Eins, zwei, drei...g'suffa!

Here is Betty trying to hold the bottle all by herself. Usually she just ends up knocking it out of her mouth, but she's learning!

Heffalump

Our technical difficulties persist, so today I'm using our older camera. It's not very good at taking pics without a flash, but I don't like to use the flash on Betty too much. This is a flash picture and she looks a little startled.

This is early morning Betty--still in her nightgown (which is just about too small and I haven't been able to find gowns in a size larger than 3 months). She's playing with her new toy, an elephant with crinkly ears. Her hand-eye coordination improves every day and she's now batting at dangly toys and trying to put everything in her mouth.

Technical Difficulties

Now there's something wrong with the camera battery--it may be related to last week's technical difficulties with the memory card. I've got some steep deadlines right now though, so I can't fool with it tonight--so there won't be a 9/28 Betty picture. Luckily, Betty's cousin Joseph is filling in. I stole this pic of a milk-drunk Joseph off his baby blog. It reminds me of one of the poems I wrote for Betty in which I rhyme "monkey" with "junkie." There are some serious milk addicts in the Nowlin family.

Walking a Fine Line

Here is Betty out for a stroll, and you can tell from her face that we're in that dark borderland between playtime and naptime.

Feed Me Seymour

Betty loves her bottle. She sees it and gets a gleam in her eye not unlike the look I get on my face when I spot a box of mid-century magazines at a garage sale. Oh the wonder! Oh the possibilities! Oh the deliciousness!

She starts to kick and whine and, if we hold it just out of reach, she makes an "O" with her lips (as you can see here). If she gets desperate enough she'll even reach out for it. She's not very good at hitting the target, but on a few occasions she's actually held the bottle by herself!

It's 5:00 Somewhere

It's Friday! We're all relaxing with our potent potable of choice: For Steele, it's the High Life. For me, something I call "Genu-wine": half fruit juice, half sparkling water, served in a wine glass. I drank Genu-wine all through my pregnancy and continue to do so now not only because I'm still manufacturing Betty's milk, but because I actually kinda like it (I drank it all the time in Germany--back then I called it Schoerle). And Betty enjoyed some vintage milk, June 2009, cause I was a bit late getting home this evening. Is anyone still curious about Betty's diet? These days it's 75% expressed breast milk, supplemented either with organic formula or thawed breast milk put up back in June or July. She doesn't seem to care one way or the other and will eat any combination of the three.

Neck and Neck

Betty is still a little floppy for her Bumbo seat, but she seems to like it. In this pic it looks like she has no neck.

Oh but she does, and it's a Kale neck.

For some reason I am incredibly ticklish on my neck. Anything resembling a strangle hold makes me scrunch up and laugh hysterically (if I can catch enough oxygen to laugh, which I usually can't. I usually just stand there gurgling until my tormentor releases me--Clay). This is so weird, I know. It's also genetic since my Dad and my brother Jesse are ticklish in exactly the same way. And, it appears, so is Betty. We tried to take a picture of her laughing when I tickle her neck, but it's one of those hard to capture moments.

Roll Over Beethoven

I'm breaking with tradition today--instead of one good picture, I'm offering four blurry ones because I was lucky enough today not only to witness a major milestone, but to have the camera within reach!

Last night Betty slept for over 12 hours. I was starting to worry, but I let her sleep. I'm glad I did. It turns out Betty was upgrading to the next version of Betty, a version that knows how to roll over from back to belly!

So after Betty finally woke up and had her bottle I was dressing her on the floor, and she kept trying to roll away. She's been able to get onto her side for ages now--that's actually how she likes to sleep. But today she just kept going! So I grabbed the camera, and it's all terribly blurry, and the spray bottle is in the way, but you can witness it too. I was super excited because back-to-belly is a milestone for babies a little bit older than Betty.

Of course, this means we now have to be extra super careful on the diaper changing table, and it also means that Betty has the potential to drive us nuts by rolling onto her belly at night (when she should sleep on her back).

Over It

On a typical morning Steele does the first feeding of the day, and Betty goes back to bed shortly thereafter, still in her pj's and sleep sack. Then Steele goes to work. When she wakes up a second time, I put her in whatever outfit she's going to wear for the day and then feed her. Steele doesn't see Betty's outfit til he comes home again. (And sometimes, by then, she's had a second wardrobe change--I won't go into the poopy details except to say that she's pretty regular, and I really ought to wait til after 10 a.m. to put her clothes on, but whatever.)

Anyway, Betty was in a sluggish and grouchy mood today despite looking adorable in her overalls and pink long-sleeved onesie. When Steele got home he suggested that it might be because of her overalls that she was so testy. And, looking back on my attempts to photograph her in these cute overalls, I'm ready to admit that he's right. She hates them. We took off the overalls and she perked right up. Here she is, happy not to be encased in denim.

Happy Hour

I turned in another dissertation chapter yesterday, so today I was able to come home from work before Betty's bedtime, and the three of us played for a long time.

Ch-ch-changes

I had no idea how much having Betty would completely change my life. I knew that she'd change the way I lived my life (for example, I knew that my work habits would have to adjust around childcare, etc.). I didn't know how much she'd change the way I feel about life itself. Betty is with me at all times. I never for one second stop thinking about or feeling her presence. I can be writing my dissertation or brushing my teeth or whatever, but there she is beneath the surface. It's wonderful and horrible at the same time. (Horrible because I am terrified that this little life is in my hands).

But Betty makes her presence felt in other smaller and funnier ways too. For example, yesterday I was brushing olive oil on a raw chicken, and I needed to brush the underside. So I grabbed the chicken legs with one hand and lifted it up exactly as if I were changing its diaper. I don't know if that's the way I've always basted raw chicken or if it is just a new habit.

Den of Iniquity

OK, I know I'm going to pay for saying this out loud--that once I say it it will never happen again--but Betty seems to understand the concept of "weekend." Two Saturdays in a row she's slept til 7:00!

When I was in college I routinely slept til noon on Saturdays. There was even one time (this is an extreme example) when I woke up so late that the sun was already down again (that was when I lived in the German House, which was described by our own faculty advisor as a "den of iniquity"). That might have been the same day/night that I made the infamous "eggnog pancakes" but I digress.

None of the college debauchery compares to the sheer hedonistic pleasure of our Friday night and Saturday--on Friday night a steak dinner, a Great Lakes Brewery Oktoberfest beer, DVR'd Mad Men and bed. And today there was playing with the baby and taking a nap for me and working on his article alone in the office for Steele. Totally better than the days of eggnog pancakes.

Sit Up and Take Notice

I think I know what went wrong with yesterday's attempt to upload a pic. In any case, Betty is back online! Here she is sitting up, and she's getting better at it. Yesterday she even managed to turn on her musical flowers while sitting up. Sitting up is an important milestone not only in its own right but because it means she will soon be ready for two other truly exciting pursuits: eating cereal and hanging out in a doorway jumper. I started shopping around for the jumper and think I'm going to go with the Evenflo one because of its snazzy "learning pod" and because the wrap around tray protects the baby from the doorframe. That seems like a good feature.

Superman and Clark Kent

I'm going to post a picture of Betty later tonight, but right now I'm at the office and the camera is at home. It occurred to me recently that most of the pictures of Betty involve her lying on the floor or propped up against something. Rarely do we have a picture of her being held. This does not mean that she doesn't get held, but it does show that we're rarely with her at the same time now that school has started. Our teaching and childcare schedule is a complicated ballet, especially with me finishing up the dissertation. When we do get a chance to hang out together again (this weekend if I email the chapter tomorrow as I hope to do) I want to take a picture like this one. I think it's just about the best baby picture I ever saw. It makes me want to take Gretchen and love her and squeeze her and call her name George. Which I will do as soon as I get to meet her in person. Except for the George part. Anyway, enjoy this pic of Gretchen and I'll upload the Betty pic when I get home tonight, which will probably technically be tomorrow.

Update: Tried to upload the Betty pic last night and again this morning, and there are technical difficulties that, for once, don't involve our internet connection. I hope to get it sorted out today. My computers have a long history of crashing right before I finish a degree, so it's actually a good sign, though it's bad news for the Daily Betty and for our finances. Stay tuned!

Gene Simmons Jr.

Steele and I were speculating today about whether or not Betty will continue to stick her tongue out when she smiles when she has teeth to block the way.

Baby in a Corner

Betty's tribute to Patrick Swayze.

Poetry in Motion

The great thing about poetry for very young children is that rhyme and rhythm are more important than any other factor. As someone who has tried in the past to write Very Serious Poetry, I can attest that worrying about meaning sucks all the fun out of writing poetry. Writing poems that rhyme, on the other hand, is lots of fun.

I'm not going to post my poems on the blog because I don't want them to get stolen. (Many of my lesson plans, class notes, and sample research papers, I have discovered, have been stolen and re-posted--some on other teachers' sites, some on term paper mill sites, so I've gotten a bit paranoid about my intellectual property). But here's a poem that can only be about a girl named Betty, and, in fact, can only be about our specific Betty.

A Poem for Betty by Mommy

B is for her bitty size
E is for her bright brown eyes
T is for her tensed-up toes
T is for her 'tuffed up nose
Y is for a sleeeepy yaaaaawn--
Put on the sleep sack
Sleep til dawn.

Bombshells

Betty looks surprised here--like she just found out there are snakes in the basement, or that she won a free state inspection in the raffle at the Darlington Heights Volunteer Fire Department Chicken and Pig BBQ, or that there are half-nekkid pictures of her on the internet. It could be any or all of these things.

Local Color

Betty had a fun-filled Saturday with Grandma and Grandpa. First we went to the HSC football game. Then we took a walking tour around campus (that part was a bit ho-hum for Betty who'd seen it all before--she napped during most of the tour). Then it was home for a bottle and a nap (bottles of beer for the grown-ups; half a beer and a nap for Mommy). Then we went out again to the Darlington Heights Volunteer Fire Department Chicken and Pig BBQ Fundraiser. At the BBQ Betty sat up in Daddy's lap like a big girl, and attracted lots of attention in her pretty yellow and blue gingham sundress. Mommy bid $15 in a silent auction for a pink John Deere toy box. It was a tough choice between that and the cow harness.

Here's a pic from earlier in the day when Betty was still in her HSC onesie and Grandpa's shirt was spit-up-free. She's getting better at the whole sitting up thing; the spitting up, yeah, still got to work on that.

Spoiled Rotten

Grandma and Grandpa are in town for a visit, and Betty had fun being spoiled: presents, extra cuddling, and staying up past her bedtime.

Office Hours and Special Guest Star

Today's photo is a bit grainy because it was taken on my cell phone. Betty hung out with me in my office while Steele went to a faculty meeting. She borrowed her friend Daniel's bouncy seat, and I'm glad she did because I am now finally convinced that Betty has rudimentary hand-eye coordination. Up til now I've been skeptical that all the pulling on her bib and her taggies blanket and the cow has been deliberate. But in this bouncy seat she grabbed one of the dangling elephants by the ear and tried to bring it to her mouth. The ribbon was too short, but she kept trying. She is also laughing more too. Up til now it's been mainly "GAH" along with a big smile, but it's starting to sound more and more like a real giggle.

But the big news today is that Betty has another cousin! Welcome Joseph Alexander Nowlin! (I stole the pic from Aunt Sue's facebook page--can't wait to see more!)

Thought Balloon

"Oh no, not again!" Relax Betty, you're just going to the library.

A Thousand Words

Betty is a happy baby. As devoted The Daily Betty fans know, we have no trouble getting pictures of her beautiful smile (actually smiles--she has lots of different ones). Even so, I was skeptical that we'd be able to capture Happy Betty in her professional 3-month portraits. I was right to be concerned.

The problem is that Farmville doesn't offer much in terms of photo studios. I happen to love JC Penney, so I wanted to go there. Mainly I just wanted to get a pic of Betty on that bed of roses they offer. Sears (in Lynchburg) and WalMart (in Farmville) do not have a bed of roses. The nearest JC Penney with a portrait studio is 70 miles away on the Richmond side of Midlothian. In the end, I should probably have just gone to the local WalMart because what good is a bed of roses when the baby you want to put in it is screaming?

Astonishingly, everything went exactly according to plan: Betty had breakfast, and, when it was time to nap, I put her in the car and off we went. She slept all the way to Midlothian. When we got there, we were the first appointment of the day. She had a bottle. By all estimations, we should then have proceeded to have a fun and smiley photo shoot.

But...these days Betty's been taking a good morning nap in her crib. Napping in the car just isn't as restful. When she finished her bottle she started to cry. Now, you may recall me saying recently that one of the things we love about Betty is how when she cries, she says "wah," and that if she's crying and we pick her up she settles immediately. Neither of these things held true today at the JCPenney studio. Betty screamed and screamed and screamed even with me holding her. She screamed so loud and so much that the lady in the Optics section came over and told me that my baby has colic. (She does not have colic, but thank you for your concern).

The photographer was awesome--so patient and nice. Since she didn't have anyone else booked until noon, she suggested I take Betty around the store in the stroller. This actually did calm her down enough to take some photos. We got a couple of her in a white nightgown against a white tulle backdrop. I ended up holding her in some of them--if/when you see the pics you'll be able to see from my hair that I was not expecting to be photographed. (I did, however, wear a white shirt just in case my arms needed to go in the picture. For that foresight I'm grateful). Then I changed her to her overalls for the bed of roses. Betty soon started crying again though, so we eventually had to give up. In one of the only good bed of roses pics one of my long hairs is stuck on her face and JCPenney doesn't do retouching.

When I went to the kiosk to choose which prints I wanted to order, Betty fell asleep in my arms. We rushed back to the bed of roses to try to get a sleeping baby shot, but Betty woke right back up and cried some more. I didn't really have many pics to choose from, which is fine since it's hard to choose while holding a crying baby. I ended up buying a whole bunch anyway, since it is a milestone--you can expect them as gifts in the near future. And there were a few cute ones, though they don't capture Betty's bettitude the way the daily shots here on the blog do. Here's just one of the many outtakes--I think Betty looks a lot like Hannibal Lecter in this photo. We did, however, get a good picture of her adorable feet (something that has eluded me). And it was good to have an outing together, just Mommy and baby. All in all, I'm glad we went, but I don't know if we have the stamina to do it all again in 3 months.

Unplugged

Betty's hand control gets better every day. Today she untied the belt on her pants and grabbed her rattle. She brings stuff up to her mouth now too, and reaches up to hold the bottle when eating. Here she is threatening to unplug Steele's internet connection. We should probably start to think about babyproofing.

Forbidden Love

Betty has been playing with this frog all week. He's not really a baby toy. I bought him for myself at Disney World over the holidays in 2001/02. He's one of the characters from Song of the South, or at least I bought him from the gift shop you exit through after riding Splash Mountain. Anyway, Steele has taken quite a few photos of Betty playing with this guy (who has no name), and in all of them I think they look seconds away from passionate kissing a la Scarlet and Rhett in the famous movie poster image from Gone With The Wind. Maybe it's the hat.

Littlest Cub in the Tiger Pride

Betty attended her first football game today as HSC opened up their season against N.C. Wesleyan. We found a shady spot under a tree and had a picnic. Betty was decked out in her HSC onesie and "Littlest Cub in the Tiger Pride" bib. Games at HSC are a little odd, especially if you aren't familiar with Southern football traditions. The students all dress up (you can see a guy to the left in the standard uniform--khakis and a blue blazer) and their girlfriends all wear sundresses. Because the school is so small, the crowd is small. High school games attract bigger crowds. There's no band, and because it's all-male there are no cheerleaders. But it's a lot of fun--it's free, there's plenty of parking, and you can just plop down in the grass anywhere and have a perfect view of the field. Betty seemed to have fun, but we left before halftime because even in the shade it was pretty hot.

Meh.

I thought Betty might enjoy sitting up for a change, hanging with her pal Daisy and playing with her musical flowers. But I don't think Betty is yet ready to be a "supported sitter." She seemed kinda bored, so I put her back down flat and sang her new favorite song, "Old MacBetty." It was worth a try though. She changes so fast. For example, a few days ago she suddenly refused the pacifier--just quit cold turkey. And though "Old MacBetty" is hilarious today, tomorrow--who knows?!

Daughter of Eve

I was at school all afternoon and evening, blinds closed, working on the dissertation. Steele and Betty, however, enjoyed the beautiful weather by relaxing in the grass with a little light reading. They had already finished The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a while back, and are now nearing the end of Prince Caspian. Steele and I agree that Betty should read the Narnia books in the original order. None of this nonsense about starting with The Magician's Nephew.

Kodak Moments

There are some things about Betty--some of the best things--that we just can't capture on the Daily Betty. Some, like "Drunk Baby" (a face she used to make after eating) are things she's already grown out of (and anyway, I was usually only half clothed then and this isn't that kind of website); others, like her feet, just don't photograph well. The cuteness just doesn't translate to 2-D.

And we'll probably never get a picture of Morning Betty. The best part of my day is going to get her when she wakes up after a night's sleep. She's all warm and snug, and she sticks her feet up in the air (while still wrapped up in the sleep sack), and she grins so hard she scrunches up her whole face. But I'll never be able to post a picture of this because it's just too dark in the room (she's an early riser). You can't photograph the scent of warm baby anyway. And, actually, I don't want to waste one second of that time taking pictures.

But here is a hint of what Morning Betty is like--here she is, happy to be waking up from her nap.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Betty likes to see herself in the mirror, but she likes to see me in the mirror even more. I have no idea what goes through her head, but when baby's happy everybody's happy.