Betty in 2009: a Retrospective

My computer is full. It cannot hold one more picture and I've deleted just about everything but my dissertation. The future of The Daily Betty depends on me finally getting around to getting that extra hard drive. Meanwhile, here's a 2009 Retrospective of Betty, including some never-before-seen-photos! Exciting!

Verna's New Year's Resolutions:

-finally get around to getting that extra hard drive.
-finish dissertation (For real. No, I mean it.)
-use Wii fit Steele got me for Mother's Day. And by "use" I mean exercise on it--don't just make avatars of famous literary figures.
-pay more attention to whatserface, you know, the furry one that smells like skunk.
-find job. Or, if don't find job, turn dissertation into lucrative Simon & Shuster book. Also sell movie rights. Then all those hiring committees who used my carefully prepared documents as scrap paper will feel reeeeal bad.

I don't have any Betty-related resolutions. We do our best every day already. That's one thing I've learned about parenting. You do your best, you're not perfect, you keep going. I'm looking more forward to 2010 than I ever have any year in my life.

January 2009
I broke out the maternity pants after my regular pants tried to kill me at Clay's birthday dinner. On the morning of New Year's Eve I felt Betty move for the first time. Here's a pic of my January baby bump.













February 2009
We went on a "babymoon" to a B&B in Staunton Virginia for a romantic getaway.













March 2009
This pic is from our baby shower in Cleveland. I wasn't drinking that coke, but thanks for worrying.














April 2009
Here's Betty and Gretchen, together for the first time!













May 2009
Here I am, putting some final touches on Betty's nursery, May 20, 2009. The little signs spell out "Betty" in pink and purple, and hang above her changing table. She was due May 28, but little did I know here that I still had a couple weeks to go!













June 2009
This doesn't even look like Betty. She was so small and dark..our little monkey!














July 2009
The blue vibrating chair is ubiquitous in the early pics and now outgrown and put away. And you can see those bright eyes that everyone and I mean EVERYONE comments on: "She's so alert!" has been the refrain. Is Betty special? Are other babies dullards? Only time will tell.













August 2009
August is when we hit the 1000-mark in number of photos taken. Hence the current file storage problem. It's also when Betty started showing us her fabulous smile on a regular basis. These events are not coincidental.














September 2009
In September, Betty started spending more time on her tummy and she learned to roll over. She was also, by this time, sleeping through the night--about 9 p.m. to 5- or 6 a.m. This is one of the last pictures of a swaddled Betty.














October 2009
Betty was Princess Leia for Halloween. Our only trick-or-treater, however, was the skunk that sprayed Tessa.














November 2009
Betty found her feet in November. You can't see it, but in this photo she is wearing an "I voted" sticker after accompanying Daddy to the polls. Baby's first Democrat!













December 2009
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Betty became a different baby. She can sit, crawl, and stand with support. She says all kinds of different sounds. She cries when you take something away from her. She's eating babyfood (reluctantly). She has 2 teeth and is getting 2 more. She's a real person now. I can't wait to spend 2010 finding out who she is!