Tuesday, July 27, 2010

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.

Friday, July 23, 2010

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!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

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.

Monday, July 19, 2010

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. :)