What we do

This is what we do to entertain everyone in our household at once, when Ryan is gone at work:
Our beautiful lawn (I cut it this time!)

Vegas fetches ball

Beth watches Vegas

Nova wishes he could be part of the fun!

5 months old!

Trying to sit up in her swing
Sitting up (sort of!) on the bed.



Can you believe she's 5 months old already?! I sure as heck can't! It's becoming so obvious though, as she's looking more and more like a little person and less like a little baby. And she's working on things like sitting up and rolling from back to tummy. She can roll tummy to back just fine!

9 years ago today I was on my way to Rome to visit Pope John Paul II for Pentecost. It was such an amazing trip! We celebrated Pentecost mass at St. Peter's and I came this.close to touching John Paul the Great as he drove past us on his pope mobile! I'd scan the picture but we don't have a scanner. Pentecost will always be special for me because of this. John Paul the Great, pray for us!

A bit of a change...

I want to change my blog up a bit. I am constantly striving to be a woman of the Lord and I'd like to begin incorporating that a bit into my blog. Of course, I know most of you come here for photos of Miss Bethany Grace, and I plan to continue providing them for your viewing pleasure. :-) But I want to also add reflections and other thoughts I may have about our faith and my family. I hope you enjoy!

Two weeks

Sorry I haven't updated in so long. My last 2 weeks have been too busy. First, we visited my family's house because my sister was in her school's production of Les Miserables. She was amazing. Right before we left to see them I found out my great grandmother died at the amazing age of 98. After we saw the play we left to go out of state for her funeral, and have Beth meet her great-great grandmother for the first and only time. Then we were home for a day, and then left to visit DH's parents and uncle who visited from out of state. This was his first time to meet his great niece and he loved her very much! That was a short trip because we threw a party for some very dear friends who are moving out of state, and then the next day I left to go back to my parents house (with only Beth) for my sister's high school graduation. And I got home yesterday. So that's been my last two weeks- now you know why I haven't been able to update!



All of the people that I love!

5 generations of beautiful women- Beth, me, my mom, my grandmother, and the swing of my great-grandmother, where she spent a lot of time outside of her little white house.

Her first feeding with daddy and some pumped mommy milk. She did very well!

A beautiful picture with her Mamaw

Cute!

She's so amazing! I can't believe she's my baby!


Meeting Uncle Dan
Snacking on some toes.

Our dear friends, Michael and Kyla, at their goodbye party. We are bonded to them forever in a special way only they know about. ;-)

Lots of pictures!

Bath time! She loves to take baths!
Her very first bottle with the 1/3 ounce I was able to pump out! She took it like a champ!
The "excer-sacuer". Vegas was very interested in it.
The closest picture I've gotten to the famous Beth pout. Her lip isn't quite out as far as it should be, but it's pretty close!
Precious

Playing with Myers
She's always so happy in the morning!
Eating her poor bunny slipper

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!