Karys got her ears pierced!

We've been talking for awhile about getting her ears pierced and finally decided to just do it. I'd been meaning to do it at the doctor's office since she was 2 months old but always forgot. So Saturday (01/05) we picked up Nana and headed to the mall.

She sat on Daddy's lap and the lady was really very nice. She cried of course after the first one but let the lady do her second ear without trying to squirm - she's such a trooper! She then calmed down but every time saw the lady who had pierced her, she would beging crying again.

She looks so girly with her little sparkly earrings in. I still wish I would have done them earlier than 10 months but that's okay. I tried to get some pictures of her with them in, but it's very hard to get her to pose the way I'd like her too! I posted them in the Photo Section.

Happy New Year!

Our little girl is now 10 months old...it's sometimes so hard to believe that the time has passed so quickly. We thank God for her every day, she is such a blessing to us and to our families.

We keep forgetting to weigh and measure her height - but I promise to post the new numbers when we remember to take them :)

New Year's Eve was a bit rough, as Karys was cutting her top teeth and her gums were split open. She was in a lot of pain but thankfully that has seemed to pass now and there are 4 little teeth up top now - making a grand total of 6 little teeth. Hopefully she'll have a break before cutting any more. These 4 decided to all come through in a matter of only a week or so and it was so rough on her!

In other news, she is walking like crazy now! She's not quite as wobbly as she was before and will just take off after anything. Brinks' tail still will knock her down and then she tries to grab it! Poor Brinks...she keeps grabbing him and pulling chunks of his hair out. He's always such a good sport about it though and will generally just move or go into another room - away from Karys. I'm sure one day soon they'll be best buds, though I'm sure Brinks doesn't believe that right now :)

Something else that's really neat is that now that Karys' hair is growing in more, we've noticed that it's starting to curl in the back and on the sides! Both of my sisters and I had curly hair as babies and I think it looks really cute on little girls :) I guess we'll just have to wait and see right now though!

We can't wait to see what all 2008 has in store for us!

Karys has really gotten this "walking" thing down now. She prefers to walk over crawl most of the time and can walk across the room with near perfect balance. She can also go from sitting to standing without pulling up on anything, though she still prefers to pull up on something. She will just take off walking now without being enticed with anything. The changes from day to day are just amazing since it's been only a little over a week since she took her first steps. We are just amazed at her balance - she's going to be a little dancer for sure! :)

However if she really wants to get somewhere fast, she will crawl since she is our little speed crawler! Haha!

Daddy has a new nickname for her: "uh-oh girl". Because she says this over and over all day long and will sometimes hum it if there is a pacifier in her mouth. It's really funny. She loves to drop things and say "uh oh". And we can't help but laugh a little because it's so cute to hear her talk. She is learning lots of new words now and just soaks up everything! She's very inquisitive. Such a smart little girl!

She'll be 10 months old this Monday!! We cannot believe how fast time has flown by.

We hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!!

This year made for a really special Christmas for us all. Karys had a really wonderful 1st Christmas and got lots of neat toys and some really cute clothes! She loved playing with wrapping paper - and that was pretty funny to watch. Santa Claus left her a Tickle-Me Elmo and she literally cracks up at him. It's hilarious! We took lots of great pictures and posted some on her website already. We really appreciate all the wonderful gifts from our family and friends that were for Karys. She is loving playing with all her new things! Needless to say, having her with us this year made for a very Merry Christmas! I really don't feel that we could be any more blessed than we already have been. God has been so good to us this year and we are beyond thankful.

On another exciting note...Karys took her first steps on December 20th and would take 2 or 3 at a time the first few days. As of yesterday, we are up to 12 steps at a time! She walked half way across the living room yesterday afternoon for her toy kitchen! She loves clapping for herself afterwards too - she gets very proud of herself :) She is much more confident now in her ability to walk so we don't feel that it will be much longer before it becomes her only method of moving. We took a video of her on Wednesday that I will put in the Video Section, but she is already so much better today than she was just two days ago. Her progress is really amazing!

Her new favorite word is "uh oh". Whenever she falls, drops something or something just isn't quite right, we hear "uh oh"....and we can't help but laugh a bit each time. It's quite clear too! She will say "uh oh" and I will turn around and she waits until I look at her before she drops something - so she intentionally plans for the "uh oh" moment. She loves this new game :) We've been working on her a lot for many new words - and she can recognize so much stuff now! It's very exciting - she's like a little sponge at this age - just soaking up all the information she can!

As for her teeth, there are 3 new teeth that did in fact break through the top gums and the gums are white where a 4th one might be about ready to also pop through. It doesn't look like Miss Karys is going to get a break with her teething just yet.

She also went to the doctor on Wednesday and weighed 23 lbs! They didn't measure her height but we will take a measurement on the first of January for our own records and I'll be sure to post.

She will be 10 months old on New Year's Day. The time has gone by so fast! I cannot believe her 1st Birthday is in just two short months from now. 2007 has been such a special year for us and we cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in 2008!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and will have a safe and Happy New Year!

Love,
Tim, Steph & Karys

We just realized today that Karys actually has THREE teeth that have broken through the top gums. So that's a new grand total of 5 little teeth! No wonder our little girl has been in so much pain! Three at once is a lot of work!

This new tooth we found today is her right lateral incisor. Hopefully she'll get a little break before any new teeth come up!

So Miss Karys has had quite a busy week this week! Three new teeth and her first steps! :)

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!! 

Two new teeth have broken through Karys' top gums this week. She now has her upper left lateral incisor and her upper left central incisor, or at least the buds of them. She has been in quite a bit of pain and discomfort this week too. These top teeth have been much harder for her coming in than the two bottom teeth she has were. We didn't even know she was teething with the bottom two! So now we have a total of 4 little teeth. We're hoping over the next day or so the pain will ease itself a bit and give her a little relief. I wish we could do more for her than just Tylenol and Orajel! Poor thing...

On another note, this kid learns things as quick as her Daddy!! The other night I was playing with her in her kitchen. I opened her refrigerator and pointed at the apple and said "apple". I would ask her where the apple was and she would point to it. Later I closed the refrigerator and said "Karys, where's the apple?" And she looked at me, crawled over to the refrigerator, opened the door and pointed to the apple. At first I thought I was imagining things. Surely she is too young for this, right?! But I did it several times with her and when Tim came home from his run, I showed him and he was amazed as well! She would be doing something across the room and we'd ask where the apple was and she'd crawl, open the door and point right to it and look at us! Unbelievable! We almost got it on video but she got fussy and decided she'd had enough of that game. But we're on vacation starting tomorrow so will try to take and post a video of it. She's so smart!!

Speaking of vacation, we're really excited to be able to have so much time off from work to spend with our little girl! And we're so excited about her 1st Christmas coming up. It's going to be really special and we can't wait to see what she thinks of all her gifts and all the wrapping paper! We'll make sure to take and post lots of pictures!

Merry Christmas!!