Spring Break Fun

Even without being a teacher where I actually get a Spring Break, we did get to enjoy a little Spring Break fun. Last weekend, we went to Houston to celebrate Ryan's grandmother's 80th birthday. It was so great to be with Ryan's middle sister, who lives in Connecticut, and her two kids. We put all 7 of the kids (both sisters' kids, plus Karys) together for a picture and printed it and framed it as a gift from all of us. His sister, Amber, is the one who took the pics, but I managed to get a shot of the kids through the stair railing. The picture we actually gave her was taken of all the kids on the stairs, from the bottom of the stairs. We had the kids sitting on the stairs in order of age, with Karys sitting on the bottom step, which she is capable of doing. However, when none of the adults were paying attention, she lost her balance I guess and fell over and hit her head on the hardwood floor....before a picture was ever taken! Poor baby!! I figured we were done for, but we managed to cheer her up and got her in her cousin, Madison's, lap for some great pics. And thankfully the pictures were taken before her forehead got a little bruise on it and her eye got a little red! Here's that picture from the stairs:

Then last Tuesday, Karys and I drove up to Nacogdoches to spend the day with my college roommate and BFF, Stephanie. I don't have pictures from that, but we had a great time!

Karys and I made our way out again on Thursday, this time to Forney. My sister got engaged almost a month ago and while she was on Spring Break, she wanted to go look at wedding dresses. We had a great time together and she picked an amazingly beautiful dress! After returning from shopping, we took Karys down to the playground in their neighborhood for some fun. The girl loves the swing!! Here are some fun pics of that, plus a short video of her swinging. :)

And of course, the slide! :)

A Bunch of Randomness

I keep thinking that I need to make a new post, and yet it is just now happening! Karys went to the doctor on Monday for her 6 month check-up (even though she is already 7 months!). She got her last shots for the next few months (until she's one), thank goodness! She also weighed in at 15 lbs. 4 oz. (17th percentile) and was 26 1/4 inches long (44th percentile). Apparently her head is much smaller than most girls her age, because at 16 1/4 inches, it ranked in the 7th percentile! :) But having a petite baby (that's what other people call her!) has its advantages...our 3-6 month clothes are lasting quite a while! I have had to put away about half of them, but there are still several things that fit!

We haven't been up to too much lately. She did go have her first studio portraits done at Sears last Thursday and this past Tuesday. Why the two days, you ask? That would be because last Wednesday she was having lots of nasal congestion problems and did not sleep well that night. So when we went to have her pics made, she was not feeling her best and was also tired. We got through one picture before having a complete meltdown, took a 30-minute walk around the mall, came back, took 3 more pictures, changed an outfit (which started complete meltdown #2), and rescheduled for this week. The pictures are so cute!! :) However, now that I've said that, I won't be able to post them because I didn't buy one of their huge portrait packages so I could've gotten a CD.

Karys is getting really close to crawling. In the last two days, she's also figured out how to get herself into a sitting position, from laying down. Twice I've caught her on the video monitor after putting her down for a nap, playing and eventually sitting in her crib! :) Yesterday I had her playing with toys in the living room while I was unloading the dishwasher (at the other end of the living room...not like I'm leaving her to fend for herself!) and I would walk over periodically to make sure things were still good. Once I walked over and she was laying on her tummy...a few minutes later, she's sitting up again! I still haven't actually gotten to see her in action, but obviously she knows what she's doing! As for the crawling thing, I'm not ready for that!! :) Although the way she's been lately is getting so close that she might as well be crawling. I'm just not ready to have her be so non-stationary!

Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment:

At Monday's doctor's appointment, I was told that she is big enough to start having those Biter Biscuits, which as every mom knows is a really disgusting food since all it does is dissolve all over the place, like this:

And this picture is just to show what she'll do if there is any fabric to grab on her clothes (it goes straight to the mouth!):

Check out this pretty girl (her shirt says "Trend Setter")And then this video is to show what happened the other day during an act of determination to get a toy. See what I mean?? Almost crawling!

Play Date

Yesterday Karys and I went over to visit Stephanie and her mom, Catherine for a fun play date. Stephanie is only 2 1/2 weeks younger than Karys so we're hoping these two will grow up to be good buddies. We had a lot of fun with them, especially now that the babies are getting older and a little more interactive--especially with each other. Here's a few pics from our day, and then a video of the two girls "talking" to each other...so cute! :)

By the way, take notice of her outfit. She's only worn it one other time and I was afraid it might be too small now, but actually it fits perfectly. I absolutely love this outfit!! :) I thought she looked so pretty in it. In fact, I really want to take her up to the Sears Portrait Studio (because we have some really great-deal coupons) and have her picture made in this!

Look at this pretty girl!

"What?" :)

"My toy!" "No, my toy!"

Karys: "Oh forget it. I've got my thumbs!"

Playing together nicely again

And now, for the really cute video. They seem to understand how to have a conversation!

More Valentine's Day Fun

I just have a few more pics from Valentine's Day that seem worth sharing. On Saturday, Ryan gave Karys a Valentine's Day gift, so I got a few cute pics of that:

Ryan's helping her open her gift

"Ooh, thanks, Daddy!"

And then on Sunday my parents came over to hang out for the day and they brought Karys a Valentine's gift.

Nana reading Karys her card

Where's Karys??? :)

Lots of books...much to Ryan's dismay! :) (FYI...He hates reading!)

Karys's First Valentine's/Show Off Outfit #2

Happy Valentine's Day! If you read this blog, it must mean that you have a slight interest in the goings-on of our lives. Since our lives are not all that exciting, you must like us as well. And so for that reason, let me say to you that we like you too! :) Hope your day is great and full of love!

First off, today is Karys's very first Valentine's Day! What do you give a 6-month-old for Valentine's Day? Well, you give her a gift that was intended to be a Christmas gift that her mommy did not get made in time for Christmas! Ta-da....instant Valentine's Day gift! :) I had the intention of painting/decorating step-stools for Karys and my youngest niece and nephew for Christmas and let time get away from me before I got them done (or started). So Will and Jillian have 2-months-late Christmas gifts coming to them soon and Karys has a Valentine's Day present!

Picture #1: Karys's Valentine's Day Outfit (#2) given to her by my sister, her Aunt Julie. Notice her adorable ruffly booty! :)

Picture #2 and #3: Top and side view of the stool. And it may be true that I am only posting these to brag on myself. I really like the way that it turned out! :)
Picture #4: Looking at the "card" on top. Yes, this did turn out to be the best thing for her! :)Picture #5: Checking out her gift.Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Outfit #1

Karys has two Valentine's Day outfits to wear. One was a short-sleeved onesie and the other, a long-sleeved footie outfit. Since today was warm outside and tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, it was a good day for the onesie. My awesome friend, Alison, has a new embroidery machine that she's learning to use. Yesterday she brought over a onesie that she embroidered for Karys. It turned out so cute! The first picture is the design on the onesie because I don't think it shows up too well in any of the pictures. Oh well--it looked so cute on her! Thanks, Alison!

More Exciting Firsts

1. She has held her own bottle! (Not all the time, but hey, she tries! :)

2. She pulls herself forward in the swing. I guess she doesn't have time to sit back and relax!

3. She tries to grab at the things on the mobile.


4. She can sit up independently!!

5. Why you would want to do this, I don't know, but she can put her foot in her mouth. Literally! :)



This girl is just growing up so fast!! :)