Credit Card Troubles

We use our credit cards for almost all of our purchases. Each month we are able to pay it off, but this month was different. Our bill was crazy high. Here is a recent conversation about it between Derek and me.

Derek: Have you looked at this last credit card bill?

Lena: No, why?

Derek: It's really high this month. It looks like there were a lot of online purchases. Have you been shopping online?

Lena: No

Derek: You sure?

Lena: Of course. I haven't bought anything. Have you?

Derek: Nope.

Lena: What were the purchases?

Derek: There are several purchases from Baby Gap and Toys R Us and a membership to Gymboree classes.

Lena: Nope, I haven't purchased anything from there this month.

Derek: Well, that's strange. I wonder what happened...

Look How Pretty My Husband Is

Derek doesn't look half bad in a white dress! We had to create a wedding dress out of toilet paper at our friends' wedding shower.

This is what I created for my husband:

Here he is trying to look like a pretty bride while not moving lest the dress would fall apart:

We won first prize!

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.

GUILTY

I (Lena) caught Karis this morning sucking on her toes. She puts everything in her mouth as of late so I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised that her toes would eventually make their way into her mouth. Not sure what the appeal of the toes are. I can't imagine they taste good or that that position is comfortable. She has managed to get four toes in at one time. Maybe we should give her the pacifier back...

Guess What Karis Did Today

Today Karis ate solid food for the first time.  We were going to hold off on feeding her solids until she turned six months; however, she has not been eating well this past month.  We're not sure if she has stomach issues or if she is just not interested in eating.  We're hoping that solids will help settle her tummy and make up for some missing calories.

Karis turned five months of age yesterday and has shown signs of being ready to take on solids (e.g, head control, curiosity about what we're eating, sits well), so I gave her some rice cereal.  She ate about two teaspoons of it, minus what ended up on her face and bib.  It was fun to watch her figure out this new thing called eating.  

She Looks Like Her Mommy. She Looks Like Her Daddy.

Most people either tell us that Karis looks like both of us or that she is a "mini-Lena." I can see parts of her face that resemble mine, but when I look at her, I don't see me in her face. Well, I think I now know why. She doesn't look like me, she looks like Derek when he was little! I'm going to start calling her mini-Derek.

Mother's Day

We've had a great visit in Arizona this weekend with my mom. Karis was on display all weekend long! We're going to have a tough time keeping up with all the lovin' Grammie showed Karis.

We also were able to introduce Karis to her second cousin Bella. The girls were instantly friends hugging like they've known each other for years. =)

But when the little ladies were on the floor (we thought playing), Karis snagged the camera to get a self-portrait of the two bff's.

It will be a long drive home (sad for all), but we are grateful to have the time that we did. We hope to have Karis visiting Grandma again soon.

And, of course, a photo of mother Lena and daughter Karis.

Sleep Training

When Karis was about five weeks old, she "woke up."  She no longer slept the day away.  It was a struggle to get her to nap.  Once she finally fell asleep, she didn't sleep long.  This stressed me out since I would soon be going back to work.  Others would have to take care of her and I knew how frustrating and tiring it was to try all day long to get her to sleep.  I didn't want anyone to be frustrated with my baby!

Not long after, Karis finally took to the pacifier.  It was wonderful!  Pop it in her mouth and her eyelids got heavy.  She was soon off to dreamland and she would sleep at least 45 minutes.  The only thing was that if the pacifier fell out, we would have to go and put it back in her mouth.  I didn't think it was a problem because she only did it during her naps and not at night. 

Well, fast forward about 15 weeks and she started to wake up several times a night needing her pacifier.  I decided it was time to wean her off the pacifier so she could learn to fall back to sleep on her own and we would both get better sleep.

I hesitated and put off and dreaded this sleep training b/c several weeks prior, I didn't give her the pacifier when she cried at night.  She cried the most awful cry.  She screamed and then she started to sweat and gag... It was awful and I couldn't bear it for more than a couple minutes.  I thought we were going to have to hear hours of that kind of crying all night long!  Surprisingly, it was nothing like that.  The first night she just whimpered for a couple minutes and then fell back to sleep.  She did this about 3 or 4 times in an hour or so and then she was done.  She hasn't woken up since needing a pacifier (waking up to feed is a different story!).  

Naptimes were a bit more challenging.  It took her about 40-45 minutes to fall asleep for a nap the first day without a pacifier.  Again, thankfully it wasn't the bloody-murder cry she cried.  The next day took about 20-25 minutes for her to fall asleep and by the third day we were down to 5-10 minutes.  

So all should be great and our baby should be getting plenty of great sleep night and day.  Nope!  During this "sleep training" process, Karis has mastered the art of rolling on her back.  When she is fighting to fall asleep, she'll roll on her back and play with her newfound toy -- her feet.  She isn't able to fall asleep like that so we have to turn her over onto her stomach (so now we've gone from going in to give her the pacifier to going in to flip her over).  The other night she flipped on her back. I found her in the wee hours on her back, eyes wide open and a foot in each hand.   She also wakes up too early in the morning and instead of falling back to sleep, she'll roll over and hang out with her feet.

So, we've kicked the pacifier habit but now we have the foot fettish issue.  I can't wait until she can roll back over by herself (but that typically doesn't happen for another month or two) and maybe then we'll have a baby that sleeps well!  But, I've been a mom long enough to know that something else is bound to come up by then!

- Lena

Regaining my life... starting today

TODAY is finally here. By midnight tonight, I will once again have more time to spend with my family who has been much neglected since February 10. Seminary responsibilities for this semester will be completed. WOO HOO!! I may need a day or two of extra rest, but I am excited.

Here are ten things (not necessarily the top ten) I am eager to start (again):

1. Having more mental capacity to engage intellectually with Lena (relative term for me... "engage at my previous level").
2. Having time and energy to do things as a family (go for walks, play together, eat together).
3. More time with Karis!
4. Bicycle rides with no guilt.
5. Motorcycle rides with no guilt.
6. Completing honey do's.
7. Making Tuesdays family night for the Robinsons.
8. Reading fun books for fun... I've built up a small stack of Grisham and Baldacci novels.
9. Taking an auto mechanic class for pleasure and education.
10. Actually visiting with my nephews on Mondays instead of being there in an all-business study mood.

We Hate to Brag, But...

at just under 5 months, Karis can now read. While other babies play with rattles, Karis enjoys sitting in her chair with a good book. Here she is enjoying one of her favorites that Aunt Stephanie bought for her. Maybe all that studying paid off (click here to see what she's been studying).

We're joking. She just knows how to hold a book.