Finally Photogenic Again!

You may have noticed that we don't have many pictures posted between January and June. No, I did not stop taking pictures of this sweet little cutie, but she did decide for those few months that she was NOT into having her picture taken. Pretty much every picture of her between that time is of her screaming and grabbing for the camera, so honestly, there's not much to post that isn't blurry, of a hand, or a very upset little girl. I am, however, happy to report that our smiley and now "posey" little girl is back! YAY!

17 Months Old

Dear Aria,

Wow. Just wow. I cannot believe that you are a whole 17 months old already! It seems like just the other week that we were celebrating your first birthday, and now you are almost 1 and a half! You are growing and changing so fast and the time just seems to be flying by. I've already had to put away some of your size 18 month clothes because you have already grown out of them! Sometimes when I'm holding you and get a glimpse of us either in a mirror or in a picture, I think, "Wow! She is half my size already!" I don't know where you got your big girl genes from, but it certainly wasn't me! Perhaps you will be tall like Daddy's Mom's side of the family. Or, perhaps you're just getting your growth early like Daddy. Either way, we are loving watching you grow up into a sweet, curious, friendly toddler!

You are a brave and adventurous little girl! You love going on walks where you can push your trike to the park. You love playing on the playground - swinging, climbing, and sliding! So much so, that Mommy has to follow you around and keep you away from the biggest obstacles and slides! You'd love to go down one of those tall, twisty, tube slides, but I won't let you go by yourself - at least not yet - and I'm sure I just won't fit inside to go down with you.

You have learned so much in the past couple of months, especially in regards to language. It's so fun to see and hear all your new words! So far you can sign: thank you, please, dog, bird, potty, all done, more, eat/food, drink, milk, hat, shoes, and go. You can say: hi, bye bye, cheese, more, no, yeah, ball, bath, baby, and hat. You have also learned how to open doors, take the caps off your markers and put them back on, get your clothes out of the dresser, take your diaper off when you want, and you are trying really hard to put on your own socks! You know where your ears, eyes, nose, mouth, toes, and belly button are. You also give the best kisses! Bbbwwwwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!! (That's the sound you make with your kisses)!

You are still the pickiest eater I've ever met, which drives me nuts much of the time, but hey, at least you're still a hefty little girl. You're healthy, too, which makes me happy. I have to say, I will be the most thrilled Mommy when you finally decide that you would like to eat "people food". Sigh....maybe when you're two...

You are still a HUGE baby doll lover! You are such a sweet little mama when you carry your babies around, pat them on the back, push them in the stroller, and make sure they get their pacis back in their mouths when they fall out. :) I have no doubt that you will be an excellent big sister someday!

Ari, I want you to know that your Daddy and I love you so, so much! We are so proud of the little girl you're becoming and the person God has made you to be. You are such a sweet, sweet blessing to us!

Great Grandma's Birthday

On January 22nd this year, we celebrated my grandma's (Aria's great-grandma) 90th birthday!

Man, I love my grandma, and I miss her a lot too. Alzheimer's is such a horrible thief! I hate that it has slowly stolen her away from us and that our holidays and celebrations have become bittersweet in this regard. She is still my grandma and is sweet and happy and I am thankful for that. This year we celebrated with her best friend, Marge, and most of the family. Tyler really liked his great-grandma and she was really interested in the babies, which was fun! Aria was a little unsure/afraid of great-grandma and kind of kept her distance. I wish that weren't the case, but oh well. Hopefully she'll warm up to her soon.

Grandma and Marge

Grandma and Tyler having a nice little convo

Merry Christmas! 2011 Photo-bomb...

My cousin, Katie, and I took the two kiddos to The Picture People to have their Christmas pictures done. My mom gave each of us a Groupon to use here and it made for a really good deal for us to go together! We'll be returning for Valentine's Day pictures, so stay tuned! This was a really fun shoot and the kids did great with 3 clothing changes in 15 minutes! We sure do love these little guys and their unique characters! The kids love each other, too. I sure hope they'll be as good of friends when they're older as they are now!

Aria Models for SO CAL BABY!

I took Aria to a cute little kids boutique in downtown Fullerton last week to participate in a model search for their store. SO CAL BABY Boutique is a trendy, somewhat edgy, baby and kid's clothing store that my cousin and I are looking to get into with our Kid Kuzzins merchandise. They hosted their grand opening in early December, which included a modeling contest, so Aria, Grammy and I headed over. Here are a couple shots of Aria wearing her lollipop leggings, one of the items we are looking to sell through this shop.

Even though my little cutie didn't win the contest, I think she did a great job! She was patient and good tempered while we waited our turn for pictures. She also found a boy crush that she followed around the store! Beware! This little girl likes older men! He must have been at least 6!

Visiting with My Grandma

We went to visit my almost 90 year old Gramma for a Christmas lunch at her Alzheimer's care home in early December. We had a good time visiting with her, even though she cannot really even form many words anymore. She is happy and laughs a lot, which makes me happy I guess, but I sure do miss my Gramma. It's really hard to watch someone you love and are so close to slowly disappear before your eyes. I helped her eat her lunch, since feeding herself is becoming harder, and Gabe and Aria walked around and checked out the Christmas decorations.

I don't know how we managed to mess this picture up. It was SUPPOSED to be "4 Generations", but somehow I ended up taking the picture. Ha, ha, there is no end to what chaos and mommy brain will do! Oh well, we will get another one next time we visit.

My all time favorite picture this Christmas. I just love how Aria and my Gramma are looking at each other and how happy my Gramma looks! It's just such a precious, genuine moment and one that I will always treasure.

So, we are not much of a fan of Santa this year. Nor the fact that he apparently got a dog over the summer. This was our best shot: Aria frantically trying to get as far away from this hairy beast and his accomplice as possible!

This was our BEST attempt at a family Christmas picture this year...and we tried many times to get a good one. Pictures with toddlers are hit or miss, and although this isn't too bad, I was hoping for a happy, smiley Aria. Instead, she was focused on making sure Santa and his little dog didn't sneak up on her during the photo shoot. You gotta watch out for that man in red, you know!

Attempting to Catch Up...A Daunting Task!

Over the next few weeks, I will be attempting to update our family blog. I am a total slacker and am so far behind that its quite overwhelming, actually. So, let's see, as of yesterday, little Miss Aria is walking! Ok, so she's taking unassisted, on her own, holding onto nothin', cute little steps, and oh boy is she proud of herself! She's still quite hesitant to really start cruising, but oh those steps are the sweetest thing!

Today was her cousin Tyler's 1st birthday party. It was a pirate pool party where everyone dressed up pirate-y for the occasion. I made Aria and Ty these cute little mustache pacis, which, I think, were awesome! Aria made quite the darling pirate. She swam and swam until I made her get out because the water was really cold and I was worried about her getting hypothermia or something (overprotective mother, probably). Then she flirted and played with all the party guests. Everyone kept saying what a happy baby she is and how she is just so sweet and active and interested in everything. It made me think of what her name means: "Sweet Melody", and she really is just that. Even though she's not always super happy in the day to day, she really is almost always super happy and sweet when we are out with others and I am so thankful for that. She really is able to brighten others' day and bring them joy with her friendliness and her smiles!

I cannot, and I repeat, CANNOT believe that my sweet little baby girl will be 1 year old in just 4 days! Ahhhh, time is going so much faster than I expected it to, and I just wish it would all slow down a bit. My cousin's sister-in-law had her 1 week old baby girl at the pirate party and seeing her made me so nostalgic for those first few weeks of newborn life! I am truly loving watching Aria grow and develop into the wonderful little lady that God made her to be, but at the same time, longing for her to stay a baby. Hmmm, maybe its time for another one? Ha, ha, no...not yet! I can barely handle one right now, so I'm definitely not ready for number two!

Next week we are going to start working on potty training. I know, it seems early, but I've done a lot of research recently and everything I've read points to early potty training being easier and quicker and, obviously, cheaper (in that you are no longer buying diapers!). Did you know that the average age for children being potty trained in the 1960s was 18 months old? Did you know the average age today is 40 months? So, we're attempting to go "old school" and get back to the 60s in our house. I'll let you know how it goes.