"Duts, Appies, Out!"

These are the precious favorite utterings of my baby who I have been privileged to spend every waking hour with for the last week. I (Holly) had one of my much needed weeks of vacation from the hospital this past week, and can't seem to get enough family time. Within the first minute that Karis wakes up in the mornings, she usually begins requesting her favorite things in her sleepy voice: "Duts" (ducks), "Appies" (bubbles), and Out (outside)!

We were able to go to my family's Mecca, aka Murfreesboro (they pretty much all live here), for a few days of detox from the residency. We were able to take Karis to the Nashville Zoo, along with BB, Aunt Lori, and her cousins Andrew and Kaylea. This was Karis' first zoo trip. She paid the most attention to the roosters and, in general, looked on at the other animals as though we have always had them in our back yard, even the giraffes. It will be fun to see how her response changes in the years to come. Karis was also able to get some much needed playtime with her cousins, my parents, Aunt Lo and Uncle Kev.

We have been home for the past few days and have been laying low. My house is still not as clean as I'd like, but we've had some time outside, good home-cooked meals, and even some movie time...well, it was just a borrowed Ratatouille DVD (thanks Andrew) that Jared and I watched while Karis toddled around, and we are not afraid to admit that we really enjoyed it :)

It has been refreshing to love on my baby girl all day long, hear her repeat new words after me, see her walk back and forth to the things she is not supposed to get into, and to see her grin and say "hi" every time we make eye contact. I honestly dread going back to work because of how rewarding and rich my home life is, but unfortunately the med school bills won't pay for themselves and I will be returning to work on Memorial Day. Until then, I am going to savor these extra hours I have with Karis, who is currently talking on the phone into a (clean) diaper while she is wearing a "hat," which most people actually call a washcloth.

Chattanooga Lookouts game

Strolling at the Zoo

Cousins Andrew and Karis

Checking out the Zebras at the zoo

Hitching at ride on DaDa

Our talented daughter with Sydney the dog

Cousin Kaylea

Trying to stay cool in the pool

Hanging out in Cousin Andrew's playhouse

We're walkin'

Karis has finally decided to start walking!  We believe that she had the necessary skills to do so much earlier than now, but was a little too stubborn about the whole issue.  This video is from her 3rd day walking and we can't believe how fast she's progressed, although this may be somewhat normal.  Hope you enjoy!

Welcome to the World!

Karis chilling in Daddy's lap waiting to meet her new cousin

Through the nursery window

Gome holds her 5th "GG baby

Papa Ted and Andrew discuss the upcoming changes at home

Proud Papa

Big brother Andrew finally sees his baby sister for the first time

She's here!

Awaiting arrival of our baby in the nursery
Andrew's post baby snack

Karis playing peek-a-boo in the car

On March 15, our precious niece, Kaylea ("Kay Lee") Anne Carver came into the world. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz., was 20 inches long, and looked very similar to her big brother Andrew when he was born, only a little more petite. Like her brother as a newborn, she has black hair with blonde highlights. Andrew's hair eventually turned blonde, so it appears that hers will too. I had been on call all weekend at the hospital, so I was able to leave that morning and drive to Murfreesboro with Jared and Karis just in time for the delivery. Andrew was excited to see that the baby grew enough in Mommy's belly that it was finally time for her to come out. As soon as he finally laid eyes on her through the window of the nursery and determined that that was definitely the baby he was going to get to take home, he decided it was "time for a snack!" Lori and Kaylea are doing very well, as is proud the proud father, Kevin. Here are some of Kaylea's first photos, although some of the best ones I took for Lori and Kevin on their camera, which unfortunately for me, is in Murfreesboro. I will post better pics as soon as I can get them from Lori. Welcome to our family, sweet baby girl!

Karis' 1st Bday Party

So Jared posted a few pics from Karis' Bday party in January, but we thought her 1st bday deserved its own post. Karis' Bday is 1/7/9, so we celebrated the first week of January with the family members who were able to make the trip. We decided on a farm animal theme since one of Karis' favorite things was a big pop out book she has on farm animals. In fact, one of her very first words was "rooster," which she said several times around 9 months old, along with her attempt at "cock-a-doodle-do," and to the dismay of her parents, has not repeated it since.

My mom, known as "BB" to the grandbabies, made Karis' first birthday cake, a barnyard cake complete with silo and farm animal cupcakes. She also made Karis' own little pig cake to eat/destroy. In light of the cold January weather, we served homemade chili with chili dogs. We also made little party favors for Karis' mini guests, her cousins Andrew, Eli and Ethan. Their party favors were in little silver farm pales, lined with a bandana. Inside the pale were animal stickers, an animal coloring book, crayons, animal crackers, animal stensils and party blowers.

Karis decided she was sleepy just before cake and presents, but we were able to somehow distract her enough with the festivities to stay awake. As a result, she was a bit more stoic than her usual personality, especially considering all of the people who were in her house watching her eat cake, open gifts, and play. Of course, she became wired just as all the guests started leaving and as she realized those gifts weren't leaving with them!

Here are some photos of our fun night with our baby girl, already one year old!!
(For some reason some of the captions did not turn out right- sorry, Jared's computer and I do not get along!)

Karis Olivia Blankenship, born January 7, 2009
[caption id="attachment_325" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Karis\' personal (pig) cake"][/caption][caption id="attachment_326" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="K\'s first candle and cake!"][/caption][caption id="attachment_327" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Andrew convincing Karis to dig in!"][/caption][caption id="attachment_328" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Guess it worked!"][/caption][caption id="attachment_329" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="What a fun mess!"][/caption][caption id="attachment_330" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cleaning up the aftermath"][/caption][caption id="attachment_331" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Time to spoil!"][/caption][caption id="attachment_333" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Ethan digs in head first!"][/caption][caption id="attachment_335" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Is that a pig cupcake?!"][/caption][caption id="attachment_336" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Eby Family"][/caption][caption id="attachment_337" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Karis with 2 sets of great grandparents!"][/caption][caption id="attachment_338" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Karis with \"BB and Bop\""][/caption][caption id="attachment_339" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Karis and Papa Ted"][/caption][caption id="attachment_340" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Karis and Aunt Marina"][/caption][caption id="attachment_341" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Party Pooped"][/caption][caption id="attachment_342" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Bday kiss"][/caption][caption id="attachment_343" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Loves her bday barn!"][/caption][caption id="attachment_345" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Our little peanut one year ago..."][/caption][caption id="attachment_346" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="My how she\'s grown in one year! (That\'s her sock in her mouth instead of on her feet, which she prefers.)"][/caption]

Rounding out '09

Here are a few activities that rounded out the year for the Blankenship family.

Family grill-off:  Holly's family started a new tradition last year by competing in a grill-off.  We were not able to participate last year since we were living outside of Philly.  But this year, we were there........and came in dead last.  The theme this year was burgers and I submitted a turkey burger, since that's the only burger that Holly and I can agree on.  (She doesn't eat red meat.)  I was very happy with our entry, especially since I love those burgers.  They have chunky applesauce mixed in with the meat and a maple-Dijon sauce on top.  I believe there are two reason why we fared so poorly.  The first is that some of the judges don't care for turkey burgers and the second is that I totally underestimated the flair that each contestant used to present their entries.  I mean we're talking Food Network Challenge material.  I will be better prepared for next year, although I have never cooked ribs before.  Here are a few pictures.

[caption id="attachment_307" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The Harvest Turkey BlankenBurger"][/caption]



Trip to Charleston:  The day after the grill-off we traveled down to see my parents outside of Charleston, SC.  This was the first time we had been there since mom and dad moved to Summerville a year and a half earlier.  The trip takes around 7-8 hours and we were nervous with how Karis would handle all of the time in her carseat.  She is usually pretty good on our trips to the 'boro, but this was the first time doing a longer trip.  Well, Karis did great until the last 90 min.  She slept a lot and Holly entertained her quite a bit, but she had her fill of the road and let us know.  Our arrival time was delayed several times as we had to stop and try to settle her down.  Once there, we had a great time with my parents.  I had never been to Charleston and enjoyed our venture into the city and through the marketplace.  Unfortunately we were only able to stay from Sunday afternoon through Wednesday morning because Holly had to get back to work.  But if God keeps Mom and Dad in the area we will look forward to exploring more of the low country.

[caption id="attachment_311" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Karis with Grammy and Daddy B"][/caption]



Halloween:  This was obviously Karis' first Halloween and we couldn't resist the opportunity for a photo opportunity with all of the GG babies.  (GG stands for great-grandbabies.)  Karis was dressed up as a lady bug and was a cutie.  After spending a few hours with the family we headed home in time to find out that our neighborhood is a zoo on Halloween night.  Thankfully since we live in a townhome a few streets into the subdivision, no one came to our door after we got home.  I say thankfully because we didn't have any candy to give out.  Next year things will be different as we will take Karis around to get daddy some candy, I mean trick or treat.

[caption id="attachment_309" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Our little butterfly flying through the air"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_310" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="The GG babies"][/caption]

Thanksgiving was kind of weird for us this year as Holly had to work and we both missed our family gatherings.  I was lucky to be invited to a gathering of the family of one of my good friends from college, even though they weren't there.  So my sister, whose husband was also working, Karis and I crashed the Thompson family Thanksgiving.  We were able to get up to the 'boro on the weekend for a celebration with Holly's family.

Christmas was also a busy time as we tried to navigate family gatherings around Holly's schedule.  We were able to be with Holly's family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but had to leave on that evening for Holly to work the next day.  We then headed up to Gatlinburg to be with my parents for a few days.  Both times were great, but just not long enough.  We are finding it hard to work around the near impossible schedule that Holly has to keep right now, but understand that it will get better; eventually.

[caption id="attachment_313" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Holly and Karis on the 23rd when we celebrated our family Christmas"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_314" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Karis with Bop on Christmas Eve"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_315" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Karis and BB on Christmas Eve"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_316" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Karis pulling up on Cousin Ethan on Christmas Day"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_317" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Karis on her new toy, a present from Grammy and Daddy B"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_318" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Karis with Grammy in Gatlinburg"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_319" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Karis giving Daddy B the stiff arm in Gatlinburg"][/caption]