And the number of the day is...2!

Greetings to those of you who actually remembered that we have a blog! Since there is a lot of catching up to do, the next few blogs may be a bit out of order, but I thought that Karis'2nd birthday deserved the first post.

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated our baby's-- I mean toddler's 2nd birthday. Let me just say, she must have read the manual on how to be a 2 year old. She has been exerting her independence in as many different ways as possible. By this, I mean she is making her opinion known. Her language and use of sentences has also picked up tremendously. For instance, when riding back from church last Sunday, she was apparently hungry and this is what I heard from the back seat- "Um, I want grapes. I want yogurt. Want hot dog. Um, I want churky (turkey) and ticken (chicken) and appa soss (applesauce)."

Ok, so back to the second birthday party. We had a family birthday party which consisted of 13 adults and 4 of Karis' cousins (all 3 years old and under). Her party theme this year was "ABC 123" with some Seasame Street splashed in. Karis has been singing the alphabet daily for about 6 months now. She can still name most of her letters when we write them for her, which we still aren't sure how she learned other than daily play. She is also a huge Seasame Street fan, which is probably because each episode includes so many letters and numbers. She refers to Seasame Street as "Elmo-Cookie" and says several times a day, "Ina see Elmo-Cookie. Ina watch Elmo's Wah (World)."

Since most people traveled in for the party, we started with a smoked BBQ dinner and later broke out the cake and ice cream after gifts. My mom took my ideas and some of her own for Karis' cake again this year and had a bakery in Murfreesboro turn those ideas into a travel-friendly version. The cake flavor was red velvet since that happens to be one of the specialties of that particular bakery, and it was in the shape of the old fashioned ABC wooden blocks stacked into a (travel-friendly) tower. If you look closely, you will see her name within the blocks. For party favors for the little one, I decorated school boxes with each of their names and stuffed them with crayons, ABC stickers, a magnifying glass (without actual glass of course), travel games, and an ABC notepad.

We are of course blown away that our little one is a full-blown 2 year old, but are so thankful for the meaning and laughter that she brings into our lives. Here are several photos from her party.

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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A few firsts for Karis

So this weekend Holly and I took Karis on a mini road trip to Babies R Us.  I wish I could tell you that Karis loved seeing all of the baby things there, but she slept the whole time.  She really loves being in the car seat, especially when it is moving.  Another first is that we took Karis to church on Sunday.  She met a ton of new people and once again slept through the whole thing.  I did feed her during a part of the message but then she went back to sleep.  Lastly, Karis slept 6 straight hours last night.  We only hope that this wasn't a single occurrence!

the life of Karis

Once again, sorry we haven't posted in some time.  As you can imagine things are pretty busy/crazy around here.  Karis is doing really well.  She has already outgrown most of her preemie outfits, which is a good thing.  Right now she is about twice her birth weight and going strong.  She has started to stay up longer in some stretches, but still likes to sleep a ton which is totally normal.

One really cool development that we've been noticing is that Karis is starting to look in the general direction of sounds and trying to focus on where they come from.  A couple of days ago when I got home from work, I bent down to talk to Karis while she was in the swing.  When I started talking she turned toward me and flashed this huge smile and it melted my heart.

Here is a link to some updated pics of Karis.

the life of Karis

Ok, so we haven't posted much lately.  Sorry for that.  I've been waiting for Holly to post something about the whole birth event, but she hasn't had any time.  If you are interested I talked about it here on my personal blog.  This is by no means the whole account and some of the timetable might be out of order.  (Give me a break, I typed it a few days after the whole ordeal was over.)

Anyways, I wanted to start this little update on Karis that we'll try to post from time to time.  We will try to let you in on her little milestones and such.  But I first want to play a little game called, "What is Karis really thinking?"  Even at 5 weeks old, Karis has quite a bit of personality through various looks that she gives us.  I will describe a few events and the look on Karis' face and what I think she is really thinking.  Hopefully you'll get a kick out of it.

Scenario #1:  Holly and I were putting a preemie gown on Karis that my parents bought for her.  The only problem is that her head is a bit big for said outfit and Holly and I had different philosophies on how to put the outfit on.  In the process of Holly and I trying to figure out the best way, the outfit rested over Karis' shoulders and she let out a cry.  When we finally got her head through, she shot this hilarious look at me that I interpreted as, "Would you two figure out what the heck you are trying to do and just put this on me already!!!!"

Scenario #2:  One of my favorite things to do to Karis is to kiss all over her face and neck while I'm on the way to change her and start her feeding.  Of course this is usually about the time that Karis is uncomfortable from and dirty diaper and an empty stomach.  While in the process of this, Karis usually looks right at me with a look that I interpret as, "Stop it, Stop it, STOP IT!!!!!!!! And get on with the bottle already."

That's it for now, I'll try to post some more stories later.

If you are looking for pics of Karis they are on facebook.  Here is a link to a few of the albums.

Karis is home

Coming home

Karis 3 weeks

Karis