Kara's Room - Almost Done!

So, I know Kara is over three months old now and by most peoples' standards, her room should have been done ages ago.  However, my thoughts are: 1) she came 2 1/2 weeks early, 2) she isn't staying in the room, 3) she won't remember this early :).  She has been sleeping in the bassinet in her room since she was born and I imagine she will be in there for a little while longer.  But not much.  She is showing signs of wanting to roll over and she is getting fairly long for the bassinet so even though she can't make it through the night without waking yet (and I have a feeling that will still be a while), she will probably soon make it into her own room :)  So, I've been working on the room and am getting close to getting done - although there are still a couple of things left to do.

Here are some pictures to show off the room as it is now.

The cluster of paintings is a detailed collage being painted by my friend Marianna.  I do love the detail of all that is going on in there!

 Mark made the shelf above the changing table.  I still want to put some hooks on the underside as changing time distracters.

Kara does love the butterflies and dragonfly flying above her crib :)

I put a mirror on the wall opposite the crib so that when she gets to when she stands up she can see herself.

Here's the closet.  We were lucky enough to be given enough clothes to keep her through most of her first year of life.  That is what is in the bins on the shelf on top of the closet have in them.  We are so blessed to have the friends and family that we do!

Here is a blanket that my Mom (this is Angela) made for Kara.  It is just adorable and I know Kara will love it!

 On the bottom corner she stiched in Kara's name

 And on the other side, she signed it :)  How sweet!!



Here is an up close of the bedding.  Lana, my Mother-In-Law, made the crib bedding.  It turned out so cute!  I had asked her to make the bumper and the skirt, but then she surprised me with a beautiful rag quilt that she made with some of the leftover material.

 An up-close of the quilt.....

Then with some of the last of the scraps, Lana got creative yet once again and made a covered box. I was wanting a container to keep diapers out readily available on the changing table so when I saw this I immediately hoped they would fit.  I was excited to find out that it is perfect size to fit 12 of my diapers :)  I think it's so cool that the diapers match the material too.  So colorful!

 Here is a project I made.  My sister Alicia gave me the idea but I did the legwork of making it!  It is a picture frame with some matching material that I will be hanging on the wall.  I will be attaching a whiteboard marker to it and I'd like to paint the wood white to match the furniture in the room....turns out the whiteboard markers come right off the glass!  So I will have a matching "whiteboard" for notes or whatnot....

 Well that is pretty much it for now.  The room is just about complete.  About the only thing left that I can think of is curtains.  I have an idea, I just have to go do it. 

Kara Tells Us a Story

Kara has always been a talker.  She loves to talk and loves to be talked to.  Tonight, while getting her ready for bed, she began talking...a LOT!!! Ten minutes or so of talking she must've done.  Mark went and got the video camera after seeing us carrying on like we were.  Believe it or not, she wasn't quite as chatty here as she was earlier before the camera came on.  Oh so awesome, and funny, it is to hear her talking like she does!

Happy Baby!

Kara likes for someone to play with her and likes for someone to sing to her too.  I like to sing her songs and incorporate new sounds each time. She seems to like it.  This particular day it was the sound ow, like wow.  Everytime I would say it she would just squeal and giggle!  Oh how I need to cherish these days where saying bow-wow over and over will entertain her!

Three month birthday here I come!

Nearly a month has gone by since I've posted.  So much has happened....so many pictures have been taken!!  In order to get this up timely, I'll just cut to the chase and go right to the pictures.  Since that is most likely what you are here for anyway :)

The first couple are with Kara on her playmat.  She absolutely loves to watch and listen to the star face sing songs to her.

When I want to talk and play with her myself, I just lie her on a blanket.  She does love to talk and kick and laugh!

She is finally big enough to sit well in her bumbo seat.  Of course she prefers standing :)

She is now bigger than the ballerina bear :)  I think they were the same size when she was born!

Kara always wakes up in such a great mood!  In fact, it makes me laugh each morning because when you go over and start talking to her after you know she has waken, she will still have her eyes closed but this HUGE grin comes across her face.  It is just awesome!!  So on the days I have to go to work, I always like to play with her a little bit before I have to get ready and leave.  We usually get a couple of pictures to take with us just to remember her from the morning.  I do love phones with their great picture taking ability....spoiled we are!!

Usually when she sees a camera, she will stop playing and smiling and just stare at the camera.  However, if you have one person taking the pictures/video and the other person playing with her, she will continue on in her baby bliss.  So on this morning, Mark was taking pictures while I was playing with her.  So fun she is!!

Superbowl watching with Daddy. What you don't see here is that this picture was taken in the 10 minutes or so that she fell asleep, before we knew how short lived that would be.  You see, this particular weekend, Kara was having a growth spurt.  So Mark went to try and put her in her bassinet and she woke up.  And she was hungry.  So she ate...for the next 3 hours or so!  Off and on of course, but it was 10:30 before she decided she had enough to finally go to sleep!

When she isn't eating, this is what she did while in her growth spurt weekend.  She slept the better part of the day that day.  As of today, she is almost 10 lbs.  She weighed in this morning at 9.8 lbs.  Getting close to doubling her birth weight!  You go girl!!

These last couple of pictures were just a couple of days ago on my day off.  Kara was pure joy to be around this particular day!  She is normally a very content and happy baby anyway, which we consider ourselves quite lucky on!  But this day, she slept well, which made her awake time very playful.  She was constantly laughing and playing and having a grand time.  Probably the most fun day I've had with her yet :)



Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures!