Spa Day

It was brutally cold here in Boston today, so I decided it should be spa day. For Violet, this consisted of whole milk yogurt and pureed organic pears followed by a manicure, a full body massage, a bath, and an organic breast milk dessert. For me, it involved yoga, and a beer followed by chocolate cookies made by my mamma. I got a netflix DVD on baby massage and as promised on the DVD, both of us thoroughly enjoyed our massage session. What baby wouldn't want to be lovingly rubbed down with almond oil and what mamma wouldn't relish the chance to thoroughly appreciate those deliciously chubby thighs and lushiously soft skin? Yum!

Bananas

Surprisingly, bananas weren't a huge hit. We'll have to try again another time.

Loved

Baby Violet and I are feeling very loved. Here we are lying on a quilt that my brother-in-law's Mom made by hand - it's humbling to think about all the work that went into making such a work of art! My mom was here this weekend doing some great cooking and baby lovin'. Violet barely cried the whole time she was here. What a change from the last time mom was here. We fed V cereal for the first time on Saturday and she knew just what to do - slurped it down like she'd been doing it all her life. It was a beautiful day on Saturday so we took baby V out for the maiden journey in the jogging stroller. It was a success - V slept the entire hour and a half ride. I wasn't exactly jogging, but the big tires were great on the sidewalks that still have some snow on them. Saturday night, I got to go out to a party which was fun - it felt so good to be out at night again! Violet woke up while I was gone and sucked down 6 oz of milk from a bottle. Mom was sure that she would sleep through the night after that plus all the cereal, but alas, she was up at 1am and 4am like usual. Sunday night I went out again to meet up with a friend for a drink. This time I got back before V's first waking though and nursed her right after I pumped and she slept longer after that (strange, but true). Sunday night it snowed and Mom's Monday morning flight got cancelled so she had to stay an extra day. Lucky us! Monday night V finally decided to skip the 10pm feeding and slept from 6:30pm to 2:30am. Mom pointed out as I fumbled around at 3am that V had slept her first 8 hour stretch! Hurray V! Of course she was up from 2:30am-4:30am, but we'll work on that.

Re-entry

So we're back in Boston, back on Eastern Time, and back to "was happy" at daycare. Violet's teachers were shocked at how much she grew while she was away and were very impressed with her sitting skills. The re-entry hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be given how hard it seemed to be to adjust to California time, but I guess a new place, new noises, and new people aren't thown in the mix. We're also back to the 10:30pm, 1:30am, and 4:30am wakings. I've been pretty obsessed with sleep issues lately -hitting my books and talking to friends. I've been debating wether I should "train" her out of some of her wakings (aka let her cry). It's just so hard to know if she really needs to eat or not. Taking her to daycare and then brining her home and letting her cry dosen't really make me feel so good either. I try to focus on the fact that I should treasure each of these baby days because they go by so fast and that this too shall pass - I doubt she will still be up nursing all night when she's six.

Smile!

Photo Shoot

Back in the middle of November, I had a photographer come and take some pictures of 3.5 month old Violet. It was so hard to keep these pictures a surprise for Christmas. Now that the gifts have been opened and the cards sent out, I can finally share them on the blog - I thought they were such great fun. Here is a link to the Picassa web album. The photographer is Diana Sechrist of Cambridge - she was fantastic!

5 months

Dear Violet,
Today you are 5 months and 3 days old. We are staying with your Aunt Karen and Uncle Joe in Novato, California. It's been wonderful to be out here in the warm sunshine with our family for Christmas and New Years. I haven't been writing much lately, mostly because I've been eating wonderful meals that the family has prepared after you've gone to bed. We've been here for about 2 weeks now and you have already changed so much since we arrived. You fit into 6-12 month clothes now and you've started sitting up. You are still a bit wobbly, but you're getting stronger and more sturdy every day. You've also discovered that you love sitting in a high chair where you can have breakfast at the table with everyone. You eat all of your toys, spoons, and a toothbrush. You've also discovered that you love to drink water from Mommy's glass. Jolie Blon scared you when she barked when we first arrived, but now you are fast friends and she no longer makes you cry.

After narrowly escaping 11 inches of fresh fallen snow in Boston and waiting our turn in long lines at the airport, the flight out here was great - you fell asleep on take off and slept THE ENTIRE 6 HOUR JOURNEY! However, once we arrived, the jet lag was very tough on you and you regressed to waking every 1-2 hours every night. This has been very hard on your mom - I have been extremely tired these last 2 weeks - the most tired I think I've been in the past 5 months. However, last night you slept better than you've ever slept before. It felt horrible to let you cry, but after you refused a bottle at your first waking, I let you cry yourself to sleep and you slept from 10pm to 3:30am! I woke up about 3:15am and was SO HAPPY! So happy in fact that I couldn't sleep! You woke up a short time later and I was happy to feed you. You were a fast eater and when you finished you put your hands above your head in the adorable way that you do when you sleep and you went right back to bed until 7:15am!! I gave you a million kisses when you woke up because I was so happy and felt so rested- I think you did too. Maybe you'll sleep that long tonight? I'll still love you anyway, but I hope you do.

Love,
Mom

You and Me at Glide Memorial Church in San Fransisco Dec 27, 2009