1 Month & 20 Months Old

[I promise I wrote this on November 6 intending to add more, but never got to it! At least it’s something. ;)]

Ya’ll I’m determined to make a monthly update for Kara until she’s 2! 😆 I am getting later and later with these updates though. I honestly can’t wait to stop keeping track of how many months she is. 😂

Kara’s development seems to be happening quicker and quicker. She is growing so fast! This month she had a major growth spurt. She gained about a pound (she’s 23 pounds now) and maybe an inch (30.5 inches now). She’s in the 41st percentile for weight and 4th for height. I’m thinking percentiles are to be taken lightly at this point because 50th percentile for her age is only 2 inches taller than she is. Her feet have also grown this month and she’s in a size 5! All this growing explains the terrible sleep this month (along with the emotional changes with adjusting to a little sister and sharing mommy and daddy). She had a hard time getting to sleep at night and would wakeup a couple times a night shouting for me, then wake up early in the morning and take one short nap. Hallelujah, that has gotten better over the last two weeks or so. She asks to go to bed, sometimes regrets not having me rock and sing to her, so she’ll scream for me to come back and rock her.

This has really been such a fun month. Kara is talking up a storm. She babbles a lot more like she’s trying to make sentences. My favorite is when she says “K?” She’ll say “mama, daddy, baby…k?” Not sure what it means to her but it’s adorable. She pretends to fall down and looks up at us and says “K?” like we do when she falls down. She likes to imitate what we say this month.

Some more words I like this month that are either new or developed: cook, egg, color, pink, c’mon, welcome, words with “ch” or “sh” (catch, splash, wash, church), bubble, cup, need.

She has been very friendly this month, saying hey and bye to everyone we see. She’s been singing a lot and loves songs with hand motions. She holds a crayon really well, usually with her left hand like mommy, and coloring is her new favorite thing to do. We’ve painted a couple times and she doesn’t stop talking about it. She calls it “pink”.

She seems to have gotten so much more independent over night and can climb into her booster seat and feed herself so well. She says “need” when she wants something. She tends to say words over and over again.

Christa also had some milestones at 1 month! I like them both being born on the 6th. Christa is pretty much 100% different than her big sister. It’s so amazing to me how different they can be. Christa’s eyes are blue and getting bluer, and her hair is still dark brown but maybe a little bit lighter. It hasn’t started falling out yet. She has gained so much weight…she was 11lb and 4oz at her checkup! And 22 1/4 in long! She has started to smile, but doesn’t do it very often yet. She also recently started to make more eye contact. She didn’t for a few weeks, so it’s nice to catch her eye and try to make her smile. She nurses quick like Kara did, and is usually done in 5-10 mins. She eats every 2 hours during the day and falls also for the night around 8. I’ve been dream feeding her at 10 when we go to bed (a foreign concept to Kara) and she’ll wake up to eat around 1 and 4, then up for the day around 7 (same as big sis). It’s so nice to have some predictability with her sleeping and eating, because I never had that with sweet Kara.

She is such a cuddly, sweet baby. She loves to be held but also loves time in her swing. I love to wear her in the wrap and have been at church. 6 weeks was the first time I left her in the nursery and she did great!

19 Months Old

I’m starting this post early so that it doesn’t get shrouded in all things Christa Belle within the next couple of weeks, since she is due in 5 days. 😉 Although I am so ready to share adorable sister pictures that haven’t even been taken yet!

I am still shocked at how much babies learn vocabulary each month. Just in the past month, Kara’s vocabulary has taken off (once again, I know I say something along those lines every month, so I’m sorry if that gets old to anyone as a reader! It’s just as a first time parent, everything is so exciting and new, to us as parents and to sweet Kara!)

At 19 months, Kara…

…says a whole bunch of 2 or 3 word phrases!! It’s amazing. Most of them sound like one big long word strung together, and only me and Collin understand them, but…we understand them! She says come on (and pulls on my hand to drag me where she wants to go. This is the newest development), I do it, more please, I get it, you’re welcome.
…says some new words I didn’t realize she hadn’t been saying already! Tummy (sounds like mummy), bubbles, no is a lot more pronounced (it goes along well with the tantrums), again (sounds like din), uh uh means yes
…current favorite food is tomatoes. Remember, her favorite food changes weekly. She loves to eat but loves variety, so she’s hard to keep happy when it comes to meals and keeps me on my toes.
…is even sweeter with her babydolls, if that’s even possible. She takes such good care of them.
…climbs climbs climbs. I can almost trust her on the couch now (for a while she would jump around so much that she’d lose control and fall off).
…dancing and making music has become more of a regular thing.
…is so sweet and pleasant. She’s just so fun to be around. Maybe I’m a little biased.
…on the other hand, tantrums are in full swing. She’s still pretty distractibe though, so I’m using that to my advantage as long as possible.
…she’s very helpful. If I ask her to bring me something or go somewhere or do something, she will almost always do it immediately and successfully.
…this comes in handy because on Kara’s 19 month birthday, her baby sister was born! She loves her sister so much already and always wants to be by her side, retrieving her pacifier, patting her head, and rocking her.

18 Months Old

Happy Half Birthday to our little buttercup! If anyone tried to tell me 18 months ago as I was preparing to bring Kara into the world that my life would change so much for the better that I could never imagine my life without her, I wouldn’t have been able to understand. The joy and excitement for every morning to come because I know I will be with her again, is indescribable. The love between me and Collin since having her has changed and multiplied in ways I can’t fully describe too. And we are about multiply that love again in a few short weeks! Kara is 18 months today and continues to amaze me at what she has learned.

Yesterday Kara said her two first two-word sentences! “Shoe stuck,” and “Papa, cookie!” Haha! And today she added a third sentence when she really really wanted some yogurt bites…”more please!” I wouldn’t give her any until she said please and I could tell she really wanted some and after a little tantrum, she figured it out and was very happy with herself.

Also at 18 months, Kara…

…favorite toy right now is probably still her baby dolls, and any baby toy. She’s been reminiscing as I pull out toys to get ready for Christa. She especially goes nuts for the bouncy seat. She takes such good care of her dolls, giving them kisses and holding them gently.

…favorite food right now is any fruit (except she’s been on a banana strike), especially pears and watermelon.
…has also been on a little milk strike. She only wants water or juice, so I’ve been struggling with that.
…begs to go outside everyday. She loves it.

…favorite movie right now is Rio. She loves the birds and the music.
…gives the best Eskimo kisses. She will even give her babies Eskimo kisses before bed.
…loves dancing and singing, especially if she’s applauded for it.

…is small for her age (even shorter for her age than small), but very proportional. Once again, just proving she’s a petite little thing. She gets it from Collin’s side of the family.
…I think within the past week or so has finally finished pushing 4 teeth through. She hasn’t been waking up in the middle of the night wanting to rock, and her naps have been slightly longer.

…naps once a day for 1 hour and 15 minutes (on a good day), and usually goes to bed between 7:30pm and 8pm, waking up around 7am.
…says her baby sister’s name! It sounds like “Tissa” but she pats my belly and kisses it when she says it.
…has become very adventurous. She loves to know what’s going on everywhere.

…has had a bit of separation anxiety whenever I have to leave her or be away from her.
…is a very good helper when cleaning and likes to sing the clean up song.
…follows directions well.
…loves picking out a book and will bring it to me and say “read.”

…loves having tea parties with all of her stuffed animals (and metal cats).
…makes sure you look her in the eye when she has something important to say.
…climbs and jumps on everything.
…likes to color.

I’m not sure how often the updates will come once Christa is born, but I’ll try to keep up. Double the blog posts hopefully!

16 Months Old

I think Kara had a big growth spurt this month, in addition to cutting 4 new teeth with a few more still on the way. Needless to say there have been a few middle-of-the-night wake up calls and lots of rocking in the glider. 😴

At 16 months, Kara Grace…
…gained about a pound in 1 month. We’ve reached the 20 lb. mark!
…has a few more new teeth than last month…I think we’re at 14 but she doesn’t let me see them easily.
…says tons of new words. I definitely can’t list them all. She’s trying out words for everything right now so it’s hard to understand her sometimes. A few that I really love and understand are church (she gets really excited when we tell her it’s time for church), peaches, please is more clear, especially when she wants you to read her a book, book, doctor, kitchen, medicine (I think anything she knows she shouldn’t touch is called medicine), Bradley, outside, splash, and pool.
…really seems to understand what I say to her, like “get your shoes,” or “let’s go outside.” She will (usually) do what I tell her to, or nod if it’s a yes or no question. The nodding is adorable. She will run to the back door when it’s time to play outside or the front door when it’s time to get in the car. If you say we’re going to Grandmama/Granddaddy’s house or Nina/Poppa’s house, she will say their names over and over and over until we get in the car.
…loves to wear her shoes, but not while in the car.
…eats a much bigger variety, but her likes differ from day to day. It makes feeding her a little difficult, but I can usually figure out something she likes that day. She ate a whole hot dog recently after refusing meat for a long time. 😂
…(about to get sappy and personal, so skip ahead if you’re not into that!) Kara is 100% weaned. 😭 I’ve been an emotional mess because of it. It was a mutual agreement I think. She wasn’t really interested anymore and I wanted a little break before Christa Belle gets here. Kara and I made it 15 months and 3 weeks, the day I was 6 months pregnant with Christa. I wouldn’t trade that time for anything! It’s hard to explain the nursing relationship adequately, especially to people who think I did it too long, but it created such a special bond that I will always have with my baby girl.
…asks you to read her books and climbs in your lap. Then she will go and pick out a new book and so on and so forth. 😉
…feeds herself with a spoon, albeit in a very messy way.

…loves sitting in her high chair and says sit so I’ll put her in it.
…loves having friends over. She will play non-stop and forget she’s tired.
…has discovered the full length mirror. She loves to talk to the baby in the mirror and she will make faces and noises, say dance and do her little quick step dance. She gives the mirror baby kisses and plays peekaboo. I wonder what will happen when she realizes it’s her reflection.
…loves pictures of all babies and says baby every time she sees one.
…recognizes all of our family members and usually says their names.
…only wants to play outside. We’ve spent a lot of time in her little pool and the water table this summer.

…gives the best kisses. 😘
…is very curious and “asks” a lot of questions.
…is just the sweetest thing. 💞

15 Months Old

At 15 months old, Kara…

…likes to tapdance backwards to her own music. As you can see, this girl is silly and has so much fun.
…likes to float in the pool at Nina and Poppa’s.
…sings Rockabye Baby to her baby dolls.
…goes down for naps (still 2 naps, sometimes just 1) and bedtime very easy. We still have our bedtime routine. She waves and blows kisses as I walk out the door. Daddy reads the Bible to her (she loves to hold her ba-bull and points out all the pictures of men and women (mama). Those are her words. 😉 Then we pray, say mena, lay her down with her babies and cover her up. 😍
…is only nursing once a day at bedtime. If you remember 3 months ago, I didn’t think we would ever get to this point. I think she may be ready to drop the last one but guess who is not ready…
…likes to clean. She pulls out wipes (😩) and goes to town wiping things down. It’s pretty adorable. I just hope I can get her to use something a little less expensive like towels!
…goes crazy when I say the b word…bath! She loves baths.
…makes sure we pray for every meal. It is so sweet. Before eating she folds her hands and says amen (mena) when we finish praying. Sometimes she says her own prayers (sounds like “blah blah blah blah mena”) and I’ve noticed she pretends to close her eyes now too.
…started covering her mouth and fake laughing. 😂
…New words like cookie (cookoo), pickle ( another variant of cookoo), orange (owange), princess, beast, juice, bang bang (when she’s playing the drum).
…says ” down” all the time. To get up OR down.
…loves running around on the couch. It cracks her up.
…is 18 lb 14 oz, 29.5 in long.
…climbs in your lap to read a book.
…pats my belly and kisses it and says baby. 😍I doubt she really understands, but it’s so sweet.
…gives the BEST tight hugs. Oh we love it.
…has started saying “thank you” when she hands us something. 😄 She also says it when we hand her something she wants so I do think she gets it.
…still loves the tractor and going outside.
…loves singing Head Shoulders Knees and Toes. Also has finally figured out where her knees are. They used to be elbows.
…signs “more,” ” food,” and “all done.” I don’t remember teaching her the first two!
…wants to walk everywhere.
…has 4 new teeth for a total of 12!
…inhaled Mandarin oranges.

14 Months Old

Once again, it’s been an eventful month. I guess I should stop being surprised by that…every month is eventful with a baby! This month, Kara…

…says lots of new words. Her favorite is an old one, ‘uh oh,’ but she says it all the time. She does things on purpose so she can say it. She says ‘cracker’ a lot more and I think it just means any kind of food. ‘Turtle’ is my personal favorite of her new words. 😉 She loves riding with Daddy on his ‘tractor.’ Please, ouch, elbow are some more new ones.
…loves elbows btw. Points to them and laughs and has very recently started pointing to her own.
…has reduced her nursing sessions to only 2: wake-up and bedtime. I’m super excited but didn’t realize how sad and bittersweet it would be to start weaning. Also surprised how easy it was to drop from 4 to 2, which makes me think she’s ready to drop the morning, but I’m not quite ready yet! We will see if it’s this hard to wean her little sister, with a toddler running around. 😉
…prefers to sleep with her babies, and it must be both of them.
…rocks her babydolls and pats them on the back while she sings Rockabye Baby. It sounds more like, “babaaa, babaaa, babaaa, ” and it’s the sweetest sound you’ve ever heard.
…loves cheese!
…is always on the move. She loves to go, go, go.
…loves being outside and swinging. If you mention the swing, she gets very excited and bouncy.
…is finally sleeping 11 hours straight through the night! It took a little longer than I expected to get her to this point, but I also erred on the side of, “let her get there in her own time,” and I went back and forth a lot with what I thought were the best sleep training methods. I still say everyone should choose what works best for them but with baby 2, I would like to do better about committing to the sleep goal from the start. Anyway, there are zero middle of the night wake times anymore and I am so thankful for some unbroken sleep the next couple of months.
…sings Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes with hand motions! She loves pointing to her facial features. She sticks out her tongue all the way when you ask her where her mouth is, sniffs in and out when you ask where her nose is, blinks her eyes wide and slow when you ask where her eyes are, and points to her ears haha. That one’s the hardest. Does this mean she will have a hard time listening? 😉
…claps along to music.
…loves Patty Cake and Itsy Bitsy Spider.

I hope you like reading about my baby as much as I do! I just want to keep a record of all this so I don’t forget. I hope I can do this with all my children.

The Big Reveal

We are very excited to announce that we are adding a little GIRL to our family this Fall! I wasn’t quite 16 weeks along when we found out and I was very surprised to get to find out so early. I had gone in for a normal checkup to listen to the heartbeat and I asked my midwife if we could schedule the anatomy scan for right before Mother’s Day (which is on my birthday this year) since I thought it would be special to find out the baby’s gender on that day. She said she’d rather do it the next week, but asked if I’d like a sneak peek today! I said not if it will cost anything extra…haha! But she assured me they would just sneak me in, if I gave her $20 under the table. Ha! She was kidding of course. I won’t tell you her name so as to protect her identity! XD

Since Collin was out of town until midnight, I asked them to put the pictures in an envelope so we could open it together later. Well “later” turned into the next morning! He made me wait!! He did make me breakfast though, so that made up for the wait. 😉 We both had a strong feeling the whole time that the baby was a girl, and we were right. We are SO excited! I can’t wait to see Kara with her little sister. She already loves babies so much and she’s going to be wonderful with her.

The next night we got pink creme filled Krispy Kreme donuts to tell our families. They are all excited to add another little princess to the family too.

Praise God for these little girls! Please continue to pray for a healthy and full-term pregnancy for me and that the baby girl has a safe delivery into the world in October.

13 Months Old

I want to try and continue the monthly birthday posts for Kara because she is learning so much and so quickly, and that did not stop at 12 months. Since her first birthday, Kara…

…has learned about a billion new words. This girl didn’t stop talking. She talks when she’s playing alone and when she’s in her crib. She talks to me, her stuffed animals, and anyone who will listen. Some of her new words include, shoe, pants, shh, poo poo, diaper.
…speaking of poo poo and diaper, Kara has kind of been letting us know this month when she has to do that very task! We’ve been taking her to the toilet whenever she says ‘poo poo’ and we’ve had success every time! I know the potty training will take time at this young age, so will just take it slow and follow Kara’s lead. Sorry for this public potty talk! 🙊
…knows how to walk like a pro! She walks everywhere now, and had gotten pretty fast.
…she finally doubled her birth weight this month! My teeny cutie is now over 17 lbs.
…knows where her head, tummy, belly button, ears, eyes, and nose are.
…nurses 4 times a day.
…points to her toes while she nurses so that I’ll sing the little piggy song. She loves it.
…walks around with her little people princesses and makes them kiss. She makes a kissing sound and tap them together. She also taps me or Collin on the face with them until we give them a kiss. And she kisses them and makes her stuffed animals kiss them. Basically, the girl loves kisses. 😂
…loves her lovely now, finally. She really cuddles with it to fall asleep and also pulls her blanket over her now. She’s also not so picky about belly sleeping anymore and has started sleeping on her back sometimes.
…has been sleeping so good lately. Usually sleeps from 7 or 8 until 5:30, nurses (barely) and goes right back to sleeping until 7 or so. I know she probably doesn’t need this feeding, but it gets her back to sleep. We will probably encourage her to cut it out soon.
…loves reading books. She will bring a book to me (usually Moo, Baa, La La La, Little Blue Truck, or Ladybug Girl Says Goodnight) and sit in my lap so I’ll read it to her. She says, “la la la,” or, “shhh” depending on which book.
…has a new tooth on the bottom for a total of eight. That was a rough week.
…had her first stomach bug. See above.
…has been so happy. I think it has a lot to do with bring ear infection free finally. I’m still so sad she went so long with that stubborn ear infection. I’ve been told a couple of times this month how sweet and happy Kara is during church Wednesday night and Sunday morning. It makes me so glad to hear that she is happy wherever she is.

Happy Birthday!

My beautiful princess is one year old! I can’t begin to describe what a blessing she’s been in my life for the past 365 days. I’m so excited to celebrate her life on this one year anniversary of her birth.

At one year, my silly girl…

…is walking!! She can make it about halfway across the room. She loves practicing now and is always standing up.

…is really showing off her silly and sweet personality. She loves to make everyone laugh.
…opens and closes her eyes really slowly when she is trying to raise her eyebrows like mama and daddy.

…copies whatever I do, like shaking her head, squealing, and saying ‘no, no’.
…is very curious about everything. She wants to learn and know what’s going on.

…laughs whenever she sneezes.
…pokes my nose and says ‘boop’.
…says several new words like cracker, CoCo, baby, chicken, buck buck, moo, cookie, baby, and night night.

…loves her baby doll and gives her hugs and kisses.
…loves being around other people, especially babies.
…still loves Veggie Tales.
…still has 7 teeth and they’re getting so big and sharp! She likes to show them off now.

…favorite book is her pop-up farm book.
…is still a little peanut. 16 lb 12 oz and 28 in. I’ve learned to be grateful for a small baby!
…nurses all the time. We made it to 1 year! And now if looks like we will surpass that goal. I tried to wean her when I found out I was pregnant because I was so exhausted, but she was not interested in stopping. I’ve been feeling a lot better though, so I’m happy with continuing to breastfeed.

…loves eating food from pouches. I really hope it doesn’t make a bad habit! She just loves them!
…is loved by everyone. She is just captivating (at least to me and her daddy!)

We are so thankful that God chooses to be Kara Grace’s parents and we are very much looking forward to the next year of her beautiful little life. We pray with her every night that God would grow her into a young woman with a heart that yearns for Him.

We love you so much Kara! Happy First Birthday princess!

11 Months Old

My baby is turning one next month. Is this real life? This has been such a fun month. Collin and I joke that he went to Athens with his students for 4 days and came back to a different baby. I guess it’s not really a joke…she had some sort of amazing brain growth spurt while he was out of town.

At 11 months, Kara is doing everything she was last month plus…

…blowing kisses! On demand and when she sees someone she likes (like daddy on Google hangouts).

…saying, “What’s that?” while pointing at everything and making mommy name everything in the house. It’s fun.
…actually saying Dada and Mama with meaning attached.
…saying Papa and Nina. Sorry Grandmama and Granddaddy, your names are just too hard. 😉
…making a fish face which is her kissy face. She does this when she hears someone make kiss noises.

…standing up from sitting without pulling up on something.
…taking her first steps!!!! She took a couple of steps several times this month but yesterday she took six whole steps with mommy and daddy as witnesses. Next step is to catch it on video.
…eating her new favorite food all the time: cottage cheese.
…able to point to a picture of a dog and say ‘dog’. I think she has a favorite animal. She loves Luna, Daisy, and Twila.

…sleeping longer. She gets an 8 hour stretch most nights now. That means mommy gets a 5-6 hour stretch! Woot!
…consequently nursing more during the day. This doesn’t seem to be slowing down, even though it’s getting very exhausting for a couple of reasons. I’m so happy we’ve almost made it to our 1 year nursing goal and I’m incredibly thankful we’ve been able to breastfeed for so long. It is truly such an amazing gift and a special time with my girl.
…having so much fun at BSF, Sunday School, and Wednesday night church. These are the regular times that she’s away from me and I think she’s actually starting to look forward to them. She’ll wave bye bye like she’s ready for me to leave her with her friends but greets me with a huge smile when I pick her up. I like to spy on her to see how much fun she’s having and everyone tells me how sweet she is.
…has 7 teeth. That right front tooth was a killer!
…is about 17 pounds and 26.5 inches. I don’t know for sure since her last weigh in was December 10. Growing well, just a dainty little thing!
…already a lover of books. She pretends to read all the time.

…already a lover of music and dancing! She can’t get enough. We like to listen to Disney music on Pandora.
…climbing stairs. Feeling victorious at the top.

There is one more thing Kara is doing in her 11th month that we are well really excited about. She is…

…preparing to be a BIG SISTER. You read that right! Kara’s going to officially be a big sister in October! We are elated. So we are really practicing with her baby doll to be gentle and kind, as much as you can practice with an 11 month old I suppose. 😉 They will be 19 months apart and I’m really excited about the closeness in age. Me and Collin are feeling it’s another girl, but we will know for sure in May!

So that’s the 11 month recap. We are in love with our precious Kara. She is the greatest joy in our lives and just keeps getting more exciting everyday. We love watching her grow and learn and can’t believe how much changes in just a year. I can’t even begin to imagine this time next year with TWO little ones! Exciting doesn’t begin to describe it.