From Sunsets to Bluegrass: Week Three

On Our Own (cue Les Mis here.)
My parents left on Saturday morning after two wonderful weeks. They were so helpful in caring for Karis, helping around the house, running errands and caring for our pups. We are so thankful for the time they had with us!

Sunday was the first day on our own and it was great to be able to recap and test the waters before Greg's family comes in on Monday evening. We even made time for movie night with Beauty and the Beast!

First Trip Out
First family trip out and Karis’ first time at church! She did wonderfully despite a rough evening and rough morning. We were able to make it on time and during the service she only stirred a couple of times. Thankfully she loves that carseat! We were so thankful for the opportunity to be back at church fellowshipping with others, singing songs of worship with the body and sitting under the Word. It was such a refreshment!

Bellybutton!
On Monday Karis lost the rest of her umbilical cord. It looks like she's an inny!

Grammie & Grandpa Ginn
On Monday evening Grandma and Grandpa Ginn arrived to meet their first granddaughter! They came loaded with gifts and yummy food from Great Grandma!

We've been enjoying the cooler weather with some lovely pack walks in the evenings!

Karis' Big Debut
So out of the blue at the beginning of the week I get a Facebook message from a fellow Zumba instructor asking if we'd be interested in participating in a video on postpartum and newborn care for a hospital. After getting more details and sending in some photos they told us "the producers love her!" and we eagerly signed on.

I felt the need to spruce her up for her close up with her first hairwash.

On Wednesday Karis and I had our 15 minutes of fame shooting for a film that will distributed to new moms getting discharged from the hospital. It was a blast and the videographer, Nurse Practitioner and Director took such good care of us providing us with lunch, making sure we were comfortable (and Karis was able to keep to her schedule) and even sending us off with our payment (money for us and a savings bond of Karis, her first paycheck!) and a gift bag with goodies.

We did some diaper changing, feeding, burping and I got to try my hand at acting with some postpartum symptoms (like cramps, etc.). Let's just say Karis was a natural and as for me I am glad that Zumba is more of my forte than acting! Baby girl did so well despite a long afternoon! What a great opportunity!

Me and Karis and my fellow zumba friend Michelle and her baby Maximus!

Bottles Up!
I am constantly learning new things about what to introduce and when and realized that the window to teach Karis to take a bottle was upon us! I was expecting the Battle of the Bottle and set up everything according to the "experts" (I got multiple different kinds of bottles with various nipples and made sure Greg was the one feeding her, etc.) but low and behold, she seems to just like food no matter where it comes from and took to the second bottle we tried (even though it was leaking like crazy)! She definitely is a Ginn in terms of her ravenous eating habits. Looks like we have a future Yelper on our hands!

New Skills
-Like always, I can never get it on camera, but Karis has started to make an "ooo" face puckering her lips together.-She also has started holding out her right arm straight out to which I always say in a triumphant tone "Victory!" (don't worry, she's a Bruin, not a Trojan).

-She has been more awake and active as well which also means it is harder to get her down for a nap since she wants to be up and observe the world all the time (at the expense of becoming quickly overtired and fussy). Needless to say I have been camping out on a couple babyblogs to pick up tips and have started a new naptime routine.

- Poor baby has also developed diaper rash for the first time. I can't wait till she's a little older so I can start up my cloth diapering!
- She also started to spit up a lot more which has left all members of the family targets for milk spurts. It is funny though how happy you can be seeing spit up (sign that she is eating enough) and bowel movements (also a sign of healthy eating) and burping (gas is a terrible, terrible plague). I never knew I'd be so excited for bodily functions!