What a cute **GIRL** we have!

So, shortly after the post about Violet getting her ears pierced, Ryan informed me that he didn't want to do it. I really wasn't leaning more one way than the other, so I was fine with that. Then, when we were at the airport, two people commented about what a cute boy "he" was. (And she was wearing a headband!) Then, my aunt Norma came to visit us at my parents' house in Iowa and she said "What's his name again?" That's when Ryan and I started talking about getting her ears pierced again.

My mom and I went to the mall and I thought I'd just see how much it would be and what the earrings looked like. I couldn't resist! I knew she would look so cute with them.She was very brave and didn't even cry after the first one. Then, after the second, she did cry, but she was quickly distracted with a blue slurpy! They have healed very well and they are symmetrical (thank God!).

I'll be writing more about our vacation soon! It was great!

To Pierce or Not to Pierce...?

So, of course I think I have the most beautiful little baby girl in the world. Hair or no hair, I look into those sparkly blue eyes and see my precious little beauty of a girl. Too bad other people just don't see what I see. Violet can be dressed in pink from head to toe and people will still ask me what "his" name is! I didn't have to worry about this with Lydia at this age. She had so much hair, I could put little piggy tails or barrettes on top of her head.

We were at the mall a few weeks ago and I had two different people say what a cute little boy Violet is. I know I shouldn't let it bother me, but I quickly ran to Claire's and bought a bunch of little headbands for her to wear that had to match about everything she has. I thought this was a great idea and it wasn't to expensive. Too bad she doesn't keep them on for more than a few minutes at a time!

I don't know how I feel about piercing her ears. Peyton's look really cute and Tegan has never had a problem with them. She did get them done a lot earlier though. Maybe Violet will pull on them now that she's older. Then there's the question of "Well, then will we have to pierce Lydia's ears?" I asked Lydia if she wanted to get hers done and she said "not until I'm 5!". Also, as for her not being able to make the decision herself, she could always just take them out if she didn't want them any more.

As far as the pain issue, Tegan also said that babies don't have as much feeling in their ear lobes as we do. I decide to test this out a little bit. I know it sounds cruel, but I just (very) lightly pinched Violet's ear lobe with my fingernails to see if she'd respond. No response. So, I pinched a little harder to see if she'd at least look at me like "What are you doing, Mom?" No response. Maybe she doesn't have much feeling there. I read some comments about it online and someone said they only cry for a little bit, if at all, and that it's a lot less painful then immunizations.

So, any opinions whether I should do it or not? The picture does look pretty cute!

Violet and Lydia News

Lydia and Violet are growing up so fast! They are so much fun to have around. I must say that at the times when I have thought that I am limited to what I can do having kids, I have to be reminded that life was a lot less entertaining without them! This morning I was in a hurry to get out of the house to run errands and get Lydia to her Violin lesson. Lydia had changed her outfit a couple times by now (after all, it was already 10am!). I was trying to finish doing my hair and makeup when Violet woke up from her nap. As I was thinking, "I guess it's going to be another "no mascara and a pony tail" day, Lydia went into Violet's room and started to play with her. Yay Lydia! They were in there for about 10 minutes laughing and playing while I got ready. I then walked into Violet's room to see her standing in her crib stripped down to her diaper surrounded by about 50 toys and laughing and squealing! Lydia digging through Violet's drawers trying to find some pants for her to wear. What a scene! I just had to laugh! Life with children can be very tiring sometimes, but moments like this make it so fun! I thank God so much for my sweeties!

Lydia still loves to tell jokes. If you know any good (clean) ones, let me know! She is also doing very well at reading. She is reading "Dick and Jane" pretty good and we are working on "Green Eggs And Ham". We have been learning subtraction and addition playing a dice game in the morning as we eat breakfast the past week. For subtraction, we each roll the dice and I ask her what the bigger number is. We then hold up that many fingers, and she takes away the other number by folding that many fingers down and then we see what's left. Yesterday, I wrote the problem out on paper so she could see the 6-4=2 (or whatever). Today, I wrote the problems out on paper with a black marker, and put computer paper over it and she traced the problems. She's having a lot of fun and always want to play when we sit at the table!

Violet has her mealtime games as well. I have two sets of Baby Einstein flash cards from when Lydia was little and we hold them up and say what they are and what they do. "Cow says Moo" etc. She loves it, although after a while she likes to just grab them and see what happens when she drops them on the floor. Her favorite is the horse. She'll click her tongue like the sound of horse hooves. She is learning new "tricks" all the time. She's trying to say "Uh,oh" but doesn't have it down quite yet. Every time she drops something, she looks down and says,"Uh, uh!"