Sleepy girl

Is it Monday already? This past weekend was good, but it would have been nice to have one more day for the weekend! Needless to say, we were pretty lazy and it carried over to this morning as well - Karmann (and I) slept in till almost 10 am! Of course we were up at 3 am and 6:30 am to nurse, but slept most of the morning away. Thank goodness for half-day workdays! Above are a few photos of Karmann asleep. The first one I laid her in our bed for a split second while I got dressed this morning, and she took it over quite well! The other is of Karmann in her crib for a nap this weekend. I had to get a photo of her all sprawled out and totally relaxed! I think once we actually let her sleep in the crib she will love having the space. 

Beside all the sleeping this weekend, we also had Karmann's photos professionally taken. We got a few family shots, too, of course. She pretty much cooperated for the photo shoot here at our place. She did end up surprising Kris during the "naked baby" photo and peed on him and the floor pretty good! I thought it was funny - and it could have been worse! But after that, we got her a diaper and about 4 other outfits for the different shots. We tried really hard to get her to smile, but she was in a serious mood, so I'm not sure if we got any or not. She's so pretty anyway - she doesn't need to smile to be picturesque!! I can't wait to see how they turn out and I will share of course. 

Tomorrow Great Nannie Starbody is flying into town to visit Miss Karmann for a week! I can't wait for the two of them to meet as I think Nan will fall in love, and I can't wait to see Karmann's reaction to Nannie's silliness! I know I will be entertained! I am looking forward to it! 

12 lbs 10 oz

at the ballgamegetting ready to yawn

just a happy girl!

Yesterday Karmann had another appointment with the oral therapist as a follow-up to the previous sessions. I like to say that she is passed the "lazy" phase and is eating just fine - in fact when we weighed her, she was 12 lbs 10 oz! That means she has gained 5 lbs since she was born! The therapist is also a physical therapist, so last time she helped us with some exercises for Karmann to improve holding up her head and handle tummy time. She also has improved on that! So, we don't have any scheduled appointments but will continue to use them as resource. 

Karmann is also doing really well in the sleeping department. She is starting to sleep most of the night. Usually from around 9 or 10 until 5 or 6 in the morning. Then she eats and goes back to sleep until 9 or 10. This gives me enough time to get myself ready in the morning! Though things will change once I go back to work full time! We still have not had Karmann sleep at night in her room in the crib. I think we will be making that transition starting this weekend. She has almost out grown the bassinet, so we really have no choice! Too bad we can't keep her this small forever! We need to get a fan and a nightlight for her room and then I will feel more comfortable with her sleeping in there. 

Above are a few photos that T+S took of Karmann last weekend - enjoy!

Spring Training and Baby Training for T+S

This weekend we were lucky to have our good friends Todd & Sara visit from Columbus, Ohio. It was a quick 3-day weekend for them, but we packed in a lot of stuff! Though we were minus Mike & Audra & Brook, and in Florida instead of Arizona, this constituted our annual spring training trip. T+S arrived on Friday and headed right to the Kissimmee Ballpark for a Reds vs. Astros game with Kris and Karmann (Holly had to work.) Then we headed downtown to Thornton Park for dinner at City Fish, which was a lot of fun. But with an early rise and a big day ahead of us on Sat, we all headed to bed fairly early.
Saturday, we woke up early and headed to Lakeland to visit Florida Southern College to see the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. This campus has the most number of FLW buildings in one place, and since T+S are architects, too, we figured it would be a fun little trip. (BTW, this was Karmann's first FLW visit, too!) After that we headed to Disney for a game between the Mets and the Braves, and then strolled through Celebration after and had some ice cream, too!

Sara & Holly in front of the Water Dome Fountain at FSU (Sara looking great at 24 weeks!)

Little Miss Karmann in her sunglasses - Elton John impression!

As I mentioned before, Todd and Sara are expecting a baby in July, so this was not just baseball spring training, but a little "baby training" for them as well. They were both naturals and are going to be great parents! I think they would have taken Karmann home with them if we had let them! Karmann enjoyed hanging out with them as well and she (and we) can't wait to meet the little one soon! We so look forward to Spring Training AZ9 next year! After a big day Saturday, Sunday was laid back as we had breakfast at "Chez Stenger" and then headed to Winter Park for the annual Art Festival. The weather has been so nice all weekend, and Sunday was no exception. It was a crowded event, but we all had a great time seeing some interesting art and eating great "fair food"! Unfortunately, Sara and Todd had to head back to the Midwest this afternoon, but I think we all had a great time. Next time we see them there will be a new addition to the family and we look forward to that as well!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=96446290305.194884685705.1237771555587

See the link above for a few more photos...

3 months old!

Yesterday was Karmann's 3-month birthday! Both Kris and I agree that time goes by way too fast when you have an adorable little baby! I think back to the first few weeks when Karmann had nursing issues and then see her chubby little legs and cheeks and say - what was I worried about?!? All the hard work has paid off! 

She is growing like a weed and doing a lot of cute baby things. She loves her hands and sucks on her fingers. She recently has switched the hand that she sucks on - mostly because she found her thumb verses just fingers. It is so cute - she sucks her right thumb and puts left arm over her eyes when she goes to sleep. It might be because I leave a light on in the room and maybe she doesn't like it - but it lets me see that she's breathing! She's blowing bubbles a lot too! She also has been gripping things and is starting to grab and touch things. She loves her little dog "Sweetly" and smiles and pets it when she gets close to it. Her smiles are now accompanied with little sounds - usually an inhale "laugh" or a long single syllable monotone noise, which could be considered a word, I guess! Also, as mentioned in the last post, she is getting really good at lifting her legs and turning to her side. She mostly does this to turn to see the TV - she loves the flashing lights and colors (especially of the baseball games :)) She still doesn't like tummy time, but she is getting better and can tolerate it for a little bit longer each day. She has grown out of almost all the little outfits with feet, so she is officially in 3-6 month size clothes, though she has a lot of room to grow into them. 

I still haven't figured out what color her hair will be. Its still mostly dark, but her eyebrows are much lighter. I still have hopes that her hair is curly, and I think it will be. Her hair in the back does curl a little after we wash it so I'm excited about that. 

She is still the sweetest little thing. Kris surprised me at work on Wednesday and brought her up to the office at the end of the day. She was so good and observing everything and everyone. I believe she recognized a lot of the voices and maybe that's why she was so calm. Kris will have to bring her up again when more people are there. 

Anyway, to sum it all up, it is amazing how much she has changed in just 3 months! We are so proud of our little angel and look forward to all the milestones in the next few months as well! 

Little tidbits

Gotta love the chubby little legs!

Step one: chew on fingers

Step two: talk to "Sweetly" our favorite stuffed animal

Step three: roll onto back

Step four: bring the legs up and roll onto side!!

Though I know that Karmann will have her 3 month birthday this week, and I will probably do a post then as well, but I wanted to remember to post that she rolled to her side this past weekend! (See photos). She is also outgrowing all her 0-3 month size clothes that have feet in them! She is getting more of a personality everyday as she smiles, talks - and cries - to communicate her needs as clearly as possible. She is also gripping and grabbing for things, especially our clothes when we hold her! She is trying to sleep longer periods at night, though it is not consistent yet. We're working on an earlier bed time - like Dad's bed time- she is a little fussy so far, but its only been a few days. She is changing and growing everyday and I don't want to forget it! Anyway, enjoy the photos!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of St. Patty's day, I dressed Karmann up (again) in one of her new little outfits from Grandma Stenger, which happens to be green! I didn't get a smile this time as she was a little sleepy (she ended up taking a 2.5 hr nap this morning!) Also, here are a few photos from the past few weeks that I have been meaning to post - mostly of my brother and his wife (a.k.a Uncle Adam and Aunt Delana). Enjoy! 

Spring Training game 4 - for Karmann!

As I mentioned, last weekend Grandma and Papa Stenger were visiting, and of course we went to a Cardinal game at the Astro's Spring training facility in Kissimee. Here are a few photos from Kris' cell phone:  Karmann and Papa :)

Also, since Kris and I are still on half-day schedules at work, Deb (a.k.a Grandma) stayed the rest of the week to hang out with Karmann. We had a great time with Grandma!! Here's a photo of her pushing Karmann at Leu Gardens, which she, Karmann and Kris visited one afternoon. 

Here's another photo of Karmann at a spring training game - I think this was game #2

Then, Friday night was our first night game in Kissimmee with Alberto & Bianca and Family (including Lucia, Albertico, Joe & Martha, Olga & Dr Sanchez, and Olga & Quinn & Bella). We had great seats that seemed like a private section in the stadium!! I enjoyed it since I had to nurse Karmann in the middle of the game. Here's a pic of Karmann, Holly & Alberto (Quinn in the background).

And within all the comotion, Karmann fell asleep after she ate...too cute!!

Today we've been staying close to home. We took a good walk this morning and have been watching all the Big 10 basketball games on TV. Plus laundry and little things around the house. Not much else to talk about...I gues that is a good thing! Have a good weekend!

Kris in rare Friday night form! (Olga in background :))

Take Karmann out to the Ballgame...again!

Ready for the Cardinals Game!


Dads with the kids!

Asleep with Grandma and Papa Stenger after the game

Friday evening Kris' parents flew in from the crummy midwest and are going to hang out in sunny florida for a few and visit with Karmann. The Cardinals were also in town to play the Astros in Kissimmee on Saturday, so we all went to the game. So Karmann finally met THE team, though this was actually her 3rd spring training game this season. Our good friends Alberto and Bianca and Alberto's family were there too. Albertico, Lucia, and Karmann had a great time - especially with the dads. More photos from the game are below. Uncle Adam (my brother) and Aunt Delana are visiting sunny Florida too and will be coming over again today. Surely we will get more fun family photos to add to the album today! Enjoy!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=96446290305.635016135705.1236518633600

All smiles!

Karmann 10 weeks old

Little Spider Monkey!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=96446290305.250143515705.1236095437796

Karmann is smiling a lot now and Kris and I could just eat her up!! I've attached a few photos, but there's more at the link above. She's also found her fingers and they come in handy when she wakes up or wants to go to sleep! We also call her our little spider monkey, which as you can see in the photos with Kris, she is hanging on to his shirt for dear life! We are sure to have many more photos this month - Karmann's Uncle Adam and Aunt Delana are visiting, as well as Grandma and Pappa from Bloomington. Our friends Todd and Sara are visiting for Spring Training again in a few weeks, and then at the end of the month Great Nannie is coming to see Karmann too!

As you can also see in the photos, Karmann is really filling out! Now that she has sucking down pat, she is gaining weight more steadily. This is a good thing after all we've been through!! She's still as cute as can be :) 

Well, looking forward to all the events this month (oh, and I'll be dressing her in more than just pink this month, too!)