Week 54

We are 2 weeks into a year and so far so good. Aria has completely amazed me in the last 2 weeks with her walking and now running. She doesn't crawl at all now, only walks! 

The cutest new thing she learned to do last week is blow kisses! She does it when prompted and even on her own! She puts her hand to her mouth and makes a kinds of spitty blowing sound. She just loves kisses. She gives mommy linger long kisses on the lips, sometimes with mouth open, hehe. 

Aria loves to walk up and down steps. In our little room the first thing she wants to do when on the floor is go into the little bathroom, which required stepping up. Then she just sits there on the floor and looks out. She is a funny girl. When she's outside she always makes a bee-line for the steps down to the pool. It's really just the action of stepping up and down that she likes, whether it's the fireplace mantel step or standing on top of a toy. I'm just waiting for this new found entertainment to end in tears and injury…hopefully it won't, but most likely.

Aris has started waking up earlier and going to bed earlier. She was always a late sleeper, like 10 or 11 (even 12 sometimes). Now she likes to sleep at 9 and get up at 8. This is a pretty good schedule for us, I just don't want her to stat waking up even earlier. Yesterday she was horrid and was wide awake at 5am, initially happy, then very sad that I wouldn't get up with her. I'm sorry I draw the line at 5, that's the middle of the night, we will not play or receive kisses at that time (she was trying to plant them on me while I slept)!

Aria no longer fits in her 12 month clothes. It's time to do a clean sweep and get rid of anything smaller than a year. She is 100% in 18 month clothes, my tall girl.

Two days ago I took Aria to Rancho San Antonio for the first time since September! I can't believe I went so many times, when she was a little baby in the front pack! I used the stroller that Sonia and Holy gave to me, 13 years old, but it worked great and I didn't mind getting it dirty. Carrey (my friend form BC) came with me. I felt so incredibly ghetto as I loaded the stroller into the back seat, stabbing her in the head on the passenger side with with rusty rabies metal, lol (I know tetanus is more likely, but rabies sounds scarier). I've been wanting to get a City Mini three wheeler for running/hiking, but alas, I is poor, so rabies stroller it is. Rancho is beautiful, I went again with Gabby yesterday and little stink enjoyed herself immensely, kicking her legs and generally making happy noises.

Aria loves to be read to. She now brings books over to me, or whoever she deems most capable of some quality reading time, and gestures to be picked up. She sits on my lap like a little angel and helps turn the pages. She even likes it when Billy reads her his Talk Like a Wookie book, lol.

Speaking of Uncles, Aria loves it when Billy gets home from work. She literally screams with delight and a huge smile when she sees him. It's so crazy how she loves everyone in my family. It really it like she has 7 parents who play with her and adore her everyday. What is she going to do when we leave?!

Kevin and I are looking into renting again. We are no way in he** going to have enough money to buy something nice when my parents' house goes away in a few months. Time will tell you where we'll be, time and time alone. We'll just stick together while we wait.

Until next time, xo Rosie

Father's Day 2012

Well we came around to our very second Father's Day! I can't believe we are starting to repeat the holidays now. No more "baby's first"! It's crazy.

We had a wonderful day with an awesome daddy. Aria is the luckiest little lady on this earth because she has Kevin as a daddy. He would do anything for her and he's totally wrapped around her little finger, now and I have a feeling for always.

12 Month Check-Up

This morning we had Aria's one year appointment. She was a brave little baby for her 3 shots. The doctor said that she is healthy and thriving. The is 30.5" long and 22.5 lbs. 90 percentile for height and 70 percentile for weight. My little lady is long and lean (she will appreciate this someday).

Dr Auh interacted with Aria and said she is a very good natured baby, called her my very own baby doll. She said that she can tell that Aria is also very smart. She said she can understand most everything we are saying. She said we are going to have to keep an eye on her because it's the smart ones that get into stuff. Example: she'll see us do something and she will know how to do it, like turning on the stove. 

Apparently she caught up on her milestone and is now advances, being dubbed an early walker. I think this is so funny, because she refused to roll over consistently until she was 6 months and didn't crawl until 10 months. I guess she was building up all her brain knowledge during that time and now she is implementing it.

Shots always make me nervous, Aria is sleeping in her car seat right now and I keep checking on her to make sure she is alive. I have shots! She got MMR, Pneumococcal Conjugate, and Hep A. I turned down the flu and chicken pox vaccines for now b/c I didn't want to bombard her little body. I told the doctor what I was okay with and she said sure and didn't question me. I really like Dr Auh.

I talked to the doctor about breastfeeding and she said it was perfectly okay to keep her feeding. I told her I want to cut back and she said to cut out a day feeding but keep feeding at night and before bed if she wants it because that's what she needs for brain development. Guess this is why my babe is so smart, she still BFs 2 times a night. She also said when I do decide to full on wean her that I should go away for the weekend. This will help the milk dry up and I won't be there for Aria to rag on when she wants it. She said it won't be as satisfying when I come back b/c there will be less milk to have. She suggested starting her on whole milk 16-20 ounces a day. She may like the taste better than 2% and that she needs the fats that whole milk has in it. 

All in all she is healthy and happy, smart and advanced. The doctor said this is in part to the fact that I stay home with her. She said she probably wouldn't be as healthy if she was in daycare and not BFing. This was nice to get some positive feedback about my choice to stay with her. I always feel like I am having to defend the decision, so it was a nice change.

In other news, Aria LOVES her Yaya. She now screams with joy when she sees her and ol mom is chopped liver. I think this is b/c Yaya has been reading books to her. She's reached the age where she totally adores books and being shown pictures. It's really awesome! We have so many great books too, I'm so glad she likes them.

Another new thing Aria has started is acting startled. She never used to be phased by anything before but now when the dogs bark, she jumps and turns. This just happened and I was down on the floor with her and she threw her arms around me. It was soooo cute. She also loves to be chased and they when you catch her she has that happy frantic almost-fun-to-be-afraid laughter going on. She's my funny girl :)

Until next time, xo Rosie

Happy 1st Birthday Aria Rose!!!!

We made it! Aria is ONE! What a beautiful, amazing day it was yesterday. Aria was the little Apple of everyone's eye!

We started off the morning with singing Happy Birthday to Aria in her crib. She LOVED it! She probably doesn't know it's her birthday, but she knows something pretty cool was happening. She just kept looking back and forth from her to Kevin with a huge grin on her face.

We came in the house and Yaya and Pops and Auntie Baggy were waiting for the princess. Every time someone saw her and said Happy Birthday her face would light up! She had some yogurt and puffs for breakfast and watched Auntie Gabby finish her 5 birthday cakes (necessary for our 50 guests).

Her big party started at 2pm. Luckily she was all bathed and beautiful from the night before so all we needed was to put her red ladybug dress on and her polkadotty headband. Uncle Steven and Auntie Kira and Grandma Carol came over early to help create our shish-ka-bob feast while the Jensen family ran around doing last minute party preparations.

David was the first guest to arrive at 2:05pm. Aria showed off to him how she can walk. At about 230 the flood gates opened and one after another the guests poured in. Jeff, Robert, Jenna, Lindsay, Marianne, Tom…everyone came to celebrate my babes big day.

Aria was a little excited, probably because it's her birthday after all, so she did not take her nap at 12 or 1. She started to get a little grumpy at about 3pm so I took her out and got her to lay down. Thank goodness she fell asleep and in the middle of "the word's biggest 1st birthday" she took a solid 1.5 hour nap. It was nice to give mommy a little break. I was able to sit and chat with Jeff and Kira for a bit during this hiatus.

When the sweet baby angel woke up we were eating lunch/dinner. Uncle Billy BBQ fantastic shish-ka-bobs for hours. There was a huge potato salad (Yaya's recipe that Mommy made). Aunt Sue brought a large green salad and Cousin Kathryn brought a delicious fruit salad. We had chips and spinach dip made by Daddy. Aunt Aggie's toffee and MarMar brought her yummy blondie brownies. So much food for such a little girl :)

After feasting we set Aria up in her highchair, decorated and fit for a queen. We brought out her little ONE smash cake and everyone belted out Happy Birthday to her. She looked so so adorable sitting there taking it all in. Kevin and I blew out her candle for her at the end of the song. Aria didn't dig into the smash cake, there was no smashing, just delicate poking. I took her hand and gave it a little shove into the frosting which she didn't seem to mind. She had some tastes of the cake but in all was quite a lady about it.

After cake we opened tons of presents. She got lots of clothes and some cool toys including a red wagon from Uncle Steven!

The day ended perfect just as it began. She love our little one year old girl to pieces and can't wait for this next year.

Pictures and more to come ;)

Until next time, xo Rosie

Week 51

Well the countdown is on…3 days til the big ONE! I can't believe my baby is growing up! Just this past week I've started to get a little sad that my little tiny is not so little anymore. But each phase in her babyhood had been so wonderful and amazing to witness I know it will continue on for many years. She is the absolute love of my life. I am so very happy and blessed beyond words to have her as my own.

Aria can now take 5 steps. Yesterday she stood in the middle of the floor and picked up her dinosaur (from Yaya), she then proceeded to walk over to the couch all by herself. It's so crazy how fast she learns.

On Sunday we had a date with Carlo and family. They are SO so cute together. The two of them poked at each other, pushed the baby walker around, wrestled in the foam ring, ate pasta, shared a sippy (almost without complaint), and even fed chickens. I love watching her play with another baby. It makes me really want to join a mommy group or gymboree so she can play with other kids every week.

Aria still does her super impressive "fake" crying and "fake" coughing. It's way too funny because it's so obvious but she really thinks it works to get our attention. I have to get it on video for the record. Most of the time she pulls this move when she's decided that I am ignoring her or that she has been sitting in her highchair too long. She goes coughcough then looks up to see if I'm concerned. It's adorable so I humor her and go over to check on her when she does it :)

I am still preparing like crazy for Aria's birthday party this Saturday. It looks like we are going to have 40-50 people over to celebrate the monumental occasion. I ordered supplies from BirthdayDirect.com and everything came with plenty of time to spare. I still need some tablecloths and balloons and of course to finish my ladybug vase project. But, we are getting there. It should be a great party to celebrate her first year, for Kevin and me, my family, everyone who has been there for us.

I send out gifts for little cousin Violet who's birthday is 6/10 and to my birthday buddy Astella from my June mommies group on FB. I'm a little disappointed that the mommy who had Aria is not going to be sending her a gift. She had some sort of creepy ex that was stalking her so she deleted her FB and left the group. I'm glad she's okay, because initially she posted that she was dead and everyone freaked out. But, I still wish it had worked out just cause it would of been fun to get a gift in the mail and all the mommies post pics when theirs arrive and now I'm not going to be part of it. Hopefully my girl Astella will have a photo of her gift up soon, her b-day is 6/12.

Yesterday Aria had a Daddy Day. Kevin was off work so he look Aria out. They went to breakfast at the pancake house with Ronald and then they went to Apple to visit Danny and co. Everyone loved her and said she was the cutest baby they have ever seen. She has gotten more and more friendly. As long as you are giving her attention she thinks you are A-OK. It was nice that Kevin took her so I could get party stuff done. I went over to Jo-Ann's Fabrics on San Antonio and bought some polka dot fabric for the favors. It's the first time I've even bought fabric so I felt very crafty picking it out and having her cut 3 yards. I'd love to be able to sew. It would be such a fun hobby…maybe someday. Anyways, Kevin loved having time with Aria and she loves him, so in all it was a good day.

Well, I've got things to do and places to be but expect a few more updates before we come full circle on Saturday.

Unti next time, xo Rosie