Bath time is fun!

Aria loves baths. For Easter she got a bubble maker for the bathtub.

Friends :-)

I lost my "friends" section because I tried to change the background on this blog... so if anyone who reads this has a blog, please comment to this post with the address to your blog. Then I'll re-add the "friends" section with your blog link!

Thanks Friends!

Aria loves Zig

Aria loves Tzigane! Whenever he runs by she squeals and laughs. We have been playing a game where I hold her at Zig's level and we chase Zig around the house. She laughs and laughs. She loves it ;-)

Aria Dancing

Aria loves this toy!

Eskimo Kisses

Easter

Our Easter started on Thursday when we got home from AZ. There was a box at the front door, and inside it was Aria’s very first Easter Basket! It was from Ahna and Papa in PA! There were Animal Crackers, and cute hair bows, and socks, and gloves, and the best part of all? Crinkly paper! I tried to get a picture of Aria with all the contents of the basket, but she was not cooperating. Here is a picture of her wearing some of it’s contents, though ;-) Thank you Ahna and Papa! I love you!

On Easter Sunday we got together at Gramma Ginny & Grampa Danny’s. We ate a brunch there and then Aria got more Easter baskets. I am wondering why the Easter Bunny only left her baskets?! I must not have made the good list this year! Matthew either ;-) I, again, tried to get a picture of Aria amongst her Easter Basket contents, but, again, she was not cooperative. Here is a picture of her in her little Easter straw hat.

During brunch I opened my Easter card. Here is what it said… can you believe it?! (ignore the talking in the background…)

After brunch we headed to the rental house to clean it up. We spent ALL weekend cleaning and painting, and we’re still not done.

So…. We missed Church. Good thing for technology. We will listen to the service bc we can download it from the website! Here is the link if you’re interested in hearing it, too. It’ll be worth your time, I guarantee it! http://www.thevillagechurch.net/resources/sermons.html

Aria wants to fly!

Aria loved the take off in the airplane!

Standing & Walking!

When we got home from AZ Gramma Ginny & Grampa Danny came over. I wanted to show them how Aria was crawling on her knees now. Well, she’d been standing up on her own for very short periods, too. I think she was so sick of sitting in the car, the plane, the car again, etc. that she didn’t want to stay still. While we were watching Aria crawl, she got up and stood there, and stayed there! She stood for a really long time. Then she crawled again, and stood back up, and stayed again!

THEN… as she was standing there, she took 3 steps to me! I couldn’t even believe it! She did it again a short while later, but this time it was 5 steps. Gramma and I saw her, but Daddy didn’t. She did it again – 5 steps – and Daddy saw it too.

Once I get it on video I will post it!

Trip to Arizona

We had a great time in AZ! We had originally planned the trip for Thurs - Tues and then realized how many people we wanted to see! Matthew used to live in AZ and has relatives there, and I have relatives and friends there as well. Matthew can barely ever take a whole week off, but with the great months they've had at his club, and bc it is a pretty slow steady time, he was finally able to take a whole week. Not typical!! It was nice, though, bc I haven't been to AZ in 5 years, and even when I was there, I only got to see a couple of people bc I was there for work. I hadn't seen my 1st cousins in 13 years, and hadn't seen my my cousin Mary Beth in 18 years! Since her wedding! I think I need to go visit my relatives more. I miss them.

Aria got to meet LOTS of people! She met 2 Mia’s in one day. It made her miss her bestest friend, Mia, at home!

Lots of new things happened this week for Aria. Before we got to AZ she didn’t crawl on her knees. We got to Aunt Ruth Ann’s house, and Aria was scooting around on the carpet in the living room. We took her to the back patio that has indoor/outdoor carpeting, and Aria got on her knees and started to crawl all around! We couldn’t believe it! Here is a video:


After she started crawling on the indoor/outdoor carpet, she started crawling on all surfaces. She had started pulling herself up to standing a couple of weeks ago, but got more proficient at it with all the obstacles (coffee tables, ottoman’s, etc) she had in each of the living rooms she visited. She would stand for longer periods, too.

Here is a picture of Aria at the park nearby:



We did lots of things in AZ. We spent the 1st couple days at Aunt Ruth Ann’s and had lots of fun. She made lots of good food. She even made me a Boca Burger (non)meat-loaf. It was good! Matthew wouldn’t try it bc he was afraid he’d like it and I’d try to turn him vegetarian. ;-) On Sunday, Aria got to meet Chris, Shawn, Damion & Emily…. And Annie, too ;-) (Emily’s cute doggy!) I got to meet Emily for the 1st time and love her, of course! She’s great!

We started a hike on Camelback mountain. Matthew, Aria, me, Marguerite and David met there. We got a little way up the mountain and realized that it was much too dangerous for a baby. Also, Aria's eye got red and swollen, and her nose started running. It stayed that way for a couple of hours - must've been an allergy to something in the AZ air. Marguerite, Aria and I went to Starbucks (I was not complaining about that - I was tired!! Did I mention Aria slept HORRIBLY all week) and talked, while David and Matthew finished the hike.

We spent the day on Monday in Tucson. Marguerite, Matthew, me & Aria made the trip. We got to visit Tom, Athena, Max & Beatrice there. I hadn’t seen them in 5 years! It was great to catch up and see them! I really wished we could’ve spent more time there!

On Tuesday afternoon we went to meet Matthew's friend and former client, John and his wife Nicole and daughter Mia. We had fun with them, and Aria loved playing with Mia and her toys!

That evening, we got to see Matthew's cousins Jim & Teri. Jim and Teri had their granddaughter, Mia, at the house, too! That is Aria's 3rd cousin. She is almost 3 months old and cute as can be! (must be the name... haha!) We also met some of Mia's siblings and her mom, Michelle. Aunt Agnes was there, as well. She is 94 and seriously is the best looking 94 year old I've ever met in my life. She doesn't have any wrinkles! I asked her what her secret is... she said she doesn't wear a bra... get it? get it? She cracked me up!! It was a FUN night!


The rest of the week we stayed with Marguerite & David. It was very fun spending time together! They tried to spoil Aria. David took her all around the Disney store and picked up every toy in the store and asked Aria “do you like this one?” and she’d shake her head “no”. Onto the next toy “do you like this one?” Aria, again, would shake her head “no”… finally she didn’t say no to an Eyore dressed up as the Easter Bunny… on clearance. She picked up one of those vacuum packed washcloths, also on clearance. She is definitely her Daddy’s baby!

We also visited the ZOO. I love the zoo! Aria slept through a lot of the day, though, so she missed most of the animals. She did get to see the Giraffes and got a kick out of them! She picked a blue monkey toy at the zoo.

We're back!

We are back from Arizona! We were there a whole week. I have SO much to report, but need to get a lot of work done first. I'll write more later!

I love me?

I'm not even sure how to title this video...

No? What does that mean?

Aria was playing on the carpet, and playing with her toys. She has a toy mirror, and she looked at herself in it, and started kissing. Too funny!

Aria loves to feed Zig from her high chair. I’ve already mentioned how she leans her little arm over and feeds him. She tries to do this EVERY day. It was less of a deal before because she’d lean over, hand him food, and he’d take it and eat it. Now, she holds on tight to the food, and Zig nibbles off of the end of it, and THEN she takes it back and tries to put it in her mouth (by tries… I mean I grab the food away before she can). Silly baby! Trying to share her food with her doggy!

Today at the changing table, Aria took the lid off of the Aquaphor container as I was going to take her diaper off. She proceeded to dig her little hand into the Aquphor, and got a huge glob of it in her hand, which went straight to her mouth!! I swept it out of her mouth and then cleaned her mouth (now I have to clean BOTH ends). After cleaning out her mouth, I go to take her diaper off again, and she grabs for the Aquaphor again. I say “NO” and she starts to LAUGH as she grabs a glob. I take the Aquaphor glob from her hand. Back to getting the diaper off… she looks at me, smiles, and reaches for the Aquaphor. I say “no” and she laughs as she looks at me, like she’s saying “ha ha Mama, I’m gonna do it again!”. It’s the first time that she did something, knowing she wasn’t supposed to…. And laughed ;-) Funny baby!

She is now getting into EVERYthing. I’m going to have to put us both in a gated, safe, play zone while I work!

List for Tricia

I’ve told many, if not all, of you about a wonderful couple, Tricia & Nate, and their beautiful baby, Gwyneth. Their blog is www.cfhusband.blogspot.com/. One of the readers of this blog (www.learysinlove.blogspot.com/) wrote a list of things for Tricia to look forward to as a mom. Nate read the list and thought it would be fun for other mom’s to share all the things we all thought Tricia has to look forward to. Here is my list.

Things to look forward to:

The 1st time that she stops crying because you picked her up. She wasn’t hungry, she wasn’t wet, she wanted Mama.

Pushing her on a swing and seeing her face light up and to hear her squeal and laugh because it’s the first time she’s ever been on a swing!

Hearing her say Dada as she looks at your husband. I think I got more teary when she said Dada than when she said Mama for the 1st time.

Holding her hand until she falls asleep.

Watching Sesame Street together.

Watching her eyes light up when she discovers something new. You’ll see the world through a new set of eyes, because EVERYthing is new.

Looking at her closet and realizing she has a better wardrobe than you ;-)

Getting to dress her up every day!

Things we both have to look forward to:

Hearing her tell you I LOVE YOU for the first time

The 1st time she hugs me back (I look forward to the millions of times to follow, too)

The 1st time she kisses me back (ditto on looking forward to the millions of times to follow)

Easter Bunny

Today Aria went to see the Easter Bunny. She sat on his lap and started bouncing and smiling. She really liked the Easter Bunny!!

She was in such a great mood today. Recently she has started opening her mouth really wide when she smiles. It's very cute! Funny baby!

She ate cheese for the 1st time today. She loved it!

I think I forgot to mention that she also had her 1st bite of ice cream this week!

Two new teeth!

Aria has about 6 new teeth coming in, but the top two have finally popped through! Maybe that means she'll sleep all night tonight ;-)

Aria watched the Godfather on Friday. She actually enjoyed it, and kept laughing and bouncing up and down. I think she liked Connie's wedding music. It's the Italian in her ;-) She fell asleep before it got gory.

Today as I left her in the nursery at Church, she said "ciao" hmm.... ;-)

Tomorrow, we're going to meet the Easter Bunny, and Aria is going to wear her Easter dress. I'm very excited!

Another fun day!

Aria had a good day today! We played on the swingset. She loves to swing. She laughs out loud almost the whole time. I need to get that on video! We ran around the backyard with Zig, too. She loves Zig! It was a beautiful day!! Perfect for a jog... which I didn't take, but wanted (meant) to ;-)

At lunch time, before we met Michel Ann (who's baby will be here SOON!) , we went to Kid to Kid to pick up some tights. While we were there, Aria got her all time favorite compliment. "Wow! She has such a great shaped head" To which I responded "it's a good thing, bc she has no hair".... I should count how many times a week she gets that compliment. Funny!

Here is a little video of Aria eating cheerios and using her sippy cup. Nothing funny or out of the ordinary ;-) just a little snapshot of a part of her day.

Is my daughter a hampster??

As I'm working today, I hear a slurping sound behind me and this is what I found...

03/03/05

We had a pretty good night. Aria was up 2 times but went down right away when I put my hand on her back. She got up for the day at 8:00, but would’ve slept longer after I fed her, but I had to get up and get to work. I did try to get her back to sleep in her crib. She was asleep when I laid her in there, but when I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth, I could hear her in the other room. I looked in, and she was dragging her pacifier across her crib posts, back and forth. Like a prisoner in a jail cell dragging whatever it is they drag across their cell bars… hmmm…

She began the day watching Sesame Street. She blew kisses at Dr. Phil. When Count Dracula came on, she opened her mouth in a BIG smile and started doing her little chuckle. I didn’t know she liked the Count so much…. She watched the counting to find the word of the day as she bounced in her walker. OH the suspense! It ended up being the number 17.