The Yum and the Yuck in October

It is interesting to me how human nature cannot fully grasp the magnitude of a blessing without also experiencing the depth of loss.  I also am intrigued with how easily it is to forget gratitude, as life moves on and the pain and suffering begin to fade.  It almost becomes a blessing then, to have a life with a balanced portion of both blessing and loss as without one, the other cannot be appreciated.  This past month literally awoke me with a shock to the blessings that I have and gave me a renewed appreciation of what they mean to me when Lucy woke me up early one morning to inform me that the fan plug was on fire and to please come quick.  With my heart in my throat, I rushed to the girls room to first observe that there was no visible fire and then to quickly connect the dots with a pair of scared little girls, a charred pair of child-sized scissors and a blackened wall outlet.  Imagine my relief as the weight of what could have happened started to dawn on me.  Lucy wanted to unplug the fan next to her bed, and upon finding that the plug was stuck, utilized her scissors to pry it out of the wall.  She was not hurt and her bed, just an inch off of the wall, did not catch on fire.

Our babies, our sweet babies were okay.  Our house did not burn down.  The entire upstairs fuses were blown, but those fuses had done their job.  It was an important reminder to Will and I that even at age 6, safety reminders still needed to be a regular routine and that the only thing separating us from a good day versus a bad day is gratitude.  Pure and simple gratitude.

These three girls are my world, and even though most days I feel under appreciated and exhausted, there is no place I would rather be and no one I would rather be with.  And to share my days with these three girls in our cozy, light-filled and beautiful dream house is more than I could have ever asked for.  

Of course, my reminder in gratitude did not stop there though.  Ah, this sweet life of mine, offering me up such a balanced portion of blessing and dare I say, this time, torture!  After three years of bee keeping I am by no means an expert.  In fact, after three years, I can honestly say I have a large repertoire of things that DON'T work, and a shrinking list of things that DO work.  With that being said, after working with honey bees for three years, I have developed a sense of ease, or casualness with creatures that should be handled with utmost caution at all times.  I met a friend at the property north of here where I have a couple of hives and was proud to show her my bees.  I had a couple of tasks to complete to help get them ready for winter and *may* have been showing off a bit with my nonchalant attitude about getting stung.  Needless to say, I ended up being swarmed by angry honey bees and stung so many times that I started running while swearing and yelling "I'm trying to help you!" until I ended up falling on a gravel driveway and hurting my knee.  I had upwards of thirty bee stings and as I lay in the gravel driveway - still getting stung and trying not to cry - it occurred to me that this could be one of the lowest points of my life.  My sweet friend had a first aid kit in her car, and drove me home.  The irony was not lost on me though when she handed me a first aid wipe that said "sting-free" on it.  In the pictures below in clockwise order from the top left: Will going through great care to save and release a honey bee that was in our house (too bad that karma didn't help me), the "sting-free" wipe, my hand beginning to swell, a baking soda paste on my arm that took the majority of the bee stings, a mud paste on my arm, and lastly, the food that I had made the honey bees to help them get through the winter.

My mom has asked me several times why I even want to take such a risk to work with honey bees when you can just buy honey at the store.  Before the bee attack, I told my mom that working with honey bees is actually a very calming experience for me.  At no other time in my life am I able to focus so intently that the rest of the world fades away and it is just me and the hum of my hard working bees.  It is mesmerizing and peaceful.  The day after the bee attack, as my knee throbbed, my body continued to swell and the stings started itching like crazy and I got a fever, I was really starting to question myself about having a hobby that is obviously so dangerous.  The day after the bee incident I had to go back to the property to get my car, and to finish winterizing the bees.  I had Will go into the bees for me, as my swelling and itching and fever would not have allowed me to work in a safe manner.  Truth be told though, I wasn't emotionally ready to face the bees yet.  The following week though, I decided to be brave.  My motivation - the three pairs of brown eyes watching me, to see if I would let the pain define what I love to do.  Plus, how would I be able to afford my honey addiction or my love of all things beeswax?  My take away from this experience is that I do still love bee keeping, but just like my 6 year old, I need to be reminded of proper safety precautions on a routine basis.  May I never forget the great bee sting of 0-15, and may I always carry enough duck tape to seal off any holes in my bee suit!  Below are products that I have been making with my honey and beeswax, as well as a little girl I caught poking holes in a frame of honey comb.

Fortunately, that was the end of the drama for October.  The baking soda and mud pastes took my swelling and fever away very efficiently, and if I were to ever be stung that many times again, I am confident that if I use those old-fashioned remedies (thank you Krista and Google) first that I will be better much faster.  Once my knee started feeling better from the incident, I took full advantage of the gorgeous fall weather we had this past month and got outside as much as possible.  Below are views from a nature path by our house and the nearby cemetery.

We enjoyed many visits to the local cider mill, the girls joined Will and his parents for his school's homecoming parade, and we all enjoyed many playground trips.

Our backyard is small enough that the leaf clean up is more enjoyable than not, and the kids definitely had fun playing in the leaves.

We picked pumpkins from our garden and planted almost 200 crocus bulbs.  The crocus will hopefully come up in the early spring and provide the first of the season's food for my bees.

We have been diligently plugging away at school work and are fully immersed in our routine.  Things that make homeschooling possible include grocery delivery, as witnessed by our cat in the top right hand picture below.

I'm the kind of person who can pass hours upon hours quite easily on Pinterest.  I have had to limit my time spent on there as of late, because it just makes me feel depressed that I don't have enough time to do all of the wonderful and amazing projects posted.  We did try making mini, fairy-sized pumpkins out of acorns which was a disappointment because the kind of paint we used just wouldn't stick to the acorns.  We did have better success with good old fashioned Play Doh and finger painting - you know, the kind of stuff we did as kids because our parents didn't have Pinterest.

Our library hosted a kid carnival this past month which was a lot of fun.  Violet hit the ground running when we arrived and I unbuckled her from the stroller.  Lucy and Emma on the other hand took a while to warm up.  I thought maybe it was because they were the oldest kids there, but once they felt comfortable, they were an unstoppable pair.

Our friends invited us to an event at the Science Center this past month that was quite an experience.  The theme was color, and they had make and take crafts and science experiments all involving color, as well as live demonstrations, music and food.  We even enjoyed the girls first experience in a planetarium.  It was a night to remember shared with good friends, and it doesn't get any better than that.

Here we are below, enjoying more time spent with friends and cousins.

We celebrated Will's birthday this past month and spent time with his family.

 

Will and I are almost at the point where we have celebrated as many birthdays together as we have apart.  I am grateful to not only spend birthdays with my best friend, but to also watch the traits that I love in him, blossom in our kids.  Will's sense of humor is top on my list of attributes that I love, and our kids have definitely inherited some of his hilariousness.  In the picture below, Emma brought a hook that fell off of a hanger to Will and said, "Daddy, one of your hookers fell out of the closet."

 

We had a fun Halloween with minimal stress.  This year we just couldn't decide on a costume that we all agreed on until about two weeks before Halloween.  Fortunately for me, Will took over the job of Halloween costumes and was able to pull together Lucy and Emma as noble Robin Hoods for under $8 total at the Salvation Army.  Violet was a bee and cost us nothing as we already had the costume from when Emma was a baby.

Will even made bows (sans arrows) from scraps of wood he had in the garage.  Here we are below enjoying our annual Farmer's Market Trick or Treat.  Organic apples, carrots, homemade soap and cookies were but some of the wonderful treats they collected at the market.

With Will's magical ability to pull together costumes at the last minute for mere dimes, you would think he would have gone as MacGyver this year for Halloween.  Nope, he went as a racquet ball player.  His teammate was the Assistant Principal at his school, and imagine the fun they had popping into random classrooms during the day and hitting the racquet ball back and forth to each other and then leaving just as abruptly as they came.

Below are pictures from our mini Halloween party we had before we went Trick or Treating with friends in our neighborhood.  The top left hand picture below is of a tray of "bloody" band aids and "used" q-tips that our friends brought as an appetizer.  Violet was a huge fan of the q-tips.  In the bottom right hand pictures you can see us posing with Will's mullet wig.  I gave Will's cousin a scare when I texted her a picture of me and said I needed to cancel our hair cut appointment the following week because Will cut my hair and didn't he do a great job?  Little did I know that Will had the same idea, and texted a picture of Lucy in the wig to a friend of mine, saying that Lucy cut her own hair.  I was a little confused when my friend called me freaking out but I was able to figure things out pretty quickly.  Both our cousin and friend were pacified when we sent them the picture of Violet in the wig.

 Finally, we had a beautiful early morning family photo shoot with a photographer friend of mine.  She turns every picture she takes into a work of art, and this experience was no different.  It was such a quiet, peaceful and crisp fall morning with the sunrise shining through the trees that it made the stress of getting everyone photo-ready that early in the morning completely worth it!

I would like to say that despite the lack of drama for the first part of November that I am still appreciating my blessings to the fullest, but that would not be the truth.  However, I will say that reviewing October's pictures and writing about it has been a good reminder of gratitude and I want to publicly announce that I am attempting to be mindful each and every day, but I am human so it is an uphill struggle!  I don't really like the fact that a life with balanced portions of yum and yuck leads to a life well-lived, but I am accepting of it and would like to offer up the idea of perhaps Weight Watcher sized portions of yuck until a multi-vitamin for gratitude is invented.

My Sweet Bee Bee at 18 Months

Violet is growing up so fast but is still my squishy, chubby baby despite her growing obsession with technology.  She loves my phone and calls it a "Bye", and not only will smile for a picture but then demands to see the picture after it is taken.  Here she is below, posing with me for a selfie.

She loves playing mama to her babies, and believes all of the baby dolls in the house are hers.  "MINE!  MINE BEE BEE!" she screams at her sisters whenever she sees them with a doll.

Emma's response is usually, "Okay, fine, here's the baby."  Lucy on the other hand responds with the same aggression that Violet is putting forth.  "NO VIOLET!  This is MY baby!!!  Mooooom!  Violet is trying to take my doll!"

Violet loves playing with her sisters, as long as they give her whatever she wants when she screams.  In the above pictures, clockwise from the top left, Violet is bringing a chair to help build a fort with her sisters, waiting for her sisters while they are in yoga class, and having a dance party with her sisters.  Lucy has found a way to choreograph Violet and her limited repertoire of talents into any dance show that she and Emma are performing for us.  Mostly, it involves Lucy being the head of a choo choo train, with Violet holding on with a wide and proud grin on her face.  

Violet mostly wants to play with us and doesn't like to play by herself.  Except for when she is getting into trouble.  Below are pictures of what happens when Violet plays by herself...

....in the right hand picture below she is stuck in her sideways toy shopping cart and in the bottom left hand picture she has helped herself to a "Nack".  The top left hand picture speaks for itself.

Violet has a really great appetite, and eats most things that I offer her.  She is mostly happy to be eating whatever it is the rest of her family is eating and can for the most part manage all foods except raw veggies.  We have been steaming our veggies as of late to accommodate her and I've just assumed that this is how it will be with Violet.  Imagine my surprise when I stuck my finger in her mouth and felt what is possibly a molar!  This would be huge for Violet, and we are hoping that there is at least one set.  Either way, even if there is just the one, it will still be a great anchor for the partial dentures she will be fitted with in a couple of years.  And she could very well be chomping on raw carrot sticks before I know it.  She also popped a bottom tooth after what I thought was a week long cold.  The morning I noticed the tooth had erupted was the day her cold magically disappeared and her crankiness disappeared.  That was a pleasant surprise as well.  It is so funny to Will and I just how excited we are when Violet exhibits teething symptoms as each tooth is viewed as a huge blessing when faced with the alternative!

I've made it as long as I could without Violet knowing what candy was.  In the above picture she is having her first sucker.  She started freaking out when she saw that Lucy and Emma got a sucker after a library event so I gave her one to hold, thinking she would be content.  Nope, the next time I glanced at her she had expertly taken the wrapper off and was covered in sticky drool, happily eating the sucker.  It's all over now for us, and she comes running if she even hears the slightest rustle of what could be a candy wrapper being unwrapped.  Apparently out of the seven, possibly eight teeth Violet has, at least one is a sweet tooth!

My little sweetie loves to assign objects with their rightful owners.  She will name the family member whose shoes she has spotted, she knows which stuffed animal belongs to which sister, and she knows even that anything with Dora on it Emma likes, and anything with Strawberry Shortcake on it Lucy likes.  She also knows that I love tea.  Here she is below, bringing me a cup of her homemade tea, proudly proclaiming "TEA" as she hands it to me, and then warning me that it is "hot."

Violet communicates to us in a efficient combination of charades and the verbal form of a hurried text message.  If I ask her where Daddy is she will reply, "Dada.  Work." while putting her hand over her mouth with a disappointed look on her face.  When I ask her why she is crying after an injury, she will point to wherever she got hurt while saying "ouch" and patting her boo boo and then moving the injured body part closer to me, indicating that she needs a kiss.  I love how I can understand her though, and it helps to cut down on her fits of crying and frustration.

Below is my sweet one and a half year old bee bee, sleeping with her little bee bee.

Sweet September

After we returned from our end of the summer vacation, September seemed to go by in the blink of an eye.  My brother Joe and his fiancé Beth came to town and we had a vacation reprise while we joined them on their Michigan fall tour of the zoo...

…the apple orchard...

…and even the local art festival near our house.  We also felt right at home at our cousin's chicken themed birthday party...

…and met my parents at the local cider mill for a fall hike and Apple Fritter Friday.  We enjoyed our third annual Cemetery Walk, where local residents from the past are featured by community actors and actresses.  This year's theme was all about women who shaped our city and the most memorable story depicted was of two sisters named Lucy and Anna who owned a dress shop on Main Street.

Our sunflowers were in full bloom this past month, despite our late planting of them earlier this year.  They were not only beautiful but attracted monarchs, bumble bees and of course my honey bees.  Now we are drying their heads so that we can save some of the seeds for next year and eat the rest.  

Interestingly enough, our sunflowers captured all of our affection with lots of water and care, whereas the rest of our garden was mostly neglected.  Our two apple trees produced the best tasting apples we have ever eaten - one tree boasted Honeycrisp and the other tree had beautiful Empire apples.  It is so fun to pick a snack right from your own backyard and enjoy it right down to the core, and then toss the core to our chickens.  We made applesauce from buckets of apples from a tree at Will's work, zucchini muffins by the dozen and I perfected one of my favorite soups from a local restaurant - crushed lentil.  And best of all, everyone in the family likes it!  This is huge for me and honestly, I am so excited about this economical, healthy, high in protein, tasty soup that it may be on my top ten list of accomplishments.

There is definitely not enough time in the day to accomplish all that I want.  Between my kids education, feeding them nourishing foods, playing with them, exercising and finding time to spend individually with each member of my family, including myself is not easy.  Oh, and keep the house clean, the social calendar intact, everyone's health in order, and of course our side businesses humming along - there hasn't been a day yet where I accomplish all of my priorities.  BUT, I'm pretty certain that God gave everyone the same amount of time for a reason, and I just have to be intentional about what I do each day.  Sometimes that means rolling with the craziness as it unfolds, and other days it means saying no to things that don't align with my priorities.  Either way, I feel like I do not have the balance figured out yet and I am starting to wonder if that is just life.

In the above picture the girls are playing outside, a top priority on my list of intentional living.  Sometimes my hopelessness at achieving balance is given a boost of faith when after an especially harried day one of the kids tells me as I tuck them in at night that, "This was the best day of my life mom!"  Not only does this shift my perspective and remind me that sometimes the little moments are the biggest moments, that maybe I'm not failing hopelessly after all.  I just sincerely hope that my kids childhoods move at a slower pace than I feel like the world is trying to push us.

A wonderful milestone was achieved just days before the last day of summer, which makes me smile at a summer well done.  Both Lucy and Emma learned how to ride their bikes without training wheels, and it was an amazing experience to watch how each day they accomplished big steps until a week later they were riding their bikes like they've been doing it all of their life.

One of my dreams is to build a business with my kids so that they can learn first hand the ins and outs of entrepreneurship in a fun and hands on way.  I don't need the business to make millions, I just want it to stay out of the red and be something that we can strengthen our family's relationships with while learning an important skill set.  Lucy and Emma are very happy to help with my honey business, from stamping shopping bags with my logo, to labeling product, to assisting me with my honey bee classes.

 

We had our friends and families with kids come to a class this past month and had a blast.  In the above picture, our Uncle Fred (a kid at heart) didn't let a little mud stop him from getting his hands dirty while making seed bombs at the class.  Lucy and Emma had fun selling various products after the class, although I caught Emma saying, "I'll take your money!" before our friends and family had even contemplated buying something.  

So far we have been very fortunate with beautiful weather on the days I've had my bee classes.  Of course the day our friends and family were coming it was supposed to rain all day.  After watching the weather like a nervous bride planning an outdoor wedding I decided that there was nothing more to do, but to go clean the garage.  Let's just say by the time I was finished, my dust pan had every color and variety of bird feather you can imagine, plus the tails of several squirrels, chipmunks and a rabbit.  It seems our cat is a really good hunter.  And I don't know if I am now aware of it more or he is preparing for winter, but he has been eating about an animal or bird a day and it's kind of depressing.  I know it is what he was designed to eat, but I can't help but feel sorry for his prey.  There is a gray dove that sits alone now on the telephone wires next to our house that used to always cuddle next to its partner.

Violet and Charlie have a strange relationship.  I think Violet is jealously fascinated by Charlie and Charlie is cautiously jealous of Violet.  Violet can't handle Charlie playing with any toys and will yank them from him, which Charlie thinks is just a part of the play.  It usually ends with Violet screaming and crying and Charlie running confusedly away.  

We have found our groove for the time being with school work.  Violet is starting to be more compliant during school time, and we've found setting a timer helps Lucy to focus and get things done in a timely fashion.  Emma is just happy to do school like her big sister, and is holding her birth order spot as middle daughter in a very stereotypical way.  I have to make a point to go over and above for Emma, for if not, her more boisterous sisters will steal the show.

 We have had quite a run of sister fighting.  This fall we started back up with their yoga class and they are the only two kids in the class right now.   I was disappointed at first, as part of the point of taking extracurricular activities, especially for homeschooled kids, is for the socialization and Lucy and Emma need a break from each other, not more alone time together.  Until Will pointed out that I should ask the teacher if she could focus her classes on sister love, or in other words, to use it as a sister therapy session.  Our wonderful yoga teacher took that idea and ran with it and I am not kidding when I say that it has made a HUGE improvement in them!  They haven't stopped fighting, but I feel like the tone of the fighting has changed.  I can see more love than anger now and it is such a relief.  Here they are below at yoga class and the library.

 We have had a great month at our house, and mostly because of the harmony between the sisters.  I realize this could just be another phase, but I will bask in it's peacefulness for as long as it lasts.

Although now that I think about it, I did try one other tactic to create solidarity and love between the sisters...

 …matching outfits!  It occurred to me that schools have uniforms for a reason, so why not try out a sister uniform?  Success!  They love matching and I can't tell you how happy I am to spend my days with such adorable and SWEET girls.  The leaves are changing and so are we.  And we will continue to evolve, as we learn side by side the secrets to an intentional, peaceful and joy-filled life.

Our End of Summer Vacation

As the summer winded down for us and Will headed back to work, I started panicking and regretting our decision to stay home this summer.  I crave time up north, and without at least a couple of days each summer spent in the aura of Michigan beach and pine tree, I can't fathom getting through another Michigan winter.  After several weeks of searching, I finally found a little cottage an hour away from Will's work that was available for Labor Day weekend.  We found a loop hole in our one hour radius with Violet (we can only handle her car screaming for an hour), by picking up dinner and taking it to Will's work.  After we ate dinner, we left Will's car in the parking lot of his school and headed together as a family to the cottage on the lake.  We arrived in the pouring rain, well after the kids bed times but we were able to handle Violet's crying.  Here we are below in clockwise order from the top left: waiting for our carryout at our favorite restaurant before bringing it to Will at his work, our rented cottage, the girls riding in the car listening to a wonderful audio book entitled "The Penderwicks" about four sisters time spent at a summer cottage, and finally, a picture Lucy took of the sunrise on the first morning of our vacation.  Bless her that she used my phone to document it and let us sleep instead!

Still scarred by our up north vacation last summer, I took every precaution I could think of in planning this last minute trip.  It was still extremely stressful packing for the trip by myself as Will had to work up until the very last moment, but I was able to cut a lot of corners since this cottage wasn't in the middle of nowhere like the one we rented last year.  Even still, I'd pack a box of items and Violet would unpack it just as fast.  Lucy and Emma couldn't stop fighting and the clock was ticking for us to get to the cottage before check-in time was over.  We pulled it together though, after I had a melt down around lunch time and told the girls we weren't going as it wasn't worth the trouble.  After my melt down, Lucy and Emma did an amazing job helping me pack the car and clean up the house and I have to say, the rest of the trip went off without a hitch once I was able to get our luggage arranged in such a manner that all four doors and the trunk of our car could close.  I stand by my theory of there being no free ride in life though, as the amount of stress I felt the day packing for the trip was probably equal to four regular days of parenting.

Lake Huron was a flight of stairs away from our cottage and it was perfect in every way.  The beach was private, and all ours for the next four days.

The beach was very rocky, but we had planned ahead and brought water shoes for everyone.  Violet was not a fan of the feel of sand between her toes despite having water shoes on or the fact that the waves kept moving back and forth along the shoreline.  We timed our beach play for the mornings and late afternoons to avoid the hottest part of the day for Violet's sake, but she still spent the majority of her time on a blanket under the beach umbrella or in mine or Will's arms.  She did take a nap one afternoon under the beach umbrella, and the rest of us had a memorable time in the water while she slept.

We found lots of sea glass and fossils along the beach, and even found a pocket of clay near the water that we made pinch pots with.

We visited a nearby lighthouse and I climbed to the top with Lucy and Emma while Will and Violet took our picture from below.

We also crossed a super long suspension bridge at a local park, walked the pier, ate frozen custard, and explored a near by playground.

 We enjoyed campfire meals every day, and marveled at the view from our cottage out across the lake.

It was good for us to get out of our element.  I had contemplated packing my tea pot since the cottage owner mentioned there wasn't one but at the last minute I decided it wasn't worth taking up space in our already packed car with a tea pot.  I changed my mind once we were at the cottage as it was so chilly and damp at night.  So we picked up some tea at the local grocery store and I fashioned a double boiler out of an aluminum pot and a glass measuring cup and never did I appreciate and savor a cup of tea as I did each morning and evening on our vacation!  This was just a small example of why the trip was good for us.  I also felt so much love and appreciation for our house when we returned, especially my own shower and my own bed.  It was a restful and memorable little trip, and I can welcome fall with no regrets from the summer of 2015!

Violet Plays at 17 Months

 

This girl has a grin that can brighten any day.  Which is a good thing, because the days are long and the sleep is short with this one!  We are still trying to find the perfect recipe for sleep with Violet.  This month we are trying out a big girl bed of her own, under a ceiling fan with a gate on her bedroom door.

This has helped her sleep a tiny bit better but we are now trying to figure out our next challenge - how to keep her dry for the entire night.  Because she doesn't sweat she drinks more fluids to maintain her body temperature and as a result, we have yet to find a diaper to hold it all.  Here she is below, enjoying a plastic ice cream cone while she tries out the potty chair.  They say that when kids start to enjoy potty humor that they are ready for potty training.  Violet officially thinks farts are funny, and will go out of her way to pass gas for a laugh, and will also point her finger accusingly at one of us and laugh when she hears anything resembling a toot.  Potty training makes life more difficult, not easier, for a good stretch of time so I am officially over potty humor, meaning I am not ready to potty train.  So we shall continue our quest for a diaper that holds it all.

The biggest change this past month is Violet has evolved from destroying the house in her free time, to playing.  Don't get me wrong, she still destroys the house, but now she is actually playing while she makes a mess.  She loves feeding and changing her baby dolls diapers as well as pushing them in a stroller and snuggling them too.  There is no shame in taking a sip from the baby doll's bottle either.

She also seems to have a passion for shoes.  She loves walking around in different family member's shoes, and she has become quite good at walking around in Lucy and Emma's dress up heels.  In the bottom right hand picture Violet surprised me one morning by making a pretend cup of tea, complete with pretend honey and a play tea bag.  She handed it to me and proudly said, "TEA!"

Violet spends her entire day either playing with me, or practically yanking my finger off as she tries to drag me away from whatever I am doing so that we can play.  She is very determined and usually will not be convinced to play with Lucy or Emma, despite their trying to please her.  Fortunately if Will is home, he is a suitable playmate in her eyes.  She loves to get us to play with her by saying, "Roll?" for roll the ball, "Ride" for go for a basket ride, "Book" for read a book, and "Bo-Boat" for playing Motor Boat, which is similar to Ring Around the Rosie.  Once she has recruited myself or Will for "Bo-Boat" she will then search out every other member of the family and drag them over to join in "Bo-Boat" with us. 

It is just amazing to me the changes this past month in her play.  As long as I am sitting on the ground near her, she will do some play by herself.  The other day I slyly watched as she pushed a stuffed dog around on the floor while she kept saying "Ruff!  Ruff!"  She steals my heart when she plays a game that I have entitled Mama Polo.  Think Marco Polo but replace the words with Violet chanting my name in a sweet voice and me responding to each chant of Mama with Violet's name.  This usually takes place on car rides or stroller walks.  "Mama."  "Violet."  "Mama."  "Violet."  And on and on and on.

She still is up to her usual trouble, which she times nicely for when I am preoccupied with Lucy and Emma doing schoolwork.  The other day I caught her trying to climb on top of the stove.  Her efforts were foiled when the oven door handle she was using to prop herself up slowly opened the oven door instead causing her to hit her mouth on the door as she fell backwards.  Fortunately, the oven was not on, however it did make me wonder why our newish oven did not come with an oven door lock.  Our old oven had one, and at least now I know she can't be left in the kitchen alone if the oven is on.  Here she is below caught chewing on a stolen plastic eye dropper from a science kit in the left hand picture.  In the right hand picture you can see the results of chewing and swallowing a piece of green chalk.

Based on the above pictures, Violet is definitely teething!  She popped her sixth tooth this past month which was met with much celebrating.  We have been told to expect just a few teeth in Violet's mouth, so each tooth, no matter how it's shaped, is cause for rejoicing.  It is much easier to cap a misshapen tooth than it is to put an implant in.  Around two and a half years old we will begin the process of getting her fitted for partial dentures, and they will use her existing teeth to anchor it in.  Her teeth don't hold her back too much when it comes to eating, however she does prefer softer foods and is my number one fan of the soups I love making.  I can't tell you how great it is to have one of my children appreciate my cooking!  Just having a couple of front teeth has not held her back from corn on the cob or apples though, and she is always so proud to eat food like her big sisters.  New words this past month include "apple" and "cheese stick".

Since receiving Violet's diagnosis, Will and I have come up with canned responses for when people make comments about Violet's appearance.  We have decided that the responses aren't really for the people asking, but more for confirming to Violet that she is loved, beautiful, and made exactly how she is supposed to be.  This past month I thought I was facing my first real challenge.  It was the girls first yoga class of the year, and I was dropping Lucy and Emma off while Violet sat in her stroller and ate her lunch.  Our beloved yoga teacher was excited to see the girls after a summer off but when she looked at Violet she immediately exclaimed, "What is wrong with her mouth???"  I took a deep breath and I launched into my speech.  After saying far too much, our sweet yoga teacher looked up at me with the most confused look on her face and asked, "But why would that make her mouth BLEED???"  Shocked, I leaned down to look at Violet's mouth and saw red, dripping all over her face.  It took me a second to realize that it was raspberry juice and not blood, at which point I started nervously laughing and turned the color of a raspberry myself.  After explaining to their teacher that Violet just finished eating a bowl of raspberries you could have cut the awkwardness with a knife.  When I returned to pick up the girls after their class was over, their teacher had recovered from her shock and had lots of loving questions and affirmations for us.  I regret that I wasn't recovered enough to apologize for the information overload.  Most importantly, I realized that I need to shorten my canned response and to always assume less is more when it comes to information!  I just hope Violet knows that I am learning as I go, but am oh so proud of her and her beautiful smile.