Happy Birthday, Violet!

Violet was 2 on 11/11/11!!! What a big girl she is, getting taller and smarter by the minute. Only a few weeks ago her favorite phrase was "Where'd ___ go, huh?" We were struggling to get her to sleep as is common these days and she sat up and said "Where'd light-on go, huh?". It's difficult to be serious when she's so darn cute. She delights in humoring us by repeating phrases we tell her to say such as "Holy Cow!" and "What's happenin'?" She's such a busy girl, building with blocks, playing with her dolls, ironically pretending to go to sleep in the big bed, and coloring with "craynons." She is an excellent refection of her mom as she rifles through her dresser saying "Hmm, let's see here, how bout..." "it's so cute!". Her favorite things are Sesame Street, choo-choo trains, youtube monkey and animal videos, Mickey Mouse (thanks to the genius of diaper marketing), and the playground. She went down the big kid slide today with no fear and will run off in public places without even looking back for Mama or Dada. We have hit the 2-year-old stage with a fierce independence and love of the word "no"; but it's not just no, it's a new word she created "n'OK" as she answers herself with OK. In fact, she no longer says yes or no, just yeah-ok and no-ok. She has been overheard asking her stuffed animals "want to go to Nika-Atti's house? yeah-ok." She loves her twin neighbors and has almost figured out which is which. She has a knack for names, and at a recent family event she went up and asked "who's that man?" and remembered his name for good. There is so much more to tell about our little girl, but I must sign off. "Happy Burpy" Violet! You bring us so much joy!

Pictures will be posted soon after her birthday party tomorrow.

Today at Weaver St. in the top Mimi made for Alie at age 2

Just plain cute

Flying with Dada above the wedding photo

August 2011

June/July

Vi and Great-Grandma Bradburn at Rob's family reunion July 1st

Vi and her Wumpy, Rob's mom

Violet's first real ice cream cone...not so into it.

Here's our messy-haired cutie at Jordan Lake a couple of weeks ago.

Mimi and Papaw's front steps at the end of June.

Our little lady bug

is getting so big!
She is such a busy toddler, loves being outside, is stringing together 2 or 3 words,
and is just overall adorable. When it's too hot to get in the kiddie pool, she is
happy as can be if she has a "pen" or crayon in her hand.

Great-Granddad's 95th Birthday Celebration 5/21/11

With Mimi and Beckett

1st visit to Great-Granny's grave

With Great-Granddad and Papaw

Bubbles with cousin Beckett

Vi's Rainy Day Dance 5/27/11

February and March 2011

Violet's first time climbing the steps.

Crazy Spoon Girl in February (you can see where her left eye has a spot of green)

On Feb. 13th

On March 12th

1st stage of walking

Here's footage of Violet walking with Mimi and Papaw on March 12th. She has become much more steady on her feet in a few short weeks, walking while only holding one hand now. She loves pushing the stroller....I guess this is the end of my aerobic stroller walks.

16 months of age has been such a joy. Violet is saying so many words I can't record them all, joking with us, loves playing with clothes (is currently playing with my socks repeating "gock, gock" and dancing with them), and is almost constantly singing or humming "la, la". She can almost perfectly sing the melody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Every time I try to video that she stops and chases the camera, but I will succeed one day and post it. She's a busy little girl, especially considering she doesn't walk yet, and loves spoons, bowls, and putting in/taking out things.

Christmas in TN

Cardboard boxes, better than any gift!

Hamming it up on her new rocking horse

Making (and eating) a gingerbread man with cousin Beckett

At Mimi and Papaw's

Enjoying Papaw's new shelter on the creek

01 on 11.11.10

"You come from me and I come from you, that's how we both did come,
from milk and honey, bread and cheese, berries and wine and rum. You feel so soft and tender and smooth and warm here, I feel so glad you come to see me from that newborn baby's land" (from Woody Guthrie's Howdy Little Newlycome)

Oh what a momentous first birthday!
We celebrated her cousin Beckett's and Mimi's birthday all together at Edisto Island, SC.
From mama and dada, Violet got her first baby doll and a refurbished teddy bear that Mimi had made for mama's 1st birthday.

Vi enjoyed playing in (not eating) her very own birthday cake.

We can hardly believe our sweet Violet is one year old! She is our smiley, pointing-at-everything baby who babbles almost constantly with an amazing array of sounds, talking even before she wakes up. We feel so lucky that she came to see us from her newborn babyland.
Happy 1st Birthday, Violet!

11month-old little pumpkin!

Happy 11 months, Violet! We can hardly believe it has almost been a year since the little "newlycome" blessed us. Vi is getting more mobile, but she is not crawling yet. She can roll across the floor faster than any baby I have seen and heads straight for whatever she is not supposed to get into with a big grin. She is constantly babbling with a new "gurgle, gurgle" sound this week and says "uh-oh" so appropriately. She would have enjoyed the pumpkin patch much more if it had not been 85 degrees that day!

Violet and Amanda hit Manhattan

Stroller pros

Washington Square (a good spot for diaper/nursing)

Violet went right for the wasabi at Sushi Samba

Exhausted on the train back to Debbie's

10 months already!

Violet in the Fall breeze

After tasting a few, Violet discovered that leaves are not only intriguing to look at.

Our little girl is really getting big! Over 10 months old and over 18 lbs. She adores talking, babbling like a brook. And she only wants to eat chunky food, can devour a potato or avocado in a matter of minutes. She figured out how to jump in the jolly jumper this week, has gone to sleep all by herself in her crib a couple of times, and loves books. She enjoys us reading them but also loves to just hold and play with them. This week she prefers "The Little Red Hen."