My little escape artist

Happy!
Trying to get out of the playpin.
Almost...

New pics

I've realized that I don't have very many good pictures from this month. I think part of the reason is because my red-eye flash on my camera ALWAYS makes Beth blink! So all of the cute pics, her eyes are closed or half closed. I need to start taking more photos! It seems like for every 20 pictures I take, I get one or two good ones. Thank goodness for digital cameras, right?!

Jumping, but unsure whether to smile or not!
Us on my birthday!
Standing and looking mighty cute!
The one incredibly cute picture from this month- my two favorite people. :-)

Loooong video

Most might find this video a bit boring, but there are some cute parts! It's basically just of Beth playing and the dog running around. (Occasionally Vegas enjoys running laps around the sofas while barking. This entertains the whole family!) Enjoy this while I upload other photos- I found the battery charger! Yay!

Lost batteries!

That's the reason I haven't updated lately! My sincere apologies to all my blog stalkers. ;-) Actually I lost the battery charger (we use rechargeable batteries) and so I have no AA batteries that work, so I can't download pictures. But I will turn the house upside down tomorrow looking for them!

Yesterday Beth turned 8-months-old. EIGHT. That's almost one year! Ok not so much, but really, really close. At this point, our little bug is scooting like a mad woman- every now and then she'll stop and push herself up on all fours but as soon as she tries to go, she falls down on her tummy. She's pulling herself up to stand more and more, and we have already had a few "incidences" in which her head has made contact with a piece of furniture, poor love. I know bruises and bumps are part of the journey, but it's so sad to see my little love hurt! And we STILL have no teeth! Not even the hint of one! But everything else is the same. We're nursing still, a lot in fact, as well as two "solid" meals a day. I'm going to start introducing finger foods to her soon, as she seems ready to start putting things in her own mouth. We tried the other day with some crackers, and she really seemed to enjoy throwing them over the side of the high chair. :-)

Sadly, we're still trying to find a new home for our puppy dog, Vegas. She really is such a good dog, and we'll both be really upset to see her go, but I can't have her around Beth anymore. :-(

Today we went to the library for story time with other 0-18 month-old kiddos. It was crazy! There were probably 9 other moms with their kids, the oldest one being 12 month and the youngest one probably 2 months. We sat the kids in front of the moms and sang songs, said poems, did hand motions, read books, and then played with the other kids. It really amazed me because while we interact with other kids pretty often, today was the first day I noticed that Beth was *not* interested in me. I put her in front of me and all she wanted to do was to crawl (well, scoot) near other kids and touch them or steal their toys! It was sort of nice for me to be able to see that independece developing, sweet sweet independence. Maybe one day she'll be that way at home! It was my first time to really think, wow, this is my kid with her own personality. Very cool.

Now that she's becoming more mobile, I ordered her some shoes... I was bitten by the ebay bug and had a really fun time bidding on these shoes. They're soft-soled Pedipeds, which are very high-quality shoes. And SOOOOO cute! I want to buy all of the styles for her, but I think I would have to take on another job! She'll wear them when we leave the house since it's better for her to learn to walk barefoot.

Ok I'm off to look for that battery charger. St. Anthony, help me!

25!

Happy birthday to meeeeeeee. I'm 25 today, and this is the first year I think I've actually felt older on my birthday. I guess having a kid does that to you!

Aggieland

This weekend we took Beth to Aggieland for the first time! Well, technically I guess she's been twice in-utero, but that didn't count! We drove to College Station on Saturday morning, straight to the church for a friend's wedding. It was beautiful, I've never been to a wedding that was more focused on God than on the two people getting married. It was a beautiful opportunity to praise as well as visit the church I spent a good 5 years going to, solidifying my faith. It was also so much fun to see people I hadn't seen in a long time (years!) and to see who married who and meet all their kids. It's the first time I've felt like I really belonged because most everyone else got married around the same time we did, and have kids around the same age as Beth. I really wish we lived closer to all of these people!

After the reception we visited some old friends and met their cutie 2-month-old daughter, then visited some other friends to say hi and catch up. Afterward we went to my future sister-in-law's apartment for some yummy dinner, and met the grandparents any my sis and brother there also. We put Beth down for the evening so Grandma and Grandpa could stay with her and the rest of us went to Northgate to have some old-fashioned fun. It was my sister's first time out to a bar and I'm so glad we got to do that together. :-)

The next morning we went to Mass and then out to lunch with the whole crew for Ryan's birthday! My hubby had a great birthday- seeing old friends, celebrating like he was in college again, and having a nice lunch with extended family. What more could a guy want?

Unfortunately we didn't get to take Beth on campus, although I really wanted to. We just really over-booked ourselves this time! Hopefully next time we go in, Beth will be walking and I can get some good pictures of her around Rudder fountain- like the pictures my parents have of me. :-)

Practicing standing, with the aid of the toy basket!
Playing with Uncle Michael
Northgate! My family. :-)
Rolling around on the floor, trying to crawl but still not quite getting it.

An old video

This video is a few weeks old, but sorta cute. She's just fussing and rolling around!

Fun Weekend

"Blue Steel"










We had a really busy and fun weekend! Saturday was a dear friend's baby shower for her little boy due in September. It was a couple's shower and it was very fancy! It sort of made me regret not having a couple's shower, although really the only thing that was different was the fact that men were there. Women still played baby shower games and oooed and awwwed over cute presents. The men mostly talked to each other and ate. :-) The mom-to-be looked absolutely radient, and still wearing high heels! I was impressed!

Sunday we attended a little boy's first birthday party. He's a child we know from our playgroup, so all of the moms and their kids were there. It was all very cute, Elmo made an appearance and of course, there was the token kid who cried. I don't think Beth even noticed there was a giant red furry monster running around, lol. But the party has made me start thinking about Beth's first birthday- eek! She's almost 8 months old already! But, for those of you who know me, I am a planner! So I am now accepting ideas for themes for her party!

Monday night we invited one of our new parish priests for dinner at our house. Fr. George came over and blessed our house and then we had a nice meal! I'm so happy that our house has finally been blessed! I originally had wanted to do it when Beth was baptised, but it just never worked out. Fr. George prayed over us as a family also, it was very beautiful to be able to share that with my husband and daughter.

When I found the Mother Theresa quote, I was actually looking for this one, which is actually by St. Therese of the Little Flower: "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." This helps me when I'm doing mundane chores and tasks that seem like nothing, but are my life.

Angry at JC Penny

I'm so ticked off right now that I had to come post a blog about it! I took Beth to have her pictures taken at JC Penny a couple of weeks ago. I had a horrible time. They took at total of 17 exposures of her, and of course she was in a bad mood so that didn't help (not blaming that on them). When it was time to look at the pictures on their 1972 computer screen, I couldn't see any details because it was so fuzzy and may as well have been black and white screen. They try to get your money by only offering 1 5x7 on a page with like 4 "billfolds" and 4 "wallets"- seriously, who needs this many tiny pictures when they could have fint another 5x7 on that page? The photos we all off-centered with the background, and the lady told me she couldn't crop or edit the photos at all. So I have two good pictures of Beth with off-centered backgrounds and am told I have to order 6 pages if I want to get 6 5x7s. I left not happy, and today when I picked up the pictures, I left even not happier. My darling precious girl is cute, but the photos are awful. I get angry just looking at them! I don't plan on going back. This was a true lesson in managing my anger!

I guess part of the reason I'm so disappointed is because the first time we took pictures we had such a great experience. The first time we went to Portrait Innovations, as recommended by many people, and it was just such the opposite experience than mine at JC Penny. It was more expensive, but the photos were beautiful, the photographer was nice, their computers were up-to-date and they could edit as we wanted. I guess the lesson is you get what you pay for!

Eventually happened

Well we all knew it would happen eventually...Well it happened last night, the night we will all fondly remember as "Twosies in the Tub". HA! Lucky Ryan was bathing Miss Beth at the time. I don't think they make enough bleach in the world, luckily it was in her little baby tub so the whole bathtub wasn't infefected!

Ryan and I have had a good week. Our weekend was semi-eventful, in that we're attempting to clean out our guest bedroom closet. It was our place to put everything that didn't have a home when we moved in... Now we're getting rid of half of it, either selling it or trashing it. I don't know what to do with a lot of this stuff!

This weekend we have a baby shower and a first birthday party to attend, both events for little boys. And I just found out a good friend is pregnant with a boy. So I've been shopping for little boy stuff... It's all so cute! ;-)

In the basket while I vacuum
My hubby loves me. :-*
The guilty party, after "the incident"

Taking it easy

Playing hard!











We've just been hanging around the past few days, not much is going on right now. Just trying to keep up with endless chores and do some work in the evenings. I took Beth to have her pictures taken on Monday at JC Penny and I wasn't all that impressed. We really didn't get any good ones, I don't think, so that was a bummer.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the virtue of charity. I feel like I do so many little mundane things in my life- dishes, vacuuming, picking up the same things over and over again... It's made me feel stuck in prayer. This week I was challenged by some beautiful ladies to be charitable in everything I do- even if it doesn't seem like anything at all. This week I'm really going to focus on doing all things with love, and for Christ.

I came across a quote in prayer last night that really struck me. In Acts, the Angel asks the apostles, "Why are you standing there looking at the sky?" after Jesus' assumption. Christianity isn't stargazing- it's serving, praying, and acting in this world.

"Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing." -Mother Theresa. This is my new mantra! Please pray for me this week. And please keep the people involved in or related to the Minnesota brige collapse in your prayers. Praise, our friends in Minnesota were not involved! May the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Bedtime Routine

We have a bedtime routine! That works! The past two weeks, we've done the exact same thing every night to put Beth to sleep, and every night it seems easier and easier to get her down. The routine comes after much recommendation from friends that it really does help get a baby in the right frame of mind for bed. We've tried it before, but I really think Beth was too young to understand it. Now, she doesn't fight me when I try to rock her (I think I had the only kid in the world who hated to be rocked). The whole routine, from start to sleep, is usually about 45 minutes long.

Her routine is this:
1. Bath (usually about 10-15 minutes of play time)
2. PJs and a rubdown with lotion
3. Reading. Mimi's Toes (about bath and bedtime) and Pat the Bunny.
4. Nurse
5. Rock while saying prayers
6. Drift asleep! I may or may not sing "Rock a bye Bethany..."
7. GENTLY place her in her crib with her mermaid

Usually this results in about 3 hours of blissful quietness around our house. She'll wake up and Ryan will soothe her back to sleep (usually takes 2-3 minutes) and she'll sleep for a few more hours. Whenever she wakes up and we're already in bed, she joins us in bed for the rest of the night. This is what I'd like to change, but it's hard since she's still waking up every few hours... Getting her down is now easy, it's keeping her down that's difficult for us. And it seems like it's something she's going to have to figure out on her own!

The results:

7 months old on 7/27/07

7 is the number of the day. :-)

I really cannot believe how quickly time is passing. It's been 7 months since I was in the hospital...cuddling up next to my new girl. :-) So much has changed! Beth is incredibly interactive now, she's showing emotions and understanding what her feelings mean. She's beginning to throw temper tantrums when she's angry, she giggles when she's amused, and she reaches for Daddy to hold her when he gets home from work. She eats "real" food twice a day, and sometimes has a banana for a snack (yes, a *whole* banana). She's pulling herself up into a kneeling position very well, and still working on crawling. She's beginning to sleep in her crib all night, but still waking up frequently. Her naps are getting better- more predictable and longer. No teeth yet though! It seems in the past 2 months, being her mom has become incredibly rewarding!

Holding her when she's happy makes me want to have a million more just like her. :-) Holding her when she's upset makes me wonder if I could do it even one more time! This is *not* an announcement, but everyone should know that we absolutely love being parents and are excited to do it again, God willing!

I am also now working part time from home! I am doing Business Development for MH1 Web Design, my Uncle's company. It's somewhat challenging but very convenient since I'm able to work as much as I want on my own hours. His website is www.mh1webdesgin.com for anyone who wants to check it out. We offer web design or redesign, hosting, search engine marketing and several other services. If you need a website or know of anyone who does, please pass my contact information on to them!

On a mission

Saturday night was a turning point for our family! After a nice evening where Ryan and I were able to go out and celebrate our anniversary (mmmm Tommy Bahamas...)we came home to a sleeping baby. She of course woke up, and I brought her to bed with us. As she was settling back into sleep, she rolled over- while asleep! And stayed that way! So for those of you that don't know, babies are supposed to sleep on their backs, and rolling over means she could fall out of our bed. Not only that, but when she woke up later to nurse she was completely perpendicular to me. So the little critter became a very active sleeper over the course of one night! We've decided it's probably time now for her to start sleeping in her crib. This is a huge ordeal, since she's been a cosleeper since birth. It's going to be a difficult transition, and we're still not sure how we're going to do it, so please pray for us!

A new mesh-feeder bag thing. Fill it with fruit (or some food) and she can gum it to death. It's great!
A day in the city- Mission Burrito!
Nap? But Mommy I want to practice rolling over!
Feed me more!

A busy week!

We had quite a busy week! Or maybe it just seemed very busy because we just got home from vacation (read: lots of stuff to unpack = giant mess) and Ryan and I were sick. On top of that, our anniversary was Monday so I cooked a nice dinner of Ryan's favorite dish- Meatball Soup. Tuesday morning, the three of us went to the doctor to dish out some money only to be told we have a "virus" and we need to take "sudafed". Yay. Later, Beth and I had a lunch with our playgroup, and later that evening we had some very special company! Ryan's aunt flew in to visit and stopped by with Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Ramona and Uncle Josh. This was her first time to meet Beth, and I think everyone had a nice time. :-) Wednesday, Ryan and I weren't feeling much better so we stayed close to home. Thursday night we went to dinner with our neighbors and their two boys, the company was great but the service was pretty bad... It always stinks to go to an expensive place and be less-than impressed. And today, Beth and I went to visit my friend Emily and her daughter Hannah. She and Beth played pretty well, or should I say Hannah toddled about and Beth watched very closely. ;-) It won't be long when they'll be able to actually "play" together though! I look forward to watching these girls grow up together!

Tomorrow (Saturday), Grandma and Grandpa are coming back to our house to babysit Miss Beth so we can go out and celebrate our anniversary. I think we'll have a nice dinner and maybe go to Main Event for some games and drinks! I can't wait!

Unfortunately, despite all the events I didn't get very many good photos. Here's a cute one of Hannah Grace and Bethany Grace:

Happy anniversary to us!

Happy 2 year anniversary to us!

From day 1...
Back 1 year later to celebrate.
Today!

Our first family vacation

On Wednesday we left to go on our first family vacation! We went to Port Aransas for a few days with my side of the family. This was Beth's second encounter with the Gulf, but her first time to play in the water and sand! She really had a fun time in the sand, it's a good thing she can sit up now. The water... Eh... It wasn't her favorite part. This is a tradition for my side of the family and something I look forward to every year, so hopefully Beth will continue to enjoy it more and more every year!
First time in the sand.
She loved digging her fingers in!
Not so much liking the water!
Playing in the shade of the pier.

Dolphin Noises

Beth has been channeling her inner dolphin the past 5 days. Or possibly inner dinosaur. The screeches she has been making were sooooooo cute...the first 3 days! She is so much more chatty and talkative, then that quickly moved to the screeching. I'm trying to get a video of it, but it's hard because once she sees me she stops or change her voice. I did get a short video, but she changed to crying and I'd feel like a horrible mother if I posted a video of my child crying! And speaking of talking, she's really enjoying playing with my old cell phone! Just starting the habit early I suppose.

A lazy week

It's been a lazy week! For the 4th of July, we had some family over to grill some burgers, despite the rain! Ryan got to stay home from work that day, it was nice to have him home for a day in the middle of the week. We shopped (more on that later...). :-) And you know, I don't think I took any photos of Beth's first July 4th! Oops. There wasn't much to photograph! I can tell you that my view of fireworks has changed drastically now that I have a baby. Previously, I was apathetic. Just don't burn my house down. Now, I wanted to run outside and scream at all of our neighbors for popping firecrackers until midnight... I mean, hello!!!! Sleeping baby!!!! Did they wake her up? What do you think?!

Today we had our neighbors over for lunch one more time before they move for good to Oklahoma. I hope we get some new neighbors that have been as sweet as they have been! And that let us come over and use their pool! We're going to miss them a lot!

Right now Beth is cruising around outside with her daddy in her sling. The house is clean and I actually got to nap today (with Beth) so I don't know what to do with myself!

"real" food

First bite!

Hmmm...

Daddy why is she feeding me this junk?!

Sweet potatoes!

She prefers to play with the jar more!

Beth had her first attempt at eating "real" food this past Saturday, although we're not sure if she actually swallowed any of it. She was very eager to get that first bite in her mouth, but after that she preferred to play with the spoon! I mixed some rice cereal with some breastmilk, hoping the familiar taste would help her enjoy it more... Not the case this time! Today (Monday) she tried more cereal and a bit of sweet potatoes. I think she liked the sweet potatoes a little more than the cereal- I think she swallowed half a spoonful. We'll stick with those two things until the end of this week then test another veggie on Friday or Saturday.

More laughing

She loves that dog... Sorry it's shaky, it's hard to film and play with Vegas at the same time! Turn your volume up to hear her laugh.

First Astros game!

Last night we attended an Astros game with my dad. I should say that we randomly chose this game- and it also just happened to be THE game of the year! Craig Biggio hit his 3000th run, and we were there to see it. :-) A big deal for Beth's first baseball game! You might think she is their lucky charm or something! She did very well, considering the game started right at Beth's bedtime! She took a quick snooze but was awake for most of the game and most of the car trip home too, might I add! We had awesome seats, the 17th row behind homeplate, thanks to my dad!



Checking everything out.

The noise was incredible!

6 month stats

Beth is 14 lbs 4.2 oz and 26 inches long. That puts her in the 10-25th percentile for weight and 50 percentile for height. She's our little petite girl! The peditrician isn't concerned with her weight for several reasons- the biggest being genetics! Ryan and I aren't exactly the biggest people in the world, and I was also a small baby. Also, she's going to start solids very soon, and that should put some more meat on her bones!

And to brag on myself for a little bit- I am 6 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight. Thank you breastfeeding and morning walks. :-)

6 MONTHS OLD!!!

Our little girl is 6 months old today!!! She is: sitting up very well, taking 2 naps a day, going to bed around 7 p.m. (sleeping better more often than not), cooing and talking, beginning to learn sign language (bye bye, Vegas [the dog], more, all gone, milk), entertaining herself for up to 30 minutes in her exersaucer or crib, beginning to play in her play yard, continuing to love her sling but getting much better about riding in her stroller, very interested in starting solid food, and growing a little bit of hair. :-) She does not have any teeth yet! Tomorrow is her dr. appointment, so I can update with her height and weight then.

a lazy afternoon

she's so happy!

blue eyes!

beingHUMAN

from an email:

EWTN, the world’s largest Christian broadcasting network, will present beingHuman on Monday, June 25th. The program focuses on everyday, ordinary people that by relying on Christ come to the abortion facilities in prayer and fasting. They come seeking an end to abortion and offering assistance to those going in. It is a call to action for the National 40 Days for Life that will occur across our country this fall.

Promo:


Another promo with Fr. David, the priest that married us (in the church Ryan proposed in. :-)

Home!

Ryan is home for good! Woooooohooooooo!

This week my family was in town. They didn't stay with Beth and me, but we saw them everyday. Bethany Grace is very very loved by her uncles and aunt!

Beth also had her first dip in the pool! Actually the first day we just went to the pool and dipped her toes in- she shrieked because it was so cold. She didn't like being splashed either. A couple of days later she was much more willing to sit down in the water, she had a lot of fun splashing while watching Uncle David and Uncle Alex be complete goofballs.

Today we had a belated father's day celebration at my grandparent's house. They brought my Pops over from the home he lives in (because of Alzheimers) for the afternoon and the house was swarming with family! We grilled some burgers and enjoyed each other's company. It seems Beth enjoys days like this because everyone wants to hold her and tell her how beautiful she is. :-)

She's a sitting-up queen!

Testing the water...

She had such a fun time!

Traveling

Well, Ryan has been on the road training for his new job. He's been gone a lot, but luckily Beth and I have stayed busy. Last week we were spoiled at his parent's house for the whole week, but dumb me forgot to take out the camera even once! I know they had a lot of fun with their favorite granddaughter!

This week Ryan is gone again and Beth and I are hanging out at home. My family is in town though, staying with relatives nearby, so Beth and I will spend most of the week with them. It's been so hard with him gone lately, but I have to count my blessings because this job is going to be wonderful for him. Not only that, but it reminds me of our military who don't see their families for incredible amounts of time! I've developed a new respect for the wives that raise children while the husbands are gone.

Beth is becoming very good at sitting, although not perfect yet. She has rejected the Bumbo seat that we introduced to her a couple of weeks ago, I think she'd rather sit alone and not be constricted. We probably introduced it too late... It's borrowed though, so no money lost!

Please pray for the continued safety of my husband while he travels! We miss him so much!

Happy Father's Day!

Today is my hubby's first father's day! Happy father's day to the best husband around. It's been hard while you've been traveling but it makes me appreciate every little thing you do for me so incredibly much. I hope you and Beth have many many fun, relaxing afternoons on your new hammock. I love you with all of my heart! :-)
From day 1...
...to just a few weeks later.
Your girls loves you!
Happy Father's Day!

Loving her jumparoo