Hit the ground running

It is very fitting that Holly's sport of choice in high school was cross country because her life has paralleled that sport in many way.  Let me explain.  One reason why Holly like cross country is that course is more than just going in a circle around a track and that each course she ran on was different.  A cross country runner has to be ready to deal with inclines, declines, smooth ground, rocky ground, sink holes, trees and many people trying to fit on a path whose waist line grows or shrinks at the drop of the hat.  Needless to say, it's unpredictable and challenging to participate in and master.  As we close out Holly's first month as a resident I feel that Holly has finished her first cross country course (med school) and is now beginning her second course (residency).  Of course she started off with one of the most difficult rotations, in patient pediatrics, and it has been a trying a long month for the both of us.  Holly has been working 12-16 hour days and has had a few days of call (30 hours straight).  She usually leaves the house around 5:30 AM and gets home around 7 PM.  As you can imagine she is pretty exhausted when she gets home and treasures the few hours that she has with Karis and I.  Luckily we can see the light at the end of the tunnel with this rotation.  She actually has a day off this week (not too many of those so far) and we will be leaving spend the weekend with her family since she will be free on Saturday and Sunday.  Let's hope that our time with family, especially the few hours on the lake that we will have, will be refreshing and relaxing for the both of us.

As for Karis, she is developing well.  She loves to get on all fours and look around.  It won't be long until she starts to crawl.  She is talking more than ever and uses the full scope of her range while doing so.  She has also begun to notice her hands and will stare at them while open and closing her fingers.  Lastly, we are starting the process of introducing solid foods.  The first week that I started rice cereal with her, she would look at me like I was playing a prank on her.  Her facial expression was priceless.  She also would choke on the cereal and get really mad at the whole situation.  So we gave her a week off and I am proud to announce that she ate about 8 spoonfuls of cereal for me tonight.  She is growing up like crazy.  I'll try to post some pics from the lake next week.

6 months

It's kind of hard to believe but Karis turned 6 months old last week.  Holly and I can't believe how much time has flown by and how much Karis has changed.  I had the pleasure of taking Karis to her 6 month check up at her new pediatrician last Monday.  I am happy to report that she weighed in at 13 lbs and 1 oz.  She has come a long way from the 3 lbs 14 oz that she was at birth!

On top of her weight gain, Karis is becoming much more interactive.  She loves to smile, especially when she recognizes you.  She flashes this big grin and usually brings her two hands together and buries her face in them.  It is really cute.  She is also talking quite a bit.  She has discovered the full scope of her range and exercises it frequently.  Her upper range sounds just like a dolphin call.  She has begun to reach and grasp onto things which of course go straight to the mouth.  Karis has also becoming proficient at flipping over.  She can easily flip from front to back and has on occasion gone from back to front, mostly when she is after something.  Lastly, because I can't think of anything else though I am probably forgetting something, Karis has become a big giggler.  She has certain tickle spots that trigger a string of belly laughs/giggles.  Of course mommy and daddy love to torture Karis by kissing there quite frequently.

Tonight we are starting to add rice cereal to her diet which is the first step towards solid foods.  We anticipate that she will start teething pretty soon and we have noticed that she is getting stronger when we try to help her sit upright.  Before too long she will be crawling and ruling our household.

Below are a few updated pictures from her actual 6 month birthday and the photo shoot that we did a week before.

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The month of June

So we have been a bit tardy in doing a blog post.  We do offer our most sincere apologies to the few loyal readers that we have.  In our attempt to make up for it we'll do 2 posts to cover the month of June and so far in July.  Hopefully I won't forget anything!  If I do I'm sure Holly will offer the corrections.

The end of May was mostly a big emotional roller coaster.  We celebrated the end of medical school and the long awaited graduation for Holly.  It signified the end of a fun but very stressful four year period in our lives together.  Holly's family came in for the weekend to be a part of the many festivities.

The other part of our roller coaster of emotions was wrapped up in having to say goodbye to the many friends that we had made during our time in the Philly area.  Over the course of a weekend we had a graduation formal for Holly's school, a graduation party for Holly with some of our closet friends and my last evening with the best youth group in the world.  We shared many laughs, shed a few tears and got to pray one last time with dear friends.  We will (and are) miss many of the people that we shared life with the past four years.

The next week we officially moved into our new place in Chattanooga.  I must say, we have really taken a huge leap up from our drab apartment in King of Prussia.  Holly and I have said many times to each other that we almost feel like we're in a dream and that at some point we are going to wake up and find ourselves back in Kingswood.  We spent the next few weeks unpacking boxes and trying to get settled into our new place.  Though we are still not finished it is coming slowly but surely.  God has surely blessed us with a great place to live and we are enjoying it very much.

The month of June also contained a few trips to Murfreesboro for various events with Holly's family.  Our nephew Andrew turned 2 and so we attended his construction themed party.  The following weekend Holly's cousin Ashley had a birthday party for her son that turned 1.  This party was a pool theme as well as Mickey Mouse.  The next weekend was father's day which we celebrated with Holly's parents and her sister and brother in law.  The last weekend we had another graduation party with Holly's extended family and some of our friends that are in the middle TN area.  All in all we had a great time relaxing and trying not to think about the big change that would occur when Holly officially started residency in July.  Below are a few pics from our various parties.

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I will do a follow up post on Karis, who is now 6 months old, next so stay tuned.