Raggedy Ann Halloween

Jim and I had been discussing what Abby should be for her very first Halloween -- with her beautiful red hair, the fun possibilities are endless. We considered Pebbles for a long time, but finally decided on Raggedy Ann. . . . how adorable is that!!! Especially because she is doll-sized. I enlisted my mom to help make the costume, and we actually used a doll pattern to make the clothes, lol. Some of my best memories as a child are around Halloween time. My mom would always take me to the fabric store to pick out a pattern and the fabric for my costume; after which time, she lovingly spent hours sewing it for me. It was really important to continue the tradition with Abby, and even more special that my mom did was able to make Abby's costume with me. :) I loved every minute of it. And it makes a wonderful keepsake!

So here it is: the cutest costume in the whole world on the most beautiful baby in the universe!

Ok, at this point (above) she was super tired and overwhelmed. If she could talk she would have said, "Mommy, can you PLEEEEEEEEEEASE stop taking my picture now!?!?!!"

Jim and I were Hawaiian tourists for Halloween. HA!

Baby Blues

Ok, these are the last pics for the night. I have to go to bed and get ready for ELECTION DAY! So excited about that . . . anyway, just wanted to leave you for the night with these wonderful pictures of the most beautiful blue eyes in the whole world. :) Happy voting!

Random Pics

Abby has been growing and changing like crazy! She is CRAWLING now and never content to stay in one place. Changing her diaper is an exhausting proposition, as she is constantly flipping over and twisting all around. Ahhhhh! She continues to be amazing in every way -- she puts herself down for 2 hour naps in the morning and afternoon (omg!), is figuring out how to chew food, just cut her first tooth, actually pulled herself up to standing position for the first time the other day (!), and LOVES the camera. She starts smiling as soon as I pull it out -- it's a good thing, because it's in her face constantly. LOL. She is still trying to figure out a sippy cup (she just chews on it because it feels like a pacifier). Also, we just had to lower her crib because we caught her trying to stand up and get out of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHH! Life has gotten quite interesting -- and she's only 7 months old. She is the BEST!

She Loves Brandon!

Just wanted to show everyone a great picture of Abigail and Brandon. After a busy day sightseeing in Julian, she feel right to sleep with her big brother. So precious!

A Day at the Park

As summer was winding down, we decided to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Seaport Village and along the Embarcadero in San Diego. (It is way easier to have excursions now that Abigail is getting a bit older. We're not so stressed out about every little thing, and she gets super excited to see new places. Plus, now that she eats solid food, we have a back-up plan if we accidentally run out of milk . . . ) So anyway, this was our first REAL day at the park (down by the MIDWAY for those of you familiar with SD) -- she loved feeling the grass between her fingers, watching the seagulls, and playing with Daddy. Such a great day!

We're Baaaaaaaack!

Hello everyone!!! We finally got a new device to download pictures -- so here is a bunch of stuff from our last 2 1/2 months. Yikes.


So here goes . . . in August, Brandon visited and got to participate in Abby's first solid food feeding. HILARIOUS! She was so excited to try something new and was grabbing for the spoon and putting it in her own mouth. (She is definitely our daughter -- she gets WAY excited about food :).



The only way she could figure out how to suck the runny oatmeal down was by sucking on fingers in between bites.



Brandon did the video taping for us, thank goodness! It took both hands for me to feed her and keep her up right in her chair while Jim danced around us taking a million and a half pictures (he did a pretty good job!), so we definitely needed a third person to capture the moment. It was awesome to have "Big Brother Brandon" there to share in the milestone! Even though she won't remember, it meant a lot to us to have him there.


She made a royal mess of the oatmeal, getting more of it on herself, the chair, and me than actually in her mouth. You can see from her red eyes below that she was steadily losing patience, and although it was fun and new, was NOT filling her empty belly!

By the end, Abby had lost all her patience and was too hungry to mess around (literally) with oatmeal anymore. She thought food was seriously stupid. LOL.

And there it is! Abby's first solid food experience. Funny!

I Haven't Forgotten!

I promise, I have a TON of pictures to share with you all . . . the delay is due to losing my USB device for downloading the pics to my computer. I just haven't had a chance to go buy a new one, and as a result, I have three caneras FULL of images that have yet to be downloaded. Aiyi! In the meantime, we are doing great. . . getting ready for our trip to Hawaii on the 20th, and watching for Abby's first crawl -- she is soooooooooooo close.

Stay tuned for pictures of her first solid food (messy!), tummy time acrobatics, and baby dedication. We've been a busy little family!

Much love to you all,
Jim, Bethany, and Abigail

Very First Photo Shoot (Part Deux)

For those of you who haven't yet met Abigail, these pictures completely reflect our little Abby's precious personality. As pretty as the pictures are below, the color and the sunflowers in these ones showcase how fun-loving and vibrant she is already proving to be. She would have to be with all that RED hair!!! :)

Very First Photo Shoot

Jim and I FINALLY took Abigail to get her pictures taken last weekend. Yes, I know. They are absolutely adorable!!!! :) Granted, they are not nearly as artistic as the ones our dear friend Jessica and her Auntie Desiree will eventually take of her (once they get their little booties out here!!!), but they filled the need for now.

We had no idea, by the way, that our little Abby was such a model . . . she LOVED having her picture taken and didn't stop smiling the entire time. It was hilarious. She is such a delight!

New gDiapers & Baby Seat :)

Soooooo, I was extremely excited about a week ago when Abby's gDiapers FINALLY arrived. What are gDiapers??? They are the coolest solution for people who want to decrease diaper pollution but don't want to have to wash yucky cloth diapers. They are the hybrid of the diaper world. . . . . they are a cloth diaper with a disposable liner. And the liner is made from wood pulp, so you can actually flush it down the toilet, or if you want to throw it away, it will biodegrade in 2 months (instead of 200 years!!!!!). And even better -- they are CUTE! (See orange diapers above.) :) Yes, that's my brief commercial. Trust me, the diapers are really cool.

All that to say, it's been very exciting around our house, lately. Abby now refuses to recline and is absolutely determined to sit up and see the world. In fact, she is so determined to sit up now that we had to get rid of the bouncie seat. The last time she sat in the bouncie, I looked awy for 1 second and she pulled herself completely upright and fell forward. By the time i looked back at her, she was still in the bouncie -- but only hanging by the safety belt. Yikes! So we went out that day and bought her a fancy infant seat. She LOVES it!!! She grins as soon as we put her in it. She likes to hang out with Daddy on the porch while he BBQs. So cute!

The only time Abby doesn't complain about laying down now is in the tub. As soon as she hears the water running those little legs start kicking and she even lunges toward the water . . . don't let her petite frame fool you -- she is one strong baby!!!