Tried & True

Tonight we leave 2009 behind us and enter a new decade. 2009 was a monumental year for us and in 2010 we will be full swing into the second chapter of Kariana's life. Instead of recording New Year's resolutions I won't keep, I've decided to make a list of the things that I found most helpful during Kariana's first year. Some of these are pieces of advice that were given to me. Some of the advice I regret ignoring and some of the advice I followed and found extremely helpful. Some of these are products that became the stables of our lives during 2009. It will be interesting to see if any of these products are still around when Kariana has children of her own. Most importantly I am recording these for Kariana so when she has children of her own I won't have to say "Uh, I don't know. That was a long time ago."

#1 Sleep when the baby sleeps. Everything (and that means everything) else can wait.

#2 Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive for Newborns. Huggies Pure & Natural Diapers.

#3 Dr. Smith's Diaper Cream. It's OTC but you have to ask for it because most pharmacies keep it behind the counter.

#4 Buy a humidifier.

#5 Little Noses Saline Spray . . . Vicks Baby Rub . . . Infant Tylenol!!

#6 Enfamil AR (for any parents dealing with infant reflux).

#7 Fussybaby.net. I will keep these images in Kariana's baby book. They worked for her.

#8 Diapers.com. Online home delivery of everything you need for baby.

#9 Gerber Organics & Earth's Best Baby Food. I tried all of the new fancy baby food products but kept coming back to these two.

#10 One ounce of pure organic Prune Juice in baby's bottle each morning. Works like a charm.

#11 Cheerios!!!

Facebook: My Year in Posts

The social networking site, Facebook, became a mainstream form of Internet communication during 2009 and I, of course, couldn't be left in the dark ages. This is my year of status updates for 2009. Apparently, Facebook is recording everything that we say. As I read through my year in posts I notice that most are about Kariana (big surprise). There's a lot about Longhorn football. The Horns are going to the BCS National Championship Game next week. The changing of the seasons is noted and a few important world events were recorded. Most of all I look back at my life in 2009 on Facebook and I am grateful that I was able to re-connect with so many long lost friends. Some of these friends are from high school and I haven't spoken to them in 20 years. Many of them are from college and law school.

Here is my year in posts:

Cara . . .

is leaving work to take Kariana to the pediatrician for her 4-month visit. We get shots today ● is wondering if she will ever get to sleep through the night again ● is trying not be grouchy that she is stuck in the office working on a filing while her hubby has the day off and is home with K ● what goes in must come out ● is wondering if anyone (in Houston) has noticed how beautiful the azaleas are this year. Spring is here! ● caved and ate a Crave Cupcake (with a shamrock) despite her diet. Figured I deserved it since everyone is torturing me with their Spring Break pictures ● Batter Blaster ● Kariana just peed all over daddy's suit. Is it possible that she knew what she had done and she was laughing AT us and not WITH us? ● is looking forward to Easter and seeing Aunt Kari ● has decided that despite thinking Thin Mints were her all time favorite she is really addicted to Samoas ● when hell freezes over and pigs fly . . . . wash your hands ● Happy 6 Month Birthday Kariana ●Happy Mother's Day to all of my favorite mothers and grandmothers!! Hugs & Kisses ● Wishing my hubby a Happy Birthday today ● skedaddled ● Happy Father's Day to my hubby, my dad and all of the other great dads out there ● HOOK 'EM HORNS ● loves short weeks! And the 4th of July ● cliché but thanks again FB for putting me in tough with long lost friends ● NAP!!!! All four of us :) ● apparently interpreting baby noises is part of my new job description - can someone please figure out what “bla bla bla . . . . bla bla bla . . . . . WAAAAAAHHHHH” means and let me know ● feels old when she has twentysomething friends on FB and re-reads their posts several times and still can’t figure out the meaning of their version of texting shorthand ● is trying to remember what she forgot ● and Kariana went to the new HEB Buffalo Market this afternoon. Overall more HEB than Central Market. Nice that the prices are more HEB and you can find the basics. Also liked the kids' carts but will have a hard time competing with the videos that the Kroger across the street is installing in the kids' carts ● Kariana is taking a marathon nap. Both grandpa and the fresh Oregon air are wearing her out ● has always loved Hwy 101 but Hwy 101 with a sleeping baby is even better ● Why is everything I need now at the bottom of my purse? Grrrr! So tired of digging ● The weekend and Longhorn football. Wahoo ● Is tired of the golf clubs in my living room. No, they do not make a good accent piece :( ● doesn't get Mafia Wars ????? ● Yawn. . . . stretch . . . . coffee . . . more coffee . . . . TGIF everyone ● really needs to read more often ● is rethinking her running/jogging playlist and needs a few new songs to get her motivated. Any suggestions ● is watching Duran Duran on Palladia! I'm a true 80's child ● feels so professional when she brings her lunch to work in a plastic Target baggie and then proceeds to pull out of her purse a pacifier instead of her office badge. Just call me Denny Crane ● "Goodnight Moon," my favorite time of the day especially when it includes belly laughs and kisses ● is now one of those mothers with a sniffling, sneezing, snotty nose kid that she used to look at with disgust when their crusty nose kids got too close to hers. Sigh ● has two comments this morning 1) really? Obama? and 2) the Horns are back in action this week! Hook 'em! ● is walking downtown and it is windy and I see rain clouds. Bring it on cool front ● is birthdayed, Halloweened and footballed out! Hook 'em and back to #2! ● is wondering whether she should call Kariana "her baby" or "her toddler". She's acting more like a toddler but just the other day she was still a baby. Sigh! Maybe I'll stick with "munchkin” ● is loving Google's Sesame Street charaters this week ● Should have bought stock in hand sanitizer. It's the new classic - sort of like Coco Chanel ● is getting into the holiday spirit and listening to Sting's new Christmas album, "If On a Winter's Night . . ." It's magnificent. I LOVE this time of the year ● made an Advent wreath at church this morning and now on the way out to get the Christmas tree. Let the decorating and festivities begin! Christmas music a must ● Christmas tree is decorated even though the bottom branches look a little bare but if a one year old is anything like the cat I'm not taking my chances ● just realized that she thinks the outcome of this year's college football season is shaping up to make up for her disappointment with Tiger's transgressions ● I will, of course, watch and support the Horns this evening but I refuse to patronize Cowboys Stadium not so much for my dislike of the Cowboys but because I think it is a shame that Jerry Jones is monopolizing the Big 12 Championship Game. And shame on Mack Brown for supporting this and not wanting to rotate cities. Okay, just had to get that off my chest this morning. Hook 'em Horns! ● The only real communication my 1 year old seems to have mastered so far is "no" with an adamant shake of the head. Sigh! ● Santa Claus is coming to town ● Trying to plan this year's holiday menu keeps leading me back to pre-ordering from Whole Foods again. What's my excuse this year? ● will miss Charlie but now has George in the mornings and Diane in the evenings!!

Sippy Cup

I borrowed this photo from my friend, Kinsey's, blog. Thanks Kinsey. The photo was taken at her son, Zach's, first birthday party. It was quite a throw down for a one year old's birthday party, but two things struck me about this photo. First, I don't have many images of the gals from Kariana's playgroup. Here is a few of those gals with their husbands. I love these gals dearly. They have made the first year of Kariana's life a lot of fun! I look forward to Wednesday afternoons when we get together. The second thing that struck me about this photo is the sippy cup in my hand. It's not unusual to have a drink in your hand in the typical group party pic, right? But it's usually an adult beverage of some sort not a sippy cup. I'm sure I have plenty of those photos from college and beyond tucked away safely in a photo album. Don't worry there were plenty of adult beverages at the party. Adult beverages are a must with a room full of one year olds, but it looks like I've traded in the adult beverage for a sippy cup. Oh, how our life has changed over the past year, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Who really knows what's in the sippy cup anyway!

Christmas 2009

Santa was good to the Carlson household despite Kariana's unwillingness to sit on his lap this year. Maybe Kariana made it up to Santa by having her first words be "ho . . . ho . . . ho . . ." That is, of course, right after "woof . . . woof . . ." which seems to apply to anything that walks on two or four legs - dogs, cats (including Stripes), squirrels and even birds! Anyway, I digress. We had a wonderful Christmas 2009. Grandpa Carlson came to Houston to spend a few days with us and I'm not sure who had more fun, Grandpa Carlson or Kariana! For the first time we attended the 4 o'clock children's service at our church and we weren't disappointed. It was much more fun than trying to keep our eyes open for the 11 o'clock service and we were home in our jammies early and ready for Santa to come down the chimney (wait, we don't have a chimney, hmm?) Grandma and Grandpa Bergen spent Christmas Day with us and I made a honey glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, greenbean casserole and the Carlson's famous port wine cranberry dish. The pecan pie came from Goode Company - yummy! I'm not sure which gift is Kariana's favorite because she runs from one toy to the next in toy overload! So far her new kitchen seems to be a hit. She's been cooking everything from her shoes to her new Skippy the Smart Pup (a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Bergen). Poor Skippy is toast!

It Runs in the Family

I couldn't resist one last attempt with Santa. This time at Berings, our local hardware store. And this time a family photo even though the rest of the family wasn't as gun ho about another photo opportunity with Santa as I was. Berings had a beautful Santa Claus but I have to admit not the most friendly. He must have been at the end of his shift so Whole Foods definitely wins in the jovial category. Oh well, it made for a classic picture and I promised my family this was the last Santa picture for 2009.

We dug a few old photos out of the albums and had to laugh at Aunt Kari with Santa Claus when she was one year old and me with Santa Claus when I was two years old. I guess it runs in the family.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

This year Kariana is still a little too young to understand what Santa Claus is all about. She doesn't know that Santa will fly through the air on his sled with his nine reindeer, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph, on Christmas Eve. She doesn't expect any presents to be waiting for her under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. So far Santa is just a big scary man in a red suit who says, "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Santa Claus - Not Impressed!

Kariana met Santa Claus on Saturday morning but she wasn't impressed! I've been wanting to take Kariana to meet Santa Claus even though my expectations weren't high and I knew it probably wouldn't be a big success. I couldn't bear to drag her to the Galleria and stand in a long line for an adventure I knew she wasn't going to be pleased about. Then I saw an advertisement at Whole Foods. On Saturday morning, Whole Foods was advertising a breakfast with Santa Claus for the kiddos. I thought this would be the perfect setting - more of an intimate gathering with Santa - for Kariana. So I dressed her up for her photo opportunity and off we went across the street to Whole Foods. God bless the staff at Whole Foods. They are wonderful. We made several unsuccessful attempts to snap a photo of Kariana with Santa, but anytime Kariana even got close to the man in the red suit she started crying. The entire staff was trying to make her smile but not a chance. We were able to snap this one quick shot and as you can tell mom had to be in the picture. I snapped a few pictures before we left the house and at least those turned out pretty darn cute. Oh well, there's always next year.

Surf's Up . . . in November no less!

We spent our Thanksgiving 2009 at Aunt Kari's house in San Diego. Aunt Kari has the cutiest house in Solana Beach just a few blocks from the beach. The weather was perfect so we spent time at the beach each day. Kariana loved the water. We had a hard time keeping her from getting soaked by the waves. We visited the San Diego Zoo and saw koala bears, pandas, leopards, elephants, hippos, monkeys and, of course, llamas! We also saw a baby cheetah. We had our Thankgiving feast on the terrace at La Valencia Hotel in downtown La Jolla. Enjoy these photos of Kariana playing in the water on the beach and the animals at the San Diego Zoo.





San Diego Zoo

Bare Bottom

Tobin and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on Monday. We joked that this year neither one of us dared to forget our anniversary because last year our anniversary nearly went forgotten. At this time last year Kariana was a little over two weeks old. Tobin and I were trying to find our bearings with our newborn at home with us. The adrenelene was wearing off and the sleep deprivation setting in. Aunt Kari was in Houston with us visiting Kariana for the first time. I vividly remember that we were giving Kariana a bath and Aunt Kari was on the phone with Grandma Carlson who must have mentioned our anniversary. Aunt Kari paused, turned to Tobin and I, and basically reminded us that it was our anniversary. Both Tobin and I must have looked like deer in the headlights because neither one of us had remembered. Luckily, neither of us cared because we had more important things on our minds - Kariana and sleep! This year we celebrated our 7th anniversary while Grandma and Grandpa Bergen babysat Kariana. Grandparents are the best - free babysitters! Apparently, Grandma and Grandpa Bergen had fun while babysitting and thought they were cute by capturing this picture of Kariana at bath time.

Got Milk?

We have officially said good-bye to formula and it took only one day. We followed our pediatrician’s advice and switched Kariana from formula to whole milk cold turkey. The morning after Kariana’s visit to the pediatrician’s office, I dumped out the open can of formula and filled Kariana’s bottle with milk. Kariana didn’t blink an eye and I don’t think she knew we had made the switch. We’ve been formula-free for three days so I’m confident there is no going back.

It is hard to describe how happy this makes me. I have had this inner dislike for formula from the beginning. When Kariana stopped breastfeeding and we switched her to formula, I viewed it as the ugly stepchild. I know this sounds silly and I realize that during the first year babies need all the nutrients formula provides, but formula is gross not to mention expensive. To help Kariana with her reflux we bought the overpriced ready-to-use cans of special formula that is formulated to reduce spit-ups. Despite my dislike of formula I have to admit I swear by Enfamil AR and would recommend it for any other parents dealing with infant reflux, but it’s expensive and inconvenient when you are on-the-go.

My preference for Kariana and for our entire family is Horizon Organic Whole Milk. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there is supposedly no difference between regular milk and organic milk, aside from how the cows are raised and an obvious difference in price. Recent studies, however, are showing that organic milk is indeed better. But for me just knowing that organic milk comes from a cow whose milk production was not prompted by an artificial growth hormone, that was not treated with antibiotics, whose feed was not grown with pesticides and which had access to “pasture” is convincing enough! Marketing gimmicks? Who knows? But it makes me feel better.

Our Head Strong Toddler

On Tuesday Kariana had her 12-month check-up at the pediatrician’s office. Dr. Koush weighed and measured Kariana. We discussed her progress and any concerns I had. It was a typical visit to the pediatrician’s office until Dr. Koush went to listen to Kariana’s heart with the stethoscope. Holy hell broke loose when Kariana saw the stethoscope. I had to hold Kariana’s arms which were flailing frantically to her side while Dr. Koush listened to her heart and looked in her ears. The entire time Kariana was throwing her head back and screaming bloody murder. It was all we could do to stop from laughing but we knew Kariana was scared. We tired to reassure Kariana that it wasn’t going to hurt thinking quietly to ourselves that the nurse hadn’t even brought out the shots yet. Finally, Dr. Koush was able to get her examination done and we calmed down Kariana. I had to laugh because Dr. Koush looked at me and quickly observed “They say it’s the terrible twos but it begins much earlier than that. Looks like you have a little, head strong toddler on your hands.” Dr. Koush didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know but she confirmed two things to me in that one short statement.

Number 1 – Kariana is officially a toddler.

Number 2 – Kariana is an independent and head strong little girl.

We’ve tried to find the appropriate description for Kariana’s developing personality – although I’d argue she’s had this personality since birth. Several adjectives that have been tossed out to describe Kariana are an independent thinker, volatile and expressive but I think I like head strong best.

Kariana is walking so well that the day after her visit to the pediatrician I took Kariana to several shoe stores. I wanted to measure her feet and pick out a pair of new shoes. I understand new walkers should have flexible, soft-soled shoes and I think it’s important for her to have a good pair of shoes to wear to the park. So off we went to Stride Rite and Imagination Toys & Shoes. Yes, that’s right, Imagination Toys & Shoes, a toy store that also has a wonderful selection of shoes and a seemingly knowledge sales staff. Yikes, I’m not sure they were prepared for Kariana. When the first salesman brought out the funny metal thing to measure Kariana’s feet, Kariana looked at it suspiciously and then she started screaming. She wasn’t going to have any part of us measuring her feet. This first salesman quickly passed Kariana to another one. The next sales lady was actually very good with Kariana. We were able to try several pairs of shoes on Kariana and get her to walk around the store and model them for us. We left the shoe store with a cute pair of pink and white tennis shoes.

So the moral of this story is that we are officially at the one year mark, we have left babyhood behind and we are on to the next set of adventures and challenges with our little, head strong toddler.

Mom thought this would be a good time to recap Kariana’s first year stats – just for the record.

2 weeks: 7 lbs. 8 oz. (25%), 20 ½ inches (25%), head 13 ½ inches (15%)

2 mo.: 10 lbs. 8 oz. (50%), 21 ½ inches (10%), head 15 ¾ inches (50%)

3 mo.: 13 lbs. (45%), 24 inches (45%), head 16 ¼ inches (25%)

6 mo.: 15 lbs. 8 oz. (40%), 25 ½ inches (40%), head 17 ½ inches. (45%)

9 mo.: 17 lbs. 3 oz. (20%), 27 ½ inches (50%), head 17 ¾ inches (80%)

12 mo.: 19 lbs. 8 oz. (25%), 29 inches (77%), head 18 ½ inches (93%)

6 teeth (upper and lower central incisors, upper lateral incisors)

Size 4 ½ shoe. Kariana has narrow feet and one foot is slightly larger than the other. Same as her mom’s feet!

From Baby to Toddler

It's hard to believe that only one month ago Kariana was learning to walk and we were having to encourage her to take those first few steps into our arms. Now, she is off and running, leaving babyhood behind and I believe we officially have a toddler on our hands.

I giggle to myself as I watch Kariana tottering along because it's so darn cute. Her arms out to her side (for balance) and bent at the elbows, her feet are turned outward slightly, and her belly is out in front of her while her bottom sticks out behind (again, for balance). Oh, don't we all wish we didn't have to worry about sucking that gut in. Why, on a baby is that chubby belly and butt so darn cute! Maybe mom is just bias.

Aunt Kari took most of these pictures at the park this past weekend.

Kariana in her pink roadster getting ready to go to the park . . .

Kariana has almost mastered the stairs but gets a little help from mom . . . .

Time for a refreshment break . . . .

Happy 1st Birthday Kariana

I think Kariana had a fun-filled birthday on Saturday. Aunt Kari arrived on Thursday and spent Friday morning baking Kariana’s birthday cake – yummy Italian cream cake. Grandma and Grandpa Bergen arrived on Saturday in time for Kariana’s birthday celebration. I’m not sure Kariana knew the day was all about her but she seemed to have fun opening up her birthday presents and she got lots of fun stuff from everyone. I think Kariana caught on that she was the birthday girl when we set her on the table next to her cake so we could sing Happy Birthday.




Kariana opening her birthday gifts . . . .

Later that evening we all we went trick-or-treating with our friends Teresa and Stephen and their little girl Emma. Here is Kariana giving Emma a kiss.

Kariana cruised along trick-or-treating in her new pink roadster.

The lesson learned for mom is that a Halloween birthday can quickly lead to an amped up one year old. I’m not sure what will happen next year when Kariana can actually eat the birthday cake and Halloween candy. Mom might have to be creative and space birthday and Halloween celebrations a day or so a part.