Named after her great-great grandfather (Vivian Jones) and her great grandmother (Grace Jones), Vivian Grace Tolbert is the newest addition to our family. Miss Vivi, as we affectionately call her, was born on March 8, 2006 at 4:22 p.m., weighing in at 7 1/2 pounds and measuring 19 1/2 inches long. Although I really wanted things to progress on their own, I ended up being induced a day before my due date, simply because I couldn’t endure another day of being pregnant. I also wanted to ensure that Dr. MacDonald delivered our baby and not just one of his on-call associates.

I’m fairly certain that Dr. Mac was grateful to no longer have me as a patient. Very early on, I got him to agree to not weigh me at my visits. And at the end of my pregnancy, whenever he’d check to see if I had dilated any, he flinched when he’d have to answer, “Nope. Still a 2.” He is a wonderful doctor, and I hope that he’ll accept me as a patient if we ever have another baby.

When I married him, I knew that Bryan would be a wonderful husband and father, but during the first four months of Miss Vivi’s colicky life, I developed an even greater respect for him. Even her incessant SCREAMING (and my postpartum WEIRDNESS) didn’t seem to get to him. I wish that I could say the same for me.

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I was always afraid that I wouldn’t ever be able to love another child as much as I love Ariana, or that another child would somehow diminish my love for my firstborn, or that Ariana would feel like she wasn’t loved as much as Vivian . . . but like most things I worry about, my fears were unfounded. It warms my heart to see watch Ariana interact with Vivian. She is so attentive to her baby sister’s every need, and Vivian saves her biggest smiles and her cutest giggles for “sissy.”

Shortly after Vivian was born, each child in Ariana’s kindergarten class wrote something that they felt fortunate for on a shamrock. Ariana wrote, “I am lucky because I have a sister.”  Her shamrock is a special keepsake.

Although Bryan persists in calling Vivian, “passable,” the rest of the family thinks that she’s a doll.

Vivi loves to suck her big toe . . . sometimes both of them at the same time. She also loves her baths, the ExerSaucer, Baby Einstein videos, and the cat (although Bryan is trying to brainwash her into believing that all cats are evil!).

She started crawling at 5 months old, and can even go from crawling to the sitting position, all by herself! She’d be pretty near perfect if we could get her to sleep for more than 2-3 hours at a time at night. I have a feeling that she’s going to keep me very busy over the next few years . . . . and I’ll share her adventures right here on my blog.

As I awoke on Monday, August 14, 2006, my first official day of being a full-time stay-at-home mom, the possibilities of what I could accomplish that day seemed endless.? First up on the carefully refined schedule was to get Miss Vivi down for a nap.  Check!  Next, work on getting my blog up and running.  Check!  The morning was proceeding exactly as planned.

Wait a minute!  What’s that I hear???? She can’t be up already . . . It’s only been 15 minutes!  Better go check on her.  Yikes!  Phone rings–it’s Mom, but I can’t answer it right now.  Her message says, “You must be off having fun. . . .”

Stop working on blog . . . start the bath water . . . strip the bedding . . . tear up carefully refined schedule.

One day after her 6th birthday, Ariana started 1st grade.? Her?first day of school was also my 1st official day as a full-time stay-at-home mom (SAHM), so I was able to surprise Ariana by dropping off birthday cupcakes for her class.? It is so fun to?pick her up after school and have her chatter on and on.? Although I miss the wonderful friends and the intellectual challenge of my job, I’m so grateful that I am the first one to receive the full?run down about Ariana’s day.