Here she is, all ready to have some tea. We’ll have to wait on the tea, but for now she’s our cute little girl with a sweet little belly.

Happy Friday everyone! Unofficial, official fourth month blog post is coming. Her four month visit to the pediatrician isn’t until next week so we’ll have to guess on things like her height and weight.

We started out this morning at home, doing the usual. Here is Bea, playing with her kitty:

She loves her kitty!

Then we headed down to A-town to meet up with the fam (fka my parents, now known only as Grandma and Grandpa. Curiously, they have also forgotten they have a daughter and talk as if Beatrice drove herself to visit them) and we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant:

Then we headed to the Supermall where we walked around for a couple of hours and had some fun in the photo booth! Bea LOVED the photo booth!

Photo Booth!

Afterward, it was still too hot, so we hung out at the Eskesen homestead where we stripped Bea down and let her play around outside in the shade. It was all fun and games until she piddled on me. Thanks for letting me borrow your shorts, Erik! We got home late and had this for dinner. We ate out on the back deck and it was delicious.

It’s all going by so quickly, I can’t believe our girl is already so big she nearly fills her bassinet!
Here she is before:

Beatrice in her bassinet April 2010

and here she is nowadays:

Beatrice in her bassinet July 2010

She’s getting so big already!  Here’s hoping we all sleep well tonight. Happy Independence Day! We’re thankful for our freedom as U.S. citizens and our freedom in Christ!

Things are going well here in the McPherson household. Beatrice is currently sleeping on my chest while I use the Boppy to stabilize the laptop. We are finally feeling like we’ve got a rhythm going with this parenting thing, sort of. I say sort of because once we figure out Beatrice’s schedule, she has a growth spurt or stays up too late and everything changes again. I suspect this will be the case for quite a long time to come in our parenting future. All in all though, life as a family of three is delightful. So far this month, we’ve taken Bea to her first Mariner’s game, gotten back into the classroom at Sunday school,  walked to the Redmond Saturday Market and enjoyed some Hawaiian shaved ice, pushed her in the stroller, played around on the floor, took a second roadtrip to Yakima, enjoyed a few meals out on the deck, hung out with our play group, celebrated the birthdays of friends and family, and had a generally good time (Jonathan, I used that Oxford comma just for you and because it made sense just this once). I’m hoping the nice weather sticks around because it is just so fun to be outside!

One fun part of this month has been having Jonathan’s sister and brother in-law stay with us while they have some work done at their house. It’s been such a blessing for Beatrice to get to know them better and be comfortable with them. And hello, I’d be an idiot if I didn’t think it was awesome to have someone around to hang out with Bea while I do crazy things like go to the bathroom or buy one ingredient I need for dinner. I think it’s going to be a real shock to the system when Bea has only two people around her!

We’ll post her three month update on Tuesday, until then here is a photo of us from the baseball game last weekend:

And should you have additional time, please check this out. It’s a delight!

South Carolina 2010 Highlight Reel from Jonathan on Vimeo.

(Music: Your Hand in Mine by Explosions in the Sky.)

Beatrice's first Easter 2010

More photos can be found here. The end.

Beatrice has so far been a very pleasant, easy-going baby without too much in the way of demands, but yesterday she was wearing her cranky pants and no matter what I did, she kept them on and let me know she wasn’t happy! The cure? Sitting on the exercise ball, bouncing away and singing at the top of my lungs. We also read some Spurgeon, which seemed to quiet her for a long time. I’m not sure if this  means she was interested in the material and therefore taking some time to ponder what I’d read to her or if she was bored. I’m hoping it’s the former rather than the latter.

The other big news from yesterday is that we went to the pediatrician for a weigh-in and Beatrice now weighs nine pounds on the nose! Praise the Lord for weight gain! Yeah!

Because it’s a crime not to include it, I’ll leave you with a photo of our little peach. Such a sweet little sleeper:

And this is your official update from the McPhersons….so far today we’ve been pretty productive! I took a shower, dried my hair, brushed my teeth, we went to Target and I’ve caught up on her baby book. I’m feeling very productive indeed!

and this morning, it looks like this:

Our girl is growing up!

You have made it to 39 weeks! I’m so happy for you and excited to meet you! This week, you are the size of a small watermelon, but I cannot imagine a watermelon inside me. Watermelons are round and smooth (and delicious) and you are full of movement and joy! It’s incredible to feel your little feet or your knees or sweet little bottom pressed up against me. I can’t wait for you to come out here so we can see you and hold you and smell your sweet baby smell.

Here are the official 39 week photos:

Also, I might look like the above photo, but I feel like this:

So you can come out anytime! As we know from Ecclesiastes (or the Byrds) “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” We are learning to be patient as we await your arrival because we know the Lord has picked the perfect day for your birthday.

And here is a photo of you and your Dad from this morning. You LOVE it when he talks to you, reads you stories or plays games with you and I just know you’ll be great friends (and if you’re a girl, you’ll have him wrapped around your finger).

This week has been a little different for us. No more going to work during the day and getting things done. Instead, we’ve met friends for lunch, cleaned up the house a little, organized the guestroom for your Grandma McPherson’s arrival, read some books and generally rested. It’s going to be weird for me to not go to work again in the near future, but I’m oh so excited to spend my days with you; we’ll have adventures, explore God’s creation and I am honored to be part of each day to watch you grow and learn!

Happy 39 weeks sweet baby Champ! We can’t wait to meet you!

Love,
Your Mom

Mom, Kelly (Champ), and Rachel

Me and Mel (one of the “downthestreets”). Her baby is due the week after Champ. Crazy times! Tim’s baby is just a food baby. Lucky Tim!

These are my favorite!

Hold on! What's this?!?!? There's a baby in there!

Regrettably, I did not think to take a photo of the whole group and most of the photos of me opening gifts don’t have me actually holding up the items so you can see how cute it is. Thank you to everyone who came! We have so many lovely things now and we’re beginning to feel more prepared for little Champ’s arrival in March. It was great to see everyone and I’m thankful that folks were able to make time during the craziness between Thanksgiving and Christmas to spend time with us.