Road Trip!

We took Kara to visit the grandparents (and Uncle Trey and Great Grandma B.) down in Alabama this past weekend, which was her first trip outside the Greenville area. She had some rough spots on the drive down there and the drive back (5 hours in a car is a long time in baby world), but overall, the trip was a success.  She slept through night like a champ and enjoyed playing with all the people (and dogs) during the days.

On Saturday, Heather, Justin, and Sean came down from Auburn to meet Kara.  Sean thought Kara was very interesting.  Kara worked the crowd by talking the whole time and impressing everyone with her rolling over skills.

Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma had a great time playing with Kara, feeding Kara, and reading with Kara during the weekend.  Thanks again for having us!

5 months old already? Wait, what happened here?

Kara is growing up so fast!  The first three months or so (with the short naps during the day and several wake-ups during the night) seemed to be in slow motion, but since then, time has been in fast forward.  We can't figure out where the last month went!  I always thought it was silly when parents said "They grow up so fast", but it's true!

Kara smiles much more these days, though she makes you work for them.  It seems like most of our days are spent trying to make her smile or laugh (dancing, singing, making funny faces).  She enjoys playing Pat-A-Cake with Mommy, watching Daddy do Itsy Bitsy Spider, reading Quick As A Cricket, or playing the piano with Mommy.

Kara still hasn't figured out how to crawl but she's desperately trying to.  She's getting really close, but still hasn't gotten the coordination down.  She has, however, figured out how to roll over from her back to her stomach.  Which is good, except that she does it during naps and then can't figure out how to roll from her stomach to her back.  Hopefully that'll be the next thing she figures out.

The big news these days is that Kara is sleeping through the night.  She's slept through the night every night (except a couple times) since March 30th.  Life is much better when everybody's getting sleep during the night.

Link to pictures

The Return of Uncle Trey

Uncle Trey came up to visit Kara last week.  Trey hadn't seen Kara since she was about 4 weeks old, so it had been awhile.  The week was filled with shoulder rides, singing and piano playing.  Trey ended up staying a couple days longer than originally planned because he was having so much fun with Kara.

Kara is really starting to enjoy playing the piano.  Okay, maybe 'play the piano' is a little strong, but she does hit the keys and seems to have fun doing it.  Uncle Trey and Mommy played Heart and Souls a few times, which Kara really enjoyed.  Mommy is slowing building to the list of solids Kara has tried.  She's now tasted rice cereal, bananas, carrots, and peas.  The latest, peas, were not a favorite of Kara's.  She ate most of them, but she made a face with every bite.  We got some video, which I posted below the pictures. I also posted a video of Kara blowing raspberries at Mommy.

In other news, Greenville is on the short list for Google's "Google Fiber" project, which will build a 1Gbps Fiber Optics network in a city. Check out the website and Vote for Greenville. Here is some more information on Greenville's bid.

Link to pictures

Easter and Carrots

Kara is continuing to explore new solid foods. She seems to enjoy bananas and carrots. She is getting better at eating solids every day. We think she might have even swallowed some last time. :)

This past Sunday was Easter. We went over to the neighbor's house for Easter dinner. Kara wore her pretty little dress that Ms. Heather sent to her (see the pictures).  She was the most popular person there!  People were lining up to hold and play with her, and Mommy and Daddy got several babysitting offers.

She is such a pretty little girl.  See the pictures

4-months old and Trying Solid Foods

Kara had her 4-month checkup visit to the doctor last week. She weighed in at 13 pounds, 8 oz (45th percentile) and measured 24 3/4 inches long (68th percentile). In addition to getting weighed a measured, Kara had her next set vaccination shots. She was not too happy about that.

Now that Kara's four months old, the doctor said she can start trying out solid foods. Mommy and Kara tried to eat some rice cereal mixed with baby formula this week. It did not go well. Kara spit out pretty much everything and ended up getting really mad at Mommy. They tried again with bananas a couple of days later, and that seemed to work better. We think Kara might have actually swallowed some of the bananas. Our little girl is growing up so fast!

Kara is enjoying her new found thumb these days. As soon as you put her down in her crib, she rolls over onto her left side and starts sucking on her left thumb. Kara's better at soothing herself and has been sleeping better recently, which is just fine with Mommy and Daddy.