Valentine Daddy-Daughter Dance

Our friends' church hosted their first Daddy-Daughter dance. Mommy told Karis about the dance about two weeks prior. Karis spent only a few nights telling me, "I want to go to the dance now, Daddy." However, she did dress up nearly every night in a different dress to practice I guess.

I was excited for the opportunity to finally arrive to take Karis. She was thrilled to put on her pretty red dress, her fancy black shoes and stay up past bed time eating desserts and dancing. Here is a picture of her all ready to go:

Little sis wanted to get in on all the picture-taking action:


The cute couple:

As we were exiting the van to head into the dance, Karis let this precious thought slip, "Daddy, daddy, tonight is best night ever!"

And here's one with some flair at the dance:

The best parts of the dance were watching Karis dance. She had a B-L-A-S-T! Here is one of the videos of her cutting the rug.

Karis Vday dance 2012 from LenaDerek on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Karis!

We threw a party to celebrate Karis' 2nd birthday. We debated whether we wanted to do a party since we could have easily gotten away with celebrating with just a little cake for the four us. But, Derek really wanted to get Karis a jumper because she LOVES them.

We created a guest list with mainly her friends and the adults that have watched her and cared for her. The theme was ladybugs with a Dora jumper (her favorite TV show as of late).

Leading up to the party, we showed her the party invitation and told her she was having a party with all her friends. She seemed to understand and she was excited. I don't know how many times we heard her saying, "happy" throughout the week.

Derek also began "training" her on how to blow out candles. With candles or with his fingers representing candles, he made her practice blowing out as hard as she could. I laughed every time they did this, but it paid off because she did a great job blowing out her candles!

Karis had been sick all week, but we knew she wouldn't be short of energy for her party. After sleeping in that morning (since she woke up at 5 am having trouble breathing with her congested nose), here is a video of her seeing the jumper for the first time in our frontyard.

Here are some photos my sister took during the party.

Daddy and Karis in the jumper (I told you she loves them!):

Mommy and Makena in the jumper:

The ladybug cake and cupcakes I made for the party:

As her birthday approached, we tried to get Karis to hold up two fingers when we asked her how old she is. The best her little fingers could do was hold up three fingers. When the cake came out, we asked her how old she is. In the excitement of it all, she held up six fingers... eh well, I guess we should have practiced that one a little more.

Karis reveled in all the attention as everyone sang her Happy Birthday:

Karis blowing out her two candles. She did it!

High-5s all around:

She loved blowing out her candles so much that she wanted to do it again. We re-lit the candles and then she made everyone sing to her again. Everyone was so great to indulge her and sing another round.

Our guests snacking and hanging out:

Karis and her buddy. She was a little "high" from all the m&m's he was letting her eat.

The girls were finished with lunch and ready to go back out for more jumping:

Today's Pics

We spent a good amount of time at the playground today. It was such a nice day!

I usually keep Makena in the stroller while Karis plays. Today, I let her loose!

Karis climbing the rock wall with ease:

Quick Update on Makena

Makena is now 7 1/2 months old. She crawls all over the house. If she's not crawling, she is standing up. She has just started to stand up on her own. I think she will be walking soon...




She's also saying "mama" and "night-night".

Daddy Daughter Time

This is what they do when I'm not around...

Our Crazy Happy Kid

Here is a little video of our crazy kid with endless amounts of energy. This was taken at the end of the day when you'd think she would be winding down and doing a quiet activity.

rAnDoM piCtURes of kAriS

Earlier this week, we took the girls to Petsmart to see the animals. Afterwards we went to Jerry's Dogs and Coffee Bean. It was a fun spur-of-the-moment family outing. Here is a picture of Karis enjoying a product from Coffee Bean for the first time. I gave her her own cup and spoon but she hijacked mine and worked from both of them.

We bought Karis her own sofa/futon. Secretly it was in hopes that she would stay off of our couch which she loves to jump all over (we're just waiting for a bad tumble off the couch one of these days). It didn't work but we like how she enjoys her pint-sized furniture.

Karis always keeps us laughing whether it be because of a facial expression or something she does. Here are a few examples:

The other day while I was making Karis her dinner, I gave her a raw carrot to keep her occupied. I then went upstairs. When I returned, I found her walking in my shoes with a carrot in hand. She looked like a clown!

I put Karis down for a nap today even though she told me she wasn't tired. She fell asleep in a squatting position. After I snapped the picture, she fell forward onto her face, let out a soft whimper, and then continued to sleep for 2 1/2 hours.

The other day my friend dropped off her baby while she went to an appointment. It was fun watching the two of them play together. Here is what they enjoyed doing the most.

Not All Fluffies Are The Same

Karis' little blankie is affectionately called Fluffy. She has been sleeping with it since she was a few months old. I think she knew who we were referring to when we said "Fluffy" before "Mommy" and "Daddy." She has grown to love this little blue dog. It makes her smile whenever she sees it; it calms her crankiness when she is in the car seat; it lulls her to sleep at nap time and bed time. Whenever she gets a hold of Fluffy, she hugs it, sometimes stuffs its head in her mouth to give it a big smooch and her two fingers always go in her mouth.

When Karis started to take Fluffy out of the crib to play with and when Fluffy started to come along with us on car rides, I knew it was necessary to find a second one lest we lose the original. Derek and I, and even Grandma, spent a lot of time looking for a new Fluffy. We searched local stores and on the Internet, but with no tag, it was hard to find one.

After a couple of months of looking, I was ready to give up. One day I decided to check eBay one more time. To my surprise, I saw a "Fluffy" on sale by a lady who collects lost and hard-to-find lovies. I was shocked and called Derek right away to buy it.

So we were all quite thrilled to know that we had a 2nd Fluffy. It looked just like the original, but with a slightly larger head and softer. We gave it to Karis, but that little buggar won't buy it. She knows it isn't her Fluffy. Here is a video of what she does when she sees the 2nd one, which we now call Fluffier.

So now we're still in the same predicament. If we lose the original Fluffy, we are due for a crisis. We leave Fluffier out for her to play with and I throw it in the wash whenever I do laundry. We're hoping it'll start to grow on her.

Today I Am 10 Months Old!

Check me out! Good thing we're moving to a bigger place. I'm gonna need more space to practice. I'll be running in no time!

The Remote

Two Facts about Karis:

1) She knows that the remote does something to the TV. You'll see in the video she looks over her shoulder a couple of times. She is looking at the TV.

2) She clearly knows what she should not be doing or playing with. This is displayed in the last couple seconds of the video.

JACK IN THE BOX

Karis has been laughing a lot more.  She most often laughs when she is tickled or scared -- like if you pretend like you're going to drop her or if you startle her.  I figured the perfect toy for her would be a jack-in-the-box.  The toy would make a cute noise and then out jumps "jack" to scare her.  Well, it's hard to find a jack-in-the-box nowadays, so I made my own version.  Here is a video of Karis' reaction.  

A good laugh...

It's been some time since Karis was in her laughing stage. When we were visiting her cousins this past weekend, Karis found their antics funny and laughed several times.

Karis is startled quite easily by loud noises. Today, however, she found loud noises quite entertaining. Not much beats listening to a young child's laughter.

- Derek

Karis' reaction to being filmed without permission

Karis has been drawn to the little lights from electronics - whether it is the baby monitor or our videocamera. I actually think she knows something is happening to her.

Here's a short video of her reaction after she realizes that she is being videotaped without her consent.

K not desiring to be videotaped from LenaDerek on Vimeo.

A couple more Karis' firsts...

Karis smiles quite often. But Saturday night with some friends for a BBQ, Karis actually laughed out loud. It was past her bedtime, Lena was putting her in the car seat, and Karis was starting to cry. Lena picked up the car seat and tried to entertain Karis by shaking the car seat. Check out Karis finding it funny below.


First Giggles - 3.21.09 from LenaDerek on Vimeo.

Also, she held her own bottle for me for the first time today.

What a proud papa I am!