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.)