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!

EASTER 2011 - 7 Months Old

We spent this Easter with family at my Aunt Debbie's house. Of course, we stuffed ourselves full of food and sat around and talked, like always. This year we started a new, ultra-goofy, family picture tradition, which included many pairs of bunny glasses. Man, I love my crazy family!

My little Easter bunny

Individual family shots after the whole group shot...wow.

Tired mommy eyes and a sweet little girl.

...and the NICE family shot!

Ok, this wasn't on Easter, but it was sometime around it, and I don't care who you are, this is just cute.

April Fools!

It's About Time!

So, the time finally came to cut my hair. I have been fighting over it with Aria for the past two months and finally got tired enough of untangling it from her death-grip like little fists. That, and the fact that I lose half of my hair every time I take a shower told me it was time for a good chop. The best part is that I got the haircut for free! I "modeled" for a stylist who was learning to do the new Jennifer Aniston cut and needed to practice on someone. So I guinea-pigged for her. I'm pretty happy with the results, and so is my poor, sore head!

6 Months Old

These are pictures of Aria's 6 month old pictures that we had taken at The Picture People. Unfortunately, the quality is lacking here ( I took pictures of pictures), but I wanted to share them because they're just so cute! She did a great job at her first professional photo shoot!

A Day At The Park

We took Aria to the park by our house this past weekend. I think we all needed some fresh air, and the sun was shining so it was nice to get out of the sick-house for a bit. We walk past this park all the time, but we've never stopped until today. Aria didn't care much for this bouncy bull-thing that mommy really didn't fit on. Mostly she just liked watching all the kids run around!

We went on the slide probably 5 times hoping for a laugh, a smile, a reaction of any kind really. Nothin', we got nothin'. But at least the picture's cute! We'll have to try the slide again another time.

The swing was the only thing she seemed to even mildly have an opinion about. She liked it okay. I wouldn't say she loved it; just that she liked it. And really, she just liked going forward when the breeze would blow in her face. We have a mellow girl, what can I say?

5 Month Milestones

So, we'll start with the bad news: I currently have pneumonia.
Next, the good news: Aria and Gabe are both still healthy!
Bad news: I'm missing a good chunk of time at work.
Good news: I get to spend some much needed time with my two loveys.
Good news: I actually have a moment to blog!

So, the good news outweighs the bad, as far as I can figure. :o)

We have had lots of milestones this past month!

First of all, Aria is now eating a variety of homemade baby foods. It's nice to know that what's going in her tummy and on her face is pure and natural, and I am secretly in love with being a "crunchy mama" in that way. Now, if I could just remember to feed her before bedtime...

So far, Aria loves: butternut squash, green beans, pears, carrots, oatmeal
So far, Aria hates: green peas (just like her mommy!) and rice
The jury is still out on: avocado and sweet potatoes

Aria has also started riding all over the house on her little trike bike...just kidding. She got this little pink ride-on toy from G&G for Christmas. We just put it together for her. And, what I meant to say is that Aria has also started chewing on her little trike bike all over the house. That's really all she's interested in right now. According to Aria, if it doesn't fit in her mouth, it doesn't belong in the house!

Yup, it's official. She's found them.

This picture is representative of when this little girl is happiest. She likes to stand and she likes to "walk around". Although she CAN roll over, both ways, she generally prefers to scream at you until you pick her up and put her on her feet or hand her the toy she wants. Such a lazy-bones! I think mommy and daddy have spoiled her and now she thinks she's the queen. ;o)

This is my current favorite picture. I truly cannot get enough of that wonderfully happy, open-mouthed, gummy smile! I just love this little girl!

Another milestone this month is sitting by herself. She can't pull herself up to a sitting position yet, but if you sit her down, she can stay up unsupported for about 5 minutes. Now that she knows she has this skill, she is no longer a fan of her BebePod seat (which stinks for us because we don't have to be so attentive when she's in the seat). Since we have all wood floors, I am super paranoid to leave her sitting alone for fear that she'll smack her little head. So, we just sit around on the floor together while Aria plays.

This is another one of my current favorites! Since I've been sick, I've been sleeping on the couch in an attempt to keep these two well and also because my incessant coughing wakes everyone up! Usually Aria sleeps beside our bed in her pack n' play, but recently she's been in bed with daddy so he can reach her paci more easily when it falls out and she starts flailing around "looking" for it. Every morning when I go into the bedroom, the two of them are cuddling like this and it is just so sweet!