Aria and the Harmonica

Aria has taken up a new instrument... the harmonica ;-) So move over, Blues Brothers, here comes Aria!

Grampa is a...

Can you believe how big she has gotten?? She looks like she is almost too big for the baby swing here. She's going to be 2 next month. Unbelievable to me!

I have a couple of funny Aria stories (or I think so, anyway ;-)

Aria was sitting on the potty and so she got to play with stickers with while she sat there. She stuck the stickers all down her leg. After she "tried" to go potty, it was naptime. She didn't want me to take the stickers off her leg, so she went to bed with them on. After her nap, she was thrilled to see they were all still there... until she bent her knee. She cried out and asked me to take all the stickers off, so she could bend her knee. I went to take one off, and realized that over the 2.5 hrs she napped, the stickers had really stuck to her skin... oh no! I was afraid to take one off bc it would hurt. I pulled it off really fast - like a bandaide, and Aria laughed HARD. Each sticker I ripped off, she laughed harder and harder. It had to have hurt at least a little each time - but she thought it was hysterical... funny girl!

Today, we were talking about boys and girls. I asked her "is Aria a boy or girl?" she said "girl". I asked her if Chanson was a boy or girl, and she said boy. Is Zig a girl or boy? Boy. Good job Aria! Is Mama a boy or girl.... she says boy. Nope, Mamas are always girls, and Dads are always boys. Is Daddy a boy or girl? Boy. Is Mina a girl or boy?... she says boy. Nope, she is a girl. You get the point ;-) we went through SEVeral people. So next, I went through everyone again, but, I phrased it like this; "Mama is a .... (pause)" and let Aria fill in the blank and say "girl". "Daddy is a ....?" Aria says boy. "Mina is a....?" Aria says girl. Next I said "Grampa is a...." and Aria said...

PENGUIN!

Haha - apparently Grampa is neither a boy or girl, but a penguin.

Sweet Chanson

Don't I look like my Great Grampa H? I'll post a pic of G-Gpa H in case you don't know who he is. I am very proud to look like one of the most amazing people in all the world!

The older he gets, the more he looks like GGpa H.

Chanson is doing so well! He is just such a sweet baby. Aria even calls him that "awww sweet baby!" ;-) She still loves her brother all the time. She's never once shown a bit of jealousy or been anything but sweet to him (maybe a little rough, but still sweet ;-). I just love that! I hope they are best buds always

He is sleeping really well. He went through a get up every 3 hr phase, but for the last week (or more?) has slept until 6 am every day. He will get up within 5 mins of 6 am every day. How does he know it's 6?? He's like an alarm clock. I started giving him a paci when he'd wake up every 3 hrs, and if he took it without fussing, I knew he was not hungry. Sure enough, he took it, and within 3 days didn't get up anymore (just the the baby whisperer promised ;-) did I tell you how much I love her??) He doesn't use a paci at all to go to sleep at night, and now, not even during the night. He does use it to go to sleep during the day, though.

He is getting big - fast! The scale at our house says a little over 12 lbs, but we'll see what the baby scale says at his 2 month appt next week. We measured him yesterday, and he is 23 inches. I put him in an outfit today that I thought looked huge... and it fits very nicely!

He is smiling AND laughing. He started laughing on 5/16/09. He smiles and laughs at foreheads. It is really interesting, but true. He so far has only smiled and laughed while looking at our foreheads (and a few times while looking at himself in a mirror... probably looking at his own forehead ;-)Uncle Chris says he would like his large forehead. I disagree, Uncle Chris, you don't have a big forehead... but anyway... he did smile a lot for Uncle Chris yesterday. Uncle Chris is a big fav around here!

He also loves ceiling fans. Is there a baby out there that doesn't like ceiling fans? Aria was mesmerized with them, as well. Another love is the TV... so I never let him sit in front of it - ever. I don't need him addicted to TV at 8 weeks old ;-)

I know I told you his hair is red, but, it is fire engine red! I need to get a pic that shows that. It's only red around the back of his head, and is growing in light blonde on top. I think he will end up blonde. His eyes have light green coming from the pupils outward. I am hoping he has green eyes like mine ;-) Aria has the beautiful brown eyes I prayed for, and now I hope Chanson gets green. I'll settle for a brown eyed boy, though - brown eyes ARE my fav! But, can my children have ONE thing that looks like me??? ;-)

OK I can't resist telling you one cute Aria-ism ;-) She called Zig (our dog), Pup-Dude. :-)

A few fun things

Daddy has Aria trained right! ;-)
Fun family time

Daddy & Son

Tuckered out!

I've been meaning to update you all on the kiddos, but I have been really tired... Chanson has decided not to sleep like the lil angel that he is. I am not sure why, but, it happened with Aria, too. At about 6 weeks (exactly 6 weeks with Aria) they start getting up every 3 hrs maximum. Why oh why?? Baby whisperer says it's bc they need more calories during the day, so I'm trying to feed him more all day. Baby whisperer also says that if you don't feed them more during the day, and they continue to get up every 3 hrs to eat, they will just get used to that, and keep it up (Aria did...) I'll let you know how the more calories during the day thing works out...

Chanson is doing really well, otherwise. He is smiling now, on purpose. The 1st real smile that I saw was on May 13th, which is my Gramma's birthday, so that made me really happy. He smiled at Aria a few times today, and even she exclaimed each time "oh Chason smiled!"

I gave him a bottle on May 2nd, and he took it really well. I was happy about that for sure! Actually, I may have already mentioned that (baby brain...) I have been trying to give him a bottle a day so he continues to take it well.

A few cute Aria stories...

Today she was watching a cartoon that was about how not to get a cold. I think it was Sid the Science kid? Anyway, the kid's mom had a cold. Aria came up to me with a concerned look on her face and felt one cheek, then the other, and said "mama cold?" and then blew on my face. Not sure why the blowing on my face (maybe she thinks you blow on something to cool it off as well as to make it warmer?) I love how she makes me look at things through a child's eyes. Of course to her, when she hears mommy has a cold, she thinks mama is cold, literally.

Aria is really using her imagination a LOT these days. She pretends to pick something up off the ground and hands whatever it is to me. Then I ask what it is, and it will be anything from cookies, to a bird, to a puppy, to a birthday cake, to "more toys". She will bring me a bag, and say "surprise!" and I ask what is inside, and she will tell me. Today, she handed me a big candle, and said "happy birthday, mama!" and wanted me to blow out the candles on the "cake". She looks at the clouds and tells me what she sees. She makes up stories about the birds in the back yard about where they are flying to.

One of her favorite imagination games is one I've mentioned - going on a trip. Recently as she was playing "going on a trip" she went to find her purse (can't leave home without it! ;-) she always grabs a bag of some sort when she goes on her trips) and came back and told me she was going on a trip to see Uncle Chris. Then she said "Love Uncle Chris". She loves her Uncle Chris!

Speaking of loving... when she REALLY likes something, and I ask her if she likes it, she will respond with I LOVE it. I asked if she liked cake, and she said I LOVE cake. Tonight at dinner, I asked if she liked fish, and she said she LOVED fish (which she did! New favorite food - tilapia!)

She also loves her brother. A LOT! She just cannot get enough of him. She hugs him and says "love him" or calls him her friend. I love that ;-) I also love when she calls me her friend as she hugs me. That really warms my heart each time.

The other day, Aria woke up yelling "somebody! Cake! Pizza! Somebody!.... MiaJenn!" I thought that was funny, and shows that she is my daughter. Cake, to me, is a perfect breakfast!

Aria loves airplanes and motorcycle bikes. Whenever she hears or sees either one, she brightens up and says "airplane!" or "motorcycle bike!" and points at whichever it is (or asks to go outside to see it if she just hears it).

We started working on forward and backward walk overs with Aria ;-) On the big work out ball, she bends backwards on it, and we roll it as she puts her hands on the floor, and then we help her over. She thinks this is a lot of fun!

Ring around the rosy is the MOST fun though. That is her favorite game, I think!

Oh, and she calls gingerbread cookies "spiderman oakies". This cracks me up!

Getting bigger

I'll write an update on my babies later, but wanted to share a cute bath pic with you for now ;-)

Here is a video of Chanson doing his thing... ;-)

BFF

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I have a hard time picking which pictures to upload... so I just upload them all ;-) Mia wanted to sit on Aria's lap (or was it the other way around?) These 2 are sooooo cute together!

Ahna & Papa

We had SUCH a fun week with Ahna and Papa! Chanson got to meet them for the 1st time, and Aria couldn't get enough of them. They were all playing within minutes of them walking into the door. Aria woke up the 1st morning they were there, calling "Ahna! Ahna!". Matthew and I wondered if she was saying Ahna or Mama? Then we heard her over the monitor, again, clearly saying "Ahna! Papa!"

Aria loved playing puzzles and computer games with Papa. She loved reading books and hula dancing with Ahna. She got a full week of just playing and being silly. What a lucky girl! Chanson got as much cuddling time as any baby could wish for. He loved all the loving and snuggling. And... Mama not only had fun hanging out and spending time with them, but enjoying lots of help. Who knew how much one could enjoy a shower with no kiddos in the room or making breakfast with BOTH hands! I think I changed half the number of diapers, too. Mama Mia is having withdrawal this week!

Aria was very sad at the end of the week (Mommy and Daddy and Chanson were, too ;-( ) to say goodbye. We keep wondering how the week went by soooo fast. Aria keeps asking where they are.

Here is a video of Ahna & Aria playing.

Here is a video with a message for Ahna & Papa

Happy 1 month birthday, Chanson

Above are a few pics from Easter (4/12) that I forgot to post. Aria had so much fun dying Easter eggs, and I think Chanson looks just sooo handsome in his Easter outfit ;-) ... and one of Aria that I just love ;-)

I cannot believe it's been a month since Chanson was born! WOW time is flying!

Chanson is doing great! As of Monday, April 27th, he weighed 9 lbs 9 oz and about 22 inches (we took the length measurement, so not sure how accurate that is ;-). He's a growing boy! He has baby eczema, just like Aria had... but it's clearing up from the cream they gave us. He is still sleeping great, and just is a calm, angel baby. He likes tummy time, and does well with holding up his head. I need to take a pic so you can see ;-) He can now fit into his 0-3 month clothes, but can still get into some of his bigger NB stuff, as well. He wears a size 1 diaper, but, we can still get the NB size on him. They're small, but we have some left and want to use them. He smiles a LOT in his sleep, and has smiled quite a bit awake, too. He smiled at Grampa today ;-) As he gets chubbier, his dimple gets more pronounced. You know I'm a sucker for dimples! I don't think I've ever mentioned, but his hair is red! I wonder if it will stay that way or turn blonde. My mom has auburn hair, and her dad had auburn hair, so we'll see. I really think his eyes will be green like mine. I can see green in them when I look at them from the side.

Aria is still loving her little brother! She is still kissing and hugging him every chance she gets.

I keep meaning to tell you all an Aria story, and keep forgetting (or maybe I've already told you and should look back at posts... I have SERIOUS baby brain these days!). When we drive in Matt's truck, it's really bumpy. When I was pregnant, the bumps would make me wince every time there was a big (or even semi-big) one. Speed bumps were the worst! So, one day (I was probably 8 months preggo), as we went over a bump, Aria got a very concerned look on her face and said "ohhhh" and then she patted me on the arm and said "Mama, you OK? Belly hurt?" I couldn't believe that she could tell by my reaction to bumps that it hurt... and that it hurt my belly. I reassured her that Yes, I was OK, and thank you for asking. Every time we'd run over a bump she would ask "Mama, you OK?" and pat my arm. She started asking everyone else in the car if they were OK, too. She still does this, even though I'm not pregnant anymore. I thought it was sweet that she was so sensitive to me!

Aria is now doing better at filling in the small words in sentences so she is using more complete sentences now. So, where she used to say "paper broken half" she now says "The paper is broken in half" or "the paper broken in half" (sometimes she gets them all, sometimes not).

There are a few things she says that crack me up every time. She does a game where she pretends to be scared of Ziggy... and she screams, runs up to me, and says "Mama ! Ziggy get me! (pause) Long time!" She says the "long time" part really fast. I have NO idea what this means, or where it is coming from, but she says it allll the time. She also calls Cookies "oak-ies". She has been saying AWESOME (with big emphasis) a lot lately.

Hmmm what else? She is completely in love with our friend, Chris (Miajenn's daddy/hubby... MiaJenn is the joint name that Aria made up for Mia (her friend) and Jenn (Mia's Mama). Whenver I tell Aria that we are going to see Miajenn, she gets excited ... and then says "and Chris, too!?!" Matthew and I were going through the letters with her the other day, and saying B sounds like buh, buh, like Bubbles, and Bee and Big and Bug. M sounds like mmmmm like Milk, and Mama, and Mia, and Mooo and Aria said "and Chris, too??" Anything that includes Mia must also include Chris, right?

The other day, I cleaned out Aria's crib to wash her blankets and boppy. As I was putting her comforters back into her crib (I stack them all up so it's soft where she lays) she kept asking me to stop. She didn't want the comforters back in her crib? Ok... Then I put her boppy in there, and she wanted me to stop... OK, interesting. THEN I started to put her stuffed animals and dolls back in, and she didn't want them in there, either. I then put Aria in the crib, and started handing her her favorite animals. She'd throw them out of the crib. I thought to myself "great! now what is she going to play with as she falls asleep, and when she wakes up?" She would play with her animals every day before falling asleep at nap and night. I finally gave up, and left, thinking she'd call me wanting her animals back in there. Well, I was listening to her on the baby monitor, and she was playing - as usual. I thought WHAT is she playing with?? Her crib is empty! She ended up playing for TWO HOURS that night. I went in there at one point bc I started to think she was actually talking to someone... but of course no one was there. She was just laying in her crib... talking away. This was probably 5 days ago, and each time she goes to sleep and wakes up, she plays... with nothing in her crib. I thought it was interesting... she must have a great imagination!

I almost forgot to mention.... she can finally do a sommersault all by herself ;-)

Did I tell you how much I love my babies?????

Pictures from Mia

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Fiddling around

Good times!

I think the last 2 weeks have been the best 2 weeks yet! Aria loves her baby brother, I feel great, Matthew has been wonderful, and baby Chanson is the most calm (sleepy ;-) and sweet baby I could ever imagine.

Chanson had his 2 week appointment, and he is doing so well! He weighs 7 lbs 15 ozs (as of April 13th) and is 20.5 inches long. That is 25% for weight, and 50% for height. This is how he's lost and gained:

Monday 03/30/09 - birth day! 7 lbs 10 oz

Wednesday 4/1/9 - 7 lbs 3 oz

Thursday 4/2/9 - 6 lbs 12 oz

Saturday 4/4/9 - 6 lbs 15 oz

Thursday 4/9/9 - 7 lbs 10 oz

Monday 4/13/9 - 7 lbs 15 oz

So, in 1 week he gained almost a pound! Now if only I could lose weight at the same rate ;)

I think he will be built like his daddy. He looks just like his daddy, too, which means that Chanson also looks a lot like Aria.

Chanson stays awake about 4 hrs a day (about 1 hr - 1.5 hrs at a time). We are doing the Baby Whisperer method, which is called EASY (Eat, Activity, Sleep, and You time - in that order). That way it's not a strict schedule, but a routine. It also helps so that he doesn't rely on nursing to fall asleep, which is what happened with Aria. Chanson does great with this routine, although it's hard to wake him up sometimes. He sleeps SO well at night. Most nights I have to wake him up to feed him. He very rarely cries, even to eat. He just starts making noise. We feel extremely blessed to have such a sweet baby!

Some things I love about Chanson are his sweet baby noises. He coos a lot, and it just sounds so cute. The first few days of his life, he sounded like a tea kettle once the water is boiling. He doesn't do that anymore, but it was funny when he did.

On Daddy's birthday, Chanson laughed in his sleep. It was really funny! He hasn't laughed awake yet, though. He has smiled while awake (on 4/11/09 at Church for the 1st time).

Aria just loves her baby brother, and wants to hold him and kiss him all the time. She wants him around her all the time. They sit on the couch together (with me ;-) and watch Sesame Street together. I love that! Last night Aria sat on my lap, and Chanson sat on hers. I am just loving this time!

So, Aria is just a chatterbox these days! She talks like crazy and repeats like crazy, too. She fills in the words as I'm reading her books at night, so I started leaving out several words, to see if she would fill them in. Sure enough, she did. We were doing Hey Diddle Diddle, and when we got to the last page, I said "and the..." hoping she'd say "dish", but she said "dish ran away with the spoon".

A few other funny Aria-isms ;-)

When she does vibrato when she sings, she shakes her head really fast to make her voice "shake".

She gets really likes when everyone is together. She gets really excited and says "everybody all together!" She does this when we're together as a family, or when we have several friends all together, etc. She says it a lot - it's cute.

She loves to play ring around the rosey. She calls it Pocket Full of Posey. She only wants to play it in the office, though.

Aria keeps calling me "honey" and she calls Matthew and Chanson "sweetie". This cracks me up!

She plays a game that she made up with Mina. She gets something that resembles (to her) a suitcase and says "see ya! bye! going on a trip" and walks away. Then she comes back and says "I'm back!" She thinks this is a LOT of fun ;-) and keeps doing it over and over.

I always forget to turn off the humidifier in her room, and Matthew never does (after nap or in the am when she wakes up). Last week when I got her out of her crib, and as we were about to go down the stairs she stopped and said "oh I forgot!" and walked back into her room and shut off the humidifier. Too funny - I didn't even know she paid attention to either of us doing that, or that she'd know how to shut it off.

She and daddy have LOTS of games they play. One is called "leggies" and that is where she pumps her legs in the swing. Another is called "swing low" and she says that in a really low voice like she is singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot (which is what Daddy does during the game). He swings her back and forth over the bed, and then throws her onto the bed. She loves it! She and Daddy have a lot of fun!

She likes to pretend to take our picture. She takes Matthew's mp3 player (which she thinks is a camera) and points it at us (or the actual camera if she gets a hold of it) and says "smile!" but how she says it is "sa-MILE".

Matthew was reading her books before bed the other day, and they were reading her Bible. Matthew went over with Aria several things that she loves, and told her that God made them all. He then asked "do you know who God is" and she said "yes! Mama!" .... smart girl! haha! OK, in my defense, I never taught her that! ;-)

She likes to come up to me and say "nice to see you!" or "nice to see you, too!" I guess this is part of the going on a trip game that she plays with Mina.

I noticed awhile ago that Aria said words singular when there was 1 and plural when there was more than 1. Matthew tested it the other day (he didn't believe me ;-) and pointed at a duck and asked what it was. She said "a duck". He pointed at another, and asked again, and she said "a duck". Then he pointed at the shower curtain and said what is that? She said Ducks. She even says 1 foot and 2 feet.

I can't believe she is going to be TWO in 3 months (a little less than 3 months!!) Unbelievable. I still see her as my baby, so when she is doing all this talking and little girl stuff, I am always caught off guard.

We're going to be doing some serious potty training starting in a few weeks. Wish us luck!

I'll post some more pics later today!

Pictures from Mia

22 pictures
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Welcome to our family, Chanson!

Welcome to our family, sweet boy! We are so happy to announce the arrival of Chanson Matthew on March 30th at 8:57 pm. He weighed 7 lbs 10 ozs and was (is) 20.25 inches long.
To see more pics, go to this link:

http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=3e79d6ce-7219-4dfb-8329-29724acca2f3

Once there, use the password 53151262564863 to view the pics. If the link does not work, please go to http://www.our365.com/ and use the same password. You can search for me by name, or they told me that the username is Hei with the password above...

The delivery was really great! It went fast - 1 hr and 40 mins from the time they broke my water.

Aria got to meet Chanson the day after he was born. She was so excited to see Mama holding a tiny baby. I was thinking she might be a little jealous, so when she got there, I was going to hold her, and let someone else hold Chanson while we spent some time together. Aria wanted me to hold the baby, and only me. She also got to hold him, and kiss him. I don't think she's stopped kissing him since ;-) She hasn't been a bit jealous, and has just been the best helper. She is a great big sister!! She even told Chanson she loves him today. Actually... I am not sure if she said "love you" meaning "I love you" or if she meant "he loves me" (she says "help you" and means "help me" for instance, so she could have meant "love me").

She saw me nurse Chanson for the first time, and she looked at me with her eyebrows furrowed, and said "baby eats boobies??" She says that every time I feed him now... instead of a question now, it's a statement.

One moment I am very upset I missed getting on video was Aria's reaction to seeing Chanson in the car when we got home. Her reaction was priceless! She was just so excited that the baby came home to stay with us! She just loves her brother.

A couple of things Aria said the last 2 weeks that I think are cute ;-) She says "Nummy in my tummy" when she likes whatever she is eating. When Winston was bothering her at her table, she told him "hit the road, Winston".

I think the best story, though, is what she said to Matthew last week. Aria was standing too close to the TV, so Matthew was telling her to back up. She was ignoring him, so he threw a stuffed animal at her (OK so we're not the best role models sometimes.... he threw it gently, anyway). She turned around with a very annoyed look on her face, but then her expression changed to a smile, and she said "Nice throw, Daddy!".

Aria has been getting time outs lately... problem is, she gets excited when she "gets" to go into time out. Ummm.... I am not sure what to make of this.

I'll be changing the name of my blog soon, so it will be a name that covers Chanson and Aria. I'll keep you posted!

I've got a lot more to say, but will have to update you all more later ;-)

Baby update

I had a doc appt today, and the baby is now (by ultrasound prediction...) 7 lbs 8 ozs. Aria was 7 lbs 13 oz at 40.5 weeks and I'm just about 38 weeks now, so this baby will be a little bigger than Aria (unless I go into labor this week ;-), but still a good size! YAY!

Aria was good as gold during the ultrasound. She really liked to watch the screen and see the baby (she was probably thinking... huh?? You call THAT a baby??) She also had goldfish (crackers) to eat ;-)

I am still 3 cms, and the doc said he is surprised I haven't gone into labor yet. That puts me even more on guard... every day wondering if this is the day! But we are pretty ready, besides getting the baby room done ;-)

They are so sweet to Aria at the doctor. They really cater to her, and I just think it is so considerate of them. They never act like she is a nuisance, but instead, they play with her (all the nurses and the doctor) and involve her in the whole process. When we went to leave today, Aria did her scowl face (which she does often ;-) and pointed to the ground and said "stay HERE!" bc she didn't want to leave. One of the nurses noticed that Aria was pulling at her ear, and went to get the doc (after he'd already left the room) to see if he could check out her ear. He came back and was concerned, and took a look. Seriously, how sweet is that?? I just love them!

I forgot to mention another little Aria story yesterday... lately when she breaks something in half, or rips a paper in half, or sees something that is broken in half she says "in half". She has been doing this a lot over the last week. I think she learned about that on Sesame Street ;-)

If you haven't voted on the baby pool, click on the below and enter your guess ;-)

Happy St. Patty's day

Happy St. Patty's day! Today we had green eggs and green french toast for breakfast. Aria didn't notice it was any different than usual, and Matthew thought it looked gross... party poopers. But Aria wore a pretty green dress that was my dress when I was a baby ;-)

A few funny things from this week...

The TV was on, I'm not sure what was on, but there was a scene at Starbucks... Aria saw them walk into Starbucks, and saw someone in the uniform, and runs up to Matthew and said very excitedly (actually, it was more a question how she said it, like she wanted some) "Pumpkin loaf? Pumpkin loaf?" That is what she gets when we go to Starbucks.... hmmm... I don't spend THAT much time there!

Aria can now count to 14. She doesn't do it often, but she's done it a few times, so I know she can. She doesn't recognize the number 11, 12, 13, 14 when she sees them, but does know 1-10 by site. Today we were going over the numbers, and she kept telling me that the number I'd point to was 14. She thought it was funny - so then I'd say "noooo... what number is it?" and she'd say the right one.

She used to just say "help" when she wanted help, but now she says "help you" when she wants help. When she'd ask for help, I'd ask her "do you want me to help you?" so, now she thinks it's help you. I'm trying to get her to say help me....

When she sneezes, she says "bless you" to herself ;-)

She has started saying "oh goodness" this week. It's so funny when she does it, bc of the expression that comes with it, and she says it over and over, like a little old lady.

She has been hugging and kissing my belly a lot lately. She comes up to me and says "hug the belly?" One of the times she was hugging my belly, she said "awwww baby kitty". Umm... sorry to disappoint you, baby ;-/

Well, she has finally eaten a banana. I had a banana and said to her "are you a monkey? Monkeys eat bananas" and she nodded and was very excited... and ended up eating the whole thing! She has refused bananas since birth, so this is a big development ;-)

Her weight was stuck at 23.5 lbs since she was 14 months or so up until this last month... and I weighed her yesterday and she is now 26 lbs!

Cuddling and more ;-)

Painting with Aria's BFF, Mia. I love TX weather when we can paint outside in February!

Cuddling on the couch with her BIG bear.

Aria still loves to be outside and swing!!!


Aria has been asking me to cuddle on the couch the last few days. She is not a big cuddler, so I was surprised at her request ;-) She says "mama, cuddle couch?" So, we go to the couch, and she hugs me REALLY tight around the neck and just cuddles with me. These are the times when I wish I could just freeze time! I feel like that often, though. She is such a joy!! I think now is the best age EVER. I know... I keep saying that ;-)




She is just getting more and more observant. She comments on the birds, on airplanes in the sky, clouds, bugs, trees, flowers. She is talking so much, and is able to tell me so much more of what she is thinking. We were outside and a ladybug landed on her! It was so much fun playing with the ladybug with her. Then the ladybug flew away, back to see her mama ;-) Yesterday we were reading a book, and there was a picture of a bird, and she looked at me and said "bird fly away" and waved her hand in the air, like the bird flew away.




This girl loves Norah Jones. I will try to get her on video singing along. She tries to sing all the words to the songs, and it is funny how much she can actually fill in. She likes track 1 and 5, and wants me to repeat those over and over again (sorry I never know song titles! She calls them both "come" bc one song says "don't know why I didn't come" over and over, and the other repeats "come away with me").







She also started doing this thing where she wants me to get one of her baby towels (the ones where there is a little hood on them) and put the hood on her head, and wrap the towel around her, and then hold her like a baby. Then she wants to look in the mirror at me rocking her like a baby, and then she wants to go on the couch and she wants me to hold her like a baby and rock her... not sure why? I just go with what she tells me! Funny baby!







What is with this... she keeps calling me MOM? That is way too grown up!

She is still categorizing EVERYTHING as mama, daddy, and baby. She makes her voice babylike and says awwwwww the baby! And if she can hold whatever she is calling the baby, she holds it in her hand and rocks it and sings rockabye baby.

I'm editing to add a story. We were at Target and Aria was in the cart, and she put her head all the way to the side, and said "head stuck" and kept her head tilted all the way to her shoulder. I thought she was just being silly, and that was it. Then she took her hand and pushed her head back to upright (but made it look difficult, like her head was really stuck) and sighed, and said "better". Since that time, she has done this several times. I have NO idea where she got this from, but it cracks me up every time!




Baby # 2 update.... Aria can't decide if the baby is a boy or girl ;-) It's usually whatever I ask last. I am 3 cms dilated, which makes me wonder at all times... is this the day?? I'm aiming for March 14th (Einstein's birthday) or March 21st (even better... Bach's birthday!). How come April 2nd seems sooooooo far away????

Couple of cute things

Hello! I always tell myself I'm going to blog things, and then by the next day, I forget what they were! So, before I forget....

Sorry - Aria has been saying sorry a lot the last 2 days. I don't know why, but all of a sudden, she's apologizing every time she bumps into something, or steps in front of something, gets in the way of something etc. It's funny bc she just started doing it yesterday. She'll say it a bunch of times in a row, "oh, sorry sorry sorry!" This might be one of things that you have to see to appreciate ;-) Her mannerisms when she does it crack me up.

She has also been asking Zig to watch her do tricks. He'll be in his kennel sleeping, and she'll call him and call him to come and watch her do the trick. Or we'll be outside, and he'll be ignoring us, and Aria will call him over and over till he looks in our direction so that he can watch her do her trick. She loves Zig! She calls him Tzigane now. Of course, Zig just walks away.... She also keeps chasing him trying to hug and kiss him. He runs away, and she says "fast!" When she wants to hug something (anything) really close she says "come here come here come here" over and over.

Lately Aria has been classifying things as tiny or big. I don't know why? But she does it to everything. Food, dolls, shoes, whatever. For instance, she'll pick a sticker, and if it's small, she'll say "tiiiiiiiny sticker" and then she puts her first finger up to her forehead, and scruches up her shoulders. Or if she takes a big bite of food, she'll say "BIIIIIIIG bite" and she'll say it in a low loud voice, and put her first finger up in the air. Other things she points at and says BIIIIIG to are my belly... and my butt. Nice, baby.

She's getting more and more picky about what she wears. She wants to wear her "dancing dresses" alllll the time. Anyone who knew me as a kid will appreciate this ;-) I don't think I wore anything BUT dresses for the first 10 years of my life. ;-)

She really likes to watch violin lessons, and she has her play violin. The other day, she went into the room where I teach, and sat down next to the chair I sit on to teach, and said "mama, violin?" She wanted me to play for her! I keep telling you all about how she plays her play violin, but have not gotten it on video. She holds the violin and moves the bow really good. She was doing this one day, and I grabbed the video camera and gave it to Matthew to video her. Well, here is the video. She starts out playing the violin for a very short time, and then goes to ABCs. Now when she sees the camera pointed at her, she stops whatever she is doing and does her ABCs.... we will now get nothing on video EXCEPT her ABCs, which we tried in vein to get on video for 2 months!! BABY!! She must get this trait from her dad. hahaaaaaa!!

A couple of things about the video... you can't hear her say it, but after she puts the violin down and smiles, she says "abc's ?". That is why Matthew says "ok do your ABCs". Also, as you hear the music sounds as she's doing the ABCs... that is her pounding her foot on the violin... NICE!! (you can hear me in the background say "Baby! That is not what you do to a violin!"

FINALLY ABC's

Mia needed some extra sleep this morning ... SO Aria and I (Matthew) were working on ABC's and we FINALLY got the whole thing on video ... took a few seconds to get started, but once she got rolling ... NEAR PERFECT ;-)

Mia said it sounds like I am bragging with the above comment ... to clarify ... I AM ;-)

Baby Pool

Click on the link below to enter a guess in the baby pool for the new baby!! ;-)

I am due 4/2/9

PINK!

Two posts in one week! Wow ;-)

Well, I just wanted to let you know that Aria officially has a favorite color ;-) It's PINK! Again yesterday, she pointed out all the pink things at the store. Then, the night before last, I went to put socks on her before bed. I got out her favorite red Hello Kitty socks. She said NO and would pull her feet away. I asked her why she didn't want her favorite socks on? She said PINK socks. So, I found some pink socks, and she stuck out her feet for me to put them on. The night after, I automatically got out pink socks - but they were pink polka dots (big dots). She wouldn't put those on, either. Again she said PINK socks, so I found socks that were completely pink, and as soon as she saw that I had them, she draped her foot over the crib for me to get the socks on. Baby!!

Another thing I forgot to mention the other day is that Aria is always pointing out Mamas and Babies. She pairs up her stuffed animals, and she'll get out two of the same color (even if they're different animals - although usually they are the same) and the bigger one is the Mama and the other is the baby. She carries them around together. She does this with everything... even stickers. She was sitting on the potty playing with a sheet of heart stickers. The big red one was the daddy, the big pink one was the mommy, and all the smaller hearts were babies. Same thing with her flower stickers. When she points out the mama, she points at me next and says "mama, too!" (which means, "you're a mama, too") It's really sweet. She also likes to take whichever object is the baby and she hugs it, and rocks it, and sings rockabye baby. She is going to be such a good big sister to her new baby!!

Fun stuff ;-)

Well, Aria has had another successful potty experience ;-) She went on the potty at Gramma's house this week! YAY Aria ;-) She still tells us every time she is about to go #2, but most times it's too late by the time we run to the potty. I have 7.5 weeks to go before new baby is here - oh dear!

Aria is doing even better with colors. Today at the store, she was pointing out all the things that were pink. Yesterday, she was looking at people's shoes at Church and saying what color they were.

Singing - she loves to sing! We listen to Norah Jones in the car, and she fills in words and tries to do some melodies - it's very cute!

Numbers - she knows them all by site now! Yay! She surprised me with that the other day.

She still loves (loves!) her sparkly shoes. She has 3 colors now ;-) and she loves all of them. The last thing she said before going to sleep last night was something to her cat, Meow Meow, about her sparkly shoes. The conversations she has with Meow Meow in her crib are so cute and funny!!

She is doing even better at talking! She is saying soooo much these days! I really think that all the babbling has just turned clear, and we can understand most of what she is saying now, and that is why she is talking with so many sentences.

Oh, and there has been a change (according to Aria) to the spelling of her name. It is now A-R-T. I don't know why she is insisting that is how you spell Aria, bc she used to do it right.


Aria has a new table! She LOVES it! Daddy surprised her with it from Ikea the other day. It's perfect - she can sit and color, and do puzzles, and her memory game (match game). She likes to eat there, now, too.

New baby update ;-) OK so the energy I said I had - I take it back! I am so tired all the time it is crazy. I'm making up for the previous energy, I guess. I'm emotional, and have a bazillion braxton hicks contractions a day. Maybe that means I'll go earlier than 40 weeks. I was hoping for an April baby, though (I'm due 4/2). Here is a picture of the new baby on the LEFT and Aria on the RIGHT. Don't they look alike?? awww!!

Ok - here is a poll. We have 2 boy names that we're not 100% on. So, we are welcoming name suggestions!! The two we have picked so far are:

Cruz Matthew which means The Cross of Christ is Gift of God (I love this meaning!!!!)

or

Elijah Matthew which means The Lord is my God, Gift of God (still a good meaning, but doesn't flow like the other).

;-)

Doing well!

Aria had a great day today! We've been working on potty training. Last week, she started telling me when she had to go poo-poo, and either she would go right after she said it, or she would make it to the potty... but then wouldn't go! Then as soon as I put a diaper on, sure enough, she would go. Today when she told me she had to go, we ran to the potty, and she went in the potty! YAY! So, we're making some progress, I think ;-) She is now in cloth diapers, and I'm hoping that will make her feel when she is wet more than she can tell in regular diapers.

She all of a sudden is doing a lot better with her colors. We would read her books about the colors, and point out things and say their color, but whenever we'd ask her "what color is this?" she would always say "green". Our convo would go something like this:

Mama: Look Aria, this circle is red. What color is the circle?

Aria: Green

Mama: No, it's not green, it's red. What color is the circle?

Aria: Green

Hmm....

Or this was a convo between Aria and daddy:

Daddy - Aria, what color is this? (Points to yellow shoe)

Aria - Green

Daddy - no it's yellow

Aria - Yellow

Daddy - what color is this? (points to his white shirt - therefore points at his belly)

Aria - The baby!

So apparently everyone has a baby in their belly ;-) We got a good laugh out of that one.

But, today she pointed out (correctly ;-) pink, purple, and brown. Of course, it was without me asking (if I'd have asked, she would have said Green). This girl definitely has a mind of her own, that is for sure!

Aria has also made a big huge stride in the land of sleep. We used the Baby Whisperer books (I love the Baby Whisperer!!) to help Aria to be able to go to sleep on her own, in her crib (instead of me rocking her to sleep, and then setting her in her crib once she was in a deep sleep). It was a hard few days, but, she is able to go down in her crib by herself now. I can't express how happy I am about this!!

On the 3rd day of sleep training, she pointed to the door and said "Mama, go". I am shocked bc I'd spent the last, what seemed like forever, rocking her to sleep. Now she wanted me to go? I am happy with the request, though, trust me! I thought she didn't know what she was asking, so I left to show her what it meant for mama to go. She started to cry, so I peeked back in and said "you told me to go". She just looked up and said "bye" and waved at me. So, that night, she put herself to sleep, and there were no more tears. Happy days! She is sleeping a LOT better now, and we are all happy! We still have some nights where she wakes up in the middle of the night, but it's a lot easier to get her to go to sleep on her own, even then.

Aria is doing really good with sentences. She says things like "read kitty a book" and "the birds eat it" and "I don't want it". There are lots more, and they seem to be different every day (except "I don't want it"... that is a fav).

She has been asking about Ahna and Papa a lot lately. She was even asking my mom about them today. I think she wants to take a trip!

Speaking of Grandparents, did I already mention in a previous blog that Aria calls my mom, Mina? We are unsure why she chose this name, bc we have always referred to my mom as Gramma, but, it's officially Mina (rhymes with Tina).

Aria's top two eye teeth have finally popped through her gums ;-) I could see the gums stretching for weeks so I was very happy to see they came through!

Her favorite things these days....

She absolutely loves to spend time with her friends, Mia, Kali, Hannah, and Lauren. She also loves Mia's mom, Jenn. She has just consolidated their names, and calls for "Miajenn". Aria is learning to share, and not to grab toys from her friends ;-) She's doing a lot better these days. Mia is always good at sharing. When they are in the car together, Aria ends up with all the toys/snacks/etc. bc Mia hands them to her. They are really cute together!

When she wakes up in the morning, or after a nap, or when we get into the car - she asks for either Miajenn, Amy, Mina, Grampa, Daddy, Winston, or Edie. Every day she does this. When she wants to go to one of their houses, she stands by the back door (that goes to the car) and says Choo Chooo! This means she wants to go on a car ride ;-) choo choo means ride to her (she got this from Gramma and Grampa - they say Chooo chooo as they give her rides at their house).

Speaking of learning things from Gramma and Grandpa - Aria keeps doing things that I wonder where it comes from. Like saying "ready, set, GO!" I thought - where on earth did she learn that (not from me - I always say 1,2,3)? And she takes her animal's hands and waves at people and says "HI", as though the animal is saying it. Yep- these are games she plays with Gramma and Grampa.

She loves being silly! She cracks her little self up all the time (and me, too!) Today she thought it was just hilarious to put her fork down her shirt... I thought she took it out, but later found it all the way down her leg when she went to take a bath. Baby! She also likes to make funny faces, and make funny sounds. She's always doing something silly and saying "mama LOOK".

She loves her sparkly shoes! I had to go get some more sparkly shoes so that she would wear something other than her red, Dorothy shoes. Her current fav shoes are her silver sparkly shoes (thanks Auntie Jennifer!) She even wants to wear them to bed. So, now that I've gotten her to wear different colored shoes besides red, she wants to only wear her Hello Kitty socks... in red... underneath them. This girl is never going to match!

She loves to color! We got her an easel for Christmas, and she colors all the time. We trace her hands and trace her magnet letters. She likes me to help her draw hearts and flowers and stars. She was drawing on the shower door with her bath colors, and drew the letter A, and pointed to it and said "A". She had never done that before or since, so I think it just ended up her lines looked like an A, but, still... I was impressed ;-)

She still loves to swing, and slide down the slide. We've had some beautiful weather, and so we get outside as much as we can.

She loves the doggies! She gets very excited when Winston is here - and loves to chase Edie around at my parent's house.

Elmo and Hello Kitty are her two favorite characters, by far! She wants everything that she sees that has Hello Kitty on it. She loves cats, in general. Her favorite stuffed toy is still Meow Meow (who she sleeps with in her crib).

What else? She is doing better at counting, and has counted to 11 by herself a few times. Yesterday, she got to 13, but started at 8. Most times, though, she says 1,2,3, 2,3 2,3. But, she's getting there.

She has all of her letters down pat. She takes her W (either the bath one or the magnet one) and turns it one way and says "M" and turns it around and says "W". She is funny when she says L's, bc she sticks out her tongue and curls it. It's cute ;-) She looks like a little lizard.

Oh she loves to sing! She still sings Twinkle, Twinkle and ABCs, but now knows most of Rock-a-by-baby and Itsy Bitsy Spider. She tries to do the hand motions for Itsy Bitsy Spider, too.

An interesting thing that Aria does is name her books. She has a favorite page out of each of her favorite books, and she refers to the book by that page. One book she calls "broken" bc her favorite page is one where the little boy has broken a dish. Another she calls "bath" because her favorite page is Waldo Woo in the Washtub. She has also started to say what is coming next on some of the pages before I do. We read a LOT, though, so I think it's just all the repetition.

One thing I just have to get on video is how she plays her toy violin. It is so funny and cute! She likes to watch as I teach lessons. She lays on the ground, flat out, and looks up as my student and/or I play our violins. A real violin is definitely in her near future!

Well, to give you an update on the newest baby ;-) I had an ultrasound on Friday. I am 31 weeks, and the baby is 3 lbs 13 ozs. My belly is enormous, and so I thought 3 lbs 13 ozs sounded awfully small (but it isn't). I think it's a boy bc this pregnancy has been so incredibly different from my pregnancy with Aria. In the ultrasound, the new baby looked an awful lot like Aria. Once I get the pictures scanned, I will post them so you can all see. This baby is a mover - I mean, this baby is moving ALL the time!! I love it! Aria barely ever moved during the day (except for hiccups) when I was pregnant with her, so this is a completely new experience for me. I feel like the Alien bc my belly moves all around as the baby moves. I also have lots of energy, which has been so great. I was tired all the time when I was pregnant with Aria. My appetite is bigger this time, though, too.... not such a great thing! Oh well. My parents know the gender again - so they can get the room ready. The room will be Dr. Suess, and I can't tell you how excited I am to see the final result when we come home from the hospital!

Aria says she wants a brother AND a sister.

Well that is all for now! Thanks for reading and have a great day (week, month) ;-)

Christmas!

This whole Christmas season has been so much fun because Aria was experiencing everything for the 1st time. Last year she didn't pay much attention to the lights outside, or to what was going on... but this year, she has taken it all in. She loves to look at Christmas lights, especially. She says "pretty!" whenever we see Christmas lights on someone's house. She points at the stockings and says "stocks" ;-) She likes the snowman on Daddy's stocking. She picked out the biggest stocking for herself ;-) She loves our Christmas tree, and still says "prettttty" when she sees it every day. It will be sad to take it down. She says HO HO HO when we ask what Santa says. I have a little video I will have to upload. She would just say HO HO HO at miscellaneous times throughout the day, too. Silly girl ;-) must have been thinking about Santa ;-)

We had a fun Christmas! We had 2 Christmases - One with Gramma and Grampa (in the pink outfit) before Christmas, and one on Christmas day (in the red and white striped outfit). Aria had sooooo much fun opening presents! Here are some pictures from the two days.

Aria LOVES Elmo!

She liked her new Hello Kitty socks and wanted to put them on right away... even over her PJs

New bracelets and socks
Each present she had this face - sooooo excited!

She loved this new stocking from Grampa

End of the day ;-) I just love this picture ;-)

It's already January??

I can't believe how the time is flying! I will upload and post Christmas pics soon, and tell you all about Aria's fun Christmas. I don't think we'll ever take down the Christmas tree. Aria loves her Christmas tree and stockings!! She wakes up every day and looks at it and says "pretttttty".

Aria has been doing really great. She is getting better and better at the alphabet all the time. She can sing through the alphabet song now, and even tries to do the words at the end "now I know my abc's...." When she sees letters, she'll pretend like she's spelling it out and at the end of it says "Aria" ... she thinks everything spells Aria ;-) She knows all her letters really good now, and points them out in books or wherever she sees letters. She can also count pretty well to 10, but not as good as her letters.

She has also started making these faces at us... like when we don't understand something she is trying to tell us, she'll actually roll her eyes and make a sound (probably copying me... haha!) I always used to know what words she was saying (unless, of course she was babbling) until recently. She has started using words together in little sentences, and most times I know what she is saying... but sometimes I have NO idea what she is saying, and she repeats it over and over, and then gets frustrated and rolls her eyes, or shakes her head at me... as though she'd like to say DUH!

She is starting to get her canine teeth. We've had a great 2 full months break from teething. I hope these ones come in nicely! ;-)

At Church this week, she patted my belly and said "the baby". My heart just about melted.

Her personality is sure showing lately - she's been getting a bit of an attitude on one hand, and just gets more funny, on the other hand. She loves to play with her animals and baby dolls, and does lots of pretend play. She is getting really creative, and is so much fun to watch!

Potty training - she asks to use the potty several times a day... which constititues sitting on the potty and looking at magazines. She went poop on the potty once a week or so ago, but nothing since. At least she is interested.... although I think she just thinks it's fun book time. ;-) It would be so great to have her using the potty by the time the new baby is here, but, if not, that is OK too ;-)

Turkey & Alphabet

Aria is getting really good at the alphabet, and can recognize the letters and say their sounds. She can say lots of the letters as we sing the alphabet song, and she can say all (well, almost all... she only says her version of W sometimes, but usually skips to X) the letters' sounds when we go through the alphabet together (not singing). Here is a video of Aria playing with her letters. She is matching the letter to the flash card. We had all the letters out earlier today, and she was getting all the matches then, too. She has a cold right now, so at the end, when Gramma says she is going to wipe her nose, she runs away ;-)



She is also really good at her shapes. We did get her a puzzle, and she gets the right shape in the right spot every time. She knows circle, square, rectangle, triangle, hexagon, pentagon, and diamond.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day! We had a great week. We had our first 2008 Thanksgiving on Sunday with our friends (with the 4 musketeers themselves... Aria, Mia, Hannah, and Lauren! Why oh why don't I have a picture??) and then again on Thursday with friends and family. On Sunday, we gave her some Turkey to try, and she loved it. She has only had a few small bites of meat before, but she sure did dig into the turkey. No vegetarian baby here (if you didn't know, I am vegetarian). She wouldn't eat any of the sides, though. She doesn't like any of them, including PIE! (I am really wondering if we are really related! ;-) hehe)

Yesterday was VERY busy with all the cooking and preparing. Aria had fun helping, though. She loves to help me in the kitchen. She gets up on her step stool and helps me stir, and pour in the ingredients. She also likes to get into the bowls in the cabinets below.

She makes me laugh more and more every day. One funny thing is her reaction when she is excited (like Gramma or Grampa coming to the door or Yo Gabba Gabba comes on TV). She shrieks and puts her hands to her face, like an Elvis fan when Elvis would enter the room. It is really funny. When she is playing and gets excited, she talks (shrieks) in a REALLY high voice and waves her hands all around. I will get it on video one of these days!

She LOVES her stuffed animals, but one in particular that she loves most is Meow Meow. I love that she has a favorite toy, and that she named the toy herself. I never called her Meow Meow, Aria named her all by herself! She carries her around and asks for her all the time.

Wrestling with daddy is still an ALL time favorite thing to do. She has now learned to do somersaults. She can ALMOST get all the way over herself. She is funny - she tries to do them on the tile floor. I more her to the carpet, don't worry ;-)

I know I mention it all the time, but swinging is still an all time favorite thing to do. It's been beautiful out lately, and so we get to swing almost every day. She swings and watches Zig run all over the yard. She still loves her Ziggy.

She has been increasingly interested in shoes over the last month or more. She takes a pair of my heels out of my closet and tries to walk in them. She does pretty good, actually. She also likes me to walk around in them. Her favorite shoes of her own are her black shiny shoes. She asks me to put those on her feet a lot. She also likes to wear socks.

She is growing so much, and communicating so well, and she gets more and more grown up every day. She is turning into a little girl right before my eyes.

A whole month!

It has been over a month since I have last posted, and Aria has been up to a lot!

The month didn't start out too great bc Aria got sick the 1st week. She had a sinus infection that turned into an ear infection that lasted until just last week. She was coughing, too, so I think she had something else on top of that. She is all better now, though, and back to her happy, sweet (well, most of the time ;-) self.

We had a fun week of guests in October! Christina and Sydney came to stay for 8 days while my brother and his wife, Adam and Sarah, were in Africa. My sis and bro in law, Jake and Kat, also came in town the same week, with lil' Diella. It was a FUN and BUSY week! Aria LOVED hanging out with her cousins! On the Friday of the week they were all here, Aria started to repeat anything we'd ask her to say. She did really good at her attempts at words, and is doing even better now. She clams up when she gets in front of a lot of people, but once she warms up, she will start repeating. She is using the new words, too, and not just repeating. Her vocabulary has just boomed in the last month. She really enunciates, too. Any word that ends with a P or a K sound she really enunciates. Here is a little video of Aria enunciating her K sounds. It cracks me up every time!

Her favorite thing to do is SWING. She loves to be outside, and to play on her swingset. She like to swing as high as you can push her. I knew that the swingset was an absolute blessing at the time we got it (thank you for letting us use it, Auntie Janice and Uncle Bubby! Smoooch!) but how much of a blessing I did not know. She would play on there all day long if she could. She stands by the door and says swing swing swing? Asking me to take her outside to swing. She also can climb up the bars on the swingset. She learned how to do that from Christina and Sydney. She still loves to climb up the slide, too. And slide down ;-) She is fearless!

My favorite new thing that she started doing this month is singing twinkle twinkle little star. She actually sings the notes right and everything. She sings a lot of the words, too. If you sing it with her, she will fill in the last words of the line. If she sings it by herself, she will sing Twinkle Twinkle little star and then the rest of gibberish except the last word of every line. It is very cute!! She also sings the alphabet song (same song, of course, different words) and fills in all the letters with letter sounds (just not the right ones most of the time ;-) She is starting to learn her alphabet, though, and can spell her name (most times she does the A-R-I part and leaves off the last A, though). She can recognize some of the letters on her own, and will repeat all the sounds of the letters as we go through them.

She is also learning shapes, and is doing pretty good! She definitely knows circle, and will trace circles when she sees them, and point them out. She put together a shape puzzle correctly at Church last week, and that surprised me. I should get her some puzzles!

Oh how can I forget to mention Halloween! She was a clown ;-) bc of her clown hair. I loved her clown costume with the hoop. She was funny to watch waddle around in it. Her make up smeared right away, but she loved having it put on. We put pink makeup in her hair around the back and sides. It is not washing out! I have a permanently pink haired baby! Aria loved trick or treating! We practiced at our door. She'd knock (outside with my mom) and I'd answer the door and she'd say "TREAT!" She'd say the "trick or" part with her mouth but no sound, and then a big smile and would say TREAT. I hadn't planned to take her trick or treating, but since she had so much fun doing it, we went all around the cul de sac. She loved seeing the other kids in the neighborhood all dressed up. She also loved the decorations in front of the houses. She's too little to get Halloween candy, but I regreted not getting any the next day. I had no candy to eat ;-)

Aria's fav food at the moment is grapes, hands down. She will eat grapes all day if she could! She also loves plums, okra, ranch dressing and hummus. She is eating a LOT lately. Growth spurt, maybe.

She initiates all sorts of games. Some of her favorites are to go knock on the door. That started at Halloween with the trick or treating. She thinks it's so much fun... she says "knock knock?" and starts knocking with her fists in the air when she wants to go play. I think she might do this bc she wants someone (like Gramma and Grampa or her friend, Mia) to come over (and to be on the other side of the door). She also does a game where she makes a face, and wants me to copy. She'll go through several different faces as I copy her. She loves that! The faces always end with the same face.... tongue sticking out in cheek. She seems to have a new game every day. She has been a lot of fun these days!

Her favorite toys are her Elmo doll, her cat stuffed animal, and her plastic dog toy on wheels that she can drag around by it's leash (old fashioned kind of dog that kind of clicks as it rolls). She loves that toy! She drags it around all day, and puts it on her horse or zebra for a ride, or takes it with her in the high chair and feeds him food (along with Elmo and the cat), and sits and watches cartoons with him. She also likes riding on her horse and zebra toy, and as she jumps on them (the zebra bounces, so she bounces on all horses) she puts one hand up in the air like a bull rider.

OHHHH I never posted about the RODEO!! We went to the Rodeo in October, and she absolutely LOVED IT! I couldn't believe how into it she got. She clapped and smiled at the bull riders and all the other events. It was loud in there, but she loved every second!

Aria still loves to color. She colors lots of times every day. She has these washable markers that she loves (and I do too bc they wash out so easily!). She was coloring a picture of grover, and I asked her to color his eyes, and she did. Then I asked to color his nose, and then mouth, and then knees and then hands and then feet and belly- she did them all as I asked her.

She's getting more hair now, but is still FAR away from needing a haircut. I love her curls!! She now has 12 teeth. She got all 4 molars in October. She is working on the canines now, and is constantly chewing on her fingers the past week.

We went to the ZOO for my birthday on Sunday. She had a blast (we all did!). I will post separately about that and include some pictures.

I better stop bc this is such a novel. There is just so much to say, maybe I shouldn't wait a month inbetween posts! ;-) I also posted a video on the post below. She is feeding her Elmo doll. I was cracking up!

I love Elmo!

Here is a video of Aria from today. She loves her Elmo doll. When she signs please in the video, she is telling Elmo to say Please for a drink of milk.

I have so much to say about all that she has been doing over the last month! There is more to come ;-)

Singing a song!

First I don't post for a month, and now, 2 days in a row ;-) I had to share a cute Aria moment. She loves me to play my violin for her, and I played her Elmo's Song today. She sang along with it! She always tries when Sesame Street is on, but I didn't know she actually did all the La La's and she even says Elmo's World in the right place! (sounds like Elmo's Woooo). She sang her first song!

We played in the swing a lot today. She loves loves loves to swing!! She says GO GO GO if I slow down (and also signs it, which she has to let go to do! yikes! It is a baby swing she can't fall out of when she lets go, though). We also played in the yard, and Aria would go into the grass and pick me "flowers" and bring them back to me (flowers = tiny weeds that look like flowers ;-). It was really sweet! Then we would sniff the flowers. I wish I could capture these moments in a bottle and keep them forever!

She told Zig today that she loves him... that was very cute and very sweet. She loves her doggy more every day. I can't say the same for Zig... he does tolerate her affections though (she especially loves to hug and kiss him when he is eating). I sometimes think I see him roll his eyes, however... hmmm...

She has been popping out more words lately, which is fun stuff! I realized today that she says Milk ... did she say this before?

Long overdue!

Hey! I haven't written here in almost a month! Bad Mama! Aria has been just being her fun little self. She keeps me laughing always! She hasn't felt good the last 2 weeks, poor baby. She didn't feel well for a few days after her 15 month appt, and then the week after that she got sick (which is right now). We've had lots of sleepless nights dealing with molars (she has gotten all 4 now - 4th one is still making it's way all the way through) and sickness. Poor baby.

During the day, even though she is sick, she is still in a good mood, and cracks us all up all the time. She still constantly babbles all day, and you just know she knows what she is saying. The last few days, sentences have started to come through the babbling. I can't remember some of them, but yesterday she said, in the midst of babbling "I did it". Then she said it a few more times after that. She said 2 other sentences this weekend, and I can't remember what they are! (baby brain for sure!) I am feeling like her babbling is going to slowly become clear, like her speech is blurry, and coming into focus. I think I mentioned before that she points at things and asks "what's that?" constantly. Curious little girl!

She is now off the bottle and the paci! I thought the bottle would be hard bc she used to fall asleep with one, but she gave that up all on her own (aka - done with bottle, and still not asleep ;-). So, we just switched over to sippy cups during the day and good bye bottle! I just call the sippy cups "bottles".

She is doing more animal motions... like octopus (waving arms around), and crocodile (says chomp chomp and claps her hands together like an alligator chomping). She does the fish better (can suck in her cheeks) and then she kisses me when she does it (I love that!). She does more sounds, too, but I can't remember where I left off with that the last time.

She still does sign language, and says a lot of the words she signs at the same time (like "more" "help" "go" "stop"). She learned to say "again" in sign language (she was using "more" for that before). She also does the whole I love you in sign language (she used to do the Love part only) and we love that of course! I was whispering I love you the other night while rocking her to sleep, and she looked up at me and said it back... or so I thought! My heart skipped a beat, I think! Then I realized... she was doing the same thing with her mouth that I was. I was saying it very softly, and so she was just copying my lip movements. Too funny!

She knows more face parts now... chin and cheeks ;-) I guess that is all the face parts left ;-) oh wait, I still have to teach her eye lashes. Daddy started to teach her the names of her bones... too funny! She is the only 1 year old who knows where their ascipital bone is. I am sure I spelled that entirely wrong and I don't even know what it is, but Aria does. (she doesn't really, but her daddy is trying to teach her). She puts up her 1st metacarpal up when you ask how old she is, though. ;-)

She loves to pluck the strings on my violin, and she does it gently. She still likes me to hold up her violin to her chin and she likes to do the bow. I can't wait to get her a real one! Not too long now.

Let's see what else... she is testing us like crazy! The doctor says to rest assured that the testing is a developmental milestone. I am not resting assured ;-) She is a little buggar sometimes! But, I guess they need to go through this, and I hear it just gets worse... oh dear! Here we come, terrible twos! But, she makes me laugh a million more times than she tests me, so it all comes out in the end ;-)

Things she loves most right now are playing outside, bubbles, coloring (with crayons), reading books, wrestling with daddy (big huge favorite! She has NO FEAR! I will post a video), climbing all over things and getting into trouble. She also loves Grampa day (Thursdays and Fridays). They have so much fun - she absolutely adores him! She also loves Gramma nights (Tues and Thurs) and I hear her laughing out loud as I am teaching. She has so much fun!!!

Things she does that crack me up...

She takes anything that even resembles make up and pretends to put make up on. She has been doing this with lipstick and blush for awhile, but just added mascara this week. What a girl! She also takes lotion containers and puts her first finger and thumb together (at the tips) and then taps it on the end of the lotion, and then taps it gently on my cheek (or whoever she is applying it to) on both sides. I don't know where she got this from!

She drinks the remaining milk right out of the bowl after she eats her cereal.

She does this funny dance where she turns her head to the side and puts her shoulder up, over and over.

She takes her stuffed animals and swings them in her swing like they are her babies

I keep telling myself that I need to write the little things she does that make me laugh (or even smile) so I can keep the list and look back later. I am going to start to do that starting THIS week! Then i can give you all a bigger list of funny Aria-isms. Those are the best things about her! I love you, Aria!!

PS when I started this blog, I didn't think I had much to say ;-) haha!

Potty!!

Well, we got Aria a potty chair yesterday! We thought she would just have fun sitting in it. It is really a cool one, and sings songs and has a toilet paper roll and a flusher that all make sounds ;-) Well... the 1st time we put her on there, she peed!! This morning when she woke up, I put her on there again, and sure enough, she did it again! I did NOT expect that to happen!!

She is such a funny baby - she cracks up me and her daddy all the time. She is so affectionate, too, and her hugs are the BEST! She really hugs you tight, and pats your back.

She has 2 new teeth - molars! She has 10 teeth now. Those molars must have been painful coming in, bc we had a few nights of little sleep bc she woke up several times. Poor girl! But, she is sleeping well, again, now that they are in, thankfully!

She recognizes Ahna and Papa from their pictures. After we got home from visiting them, Aria started bringing me the picture book (each page is a picture of a relative - the 1st page is Ahna and Papa) with their pictures, and would say Nana, Papa! Do you think we could get her to call Papa by name when we were there, however?? NO! Baby!

She is saying Grama a little more clearly, too. It used to be more like da da, but now it is Dramma (not drama like a play, but rhymes with Gramma).

Aria love Elmo! She says Elmo and tries to sing along with Elmo's World. She also says some version of Yo Gabba Gabba (it is more like just the gabba gabba part over and over) and she waves her arms in the air like the guy does on the show when she is watching it, and tries to sing along.

She has learned a new animal sound... Rooster! Cockadoodledooo. Her version of that is pretty funny!