Sewing. I'm doing it.

True fact:
I took exactly six weeks of "Home Ec" in 8th grade.
True fact:
We did not sew a blessed thing.
True fact:
We "cooked." At home. And brought our dishes to school as homework, because our class met in a kitchenless trailer.
True fact:
I signed up for my first online class ever to motivate me to move beyond the straight stitch on my admittedly fancy machine. Click on that little picture to the right if you'd like to join me.
True fact:
I made that rectangle up there. I used the sewing machine to do it. Go me.

Bethany - Seven Months.

Bethany being six months old has been, without a doubt, the most amazing period of her life so far. She's learned so many things in a short amount of time. The weekend we went to Florida she learned how to clap and blink. We don't see much blinking any more, but the clapping continues, and is beyond precious. (Of course, I might be biased.) Here she is, immediately post-clapping. You can see the glee. ;)
We've had the opportunity to see lots of friends this month. Kenzie (above) is the daughter of our dear friends Erik & Naomi. Kenzie is a big Bethany fan, and worked hard to help her sit still for this picture. She also tried to help Bethany learn to dance. Let's just say we're still working on that particular skill set.
Uncle Dr. T. was in Atlanta for a wedding, and we got to spend a bit of time with him one evening. Bethany loved to look at him and smile at him, but this is about as close as she wanted to get. Bethany has now met almost all of the Tulane crowd, so the three slackers (ahem, Bear, Wascom, & Raegen) need to get their act together and come visit!!
Our little girl is a stander-upper. She's liked this for a long time, but now she's to a point where she can support most of her weight without collapsing while we hold her. This is fine, except when we need her to sit in our laps and all she wants to do is stand. She does not handle disappointment well, and generally lets everyone in the vicinity know that we are refusing to meet her standing needs.
To celebrate our nation's independence, Bethany decided to become an independent sitter. She's pretty good at it, and still has the occasional head-bonk. Combining clapping and sitting might just be her favorite hobby.
(I just love this picture.) Bethany's favorite part of Goodnight Moon is "the quiet old lady whispering hush." She thinks it's spectacular, and usually gives us a big smile, then goes about her business trying to eat the book.
Baby pool = massive failure. Enough said.
Aunt Julie & Aunt Melissa came up to Atlanta to take some of Bethany's six month portraits. We were SO glad to see them, and the portraits are gorgeous, as per usual. You can see those here and here. We are forever grateful to have friends like the two of them. :)
Since BEB has become a sitter, bathtime has gotten more interesting. This is the day she first realized she could sit up in her whale tub. You can guess how she's feeling. The slobber is just a bonus for you.
More friends! This was a great day. :) Two of my friends from Macon, Laura & Jenn, brought their daughters, Susanna & Allie, to play with Bethany. They are a bit older, but Bethany was entranced by them, and just could not figure out what she was supposed to do. It was probably the calmest I've ever seen her. Here are Susanna & Allie in Bethany's room - the group would not cooperate to get a good picture of all three girls.
And the (terrible) family shot - more fun to look at the camera than at the mirror, I'm afraid.

Phew. I'm exhausted just reliving all this. Maybe next month we'll have a tooth to show you!

Bethany - On Vacation.

We had our first big adventure in June. We traveled with Nana & Grandpa B. to Florida so that Bethany could meet her great-grandmother (Grandma GG) for the first time.

The ride down went fairly smoothly, and we convinced Grandpa B. to take my favorite route - US 23 - rather than the interstate. This ended up being AWESOME when Bethany decided she was starving at about Hour Four. All we had to do was pull over in the Dairy Queen parking lot in Alma, GA. That's Bacon County for those of you who care about such things - there is not much there except the Dairy Queen.
We thanked the DQ on the way home, when we ate lunch there. I may have scandalized the locals by nursing BEB at the table (don't worry - I used the cover), but we escaped without incident. ;)

While in Florida, Bethany got to meet Aunt Mary Beth, Uncle Bob, and her cousins Laura & Amy, as well as Laura's sweet boyfriend Chris. Aunt Mary Beth let her play with a measuring cup that is now her new favorite toy. It's always nice to see family, and we know Bethany will grow up with that as an important part of her life!
She really enjoyed all the attention, as well as watching the World Cup with Daddy & Grandpa.
Here she is clapping for the United States. We won't discuss the outcome of that game. ;)

Bethany also got to visit the ocean, which was hilarious. She was not too sure about the gritty feeling of the sand, and had NO idea what to make of the wide-open horizon, but had some fun splashing her feet in the waves. The water, being the Atlantic, was pretty chilly, but she didn't seem to mind. It was a pretty short trip to the beach, since we were leaving that morning to return home, but I'm glad she got to have the experience.

We can't wait to see everyone again soon!

PS - If you're wondering why the photos are tiny again, I've had multiple uploading headaches, and the small size just works better. You can click on them to enlarge, if you wish.

Bethany - Six Months.

Well. I'm late again. Hold the applause. Here's Bethany on her first Memorial Day. She's also celebrated her first Flag Day and her first Fourth of July, but we'll try to keep Ye Olde Blogge in chronological order.

Our little cowgirl had a lot of adventures shortly before she turned six months old. Aside from looking beyond cute in Daddy's hat, she worked hard at starting to eat solid food.
We planned to hold off solids till six months, but she was getting pretty agitated watching us eat, so we went ahead and started letting her have rice cereal. (That's pictured above in the bouncy chair.)
The cereal went pretty well, so she moved on right around the time she turned six months, and we discovered that we have an avocado fiend on our hands. Fortunately, one of those puppies cranks out a LOT of baby food when you freeze it in tiny portions, so she's not eating us out of house and home just yet.
Bethany continues to be a pretty happy baby most of the time. She's sleeping acceptably in her crib, nursing well, and more and more interactive while she plays. Her favorite book right now is a Little Golden Book called Animal Orchestra. It was a very random find at Little Shop of Stories, and we're pretty smitten with how she reacts when we read it to her - she literally lights up. She also lights up after showing off her newest tricks - rolling! We thought she mightnot ever be a roller, since she took so long to do it, but she proved us wrong.
We have survived our first "illness," a very short-lived stomach bug that Bethany basically slept off, and enjoyed lots of visits from friends and family. She heard her first live music at brunch with Aunt Kinsley, and tries to imitate some of our words. Bethany also adopted a new laugh, which involves crinkling her nose. We love it, which makes her do it more. We've started a library habit that goes pretty smoothly, as long as she doesn't have to be silent. Silence is NOT BEB's forte.Personality, on the other hand, we have in spades. :)

Bethany says Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Bethany says Happy Birthday, Grandpa!
Originally uploaded by sarahblascovich

My dad's birthday is today, and since I've continued my 10-year-long streak of not managing to get anything in the mail to anyone in time for his or her actual birthday, we thought we'd send a little video goodness.

She was going to wear a very cute outfit, but Bethany takes after her Grandpa B., and is basically a human oven. Or, maybe a human nuclear reactor. In any case, she's hot all the time, just like Grandpa.

Happy Birthday, Daddy! Hope you had a great day in Flor-idia.

We love you!!

Bethany - Five Months.

Bethany turned five months old last Thursday. You should be very impressed I'm so on top of her monthly post. :) The big news in the last month is that she can now grab her feet AND stuff them in her mouth. Naturally, though, she will not allow this to be captured on film. You can see her abiding love of Sophie above, when really I was trying to get her eating her feet. She can also point her index fingers, but not actually at anything. We think she might be trying to raise her little fingers, too, which is bad news for our many OU fans.
Bethany and I made our first road trip to Macon, where we got to visit with Nana, Grandpa B, and our friend Erin, who made this amazing Smilebox show for us. It is about the neatest thing ever, and we are very grateful that she took the time to do it. As for the road trip, it went fairly smoothly, with the exception of my second-worst Chick Fil A visit ever on the way home. However, I am in no hurry to travel that far again by myself!
Of course, Bethany reads a lot. She loves all of her Eric Carle books, which is no big surprise, since I once befuddled by psychologist uncle by "reading" The Very Hungry Caterpillar before I was "developmentally ready." :)
Bethany has also engaged in her first protest activity. Due to extreme budget shortfalls, the Georgia Legislature threatened to end the summer program where Lindsey and I met. Thanks to Facebook, and the picture above, Bethany was able to voice her opposition to the cut. (In case you care, partial funding was restored, no doubt in part to our cute kid.)
Since the weather has gotten warm[er], we spend a lot of time on the porch swing. Sometimes this helps us get out of a bad mood, and sometimes we just enjoy it. One great thing about where we live is that there are a decent number of animals to watch, and even some exotic ones to hear from the zoo at the park. Bethany may have a future as a botanist, since she tries to grab every plant that is anywhere near her. We're hoping this is not an appetite for destruction.
Granny was able to come down and visit last Saturday, and she and Bethany had a very nice time. Of course, Bethany refused to cooperate so that I could get a picture of both of them smiling. Granny brought her a new crinkly book, which has been a big hit. (I told you, she's a reader.)
And finally, the "five month" portrait, which I should admit was actually taken on Mother's Day.

Sitting.

Sitting.
Originally uploaded by sarahblascovich

Since the last post was just a lot of boring writing, I figured I'd share this one of Bethany's new independent supported sitting. Well, that and the faces are about the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. Muchas gracias to Aunt Lala for the darling owl shirt. HOOT HOOT!

There is more to my life than that baby.

But not much. :)

One of our big adventures for this summer involves me learning to eat more some vegetables. In order to do that, we made the rather enormous decision to buy a CSA {Community Supported Agriculture} share. Every week, we'll be picking up a box of fresh-grown veggies from Scharko Farms at our friendly neighborhood farmer's market. Our first box arrives next Thursday, and I'm pretty excited. Of course, when it's entirely full of things I don't eat, the enthusiasm may dim somewhat. Fortunately, we split our share with our friends Mark, Shelly, & Conner, and Shelly is an amazing cook, so hopefully she'll be able to inspire me. (No pressure or anything...)

Eventually, Lindsey would really like us to have a decent garden of our own, but that will involve some massive tree surgery on the giant oak that shades pretty much the entire backyard. This year, he's content with three heirloom tomato plans from a coworker.

I am also sort of determined to start making "stuff" again - I've been missing it, and I have a few crafty ideas up my sleeve. Since they're all supposed to be speedy projects, maybe I'll get them done by September??

Happy weekend!

Bethany - Four Months.

Figured I should do the four month post before she turns five months. :) At her four month checkup, Bethany weighed 14.4 pounds, and was 26 inches long. Her head also measured in the 98th percentile. We are attributing that to her immense brain, not just an enormous skull, though the truth remains to be seen. As you can see, our first St. Patrick's Day as a family of three was marked by wearing an inappropriate symbol, and enjoying a very rainy day. Wildness and craziness all around. (Ha.)

She continues nursing like a champ, and decided shortly after turning four months old that she no longer wished to be swaddled at night. This was not happy news for mommy and daddy, because she still has a pretty strong startle reflex, so she is up much more at night than she had been. She also wants to sleep on her side (like the grown-ups in this house do, we think), so that adds a layer of excitement to her nighttime flailing.

Ignore the sunglasses that ruin this otherwise sweet picture. Now that the sun occasionally shines in Atlanta, we spend a lot of time walking around the park. We have also enjoyed several outside restaurant meals, which are much better for babies than trying to be quiet and still inside a restaurant, or at least Mommy thinks so.

Bethany celebrated her first Easter with lots of friends in town (more on that in a later post), including her first Tulane Girls' weekend. We really missed Aunt Raegen, but Aunts Feather, Caro, and Lala were here to indoctrinate her. The indoctrination was very successful, and we cannot wait to get EVERYONE together to meet her.

On Easter Monday, she also was able to meet Uncle Ralph very briefly, as he was in Georgia to attend a practice round at The Master's with Grandpa B. & Uncle Andrew. As you can see, he still has the magic touch with babies.

{Notice in the family picture that only one of us is getting cuter.} Bethany continues to amaze us with what she tries to do and what she won't try to do. She has no interest in grabbing her feet, but does grab everything in sight and shove it in her mouth, including very small things that we don't realize she has the dexterity to grab until she does it. She also refuses to roll all the way over, but then sits up in the bathtub.

She really likes sitting on the couch (because she thinks she's just a short grown-up; I can't wait to tell her how wrong that assumption is!), and spending time on the porch swing. Her eyes are still very light, and we can't tell if they're going to be more grey or more blue. (Or mess us up completely by turning brown.) Her hair is getting longer and thicker, but still maintains a buzz cut look overall. She talks A LOT, and recently mastered what I like to call the Vikings-Are-Coming-to-Pillage-Our-Town shriek. Overall, she remains a very sweet and easy-to-care-for baby, and we are VERY grateful.

Happy Tummy Time.

Happy Tummy Time.
Originally uploaded by sarahblascovich

This is one of my favorite videos yet, since you get to hear her talk AND watch that pretty smile. Ordinarily she wears her gowns pulled over her diaper, of course, but we make exceptions for tummy time since she really doesn't like it - not that you'd know that from watching this.

Bethany - Three Months

Last Saturday, this little cutie turned three months old. Or, as my father put it, one quarter of a year. Thanks, Daddy, for that clarification. ;) (As you can see, Croshetta Mouse continues to be a favorite! Thanks, Granny Brown!) If you haven't seen these yet, you REALLY should take a look. Thanks to Melissa & Julie for more gorgeous portraits.

My parents visited on her three month birthday (March 6th). Here she is telling my father what's what. He brought along his shark puppet for what he called "genetic testing." She is not yet into the puppet, but is not afraid of it either, so the testing will have to be repeated. [The short version of this story is that sharks tend to be the subject of a LOT of inside family jokes, and my dad is kind of obsessed with them. If Bethany doesn't dig the shark thing... Well, let's just not go there.]

And here we have Bethany with both of her Blascovich grandparents in an outfit given to her by our family friend Mrs. Escovedo, who used to take care of my brother and me when we lived in Texas. Bet you didn't even KNOW I used to live in Texas, did you? Anyway, we love Mrs. Escovedo, who taught me many important things. I hear she reads the blog, so hopefully she'll see this picture...

Finally, the family portrait. Don't you love my hair?

At three months, Bethany is doing amazing things. She holds her head up all the time now, and desperately wants to sit up on her own. She can reach and grasp things independently, and likes to play with her baby gym by pushing it around. She sees her feet, but doesn't grab for them. Yet. She is still talking up a storm, and has a very adorable laugh - see the post below for evidence. She has definitively refused the bottle, which is only a slight inconvenience, fortunately.

When the weather is nice (stop laughing! sometimes the sun almost shines!), she really enjoys long walks around the park. Sleep-wise, she's doing pretty well. Usually, she's up just long enough to nurse, and then falls directly back to sleep. Our next big adventure might be moving her from her co-sleeper in our room to her own crib. At times, she will help us turn pages in books, and she's a very good listener when we read aloud. Her musical favorites haven't changed too much since last month, and John Denver is probably still at the top of her list. We are trying to remember to let her spend more time on her tummy. Right now, she props herself up really well for a few minutes, then gets bored, and lets us know it.

One final note: my children's literature blog now has its own website. Visit www.readitmakeit.com - soon to be updated much more frequently, now that Mommy has finished a huge contract project. (*cue angels singing*)

Happy Friday & Happy Weekend!

A little hilarity.

VID00025
Originally uploaded by sarahblascovich

Just because it's Friday. And because this ridiculously bleak weather is driving me crazy. (Ignore my fake laugh, and focus on the cuteness.)

Since my child has put herself to sleep...

... thought I'd share some photos of her (finally) (almost) finished bedroom.

We caught a lot of flack from folks when we didn't know what gender our baby would be, and we told them the room was blue. LOTS of people immediately replied with, "well, you'll have to change that if she's a girl." Um, no. It turns out that we like the color, really like it with red accents, and guess what?? Our baby has remained a girl despite the blue room.

We'll start with her crib, which came from IKEA. Notice how pristine it looks? Notice how there are multiple death traps near it? (Soft toys, hanging blanket, pillow...) That's because she's only used it for the occasional nap, and now she's starting to hang out in there a bit while we're in her room so she'll get used to it. This is the secret to having an immaculate crib - don't use it! Print on the wall is by the amazing Black Apple, and the pom poms are a MonkeyBean creation from my first shower. (Awww.) The blanket you can't see was mine, made by a great-aunt, and has the tightest crochet stitches I have ever seen.

Next we have the rocking chair, source of immense angst for my younger brother. Mom had a different chair for each of us, and this is actually his. However, when we moved to Georgia, Mom put my rocking chair in his room, so he's attached to that one. Thus, I have his for Bethany. Confused? Imagine how I felt when we tried to sort all this out when I was 9 months pregnant. Yeah. The gorgeous afghan was made by Lindsey's sisters' step-grandmother. More Black Apple art on the wall, and another print by an artist whose name I've forgotten, so I'll have to look that up and report back.

This is the crazy amount of stuff I have temporarily put on her bookshelf. I know that it will all have to go when she starts pulling up, but for now, I like it. You can see some of her MonkeyBean newborn portraits, as well as a Pete the Cat print - he's riding the St. Charles streetcar, of course. A whole bunch of vintage books, a vintage baby bonnet, a doll I bought in Prague, and a little ceramic box made for me when I was little round this out. You don't want to see the shelves - trust me.

The color on this shot is off, but you can see the canvas piece Kinsley made for Bethany, as well as my very clever (ha) use of a picture display mobile for Bethany's art cards. This is hanging above her changing table, which is really a pad on top of a dresser. Couldn't get the whole thing in a remotely decent shot, so you'll just have to imagine the dresser. Bethany loves to stare up at both of these things, since they're black, white, & red.

Finally - gratuitous cuteness.