Visit With Santa

Christmas Time Is Here...

We helped our Lifegroup host a Christmas charity event for Night Light International (an organization that helps women and children in Thailand get out of prostitution) at a cute little shop on 2nd Street in Belmont Shore called Blue Windows. They have some great gifts and unique things including this little elf hat I put on Aria - way too big, but so cute!

Taco Tuesday at our favorite little hole-in-the-wall around the corner - Merced's, with my sweet little snow bunny and her Daddy.

My Dad invited us to join my mom and him for dinner and Enderle Center's annual Christmas tree lighting and caroling event. We had a great time just walking around, window shopping, and listening to all the great carolers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving was very mellow this year. Gabe and I decided to do the cooking and try out some new recipes I found in Parents Magazine. We cooked at my parents' house for about four hours on Wednesday, then came over early Thursday to finish up and enjoy the tasty results. Well, as it turns out, we should have had a double oven or a much smaller turkey in order to get everything cooked appropriately and on time. We ended up using the barbecue to roast the sweet potatoes and cook the stuffing (which didn't work out so well). We also discovered that our dessert was enjoyed by one of the furrier family members sometime in the middle of the night! The food turned out OK, but was nothing to write home about. Next year we will stick to our traditional, yummy, tastes-like-Thanksgiving's-supposed-to-taste, recipes!

...the culprit and her crime, looking guilty as ever.

Grandpa and Aria waiting for dinner to be ready.

Auntie Megan and cousin Tyler relaxing after dessert (don't worry, we had apple and pumpkin pie in addition to the dessert that Nikki ate!)

The Daddies watching Punkin' Chunkin' with their babies.

Two Months Old

Aria is two months old today! Time is going by so fast, and although we are loving watching her grow and change and develop new skills every day, I have to say that I already miss the sweet, tiny, little bundle we brought home from the hospital. Looking back at her newborn pictures makes me realize just how much she has grown and changed in just two short months! Please don't grow up too fast my sweet little girl!

Aria had her two-month check up with the doctor this week. She weighed 10 pounds 8 ounces and measured 22.25 inches long. This means that in two months she has gained almost 4 pounds and grown almost 3 inches! Amazing! She also started her immunizations - three shots and one oral - NOT fun for either of us. Poor baby, she was sad and super clingy for two days and had a fever as a result. I hate to think that we have to do this every two months for the next year or so.


Sleep my love and peace attend thee all through the night...
This is the song her swing plays during her morning naps. As you can see, Aria clearly enjoys her swing and her morning naps in it! She sleeps about 3 hours in her swing every morning.

Aria has started to enjoy sitting in her baby seat. We don't put her in it for very long because she is still working on head control, but she sure feels and looks like a big girl in her seat.

Ha, ha! I love this picture! Aria is so not a crier, but I had to get an "appropriate" picture of her in this onesie before she grew out of it. So, her "bad" mommy let her whine a little longer than usual when she was ready for her nap just so she could snap this picture...I know, I know, I'm gonna hear about this when she's older!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this little girlie and her cheeks! ...and love, love the shirt! - courtesy of Aunt Katie :o)

Tyler Webster, 8 weeks, and Aria Brent, 7 weeks, take a picture with Santa for the cutest baby contest

On Saturday, November 15, my cousin Katie, Aunt Debbie, my mom, me and the babies went to the OC Baby Fair. They were having a cutest baby contest in which all the kiddos had their picture taken with Santa and from those pictures the winner would be decided. The minimum entry age was 6 months, so even if we added these two together, we wouldn't have been able to enter, but they let us take their picture anyway. Turns out our two little sweeties were so cute that they made it into the newspaper!

Here is the link to the OC Register below:

Tyler Webster, 8 weeks, and Aria Brent, 7 weeks, take a picture with Santa for the cutest baby contest : News Photo

7 Weeks Old

Aria is seven weeks old today! I can't believe how quickly time has passed and how quickly she is growing. She just passed the 10 pound mark and is steadily gaining weight thanks to her hearty appetite. We just love her squishy cheeks and thighs! She is starting to smile at us a lot now, and she is trying to figure out how to laugh (she's been laughing in her sleep for some time now, just not when she's awake!). She is absolutely ticklish and especially loves it when Daddy uses his funny voices to do "tickles in your pickles!" She is making lots of cute faces, cooing, and beginning to babble a bit. She tries to keep herself awake when she's tired by "talking". She is still not amused in the slightest by being posed or having her picture taken (as evidenced in the first picture below). Aria still loves baths, clean diapers, her swing, going for walks, facing forward in the front-pack, and going for rides in the car (but she doesn't like stopping at the stop lights!). We are so, so blessed by our sweet little girl and seriously cannot get enough of her! Mommy and Daddy aren't fighting as much over who GETS to change her diaper, feed her, or hold her, which is good. We are learning to share her, now, so we can teach her how to share when she's a little bit older! Love, love, LOVE this girl!!!

6 Weeks Old

Happy Halloween!

5 Weeks Old...

...and this just melts my heart!!!

Aria is 5 weeks old and pushing 9 pounds...NINE POUNDS!!! She is now too long for most of her newborn sleepers. I can't believe it (but my back can)! She is "chunkin' out" - still a great eater and sleeper. She loves going for walks, especially when she's in the front pack and can look around (for the first 5-10 minutes, then she falls asleep). She also likes her swing and going for car rides (usually). She is mesmerized by her little pink dog and by the berry wreath hanging on the wall over our couch. Her favorite place to sleep is on Mommy or Daddy's chest. She is starting to give us some smiles which we all are in love with, of course!


Tummy Time...I'm not too fond of it yet, but I usually put up with it for 10 to 15 minutes.


Grammy and "her" babies. And, by the way, Nikki is SO good with Aria! She sniffs her then gently kisses her head. It's so sweet!


Knocked out on the couch...

1 Month Old!!!

Aria is one month old today! She weighs almost 8 pounds and is almost 21 inches long - she is growing so fast! I noticed today that some of her newborn clothes are already a bit snug on her, so we are going to have to pull out the 0-3 month items. I have to admit, her growing so fast makes me a bit emotional. I am really excited to be able to play with her and see her little personality develop and come out, but I also kind of want her to stay little forever!

I am Jesus' little lamb


Grammy bought me this cute little dress last week, but I am already too big for it!

3 Weeks Old

Aria is three weeks old today and, boy, does she like to eat and sleep! She's become quite the big eater and she likes to "talk" through her meal - lots of cute little noises! She also smiles when she is done and satisfied and pretty much asleep. It is the cutest thing and just melts my heart! She is also a great sleeper. We're not yet on any kind of a schedule, so Aria pretty much sleeps when she's tired, which is usually after every meal.

My hand in Mommy's

A hot day with my favorite little pink dog

Milk Coma!

Two Weeks Old

Our little sweetie is two weeks old! At her recent doctor's appointment she had gained back her birth weight (actually surpassed it!) and grown half an inch! She is a great eater and a great sleeper (though we're still working on getting our days and nights straightened out) and just generally a great baby. She is not much of a crier but she is a talker (must take after her Mama)! Even though we are exhausted, we are enjoying her more and more everyday.

At one week old, we started Aria on her "tummy time" mat. Although not on her tummy very much yet, she has grown more and more interested in the little critters hanging over her head.

Finally, Grandpa gets to hold Aria! Grandpa had bronchitis when she was born and couldn't hold her or even be very close to her for the first week and a half. That was really hard for him as she is his first grand-baby, but now he can't get enough of her!

Aria is such a good little sleeper and loves to nap in her Boppy...now if we could just get our days and nights straightened out...

Her first tub bath - a bit shocking, but she settled down once she had her paci in her mouth. I think the pacifier is going to become a very good friend to us.

Again, a great little daytime sleeper. I just had to put this picture in because I love her little owl shirt!

Yay! An awake moment! This little pink doggy plays music when you pull his tail and she is literally mesmerized by it. She will sit and watch it for 10 to 15 minutes straight.

Our Precious Girl Is One Week Old

Introducing...Aria Elizabeth Brent

She's here!

Monday night, September 20th, I started having contractions around 10:45 pm. They weren't very bad, like mild cramps at most, but they were running 1 to 3 minutes apart. Gabe kept track of them and I worked on folding laundry. Around midnight I decided to go to bed in case they picked up during the night. I didn't want to go to the hospital without getting any sleep. Well, baby girl had other plans! My water broke at 12:30 am - 30 minutes after I had gone to bed, so needless to say I didn't get any sleep! We packed up, headed to the hospital, and checked in around 1:30 am. The contractions were pretty much the same as they had been at home - nothing too intense - until about 3:30 am. THEN they got bad! I lasted until about 4:30 am, at which point I asked for an epidural because I felt like I could barely breathe through them. The nurse went to get the anesthesiologist and returned about 15 minutes later to tell me he was on his way. The next contraction I told her I felt like I needed to push, but she said I was only at 7cm when she checked me before she left to get the anesthesiologist, so I probably wasn't ready. She checked me again anyway and I was at 10cm! So she ran to get the doctor. Aria Elizabeth Brent arrived at 5:18 am. She weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. Oh, and I never got the epidural...there was no time! Having this precious baby girl was the most painfully wonderful thing I think I've ever done. She is such a sweet, precious little girl and we love her so much!

Before...

Aria at about 3 minutes old!

...After - exhausted, but happy.

Grandma and Grandpa with Aria at about 30 minutes old

Daddy kissing Aria - 2 days old

First smile (we know, its probably just gas!) - 3 days old

Grandma with Aria - 3 days old and finally at home!