Sweet baby girl

Violet is just the sweetest baby. The other day we all had a really great night's sleep, and I woke to her cooing so happily. When I went to get her out of her swaddle, she opened her little eyes and saw me in front of her and just broke out into the most beautiful smile. It's so much fun getting her up for the day. When I get her out of her swaddle, she stretches her arm out so wide and she looks so happy, like "I'm free!" She starts off most mornings with a smile, and it's just a wonderful way to begin a day.

With the second one, I swore that I was going to be more disciplined when it came to enforcing schedules. But I totally am not. She is still waking up in the middle of the night and rather than force anything with her, I just have her in the bed with me and let her nurse throughout the night. I know I may end up regretting it when we have to break her of it, but right now it's just so easy and everyone is sleeping better because of it.

She seems to like a little bit more of a routine than Jack did, though. When she's fussy during the day, it usually turns out that she's tired. It's so unusual to me to have a baby that has a discernible reason for crying that I can actually fix. She typically likes to take about an hour nap around 9:30 in the morning and then about a three-hour one at around 1:30. Unfortunately, Jack doesn't nap, and I like to stay as active as I can with him so that we don't drive each other crazy. So we are often not at home when it's her naptime, and it's tough for her to get a really restful sleep when she's not swaddled in bed. I have a feeling when she gets older, I'm going to have to make more of a concerted effort to be where she needs to be when it's her naptime.

She's normally in bed by 8:30 or 9 PM. She starts off in her crib, but usually makes her way into our bed sometime in the middle of the night. Tom brings her to me and I just latch her on while I'm half-asleep, so I don't even know what time that is. If we're lucky, she'll stay asleep until about 7 AM. If we're not so lucky, she'll get really active around 5 AM and won't settle down at all. Then there's nothing to do but to get up with her.

We think that she may already be teething. She's starting to drool a whole lot, and she constantly has her fingers in her mouth. Sometimes she sucks her thumb, but I can't tell if she gets much satisfaction out of it. I'm bummed to have to start covering up her little outfits with a bib, but better a bib than slobber, I suppose.

She recently discovered her toes - on our camping trip actually - and it's just the cutest thing. I feel that Jack didn't find his until he was well past six months. Maybe she's more flexible because she isn't quite as chubby as he was at the same age. She loves holding her toes while she's sitting back in her bouncer or in her car seat or when I'm holding her.

Her new favorite contraption is the Bumbo seat. We never had one for Jack, because I thought the window of time between his being too floppy to sit in it and being strong enough to sit up on his own was too short to justify the expense. But one of our friends gave us their old Bumbo, and Violet loves it. I like it too, because it's the one thing that she will sit in for an extended period of time without fussing for attention.

She is really starting to vocalize a lot more. She'll joyfully yell and sing at us when we hold her, and it's so fun to hear her little voice starting to emerge. She also likes to practice standing while we hold her. It's one of her favorite things right now. She'll give this little laugh when we stand her up, and her whole body does this little wiggle of excitement when she does.

This week was really busy, filled with friends and fun. It was also an anomaly. We had late-evening plans on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and I told Jack he had to nap or else we wouldn't be able to have our fun. So he actually napped both days, and so did Violet. As only a parent of more than one knows, it's a glorious feeling when all the kids in the house are asleep at the same time.

Funny story about Wednesday, though. Jack actually ended up napping for almost three hours that day. But I didn't know that was going to happen. Violet was really active when we first left Jack in his room, and I could tell he was fighting the nap. I could hear him singing in his room a half hour after we left. Then Violet and I both dozed off on the couch while I was holding her. When I woke up, Jack had already been asleep for a little over an hour. I figured that he was going to wake up any minute so there would be no point in going through the trouble of swaddling Violet and putting her in bed. So I held her. And held her. For two hours. But the amazing thing is I just watched her sleeping so peacefully, and it was just such a calming, relaxing experience. I am usually go, go, go all the time. Even when I'm sitting, I'm usually either reading book or at the computer. But for that one afternoon, it was lovely just to hold my baby and watch her and listen to her and smell her and feel her breathe in and out, in and out. It's something I really must try to do more often.