Kara Mae is 7 Months Old!

Okay, okay! I know I'm late on this one! Life has been seriously hectic.

Kara is developing such a neat little personality! She is a morning girl! She is so smily and happy when we get her up in the mornings - sometimes a bit too early for us.

She's got her bottom two teeth and by the drool factor, we're expecting the top two soon.
(You can see her two little toothies in this pic)

Drooly smile!

She is chewing on everything these days. She loves the chew on the hard plastic of her binkie. I can't tell if she likes the texture of it or just can't figure out how to get it back into her mouth the right way after she's taken it out.


She had to taste-test all of her Christmas presents.
Moments before eating poor lamby's face.


She is sitting really well these days. She rarely falls over anymore, unless it's on purpose- which is then followed by giggles because she finds her ability to move her own body hilarious.

Speaking of moving herself, she loves her bouncy horse! She has figured out how to rock it or make it bounce.


She used to pose for the camera, but is now starting to just stare at it with a look of ... well, it could be boredom, bewilderment, or just confusion, we don't know.

I know I've commented on this before, but what amazes me the most is how she looks at Jana and watches her so intently. She certainly loves her big sis.
Kara's been eating a ton more food. She's much more of a picky-eater than Jana ever was. She will only eat rice cereal if it's warmed. She does love Bananas, squash, sweet potato and pears - go figure! She's discovered her tongue lately and has decided to start playing with it if we take too long in her eating - then it gets very messy. She has, unfortunately, also discovered how to raspberry lately! The unfortunate part is when she decides to do it while she's eating. Mixed veggies seem to be her favorite to spray these days!

Before you watch this video, you have to know the background. We have a wonderful camcorder, but when moments like this come up, I end up grabbing our digital camera and using the video on it. Jana had discovered how much fun it is to use a camera (thanks Gapa) and we struggle with being able to take pictures around her. She is screaming in the background of this because she wants to use the camera. However, you can hear Kara's first babblings of "dada".

Christmas Has Magic Again

I've always loved Christmas, but after about middle school, it started to lose its magic.

I had no idea how much having two little kids (and one who has no idea what is going on) brings the magic back and this was as sparkly and fun as those dream-like Christmases from my childhood.

I have to say, this was one of the best Christmases I've ever had. Not because of what presents I got or gave, how many cookies I made, or what food we ate. It was so amazing to experience the joy and love these girls received and gave.

When we put Jana down for bed on Christmas Eve, we talked about how Santa (just imagine Jana's version of this word: it's whispered "Satt-a" accompanied by this sweet grin of expectation) will visit and bring toys for her and Kara.

So, we were all prepped for a very fun morning. Luckily Jeremy had assembled all toys needing assembling, so other than taking care of some "other" duties, we were able to go to bed before Santa arrived!

Kara woke up around 8:00 on Christmas morning. She and I came downstairs while Jana and Jeremy slept in. She happily played in her swing while I busily prepared the dough for the bread I was making. Jeremy joined us around 9:00 and Jana started making noise just before 10. I was lucky enough to get Jana out of bed while Jeremy readied the video camera. You see, we didn't have ANY presents under the tree before she went to bed, so we knew it was going to be a surprise when we came downstairs. However, I was the one in for a surprise when I entered her room. As I walked to the window as Jana was happily chatting away, I noticed something before I opened the shades. My giggles brought Jeremy running upstairs, as he discovered the source of my amusement. Somehow Jana had sneaked her sunglasses into bed with her and she was sitting in her crib, in the dark, with her sunglasses on - upside down (to add to the humor).

She was certainly surprised when she came downstairs and I'm so glad we have her moments of pure joy on video.


She reached for the first present she could find (totally missing the huge trike in the middle of the room) and opened a couple of card games. She was totally uninterested in opening anything else - she LOVED the cards. (If only I knew that was enough for her for Christmas) :-)

By the time Gama and Gapa arrived, we had breakfast almost ready and had opened a few more gifts.

While we waited for breakfast to finish cooking, we opened some more of her gifts. She discovered her trike and insisted on riding it from the living room to the family room and back again.

Dadda did get Mama to cry, though. I don't know how well you can see it in the picture, but on one side of the frame there is the girls' Santa picture. Then on the other you will see that Daddy had the girls put their hand prints in. Ahh! What a treasure!

Her own chair is quite a hit (thank you Gapa and Gama) and she was even nice enough to share it with Kara.

They got some very neat wall hangings made with love from Auntie M and the book from (soon to be uncle) S was so sweet!

However, Jana's favorite part of the gift (sadly enough) was the huge Dora bag.

Jana was too cool in her shades as she opened the wonderful books from Auntie S and Uncle P.

Jana loves a decorative Jack-in-the-box that Gama has and was overjoyed to get her very own Pooh in the box!

While we were playing around, we took a look outside and... it was SNOWING! It didn't stick, but seemed to add to the magic of the day.

We settled down for breakfast and a break from opening presents. Jana enjoyed the bread and exclaimed "more please, bread" more than a few times. Here is my made-from-scratch candy cane shaped cherry coffee cake.

After a tasty breakfast, Kara napped and Jana discovered a few more wonderful gifts like her Dora plate, bowl, and cup set (thanks Gramps), Mr. Potato head, some cars, clothes, some games, and her "Peeee po" Doodle Pro (Little People). She especially loved Kara's high chair toys and music toys.


Phew! We were all ready for a nap. Jana went down with a few of her new treasures to keep her company. Gama and Gapa headed off for their own present opening and napping at home.

Grandma and Grandpa soon arrived, after their early morning present-opening and breakfast with cousin Tyler and cousin Justin (and Auntie L and Uncle R, of course). Their arrival brought a whole new influx of packages under the tree.

Kara enjoyed the presentation of her much-anticipated Bouncy horse. It was perfect timing because she was able to enjoy it after she woke up and before big sis awoke.
We opened a few Mama and Dada presents before Chaos (Jana) started up again, who also greatly enjoys Kara's horse.

With a fresh audience and a new person to push her around, Jana's laps on her tricycle began once again with Grampa's help.


Kara got some great new noise-making toys! She loves them, of course... as does Jana. We keep having to remind Jana that they are Kara's.

We had a wonderful time opening presents for the rest of the afternoon, but ran out of time, energy, and room as dinner time approached.

We had a wonderful ham dinner with both sets of grandparents.


Our busy Jana was determined to get us moving again, so back to the tree we went. It was about then that we actually got around to opening our stockings.

Kara went to bed soon after dinner, but Jana was struggling to wind down. After a little dancing with Daddy, she got her bath with all of her new and wonderful bath toys, but was not pleased about going down.

She was up bright and early this morning (around 6:00 am) and went to the Target after-Christmas sale with me - which was entertaining to say the least. She enjoyed making people laugh as she called out all the Dora and Pooh characters at the top of her lungs as we passed them. Although, for many, the highlight was her dancing in the isles, yelling "Dance, mama, dance."

Both girls got some great cuddle/playtime with both grandparents and were doted on by many!

Thank you everyone for such a wonderful and memorable Christmas Day!

Santa Breakfast 2007

We went up to my parents for the Santa Breakfast at the club house where they live. We got to go with my brother, his wife, and their two boys. It was a big hectic, but a fun time.


All the kids did really well with Santa and my parents were able to get their much desired picture of all their grandkids together.

Jana and Tyler ("Dy-wah" as Jana called him) are both into cars right now, which resulted in great moments of playing and a few struggles over the cars. I can definitely tell that Tyler is used to having a little brother around, because, for being 3 1/2, he did a FABULOUS job of sharing - even his prized new car! Jana followed him around in awe, she really likes older kids right now.

Jana also adored my brother. We have some great pictures of her squeezing herself in to sit on his lap in front of the table with all the cars. She, unfortunately, kept calling him Dave - Jeremy's brother. But, that's really a complement because Jana has a real attachment to Dave and the rest of us could disappear when he's around and she wouldn't mind/notice.

My parents got some great time with the girls, which was wonderful for all. My mom and Jana seem to be forging a wonderful bond and I can't tell who misses the other more when we leave. Dad finally got to spend some good time with Kara and now that she's out of the "lump" baby phase and really interacting, it was a lot of fun for both.

It was also very nice for Jeremy and I to spend time with everyone - it doesn't seem to happen very often anymore now that R & L and us both have two kids. It was fun to spend time with Justin, who is now almost a year old. We haven't gotten to be around him much, so this was fun. He's such a happy little guy and is going to keep big brother busy!

Another great part of the weekend was that my friends from high school (minus one) came down for dinner. There were three couples there and we had a blast catching up. Since they were all so nice to come to my parents house, we were able to hang out for quite a while and not have to run off to put the girls down for bed. We had a wonderful time talking babies, because, yes, they are both expecting! Yay! Now we won't be the only ones with kids! (Just kidding). We are so very excited for them and wish them the best.