Violet at 15 Months

Violet's personality has really blossomed this past month!  She seems to understand what we are talking about, and is getting really good at telling us what she wants.  In the below picture we were eating lunch at a local restaurant with friends.  Violet was getting loud and agitated in her high chair so in order to save what was left of the meal, I took her out and seated her on my lap.  I handed her a french fry and she almost rudely took the french fry, pushed my hand away and leaned over to my plate and dipped it in ketchup!  From then on she ate contentedly, as long as each bite of food she was able to dip!

From that moment on, if she sees us dipping food, she insists on partaking as well.  Here she is below enjoying hummus.

Also new this month is her interest in using utensils.  She is surprisingly good at spearing her food with a fork and getting the food into her mouth.  She still has a ways to go on using a spoon but that doesn't stop her from trying.  She is very adept at imitating us, and is extremely motivated, no matter how difficult.  Here she is below trying to walk in Lucy's flip flops.  Violet has a new found interest in shoes and loves bringing the shoes to their respective owners when she isn't trying to wear them herself.

Violet wants to ride her big sisters bikes so very much.  Here she is below trying to make Emma's ziggle work.  She pretty much just uses it like a walker and walks while pushing it.

We found a great bike for Violet at a friend's garage sale this past month and she is so proud to finally ride a bike with her sisters.

Violet loves reading books and can focus for quite some time.  I found her the other day, laying in her room, reading a pile of books and just relaxing under the ceiling fan.

Ironically though, if I try to read a book to her sisters, she turns into an attention monster and tries ripping the book out of my hand, climbing into my lap and screaming while jumping up and down and just makes herself a general nuisance to the point where my voice reading the story cannot be heard over her fussing.  Her older sisters story time isn't the only thing she destroys.  Here she is below leveling an entire community of ants.

She is not afraid of bugs and has been known to pick up beetles and other insects and even put them in her mouth.  The other day she picked up a honey bee on our driveway and got stung.  It took her by surprise and I felt so sorry for her.   After applying all of my bee sting remedies and calming down my own mom guilt, I am happy to report that I can now say all five members of my earthly family are not allergic to honey bees which is a relief.  I haven't seen Violet play with bugs since, so I'm not sure if the sting ruined her innocence with insects, which of course makes me sad too.  For now I think she is sticking to more safe, inanimate objects like pebbles and wood chips.  In the below picture she is sampling a garden variety wood chip.

I swear we feed her actual food and I am happy to report that her lactose and corn allergies seem to be clearing up.  Lucy and Emma both began tolerating dairy around 15 months, and so Violet is right on track.  It is so nice to put a dash of milk in our scrambled eggs again instead of water and be able to feed Violet everything that we are eating.  In the pictures below, she is enjoying coconut ice cream cones as I've still been introducing dairy to her diet slowly.

Not only does Violet imitate our actions, but also our words.  She can repeat anything we ask her to and we have documented the following new words: "tickle tickle" as she pokes at us, "no", "mine", "bawk bawk"when she hears or sees our chickens, "argh argh" when she hears or sees a dog, "Arlie" for Charlie and "wa-wa" for water.  She still refers to both of her sisters as "ma" and of course still calls Will and I "Dada" and "Mama".

 This past month we have spent a lot of time outdoors and because of that, Violet has developed an excitement for airplanes.  She is the first to hear them and she will start pointing at the sky and then squealing when she finally sees the airplane.  This is fun and exciting for the whole family to join in with her and share her interest.

 Violet has also started throwing full-fledged fits this past month which has taken us all by surprise.  How did our sweet little baby become a toddler so fast?  Right now her fits are still adorable to us and fortunately can be redirected fairly fast.  Usually they are more prevalent if she is tired or hungry so that has given us incentive to stay on a fairly predictable schedule, to avoid the fireworks if we can help it!  Here she is below, finishing off a nap at home, after she fell asleep on a stroller walk.  You better believe I parked that stroller, grabbed my lap top and got some wonderful work done at the picnic table next to her.

Violet's sleep is still worse than a newborn, but we are finding ways to cope.  Will has been taking the first shift of the night since he's had the month of July off of work, which has helped my energy levels.  Here he is below watching Jimmy Fallon while holding our sleeping girl.

I have to say that Will as gotten to be a pro at getting Violet to sleep and I will miss his abilities when he goes back to work on Monday after his month vacation.  This past week we had our appointment for Violet at Children's Hospital and he was even able to get her to take a nap in between doctors.

Violet did very well at her appointment and we are now waiting for our insurance to approve some blood tests.  As of right now they believe that the main challenges facing Violet with her new diagnosis of Ectodermal Dysplasia are her teeth, and her reduced sweating abilities.  They are hesitant to say that she doesn't sweat at all, and so Will and I are hopeful that as she gets older we will see signs of sweating.  In the meantime, it will be a wait and see approach as to how many teeth she will get (she currently has 5) and we will continue to monitor her body temperature to ensure that she doesn't over heat.  I have heard from other families with ED children that once the child is able to communicate their body temperature needs that things get a lot easier.  So, with that being said I have been working with Violet to tell me when she is hot.  If we are washing our hands and the water is hot, I tell her hot, over and over.  If the slide is hot, I have her touch it and I say hot over and over.  If the food is hot, and on and on.  I am happy to report that my favorite word that Violet has learned this month is "Hot" and that she uses it in all of the appropriate settings.  Here's to life improving for Violet from here on out!

No Free Rides in June

I'm starting to realize that quiet months just do not exist when you have three kids and a suburban farm.  We do find our pockets of rest and relaxation, but for the most part, something is always going on around here! School is done for the summer, so we celebrated at the local frozen yogurt bar with friends, and enjoyed a summer mini market in our downtown as well.

Lucy and Emma had their dance recital this past month, which was a great experience.  The studio we are a part of is such a positive family environment and has made a big impact on my girls.  Emma had stage fright at the Holiday Show they participated in this past December and at the last minute didn't go on stage.  I tread very lightly on that experience, as she was just getting over a horrible flu and I didn't want it to scare her from ever trying again.  Will and I made sure to emphasize that we were not disappointed in her, and would be proud of her no matter if she went on stage or not.  This was a fine line though, because I also want her to understand that when you commit to something and other people are depending on you, that you need to follow through.  So we talked about how showing up is sometimes the hardest thing you can do, but that once you show up, you will be so glad you did.  Emma would casually mention that when she was four, she would go on stage.  As the recital approached, and Emma was now four, she would still tell us, "When I am four, I will go on stage.""I would nervously remind her that she already is four.  Emma would respond with an embarrassed laugh while saying "Oh, yeah."  Well, Emma was true to her word and went on stage with bravery and excitement.  Both girls danced their hearts out, and I think now understand the amazing feeling that comes from performing and trying your very best.

My favorite part of the entire experience was meeting Lucy and Emma at the stage door as they exited from their performance.  Their faces were lit up like Christmas trees, with smiles so wide they brought tears to my eyes.  It was an amazing feeling, watching my girls learn that with hard work and great courage comes great joy.   They had so much fun back stage too.  Lucy told me it was like having a giant sleep over.

The weekend was definitely a peak on this parenting journey, and I think the grandparents enjoyed it as well.

The recital is over, so it's back to the backyard for us.  The girls picked bouquets, made a sidewalk chalk city, used bubble solution and mopped the garage floor for us while putting on a Cinderella-esque musical, and put in lots of time on the swing.  Charlie likes to live on the edge and sit under the girls as they swing which makes me nervous but so far no cats have been harmed.

As part of our summer fun, I bought a popsicle maker and a set of slush makers.  We've eaten homemade popsicles and slushes almost every day and have tried all sorts of flavor combinations including strawberry greek yogurt, orange creamsicle, apple cider and raspberry lemonade - as both popsicles and slushes.  We also have played in the kiddie pool in our backyard, made comfortable by boiling two stock pots of water on the stove and then dumping them in to the pool. 

Picking berries was a daily pastime that at the beginning of the month was pure fun, but by the end of the month became a chore.  We made strawberry rhubarb jam, smoothies, popsicles and desserts with our berry bounty.

One morning I felt inspired to make strawberry shortcake for breakfast.  Everything was running smoothly (read: Violet was allowing me to cook) until I realized we didn't have enough eggs.  I sent Lucy out to the coop to collect some but there weren't any eggs laid yet that morning.  An hour later, as we waited for a chicken - any chicken - to lay an egg, we realized that a watched hen won't lay, and that there is no shame in asking to borrow an egg from a neighbor, even if said neighbor knows you have a dozen chickens.  And of course, while we enjoyed our mid-morning strawberry shortcake breakfast outside, we heard at least three different chickens lay eggs.

We have enjoyed many a breakfast, lunch and dinner outside this past month and I even ate an entire meal from my backyard which consisted of a salad with roasted chicken, strawberries and lettuce.  It was such a satisfying meal, made special by my gratitude of knowing where each ingredient came from and the work (and sacrifice in the case of the chicken) that went into it.  Charlie has enjoyed our outdoor eating, and has been known to swipe meat off of the table.  You should have heard us all hollering when he swiped a piece of bacon!  CHARLIE!!!  Bad kitty!!!  Will and I always joke that serving bacon qualifies as a math lesson at our house as everyone is always asking, "How many pieces of bacon a person?"  "How many pieces did you eat Emma?"  "Lucy, you had three pieces already!"  There is no forgiveness for a cat when you are splitting a pound of bacon amongst five people.

We've enjoyed outside crafting at our picnic table this past month...

…and I even got in some crafting of my own.  Ironically, while I was making homemade bug spray with a friend, Emma was playing outside and got multiple bug bites.  Here I am below, smearing the bowl residue from the homemade bug spray onto Emma's bitten up arms with a spatula.  In the bottom picture, two unnamed helpers are observing safety measures while mixing up a homemade sunscreen and will both probably shoot me because I posted this picture.  I feel at least as bullet proof as the water proof sunscreen, as their identities are safely hidden by the kitchen towels tied to their faces.

We celebrated Father's Day this past month and had a nice, quiet day at home.  In the top left hand picture, Will is opening his Father's Day gifts from the girls in Emma's bed - where he spent half the night because Emma had a bad dream and was woken up bright and early because the girls were so excited to give him the gifts they made.  Ah, fatherhood!  In the right hand picture below, Will is dumping out the old pond water from our tadpoles so that he can replace it with fresh pond water.  Yup, fatherhood sure is glamorous!  

We planted summer flowers at the cemetery this past month and couldn't help but wonder what excitement Luke would have added to our summer.  Even seven years later, we still miss him every day.  Violet is starting to know Luke's name and the other day when I was rocking her to sleep she started staring off into space as a big smile spread across her face.  For some reason I thought to ask her if she saw Lukey, and she looked at me and nodded her head yes.  Who knows for sure, but I do hope Luke makes his presence known to her like he does to the rest of his family members.

We registered the girls for the summer reading program at our library.  In the top left hand picture below, the girls are observing the new automated book receiver at our library.  Clockwise from there, the girls are posing as super heroes at the library, reading at home, and enjoying an ice cream social at the library.

We took a one day vacation this past month to a town about an hour away and visited a really cool nature park complete with rescued wildlife that have been saved from various injuries.  Unlike a regular zoo, it was so interesting to see animals that are native to our own backyard - from coyotes and fox to bald eagles, hawks, vultures and even a porcupine, bobcat and wolves.  I had never seen any of these animals up close, and I was taken aback by how human some of the facial expressions and eyes were.  The bobcat was scarily similar to Charlie too.

After spending some time at the nature park, we headed down the road to a Hot Air Balloon Festival.  What an amazing experience that was!

It was a perfect day weather wise - not too hot, and beautiful blue skies.  We watched the balloons fill up and launch, one by one just yards from where we were standing.  As we headed back for home, we could still see the balloons up in the sky as we drove.  Our happy glow was soon popped by Violet's epic car screaming, causing us all to wonder if the day and the drive was worth the torture of hearing Violet's high pitched protest for a solid hour to get back home.  In the bottom right hand picture below, I found the girl's rainbow breaths from yoga class in the side door of the car.  The girl's used their affirmations written on their rainbow breaths to help get through the screaming emitting from their sister's car seat.  Now that we are home, we all agree that it was definitely worth the price our ears paid, and we are hoping to go back again next year.

Speaking of Violet's epic screaming.  Violet was sick for about a week this past month, and it was definitely a practice in patience for me.  Picture having a fever, but not having the ability to regulate your body temperature when you are healthy.  It was pure misery for our poor girl, and there was nothing I could do to ease her crying.  Emma caught a mild version of the bug but mostly threw random fever fits and even took a nap in the middle of the backyard.  Let's just say that I am glad we are all healthy again!

 The girls are growing so fast, and I want to savor every moment.  Except for when they have fevers.  Or are fighting with each other.  In the top left hand picture below, Lucy and Emma are working out their differences in a time out together.  Fortunately the good times outweigh the struggles.  Lucy now refers to Emma as her best friend, which could possibly be one of the best things I have ever heard.  Violet loves holding Lucy and Emma's hands while walking, and there have even been several occasions this past month where all three of them were playing together.

Parenting has helped me realize that there is no free ride.  Not to a balloon fest, and definitely not to having your daughters refer to each other as best friends.  I am happy to report that the price is definitely worth it, and with a little time and the golden haze of memory, I may even think I got a good deal!

Violet and Me at 14 Months

Violet is as busy as ever, and loves being outside.  Lately she has been pretty cranky and clingy when inside, so we are happy that there is a venue that she can be content in!  She loves carrying around sidewalk chalk in a little blue bucket and when she gets outside, the first thing she does is find her bucket and a piece of chalk to tote around.

Violet helped finish off the school year with her older sisters, by demanding to do schoolwork too!  Here she is below at the table while her older sisters do their work beside her.

If it's possible, Violet's sleep has gotten even worse.  We are trying to remind ourselves that this too shall pass.  In the meantime, we are soaking in our cuddle time with Violet, as when she isn't sleepy the last thing she wants to do is cuddle!

My favorite thing to do after an especially rough night with Violet is to enjoy an afternoon nap with her.  She snuggles so perfect into me and we both fall asleep almost instantly!  Life with Violet is full of extremes - exhaustion juxtaposed with cuddles, crankiness diluted by cuteness, and feistiness softened by her sweetness.  

This past month has been full of growth for me as Violet's mom.  We have been learning more about Ectodermal Dysplasia, and have been welcomed into a small, but extremely caring group of individuals at the National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasia.  This is a rare genetic condition but with education, manageable.  I know that parents receive far worse diagnoses.  WE have received far worse diagnoses about our child.  However, I still feel as though I am going through a grieving process.  I am frustrated that we have another child who isn't textbook healthy.  I am sad to know what type of pain and challenges Violet will have to deal with throughout her life.  My heart hurts when I think about how this could affect her self-esteem.  I am worried that her beautiful smile will disappear as the world tells her that she is different.  I have been irrationally trying to figure out what we did wrong - from cell phone radiation to not filtering our water.

BUT.  I rationally know that we did nothing wrong.  I also know that all of this is out of my control.  God is in control, and Violet is just as she is meant to be.  I also believe that God has already given Violet all of the strength and tenacity she needs to face her unique life and to flourish, happy and whole.  Several things have occurred to me this past month as I wrestled with our new knowledge about our sweet baby girl.  Violet is the feistiest, most out-going child I have - it's as if her personality was made to thrive with a diagnosis like this.  Several times my usually uncuddly girl has walked over to me while I was talking about Ectodermal Dysplasia to a sympathetic ear, climbed into my arms and given me the biggest hug while patting me on the back.  As if she was trying to say, "Mom, I got this.  Everything's going to be okay."  She has done the same thing to Will when he talks about her diagnosis to someone.  How she knows we are talking about it is amazing to us.  

And so, I am coming to the tough but revolutionary (for me) realization that my role in Violet's life, no matter what she faces, is not to try and take the pain and suffering from her, but to be her coach, her biggest fan, and her mom, who loves her unconditionally.  I will be her soft place to land.  But she's got this.

Everything is as it should be.  And my girl is no shrinking violet.  I am in awe of this child, and am both grateful and honored to be her mom and to walk this path with her.  She has taught me so much already, these past 14 months.

May

We had another month of celebrating here at the Timmerman house this past month!  We brought in the month with an event we had been counting down to since last November…the opening of our town's farmer's market!  It was so great to see everyone again, and to feel the expectation and energy for such a tangible marker of good weather and good food.

We celebrated a Trio Birthday Party for all three of our spring birthday girls with our immediate family and had perfect weather for enjoying the festivities outside.

We also celebrated our nephew's 2nd birthday as well, and it was a double bonus that the cousins got to see each other twice.  

I celebrated my birthday twice with two different cakes with my name on them!  The chocolate cake was with my parents, and the white cake was with my little family.  My birthday was during the week, so it was pretty much a regular day event wise, but made better by the fact that it was my birthday, I got to eat cake, and the kids were very well-behaved.  We even went for our first family bike ride since Violet was born thanks to my friend Bonnie scoring a baby bike seat the day before my birthday at a garage sale for an awesome price.  Will is a great gift-giver and knows that if he gets me some kind of organizational item for the home, some essential oils and something from Etsy, he can't go wrong.  He did all of this and more, and even installed the organizational rack that very weekend.

May is definitely my month, as I also got spoiled on Mother's Day as well.  We walked to breakfast, did crafts together as a family, and even found a balloon floating across our drive way that I am certain was from Luke.

We also enjoyed having our neighbors over for the annual Memorial Day Parade that goes by our house and ended the festivities with good food and a backyard scavenger hunt.  It was amazing to me that Violet was able to enjoy the entire parade and party this year - such a difference a year makes!

I taught my first bee class this past month to a lovely troop of Girl Scouts, led by an old friend from high school.  I had so much fun teaching the class, and it was made even better by the fact that Will, Lucy and Emma also were able to help me and had fun too.  I hope to teach classes on a regular basis, and am looking forward to the day when even Violet can join in on the fun.

With so many festivities and celebrations going on this past month, it was difficult to stay focused on the girls school.  We managed, and had fun experimenting with color and even finished our math for the school year.

All the world is truly our classroom, so we enjoyed cooking with the produce from our garden as well as finding creative uses for the giant shipment of organic cereal I forgot that I have on auto renewal that was delivered to our house.  To save money, I called the cereal company and found out that if I have it shipped directly to my house in bulk on automatic renewal then I get free shipping and a very good price as well.  This seemed too good to be true, and it was, as when the first shipment arrived several months ago we found out that the girls don't care for the cereal and on top of it, there is corn in it, which Violet gets a rash from.  Imagine my horror when another shipment arrived on my front porch this past month.  The silver lining is that I've almost broken my family of their cereal habit so that I can feed them more nourishing breakfast foods, and we are now using the cereal for treats like homemade granola bars and rice crispy treats.  Will is refusing to let me move the cereal boxes out of the living room until I physically cancel the auto renewal on our account.  Let's just say it is still sitting there, but I still have about a month to cancel. 

We enjoyed a campfire class on owls at our local nature center this past month, pursued our city's bookmobile for the very first time, had our last yoga class for the school year, and had the girls dance pictures taken in their recital costumes.

Our porch saw a lot of excitement this past month as we also received a shipment of tadpoles that was more than we had anticipated for as well.  We bought Lucy tadpoles online for her birthday and they arrived in a giant box.  This took me by surprise as I was picturing a dozen tadpoles shipped in a container the size of a shoebox.  Nope, we received a box the size of a decent Amazon order and when I opened the box up, I immediately called Will at work telling him that the tadpoles were HUGE and that I think we got the wrong order.  After doing some research, we found out that they were in fact the tadpoles we had ordered - we just didn't realize how big they would be.  Will consulted with his friend the biology teacher at work, and he sent Will the below right hand picture for reference.  He will also be adopting the frogs when they reach their adult size.  Lucy is slightly disturbed by their sheer size, but the good news is that we can see the transformation very clearly from tadpole to frog.

We have decided that the best place to keep these giant tadpoles is our front porch as they are kind of smelly, and require us to lug 5 gallon buckets of pond water from the nearby pond.  This makes the tank look quite murky.  We didn't realize how murky, until we received a letter in the mail from our local, friendly Jehovah Witness regulars who stated their concern for the well-being of our "fish".  I think it is safe to say that they have moved on from our own spiritual well-being. 

May seems to be the month where we make the transition from inside living to outside living.  We have enjoyed many meals outside, relaxing on our front porch swing (as long as Violet lets us), and the girls have definitely been enjoying the fresh air.  In the above pictures from top left, clockwise: porch swinging, chasing a chicken that got out, Lucy taking a frog for a ride in her bike basket, a flower petal stew Lucy made for me at her outdoor restaurant, and Lucy letting milk weed seeds go in the wind.

The weather was even warm enough one day this past month to get out the water table and the slip and slide.  Violet did not like the feel of her bare feet in grass, but had fun once we put her sandals on.  

We enjoyed many park trips meeting friends and family.  A highlight was a picnic enjoyed with our Aunt and Uncle followed by lots of wildlife viewing from ducks to a huge turtle.

The girls had their 6-year, 4-year, and 1-year well-visits this past month at the pediatrician's.  I brought Will for back up and it was still crazy with Violet bouncing off the walls and wanting to touch everything.  Not a good scenario for a mom with germ obsessiveness.  All three girls fell asleep on the way home, proving that Violet's antics in that tiny room we were housed for almost two hours were exhausting for everyone.

It has been quite a busy month, and we are looking forward to a more relaxed June.  Below in clockwise order from top left: Will and Emma taking a nap on the couch, Will cuddling Emma after she skinned both of her knees when she tripped on the stroller wheel with her hands in her pocket, and Lucy and Emma playing super heroes, complete with goggles and capes.

Violet at 13 Months

Violet is a full-fledged one year old now.  She walks like she has done it all of her life, and even carries items with her while walking.  Below she is two fisting a pair of balloons.  

Violet has discovered the art of putting objects into containers.  She loves putting random toys and clothes into her dirty diaper pail and also enjoys picking things up off of the floor and putting them into the garbage.  She understands most directions and so I try to use her new found skill to my advantage by handing her actual garbage or dirty diapers to dispose of.  I told her the other day that she needed socks to go outside and she came back a moment later with a mismatched pair of her socks from a dirty laundry basket.  Brilliant, I tell you!  She LOVES being outside and is content for hours in the great outdoors, just like her older sisters.  Here she is below carrying her favorite little blue bucket and a piece of sidewalk chalk - it's a favorite habit she has developed when she is outside.

Violet may love being outside, but it is a bit nerve wracking for me.  I am no longer able to sit down and relax while out in the yard, as Violet does not stay in one place for long and there are many potential dangers - making Charlie mad by poking or kicking him, escaping through the fence, sharp objects in the garage, getting hit by a big sister on a bike, walking in front of a moving swing, the vast space of concrete taunting her vulnerable baby skin… you get the idea.  I'm pretty much her shadow when outside.  Will takes a more hands off approach, and because of it she does get hurt on his watch, but nothing ever serious.  I guess you could say Will and I balance each other out when it comes to parenting and I am trying not to be jealous of his ability to not worry as much and sit in a lawn chair.  Here Violet is below with her Daddy.

When Violet is in the house I am able to let her explore on her own, as I am confident that once the proper baby gates are locked and the bathroom door is closed that she is safe to play on her own.  The other day she started squealing in distress from the other room and when I found her she was stuck inside of box that she must have tried using as a step to climb up on the couch.  Silly girl.  She still loves eating almost anything I put in front of her at the table but makes a horrendous mess.  Cleaning up after feeding her takes longer than making the food sometimes.  I am trying to savor the fact that she still enjoys what I cook for her though, as I know soon enough she will develop stronger likes and dislikes.

She already has moved on from the crawling stage, and I miss her crawling to me from across the house with an excited ma-ma-ma-ma with each slap of her hand and knee as she approached me.  My sweet baby is growing so fast!  When we measured her on her first birthday, she clocked in at a whole two inches taller than her older sisters when they turned one.

She is still so much a sweet baby though, and will nod her head in agreement to any question or idea I propose to her.  She is just happy to understand the question and be with me and that just melts my heart.  "Violet, do you want to read a book?"  *smiles while head nodding*  "Violet, do you want to eat lunch?"  *smiles while going to her high chair* "Violet, do you want to get a diapey change?"  *smiles, while taking me to her changing table*.  Thanks to Lucy and Emma, I also know that this agreeableness will be gone soon too.  But don't get me wrong either, she is just as feisty as she is sweet and has no tolerance for big sisters standing in her way.  She can squeal and scream louder than any child I have ever heard and still does not like car rides.  The endurance that it takes to scream at such a high and intense pitch for forty plus minutes is truly amazing.  Maybe she will use those vocal chords to her advantage one day, and sing her heart out for the world to appreciate.  Time will tell, but in the meantime we are staying close to home and avoiding car rides like the plague.  Here she is below, so excited to see a friend.

Since the day our sweet and feisty Violet was born, she has revealed to us various quirks and traits that seemed unique and at times very challenging.  We have begun a journey of discovery with Violet, prompted by the emergence of her teeth this past month.  Violet has very uniquely shaped and spaced teeth which points to the genetic condition of Ectodermal Dysplasia.  We are currently visiting various medical professionals to determine exactly what we are working with so that we can best care for our little girl.  In the meantime, we would appreciate your prayers as we lace up our walking shoes for yet another trail on this path called life.  It is my greatest hope that the light that shines in Violet's eyes will only radiate brighter as my sweet, feisty and beautiful girl grows into her life and destiny.