Sweet Violet

Violet is 16 days old. She is still the sweetest baby. She had us worried the last couple of days, though, because she's becoming more vocal. Visions of colic started dancing through our heads. Even though she doesn't cry often, when she does, she makes it count! She cries louder than Jack ever did at that age.

She has started making these awful noises that sound like she has terrible gas, although it's not entirely clear that that is what it is. Nothing we can do seems to make her feel better (i.e., be quiet), other than nursing. And she hiccups - a lot. Again, only nursing seems to help. But she's still a little peanut - I'll take her in to be weighed on Friday - so I don't mind feeding her as much as she wants.

She is definitely becoming more alert during the day, although she slept quite a lot today. It reminds me that I never quite know what to do with a baby. Other than hold her and stare at her and feed her, there doesn't seem to be much I can do. It seems like I should be teaching her another language or something, like I'm just wasting this time when her brain is in hyper-development mode.

So many of the things that she does right now are reminiscent of Jack when he was a newborn. She makes a ton of cute little faces while she sleeps. Like Jack, she tilts her head almost perpendicular to one side in the car seat. When she cries, sometimes she makes a little "laa" sound that Jack used to make. She doesn't have as much of the chin quiver as he did, but maybe I just don't notice it as much because she doesn't cry as much. She seems to hate getting her diaper changed more than he did. It might be because she's a girl, and it takes a little longer to make sure all the crevices are clean. One of the cutest things she does that's all her own is that she will often clasp her hands when she nurses or is being held. It's super sweet, like she's praying.

Her cheeks are starting to fill in, and people who see her from the chest up think that she's older than she is. It's only when they how little the rest of her is that they realize just how brand new she still is. Her legs are really spindly - I'm waiting for her thighs to fill in. Jack was all cheeks and thighs when he was a baby. She has long, skinny fingers and long, skinny feet, like Olive Oyl. Jack had an outfit when he was a newborn that came with these cute little shoes. I waited too long to put him in it, and by the time he did, he had outgrown the shoes. I totally regretted it, so I made sure to put Violet in the same outfit earlier. Turns out, her 12-day-old feet don't fit those shoes either, so at least now I know I don't need to feel bad about it.

I'm waiting for her to get a little bigger so that she can fit into all the cute outfits we have for her. The weather has been so cold and she is still so small that I haven't wanted to put her in most of the adorable little dresses that she has. My mom said that she's so glad that I had Violet second, because we are so much more relaxed with her, we actually have the time and energy to get excited about dressing her up.

I can't decide who she looks like. When she first came out, we thought that she might look more like Tom than Jack does. But as the days go by, I'm starting to feel like she looks like me as well. She doesn't look all that much like Jack to me. Her head isn't as round, and she has a different nose. They both have the same little rosebud lips, though.

Jack is still loving his baby sister. He has a song that he sings about her, "What does Baby want to do do dooo?" He's constantly shouting, "Baby Viowet!" throughout the day. Sometimes he calls her "Baby Viowetty." He loves pushing her in her swing, although we have to constantly remind him to be gentle. He doesn't like it when she cries. When she first came home and would cry, he would tell her, "It's ok, Baby!" But now he just cries and fusses too when she does. Not exactly helpful. This evening when she fussed, he told us, "Baby's lonely!"

He let us keep her in his room while we sang him his lullabies tonight, which is helpful because her absolute favorite thing is to be held by Mommy. She's still not quite sure about Daddy, which is giving Tom a bit of a complex. Poor Tom hasn't been able to get in much baby time, because Jack has been his little shadow since the baby came home.

This morning, Violet was making her usual baby noises. One of them sounded like, "Hi!" so now Jack's convinced she can talk.

"Baby said 'hi' to me!" he kept telling me all day.

Later he asked, "Can she say 'I love you'?"

Not yet, Jack, but I have a feeling you will be one of the first people she says it to.