Violets are blue

...especially when their mommies dress them up in their big brother's blue outfits! When Jack was a baby, Tom bought him a sleeper that he (Tom) just loved. Yesterday, we put it on Violet. She looked like a little old man in it, but it was still fun to see an old favorite on a new baby.

When Jack was little, one of our regular activities was to go to breastfeeding support group. It was there that we made our first mommy and baby friends, many of whom we are still close with to this day. Yesterday, I took Violet, mainly to get weighed. She is still so tiny - she practically swims in most of her newborn outfits - that I was sure she hadn't gained that much weight. But she has actually gained a pound and a half over her birth weight. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though. One of my nicknames for her is "Piglet," because she seems to spend all her waking minutes nursing.

Luckily for us, most of her minutes are spent asleep, not awake. She'll snooze for two or three hours and then wake up for about 15 minutes to eat and then go back to napping. This little girl is going to be able to sleep through a hurricane, because Jack is constantly shouting at the top of his lungs. She sleeps great during the day, but at night, she often has trouble settling down because of gas pains. Unlike Jack, she mostly grunts and groans through them, which is preferable to screaming and crying, but it still keeps us up. I think the difference is that during the day, she is usually sleeping in our arms or in the swing or car seat, which tends to keep her more upright. At night, she is lying down on the bed, and it's probably harder for her to get the bubbles out of her system while she is lying horizontally on her back. We'll need to figure something out to help her, though. With Jack, I cut out all dairy to try to minimize his gas pains. I really don't want to have to do that again.

Last night, I had my first mommy night out without kids since Violet was born. I had a little bit of a pang when I left her, though. I don't think I'd left Jack until he was several months old. Tom did great on his own with two kids.

Another thing we never did with Jack was give him a bottle, but Violet had her first one last night as well. I was always afraid that Jack would get nipple confusion if we gave him a bottle, but this time around, I figured it would be easier on everyone if we at least had the option of having Tom feed her. Pumping is a hassle, but Violet took to it like a pro.

I can't believe that Tom's first week of leave is already over. It flew by with Jack, and it's flying by again. Poor Tom is spending most of his time playing trains with Jack. "Daddy, drive Thomas!" is a constant refrain. When Tom finally protested that he was getting tired of driving Thomas, Jack told him he could take a break and "drive Rusty," another train, instead. Tom was thrilled, as you can imagine.

Jack continues to be hilarious. One of his favorite things is to imitate the baby. If she squalls, he has to mimic her. If she is sleeping, he pretends to sleep too - although not nearly as long as we would like! He makes the same faces that she does and makes the same noises she does. He's constantly asking questions like, "Why does Baby have a head? Why does she have arms?" When she's nursing, he likes to rub her head and sometimes lay his head near hers. It's so cute.

This morning, she was snoozing on our bed and started fussing. Jack heard her.

"Oh! That's Baby making noise! I must go upstairs quickly [pronounced 'quick-wee']!" he cried, as he dashed up the stairs.

Later that same morning, out of the blue he told me, "If it's a boy, we will name him 'Clara.' If it's a girl, we will name her 'Violet.'" He never answered me when I asked him what "it" was.

Hope you all have a good weekend!