2 Months Old and More Pictures of My Baby

My wee bunny was 2 months old on Friday.

We watched the IU game and she wore a fancy onesie that will fit her for approximately one more game.

Trinity claims she can go to IU or Notre Dame if she goes to college in Indiana, or UT or Vanderbilt if she heads to his home state of Tennessee.  

He has been wearing her around in this Baby Bjorn that Nicole sent us.

He refused to wear the Moby wrap, but deems the Bjorn "man enough."

Nic sent it via snail mail, and I dug out this photo to show her wearing it four years ago, with Madelyn.

Well, now this is a different one.

It seems BFF Nic is a connoisseur of Baby Bjorns.

We went to see T's parents this weekend, and of course I took zero pictures.

Brilliant.

On the way home we stopped at Frisch's Big Boy for G's orientation to the glorious establishment.

In usual Betsy fashion, I ate a salad with grilled chicken on top.

Then I inhaled my own hot fudge cake.

I later learned that was 846 calories.

Oopsy!

In the restroom I waited in line for the stall with the changing table.

I encountered this woman-

everyone knows Maxine.

I know her well because I worked at Hallmark in high school.

Did you know that every greeting card goes into a numbered pocket?

Well, they do.

So the next time your lazy tail thinks about just putting a card back in a random spot, think of me.

Don't do it.

I spent hours upon hours of my teen life putting them tediously back in the right spot, and plotting revenge on the world.

Anyway, 85 year old Maxine was in the bathroom, wearing her cataracts dark sunshades and using her cane.

She grabbed my baby's foot and screamed,

"God, she's so fat and pretty!"

Well, yes.

What a compliment.

That truly made our Big Boy trip a memorable one, since I was reminded that I have a big girl.

I took G's 2 month pictures this morning with the stuffed mouse and Fancy Nancy.

Aw, shucks, Mom!

I think I will eat this paper circle.

Mom sent pictures of sister Katie.

I think G looks like both my sister and my husband.

Kinda weird.

Aunt Katie

Aunt Katie

Mom Betsy, zero resemblance

Aunt Katie

We go to the doctor next week so I will report on percentiles then.

And it's snowing!

Awesome.

I get to spend the day inside making my hands talk!

Visits here, there and everywhere-

Two of my tiny best friends came to town to hang with me, T and G on Saturday.  We noshed on some champagne cocktails, cheese, grapes and crackers on Saturday afternoon while Trinity watched football and somewhat participated in our incessant chatter.

We love to talk, and we don't get together that often because Kate is in Chicago and we are all super busy.

Kate is busy teaching 5th grade and hanging with her boyfriend Scott, Meg is delivering babies, juggling two kiddos under 4 and time with her husband Ryan, and I am busy online shopping while my kid naps.

With my rock solid schedule of Starbucks runs and trips to the mailbox, it's truly a wonder we were able to plan this.

We had a 3 hour dinner at Bonefish,

where I enjoyed my first Winter White Cosmo of the holiday season.

I love seasonal goodies.

I can only get them certain times of the year so they are all the more special.  Oh, and that's what makes them seasonal.

Geez.

When I dropped them off at their hotel, I saw a stray cat in the parking lot.

In typical Betsy style I chased it around the parking lot for about 10 minutes cooing here kitty, kitty.

It wasn't interested in me.

Meg and Kate asked what my plan was if I caught it.

Plan?

What plan?

I don't think that far in advance, girls.

You should know that by now.

I just wanted to touch that soft kitty fur and my pea brain didn't go beyond that to my husband killing me or Kashmir undergoing more trauma.  As if bringing an infant into her world isn't punishment enough for her little life.

On Sunday they returned bearing coffee and ready for some Grade A baby squeezin', round two.

Mind your manners, G.

If it was not for Dr. Megan, your mother might have gone to the tanning bed and eaten sushi whilst pregnant.

I kid.

Oh, here's my favorite.

Big girl and her tiny compadres.

Kate and I were a sight during our speedwalks around IU's campus in college.  She took 2 steps to every one of mine, yet she could walk faster than me.  

I love G's face here too.

Should this little girl be holding me?

Shouldn't she be sitting down on a couch?

No, ladybug.

Your mother is just a giant.

You'll learn that the whole female gender doesn't hedge on 6 feet tall.

Trinity had the day off for election day, so we went as a family to the polls.

I got Genevieve dressed while explaining the entire electoral college.

I then asked if she had any questions.

"When do I get my own neck?"  she implored.

Soon dear, very soon.

I hope.

Post voting we went to the Cracker Barrel.

Genevieve slept when her father wedged her under the voting booth.

She woke up immediately at the Crack house.

What, what is dis smell?

They gots bizcuits????

Her excitement was uncontrollable.

Either that or she's pooping.

I can't really tell.

We went home to see my parents for two nights.

We stopped by so G could meet my Nanny.

YaYa and Bob took great care of us!

The Chicken or the Egg

Well in our case, clearly the chicken came before the egg.

Ha ha, aren't I just too clever?

Trinity was geared up and ready to greet the trick or treaters last night.  

He loves Halloween.

He went to Sam's Club the night before to load up, and returned with two 105 piece bags of candy.

He bought a medley, if you will.

Baby Ruth, Snickers, Milky Way and M&Ms.

I hate all of those except for the M&Ms.  Caramel is not my thing, and lord knows what that funky filling is inside a Baby Ruth bar.

No thanks.

Anyway 2 X 105= 210 pieces of candy.

A lot, I thought.

Alas, at about 5:45 last night, he started to fret.

He was concerned he didn't have enough. I told him that 210 pieces of candy was enough.  He mentioned that he estimated that he had eaten 11 pieces himself, thus leaving only 199.

Again, I tried to reassure him.

He then proceeded to launch into a story problem that I might use with 3rd graders.

It went like this.

"But, Betsy, listen.  I think I need to start with one piece per spook.    That should be enough.  But, you know, spooks can come to your door in anywhere from one spook to a group of 10 spooks.  You just don't know until you open the door.  If I find that I have lots left over about midway through the night, I can then give more pieces per spook."

I was speechless.  He thought this out thoroughly.  Plus I learned that "spook" is Trinity speak for a Halloween costumed child.

Goodness, the situation was heating up.

Would there be enough candy per spook?

Once the candy was set by the door, he suited up.

In his chicken costume.

Genevieve was then fashioned into an egg by her mother.

Who is this foul fowl?

That big chicken be yo' daddy.

It can't be!

Yes, yes it is he.

(note the candy strategically placed on a chair by the door.  This provides optimal grabbing potential for the Chicken man.)

Between doorbells the Chicken and his egg watched TV.

Here Genevieve is thinking about how she would like to go to Chick-fil-a.

We're all thinking it, dear.

I wrote EGG on her onesie, so everyone would understand.

Being an egg isn't all it's cracked up to be.

My mother couldn't be any punnier if she tried.

We had lots of spooks and they were delighted that my husband answered the door in costume.  However, he was dismayed that at least 2 spooks said "Hey, Duck," to him.

Those dumb kids clearly can't identify birds correctly.  

He was obviously a chicken.

Our night ended as it always does these days-

with a bottle of formula for G, and a glass of wine for Mommy.

Oh, and we have about 42 pieces of candy left.

Robby's Wedding Weekend

I'm just now getting around to blogging some pictures from the wonderful weekend of Robby and Meg's nuptials.  

Bunny G was all of 2 weeks old.

I wasn't nervous about that at all!

She attended the rehearsal dinner where BFF Megan served as babysitter extraordinaire!

All of these photos are by the wonderfully talented Kurtis and Jennifer Bowersock.

Google those peeps.

They'll knock your socks off.

I can't believe how much my girl has grown!

Here she is arriving with me and Mom.

I love this one.

If only it didn't showcase my gnarly chewed up fingernails.

One would think I would have kicked that habit after like 33 years of chewing.

Amazingly, I still have teeth!

Baby Girl's gams don't look like that any longer.

They have rolls these days.

Gari and Joe were gaga over G.

They are known as Nana and Poppy.

They claim Genevieve as their 4th grand baby, even though technically she is not.

They fawn regularly over Caroline, Nolan, Grace and Ava.

You know Nolan.

Most awesome toddler ever.

He told me that we were going straight to Target when we played with a PlayMobile van.

A special thank you to Teri for allowing me to borrow a dress that fit.

I love that with that gold button I kind of look like I work for US Airways.

Here's a photo that could have made Jane's 2012 Christmas card spot had I brought my child to the wedding.

I refused.

In my opinion, babies got no bizness at a wedding.

Oh, you can say that it's a family event and babies should be included, yada yada yada.

I disagree.

There's nothing worse than a screaming baby when a couple is having the most important moment of their lives.

That's why I threatened to shank anyone who dared to bring a child to my nuptials.

Who is that gigantic bridesmaid on the left?

Good God, it's me.

Put the 6 footer next to Lindsay, who is all of like 5 feet.

I also wore 2 1/2" heels.

That was a good idea.

So I was almost as tall as the groom.

I am like a model.

We'll go with that.

Barf.

The announcement of the bridal party.

This is Conor.

He's in a band in San Francisco and he works for Apple.

So basically my dad was mesmerized by him.

He was awesome.

We joked that we were paired together because we each have sh**-eating grins and laugh all of the time.

What?

You're breastfeeding?

Well, that isn't obvious at all, as your chesticles are stuffed into a bridesmaid's dress that is already 3 sizes bigger to accommodate your chest circumference.

Not obvious at all!

I love this of the womenfolk of the fam.

Meghan is the shortest at 5'8", but she isn't genetically connected to us!

Caroline is doomed!

We enjoyed a good photo booth at the wedding.

The sad thing is that there was no alcohol involved here.

I wasn't boozing, I just naturally come up with these antics.

This was my Bozo crossed with the creepy soldiers from the Wizard of Oz.

Those guys terrified me when I was a child, but there were a tad less terrifying than those horrible flying monkeys.

Hey husband, see if you can look like a member of a Latino street gang.

His weapon of choice is a sword, not a gat.

That's gangster for gun.

The British Bobby attacks the soldier guarding Buckingham Palace.

If you ever try to mess with those guys, you can't get them to laugh.

I've tried.

Numerous times.

Unsuccessfully.

Typical American tourist, I am!

I'm not sure what is happening here.

It was a fabulous weekend.

Lately...

We had a most exciting weekend.  On Saturday morning Courtney and I had a typical long discussion, and as always, it included talk of cats.

We seem to always discuss cats.

We love them.

Years ago we vowed to live together and raise cats together if we never found true love.

A part of me is sad that this dream won't come to fruition.

We would have been unstoppable.

In that sentence unstoppable is a synonym for shameful.

After we got off the phone I passed this photo on a traffic light post downtown.

Well clearly we must all hail Phillip.

Hilariously strange, and great fodder for a picture text to Court.

Speaking of Court, we had a lovely visit last week.

She gave Genevieve a bottle and proceeded to start to pick at her baby face.  I had to reprimand her and explain that G had dead baby skin around her nose.

Court discovered that she in fact had dead formula around her nose.

Gross.

When my daughter started to kick up a fuss, Court leaned in and whispered, "Uh, this is an A-B conversation.  I suggest you C your way out of it."  

I would have wet myself, but fortunately I have pretty good bladder control thanks to the ole c-section.

She makes me laugh big time.

On Saturday we watched Tennessee come dangerously close to actually winning against South Carolina.

I still can't believe their mascot is the Gamecock.

It just makes me think of a shuttlecock, one of my favorite sporting terms.

Who doesn't love badminton?

We dolled up our child and went to Marinda's Halloween party.

Marinda was Velma of Scooby Doo fame.

Genevieve wore a tutu and an owl hat.

I have no explanation for that.

Target was all out of 0-3 month costumes, and I have the creativity of a gnat.

Not in creative writing, of course, but in creative everything else.

Tonight I asked Trinity if he minded if I went to a Sunday evening yoga class.

He did.

He said he had not had any alone time all weekend.  He said he wanted to go and do something by himself.

I was totally fine with that.  

I said, "Okay, yes you go do something by yourself without us.  What do you want to do?  Where do you want to go?"

He responded, "I have no idea.  I just want to get out.  Maybe the Target parking lot."

Well that makes a gal feel great, now doesn't it?

How reassuring!

Lastly, we are looking forward to enjoying our first Halloween in our new house.  We're told that our neighborhood is a real hotspot for little buggers in costume.

That could help us avoid the Trinity candy-buying debacle of 2011.

You remember.

He bought about $35 worth of candy and we had 3 children.

6 Weeks Postpartum update!

Genevieve is 6 weeks old today.

Woot.

She is wearing 3 month clothing now.

She is rather large.

And rather sweet.

The weather has been splendid the last few days, so we are sitting on our screened porch a lot to eat.

Kashmir loves it too.

Disregard creepy face chairs behind the cat.

Trinity loves them.

My mother came to stay the night last night, since my 6 week appointment was at 8:00 a.m. this morning.

Yes, that seemed like a good idea when I scheduled it 6 weeks ago.

Now with my little 10 lb appendage, it isn't such a hot idea to schedule things early in the morning.

You know what else was a good idea, pre baby?

A beautiful aqua velour glider.

It is now swathed in an old sheet.

Formula stains, my friends.

My appointment went well.

I am thrilled to say that I am back to pre- preg weight.

Yippee.

I expected the nurses to be lined up in the hallway so I could run through gauntlet style and they would high five me like my teammates did when I was announced as a starter on my 8th grade basketball team.

That was the only time I really played, by the way.

Alas, upon my exit, no cheering nursing and medical staff lined the hallway.

No one is excited for me.

I say this because it is only a number.

Things have changed.

No joke.

Pregnancy changes your shape, at least 6 weeks after it ends.

As I have mentioned before, I must call upon Archie Bell and the Drells, and start the "Tighten Up."

Tone and tighten commences immediately.

I

A Fall Weekend

YaYa came back this weekend.

She's officially moved in, and now Jane, Betsy and Trinity are the 2012 version of Jack, Janet and Chrissy of Three's Company fame.

I jest.

She came on Friday because G had her first vaccination.

I needed moral support.

My baby cried for all of 2 minutes and my mother and I had to embrace and console one another for at least 10.

Pitiful.

At 5 weeks, Genevieve weighs 10 lbs, 5.5 oz.

She has gained one ounce shy of 3 lbs in her 5 weeks of life.

Girl likes her groceries.

A lot.

Trinity and I had a date night and attended a 2 hour restorative yoga workshop at my yoga studio.

He was thrilled.  

Here we are, ready to depart.

I thought it was divine.

We did 30 minutes of slow flow, then an hour and a half of resting positions, some that we held for about 20 minutes.

When we moved to a different pose, I whispered to my sweet husband, asking him what he thought.

His response was, "I gotta pee."

So I'm married to Forrest Gump.

Ridiculous.

I think its safe to say that I will yogi on, solo.

He was a sport, and then we dined at Yats.

He loves that joint.

Babysitter YaYa sent this photo while we were gone-

our absence clearly perplexed our daughter.

What perplexes her mother is that her hair is falling out and she now looks like one Andrew Squiggmann, aka Squiggy of Laverne and Shirley fame.

You know Squiggy.

She be balding on the sides of her forehead.

I shan't fret, though.

Cousin Caroline had the worst baby hair in history and now is probably in the running for the best head of hair in kindergarten, if there was such a shallow competition.

On Saturday, Bob came and brought the diabetic hound.

It was a raucous evening in our house, for sure.

2 parents, 2 grandparents, an infant, a kitty and a fool dog.

On Sunday, we wrapped up our weekend with a requisite trip to the pumpkin patch, or in our case, mum/pumpkin selling locale.

I wasn't going to pay an entrance fee for corn mazes and apple fritters when my child can't even hold her head up.

No, we hit up a local garden center and Jane got to snappin'.

So, as normal adults shopped for seasonal flowers, we held a family photo shoot.  

G was dressed as a kitty cat and wore her pumpkin hat, courtesy of Abby.

Check out those pants.

3 months clothing for my 5 week old.

Again, girl likey the groceries.

This is a favorite of mine-

I feel like it looks like that section in US Weekly, where it has celebrities doing normal things, called "Stars, they're just like US."

Oh, I'm just a famous celebrity, leaving the garden center with my balding baby.

But don't think I'm any different than anyone else.

Oh, wait.  I'm not different from anyone else.

I'm not a celebrity.

My mother just follows me around with pricy photography gear.

Oh, a girl can dream-