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.

Snow Report!

Let me just apologize now for the formatting nightmare that is this post. It is so much easier to link to the videos on flickr, but flickr insists on this wackadoodle right-hand alignment thing. GRRRR. Here. Look at the pretty baby. It will make you feel better.

Phew. Now you can watch her on video:

Bethany Makes a Snow Angel - February 13, 2010

Originally uploaded by sarahblascovich

Bethany loved being outside this morning, in our whopping three inches of snow. It has, of course, sent all of Atlanta to a standstill - again. Two actual snows in one winter? And it's not even March? Unheard of! We are fortunate we don't have to go anywhere today, because apparently the roads are icy disasters - again. One day, the city of Atlanta will have an appropriate number of sand trucks. Until then, we're snowed in every time there is any accumulation. There are worse things, I know.