Time to play outside!

After we were done with the presents and cake, we all went outside to play. Playing outside with her Daddy is pretty much Karis' favorite thing to do in the whole world!

BPA (bisphenol-A) in bottles and sippy cups

For those of you who don't regularly check out my favorite Mommy blog, Prayer of Hannah, I just had to send you this link. BPA (bisphenol-A) has been found in most name-brand bottles and sippy cups and most Babies R Us stores are taking back used ones and giving store credit! I actually went there today and talked to them about it and confirmed that this is true. For more information, click here. To see what brands are actually ok, click here.

Bisphenol A is a hormone-mimicking chemical used in polycarbonate plastics (PC or identified as #7 recycling code) and resins commonly used for items such as shatterproof baby bottles. Bisphenol has estrogenic properties which, in animal tests has shown to cause a bevy of health problems such as an increase in prostate and breast cancer, uro-genital abnormalities in male babies, a decline in semen quality in men, early onset of puberty in girls, metabolic disorders including insulin-resistant (Type 2) diabetes and obesity and neurobehavioral problems such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Research is showing that when plastic containers, mostly those used to hold liquids and foods, are leeching Bisphenol into the foods and liquids they are holding. Heating food and liquids with these plastics is shown to increase the leeching of this contaminate.

Many companies use this chemical in their packaging including cans, soda cans, and plastic food containers. There is a risk of absorbing this chemical through the use of containing foods and liquids but can also leech into our water systems through landfills.

Many leading experts argue that the use of Bisphenol is safe to the human public but research may begin to further prove otherwise.

Excerpt from Wikipedia:

“Bisphenol A has been known to leach from the plastic lining of canned foods and, to a lesser degree, polycarbonate plastics that are cleaned with harsh detergents or used to contain acidic or high-temperature liquids.[16] Infants fed with liquid infant formula have among the highest exposures of anyone eating canned foods. Infants fed canned formula with polycarbonate bottles can consume quantities of Bisphenol A up to 13 µg/kg/day.”

(info found on http://www.safemama.com)

Time for cake!

For Karis's birthday cake, I made her a raisin spice cake (from my Nourishing Traditions cookbook) and we just put cool whip on it. I made her cream cheese from fresh goat's milk to make her some yummy icing, but even though it worked, that goat cheese is just so strong I just couldn't bring myself to put it on her cake :) Needless to say, she loved the coolwhip and ate tons of it! She wasn't too messy, though, and even saved room for some strawberries at the end. I was expecting it to be all in her hair like her mac and cheese usually is, but she kept it on her face pretty well :) Her Papa took a video of her stuffing her face, but I don't have a copy yet, so you'll just have to believe me that she was pretty fascinated with it :)

Birthday fun!

Karis had a lot of fun on her birthday, primarily because of all the attention she was receiving... in fact, she turned out to be quite the entertainer for her guests :) Here are some clips to show you how much fun she was having. The first clip just shows how much of a chatter box she was pretty much the entire time...



I apologize for the fact that this second clip is sideways...I cannot seem to remember that I can't do vertical shots on video because they won't flip like the still shots :) But I loved seeing her laugh so much and thought you would enjoy it even if it is sideways :)


Karis got a baby ipod from her Nina and Papa which she was really excited about. She loved being able to push the buttons and change the music. Plus, it was fun to hold or chew. But dancing was the best part and really cracked us up :) Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to upload on our computer. So we'll try again when we go to Grandpa's house in a couple of weeks and see if it works on his computer.

New birthday shoes!

Well, I never thought I'd see my baby wearing pink and silver Nike shocks! But Karis really needed some tennis shoes for playing outside and her Nina had heard that the shocks were really good for babies so nothing else would do :) And I must say, they really so work well for her. She was always falling down outside because of the uneven ground and now she is just running everywhere! And of course, they are also just so cute! Daddy is just a bit jealous because he has never had shocks before but he thinks they are so cute on her that its ok :)

Daddy is a Master :)

Friday was graduation day for Mark! Now, he still has 2 summer intensives left to complete the requirements of his degree, but since he has done so well in all his classes, the Dean let him graduate early. (He will be officially done August 1st). It is such an accomplishment and Karis and I are soooo proud of him! He now has an MDiv in Advanced Biblical Studies. Here are some shots of the special day. I didn't want to put Karis in a nursery with tons of other kids and workers that she didn't know, so she came with us! As you can tell from the first pic, she was pretty intimidated by the crowd at first :)


But then she found Grandma's glasses and decided that this might be a fun place after all :) She did pretty well during the singing, but then when everyone got quiet to hear the prayer, Karis decided that they must be getting quiet to hear her! So Grandma took her off to the prayer room to play so that her gleeful squeals wouldn't be so distracting :) They had a lot of fun while Mama tried to take pics of Daddy graduating.


Karis liked his hat so much that we let her wear it :)

Trying to walk in her poofy dress that kept tripping her :)

What a fun, exciting,and exhausting weekend!

Whew, this weekend was a blast! Both grandparents came to visit, Mark graduated, we had a big graduation party, and Karis had a little family birthday party! It really was fun that never ended for Karis and I hope she won't be too disappointed next week when things quiet down. We have tons of pics and I'll be blogging them as I get a chance this week.

In these pics: Karis loved wearing her pretty dress from Grandma Susan, although sometimes it kinda got under her feet :) She thought it was great fun to pat the poofyness during church :) And Aunt Mel and Uncle Rich gave her a Leapfrog Lily that she absolutely adores and has been carrying around the house ever since :)

And since everyone has been asking how I feel, I'll give a quick update: We found out last Sunday morning that I was pregnant, but it was pretty hard to believe because I sure didn't feel like it. Around 1:30 am on Tuesday morn, my crazy cat woke me up and I went to let him out. All of a sudden, I was hit with morning sickness! I felt so sick and could not go back to sleep for a couple of hours. Its amazing how suddenly it hits. But I was kinda relieved to actually feel pregnant :) But so far, its very much like my last pregnancy: just ickiness in the morning and a need for tons of food and naps :) Definitely worth it!

1 Year Old!

1 month old3 months old
1 year old!



As you can tell from my previous posts this week, I really cannot believe that my baby is 1 year old! Where in the world did the time go? Honestly, each month I groan and wish she would stay a baby, but each month has truly been my favorite! She just gets more and more fun every day!

I love watching her toddle around the house, chattering away about who knows what. She talks to everything and just makes the cutest sounds and pretty much never stops all day long. And her vocabulary is quickly growing! As is her personality :) She really knows what she wants these days and is quite adept at telling us! She loves to give high fives, learn new tricks from Daddy, play in the dirt, "help" me cook, and "help" Daddy in the yard. Balls are pretty much her favorite toys, along with tupperware :) She just got a kitchen center for her birthday and I think she is really going to have so much fun with it! Karis loves anyone who will smile at her and will pretty much go to anyone who reaches for her. In fact, sometimes she doesn't even want me to take her back! Quite the social butterfly :)

She loves to eat, but has definitely developed her Daddy's desire for variety. If I give her the same thing 2 days in a row, she will refuse it, even if she loved it the day before! (I, on the other hand, am a creature of habit and used to eat the same thing every day for breakfast and lunch. Now I fix us both something different every day :) We still have eggs every day for breakfast, except that one day they will be scrambled, the next poached, then fried, then an omlet, etc. She loves her eggs and they are sooo good for her. I no longer make her the cereal I used to (because she is tired of it :), but we do have some type of grain every day for breakfast: oatmeal, quinoa, millet, fried mush, waffles, muffins, and pancakes made from freshly ground and soaked grain. I have a new favorite cookbook/nutrition book: Nourishing Traditions, that is so incredible that it probably deserves its own post one day. All of Karis' breakfasts come from there. I am slowly trying to start cooking meals from there as well, but it will take a while til I can manage that :) A few snacks I don't think she will ever get tired of: a raisin, strawberry, or piece of banana will totally make her day :) I still try to give her avocado as often as possible, but she won't eat it every day anymore. The only meats she eats very regularly are chicken and salmon.

Discipline is going pretty well; she still wants to please but also wants to see what she can get away with :) She usually responds well to "no" and has even become fairly regular at the command "give," which is often directed to something she has put in her mouth, ha, ha. But she will usually either hand it to me or stick out her tongue so I can swipe it, which is so much better than me digging in her mouth for the old dried up piece of pasta that she somehow managed to find on the floor that I just swept :) She definitely has her moments that she wants her way and stiffens up and shrieks, but I have seen improvement even this week since I started swatting her thigh instead of just slapping her wrist. Please pray that she will have a tender heart and respond properly to our discipline so that one day she will respond properly to God. I plan to focus next on the command "come," so we will see how that goes.

Please continue to pray for Karis to steadily gain weight. Many pregnant mothers I know had trouble with their milk supply because of the fluctuating hormones. Even though Karis is a year old, I would like to keep nursing her since she is low weight and my milk has more fat and nutrients than any other milk. But we'll have to see if my milk holds up through the pregnancy.

I could keep on writing about my beloved sweet girl, but once again this post is way too long! (Whatever will I do in 7 1/2 months when I have 2 babies to write about? :) Please keep us in your prayers as I try to be the best mother possible through morning sickness :)

An early birthday surprise!

Well, Mark and I wanted to get Karis something really special for her first birthday...So we thought and thought and decided that this is a gift she will never forget! And because I have no patience, I talked Mark into letting her open it a day early :) Hope you enjoy watching her as much as we did :)

Karis loves books!

Great pictures and ever so yummy!

Alright, if you've made it this far, you've probably figured out our exciting news. If you are totally oblivious to detail, check out the new title to our blog and the titles to the books we gave Karis :)


Yep, I'm almost 7 weeks along! So exciting! God is so gracious and gives his children the best gifts imaginable!

The Evening of a miracle!

Since Karis turns a year old Thursday, I wanted to take a trip down memory lane and get a little emotional about the most amazing day of my life :) You don't have to read it all if you don't want to, but I just wanted to write it out so Karis would know how it all happened :)

This picture of me in Mark's clothes was taken shortly after my daily morning walk the day I went into labor. I was 5 days overdue and wanted to see Karis so badly!!! I had actually been hoping to get her here early, and so had been walking for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours each morning for the past month! Obviously, she was quite cozy in my belly and didn't really care how hard I was working to get here out! Luckily, I had an incredible pregnancy and although I got really worn out by the end of the day, I really had not experienced a lot of the backaches, sciatic nerve, and leg pain that most pregnant women feel once they are that far along. I don't know, maybe it was because I walked so much.

That particular day, I was incredibly busy. I don't even remember exactly what all I did, but I just remember what a relief it was when I finally got in the car with Mark and sat down. I decided to go to class with Mark that evening because he was giving a presentation that I wanted to hear. Plus, I had been having contractions on and off all day long and sure didn't want to be home by myself if I went into labor! As soon as I sat down in the classroom, I saw the clock on the wall. It was 7:00 and I began timing the contractions. From the time I sat down, they were exactly five minutes apart! I didn't want to mess up Mark's presentation by getting him excited or worried, so I didn't tell anyone. I had to work really hard to not let my face show how much pain I was in! The class lasted two hours. I knew I was having regular contractions, but it was so hard to believe that I was finally in labor! It kinda felt like one of those things that you look forward to but don't really expect to actually happen :) So I went downstairs to chat with some friends and all of a sudden, my water broke! I'll not describe it, but I will say that my contractions intensified 100x over once my water broke! Needless to say, I was in shock! I was so overcome that I couldn't even find the words to tell Mark what had happened! But he figured it out soon enough and we ran home to grab our bags and soon were off to the hospital, calling everyone we knew to let them know that the time had finally come!!!

The group in the picture above me was my support group, along with Mark. I was soooo glad to have them in the room with me! We got to the hospital around 10:00pm and I didn't start pushing until around 9:00 the next morning, so they kept me company during that miserable 11 hour stretch. I labored without medication until about 5:00am, at which point my Mom thankfully convinced me that I wouldn't have any strength left to push if I didn't get some rest. I was unable to sleep at all because my contractions were so frequent and so strong. I had almost been awake for 24 hours at this point and was almost delirious. What an immediate relief that epidural was! It was painful to put in, but nothing near as painful as the contractions!!! Definitely worth it!!! I was finally able to doze on and off in between nurses checking me.

I am pretending to not be in pain in this pic, ha! Finally, at 9am the nurse said that I could finally start pushing! It was truly the most exciting thing I have ever done! The nurse said that it would probably take several hours, but it just took about 1 :) I had decided to let both of the grandmothers be in the delivery room because they were so excited about their new grandbaby and I just really wanted them to be able to be there the moment she arrived! Plus, I really wanted my mom's support!

The most exciting moment of my life!

Growing up, I always thought that my wedding day would be the most exciting day of my life. And it was absolutely perfect, a dream come true. I thought nothing could top it. But holding my baby girl for the very first time brought emotions that I cannot even begin to describe. I have never felt such a thrill in my life. May 22, at 10:08 am will never, ever be forgotten!

She was absolutely perfect!

Our first family photo!!!

Waaaaayyyyy bigger than anyone expected! 8 pounds, 13 ounces and 21.5 inches long! I definitely would have had a quicker recovery if she had been early and not so big, but she was so incredibly healthy that I wouldn't change it for anything! She nursed like a champ the first time and every time after and was a fabulous sleeper. I really think it had a lot to do with the fact that she had time to grow big and strong inside me.