Just Cute

Dad Quote Of The Week

I'll set the scene for you:

I'm sitting on the couch reading "Baby's Pumpkin" to Sophia. Basically it's a book about a baby looking for her pumpkin behind curtains, under tables, etc. until she find's it outside (go figure). The story is pretty lame but the baby is dressed in velvet sparkly material and reflective shiny stuff that she (and me) loves. And he says:

"You know, children's books are kinda like porn. The plot really isn't all that important."

Profound I tell you. Absolutely genius, that man is.

Oops!

I forgot to post my 5 month numbers!

Weight: 13 lbs 1oz.

Height: 24 1/2"

Current Interestes: "petting" Gabe, spitting up and splashing in the tub.

Future Goals: sitting unassisted, not spitting up and a double pike off the diving board.

Oh, and mom thought it would be funny to put Gabe's Christmas hat on me. I wasn't amused.

I'm 5 Months Old!!!!

Today I turned 5 months old and we celebrated by eating cereal! That's right, I had cereal for the very first time today and......I LOVED IT!!! I wasn't sure about the consistency at first but once I realized I could swallow it ok I just kept eating and eating. Here are some pictures from my 5 month birthday....



Hi everyone. Here we go.,...

Hmmm.....not sure about this.

It's kinda goopy.

But it tastes DARN good!

Rock On!

Check out my cool onesies that Monica and Kev made me for Christmas!!!

I'll let you guess which one was made with mommy in mind and which one was made with daddy in mind : )

Did You Say "Milk" The Baby?

Last night was Infant Massage night at our Beaumont Parenting group. That nurse with the fake baby came and told mom & dad to do the "Swedish Milking" move on me. Say what? I tried puking on them to convince them not to get too close but apparently they are immune to my defenses these days. They "milked" my legs (stroke from ankle to thigh) and finished by "combing" my back. I must admit, it was rather nice and as always anything that involves dis-robing is good in my book. Here are a few pictures of my night of relaxation...

30 is Turdy

Ah yes, the big 3-0. I haven't exactly been looking forward to my birthday this year seeing as it means entering into a new decade. Seems like just yesterday I was begging for a Rainbow Bright doll for my birthday.

The official doomsday isn't until tomorrow 12/12 but Taki surprised me this weekend with a wonderful night of luxury. He told me to pack a bag and loaded me into the car. We arrived at the new MGM Grand a while later where I was treated to an amazing evening. We went swimming, sat in the jacuzzi, met up with Mon & Kev and Paula and Blake for dinner at Mosaic, then met Garrick and Renee back at the hotel for a drink. It was wonderful to have a night without the baby monitor's buzz in our ear... although I must admit we couldn't wait to get back to her on Sunday. The room was incredible. Windows wrapped around it almost 360 degrees. There were two bathrooms. 3 flat screens, including one in the bathroom mirror. A ginormous tub. Yummy H2O bath products. The television and phone welcomed you with your name. Star treatment all the way. I snapped some photos to share. Thanks to Taki for the wonderful birthday surprise and thanks to my parents for taking care of our darling daughter while we were out on the town.

Santa!

Our wonderful friends Paula, Blake and Ailey invited us to join them at the DAC for a visit with Santa and a super yummy dinner! We had SO much fun. Santa gave Sophia and Ailey Gingerbread Men stuffed animals that are so cute. Sophia loves talking to Mr. Gingey (and spitting-up on him, thus he has already taken a dive into the washing machine). Here are a few pictures from our incredible evening. (Check Ailey's blog for MUCH better photos!)

Our wonderful friends Paula, Blake and Ailey invited us to join them at the DAC for a visit with Santa and a super yummy dinner! We had SO much fun. Santa gave Sophia and Ailey Gingerbread Men stuffed animals that are so cute. Sophia loves talking to Mr. Gingey (and spitting up on him, thus he has already taken a dive into the washing machine). Here are a few pictures from our incredible evening. (Check Ailey's blog for MUCH better photos!)

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Success! The tree is up and festivities may proceed!

It usually takes us forever to pick out our tree and I'm typically frozen towards the end just saying that every one Taki picks up looks like "the one" but this year it was insanely cold and we had a little one to be concerned about. So for the first time in Karras history we picked a tree that didn't even have the plastic netting off. We then threw it on top of the car and Taki tied it as best he could and we crossed our fingers that it wouldn't fly off the entire way home.

Funny thing is....often we say that things aren't quite as easy to do with a child around but in all honesty they sometimes are. Sure we picked a tree sight unseen but we didn't waste an hour deciding on it and instead spent that time in our warm home in front of a fire with our baby girl admiring our tree an hour longer then we would have before she came along.

Here are a few pictures of our newly festive house and Sophia "helping" us decorate.

Caution: Sounds Heard In Public May Not Be What They Seem

Taki totally pulled a "rocking cheeseburger" this weekend. He also almost got us kicked out of Ruby Tuesday...

We ventured out for a bit of Christmas shopping and tree picking on Saturday. We've been in search of a train that can go around the tree and eventually be passed down to Soph. We're in the store and Taki is holding the box (and this is a huge box) studying the details. I look over to see him swaying back and forth.
Me: "Are you rocking the train box?"
Him: "Yeah, SO What"

So on to Ruby Tuesday's for lunch. Sophia is a sucker for a zerbert. She cracks up and squeals with delight. Taki is the best zerbert giver on the planet. So as we wait for our check he's giving her loud zerberts on her cheeks over and over. I think it's cute until I realize the old man in the booth behind us has turned his head to look at us in disgust. It's then that I realize he thinks we're a table full of public farters. If only I could show you the look on his face....priceless.

Here is a picture of Sophia at the scene of the crime.

p.s. She was wearing her adorable christmas reindeer outfit that aunt beth got for her. It's so soft and cute. Taki thinks she looks like an oompa loompa in it. I'll let you be the judge.

Logan

On Tuesday mornings Logan comes over to my house so nanny Becca can watch him while his mom teaches a class. Logan is going to be 2 in January so he's an older man. Don't worry dad, I'm not interested since he likes to cuddle with Gabe on Gabe's bed which is SO stinky not to mention hairy. Boys!

Much To Give Thanks For!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We celebrated my first Thanksgiving at Yia Yia's house in Dayton. G & GG visited from Cincinnati to celebrate with us. Theo Bill, Theo George, Thea Eleni and my cousins Blake, Dorian & Demitra all played with me and took such good care of me. Mom, dad & I also met up with our friends Mark & Julianne who were in town from Dallas. Here are some pictures from my fun weekend!

The Results Are In

Today Taki took Gabe to his 9 year annual shots/check-up. He weighed in at 59lbs (which is an all-time low) and knee high" tall. Ears checked out good...which is a first but they said he has some arthritis in his knee. We are to give him aspirin if it seems he's bothered by it. I can't bear the thought of Gabe getting old. I wish he would just slow down already : (

Here are some then and now pics of our first baby and favorite son...

No Trips to Vegas for the Karras' Anytime Soon

Apparently we don't bet well. Sophia weighed in at 12 lbs 1oz and 24" long! OOPS! Wow were we off. She's between the 15th-25th percentile for weight and almost in the 50th percentile for height. I was all excited thinking she was tall until Dr. Peltz said, "so she's almost average" and I realized she got an "F" on her report card : ) No she's just petite. Dr. Petz said she's strong for a "petite little thing" when she was standing up and kicking like crazy. The shots stunk but that's to be expected and little Sophia was a champ through it all.

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Today is my 4 month birthday! Tomorrow I will go for my 4 month appointment and will find out how much I tanked up in the last 4 weeks. Mom and dad have a bet going so we'll see who wins. Mom is guessing 13.2 oz and dad is leaning towards the high 13s low 14s. I have my money on mom since she's writing....I mean, since she's around more babies then dad.

I know I'll have grown a bunch in size but the biggest change since last month is how much my personality is showing. I squeal and smile all the time but when I've had enough, I've had enough and I let it be known to all.

I can hold my neck up really well and absolutely love looking at mom and dad...especially at close range, thus cross-eyed. I'm not a lounger. I LOVE to move! My favorite toys are definitely my little stuffed bear that GG made me Ms. Polka, first name Dottie. She's made out of shiny polka dot material. Ironic since her name is Dottie don't you think? And my other favorite is my singing light up butterfly. Mom and Nanny Becca want to burn it when I grow out of it. But that's a story for another day.

Here are a few pictures we have taken this week....

Going on a walk on a chilly yet sunny day!

Bathtime!

The babies in our group realize each other exist this week! So sweet! Talullah and Sophia were holding hands!

"Mommy. don't take my picture! I'm still in my jammies and my hair's a mess!"

The Early Bird Gets the Worm....

and this early bird hit the snooze button too many times.


Here in Michigan we have this wonderful thing called Mom 2 Mom sales and they are incredible! As most know, babies tend to wear outifts once or twice and sometimes not at all before they grow out of them. These sales happen every weekend at various churches, community centers, etc. in the area. For those of you who live here, the website with the "golden list" is http://www.mom2momlist.com/


So despite hitting the snooze button too many times, we managed to snag some amazing stuff. The bargain hunter in me just had to snap pictures because, well, I can't help but be proud. I may have had to trip a few moms and yank some hair but I can assure you that no one was seriously harmed : )

So here are the goods....(oh and dad even came along to be my wing man and create distractions so I could work my magic)

All the clothes was approx. $1 each and for everything in the pictures we spent $15.00! Minus the fact that our main goal was to score some baby gates for the million and one flights of steps in our house, it was a rather fruitfull trip. We got a hooded sweatshirt, cargo pants, bunny sweater (and it has the bunny's butt on the back), 3 footed sleep-n-plays, 2 one piece outfits.
And my crowning acheivement: Converse hot pink high tops and Diesel tennis shoes. They're obviously a bit big now but she'll grow into them eventually.

Leaf Me Alone!!!

Saturday was leaf day at the Karras homestead. We love the trees but we don't love the 2 feet of leaves they shower us with this time of year. We figured we might as well show Soph how the whole raking of leaves thing works so she'll be prepared for helping us out next year : ) We tried to teach Gabe a few years ago but that dew claw thing made it a bit too challenging to hold the rake. Sophia was more interested in eating the leaves then anything else. And yes, those are two different outfits. We can't seem to make it through a day without at least 4 outfit changes lately....and it's not because she's a diva...more like a diarrhea-va