Snack at the Zoo

We checked out the new African Forest exhibit.

Photo Shoot

Early Merry Christmas, From the Fithians! This is the picture for our 2010 holiday card.

It took a little more work than expected to take a family photo worthy of putting on a Christmas card. We almost took 100 pictures! And it's not that the pictures were all bad; they just weren't good.

Here are some that didn't make the cut:

A little too far off center...and Kara's making her scrunchie face.

Kara's staring at her Daddy, but we really wanted her to look at the camera.

Dog came through the photo shoot. Lee had to save him from Kara.

Kara is giving Mommy some love. Lee looks great though!

Could have been a winner, but look closely behind us. Creepy Uncle Cody is hiding in the background.

I get it now!

Oh...I see what people mean when they tell you to enjoy the time before baby gets mobile.

Not that we aren't enjoying Kara right now, it's just much more attention demanding. I have found that it really isn't worth trying to do any chores while she is awake because she will get into something that she isn't supposed to. In the past 24 hours I have

• knocked dog doo out of her hand
• fished pebbles out of her mouth
• taped a map back into my Bible that she ripped out
• pulled her out from under the stroller that she knocked over
• helped the dog escape from her death grip
• cleaned her pee off the bathroom floor (Lee had to clean it off of his pants :)
• contemplated putting her in the dog's kennel so she won't get into anything else!

Fall Fun!

October was a great month with no shortage of fun, Halloween-related family activities. Get ready for a lot of pictures!

We went to a pumpkin patch with some friends, the Pickards, from church. They have a little boy named Ethan who is 2 weeks older than Kara. The two of them typically don't acknowledge each other's presence, but we got a rare photo of Ethan not only touching Kara, but trying to pick her nose.

Then we went to the fall festival held by my parents' church. Kara is still a little too young to really enjoy things like this, but it was a good excuse to hang out with the family and dress Kara up in her ducky costume.

Next, we went to Zoo Boo at the Houston Zoo with our super friends Anna and Scotty Floyd. The animals were pretty active that morning, so that made it especially fun. Other highlights were watching an elephant get a bath and Kara touching a snake. As usual, she was passed out by the time we got to the car.

Finally, it was Halloween. We went to Lee's parents' neighborhood to trick-or-treat with Kara's cousins, Owen (pit crew chief for Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars) and Riley (little black cat). All the kiddos were adorable in their costumes. Owen did a great job yelling "Trick-or-treat" to everyone, and Kara pretty much sat in the wagon and sucked her thumb the whole time.

Baby News (9 months)

Kara is growing up. We're starting to see her independence, and there is a little part of me that wants her to slow down. It's sort of sad watching her leave the co-dependent blob stage. I can still call her a baby, but the term toddler is creeping up faster than I would like.

It is unlike me to be sentimental about things like this, but it is so weird that she is just a completely different person now. She's constantly on the go (except when she's sleeping...thank you naptime!), she is responding to several words, and she has started to whine and get angry when she doesn't get her way. Yes, she is growing up indeed.

Here are some of her new favorite things to do:

• Waving - Kara is all about waving. She waves to strangers, she waves to dogs, she waves to us when we come to get her up from a nap. I have found that this gesture melts the hearts of little old ladies. I actually make a special effort to wait until Kara waves at them because they always get excited and tell us how we just made their day.
• Feeding herself - Kara has decided that she needs to help us feed her. She can be somewhat insistent about holding the spoon. She usually ends up with more food in her hair than her mouth.
• Find the Puff - Puffs are a yummy Gerber food for babies (like a puffed up Cheerio). They are great motivators for Kara. One of our games is to hide a puff under one of three buckets. I don't know how much she likes searching for the Puff, but when she finds it she loves shoving it in her mouth.
• Yogurt painting - So much fun! We got this idea from our nephew who did it in day care. Sit the kid in a high chair, and drizzle the tray with a mix of plain yogurt and a drop of food coloring. It's a mess, but it's a contained mess, and Kara has a blast "painting" the tray (and herself).

Baby van Gogh

Brought to you by the letter B

Kara makes 3 babbling sounds, buh-buh-buh, rah-rah-rah, and uhm-ma. I read somewhere that it is good to help babies associate their babbling with actual words. So today is all about the letter B.

We have been playing with bubbles, boxes, and books.

The bunny was fun for a while, but then she wanted the blocks.

She drank from a bottle and ate barley and blueberries....she did not wear a bib, which was a big mistake.

We looked at pictures of B and Beeba (her grandmas), and played ball with Kermit in the backyard.

Later, she splashed in the bath and went to bed with her blanket.

Then Mommy and Daddy said bye-bye.

But, the best part of our day of B's was chasing the b-b-balloon!

From the fithians (click on the picture to view the video)

Flat head update

We just had our follow-up visit to the neurosurgeon at Texas Children's Hospital. He said Kara's head is improving, and he doesn't see any reason for a helmet. Even better, he doesn't think her head would even qualify for a helmet.

It is likely that her head will always be a bit deformed, but nothing that should cause her embarrassment.

The Zoo!!!

Lee and I regularly went to the Houston zoo for dates before we were married (back when we were young and free), but then we got tied down by "responsibilities" and "schedules" and "budgets", and the zoo got booted off of our list of fun activities.

But the weather this week was incredible! The mornings were cold and the afternoons were tolerable...only a slight perspiration factor. Perfect for outdoor activities. Perfect for the zoo! So Kara and I HAD to go before the weather changed again.

My grandparents joined us, and it was such a nice morning. Although Kara is too young to really care about the animals, she does appreciate a good stroller walk. We also had a fun time in the petting zoo where Kara pet (aka: yanked the fur out of) the goats. We are still learning "gentle hands". Those lessons aren't sticking yet.

Papa, Mamaks, Kara, and a goat.

The Trouble Little Hands Can Find

Sorry for the long delay between posts. We'll try to do better this month.

Our most exciting news is that Kara is officially mobile. Many people have warned me about this stage...one man who was apparently scarred by this stage in his kid's life told me to knock her legs out from under her any time she looks like she is getting ready to move. But I have loved this stage. Kara and I have had a blast doing things like going to the park to play on the swings, attending library story time for infants, and playing hide and seek. We've been very busy.

The notable down side of mobility is that Kara's world is focused on things that are less than a foot off the ground. Wonderful, magical things like door stops, electrical outlets, and puppy dog tails. Generally, if you don't think she should be touching it, then you will quickly find her sticking her fingers in it or trying to put it in her mouth.

I let Kara play with a banana while I was making dinner, thinking she would just chew the stem like she usually does. Pretty soon we heard her slurping something...she ended up eating half the banana and smashing the other half into the rug.

The dogs are no longer safe. She's been waiting to get them since she was born.

We have removed all the door stopper tips. Kara seems to think they are candy. My sis-in-law recommended that we super glue them on. That's going to make Kara so mad.

My first "where did she go?!" moment. Kara decided to crawl under our bed to play with the wooden slats that hold the mattress.

Battle for the Bulge

We have been doing repositional therapy to help with Kara's flat head. This basically means that we try to keep her from resting the back of her head against any hard surface. This has been going great during napping/sleeping times because she quickly took to sleeping on her side and stomach. Thank goodness! But the waking hours have been a bit more challenging since Kara still prefers being on her back while playing. In fact, it is very easy to tell when she is on her back even if you are not in the room because she gives a "victory yell" and starts babbling like crazy.

We have been working hard to keep tummy time fun, and we are hoping that Kara soon develops an interest in crawling. We have been trying to motivate her by putting her favorite toys just out of reach. This tactic is good, but the trick is figuring out which toy is her favorite for the day. Kara is kind of weird about her toys. Or maybe this is just how babies act, and I never realized it.

Every few days she picks a new favorite toy. Sometimes it is something I would expect her to want, like a big, colorful, stuffed caterpillar or a drum that lights up and makes fun sounds when she hits it (my personal favorite..if she doesn't want to play with it, I will). But more often than not, she gets obsessed with things I didn't even know were toys.

For instance, chair legs. She likes to use them as an anchor as she rolls herself back and forth. They also make good chew toys apparently. Another great toy is the toilet paper roll that the dog sneaked out of the trash can. It is not colorful, nor does it make noise. I have no idea why it is so cool. As you can see in the video on the previous blog post, last week's favorite toy was the letter 'F'. Not 'M', not 'J'. She was only interested in the 'F'.

So, the battle for the bulge continues. We have 6 more weeks before the doctors reassess her head.

Baby News - 7 Months

It's every parents hope that their child(ren) will continually develop. I find this to be especially true when it comes to mobility. Parents love to talk about when their kids begin crawling and walking. And rightfully so. These are (literally) their first tangible steps of independence.

Kara is starting down the path of mobility - and she seems to be gaining speed as the days go by. Last month, she could only reach things immediately around herself. This month, she's getting her whole body into the action for some long distance reaching - and it looks like the precursor to crawling.

Plagiocephaly

Plagiocephaly is the fancy term for flat head. It can often be caused by spending large amounts of time putting pressure on one area of the head. Kara has plagiocephaly.

We have been working hard to correct this over the past 2 months, but her little head only seems to be making modest progress at rounding out. So, we got to take an exciting journey to Texas Children's Hospital where Kara had an appointment with the neurosurgeon to get evaluated for a helmet.

She did a great job laying still while they scanned her head and took measurements. Here is a picture of the little head cover that she had to wear to hold down her curls while they did the scan.

The conclusion of the evaluation was that she probably won't need a helmet, but they don't want her on her back at all...including while she sleeps. This is bad news for us because she has preferred back sleeping (with a blanket over her face) since the day she was born.

This is a picture of how she typically sleeps. You can see her hand sticking out of the blanket on the left side.

This is going to be hard, but as you can see we are already making a little progress. Hopefully this will no longer be an issue soon.

Q&A: My occupation

Q: And Ashley, what do you do?

A: As of today, I can answer that question quite simply (and happily), "I'm a stay-at-home mom!"

For the past year, that answer has been a little complicated because I have been doing part-time work from home. Definitely the ideal situation for any mom, but I have been looking forward to finishing that job and using the extra time to pour into the family and the house. I'm pretty sure Lee would agree that the house wouldn't mind a little more attention.

So, whether you call me a stay-at-home mom, a home-maker, or a domestic engineer; I'm very excited to have my new title.

It's nice to have a niece!

On July 12th, we were so excited to welcome little Miss Riley James Mery into our lives. Lee's sister, Krista, gave birth to their second child, and she is beautiful.

Taking a nap.

Waking up from a nap. So CUTE!

The whole family (Nate, Krista, Owen, & Riley).

Kara meeting Riley.

Baby News (6 months)

We haven't done an update on Kara in a while, but the 6 month mark is a pretty big deal, so here is the scoop.

• Kara is big. Not as big as her cousins were at this age, but big enough to appropriately be called a Fithian (or even a King). Who knows, we might have a volleyball player on our hands.
• Kara likes to be on her back. Nothing makes her more happy. She can be laying on her tummy with all of her toys laid out in front of her, but she will roll onto her back and start squealing and screaming out of pure joy. She's doubly happy once she gets her feet into her mouth. This is a problem because Kara has a flat head, and if it doesn't start getting better she might have to get a helmet. Cute, but not fun.
• Kara loves her daddy. She gets a huge smile on her face when he comes home from work. Her favorite thing about daddy is his glasses. They are good for grabbing, chewing, and dropping. When the glasses are gone, she goes for his nose.
• Kara is a good eater. She has been on solids for a while. Her favorite food is banana, and her least favorite food is yellow squash. When she tried the squash, she made a horrible face, stuck out her tongue, and started gagging. Sad...I was really hoping for a non-picky eater.
• Kara is in love with technology. Anything that is black or silver with buttons and flashing lights. The Logitech miniature keyboard/remote control is her favorite. We might be able to use this as motivation to start crawling.

There are other fun developments as well, but what you really want are the pictures. So, here are some pictures of Kara over the past month.

We were just talking about getting this specific vehicle

Our first family road trip to Corpus precipitated the discussion of a mini van purchase (we kind of crammed our Forester to its limits).

Thanks to Mark Simoneau for sharing this video!

Our First Family Illness

Before we became parents, we were amazed to watch whole families crumble due to some illness. Suddenly little Tommy has a cough, and the next think you know, each family member is bed-ridden and spewing fluids from every orifice. That was something I knew was inevitable, but I still dreaded it.

I don't mind when Lee or I get sick. My typical way of caring for a sick adult: wash your hands, eat some soup, and sleep it off. Easy, low hassle, usually works. However, I have been pretty anxious about what to do if Kara ever got sick. Would I recognize that she was sick? How would I handle it? Would the pediatrician think I was a bad mom?

My fear finally presented itself...Kara got sick. Yesterday I noticed that she was feeling a little warm, but she was acting normal. Still playful, maybe a little fussy. But as the day progressed, Kara began to feel really warm. I took her temperature. 102. Yikes!

Well, we went to the doctor. Kara has a virus. Nothing can be done other than acetaminophen and Pedialyte. Poor baby.

Kara is the last of the family to get sick. I have had ridiculous fatigue and a little nausea for the past week, and Lee came down with something pretty crummy as well. He was achy in all his joints, had headaches, and kept getting the chills. Since we were both sick in totally different ways, but Lee's was worse, I tend to blame-shift and think he was the one who infected our daughter (but I know deep down it could have been me...or some random person that I let get a little too close to her at the store -- this virus is spread through respiratory droplets).

So, tonight the Fithians will be hunkered down getting some rest, eating lots of medicine, and praying we get over it soon.

World Cup!

It is time for the World Cup!

In my opinion, the best sports tournament on TV! Or maybe it just seems that way because it is up against the NBA finals...the most boring and drawn out tournament on TV.

I don't have a favorite team; I just want to see good soccer. I will cheer for whichever team plays awesomely.

Click the comic to enlarge.

Swimsuit Edition

It is officially summer now that the thermometer is consistently over 90 degrees and we avoid going outside between the hours of 11am and 5pm. And because it is summer, it is time for swimming!

Kara got to go in her first pool on Memorial Day weekend. Kara's feelings about the pool seemed to be somewhat neutral...but a little on the pouty side.

However, it really doesn't matter whether or not she liked the pool, because she looked adorable in her little bathing suit.

Kara looking cool.

Model Pose.

Bird Watching

Today, I had a very exciting afternoon. I felt like I was watching the Discovery channel outside my back window. I will preface my story by explaining that we usually don't have wildlife in our neighborhood since it's a relatively new development (that was probably a person's cherished farm at one time). I have never seen a squirrel, a raccoon, or a possum. Only boring animals like birds and frogs; perhaps an occasional stray dog.

So...today I was checking out our garden (which is actually doing pretty well) when a baby cardinal literally fell from the sky about a foot away from me. I think it was taking its first flying lesson, and failed. The dogs immediately pounced on the yard invader. Fortunately they didn't attack it, or else I would be blogging about how I spent the afternoon crying. Instead they just stood there sniffing it until the mama cardinal dive bombed them.

I have learned from watching animal shows on TV that this was one of those moments when nature needed to take its course, so the dogs and I went inside and took a front row seat at the window. All 3 of us were fixated on watching the little chick hop around the backyard. The mama and daddy cardinal were flying from the chick to the fence and back again. I tried to go outside to get a picture of the little family, but the parents would fly away every time I opened the door. I would even try to trick them by standing really still and hoping they would mistake me for a statue. But they wouldn't return until I went back inside. Birds are smarter than they look.

Now, like most Discovery channel features, the helpless chick's life was in danger ("Watch out Baby Bird!"). As it innocently hopped around our backyard chirping for its parents, I noticed a couple of mockingbirds gathering on the roofs of homes adjacent to ours. Very menacing; couldn't mean anything good. then one by one they began flying into our backyard. It was go time! The male cardinal would swoop down and chase them out.

It was JUST LIKE on TV! That was very cool to watch.

Well, eventually the baby cardinal found its way out of our backyard. It actually escaped through the opening that one of our dogs used to use as a way out. Now it is in the side yard (the side without windows) so our little show is over.

That was our excitement for the day. Other than that, I pureed some peas for Kara and washed the dishes...and nothing cool happened while I was doing that.

These are a few of my favorite things

Life with Baby K has been so much fun now that she is 4 months old. She has her own little personality and does new things almost daily. But for all the new stuff, she is still pretty predictable in some of her preferences. Here are a few of her favorite things...

She usually gets excited when we go into bathrooms because mirrors and running water are super awesome, but she is even more happy when she goes into a bathroom naked. She loves everything about tub time. She especially likes grabbing the rag out of our hands and sucking the water out of it. However, not so cool when the rag is full of soap.

Playing with paper is incredibly entertaining. I'm not if sure she ever gets tired of it. Who needs expensive toys or videos to babysit their children? A torn bag and packing paper will keep her occupied long enough for me to get showered and ready in the mornings.

She has begun sticking things in her mouth. She consistently tries to eat her bibs...and her hands...and mommy's face.

Last, she likes looking at faces. Forget Baby Einstein, she is mesmerized by the opening credits to One Life to Live (lots of faces and flashing colors). Yes, I just publicly admitted that I watch a Soap Opera. There are worse things I could do, but that is probably the lamest.

The Most Addictive Sound

According to some guy who was on Rachel Ray one time, the most addictive sound in the world is baby laughter. The second most addictive sound is a cell phone ringing (note the word used was addictive, not enjoyable). Unlike the cell phone ring, I happen to think baby laughter is both addictive AND enjoyable.

Lee and I were able to get Kara's first laughs on video. We were playing fetch with Kermit in the backyard, and Kara was tickled by it.

kara laughing

We don't mean to cause anyone to become addicted to our baby, but I'm sure this is probably the safest addiction you could have.

Roll Over!

I hope this isn't premature, but I am so excited to share with everyone that Kara rolled over today! A perfect little flip from her tummy to her back!

This isn't the first time she has rolled over. When she was 5 weeks old she used to stiffen her little body so much when I would put her on her tummy, that a few squeals and kicks later she would be on her back. I tried desperately to get this on video, but it never happened. Obviously, those were flukes, but I think today was the real thing!

We were playing on the floor and without any coaxing, she just started pushing and wiggling until she was on her back. I was so excited when she rolled over that I swooped her up, gave her lots of kisses, and ran to the phone to call Daddy. He was very proud of her.

Of course, I tried to get it on video, but the battery was dead! What!? Hopefully she'll do it again soon.

Q & A: Cousins

Q: What do Kara's cousins think of her?

A: Kara has 2 boy cousins who are both about 1.5 years old. They have taken to the new family member pretty well. However, each boy has his own "unique" way of treating her.

Owen:

This is our nephew from Lee's side of the family. He is 20 months old. I like to think of him as a gentle giant. He is a bigger-than-average toddler who loves to play, is very tender-hearted, and is great about including everyone in his games. Owen immediately accepted Kara. He likes holding her, giving her kisses, and he will even offer to share his stuffed animals with her. This is great news since Owen will become a big brother this summer when our niece Riley James Mery arrives!

Carson:

This is our nephew from Ashley's side of the family. He is 18 months old. Carson is inquisitive, always looking for a playmate, full of smiles, and a little mischievous. The kind of kid where you know when he is about to happily do something he knows he shouldn't...it's the twinkle in his eye. Carson is getting used to Kara, but I wouldn't say he has fully embraced her yet. He seems confused and a little distressed that his Beeba (grandma Bobbie) would ever hold anyone but him. He does like certain things about Kara...he likes pointing to her facial features and honking her nose, he likes pushing her in the stroller, and he likes telling her "bye-bye".