The Other Violet

Violet has thrush.  She's pretty pitiful.  Her little tongue is sore and it hurts her to eat and use her pacifier.  The doctor called in some medicine, but she was really fussy so I kept her home from church tonight.  

When I went to Kroger to pick up her medicine, they told me that there wasn't any.  Medicine for Violet, that is.  The pharmacy clerk said that nothing had been phoned in, faxed in, or emailed in.  That pretty much covered everything.  I was frustrated,  but I had to laugh.  I walked away to get a few items that we needed, and heard an announcement over the loudspeaker for "Violet Smith's mother to return to the pharmacy".  I went back and the pharmacy man told me that her medicine had been called in, but that they had accidentally filled it for another Violet Smith in their computer.  A "really old" Violet Smith, apparently.  

Ha!  

I love my little girl and her "old lady" name!

Weekend

Yes, two posts in one day.  I'm trying to get back in the habit of blogging.  I miss it, and I really do want to record what's going on in our little family.  

Here are some pictures of what we did this weekend. If I'm friends with you on Facebook, most are just a repeat of what you've already seen.  

Saturday:

We all went our separate ways in the morning- I took Jordan to his soccer game and Chris and Shaun went to church for the Man to Man breakfast.  Jordan, Violet, and I ran errands after the game and then went back home for a few hours.  

This picture of Violet cracks me up.  She looks so exasperated!

After Chris and Shaun came home, we headed out to our friend Ryan's birthday party.  He turned 21!  I've known Ryan since he was a little boy and the fact that he's 21 now makes me feel extremely old.  He had a costume party at the park.  Except we couldn't wear costumes because we were on the way to a hockey game afterward.  It was still a fun party, though, with lots of Halloween-type games.  

We had to leave the party a little bit early so we could make it to the game in time.  The boys got free Gladiators tickets through a reading program.  This was our third year doing the program, and we finally saw not one, but two fights!  Chis was really excited about that!

Pre-game goofiness:

This is what Violet did in during the game:

Ha!  She actually stayed awake about half the time.  She was so good.  Never made a peep.  

I hate pictures of myself lately, but my mother has convinced me that one day I'll be sad that I don't have more pictures of me with the kids.  So here's a shot of me with Violet at the game.

Today was a church day.  I had really been looking forward to today, because Bill Wiese was at Free Chapel!  He preached an unforgettable message about Hell and tons of people gave their hearts to the Lord.  It was one of the best services I've ever been in.  The boys had choir practice after service, and then it was (finally!) time for lunch.  We don't get out of church until after 2:00 when there's choir practice, so we're always really hungry.  Today we tried a new place.  Pastability.  It was so-so.  In my opinion, Panara Bread is better, but my Greek Salad was pretty tasty.  And Jordan learned to use chop sticks.  

After lunch, we split up again.  The boys went home and Violet and I ran some errands.  After I came home, we went to the track at my old elementary school and the boys and Chris played football.  

They played until it began to get dark and Violet and I walked a few laps around the track. Is it bad that every time I go to that track I have flash backs from 5th grade P.E.  I was always last in the mile run.  :(

When it was dark we came home and I washed bottles and got everything together for our school week while Chris and the kids watched The Walking Dead.  I have been trying to get in to this show for almost a year now.  I can't get past the first few episodes of season 1 and I don't want to watch season 3 until I know what's going on.  So I'll just wait for it on NetFlix.  

Now, all the kids are sleeping, The Hubs is gaming, and I'm going to sleep myself.  We were so busy this weekend. Sometimes I feel like we need another weekend to recovery from the weekend we just had!  

Take Heart!

It seems as though a lot of people I know have been discouraged lately.  Discouraged, or maybe just overwhelmed with all that life throws at us.  Sometimes, at least for me, it seems like nothing can go normally or smoothly at all.  Ever!  Its always something.  Either the kids are giving me fits with their behavior, we're short on cash, The Hubs and I are at odds with one another, a friend and I have a disagreement, there's family drama, the dryer breaks, one of the kids is sick, all of the kids are sick, I am sick, I'm depressed, the car tears up, or we need new tires.  It really is always something.  

You know what they say.  "That's life"!  

Who the heck are "they", anyway?

And these are just normal, every day, run of the mill issues.  Heaven forbid something really major happens.  Cancer.  A death in the family.  A car accident.  In addition to the "normal" stressors.  It can seem like too much to bear sometimes.  

Life is hard.  

I was reading my Bible the other day and I came across this verse:

"I've told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I've conquered the world."  John 16:32-33 MSG

Yes, I've heard this verse before.  About a million times, actually. But it struck a chord in my heart this time and I just feel like saying, to every one of you out there who is struggling, to keep your chin up.  If you know Jesus, this world is NOT your home.  One day we'll live perfect lives with our Father and have no problems.  In the meantime, we can rest assured and have peace about the fact that no matter what happens, He will see us through.  Big problems or everyday drama.  He's got this.  He knows about every one of our issues before we even had a thought about them. Now does this mean that I'm going to skip and sing when my car dies?  Or when I've grounded my 12 year old yet again for his smart mouth?  Or when a family member passes away?

Heck, no!  But it does make it somewhat more bearable, don't you think?

So, take heart!

Hang in there.  

My prayer is that we all have peace that passes understanding, no matter what life throws our way.  

Take heart!  He has conquered the world and every little problem in it!  

This and That

We just came home from a visiting with my parents and sister.  Jordan told me that his cousin Layna was crying because someone she knows is in jail.  Jordan told me, "I just tried to talk to her and make her feel better.  I said it was okay to cry.  I was... you know... kind of like a pastor".  Love!

The weather's changing.  Fall is here, and I hope the temperature continues to act accordingly.  

Shaun's behavior has been absolutely AMAZING today.  I'm so proud of him.  His hormones have been kind of crazy lately.  I can totally relate to him!  We've really been praying for him, and today he had a great day.  I don't think he was in trouble at all.  Thank you, Lord! 

Jordan was pretty well behaved today, too.  As a reward, all three of the boys in our house are camped out in the living room for a "slumber party".  They haven't been able to do this in a long time due to two boys' smart mouths.  Violet's in there with them.  So far no one's objecting to a girl crashing the party.  

Speaking of Violet, she looked even more adorable than usual today.  Sadly, I didn't get to take her picture.  

Dr. Mark Rutland is joining the staff of our church.  I was so excited to hear this announcement this morning.  I've been listening to him on the radio for years.  It was the best news of the weekend. 

My sister, myself, and two of our friends are so excited to be going to the Twilight Marathon on November 15.  We'll get to see all of the movies one last time on the big screen, plus we get to see Breaking Dawn Part 2 at 10:00 instead of midnight.  And then it will be over.  :(

I've been watching more television that usual.  I've always preferred reading over watching TV, but Violet doesn't really allow me to read that much.  So we watch television together instead.  Most shows are a huge disappointment.  Being a huge "Friends" fan, we were really excited about Matthew Perry's new show.  Until we watched it.  We thought it was really lame.  We do, however, enjoy Revolution and The Mindy Project.  And of course, the new and final season of 

The Office.  

And now my sweet little baby girl is crying, so I must go see about her.  

One Month Later

Today, or rather yesterday, since it's technically October 1st already, Violet turned 1 month old.  

We can't believe a whole month has passed already!  

Violet celebrated her birthday by sleeping so, SO well on Saturday night.  I guess she wanted to prove to us that she's becoming a big girl!  We moved her to her crib for the first time (she had been sleeping in our room in a bassinet)and she seemed to like it.  

Things have calmed down considerably around here.  I guess it took us a month to get our groove on.  

I wanted to be all organized and list all of Violet's stats on here, but I can't find the sheet we brought home from her two week check up.  I'll have to play it by ear.  

Our little Violet weighs around 8 pounds.  She takes 3-4 ounces of formula every 3-4 hours, unless we're out and about.  When we travel, she usually just sleeps!  She still wears size Newborn diapers- we prefer Huggies.  She loves to be carried in the sling... and I admit that I love that she loves to be carried this way. Loud noises don't phase her.  Why would they? She's been accustomed to chaos since before she was born!  She has totally stolen the hearts of the men in her life.  She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger already and her big brothers are SO protective.  Shaun is more laid back about it.  He asks to hold and feed her, but only when no one else is around.  Jordan wants to help do everything, and he even told my cousin Jane that "only family can touch her".  Jane had to explain that she was indeed family and that she had taken care of me when I was Violet's size before Jordan would let her touch his sister. Ha!

Violet seems to be pretty laid back.  She goes with the flow, going wherever we go.  She's been shopping, to soccer games, to church (not to the nursery yet, though), out to eat, to co-op, Lego Land, and lots  more.  Wherever we go, people tell us how beautiful she is, and we have to agree!

Here are some pictures from Violet's first month:

Just a few days old.  

One of my favorite pictures of her!

A few weeks old.  This is before her first church service.  She was so good!  Even when she woke up, she stayed very quiet!

 This one cracks me up.  She was so tired and her pacifier kept falling out.  She'd wake up just enough to keep the tip of it in her mouth. 

One month old and on her second field trip.  We had just been to a play.

 Not the best picture in the world, but I wanted a picture on her birth day.  Thanks to my friend Kelli for getting me the "first year" stickers!

Happy One Month, Violet!  We love you!