We made it about half a year...

... without maiming our child. But this week the spell was broken. Violet was innocently sitting on my lap chewing on a highlighter while I typed at the computer, which she's done many times before, but she dropped the highlighter and pitched forward whacking her poor little forehead on the edge of my desk. She had a pretty good sized lump and red mark for a day or so.

She still found it in her heart to help mom with the laundry (yes I DID - carefully- carry her downstairs in the basket!)
This weekend we went out to Grand Haven to look at a house Jon had been working on all winter. Despite the crappy weather we braved the drizzle and walked out to the lighthouse. Fun Fact: My dad was in the Coast Guard and was on the last crew who lived at this lighthouse. He had some really interesting stories!

She liked the wind and rain in her face!

A photo session at Wilcox Park...
Holy Cheeks!!


Silly Goose! Please note the Vredevoogd Nose Flare. So glad she inherited it!!
A few more pictures from the Pig Roast from Uncle Trent's camera. Thanks Trent!!

Pig Roast '07

Letty was initiated into the Josten family this weekend with her first Pig Roast - an annual event out at Jon's dad's place. She happily participated in the usual Pig Roast activities:

Sipping on a cold brew on a hot day (let's hope she liked this so much because she's teething!)


Making new friends... Here she is with her buddy Chelsey. They are 6 days apart. And hanging out with family. Here she is getting smooches from Daddy at sunset.
Trent and Mike are in town for the Pig Roast. Here they are "post roast" on Sunday afternoon. They survived another year (barely!!).

Letty is starting to really love the dogs. She likes to pet Porter and gets really excited every time they come by or start playing in front of her. We took some pics today to show just how big her canine brothers are, and how much they love her :)

Here Obi appears to be licking his chops... which he is, because after this he made sure to give Letty a big Obi Smooch, which she loves!
Letty and Porter. He is much more calm around her than Obi, but he keeps his distance.
And a big old smooch from the old Oberon. Because of past experience, she makes this face anytime either dog walks by in anticipation of a large dog lick up the side of her face :)

"You people have GOT to be kidding me!!"

"THIS is the stuff you've been eating the whole time that I've wanted so badly? YUCK!"
Letty's adventures in solid food started last night with some rice cereal. She was less than thrilled, as you can see!



I tried a little again this morning. Ah, she looks so hopeful. We dashed those hopes when she tried it and hated it again. Poor thing! In a few days we can add some fruit to the mix and I think she'll like it much better. Until then...

A Visit to Great-Oma's in New Jersey

We all took a short trip to New Jersey this weekend to visit Jon's grandma (Oma in Dutch). Oma has been anxiously awaiting a time when she could meet her great-grandaughter! She and Violet really hit it off and we had a great (but hot!) weekend visiting.
Four generations - Jon, his mom, Oma and Violet.

This is as close as we got to New York City - from the airport. You can see how excited Violet was! The arrow points to the Empire State Building. I realize it looks like a grain of sand in the picture ;) Oh well!
Cute pic of Violet perfecting her "sit". Next comes "stay" and "shake"
Guess who has TEETH?? Violet has been working on these for a while, and they finally popped up in the last week. Cute, huh? The look on her face now when she chews on her own hands and gets bit is pretty funny.

And we had to go to just ONE more fair! This was taken in the Goat Barn in Lowell. My old stompin' grounds! We got to hang out with our friends Brian, Kara and their adorable son Eli for the evening. Check out the link to Eli's blog!
Also, I did want to let you all know (in case you haven't already heard!) that Violet is headed for surgery next month. At her 6 month well-baby checkup, we discovered that her right hip was "out". After a few x-rays and an appointment with a pediatric orthopedist, we found out that her right hip is completely dislocated (and probably has been for a while). She will be having surgery on September 10 where they will put it in the right place. The fun part is that she gets to be in a tummy-to-ankle cast for 3 months. Yikes! Luckily the more I find out about it, the less worried I am, but it does pose some rather interesting challenges for day-to-day things like diapering, entertaining, and getting out of the house.

Luckily she is not in any pain and has been her happy self this while time. She'll probably do just great with the surgery and cast, it's her parents that are having a hard time getting used to the idea! I'll be posting updates on the blog as we have them.