Trick or Treat

Bethany's first Halloween!!! She had lots of fun trick-or-treating. Here's the basic rundown of our day:
1:00 We started out trying to figure out how my little Pebbles was going to have the little poof of hair on top of her head.
2:00 Yay! All ready to start our adventure!2:30 First stop - visiting Daddy at work. All his co-workers thought Bethany was the most adorable baby in the world. I would have to agree.3:00 Off to UB to show everyone our fun costume. We visited with my school group, and got stopped plenty of times by admirers! Then we bundled up for the long walk back to the car!5:30 Met up with Bamm-Bamm (aka Jonas) and Aunt Sarah. Had a little bit of a photo shoot, and dinner, before heading out again.7:00 Off to Aunt Marie and Uncle Larry's . They were having a little party in their garage with all their neighbors. Apparently Pebbles is not a good costume to be wearing if you're actually going to be outside. Bethany had to cuddle up with Grandma. (And Mommy got some candy!)7:30 Next stop: The Center to see Great Grandma. Bethany had to visit all of Great Gram's friends and pose for more pictures. We did a little line dancing, and Mom got some more candy before heading out.8:30 Final Stop: Jonas' grandma's. She had LOTS of fun Halloween decorations that lit up and made cool sounds. Bethany thought it was all very cool. Once again, Mom stocked up on candy before leaving for home!9:00 Bethany got home, had a bottle, and went right to sleep. Now Mom and Dad can enjoy the benefits of Bethany's trick-or-treating. I love having a baby.

OH-IO

Here's the much promised remaining Ohio pictures. Saturday night we visited with Andy and Paula. Yay! We did a lot of catching up, and they subtly suggested that Columbus may be a good place for us to live. Bethany had a lot of fun playing with her grandma and grandpa. She tried crawling, ate a lot, and got plently of cuddle time. Grandparents are so much fun!

Dotting the "i"

Last weekend was Bethany's 2nd time in Columbus! The highlight of the weekend was all the adventures involving the Ohio State game - I know, surprising, right? Saturday afternoon we all got into our Buckeye gear to get ready to head down to the skull session.We parked a few miles from the stadium and waited for the bus to take us to the game.It was Bethany's first time on a bus!
When we got to St John's to see the marching band all the sections were closed! What the heck? So we watched all the crazy fans in the hall and listened to the band through the walls.
While we were hanging out we hunted down Grandpa's football team picture from his senior year at OSU... very cool! Then! Grandpa managed to sweet talk an usher into letting Bethany see the last few minutes of the practice. How cool is that! She even got to see Jack Nicklaus in person. (He dotted the i in the game.) This is them coming back out to us.The game was great! Matthew and I went - Bethany hung out with her Grandma and Grandpa during it. Ohio State had a VERY easy victory. More on the weekend festivities tomorrow.

Getting Acquainted

Check out Bethany with her little cousin! Aren't they so cute???

Flirt

Bethany's flirting with you!

Sweatball

You can file this in my negligent parent file. I was driving home a while ago, and the whole way Bethany was screaming. As we were pulling in the parking lot, she managed to calm herself down, and by the time we got everything upstairs she had fallen asleep. So naturally, I didn't think twice about leaving her in the carseat with the blanket over the top of her. Problem is, not only did she have the blanket over her, she also had a huge winter coat on. By the time she woke up crying, all her hair was matted to her head in sweat, and her face was beet red. Poor Bethany... hehe.

Chubby little legs

Bethany was officially babysat by her A.Sarah for the first time today. She hung out all morning with her cousin, Jonas, and had lots of fun!

Baptism Bash

Bethany's cousin, Ben, was baptized yesterday. It was a beautiful ceremony, which Bethany got almost all the way through without crying. There were a lot of babies there, so I don't think anyone minded her fussiness too much! Then we all headed over to Jenn and Tim's for lunch and a party! Beth and Ben had some serious fun with Ben's activity table. Bethany was really jealous that Ben's already standing, so she spent the whole day wanting to be up on her feet with him. She completely crashed after the party!

Spinning Wheel

I know this is getting to be a theme, but Bethany LOVES this toy. She just cracks me up every time she's in it.

Half-Birthday

6 months ago, this very moment, I was alone in my hospital room holding the most beautiful baby girl in the whole world. Most likely, she was unwrapped (against the nurse's wishes), and curled up into my chest. That first day I couldn't stop staring at her, inspecting every little inch of her. She was perfect... the little feet that were driving me crazy a day before, kicking me in the ribs, were now in my hands. Those poor tiny feet had band aids on them, and a security tag was wrapped tightly around her ankle. We spent that night together, getting acquainted, bonding, and preparing ourselves for the next 18+ years of living together. I love you, Bethany.

(PS. Bethany now weighs 14lbs, 12 ozs, and is 26 inches! The doctor says she already has some developmental traits of a 9 month old. What a smart baby!)

"Are you having fun?"

Here's a video of Bethany playing in her new toy.

Baby Einstein

Baby Einstein is taking over the world, and Bethany is enjoying every minute of it. Grandpa and Grandma Sirgey gave her an early Christmas present (they figured she wouldn't notice it wasn't Christmas), and she's been hyper-active ever since. I came home from school today to find her squealing and loudly sucking in air all over the place. You know the sound I mean, I can't describe it. Anyway, she loves it! Thanks, Grandpa and Gram!

All Smiles

I just never get tired of this grin.

80s Bethany

We were playing cards earlier today, and Bethany was getting a kick out of Matthew fanning her in the face with the cards. We didn't have our camcorder, so we took a video with our camera. There's no sound, but it's still really cute. Check it out! (PS. Isn't the jacket she's wearing ridiculously 80s? It reminds me of something I would've worn when I was a kid. Cracks me up!)

Show off

Bethany's been hanging out with her cousin, Jonas, quite a bit. He's a crazy boy. She's pretty jealous of him at this point - at least she is when her mommy's holding him! We took the 2 babies to the mall today to show them off. They cruised around in their huge double stroller, Bethany sat in front with her arms permanently outstretched to grab anything within arm's reach. She loved it. She even stayed pretty content while Jonas borrowed her bottle... not bad.
Another new development - Bethany's almost crawling! She's rocking up on all fours.. she just can't figure out how to get herself to move forward yet. Hopefully in a few days I'll be telling you all she's done it!Storm update: A lot of branches have made their way to the sides of the road - it looks like a tornado hit! (The picture above is of my grandparents old yard.) There's still tons of people without power - we're one of the lucky ones. No school for me tomorrow! Yay!

The Aftermath

We have power! After an insane 48 hours, I'm back to recap. We got home Thurs night, as you know, in a ridiculous snow storm. Matthew woke up the next morning, attempted to go to work, and was back in the apartment 5 minutes later scaring the heck out of me. We hung out in our bed under the covers, in no power, trying to keep warm, and eventually headed over to my parents' house (where we took these pictures) to take advantage of their gas stove and fireplace. We slept over, bundled in sleeping bags, and woke up to STILL no power. But, my sister Sarah had power, so we headed back over to her place for the day. We just got home not too long ago, and are very thankful to be warm, having light, and all our small forms of media.

Thank you, electric company... you definitely had your work cut out for you!

Snow Storm!

Bethany has officially experienced her first Buffalo snow storm! We spent the day visiting Sarah and Jonas, and ended up having Matthew meet us there because I didn't want to leave in the storm in the middle of rush hour. Of course, that meant leaving in a snow storm in the dark. An hour later, we're home! We took some pictures so you can kind of get an idea of how hard it hit. There were branches down everywhere... I may do a short follow-up video tomorrow.

Jonas

Seriously, check out Bethany's little cousin. Isn't he the cutest baby boy in the whole world?? Sorry, Ben, you're really cute, too.

Leaps and Bounds

Check it out. We put Bethany in her cousin's hospital cart a couple days ago to change her. Look at that picture compared to her in her hospital cart when she was born. Crazy, huh?

Silly girl

I have the goofiest daughter. I just love the faces she makes!

Play Time

Thought I'd drop a quick picture in here before heading up to visit Jonas. I love this picture of my two favorite people!

Jonas Andrew

Bethany has a new baby cousin!!!!!! Jonas Andrew was born today, October 8th, at 9:12am. He weighs 7 lbs, 13 ozs, and is 20 1/2 inches. Here's to many years of Bethany having Jonas as her "best bud."

Pardon my Slobber

Check it out. Bethany is oh-so-talented! She can last about 30 seconds or so before toppling over - not bad for her first week of sitting.