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29 April 2007

A Busy Month!

How many changes can one month bring?!  Kara’s been busy, and consequently has kept us busy as well.  What has she been up to?

 

Busy Month

April 3 - Kara’s going bald!  And just in time for her one-month portraits too…  What a horrible surprise after I bathed her and went to comb out her hair, and discovered I’d combed OUT her hair!  I wonder if it will grow back by friday?

April 6 - Kara has her one month portraits taken - she wears a bow to cover the bald spot that encompasses the front half of her scalp.  No smiles yet, but at least we got one where she wasn’t crying (she didn’t like the bow).

April 15 - Kara can hold her head up like a turtle when she’s on her tummy.  We’re working on rolling over, which i think Chase enjoys watching quite a bit!  She loves to sit up and look at her favorite toys - her pink bunny and the green snail. 

April 17 - Kara’s hair has begun to grow back - there is a fine haze of black hair over the front half of her scalp, evening out the long black hair that managed to stay in place from her ears back.

April 18 - Kara learns to smile!  Of course, I’d love to include a picture here, but as precious as those little smiles are, they are incredibly difficult to capture on film.  So, you’ll just have to take my word for it - Kara has an adorable smile and dimples to go with it!

April 22 - Kara develops quite a grip - she likes grabbing skin, hair (mommy’s and her own), necklaces, clothes, but not any of her toys yet. 

April 23 - My personal favorite - Kara sleeps through the night!  I woke up in a panic  at 7 am when Kara hadn’t called me to feed her all night long - she did wake up when i ran into her room to check on her, and smiled and gurgled at me.  I think she was pretty proud of herself!  I was extremely proud of her too!  So far, this has continued every night since.  

April 25 - Kara finds her thumb!  I was in the shower while she was sitting in her bouncy chair.  I peeked out to check on her and she was concentrating very hard at getting her thumb into her mouth - She seemed pleased with the results.

April 26 - Kara’s grown!  Shes now 24 inches long and 13 lbs 3 oz. - Thats five pounds since she was born!  Having outgrown all her sleepers, she’s now wearing six month clothes - Ashish wonders if she needs to go on a diet!

April 27 - Kara loves talking to her bunnies that hang from her mobile above the crib - she smiles and coos at them, but when they stop turning and playing music, she gets rather annoyed. 

April 29 - Kara has developed the skill of "ooching" out of her blankets, and around her crib until she finds herself wedged against a wall, which isn’t nearly as fun.  Regardless of the hour, she calls out for me to rescue her and move her back to her sleeping spot so she can repeat the process again!   Ooching is way more fun that sleeping!

Kara says "blue" - like any good art teacher, I decided that 7 weeks was plenty old to begin learning colors.  Plus we have a fun toy with different colored stacking blocks.  So during playtime I began holding up different colors telling her their names.  We spent quite a while on blue with no success, but as soon as i gave up and switched to "orange," Kara exclaimed "BLUE!"

Copy-cat!  As if ooching and colors hadn’t kept her busy enough for one day, Kara finally decided to have a conversation with me - we were laying on her blanket on the floor while she practiced her push-ups, when she looked me straight in the eye and said "er-koo" so i said it back, she smiled and repeated it again, until we were saying "er-koo" over and over in unison - I think it was a game.  What simple delights are to be had as a mommy!

April 30 - Sitting up!  Kara can sit up without any help, although her stability is somewhat limited - once she begins to topple, she can’t really recover.

Tomorrow Kara will be 8 weeks old - I can’t wait to see what happens next!

20 March 2007

Two Weeks Old!

It’s been two whole weeks since Kara made her unforgettable entrance!  Two weeks of getting to know this precious gift from God - her smiles and expressions, and those beautiful brown eyes…of course I could go on, but you get the idea.  I continue to look at her in wonder that God formed her so perfectly and completely in just eight and a half months, and marvel that he would entrust such a beautiful creation to us.  God is indeed rich in compassion and mercy, of which Kara is a daily reminder.  Needless to say, I am delighted and overwhelmed with the task!

Two Weeks Old

We are so thankful that she continues to grow well - averaging 1.5 to 2 ounces per day.  Her hair is growing longer, so now its kind of everywhere at  once.  Not quite long enough for ribbons and pig-tails yet…  Her face has filled out, and that perfect rosebud mouth is getting fuller - must be all the exercise its getting.  The jaundice that had delayed our leaving the hospital by a day has completely disappeared to reveal a beautiful olive complexion that makes her look like an Indian version of my baby pictures.  She apparently has decided that eating is her new favorite pastime, since she’s gone from feeding every three hours, to pitifully bemoaning her starving state almost hourly.  Of course who could resist those big brown eyes - even if it is 2 am!  I love this job!

7 March 2007

Karuna Joy Kotak

Karuna is a hindi/sanskrit word that means compassion/mercy. She will be called Karuna not only because God was compassionate and merciful to Natalie for a quick labor and giving her the ability to bear the pain of childbirth naturally, but God has been merciful to us through our entire lives.

Karuna Joy Kotak

She will go by Kara for the most part. And we pray that Kara will someday come to recognize the "Karuna" of God in her own life.

6 March 2007

Kara is Here!

What a miracle she is! And what a great blessing too. After 7 hours of early labor, Natalie went into active labor at 7:00pm on Tuesday. Just two hours later she started pushing and 11 minutes later Kara was born. She weighs 8.3 lbs and is 20 1/2 inches tall.

Kara is here

God was so gracious compassionate and merciful to Natalie (and me). Both baby and mom are doing very well.