Sunday Baby Fun

Well, no pictures today...I was too busy playing and having fun!  This weekend has been quite a fun weekend with Kara.  Well not that other weekends aren't but she is just learning SOOO much. Yesterday, I put her underneath the baby gym and hung a bunch of toys and then showed her how she could play with them.  I've done this before and she still just kinda looked at them.  But yesterday she actually reached up and started to grab them :)  It's really kinda funny and neat to watch a baby learn hand-eye coordination.  She stares intently at the object and then finally makes the decision to attempt a swipe.  Then, the swipe.  Maybe she gets the prize of a grab, maybe not.  Then, it starts over.  I just sat and watched her for a while yesterday, watching her learn after each attempt.  Fun!!

Today, after I let her practice her grabbing techniques from yesterday, we layed on a blanket and practiced rolling over.  She is getting awefully close!  She had a ball just rolling from her back to her side and then having Mommy push her over to her tummy.  Then rolling from her tummy to her side and having Mommy push her over to her back.  One time, all I did for the whole roll from tummy to back was reposition her hand.  Those darned hands and arms just get in the way when rolling over! 

The other really cool thing about this weekend, or actually more just about how she is evolving, is that the more intense play and learning is giving way to much better naps.  YAY for naps!!!  She has never been a great napper, but here in the last week, she has actually been taking some longer (1-2 hour) naps at her Grandmothers - when I'm at work - and she has been going down easy for a long (2-3 hour) nap at home with me.

Well, it is 4 hours since I started writing this post and now 8 pm.  My how time slips by with a kid.  I know I said no pictures for today but I did download two pictures from this morning that I'll post tonight.

Here is Kara showing off her standing abilities with Daddy's help.

 And here is her 4 month picture with the dancer bear. 

 Here is Kara with the same bear a month and a half ago.  You can tell she is growing!

Four months and counting

Today Kara had her four month checkup.  She got her second round of shots and boy does she take those like a champ!  Daddy held her and talked sweetly to her while the nurses quietly did their duty.  Amazingly, she just let out a small cry and went on with her business....her business being a happy little baby!  It is funny because the nurse about to give the shots said, "I don't mind giving crying babies shots because they are already crying.  But Kara is just so happy I don't want to have to give her a shot and make her cry."  .....We are so lucky to have such a happy baby and we both feel VERY blessed!

Speaking of a happy baby, here she is today laughing while Daddy plays.  He is so good with her!!  I do love watching them play and interact together :)

It is so hard to get a picture of her smiling because every time she sees a camera she sits and stares at it.  But with Mark around to help, I was able to get this picture.  Notice, she is finally starting to get just a little bit of hair!

Kara has started spotting Sylvester (the cat) and she will just sit and watch her. It's kinda funny to watch them both just watching each other sometimes.



 Here is Kara sitting in her bumbo chair with one of her more favorite toys.  I have heard that babies like toys with faces and watching her, I definitely believe that.  She will just stare at this little guy.  Today we gave her this toy while she was in her walker and she just stared at it and started talking to him!  How cute :)

 The other day, it was time to go get milk, so Kara and I took a trip out to the farm. We got out and walked around while I showed her the chickens and the cows and the horses.   I'm sure, in the not too distant future, she will try chasing all the animals, but for now, she just happily listened while Mommy told her what she was seeing :)  While we were there, she got to meet the farmers....they got up from their nap just as we were getting ready to leave but of course, Kara can't pass up a good conversation so she hammed it up for a few minutes with them!

 Just the last couple of weeks, Kara has started picking things up (knowingly) and is beginning to play with them.  She likes to pick things up and study them both by feel and by sight.  She will pick this one up and feel the round end.

 I don't think she could get that bottom lip out any further this particular morning!!

 Kara playing...with her serious face.... (she see's that camera again!)

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! 

Two and a half Months

It's been a couple of months since I posted. A busy, fun couple of months :) So I sit now, with Kara sleeping on my shoulder, to update. 
Thursday she will be 10 weeks old. Sooo hard to believe!! It's funny because it feels like forever since I was pregnant. I'm getting closer to feeling back to my pre-pregnant self. But then I still can't believe I have a baby of my very own. Maybe when she starts calling me Mommy it will start hitting home more, but it'll still take a while to really sink in.

Well, like I said, Kara is 10 weeks old this week. She had her first Christmas here in Fort Worth and she seemed to enjoy it :) She met so many people and was such a good baby! At two and a half months, she can hold her head up real good, likes to stand and jump, has started to smile and laugh, has gotten really good at spitting up and likes to talk to you while she plays on her back. I think she's getting cuter, but some may say I'm biased :) She isn't fond of naps, but doesn't mind sleeping on my chest (it's the easiest way to get her to sleep during the day, next to carrying her around in the sling). She has gotten easier to go to sleep at night though....thank goodness!!

Anyway, here's some recent pictures of her. Enjoy!