Well, our baby girl had her 4 month check-up and shots on Friday. She is weighing in at 15 lbs 6 oz and measuring 26" in length. She did amazing with her shots - she cried for about 5 seconds and stopped before I even had a chance to pick her up. She was a little fussy Friday night but did really good overall.

The doctor also gave us the go-ahead to start her on solids! So Friday afternoon, we introduced her to her first taste - squash! The first couple of bites she had a bit of a confused look on her face but after that she really liked it and was smiling and wanting more! It was really cute to watch her with it. Tonight we'll introduce her to a new veggie. It's so fun watching her reactions! :) Yesterday she didn't want her bottle, she wanted her squash! Too funny!

Karys is smiling and laughing more and more each day. She is really reaching for stuff and loves to sit straight up and see what is going on around her. She spends a lot of time in her Bumbo seat so she can see everything! It's amazing to see how much she has learned in her first 4 months of life. We just can't get enough of her! She is such a blessing!!

Other than that, things have been pretty well. Tim was sick for several days and Karys was a bit "under the weather" herself, so it was a bit rough for awhile, but now everyone is back to normal and things are great! Karys will go back to the doctor again in early September for her 6 month check-up.

We hope you all had a great weekend!

Love,
Tim, Steph & Karys

Karys celebrated her first July 4th holiday yesterday! We weren't sure how she would react to the booming sounds of the fireworks, but she seemed to really like them! She just sat calm in her Daddy's arms and watched them without making any noise :) On a couple of the loud ones, she jumped a bit but seemed intent on watching the sky light up! Later when we put her to bed, there were still fireworks going off in the neighborhood so we were afraid she wouldn't fall asleep or would wake up crying at the sounds but much to our delight, she slept all night long! We're just so happy and proud of her! And of course, she was all dressed up for the holiday in her July 4th outfit with her matching red,white & blue bibs! We'll be posting pictures this weekend :)

Despite what a great 4th of July she had, the night before had been a little rough for her. While at Uncle Heath & Aunt Melissa's house, Karys threw up for the first time - a lot! It took the four of us running around to try to get Karys, Tim and the couch cleaned up :( She wasn't being fussy or anything and when I went to change her outfit, she just kept smiling at me and Melissa. She wasn't running a fever, crying or anything of that nature. We were so sure she would wake up in the middle of the night hungry since there was nothing left in her tummy, but she ended up sleeping all night long! I guess something just didn't sit well with her because she was perfectly fine after that - thank goodness!

Tomorrow afternoon she goes to the doctor for her 4 month check-up and her shots. We hope it goes as smoothly as it did the last time! We'll keep you all updated!

Love,
Tim, Stephanie & Karys

What an eventful couple of weeks this has been! Here's a quick recap of what's been going on....

Karys met her Uncle Joe for the first time, who was in town on leave from Iraq. She also met Tim's Grammy (her Great-Grammy) for the first time when she came to Houston to surprise Joe. We've been going nonstop with all the family dinners, going away parties, family photos, etc! Karys has been really good for the most part, considering that her schedule has been pretty messed up. But we've had more fussy days than normal. However, all our out-of-town visitors have now left and we should have her back on her normal routine this week. She's been pretty exhausted! :)

Karys will be 18 weeks tomorrow and will turn 4 months old this Sunday!! She's been much more active (and accurate!) in reaching and grabbing for things now too. She is very curious about everything still and always wants to know what is going on around her. She really enjoys watching her Baby Einstein videos more now too! She's been better about being on her tummy and has even managed to roll over a few times on the bed but we're still waiting for her to do it on a hard surface!

And yesterday was our 3 year wedding anniversary!! Tim surprised me by personally delivering 3 dozen long-stemmed roses to my office. Then, after work, he surprised me again and took me to the Spindletop Restaurant after work (the restaurant on top of the Hyatt where he proposed). It spins around really slow so you get a whole view of downtown - it's gorgeous! We had drinks there for about an hour and then he took me to Aquarium for dinner. We had a great time and afterwards went to my mom's to pick up Karys.  She had picked her up from the sitter earlier that day. Tim had arranged everything the week before and I had no clue!! And our little angel was already fed, bathed and extremely happy when we picked her up - thanks to her Nana :)

Next Friday Karys goes back to the doctor for her 4 month check-up and shots and the doctor will give us a plan to introduce her to solid foods! We're really excited about watching her reactions to new foods and learning more about her likes and dislikes!

We hope everyone has a great week!

Love,

Tim, Steph & Karys :)

Yesterday was Tim's 1st Father's Day and to celebrate, Karys really spoiled her Daddy! He got a "World's Greatest Dad" t-shirt, which he wore all day, a gift card to Academy, an A&M grill cover and a rolling cooler for out by the pool!! Needless to say, he was thrilled! We spent the whole day with family and had a really great day. Karys is very lucky to have such a great Daddy and she knows it! It melts my heart every time I see her smile at him - which is pretty much every time she sees him now!! She is very quickly becoming quite the Daddy's Girl!! I think she has totally succeeded in wrapping him around her finger as well....

She's been in such a great mood lately! She's eating great and still sleeping between 10-12 hours a night. We weighed her a couple weeks ago and she was just over 14 pounds and 25 inches long! She goes to the doctor again 2 weeks from this coming Friday for her 4 month check-up and shots and we're anxious to see what her new measurements will be! She's a very long little girl! She's also laughing and smiling nonstop and more recently she has started talking up a storm! She babbles and babbles and sometimes gets quite loud! It's hilarious! I love our new "conversations" with her - she is so animated now!

We had her pictures taken this weekend too and they came out really great! I think she was too tired to really smile but we got some of the cutest facial expressions we've ever seen! She is just a doll!! We're hoping to go back this week to have a few more pictures taken with Uncle Joe in uniform too.

Miss Yvonne is on vacation this week so Aunt Melissa is baby-sitting and from the looks of it, they are having a blast! I got a video on my mobile phone this morning with Karys just a babbling after her breakfast :) It was the cutest thing!!

I also posted a collage of Karys with baby pictures of me and Tim around her. It's not hard to tell she is a replica of her Daddy!! :)

We hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Love,
Tim, Steph & Karys

Karys met her Uncle Joe for the first time on Saturday!! He is home on leave from Iraq for a couple of weeks and was so excited to see his new niece. I posted some pictures already and will be sending out more later this week. We had a BBQ/Pool Party on Sunday for Joe and it was Karys' first time swimming in the pool (and actually enjoying it)! She looked so cute in her little ladybug float! She was kicking and looking all around - it was just adorable. We were able to take some cute pictures of her before she'd decided she'd had enough swimming :)

This weekend we also started noticing her grabbing for things for the first time. She's not very coordinated at it yet, but she is trying so hard! She was grabbing for links and for toys on her highchair and on her exersaucer. This is just a little of what's to come I'm sure! She'll be grabbing at everything in no time! But it was really exciting to see her look at something and reach out for it. In her highchair she was grabbing the links and when she'd drop them, she'd cry, so then we'd have to pick them up and start all over again! I also posted some pictures of her reaching out for toys on the exersaucer.

Karys is smiling and giggling all the time now too - she loves to be lifted up high and then brought down! It gets a smile every time! And last night it was even getting some laughs for her Uncle Joe!

All in all, we had a really great weekend! Our little girl is growing up so fast! She's going to be 16 weeks old this Thursday! Wow!! She's so much fun to play with and so interactive now too. Every day with her is such a blessing.

We hope everyone had as great of a weekend as we did!

Love,
Tim, Steph & Karys Daugherty

Karys turned 3 months old on Friday!! And last week was my first week back to work and Karys' first week with Miss Yvonne (her babysitter). Both of us seem to be adjusting well to our new routines, although I get much less sleep now than I did staying home with her! Karys is now sleeping an average of 11 to 12 hours a night! So when we take her to the sitter's in the morning, we just pick her up from her crib, walk her across the street, and she still sleeps until about 9am!! So her schedule hasn't really changed much at all. Miss Yvonne says she is such a wonderful baby and that we are very lucky! The first day leaving her was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be - I cried more in the weeks before at the thought of leaving her than I did when I actually dropped her off for the first time. I'm enjoying being back at work but I do miss my little girl like crazy! I stare at her pictures on my desk all day long! :) And on Friday's, I get off work early so I'll be able to spend more time with her in the afternoons.

Hopefully this week goes as smoothly as last week though since Tim left for Germany this weekend and won't be back until Friday! My sister will be staying with me though, so that will be a big help. Karys has been eating all 4 tablespoons of her rice cereal at night (we've been spoon feeding it to her for awhile now) and taking all of her bottle too, so I called the doctor's office to ask them if I could give her more. They said I can feed her cereal with every bottle if she wants so this weekend we started giving her cereal with her breakfast bottle. That seems to help! Then, next month when she goes in for her 2nd set of shots, we'll get the plan to begin her on baby food. Lots of fun things ahead!!

Karys has started to really giggle all the time now! She giggles in the bath when we wash under her chin - it's the cutest thing!! She's just so happy all the time - we couldn't ask for a more perfect little girl. She is just such a blessing! I don't think either of us realized the amount of love that we would feel for this child - it's like nothing we've ever known....

We hope everyone has a great weekend!

Love,
Tim, Steph & Karys

Tomorrow our little girl will be 12 weeks old! Where has the time gone? I've really been trying to cherish every moment with her this week since next week I will return to work. I think the first couple of days will be hard on me with having to leave her for the first time - she's just so cute! I just want to spend every second with her :)

Since our last update, Karys has started laughing!! It's the most precious thing I've ever heard!! Last Friday morning I was playing with her in her bouncer and she started laughing for the first time! Tim heard her and grabbed the video camera and was able to capture it on film. So we were able to share it with our families which was really great! She has the cutest little laugh and she just smiles all the time now. She is more and more interactive each day. She is such a blessing!

She's sleeping about an average of 10 hours a night now. We're very blessed to have such a great little girl. We're about to move her upstairs to her own bedroom now that she is sleeping through the night now. It will be sad though because I don't want to let her go...I already don't want her to grow up and she is only 3 months old! :)

For Memorial Day we are heading up to the beach house with my family and Karys will have her first beach experience, although she won't remember it! Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can get some cute pictures!

We hope everyone has a great holiday weekend! Wish me luck as I head back to work next week that I don't cry too much! :)

Love,
Tim, Steph & Karys

Yesterday was my first Mother's Day and it was just wonderful! Tim and Karys woke me up having made me breakfast in bed and along with two dozen roses, they presented me with two gift certificates for 1-hour massages! Wow!! Karys and I spent the whole day together and since she had been awake most of the day, she slept almost 12 hours last night! She is just such a little sweetheart!

This past week she has been super excited about Baby Einstein DVD's - and when I put them on for her she starts kicking her feet and moving her arms all around. She loves to look at the colors and shapes and the music is really soothing. It's really cute to see how excited she gets. It's also really great for me to let her watch that while I do things around the house too!

She's pretty much holding her head up all the time now. And she loves to be held upright so she can look all around and see what is going on. She doesn't like being placed on her back much during the day at all. She likes to know what is going on around her!! A very curious little baby! :)

She will be 11 weeks old this Thursday. Time has gone by so fast!! She still sleeps an average of 8-9 hours a night and takes a nice long nap in the afternoons. She continues to change so quickly! She's started to bat her hands at objects in front of her too. I don't think she'll have any control over grabbing them for quite a while still but she watches things very closely now and will start cooing at them when she gets excited.

I only have 2 more weeks left with her at home before I return to work. It's going to be very sad for me to leave her but I know she will have fun with the other 2 babies her babysitter keeps. Karys and I went over to visit them last week for a little over an hour. There's a little girl who is almost 5 months older than Karys so I'm sure they will have fun playing together!

We hope everyone had a great weekend!

Tim, Stephanie & Karys