How can I not laugh?

Tonight I put Violet in bed and as usual I heard her talking herself to sleep for awhile. After about 30 minutes she started yelling so I went in to see what was wrong. When I looked in her crib, she looked up, smiled, then stuck her tongue out at me and started blowing bubbles and spitting. I know I shouldn't encourage her to stay up past her bedtime but I couldn't help but laugh when she pulled that one on me. The worst part was that when she heard me laugh, she started laughing too. Now I have a very awake baby who knows how to get my attention and get away with it. Great.

You do what you can with what you have...

I don't have a fancy playmat for Violet but lately she has seemed a little bored. I figured she needed some entertaining so I attatched one of her toys to a chair and this is what it looks like. Cheap, I know, but she loves it.

Taken for granted

I have realized that there are some freedoms that I enjoyed in college that I have taken for granted. One of them is not having to rely on school nurses to send me home when I feel sick. In high school I started bypassing the nurse and driving myself home after one day the nurse refused to send me home because I didn't have a fever. I still don't know what having a fever has to do with having cramps, but she wouldn't do it. So, I threw up right there in front of her. It convinced her to send me home and hopefully it taught her a lesson, too.

But my animosity toward school nurses started long before high school. I think it started in elementary school when any time I would go to the nurse and tell her my stomach hurt, she would tell me to come back after lunch. That always infuriated me. I would always think, "I'm not an idiot. I know what 'hungry' feels like. It doesn't feel like 'nautious.' It doesn't feel like 'I just pooped my pants,' either. In fact, eating doesn't solve any of those problems."

I was so happy when in college, I didn't have to prove my pain to anyone. That is one of those small things I am thankful for. And now that I think about it, I am also thankful that I never pooped my pants in college.

Lunch meat=gross

I have decided that I hate packaged lunch meats and I am seriously considering buying a deli meat slicer. You can buy big hunks of turkey breast and ham for less than $2 per pound, but if you get them sliced at the grocery store deli they are more like $6 per pound. And I don't even want to think about eating another slimy, rubbery slice of Land o' Frost turkey breast. I found a slicer at Home Depot for about $80, and since I am working this Saturday, I think I can splurge a little. And if I do get this, I will happily slice meat for anyone who lives around me.

Am I crazy or does this actually sound like a good idea?

24 inch club

Friday we went out to eat with some friends at a sandwich place. Brandon took the 24" challenge and finished a 24" sandwich in 30 minutes. The sandwich was as long as Violet. He got this free shirt for doing that. No one wants to see a picture of a shirt, so I had Violet hold it. She loves being naked.
Valentine's day was great. I thought Violet might ruin it by staying up late but she went to bed without a fight and we had all night to spend together. We had a delicious dinner of glazed orange roughy and coconut shrimp. Yum.

Yesterday I finally convinced Brandon to buy himself a bike, but the one he picked out had been sold. So instead we went to Target and bought Violet some toys and cute shorts for the summer. It was lots of fun. I can't believe she is already 4 months old.

Laughs

This post was supposed to be a video of Violet laughing, but I again put the wrong clip on blogger. This was afterwards when she got a little overstimulated and started crying.

Learning

My favorite thing these days is to see Violet learn about the world. Last night she finally figured out how to use her rattle. She kept staring at it and banging it against herself and trying to stick it in her mouth. She also learned how to do a hand-to-hand transfer. So she just sat there and passed it back and forth and entertained herself for about 20 minutes. Too bad she hasn't figured out that to pass it to the other hand, she needs to let go of it. She just grabs it with the other hand and literally yanks it out of her own hand. She loves that thing, and whenever she dropped it, she would cry until we put it back in her hand. She also laughs when she sees herself in the mirror. She thinks she's REALLY funny.

I would post pics, but I don't have the camera here at work.