My brown eyed girl

I just love my brown eyed girl!!

I love the beach!

.... and I like to eat sand, too ;-)

I love swinging!

Cousins, cousins, and more cousins!

(Aria is kissing Aidan in this picture)

Aria has been having so much fun seeing all of her cousins! Last weekend we got to see Aidan and AJ. Aria had soooo much fun playing with them! She told me she wants brothers... but she wants older brothers, so I dont know how that is going to work! (Bc this is a blog, and you just MIGHT think that I'm serious that she really asked for brothers... she didn't, I'm joking ;-) She likes to rough house with the boys, so she had fun, fun, fun!!

This week, Christina and Sydney are here at our house! We have been having soooo much fun! We had the most fun 4th of July ever! I will post all about what fun we're having this week, but I'm baking a cake that is almost done, so I'll have to post about it later!

Aria hasn't said a single word to anyone (Uncle Adam and Aunt Sarah are here, too! Fun!)... the only thing she has said is "uh oh". I guess that is the word that comes to mind when I see my brother, too. ;-)

Kissing my cousins

Auntie Alethea made Aria a book with all the relatives from Daddy's side of the family so she would know them when she sees them. We were showing Aria her cousins today. Take a look:

Climbing

Climbing is one of Aria's favorite things to do. She climbs on everything, and she is very brave. She was playing with her water table the day after her birthday, and she looked over to the slide and saw an opportunity... here it is:







She also has been having fun zooming around on her new baby trike from Uncle Chris (thank you, Uncle Chris!). She likes to go REALLY fast, and have Zig chase us. She doesn't do it herself, I push her all around. Her feet do touch the pedals, though, so maybe she can learn to pedal herself soon. (Do you like her new, comfy, oh so cute, summer PJs?? Thank you Jenn, Chris & lil' Mia!)

Birthday Girl!

Happy Birthday Aria!!

Birthday dance with Mr. Penguin...

Well, Aria is now 1 year old!! We had such a fun day on her birthday! Aria got to hear her first Happy Birthday song from Aunt Ruth Ann in the morning. They share a birthday so they both got to tell each other Happy Birthday. We also got a call from Ahna to tell her happy birthday. We wished they could both be here for her party!

The day started with a birthday surprise for Aria. Her daddy and I stayed up the night before putting together her toy, so she would be surprised when she woke up in the morning. She screamed when she saw it.

We then started getting ready, going to the store, taking a nap (Aria took a really good one, too). I gave her a BIG kiss at 1:24 pm... her birth minute.

Then the party began!

She had so much fun at her party! She got to play with all of her friends, and open presents, and eat cake, and play with new toys.... she just had fun from start to finish. We all had such a great time spending the day with everyone!

The cake... she wasn't all that into it! I was surprised - very surprised! I love sweets, but her daddy doesn't like cake very much. She takes after her daddy in every way. It really is amazing how much they are alike.

She and all the kids loved playing with the water table Gramma and Grampa got her. I knew she'd love that toy, and she sure does!

By the time the end of the day came around, she was all tuckered out! What a perfect day!

She's morphed!

I just want you all to know that my baby has officially morphed from a baby to a little girl. She is just cracking me up all the time lately with her new, all grown up, funny games. She is sooooo silly all the time! We had friends over last night, and they were saying how her personality is really coming out a lot.

She is doing so many things that are completely catching me off guard (and cracking me up!0. Just now, my mom's dog, Edie, (little toy fox terrier that Aria LOVES to play with) was sitting in Aria's Sesame Street chair. Aria would push Edie off the chair so she could sit down, and then she'd sit down and then get back up. The dog would come and sit on the chair again, and she'd push her off. Well, one time I went over to get Edie off the chair and Aria extends her arm out with her hand flat (like a police man directing traffic to stop) and just looked at me with a very serious look.... she was telling me to stop bc she wanted to do it.

Then she came up to me and asked for a drink (she started doing that sign this week, too!) of my water, and so I pick up my cup and hand it to her, she puts her mouth on the straw and blows bubbles into it, throws her head back and laughs and walks away. Her new thing since she's learned to play her water flutes is to do rasperries on my arm (like I do to her) and to blow bubbles through a straw. She walks around trying to whistle, but nothing comes out put air and spit. She also believes that anything that is remotely shaped like a water flute should work like one, too. She has a tiny baseball bat (just her size) and she puts the end of it in her mouth and blows like it's a flute. Silly baby!

She has this new look on her face a lot of the time now. I don't know why she's started doing this, but it is kind of like her lips are tight (like you might do if you were concentrating hard, I guess?) and the expression that goes with it just makes me laugh every time. I have to get a picture of it bc I am not explaining it well.

She is still a kissing an hugging fool. I love her kisses and hugs!

She has started to get so excited when she is playing a game that makes her laugh that she screams really loud, and really high pitched before laughing hysterically. She was playing "I'm gonna get you" with Daddy, and oh my gosh she was laughing so hard. She'd run (she goes so fast!) into the bedroom, and keep looking behind her and Matthew would be creeping behind her saying "I'm gonna get you". Then she'd get to the bedroom and hide behind the bed and Matthew would come around and say I GOT YOU (loud!) and she would scream and laugh - oh it was so funny!!

My doctor says she should know and be able to point to when asked, her eyes, mouth, nose, and ears by age 1. So, we've been practicing up. She USED to honk my nose when I asked "where is mama's nose" but all of a sudden she stopped! Baby! And now when we ask "where is your nose" she just stares at us. Same with "where is your mouth" and where are your eyes". But... she knows where her TONGUE is! haha!! If you ask her where her tongue is, she will stick her tongue out at you. So, we have a plan. When we go into her 1 year appointment, we are going to start with "where is your tongue" and hopefully skip the rest. ;-) I keep telling her she has a quiz in a week, so she better study up!

New signs she's learned this week are "cheese" and "drink". She is saying thank you a lot more this week, too.

Sign language, kisses and hugs

Aria is really getting good at sign language! She is catching onto new signs more easily now. She says please, thank you, and food now. I taught her to say Please by folding her hands together bc I think more people will understand that as please ;-)She is really understanding what each sign means, and using them throughout the day. She asked for "more" today when we were playing, which meant she wanted to eat. I asked her if she wanted food (and did the food sign) and she did the food sign back. Since she can say "all done" I'm trying to get her to just say it instead of sign it now. I need to learn more signs bc I am running out of signs to teach her ;-) I actually did look up how to say "cheese" and am working on that one now.

I am trying to teach her how to say BAM! like Emeril, but so far she just looks at me like... WTHeck??

She understands more and more all the time. When I ask for a kiss or a hug, she walks over to me and gives me one. She puckers up and comes over and gives me a big kiss (or hug). She kissed and hugged before, but now she comes over to me if I ask for one (without doing a kiss sound myself). When I say "spinning in circles, spinning in circles" she will start to spin in circles.

I've taught her that a doggy says arf arf, and then do a panting sound. Now when I ask Aria what a doggy says, she pants. Sometimes she adds the arf arf. I started doing this bc my friend, Jenn, taught her daughter to "bark" that way, and it is cute when baby Mia pants ;-) haha!

I was thinking... all these new things Aria is learning are fun to share, but it is such a small part of what makes Aria... Aria! I need to start sharing more of her Aria-isms. Right now she is petting the dog by patting him on the back with both hands, and laughing, until he escapes out the doggy door... I guess most of the moments are kind of "you had to be there" moments, and are hard to express on the blog. I so wish I could share more of those things! If only I could have a video camera on her all day ;-) Things like the way she plays her flutes (soo funny!) and how she dances (wiggles her lil butt) and the conversations we have, and her funny mannerisms. Did I ever tell you how much I love this little girl????

I love you!

I always tell Aria I love you... and sometimes when I say it, I point to myself and say "I" and then cross my hands in front of me and say "love" and then point to Aria and say "you". A few days ago, she started crossing her arms over her chest when I say it ;-) So sweet!!

Today she walked into the living room, and stuck her arms straight out behind her, bent at her wrists, and started to turn around in circles. She kept doing it and made herself dizzy and she'd fall. I don't know why she started to do this, but she thinks it is fun! Funny baby! She did this several times throughout the day... wonder where she got it from?

Aria is starting to really watch my face as I say words. I said OH boy the other day, and she puckered her lips and started to say Boy very slowly, like she was trying to do it just like I did. If you do it yourself (I mean say the word "boy") you will notice that you stick your lips out slightly in sort of a kiss face when you say it. She tried to mimic my mouth motion for a few other words, but I can't think of which they were now.

She has figured out how to blow into her water flutes... she was walking around playing her flute today. Then she'd tip it to see if she could drink the water out of it (there was no water in it).

If you ask Aria what an elephant says, she will make the elephant sounds. When I do the elephant sound, I move my arm as though it were an elephant trunk (Ahna showed Aria this, and says cousin Caeden also did this). Aria is doing the arm motion now, too. Problem is... I asked her what a doggy says, and she did the elephant sound, too... but then I tell her a doggy says Arf Arf, and then she does the right sound. She doesn't quite get it yet, but she's getting there! Also working on a kitty saying Meow.

Aria got a new Sesame Street chair this week. She LOVES it. I had no idea she would have so much fun with a chair, but she does! She doesn't appear overly excited about the chair in the picture... but she really is ;-) Can you believe how dark her eyes are getting? I prayed for a brown eyed baby! You can sort of see her little curls coming out of the sides of her head. Parts are starting to spiral as they get longer. If only the rest of her head would catch up with the sides and back ;-)

I was thinking today... pretty soon, I won't be sharing with you all the new words Aria is saying, bc she adds so many new words, that soon she will be putting words together. Soon, my updates will change from being the updates of a baby, to the updates of a toddler and the funny things she says, and then it will change again and I'll be telling you cute stories about things like what happened at Gymnastics today (or whatever activity she ends up doing)... It is really hitting me this week how big she has gotten, and how much she has changed over the last year. She is a toddler now, and I just can't believe it! Where did the time go? This last year has just gone by SOOO fast. If it keeps up this way, it will seem like seconds and she will be in kindergarten!

It is interesting bc each time I think that THIS is the best age and it just can't get any more fun, and I couldn't possibly enjoy an age better than this age... she gets a little older, and I enjoy it even more, and am again convinced that the age she is right now has to be the best age there is. I just love that little girl!!!

Mama playing the violin

Want to hear Aria's mama play the violin? I just got an old recording of mine from college... this is the cadenza to Paganini's violin concerto, 1st mvt. from a recital I played in 1992 at Oberlin.

Yum!

Here is a video of Aria trying to eat with a spoon taken a month ago. Watching her eat might not be very interesting... but if you watch to the end, you can see if she likes soy cheese or not ;-) The kissy face she does in the middle is a face she is doing again recently. It cracks me up!

Alllllllll done!

I warned you all about video overload now that I've uploaded all the videos from the last few months!! Here is one of Aria on 5/6/8 saying ALLLL done. She went through a phase where she would say it over and over and over throughout the day. She does know what it means now, though. It is funny when she signs it AND says it at the same time.

So much for that!

Aria has a toy guitar that I call her violin. I give it to her when I teach violin lessons. Yesterday I was trying to put it under her chin to see if I could get her to keep it there... well, she grabbed the "violin" from me, put it to her ear and said "hello" and proceeded to babble on and on (probably in a convo with cuz Diella!)... so much for that!

Earlier, she had a bath, and we were playing with the water flute toys. They will play a certain note if filled with water to a certain point. So I filled them up with water and showed Aria how to do it. She took the flute and tipped it up, and drank the water from it..... so much for THAT! ;-)

Today... I hear her playing at the doggy door, and I look over, and she had taken her "violin" and threw it out the doggy door!!

Is this a hint??

walking

Here is a video of Aria walking ;-) I took a little over a week ago. This is the dress that Aria couldn't crawl in. If she tried to crawl in it, her dress would pull. She'd do the bear crawl on her hands and feet, but that would only last a second, and she'd give up and just walk. It was the dress that got her to walk 100% of the time, I think! She hasn't crawled at all since!

Milk

This is an older video, but now that I've finally made room on my computer, I have uploaded a bunch of videos. (I had to delete some BB King mp3s to make room and let me tell you how painful that was for me!!)

Here is Aria saying Milk. Milk was Aria's 1st sign.

Violin lessons!

I think that this is about the coolest thing that Aria has learned, and I just realized it yesterday....

I mentioned before that Aria does squats and says up, down, up, down, as she does them. So, when she started to do the same thing when she'd lift her hand in the air, and bring it back down, I thought she really understood the concept that up was up, and down was down. I have never done a game with her where I lift my arm and say up and bring it back down and say down. I thought she made it up all on her own... then yesterday it hit me!! Aria likes to watch violin lessons with my 2 beginner students. Each lesson we start with bow exercises, and we try to keep our bows as straight as possible while doing up bows and down bows in the air. As their bows slowly go up, I say "up", and as they bring them back down, I say "down". THAT is what Aria has been doing all week!! I am amazed at what she is picking up.

Busy bee

This little girl is ALL over the place. She walked all day, and I don't think she crawled at all.

Over the last week or two she's been spinning in circles while sitting. She'll sit there, and then take her feet and go in circles. It's really funny when she does it. I wish I could show you a video ;-)

Today we were looking at an animal book, and I pointed at the elephant and said "what does an elephant say?" and she did the elephant sounds!! I couldn't believe it! I know I've told you all before she can do the elephant sound... but she used to just repeat it after I did it, and now she is doing it all on her own!

Today we had Winsty (the doggy) at our house. He was sitting on his big doggy pillow. Aria went over to him and sat down, and leaned over with her mouth WIDE open. She wanted Winsty to lick her mouth! GROSS! I would say NO and she would laugh hysterically.... and then do it again. She just cracks me up!

Last night when my mom was leaving from babysitting, I was holding Aria on the couch and she was eating. I thought she was asleep. My mom walked to the door, and I said "bye" and Aria's hand popped into the air and she started to wave. It was funny bc I thought she was sleeping.

Aria loves cheese. I think if she could eat cheese all day and night she would.

No more room on my computer

Hi! I'm sure you are all sitting there wondering why there haven't been any new pictures and videos... well, I ran out of room on my computer! I'll be getting a new hard drive soon, so stand by. ;-)

Cheerio Cheers!

I keep meaning to post this, and I keep forgetting! One of Aria's favorite games is to do "cheers" with everything. It started out with Cheerios .... whenever it was that she started eating cheerios... February I think? She would have a cheerio in her fingers, and I'd have one in mine. I'd hit mine to hers, and say "cheerio cheers". She thought that was so funny! Every time she's eaten cheerios from that point forward, she hits her cheerio to mine and I say "cheerio cheers" and then we eat our cheerios. She also does this with her toothbrush when she's brushing her teeth. She extends her arm with her toothbrush in hand, and we hit toothbrushes together and I say "toothbrush cheers". She thinks it is funny every time.

She also likes to feed me cheerios (or whatever she's eating). She'll take a bite, and then give me a bite. If I just pretend to take whatever she's offering me, she persists until I actually take a real bite. I especially like when she does this when she's offering her gooey baby teethers or a handful of mushy peas. YUM!!

I think I also forgot to mention that she hugs now. She's been doing it for awhile. When we hug I say "hug". Now when we hug, SHE says hug. ;-)

She is also back to giving her Uncle Chris high fives. She did it when she was itty bitty, and she started doing it again lately. Chris says she does it every time. So cute! She has a special game with her Uncle.

She's doing great with walking!! Every day she walks more and more. When she tries to crawl while wearing a dress, her dress gets caught on her knees and frustrates her. She crawls by walking on her hands and feet (like crawling, without having the knees down.... like a bear crawl). She doesn't like to do that much, so she just gives up and walks. She can walk so well that I don't understand why she'd even want to crawl anymore.

She ate pasta for the 1st time this weekend. She's officially Italian ;-) She loved it!

;-)

Yes!

Aria has been shaking her head NO for a long time, and has known that she is saying no when she does it more recently. It took her awhile to nod her head to say "yes". It's so funny when she does it because she lifts her eyebrows when her head goes up, like that is helping her to lift her head up, and her eyebrows go back down when her head goes down. Just this week, Aria has learned that she can answer questions with "yes" if she nods her head ! I can actually ask her questions and she'll "say" yes or no by shaking or nodding her head! I love it! It helps me to know what she can and cannot understand. She can understand a lot more than I thought! I think all babies do, and it must be so frustrating for them not to be able to answer with all the words they want to say.

It has been so much fun to be able to communicate with new words and motions!

Aria is 11 months today! ;-)

Walking and more

Aria walked, as you know, last Saturday. She walked a few times that day, and went about 6 steps at a time! I thought she'd be an expert by the end of the week... but she decided not to walk anymore all week.... until yesterday! Yesterday she walked for several steps several different times. I thought she had decided that she was only going to walk on Saturdays ;-) I was wrong ;-) She walked even more today! She's so big! She's solid and balanced most of the time when she walks (and sometimes not so much ;-). I'm not surprised bc she's been walking by just using her hand on the wall for awhile now. I kept wondering when she was going to just do it! Good job, Aria ;-)

She is also saying more words all the time. The ones she says most often are "all done", uh oh, oh boy, hi mama, hi dada, hi zig, up, down, no, bye bye, butt butt (haha! She says that bc I say it when I change her diaper). I think she is also saying "hi love love" bc that is what I always say to her, but it's not really clear when she says it. She tries to copy what you're saying. She also loves to have conversations with people. She looks very intently at the person she is talking with. I think she must know what she is saying ;-) It's cute!

She's really doing a lot better with animal sounds. She loves to copy what you do. If you whisper, she whispers. If you talk in a really high voice, she'll do the same. SO, if you say "arf arf" she'll copy it. She's tried to do a pig sound (when you actually snort) but she can't figure it out. She clicks her tongue and looks at you very intently trying to figure out how you're making that funny sound! Today when we locked the car (and it went beep beep) she repeated it!

She knows 3 signs in sign language. All done (she says that one, too), more, and milk. I gave her bread for the 1st time this week and as soon as she had that first taste, she was signing MORE like a maniac baby. I guess she likes bread!

One of the funniest things she does (considering her daddy is in the Fitness industry) is squats. She started doing them all on her own, and when she'd do them I'd say up, down, up, down. Now she says up when she's up and down when she's down. When she wakes up from her nap and is playing in her crib, I can hear her saying "up, down, up, down". She must be doing squats in her crib. Funny baby!

She started climbing like a little monkey, too. She climbed up on her chair and got onto the coffee table. I have since moved her toy chair to sit up against the couch so she can climb up there instead of the coffee table!

She has also started to realize when she is doing something wrong. As she goes to do something bad, she will look at me as she's starting the bad behavior, and shake her head "no". She knows I'm going to tell her no!! She had my keys, and I always tell her no if she tries to put them in her mouth (keys have way too many germs on them! eww!) and then I pull them away before she gets them in her mouth. She had my keys last week, and as she brought them to her mouth she was looking at me and shaking her head "no" even though I hadn't said told her no yet. BABY!!

I love that she is able to communicate so much better now! Just the ability to say "no" is helpful!

She puts the phone to her ear and says "hi!". I was surprised when she did it bc, although I talk on the phone a lot for work, I always use my ear piece. She had to have learned to do that from her daddy! (or her cousin Diella! We think they've been making secret calls to each other!)

Playing with kids... she LOVES to play with kids. She used to seem like she was soooo much younger than her 2 year old friend, Kali. Now they can actually play together and have fun!! That is so cool! They were playing with a tea set together a couple of days ago. She was trying to eat from the forks and spoons! haha! Kali and Aria played catch with a big ball.

Mia (baby Mia, not me ;-) and Aria are good friends, too! They are interacting a lot now! Jenn (her mom) and I have looked so forward to them getting to the age when they can play! They played at the beach club today, and again later that night. Mia is 4 months younger, but they are seeming closer and closer in age each time they play together.

Speaking of the beach club! We had a FUN day at the beach today! Aria loved the pool and the sand and playing with her bucket and shovels. She also likes to eat sand. Yum!

Teeth - She has 6 teeth, and is working on more. I seem to see the teeth when they have already broken the surface (vs when she got her two bottom and two top teeth, I saw them before they broke the surface).

Sleep.... oh she sleeps like a baby! ;-) (Actually, whoever made up that saying has no idea how a baby really sleeps! ha!) But, really, Aria is sleeping wonderfully! She sleeps until 7 am, regardless of when she goes to bed, and then eats, and then goes back to bed (usually) until 8:30 - 9. Usually bedtime is between 8:30 - 9:30 It is wonderful to get full nights of rest!! I even get work done in the evenings before bed.

I am still in disbelief that my baby is going to be 1 in a month!

Breaking news!

Aria WALKED today!! She walked across the carpet to me today. I guess that what I needed to do is clear off the carpet so she had no toys to hang on to.

I missed her 1st 3 steps today because I was leaving out the door to go to the grocery store without Aria. I always take Aria to the grocery store with me bc she loves to go, and she has so much fun in the cart. This time I left her at home bc she was playing with Ahna and Papa. Well, as soon as I walk out the door, and get in the car, she starts walking. Matthew comes outside and starts waving at me to come back inside. Figures... the one time I leave her, she starts to walk! Silly baby! Once I got home from the store, she walked across the carpet all the way to me! She did it again right aftwards, and then started crawling again.

Crawling & Whistling

I meant to post this in March. This video is from the 1st day that Aria crawled. Every once in awhile, she starts to whistle, and we caught her doing that in this video. :-)

Uh oh... Stairs

Look what Aria discovered today (and check out the clown hair! :-)

New Walker ;-)

Aria has been playing with her "new" walker all day today. Then she'll empty the contents of the diaper bag that she reaches into in the video... fun times! ;-)

Elephant!

I had to post this right away to tell you all that Aria just did her first animal sound! She has a Noah's ark toy, and you press the animal and it does the animal sound. She pressed the elephant, and copied the sound (and the note!). She did it lots of times in a row. I tried to get it on video, but as soon as the video was pointed at her, she was no longer interested in Elephants, but only in getting the camera from me... BABY!

We're watching Veggie Tales silly songs, and I am wondering why on Earth they're singing about wanting a plate, a fork and a bunny?? Hmmm....

Refreshing!

Water is soooo refreshing! (see, Uncle Chris, she really does do it!)

Singing

Today we had a fun day! Gramma Ginny, Daddy, Aria and Mama went to the Fort Worth art fair. It was very crowded and I wish we could've seen more and lingered in some of the booths longer. Aria just loved looking at all the people. She made lots of people smile today!

Then, we went to Church. Aria joined in with the singing today. She saw everyone around her was singing, so she decided to sing, too. She just might be the next American Idol ;-) ha ha! She was really singing loudly, too. She cracked us all up. She had a very serious look on her face when she sang.

Aria has become a lot more social this week. We were in the lobby at Church and we started talking to a woman, and Aria put her arms out for her to hold her!? She did it again when we were talking to another person. I guess she's over her separation anxiety!

Aria and Gramma hung out in the back seat on the way home. I think Aria laughed more on the way home than she did all week. She sure loves her Gramma!

Later in the evening, our friends Molly & Jeff, and our brother Chris, came over to watch a movie. Molly was dribbling a ball on the floor next to Aria, and Aria started to move her hands in the air as though she was dribbling a ball. She becomes more of a parrot every day!

In a couple of weeks Ahna and Papa are coming to visit. Aria can't wait to see them and show them all the new things she's doing!! Daddy and me are looking forward to their visit, too!

My little parrot

Aria is a little copy cat. She surprised cousin Jim in Phoenix when he made a popping sound with his mouth, and Aria tried to do it right back. She has gotten to be more and more of a little parrot every day. She copies me all day.

She has a little lamb that was made by my Gramma Giliberto that Aria got for Easter. I thought it was a poodle, but it ends up it is a lamb. I call it her Loodle. Today when I said the word Loodle, I'd lift my eyebrow as I said it. Then Aria started to lift her eyebrows way up and said something that resembled Loodle.

When we were sitting on the carpet yesterday, I rolled the ball over to her. She took the ball in her hand, and rolled it back to me! I couldn't believe it! We've played "catch" several times since then. Her daddy can't believe that I taught her to play catch. Next thing, we'll see Matthew teaching her to play the violin ;-)

She started clapping last week! I wondered when she would start clapping. Now she'll clap whenever I do, or whenever she hears clapping. I was snapping my fingers and she tried that, too. It didn't quite work, but she tried!

This has nothing to do with being a parrot... but today at the store she opened her mouth as wide as she could in a big smile for everyone she saw. She was cracking me up! I don't know why she was doing that. It's not unusual that she would smile, just not the big huge open mouth smile. Funny baby!

Poor baby has another ear infection, though ;-( It is her 3rd in 3 months. She didn't seem sick at all, but felt hot. I took her temp and sure enough, she had a fever. I took her in, and one ear is infected. As the doctor was talking, Aria looked at her very intently with her chin down, and her eyes staring right at her, and then started to shake her head "no". The doctor thought that was pretty funny.

Speaking of which... just today she started to nod her head "yes"!! Finally!! Only now I can't stage questions bc I now do not know if the answer will be yes or no... oh well.

I just love her so much! I thank God every day for her!!

Milk or Hi Mama??

I video taped Aria looking up through the clear plastic on the stroller umbrella. She is either waving to me or saying she is hungry for milk in sign language. I can't tell the difference anymore! She kept doing it, though, so I'm thinking she is saying hi. I was running while taking this video, so I just caught her doing it once ;-) I was surprised I even got that ;-)

a couple more things...

I forgot to mention a couple of other cute Aria "tricks" ;-)

When you press or pull the crayons on her favorite chair toy (you can see her next to it below in some of the videos) it plays "la la la la la la la" in an arpeggio (like a singer warming up). Aria says la la la la la along with it.

When we are reading books, Aria loves to turn the page. She used to try to turn the page right away or during when I was reading. So,when it was the right time to turn the page, I would say "turn the page" and then I'd turn the page. Now when I say "turn the page" she turns the page! I was surprised the 1st time she did it when I said it.

Aria Updates

I haven’t written a whole lot about what Aria is actually doing these days. There is so much, it’s really hard to get it all written down. She is changing and growing by the millisecond!

She tries to repeat words a lot. If you say something, she’ll “say” it back. It’ll be the same amount of syllables and have some similar sounds in it. When you say something in a really high voice, she’ll try to say it in a really high voice. It’s very cute! She was watching her Magiq dvd, and there is a Peek a Boo part. When they’d say Peek a Boo, she’d yell it back in a high voice. It sounds like this: pee a oo (said like Peek a Boo without a clear B) so that is why I put “says” in parenthesis.

I don’t remember why Aria did it, but she lifted both arms in the air. I think she was copying someone. Anyway, when she did it, my mom said Hallelujah and lifted both arms in the air. Aria thought this was hilarious. So, my mom did it again, and each time Aria would lift her arms in the air. Now, if you say Hallelujah, she lifts her arms into the air (1 if not both) and “says” Hallelujah. She caught onto that one fast. I didn’t think she’d remember it.

When she is in her carseat, she entertains herself in the mirror that she has in front of her. She’ll lift up her arms into the air and squeal and laugh. She laughs and chuckles for much of the trip. It cracks me up!

She crawls ALL over the house and gets into trouble. She can stand for as long as she wants to. She hasn’t taken anymore steps after the one day where she took 5 steps. She has to wait until we get a big carpet to start walking!!

She’s done this for awhile, but it’s funny when she does it. She shakes her head like she’s saying NO. I think I mentioned below how David (our friend in AZ) took her around the Disney store asking “do you like this toy?” and she’d shake her head NO to every toy. But she’d only shake her head after the question was asked. I like to sit with her and ask all sorts of questions… like this: is there anyone prettier than mom? Shakes her head no… is there anyone smarter than mom? Shakes her head no… is there a better mommy out there than mom? Shakes her head no… it really builds my self esteem. Ha ha ha!

She waves goodbye and hello. She’s done this intermittently for a long time, but she does it more consistently and more clearly now. She just started to wave by moving her hand from the wrist. When the part is on her video where they are waving, she sometimes wave like normal, and sometimes does a motion that looks just like sign language for “milk”.

Her hair gets curlier by the day. I cannot wait till she has a full head of curls! It’s so far only curly on the sides and is starting to grow in curly in the back, too. The top is yet to be determine ;-) not enough up there. Poor baby!

Sleep… she is sleeping SO much better. She sleeps all night now, and gets up (usually) after 8 am. She takes really good, long naps during the day, which makes working from home very easy. Her naps during the day are usually over 2 hours each.

Thanks for reading everyone! Aria sends everyone a big slobbery smooch!

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.