Smile!

I maintain that our species has been sustained by babies' smiles. Those first smiles penetrate the fog of the first six weeks of parenting a newborn, and no doubt have saved many infants from being deposited curbside for, my Grandma would say, the gypsies to pick up. Violet has been gracing us with her already irresistible grin for a couple of weeks now. It's a powerful thing, that smile - prevailing over even the most sleepless of nights when she turns it on in the morning.

She's doing so well. We struggled with reflux for several weeks, but seem to have gotten it under control now. She's expected to outgrow it within a year, and in the meantime we'll manage it with meds. The reflux hasn't slowed her down a bit, though; she keeps growing, and growing . . . (check out those chins!) She interacts more with us and with her environment every day, recently starting to 'talk.' Of course her parents find her coos more captivating than any other conversation. Even at three o'clock in the morning.

A Room of Her Own

Photos of the nursery are somewhat anticlimactic after the arrival of Violet herself, but here they are! It was essentially completed a week or two after Violet was born. The only things we are still waiting on are the sheer panels for the windows; those should be up later this month. We're very happy with the way it all came together - it's a great representation of our vision for a period-appropriate remodel of the house. While the rest of the remodel is still on hold, Violet's room is our refuge. At least until she's a teenager and decides she wants to paint it black, a la the Stones.