April and May have absolutely flown by! I have felt the need to catch up on my blogging for some time now, and the weight of it just gets heavier by the day. Time to do something about that, right? So, I think this post will be followed by a few "photo bombs", but I want to make sure I don't miss anything.
Aria is growing and changing so fast, now, and it's getting kind of hard to watch. As much as I love seeing her little personality develop and change day by day, I can't help but wish she'd slow down a bit. I miss my tiny little handful! I looked back over some pictures of her first week with us and, I must admit, I got a little teary-eyed. Maybe I want another one? Well, actually, I know I do - just not quite yet! We are certainly enjoying our little girl!
Aria is now 8 months old and not quite crawling. She is rolling all over the place and scooting backwards, which annoys her greatly. She really wants to go forward, but just hasn't quite gotten the coordination down for that. Usually she ends up with her legs stuck under a chair or a table where she whines until someone comes to "rescue" her. It's really quite cute! She is also pulling up on the coffee table, jumperoo, mom, dad - whatever and whomever will hold still long enough for her to get to her feet. She loves to stand and loves to walk! I think she'd like to skip crawling and get to walking as soon as she can.
She is also starting to assert her independence and preference for things which, at times, is trying, and at other times, is cute. Mealtimes can be tricky when she'd rather be doing something else...like pulling her diaper off before you can get her pants on, which is cute right now but I'm sure will get old pretty quickly!
She is NOT a fan of diaper changes right now, nor does she like having her hands and face wiped off after eating, but other than that, she is a pretty happy and agreeable girl.
She LOVES bathtime, splashing, playing with the washcloth and eating her rubber ducky. She likes to eat and is not too picky, though she's still not a fan of peas. She likes her puffs and Mum Mums. She loves to go for walks and go to the park and swing. She LOVES it when the breeze blows on her face! She is a very social girl and loves to watch people. She especially loves it when new people are silly with her. She still loves to jump, dance, and listen to music. She has recently decided that being in her walker is not too bad either, since it means she can follow mom and dad around the house.
Her newest and sweetest little trick is giving kisses. I call them suckerfish kisses because they are open-mouthed, super wet, zerbert-style kisses. Yes, I need to towel off when she's done, but they really are the sweetest thing! Her favorite time to give these are when I'm trying put her to bed (stalling already!). She'll latch onto my cheek or nose, which makes me laugh, which makes her laugh, which makes bedtime a good bit later, but I really don't mind. These sweet kisses won't last forever, so I'll treasure them while I can!
I realize that, since Aria's arrival, I pretty much just blog about her. I am going to try to balance my writing a bit better for those of you who might also be interested in what Gabe and I are up to. :o)
I am finishing up the school year (5 more weeks to go!) and trying to start up my Discovery Toys business. I joined this company about a month ago in an effort to stay home with Aria and not have to work full-time in the future. It's been a slow start since I am still teaching, but I'm hoping it will grow once I'm off for the summer. Gabe continues to work on his day trading software development and is just about ready to launch the program into the public sector, which is exciting and intimidating all at the same time. We are praying that God will bless his hard work and long hours by allowing this venture to provide an income for our family. You can check out his website at www.ontheleveltrading.com . Depending on how well the software sells, we are considering a move to the East Coast in the near future. Tennessee and the Carolinas are at the top of our list, though we are looking at some other places as well.
We recently started attending a new church because the small church we had been attending for the past 3 years didn't have a nursery facility. The thought of Aria being in the same room with 15 other kids aged 2 to 12 was just a little scary for me. But having her in the service with us was challenging because she wanted to play and interact. We found that too often we were leaving the service saying, "What was the message about?" So, we are now attending Cottonwood Church. It is a BIG church of about 5000 people with a great children's facility and a nursery that Aria seems to enjoy. We actually feel like we are getting fed and are able to fully engage in worship now - yay! It is a big change going from a church community of 200 to a church of 5000, but for this stage of life, it is what we need.
Overall, we are enjoying being parents to our sweet little girl and are continuing to learn, daily, what it means to be a godly parent, husband and wife. Our days are not without challenges, but we are growing in grace, by God's grace!
