Ah, Christmas in Sunny Florida

As is Vredevoogd Family Tradition, Violet was introduced to a warm and sunny Christmas in Florida! We had a great time defrosting in the warm weather and showing Violet the ropes.

Here is all of us on the way to church on Christmas Eve. Thanks Uncle Brett for the picture! It's actually incredible that Violet isn't crying in this picture. She found her Uncle Brett with his full beard to be rather frightening and it took her a good 4 days to warm up to him. Then it was smooth sailing, but I think this was when she still thought he was terrifying!

And here is what happens when you take out Violet's "nubs" in her hair. Joel thought she looked like a stooge :)
Learning the finer points of present opening. She did love to tear up those packages. And eat the paper. REALLY loved to eat the paper!

Confession Time: I may be the worst Christmas Mother on the planet. We got her this cute toy, and I was opening it up for her while she sat on my lap. While I was trying to dislodge the thing from the package (why do they make them so hard??) , I accidentally hit Violet smack in the face when it came undone. The best part? We have it on video! And yes, she did cry. Poor thing! I am not sure I can get it to post on here but I'll sure try. Might as well share it with the world!

At happier times before her run-in with my hand:Later on Christmas Day we headed to my grandparents country club for quite possibly the Worlds Best Christmas Buffet. It was amazing as usual! We're pretty sure our table got the "Most Escargot Eaten" award. We all were radiating garlic the next day to prove it!


Earlier in the week, Jon's brother Trent and his girlfriend Heather drove from where THEY were spending Christmas in West Palm Beach. It was SO great to see them!Violet lounging poolside.
Hanging out on the beach. She only ate a few handfuls of sand :)

She LOVED the pool! Here she is floating around with her daddy.
So cute!

You don't actually think that's IT for pictures, do you? Of course not!! I had some camera issues so I ended up using my mom and sister's cameras for what I like to call the Great Sunset Photo Extravaganza. We had the entire VanElderen clan helping to get Violet to smile while the sun set over the Gulf. Stay tuned!

Hope you all had as great of a Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate!) as we did!

Merry Christmas!!

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we WISH you a Merry Christmas, we WISH you a Merry Christmas and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Violet's Christmas present to all her faithful blog-readers is a post chock full o' Christmas Cheer. Here are her "official" Christmas 2007 Pictures:


And we celebrated Christmas a little early with my mom since she'll be in Michigan and we'll all be in Sunny Florida for Christmas Day. Here is Violet and her cousins Anna and Claire all dressed up for the day.
Like mother, like daughter. Violet isn't too sure about this dress business.
Princess Claire teaches Violet how to properly rip open the wrapping paper. Yes, the paper was the most fun part, and apparently tasted great too!
The smallest kid got the biggest gift! Here is Violet atop her new Radio Flyer wagon.
Our own little Christmas Angel.
"I found this here lamby..." I love the look on her face and her little belly spilling over top of her diaper. She's finally chunking up!
"Why hello, self!"

Here she is showing off a pair of wool "longies" (in cloth-diaper speak). My friend Brook knitted them for me. Aren't they great? Violet was nice and cozy in them all day today.
We'll be gone all next week, so from our family to yours "Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!" Have a fabulous holiday!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

But first, it looks like pink pony pajamas :) I've been DYING to get these on her! First she was too small and then we couldn't fit them over her cast. They fit perfect now!


This weekend we officially got into the holiday spirit. First we went down to the Farmer's Market to get our tree.
Then Violet said she'd help put the lights up.

But she had to test them out first to make sure they tasted right. She also tried on her Santa Hat (notice the little left ear stuck out. Aw!)
But that only lasted a minute or two.
And (drum roll please) she also wanted to show off her re-found skill. She can officially sit up unassisted again! Only 5 days post-cast! Go Violet!
We are so incredibly happy to be cast-free. It's amazing how much you just get into the swing of things with the cast, and when it's off you think "We did THAT?" Everything is so much easier... I actually went shopping with Violet the other day and *gasp* could get whatever I wanted, not just what would fit into the stroller basket! Plus she is so much more fun to snuggle with, bathe, dress (the PANTS! I love the PANTS!), feed, nurse, etc. She is very much enjoying her cast-free life and is really scooting around, although she still hasn't figured out how to crawl. We're loving it!

Goodbye Cast, Hello Squishy Baby!!

It's official! We're CAST FREE!!!

After 12 long weeks, we're proud to announce that Violet is free of all contraptions tonight - no cast, no brace - nothin' but her regular-kid PJ's (shirt AND PANTS!!!) and a diaper. We can hardly believe it ourselves!

We went in to our doctor's office at noon today. I admit I was having a hard time - were they going to take it off? Or did we have 2 more weeks to go? The nurse didn't help my fears when she told us that cast removal was not on the paperwork. Luckily they decided to send her to x-ray, and it came out great! Jon went in with her, and the nurse told me before he got back that it was coming off. I was literally dancing around the room! :)

She did really good with the removal - luckily she likes the sound of a vacuume (we had been practicing!) - she only cried when we had to turn her on her sides to get the back pieces off. The cast came off in about 20 little pieces, so we didn't end up with it as a souvenier (it was rather stinky anyway!). When it was off and I got to pick her up - it was the best feeling ever!! And really weird! She lost 2.5 lbs of fiberglass, but she had GROWN so much since the last time we saw her without a cast on that it was hard to get used to. She doesn't look like a little baby anymore - she's a toddler!

We washed her up and the doctor came in to take a look. Her hips looked great (he commented that she'll be great at yoga later on!) and the biggest surprise - no brace! We were originally told she may have a brace for a few months, which was fine with us. But hearing that we got a totally apparatus-free baby out of the deal was just too much! Yay!!

As per usual, Miss Violet has taken everything in stride. She started kicking her legs by the time we got home and hasn't stopped since :)

Here is a video of her about an hour after we got home:


(p.s. it does sound like she answers "yes" at the end of this video. She does this pretty often but I'm still not 100% sure she knows what she is saying. If her first word ends up being "Yes" and not "Obi No!" like I had predicted, that would be pretty funny!)

I put her on her tummy right after this video. She was so funny! She is so used to having to push SO HARD to get going that she kept flipping herself over onto her back! It was pretty graceful and she didn't mind a bit. I think she's figured it out now - she hasn't done it since! She is still army-crawling around but she is starting to get up on her knees already. It won't be long until we're in BIG trouble! Mobile kid!

Here are some pictures of her this afternoon:

Oh yes. Pants. A novel idea.

What I call the "spica splits" - you would not BELIEVE the angles she can get her legs in!
Showing off her post-cast legs. Very white. Very flaky. And still in spica pose. We wouldn't trade them for the world!
And she had a BATH tonight! Geesh - a lot of gunk can accumulate on a baby when you don't bathe them for 3 months. I think we got about a pound of dirt, dry skin, and who-knows-what off of her!
So we're thrilled beyond belief. It's still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that she's OUT of the cast and DONE with it. I'm so incredibly proud of her for being such a trooper throughout this whole thing. I have no idea how people do this with kids who aren't as easygoing and laid back as Violet. She's my hero!

And just for good measure, here is the last spica cast picture you'll ever see me post! :) From yesterday:

Good-bye spica cast. We will not miss you at all. Thanks for our squishy kid back, Dr. Hotchkiss!

If you found this blog searching for info on Spica Casts,
please visit this wonderful and incredibly helpful forum:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hipbaby/
Also, please take a look at my Spica Cast Survival Guide, which you can download here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hipbaby/files/
It's the first thing on the list.
Sending lots of good hip healing vibes your way!!