to a wiggly, squirmy, roly poly girl.  She is at that awkward stage where when she is being held she is squirming to get down, but moments after she is set down she starts fussing because she is unable to move how she wants.  Her most frustrating challenge is that she tries her hardest to move forward, but can only scoot backwards.  The first time I discovered that she could scoot at all was a bit scary.  I had set her on the play mat so I could take care of a few emails while I sat on the nearby couch.  After a couple of minutes I heard Violet start fussing.  When I looked down to see if she needed a new toy, she was gone!  I started yelling for Will - not realizing that I could hear her fussing right by me.  After several frantic seconds I calmed down enough to discover that Violet had scooted her way into the corner of the room and was fussing because the basket of blankets next to the couch was blocking her from further movement.

 Violet is doing very well in her Occupational Therapy and has also responded well to Prevacid.  We are hoping in the next month that she will graduate from OT and the stomach doctor even said that we could potentially lessen her dose of Prevacid once Violet can sit up on her own.  Here Lucy and Emma are below, providing moral support at one of Violet's doctor appointments.

 Violet is still very vocal, and "talks" all day long.  This past month she has discovered how to spit, and the loud sound she makes when spitting still startles me every time!  She sounds like a teenage boy, spitting throat clearings out at the bus stop!

Violet's sleeping continues to improve, but she still prefers to sleep in a carrier strapped onto me, or next to me in my bed at nap time.  Some of our best naps are with me sandwiched between Emma and Violet.

We had Violet baptized this past month and it was a beautiful day.  My older brother and cousin are Violet's God parents, making Violet one lucky little lady.

There have been certain instances in my life where I have felt overcome with peace and joy.  Violet's baptism day was one of them.  I felt so close to heaven that day and couldn't stop smiling.  Not only did I feel and see a major connection with my cousin's dad who passed away around the same time Luke did, but I also received a sign from Luke as well.  When we were leaving the church after Violet's baptism I was the last person out and Will had already pulled the car up to the front of the church and loaded the three girls in.  As soon as I sat my bottom in the car, the song "You're the World to Me" by David Gray started playing.  I've had that song playing for years on this blog but have rarely heard it on the radio.  In fact, the first and last time I heard it on the radio was when I decided it was Luke's song.  It was not long after he had died that I was visiting his grave with Will and decided I couldn't leave. Will had to practically drag me up from the ground and back to the car to go home.  Will started the car and I was still bawling about driving away from my baby, when that song came on the radio.  The words, "You don't have to turn the sound up, Babe, I want you from the ground up, Baby, baby, you're the world to me."  The fact that this song came on after Violet's baptism, with Will and the girls all there to hear it too is not a coincidence to me.  I immediately started crying tears of thankfulness, joy and sadness.  To have a sign from Luke, that he was there with us on Violet's special day meant more to me than I could ever say.  I just kept saying, "Thank you Luke, thank you, thank you, thank you" as we made the short trip from the church to our house and our awaiting family to continue celebrating Violet's baptism.  Luke gave me a sign on Emma's baptism too, which I wrote about here.  Yes, I felt many connections that day between heaven and earth and the little yellow tulip booties that my cousin gave Violet to represent Luke on her special day was icing on the cake.

Speaking of cake.  We ordered a special cake from Whole Foods made with all natural food dyes so that Lucy, who seems to have a food dye intolerance, could eat it without getting sick.  It turns out Whole Foods uses natural food dyes but not spell check.  It was still a beautiful and delicious "Bablism" cake, made even more special when Will and I cut the first piece with the cake knife from our wedding.  If you haven't noticed by now, let me be the first to tell you that I love sentimental traditions!

 All in all, we had a great month with Violet!