on a river

violet is rolling. tummy to back and back to tummy. don't get me wrong, it's freaking cute - we cheer and applaud when she does it, and she grins her gummy grin in delight - but i can't say it's my favorite developmental milestone because two nights ago she rolled while swaddled, got stuck on her tummy with her arms pinned, and thankfully started screaming her little head off.

so. last night we quit the swaddle cold turkey, straight into the sleep sack. the positive is that we never had any meltdowns, just a lot of crying in the range of protest fussing to i'm-pissed-but-not-weeping. we also had about ten wake-ups requiring twice that many re-settlings. mercifully my brain is too hazy to do the math on our longest stretch of sleep. luckily (luckily?!) we were already used to four wake-ups a night since moving her to the crib - she is a thrasher and spins and scoots until she bonks her head on the crib bars - so at least she broke us in a little. everyone is exhausted here, and i am sad (understatement) that violet has to start day care tomorrow. it's about to start raining in los angeles, so maybe the sound of rainfall will help to drown out the screams of our little car-hating commuter.

what, you came here looking for a feel-good post filled with pictures of baby's first christmas? sucker! next time. instead here is (was) our first post-hospital family photo - happy belated thanksgiving!