Family photos!

9 months old and all over the place!

Violet has become a hard little lady to keep up with lately. Before, she was just crawling around whatever room we were in, but now, she seems to want to see and explore every room in the house. She loves pulling up on everything and cruises around a little here and there. She is one active little lady. She plays hard, so she sleeps pretty hard too. Still 2 naps a day, around 1.5hr each (sometimes longer) and goes to bed around 7:30 or 8 and sleeps til 630. Kinda the same schedule its been for a while. She loves playing in her crib and her stuffed animals, especially her stuffed foxes. Who knows... She loves the baby food we make for her, but more and more lately, she wants to eat what we eat. She graduated to a bigger car seat and has 2 top teeth in, and more seem to be coming quickly. Violet loves to stand using only one hand and grab for other things, but she's still a wobbly mess, so I'm thinking we've got a couple months still until she walks, which I am perfectly ok with. My baby is too quickly becoming a toddler- I don't mind if she takes her time a little bit in these last few months before she's ONE. Hard to believe that milestone is just around the corner.

Scott is still doing great at Target. Black Friday is quickly approaching- side note, its not even black Friday anymore because all the stores now open on Thanksgiving. Stupid. Anyway, at the holidays approach, he gets busier and busier, but still finds time to be the best dad and a pretty kick ass hubby :).

As for me, life is good. I find myself often saying many prayers of thanks for how lucky I am. I have such a good family, mom/dad/sister/brothers, husband, hubby's family, and of course Vi. I'm doing what I love. But in all honesty, I do struggle. The balance is no joke. Trying to be a good resident, mom, wife, sister, daughter, and then in the meantime trying to work out, study, and help out around the house occasionally- its all a little overwhelming sometimes. Who am I kidding- its hard a lot of the time. I just try to take it one day at a time and do the best I can. I know I can't be great at everything and that's ok. Sometimes though, it just kills me to not be more present for Scott and Violet, but I'm not pursuing this dream just for me. I do it to provide for my family one day- in hopes that Scott can retire and be with our kids. I do it to be a good role model for Violet. To show her that while its hard as hell some days, you can be a mom and have a career at the same time, if you want to. I just try to remember that life wasn't meant to be a walk in the park and I live for a good challenge. And I hope that Violet can appreciate just how hard I'm working for her one day, rather than scorning me for being gone!

So that's our life right now in a nutshell, organized chaos. And I love every second of it :).

Fun fall photos!

This is some kind of new record for me. 2 blog posts in less than 2 weeks. Guess I'm motivated because I'm done with nights and feel alive again lol. Fall is so much more fun with a kiddo. Painting pumpkins, dressing up, playing in the leaves - I love it all. Violet just caught a nasty cold again - 3rd of the season. Gotta love daycare. So she has not been as enthusiastic as me, but she's been a good sport while her mom soaks this stuff up.

 

 

Her fave thing right now - mickey mouse clubhouse. Don't even ask me how many times I've seen this damn DVD....

Violet's first Halloween!

Going for a bike ride on a beautiful fall day. One thing I have to thank working nights for - being the thinnest I've been probably since my junior year of high school. Unfortunately, its skinny fat. Time to get some muscle back!!

 

 Love this little beauty and love watching her explore new things

 

Up next... Thanksgiving and Christmas. It just keeps getting better and better!!!!

8 months and Crawling!!

 

Fall really is the best time of year. The trees are changing colors (which by the way is beautiful to see in the mountains again!), it's starting to cool off, I get to wear hoodies and boots, not too mention all of the fun things I get to do with my little lady this fall and winter. Violet is 8 months old and has become my little monkey. She likes to climb everything now that she can pull up, literally everything. She has these hilarious moments where she acts silly on purpose to make us laugh. She knows how to crawl, but still army crawls quite a bit. She LOVES to eat finger foods. She wants to hold anything and everything that you hold, and tries to throw a little tantrum when she doesn't get her way. The problem with this is that she's way too easily distracted and forgets about it once you place another toy in her hands. Silly baby :). Finally, she is growing some hair, which means bows!! She takes 2 naps a day, typically 1-2 hrs, goes to bed at 8 and gets up around 630 or 7. She naps best at her daycare and worst when scott and I are both home. I love her little personality more and more. Honestly, I think each stage of her growth is just a little more fun- I love how interactive she is now. She's not just a little blob of a baby! As I type, my monkey is trying to climb up my legs lol. To be frank, its been a little hellish to be on nights with a baby. I work from 5pm to 8am on Sunday and then monday thru thursday I work 6pm to 8am. I see Scott for a total of 30 min a day and I see Violet for about 2 hrs. Its tough stuff. My saving grace is having the weekends off. I love my night team and what I'm doing, but its not the best set up for family life. Luckily I'm almost done and then onto a much easier schedule.

Speaking of residency, its been such a fun ride. I LOVE what I do- it just doesn't get much better than delivering babies and taking care of women. I have a great bunch of co-residents and I'm learning a TON. Feels good to be at this point and even though the days are long and hard sometimes, I know these 4 years will fly by.

Scott is still working at Target and liking it more and more these days. They have been so flexible with him and his schedule, which is great since mine is not! He can always leave to pick Violet up from daycare on time. He takes such good care of Vi- I seriously couldnt ask for a better husband and partner thru my crazy schedule. I love him more all the time. Ok, enough cheesy wife moments :). What I'm really looking foward to (and him also) is when he can retire and be a stay at home daddy, but for now, we need his salary to help us get by!

We are getting family photos next weekend and I am soooo excited about it! Stay tuned for some cuteness...

 

Here's Vi at 8 months old. I know, I know, she is freaking adorable :)

Look at those chunky thighs!

Violet's first visit to the pumpkin patch!

My little lady practicing standing.

A fun family weekend in Vail

Overalls? Um yes please!!!

7 months old

Well Vi is 7 months old now (and one week really) and just as cute as ever. She is such a good little girl. She is trying her hardest to crawl. She has the army crawl down and can push up to all fours and move her legs great, but she just cant quite figure out how to move her hands. Soon enough I'm sure. She's so stable sitting by herself now and is getting better and better standing. She can stand next to her play table without me spotting her all the time! I just can't believe how quickly she is growing up. I know at some point I should just get over it and realize that time will fly! She is so smiley and very happy. Oh and she LOVES any kind of food you put in front of her. Anything that you eat, she wants to eat, and anything that you have (cell phones, remotes), she wants to have. And if you don't give it to her, you better hide it because she will either find a way to get it, or whine for it. She loves drinking water from a regular cup- she thinks she's some kind of big kid or something! I just love her to pieces and am so proud of all of her milestones.

 

Both Scott and I are busy with work (scott a little less so thank goodness). I've been on my clinic rotation for the last month, which has been lovely hours. And next week, I start 5 weeks of nights. Yuck. It will be hard and kick my butt, but I know I can do anything for just 5 weeks. So wish me luck because you probably won't be hearing from me for a while.
Oh and we are loving Denver! Its a beautiful city to live in. We are heading up to Vail on Oct 17th for Scott's dirty 30! Pictures to come :)