New blog address:  www.jhblankenship.blogspot.com

Karis chilling in Daddy’s lap waiting to meet her new cousin

Through the nursery window

Gome holds her 5th "GG baby"

Uncle Jared holds his niece for the first time

Papa Ted and Andrew discuss the upcoming changes at home

Proud Papa

Big brother Andrew finally sees his baby sister for the first time

She's here!

Awaiting arrival of our baby in the nursery

Andrew's post baby snack

Karis playing peek-a-boo in the car

On March 15, our precious niece, Kaylea (“Kay Lee”) Anne Carver came into the world. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz., was 20 inches long, and looked very similar to her big brother Andrew when he was born, only a little more petite. Like her brother as a newborn, she has black hair with blonde highlights.  Andrew’s hair eventually turned blonde, so it appears that hers will too.  I had been on call all weekend at the hospital, so I was able to leave that morning and drive to Murfreesboro with Jared and Karis just in time for the delivery. Andrew was excited to see that the baby grew enough in Mommy’s belly that it was finally time for her to come out. As soon as he finally laid eyes on her through the window of the nursery and determined that that was definitely the baby he was going to get to take home, he decided it was “time for a snack!” Lori and Kaylea are doing very well, as is proud the proud father, Kevin. Here are some of Kaylea’s first photos, although some of the best ones I took for Lori and Kevin on their camera, which unfortunately for me, is in Murfreesboro.  I will post better pics as soon as I can get them from Lori.  Welcome to our family, sweet baby girl!

My mom, known as “BB” to the grandbabies, made Karis’ first birthday cake, a barnyard cake complete with silo and farm animal cupcakes. She also made Karis’ own little pig cake to eat/destroy. In light of the cold January weather, we served homemade chili with chili dogs. We also made little party favors for Karis’ mini guests, her cousins Andrew, Eli and Ethan. Their party favors were in little silver farm pales, lined with a bandana. Inside the pale were animal stickers, an animal coloring book, crayons, animal crackers, animal stensils and party blowers.

Karis decided she was sleepy just before cake and presents, but we were able to somehow distract her enough with the festivities to stay awake. As a result, she was a bit more stoic than her usual personality, especially considering all of the people who were in her house watching her eat cake, open gifts, and play. Of course, she became wired just as all the guests started leaving and as she realized those gifts weren’t leaving with them!

Here are some photos of our fun night with our baby girl, already one year old!!
(For some reason some of the captions did not turn out right- sorry, Jared’s computer and I do not get along!)

Karis Olivia Blankenship, born January 7, 2009

Karis' personal (pig) cake

Andrew convincing Karis to dig in!

What a fun mess!

Time to spoil!

Ethan digs in head first!

The Eby Family

Karis and Aunt Marina

Bday kiss

Our little peanut one year ago...

Family grill-off:  Holly’s family started a new tradition last year by competing in a grill-off.  We were not able to participate last year since we were living outside of Philly.  But this year, we were there……..and came in dead last.  The theme this year was burgers and I submitted a turkey burger, since that’s the only burger that Holly and I can agree on.  (She doesn’t eat red meat.)  I was very happy with our entry, especially since I love those burgers.  They have chunky applesauce mixed in with the meat and a maple-Dijon sauce on top.  I believe there are two reason why we fared so poorly.  The first is that some of the judges don’t care for turkey burgers and the second is that I totally underestimated the flair that each contestant used to present their entries.  I mean we’re talking Food Network Challenge material.  I will be better prepared for next year, although I have never cooked ribs before.  Here are a few pictures.

The Harvest Turkey BlankenBurger

Trip to Charleston:  The day after the grill-off we traveled down to see my parents outside of Charleston, SC.  This was the first time we had been there since mom and dad moved to Summerville a year and a half earlier.  The trip takes around 7-8 hours and we were nervous with how Karis would handle all of the time in her carseat.  She is usually pretty good on our trips to the ‘boro, but this was the first time doing a longer trip.  Well, Karis did great until the last 90 min.  She slept a lot and Holly entertained her quite a bit, but she had her fill of the road and let us know.  Our arrival time was delayed several times as we had to stop and try to settle her down.  Once there, we had a great time with my parents.  I had never been to Charleston and enjoyed our venture into the city and through the marketplace.  Unfortunately we were only able to stay from Sunday afternoon through Wednesday morning because Holly had to get back to work.  But if God keeps Mom and Dad in the area we will look forward to exploring more of the low country.

Karis with Grammy and Daddy B

Halloween:  This was obviously Karis’ first Halloween and we couldn’t resist the opportunity for a photo opportunity with all of the GG babies.  (GG stands for great-grandbabies.)  Karis was dressed up as a lady bug and was a cutie.  After spending a few hours with the family we headed home in time to find out that our neighborhood is a zoo on Halloween night.  Thankfully since we live in a townhome a few streets into the subdivision, no one came to our door after we got home.  I say thankfully because we didn’t have any candy to give out.  Next year things will be different as we will take Karis around to get daddy some candy, I mean trick or treat.

Our little butterfly flying through the air

The GG babies

Thanksgiving was kind of weird for us this year as Holly had to work and we both missed our family gatherings.  I was lucky to be invited to a gathering of the family of one of my good friends from college, even though they weren’t there.  So my sister, whose husband was also working, Karis and I crashed the Thompson family Thanksgiving.  We were able to get up to the ‘boro on the weekend for a celebration with Holly’s family.

Christmas was also a busy time as we tried to navigate family gatherings around Holly’s schedule.  We were able to be with Holly’s family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but had to leave on that evening for Holly to work the next day.  We then headed up to Gatlinburg to be with my parents for a few days.  Both times were great, but just not long enough.  We are finding it hard to work around the near impossible schedule that Holly has to keep right now, but understand that it will get better; eventually.

Holly and Karis on the 23rd when we celebrated our family Christmas

Karis with Bop on Christmas Eve

Karis and BB on Christmas Eve

Karis pulling up on Cousin Ethan on Christmas Day

Karis on her new toy, a present from Grammy and Daddy B

Karis with Grammy in Gatlinburg

Karis giving Daddy B the stiff arm in Gatlinburg

We were able to go out onto the lake with my family a couple of times in August/Sept., so Karis was introduced to the boating/lake experience for the first time.  Although, Jared and I actually went out boating on the day I told him I was pregnant, so if you count that,  it was technically not her first experience-  we start them early in my family  It ended up being a bit chilly on our second trip to the lake, so we pretty much kept Karis wrapped up in a beach towel most of the time.  She did however love the way it felt for the breeze to blow through her “hair.”  Jared and Kevin (our bro-in-law) got some tubing in, despite the cool water that day.

On October 2, Jared and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Jared’s sister, Jenna, watched Karis while Jared and I went out on a much needed date. We enjoyed dinner at Hennen’s in downtown Chattanooga, and then strolled over to a outdoor bluegrass concert next to the river. We can’t believe it’s been 5 years unless we picture all of the things we’ve done and places we’ve been since we were married. From Clarksville to Philly to Chattanooga. And then there’s that little spunky bundle of joy…

5th Anniv. overlooking downtown Chatty

Karis will be 9 months old next week.  She started eating baby food a couple of months ago, and has established a few favorites.  For the past few weeks, her top few picks are bananas (understandable), green beans (which have very little flavor but taste like raw green beans), squash (as of this week), and one of her steady favs, sweet potatoes.  

Karis brings us a lot of joy and laughter every day. She has earned the nickname “turbo roller” since she immediately starts turbo rolling as soon as you lay her down anywhere, including her changing table. She will flash her 2-toothed smile at anyone who will pay attention to her, and loves to hear the range of her own voice. Here are some pics of everyday life with our baby over the last couple of months:

Giving her butterfly a piggyback ride. Still not sure how this happened...

Bath time at BB and Bop's house

Karis fell asleep sitting up in my lap

Went for a jog with Mommy- this is where her blanket ended up

Time with Daddy

K without a diaper post bath- Mommy living on the edge!

As for Karis, she is developing well.  She loves to get on all fours and look around.  It won’t be long until she starts to crawl.  She is talking more than ever and uses the full scope of her range while doing so.  She has also begun to notice her hands and will stare at them while open and closing her fingers.  Lastly, we are starting the process of introducing solid foods.  The first week that I started rice cereal with her, she would look at me like I was playing a prank on her.  Her facial expression was priceless.  She also would choke on the cereal and get really mad at the whole situation.  So we gave her a week off and I am proud to announce that she ate about 8 spoonfuls of cereal for me tonight.  She is growing up like crazy.  I’ll try to post some pics from the lake next week.

On top of her weight gain, Karis is becoming much more interactive.  She loves to smile, especially when she recognizes you.  She flashes this big grin and usually brings her two hands together and buries her face in them.  It is really cute.  She is also talking quite a bit.  She has discovered the full scope of her range and exercises it frequently.  Her upper range sounds just like a dolphin call.  She has begun to reach and grasp onto things which of course go straight to the mouth.  Karis has also becoming proficient at flipping over.  She can easily flip from front to back and has on occasion gone from back to front, mostly when she is after something.  Lastly, because I can’t think of anything else though I am probably forgetting something, Karis has become a big giggler.  She has certain tickle spots that trigger a string of belly laughs/giggles.  Of course mommy and daddy love to torture Karis by kissing there quite frequently.

Tonight we are starting to add rice cereal to her diet which is the first step towards solid foods.  We anticipate that she will start teething pretty soon and we have noticed that she is getting stronger when we try to help her sit upright.  Before too long she will be crawling and ruling our household.

Below are a few updated pictures from her actual 6 month birthday and the photo shoot that we did a week before.

The end of May was mostly a big emotional roller coaster.  We celebrated the end of medical school and the long awaited graduation for Holly.  It signified the end of a fun but very stressful four year period in our lives together.  Holly’s family came in for the weekend to be a part of the many festivities.

The other part of our roller coaster of emotions was wrapped up in having to say goodbye to the many friends that we had made during our time in the Philly area.  Over the course of a weekend we had a graduation formal for Holly’s school, a graduation party for Holly with some of our closet friends and my last evening with the best youth group in the world.  We shared many laughs, shed a few tears and got to pray one last time with dear friends.  We will (and are) miss many of the people that we shared life with the past four years.

The next week we officially moved into our new place in Chattanooga.  I must say, we have really taken a huge leap up from our drab apartment in King of Prussia.  Holly and I have said many times to each other that we almost feel like we’re in a dream and that at some point we are going to wake up and find ourselves back in Kingswood.  We spent the next few weeks unpacking boxes and trying to get settled into our new place.  Though we are still not finished it is coming slowly but surely.  God has surely blessed us with a great place to live and we are enjoying it very much.

The month of June also contained a few trips to Murfreesboro for various events with Holly’s family.  Our nephew Andrew turned 2 and so we attended his construction themed party.  The following weekend Holly’s cousin Ashley had a birthday party for her son that turned 1.  This party was a pool theme as well as Mickey Mouse.  The next weekend was father’s day which we celebrated with Holly’s parents and her sister and brother in law.  The last weekend we had another graduation party with Holly’s extended family and some of our friends that are in the middle TN area.  All in all we had a great time relaxing and trying not to think about the big change that would occur when Holly officially started residency in July.  Below are a few pics from our various parties.

I will do a follow up post on Karis, who is now 6 months old, next so stay tuned.