The Blankenship Family

Friday, March 19, 2010

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!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

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!"]

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[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!"]

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[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.)"]

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

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"]

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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"]

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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"]

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

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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"]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Monday, October 5, 2009

Ushering in Autumn

Well, we never mean to go as long as we do in between posts, but as you can imagine, life at the Blankenship household has been anything but standard in terms of schedules and free time, especially in the first few months of my residency. Well, here is an update on our family since our last post, as well as some pics. I just finished working on the general surgery service, which means I had to wake up by 3:15 AM just to get to the hospital in time for the day, and of course days that I am on call are even worse since I routinely work 30+ hour shifts on those days, no matter what service I am on, with very few exceptions. That makes for one tired Mommy and wife who just wants to love on her family and pretend she doesn't have a career. My schedule will be somewhat better this month, and you better believe that if you see me outside of the hospital, I will be clinging to my baby with my husband close by.

We were able to go out onto the lake with my family a couple of times in August/Sept., so Karis was introduced to the boating/lake experience for the first time. Although, Jared and I actually went out boating on the day I told him I was pregnant, so if you count that, it was technically not her first experience- we start them early in my family :) It ended up being a bit chilly on our second trip to the lake, so we pretty much kept Karis wrapped up in a beach towel most of the time. She did however love the way it felt for the breeze to blow through her "hair." Jared and Kevin (our bro-in-law) got some tubing in, despite the cool water that day.

On October 2, Jared and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Jared's sister, Jenna, watched Karis while Jared and I went out on a much needed date. We enjoyed dinner at Hennen's in downtown Chattanooga, and then strolled over to a outdoor bluegrass concert next to the river. We can't believe it's been 5 years unless we picture all of the things we've done and places we've been since we were married. From Clarksville to Philly to Chattanooga. And then there's that little spunky bundle of joy...

[caption id="attachment_260" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="5th Anniv. overlooking downtown Chatty"]

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Karis will be 9 months old next week. She started eating baby food a couple of months ago, and has established a few favorites. For the past few weeks, her top few picks are bananas (understandable), green beans (which have very little flavor but taste like raw green beans), squash (as of this week), and one of her steady favs, sweet potatoes.

Karis brings us a lot of joy and laughter every day. She has earned the nickname "turbo roller" since she immediately starts turbo rolling as soon as you lay her down anywhere, including her changing table. She will flash her 2-toothed smile at anyone who will pay attention to her, and loves to hear the range of her own voice. Here are some pics of everyday life with our baby over the last couple of months:

[caption id="attachment_268" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Giving her butterfly a piggyback ride. Still not sure how this happened..."]