More pics...

Taking a ride with Daddy!
Pretty baby
Toes!
Housecleaning with Mommy!
A visit to Anil and Mithali's house with Uncle Josh and Aunt Ramona

Toes

Someone found her toes this week! Every time she is placed on her back, her feet immediately go up in the air and she grabs her toes. It's so cute! They haven't made it to her mouth yet, although I've seen her try to pull them up to her mouth one time.

Last week Beth and I mostly stayed home. In an effort for me to try to help her sleep better, we cut out all road trips and just stayed in. It helped! She went from napping very little and unpredictable to napping a LOT and sort of on a schedule. It's a bit easier for me to read her sleepy cues. I checked out some books from the library to try to help her sleep more, but I realied the more I read the more I thought something was wrong with her. I tried thier methods to "fix" her and it made things worse. I realized through prayer and some great friends that there was nothing wrong with her! So she wakes up a lot during the night, the good news is that she's right there with me since we cosleep, and she nurses right back to sleep. I get more sleep while she's cosleeping because I'm more relaxed and don't have to get up to get her. So I came up with sort of a compromise- she falls asleep at night in her crib in her room and I bring her into bed with us when she wakes up after we're in bed. It's nice because we don't have to tiptoe around in our room at night and I only have to walk across the house to get her once.

Saturday, DH and I had a nice day! Grandma and Grandpa came to stay with miss Beth while mommy and daddy headed out for our first post-baby alone outing! We went to a nice lunch together and did a little shopping, and came home to feed Beth once during the day. I know Beth loved ALL the attention she was showered with while they were here, and it was so nice to be able to spend alone time with DH!

On a separate note, we are looking to rehome our 2 kitties, Jezebel and Nova. They are nice, good kitties, but taking care of the animals plus the baby plus the house is too much for me right now! If you or anyone you know is interested in taking them, please let me know!!! They are indoor-kitties only!

Laughing!

Pacifier Clip

I bought one of these from a store and it was obviously homemade. So I made another one using hot glue and the same pieces, just different fabric. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out!
This is my favorite thrift store find so far. I adore this dress, and it was only $2.99! Kid to Kid rocks!





Beth had her 4-month doctor appointment today (even though she's not quite 4 months old!). She weighs 13 lbs 8 oz and is 23.75 inches long! Almost 2 feet tall, hehe. He said she looks like a happy, healthy baby!

Beth and Vegas

Ok it's mostly Vegas, but it cracks me up!

Her first cold

She's almost the right size for the Jumparoo!








This week Beth had her first cold. Actually she and I both had colds- poor girl was so very congested. Her sleep at night has been interrupted since she was having a hard time breathing out of her nose. I have similar symptoms, only mine is developing into a sinus infection, I think. Beth sounds a lot better now, she and I split a bottle of nose spray, lol. She does NOT like the bulb syringe used to clean out her nose, in fact, it's lead to the infamous "arching of the back". Whenever she's displeased in anyway, the back arches and I have to hold on tight! She's hard to hold like that! But now that she's feeling a little better her big smiles are back. :-)

Currently Beth's favorite game is Peek A Boo! She's also started to roll over- the easy way! She's rolled from her tummy to her back several times. She's also laughing a little more often, but at least 75% of the time it's at the dog! She loves to hear the dog growl at a ball. DH and I are feeling very good about the relationship between Beth and Vegas right now- Vegas is very fond of licking Beth's toes. :-)

Easter

We had a wonderful first Easter! Our family had our annual crawfish boil on Holy Saturday, and although the weather was terrible, we still had a great day. My parents and siblings visited town and very much enjoyed holding their granddaughter. :-)

Last pics from the old camera

Taking a ride in the stroller.
Waking up with Aunt Jenny. Her first stay away from home!


These two pics are from a couple of weeks ago- during spring break when Beth took her first vacation with me to the beach. We went with my side of the family to an aquarium since it was raining the full day we were there. :-/

Cute little outfit! I love these kind from Carters.




Last night we had our neighbors over and they have a son who is about 6 weeks older than Beth, his name is Myers. So far they don't really interact with each other but in a few months I know they'll be excited to have a friend!

We plan to have some pictures taken in the Bluebonnets tomorrow hopefully, the weather has been sort of overcast so I'm hoping it will clear up a little bit.

Beth is still not sleeping very well, though she is going to bed around 7:30 which is nice for me! She's cooing a lot more, drooling a lot more, and as cute as ever! I just bought her first teething ring the other day, and she'll chew on it although I'm pretty sure she's not teething yet. She's just starting to put whatever she can get her hands on in her mouth.

New Camera

We have a new camera! We couldn't find a place to fix the old one, so we purchased a Kodak C743 and I really love it so far. It's so user friendly and small. Unfortunately right now Beth is demanding my attention so I will try to post the new pictures later today!

Still broken

The camera is still broken. I managed to get a few pictures on the computer, but in the mean time we've been taking pictures with our digital camera. Unfortunately, the USB cable for that device isn't working, so I can't import any new pictures onto our computer. If we're going to upload any photos anytime soon, it will have to be from someone else's camera!

I'll give a written update. :-) On Saturday, Beth had her first semi-babysitting experience. Grandma and Grandpa came in to watch Beth while DH and I worked in the yard all day. We built a pretty garden in our backyard! Anyway, we were able to work outside (with temporary nursing breaks for me) for several hours, then have a nice barbeque burger dinner before it got too late. It was a really nice day for everyone- Grandma and Grandpa had some major quality time with Beth and Mommy and Daddy got to do some work and spend some time together.

We also got a sling for daddy! It's actually more like a backpack for the front-it's called a "Snugli". We actually found one in perfect condition at our local kid's resale shop for $15! That makes me so happy since Target sells them for $40. What makes me happy the most is now Daddy can wear his baby. :-) We also bought Beth a baby bathtub, since I haven't quite figured out the best way to bathe her yet. I really like the tub we bought, it supports her back and was only $3.

Beth's sleeping schedule isn't as pretty as it used to be. She's still going to bed around 9:00, sometimes a little earlier, but she's also waking up more often and refusing to go back to bed in her bassinet. So she'll sleep for a few hours in her bassinet, then wake up to nurse and winds up spending the rest of the night with me. I'm just fine with that routine, I think I get the best of both worlds- falling asleep next to my hubby and waking up next to my girlie.

I almost forgot! Beth laughed! It was real, hold-nothing-back laughter! And guess what at: the dog. The dog was chasing a ball and growling and shaking it around in her mouth (pretty vicious looking to the casual on-looker) and Beth was just cracking up! I was sitting down and holding her so she could watch the dog play and she laughed and laughed for about 3 minutes straight. Since then, I've gotten her to laugh maybe 2 or 3 times, but nothing quite like that dog. It figures, considering Vegas (the dog) has a history of being not so nice to little kids!

Oops

I know it's been quite awhile since my last update- sorry! Spring break happened, and then our camera broke, so it's going to take me a bit of time before I can get pictures uploaded. It's not horribly broken but enough to delay me for a bit of time!

On Tuesday 3/13, Beth and I went to the beach with my side of the family. Unfortunately DH couldn't get off of work, so we took our first trip alone. I had such a nice time visiting with my family, as they live over 3 hours from us now. Beth had a couple of "firsts"- first boat ride and first hotel stay- not huge ones but firsts none-the-less. :-) We also went to the beach but the weather was very overcast and the ocean was freeeezing so she actually stayed in her sling the entire time. We're going back to the beach (a different beach) in July, so hopefully by then she'll be sitting up and able to enjoy the sand!

Sorry for the lame update, not too much has really happened lately. Right now I'm going to focus my efforts on getting the camera fixed!

Sleeping on her own

As you can see from the first picture, Miss Bethany is sleeping on her own, out of our bed, and the best part is she's putting herself to sleep. I am counting my blessings! We're starting to have a nightly bedtime of 10:00 for Beth, but last night and the night before she fell asleep in my arms earlier than that so I'm thinking I'll move it up to 9:00 or so. She wakes up a few times at night to nurse, so I bring her in bed with us to nurse then she goes right back into her bassinet and usually goes right back to sleep. The other sleepy picture is of a daytime nap in her bassinet- this was the first time I put her down in there during the day and she fell asleep on her own. She always sleeps with her arms above her head- she has since she was born! It's so cute!

We also finally received her stroller on Friday! DH put it together that night. Yesterday was our first real outing with it- I took her to the mall to return some things and eat lunch with DH and I think she liked it- she fell asleep! And it was sooo nice to not have my back aching because of the sling. I still plan to use it when I have to run into a store for something quick, or for grocery shopping, but it was hurting my back when I'd spend 2 hours walking the mall. So yeah, the stroller is nice. :-) Now we just have to start using it to take walks in the evenings sucessfully. Last night all three of us went for a walk and she started crying and would not stop after we were pretty far away from the house, so we went home. She's usually kind of fussy in the evenings and I was hoping being outside would distract her from crying. We'll keep trying though!

This past Sunday was Beth's first trip to her grandparent's house! DH's parents live about 45 minutes up the road so we took a day trip and Beth did great. It was so nice to go visit and I know they were happy to have us! DH's brother and his fiance were also there so it was just a lovely family get together. Beth behaved very well, for the most part... She was fussy on the way home but that was probably my fault for leaving right after she woke up instead of when she was ready to go to sleep. Lesson learned!

Professional Pics

Here are a few samples of some of the professional pictures we had taken today at Portrait Innovations. Beth did okay- she smiled a little bit but was overall just really tired. We did get a few good ones, though. :-)

2 months old!

Beth had her two month doctor visit on Tuesday- she checked in at a whopping 12 lbs 4 oz and 23 inches! She's right about average (50-75%) in all of her growth charts- I'm so proud of my big girl! He said she looks very healthy and couldn't get over how happy she was during the appointment. Her next appointment will be when she's 4 months old, to check again on her growth.

The stroller hasn't gotten here yet, thanks to a glitch at Babies R Us... I called them and they had to cancel my original order and offered free shipping on my next purchase, so I re-ordered the stroller and had it 2-day UPS Expressed to our house. :-) It should be here tomorrow, and THEN we can finally start walking around our neighborhood on all of the cool hike and bike trails.

Yesterday I took Beth to my old office to meet my former coworkers. It made me realize how much I missed working, but on the other hand how I couldn't imagine leaving my baby girl to go back to work. I would have had to leave her 3 weeks ago... Right when she is starting to smile big and be more interactive with me and the world. It was nice to see everyone and they, of course, loved Beth. :-)

Last night we had a major MAJOR breakthrough- Beth put herself to sleep. In her bassinett. Without me or DH in the room! The past 4 or 5 nights she'd been sleeping in her bassinett, next to our bed (before she slept next to me) and only last night did I lay her in there and walk away. There was no fussing, no crying, just a bit of babbling as she fell asleep and STAYED asleep. She woke up around 3 to nurse, and I put her back in and she went right back to sleep. That happened again at 5 and 7. I'm so ecstatic that she's doing this on her own, but part of me misses sleeping next to my girl! Today I pressed my luck and put her down for a nap. She protested for about 2 minutes, I gave her the pacifier and she fell asleep again! Which is where she is right now, so I can come update the blog. :-) I feel so incredibly blessed. I realize this might not, and probably won't last forever, but I am going to take advantage of the fact that she's self-soothing and enjoy it while it's here!

A new stage

Happy! A diaper change!
Extreme closeup!
What we've been seeing a lot this week... Pouting and crying!

Taking a (very!) relaxing nap on daddy.
Blowing bubbles!


This week Beth has begun to scream. It's lovely! Actually just in the past couple of days she's been very fussy with both of us, refusing to just let us sit down and hold her... She must be carried around. She really likes it when Daddy carries her though, which is nice for me to have a bit of a break! The good news is though is that she's starting to fall asleep on her own at night. We'll all get in bed (she sleeps with us!) and I'll lay her down after she's nursed and she'll babble on for a bit with her nuk (pacifier) and fall asleep. No mommy required (except to stick the nuk back in when it falls out). I'm hoping this will remain a good habit and eventually become a daytime nap habit too. I tried today to put her down after she fell asleep in my arms and she woke up... So I tried again. And again. And again. I gave up after the 4th time because by then she was wide awake! I'll keep trying. I love holding her while she sleeps, but I know she's got to learn to sleep without me or DH holding her so I can get stuff done! She's also started blowing bubbles when she's sitting contently in her bouncy chair, she reminds me of a little sand crab!

Tummy time!

Baby's First Valentine's Day

Talking
Taking a ride on Daddy!
Enjoying her bouncer chair.
Not enjoying tummy time very much.




Today Beth is 7 weeks old! This week we did two big things: ordered a stroller and some cloth diapers! Actually we went stroller shopping one day but as it turns out, the Toys R Us here is run by a bunch of morons so we came home empty-handed. The good news is after messing with display strollers at Toys R Us and Target, reading reviews on epinion.com, and talking to a LOT of people about strollers, I finally decided to order one off Babies R Us.com since they were having a sale. :-) I was hoping it would be here by now but it's not, so I'll post a picture when I do the next update!

I also ordered some cloth diapers from naturalbums.com. The diapers are bumGenius! brand- which are supposed to be some of the best out there. These come highly recommended to me by other women who cloth diaper their babies. I just ordered a 3 pack to get us started since DH is still unsure about the whole cloth diapering thing, but I'm sure he'll get used to it! In the long run, it will be a major money saver, not to mention we won't be creating that much more trash. The kind of diapers we ordered are one-size, meaning that they will grow with Beth so we don't have to keep buying different sizes. And they're made very well so they should last us through another baby!

6 weeks old already

diaper changes are fun!
pushing herself up on the boppy


the new thing... this was supposed to be the "spitting it out" picture...


It's hard for me to believe. She's moving from the "newborn" to the "infant" stage... She's starting to look less like a newborn to me, especially after reviewing the past week's worth of photos!

It's been a big week. Miss Bethany has discovered she has lungs. And she isn't afraid to use them either- wow that girl can shriek! Sometimes it's random but also whenever she's the slightest bit displeased.

We also took the leap and gave her a pacifier. I was having serious reservations about giving her one but finally realized that maybe I wasn't meeting one of her needs so I'm trying to view it as something that's beneficial to her. The funny story is that the first time I put it in her mouth, she made a sour face and spit it out(I was so happy!) so I grabbed the camera to take a picture of her spitting it out and stuck it in her mouth again... She kept it in! Little toot.

We also had an incident at the mall this week. I was shopping and had her in her sling and she started going to town making a dirty diaper. It was so loud another customer laughed and made a joke about it. Shortly after I felt something warm on me, through the sling, so I hightailed it to the ladies room. Umm yeah, she had exlpoded through her diaper and all in her bodysuit (it was a footed onesie)and I'm pretty sure nothing was in her diaper. It was everywhere else though (including her feet, not sure how that happened). So I wipe her down with diaper wipes and reach for her spare onesie I keep in the diaper bag... Yeah, not there. I debated putting her back in the nasty outfit or going naked. Naked won. I took her to Macys (closest store) and grabbed an outfit off the rack and brought it to check out. By this time Beth was angry that I had her back in the pouch (she had only a diaper on!) so she was screaming at the top of her newly-discovered lungs. I was so flustered I asked the lady if I could just put it on her right there at the checkout and she helped me get Beth dressed, then I hurried back to the ladies room to nurse her and de-stress myself. It's funny now but not so much while it was happening.

Today I had my six week OB checkup and it was weird going back with the baby outside of me this time, lol. I'm healthy and properly healed, but he's got me taking some iron suppliments because I was and still am pretty anemic. I am also only 3 lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight, which was nice to hear since I was prepared to see a much worse number and am struggling with body image issues right now. Having a baby changes lots and as well as you prepare yourself for changes, you just can't know what to expect until you're there.

Beth's 5th Week

Beth and Vegas
In the first piece of clothing she ever owned, given to her by her Grandma and Grandpaul!


Ok I know it's almost her 6 week birthday but it's hard for me to get online sometimes!

I feel like the past few days she's really "grown up" a lot. She spends a lot more time recently with her eyes wide open, taking in the world. She's taken an interest in her mobiles, which means she's been more content just laying in her crib looking around and listening to music (Baby Einstein CDs or the lullaby the mobile plays). She's also starting to enjoy her swing a little bit more since she likes to look at that mobile now. Today I found out from out friends that she's probably ready, or will soon be ready for a Bumbo seat very soon. These, I hear, are great. :-)

I have my 6 week checkup with my OB this week, which means I should get the okay to begin exercising again. I don't plan on joining a gym because I'm not ready to leave my Beth alone yet (!) but I do plan on buying a stroller and taking her on walks once the weather gets a bit nicer.