as i'm sure anyone reading this knows, the main reason for the blog inactivity is that i'm pregnant, 16 weeks with the belly to prove it.
as i've probably already complained to you personally, i was sick, sicker than i was with violet. kevin thinks my exhaustion was pretty equal to last time, but for sure i felt worse. i remember being 9 weeks with violet and still managing to sample 50 cupcakes at a cupcake expo with my friend monica. 9 weeks this time? i couldn't make it through a workday without napping in my car at lunch. i ate mostly saltines, popcorn and bagels. last first trimester, i ate at a university dining hall buffet almost every morning. i would take down a huge plate of eggs and hash browns and another huge plate with a belgian waffle, berries and whipped cream while the sorority girls had their cottage cheese and cantaloupe. if i was still hungry, i'd have some of that too. at least i've managed to eat plenty of eggs for this little guy, though, and am happy to report that i'm close to eating normally again.
we were pretty shocked to get the news that this baby is a boy. i think we assumed that since we had a girl, we'd be having another. i have to admit that my initial reaction was sheer terror, but within a few hours, i started to get really excited. kevin is of course excited (and jumped right into researching how not to get peed on while changing diapers), and violet is more excited than i could have possibly predicted. she hugs and kisses my belly several times a day and is constantly talking about her little brother, who apparently is going to love the power rangers and be an astronaut for his first halloween. they are going to share a room together and sneak lots of midnight snacks. yesterday she declared, "his first word is going to be booty, only he's going to say ooty because he won't be able to say 'b' yet when he's in the hospital." her first word was "ball" so i guess she's taking ownership of that letter.
violet has been awesome these past months -- really loving and giggly most of the time. (the rest of the time she's stubborn and contrarian, which is sometimes amusing, like how she'll ask kevin which soccer team he's rooting for and then declare that she's rooting for the opposite. there's no doubt she's his child.) although she's now moved on from frozen, we visited the "frozen fun" section of california adventure several times over the course of the winter and spring.
when she's older she'll likely be disappointed to discover that a soundstage transformed into arendelle was her first experience with snow.
while i don't think of violet as being anything close to a girly girl, she does only want to wear dresses these days, and i have to let her pick them out in the store because every time i attempt to mail order adorable good deals from old navy, she rejects them as too uncomfortable. i let her try on three easter dress candidates at target, and she ultimately chose this one
"because it has a pocket." i didn't think anything of it at the time -- i enjoy pockets myself -- but apparently her little mind was already scheming. after the big egg hunt at nana's house, we kept finding her hiding in corners and scarfing down mini chocolate eggs that she'd stashed in the pocket!
tangentially related, we continue her city tour of hot cocoa hotspots, and just before easter, she scored one for our hall of fame:
i see that's also a chocolate croissant on her plate. baby boy also seems to be developing an affinity for the good stuff. i finished off my lunch with a piece, and now he's doing what i have to imagine are his happy taps.
shortly after easter we were super excited to have uncle mike and aunt erica visiting with cousins noah and emme. i really didn't get enough pictures of the cousins together (although of course i got an adorable bathtub shot that i'll save for later humiliation), but here are a couple:
i've said it before, but there's nothing better than watching the cousins play together. we're so sad that we won't make it back east this summer.
two years ago, violet's preschool teachers would tell me how they were pushing her to play more with friends when she really preferred playing with her imaginary friends. i don't want to count the hours i've spent fretting about this, but now, while i would hardly say she's become a social butterfly, she is very affectionate about her small circle of besties. the interactions are a definite prelude to teen angst, at least among the girls. someone has always wronged someone else, called them a crybaby, said "you're not my friend" or "i like so-and-so better than you," or not taken turns pretending to be princess ariel. (violet never wants to be the princess. she is always, always the pet. i love this because i was the same way as a kid.) my new favorite is how she lays on her stomach and kicks her legs, like every teen girl in every bedroom in every 80s movie.
she's going to have a hard time when her closest three school friends go on to kindergarten in a month (and she is left behind because of the september 1 cutoff), but luckily she still has a few non-school buddies, like jack (how cute are they?)
and a couple of girls from ballet. she just had her recital by the way. they did a merida routine (from brave), and here she is with her scottish-style fingers. i doubt i need to expound the cuteness.
she has also just started another group swim session at the ymca. she loves the water
but is pretty stubborn when it comes to actually trying to swim on her own. she is fascinated by her new instructor -- a pretty 18 year old with blue hair and a nose ring -- so i'm hoping she'll want to impress her.
in other summer news, violet had a nice 4th of july, although nothing can compare to last year's best 4th of july ever with the nationals game and the rooftop fireworks and kevin's entire family. i got off work early and took her to the natural history museum with its seasonal butterfly pavilion
and her favorite part was the evolution of the human skull. that's our girl.
we got some holiday decor from the michael's bargain bin and gussied up her wagon for the local parade, which ends at a nearby park with free cupcakes, so that was a win. we talked about venturing out to see fireworks that night, but then kevin pointed out that i haven't been able to stay awake past 9pm for the past two months, so instead we tried to find an east coast feed on TV. when that failed, we just watched peter rabbit, which is of course what violet wanted anyway. every episode involves peter and his posse being chased by farmer mcgregor or mr. tod the fox. violet squeals and hides behind the couch like it's a horror movie. much more exciting than fireworks.
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