POLK, PARTY OF FOUR!

We are SUPER excited to announce that Violet is going to be a big sister!

How far along: 14 weeks
Due: Thanksgiving 2015

Gender: Don't know, won't know.   

Weight gain: about 5 lbs

Maternity clothes: Yes, I started breaking out those bad boys around 6 weeks.  

Belly button in or out: In

Sleep: Pretty good

Movement: I've felt some flutters these past couple of weeks.

Cravings: Whole milk (!!!!!....like I drink a half a gallon a day.), sardines on saltine crackers, and spring salad with sun dried tomatoes, feta, croutons, and Greek vinaigrette.  I'm hoping all the super foods I've been eating this week will cancel out all the Oreos I inhaled ate a few weeks ago.
Food aversion: I am not feeling cilantro.  Stay away.

Feeling: I feel pretty tired by the end of the day.  Besides the occasional headache (thanks hormones), I've been free of all the other icky pregnant side effects these past few weeks.
Fun fact: Baby Polk is the size of a lemon.  Baby is now squinting, peeing, and maybe even sucking his/her thumb!

Violet Update: We told Violet I was pregnant several weeks ago.  Obviously she doesn't grasp how much this is going to rock her world yet, but she sometimes pokes my belly and said, "baby."  We've been trying to figure out a better sleep schedule for her because it's obvious she still needs a nap, but if it's too long, she takes forever to go to bed.  Hopefully we'll have all this hashed out very soon because me.need.sleep.

18 MONTHS OLD!

It's been a while.  Things have been pretty hectic around here, so I missed Violet's seventeen month update...and she's actually eighteen and a half months old, but better late than never, right?  (Right.)

I don't even know where to start.  Violet is like a nonstop monkey.  She can climb onto the table in like 5 seconds.  Today I walked in her room and found she'd climbed into her crib.  She's like the Chuck Norris of toddlers.

Our little ball of energy is also talking.  She's learning new words at warp speed.  About a week ago she learned how to say Neil's name and after that it was nothing but "Neil" all day, every day.   The first thing in the morning, I wake up to her saying, "Neeeiiilll."  We go for a walk, she calls his name. We walk in the door, "Hiiiiii, Neil!!!!!"  In her highchair, in the bathtub---she probably says his name about 78,000 times a day.  I tried to teach her the word "oatmeal" and now she calls "Neil"  "Meil" and giggles.  I'm not sure if she knows she's saying it wrong, or if Neil just makes her laugh.  She is also an expert at identifying apples and gucks [ducks].  And these past couple days, she occasionally yells out, "Bobby!"  We don't know any Bobbies.

She hops up and down all around the house.  The girl prances everywhere.  It's like she's totally excited to be alive all day long, except nap time, and that's when all is right in the world---my world at least.  I'm literally so tired I can't even think of what else to say about her even though I know there are a million more things.