Sunday 10/16

Hello there. Just thought I'd stop in because I never got around to updating again on Thursday.

I figured out what those spitting bubble noises that Aria makes are referred to as. Blowing raspberries.

Aria can now stand as well! Well not really by herself, but she does love i if you make her stand. She puts her weight on her legs. She is very strong.

Right now she is sleeping in her car seat and Kevin and I are about to go for a walk. One of our last walks here in SV. I'm going to miss this place.

Pops came over yesterday afternoon and helped me get my storage locker ready. Kevin and I had already gone and set up the paperwork, but we still needed to add a lock so my dad brought the lock from their old storage place and saved me $30. So we officially have a 10 x 10 to neatly pack our life into. Amazing that that's all it takes.

Tomorrow I am going to finish packing up all the big items that are not used everyday.

Wow this is a boring entry, I'm not feeling the creative juju flowin. Take 2 another time.

Week 18

Aria has figures out how to grab! She loves to lay on her play-mat gym that Yaya got for her and grab and the crinkly creepy king toy Uncle Steven gave to her. She has been very vocal the last week. She is constantly making noises, whether screaming or just listening to her own voice.

Kevin and I are officially moving out of our apartment now. We have 1 week left! So scary. We are going to U-haul today to get moving boxes. The little apartment at my parents is almost ready for us.

Stinky finally grew out of her bassinet this week. We have temporarily put her in the pac n play.

Will update more later…need to start getting prepared.

Week 17

Hello again. This week has been an exciting one for Aria. She finally got the courage to make the leap. Yes, yesterday the 5th of October she rolled over! She has gotten so very strong in the last few weeks. I used to just set her in her swing and bouncer because she was a little immobile baby. Now I must use all the required straps to keep her in these devices. If I don't I find that she has used her back legs, lol, she's not a dog, let me rephrase, she has used her legs to lift her body up and scootch her butt down. It was so bad in her swing that her head was about where her bootie was supposed to be. This week Aria has continued to make her bubble blowing noise. She tends to do it when she is bored or just not that amusing by my mommy entertainment. It's really quite adorable.

Yesterday Auntie Gabby came over to make cookies with us. Carrey from Beau-coup was visiting in the evening and I was feeling quite homemakeresque and wished to have delightful homemade cookies to offer when she arrived. We made butterscotch cream cheese cookies. They were quite delish and I had no less than 9 (cries inside for a minute). I was sitting on the couch at one point waiting for the cookies to bake and I lifted Aria up over my head in the "superman" pose. She took this opportunity to drop a glob of her ever abundant drool directly into my open eye. Needless to say, I was just happy it was only drool and not barf, hehe.

When the big moment happened mommy was unfortunately in the kitchen, specifically scrubbing a rust spot of my henkels knife. Auntie Gabby was doing some tummy time with Aria. When lo and behold she yanked her little self over onto her back. Try as I may she wouldn't do it again. I'll give it another go today though.

Another cute thing she does now is to laugh hysterically when daddy rubs his head/blows on her belly. She thinks this is the best thing that ever happened and lets out the longest happy giggles.

Unfortunately Stinky is crying now, so I must go, hopefully to continue later…..

Well I'm back. I was planning on going on a morbid tangent about the passing of the great man known as Steve Jobs yesterday. I do not have the time now I realize as I sit here at almost 3pm with wet hair, in my pajamas with a baby wining in her swing. So I will just say, he was a great man, a great thinker, leader and someone who everyone can strive to be like. He gives us hope for our dreams, as long as you are crazy enough to peruse them. Stay hungry, stay foolish. Rest in peace.

Ta ta for now.

Week 16

So if we are going by 4 weeks in a month, my little stinker is exactly 4 months old now! Craziness I know!

This past week was a big one in Aria's life. She was Baptized on Sunday! She did so well. As long as I bounced her she wouldn't cry. She almost started to cry when I leaned her over to have the water poured on her hear but then she got very peaceful looking and just gazed into Fr Larry's eyes as he Baptized her. My arms felt like they were going to fall off by the time mass was over. My little baby isn't so little anymore and the constant need to bounce takes a toll on my "mom arms".

40 people came to see Aria's big day. Mike and Lauren came in from LA. Stefani drove down from Tahoe where she's on a 6 week rotation. Robert flew in from LA to be her Godfather. The day was filled with family and friends and everyone who will be there to support her now and for always. Her Godmother is Auntie Gabby and I'm sure she's going to be overjoyed growing up that she got the best Godmother in the whole world. She is going to be so spoiled.

My Aunt Amy, Aria's I don't know great Aunt?, got Aria an absolutely gorgeous Venetian lace gown from Italy. It's from the Island of Barona, famous for lace. When Aria was born Aunt Amy was in Italy with Tom and they just couldn't resist getting the beautiful gown for my little princess. She looks so cute and so darn spoiled in it. It has a little bonnet but Sister Rosheen made me take it off as soon as we entered the church. I'm not stupid, I was planning on taking it off when it was time for the water, but I didn't make a scene. I took it off and she only got to wear it at the reception.

For the reception Yaya made egg casserole, one of Marmar's famous recipes. I made potato salad and spinach dip. Aunt Sure brought a fruit salas. We had sausages cut up on toothpicks and Grammy brought KKD. Dessert was carrot cake from Draeger's. So delicious. I hadn't eaten sweets since my birthday so it really did taste like heaven to me. There was also festive drinks such as mimosas and sangria. The tables were adorned with lovely bouquets of lilies and white roses.

Kevin and I felt so grown up hosting a reception for our daughter's Baptism. Sometimes we are still shocked that we have her. Thankful everyday that she's in our lives.

The whole event went wonderfully til the very end, when Ben decided to tell Gabby that he wanted a break. Not cool. But even though everyone shed a few tears, we didn't let it ruin the day.

Yesterday I bought a Bumbo for Aria. I found one on Craig's List for $15. I drove to the woman's house in Los Altos to pick it up. Stinker looks really cute sitting in it like a big girl. I'm going to fish around Craigslist whenever I need baby supplies now. It's painless and saves money! Win win.

Aria is stil not sleeping, she only wants to be held all night long. Hopefully I'll have a positive update on this matter one of these days.

She is getting stronger and stronger though, she can almost pull her legs under her during tummy time, which incidentally she still hates.

Well I am off to dinner with Gabby, tending to the broken hearted is what I do best.

Week 15

Today Aria went with her Daddy and me to visit his friends who were working at the Apple store in Los Gatos. Kevin had a day off and wanted to show off his little princess to his buddies. They all were very impressed with how chunky she's gotten since her last visit. Jeff and Danny were working and it was nice to see them. One of the girl said Aria had beautiful eyes, which I was happy about since there's all this glory placed on having blue eyes (her eyes are still brownish/bluish/greenish…not sure where they'll end up, probably not blue though).

After we left the Apple store we went to our favorite Teriyaki Chicken rice bowl place, it's called Sushi Kazoo and it's right near Kevin's mom's apartment in San Jose. We haven't been there since our 6 year anniversary on March 30th! It was so very tasty! I ate way to much for a post-preggo mom trying to lose baby weight, but oh well. Kevin's mom met us there and it was nice to hang out with her. We stopped by her apartment after and visited Kevin's old kitties, Evil and Kitty. Kevin's mom loves them to pieces it's so cute.

Today also marks a change soon to come in our lives. We officially signed the form saying we are moving out of our apartment. I knew this was coming for weeks but couldn't bear to go sign the form without Kevin by my side. It's a scary thing change is. But without change there is no progress or movement. It was a very very hard decision to make but hopefully it will lead to something greater. It will, I know it will. I didn't get that sickened sense of dread after signing the notice, I had feared that I would. I feel that this is because I know it's the right thing to do for us and for our family and future to come. To the pool house we go October 21st! May we make the best of the time we have now and the best of the situation we will be in. Life is too short to be anything but happy and I fully intend on being happy no matter where we live or what path we find ourselves on. I will miss our apartment though. The first year of our marriage was spent in this little place. We found out our beautiful Aria would be joining our family almost a year ago here. I spend many a night laying on the couch trying to ease morning sickness here. It was while lying on the couch in this apartment, feeling ill as all get out, that I watched my beloved SF Giants will the 2010 World Series. So many memories. I love it here and I am sad to leave. But I will always have those memories and Evelyn Gardens will always be remember as the first home of the Houses :)

Let's see, what can I tell you about Aria this week. Well she has discovered that she has a voice! She "talks" to herself in the cutest baby way. It's different that the sounds she made before. It's using her voice more for longer increments. She also has started to laugh more. She's so funny. She loves the song "When the Saints Go Marching On". She has laughed for both me and Kevin while we sing the song to her while simultaneously moving her arms of legs about.

Aria's Baptism is this coming Sunday! So excited to show her off to everyone. I'm hoping to get everything ready for the party tomorrow so I don't have to stress out too much Saturday when Mike and Lauren are here. Either way, Lauren said they will be happy to help if there is work to be done so it should work out. I'm still trying to finalize my shmancy breakfast/brush menu.

Laughing at Saints video (only watch the first 30 seconds).

Baptism Invitation, new and improved

Added a few flourishes to make is more vintage in appearance. Faded out a cute picture of Aria in her Baptismal gown and bonnet, thought it added to the feel of the card.

Movie star baby ;-)

Who me?

Little love

Clothes are tasty!

Yes, I was correct in my first assertion: clothes are in fact delicious to lick.

I'm a little nugget

With a little nuggy face and kissy lips

Beau-coup add? hehe

Week 14

Well hello again, I have a free moment (Aria is napping in her swing) so I thought I'd give you an update on our little life here.

Let me start with a picture of my little beauty smiling in her bath. She loves to smile!

After returning home from the beach on Friday, after a long walk at Pajara Dunes Aria reverted once again to her Mr. Hyde side. Yes, since Friday night she has only slept in 2 hour increments at night, sometimes just 1 hour. She's been super cranky all day long and will only nap if I am holding her. I think this is her "three month growth spurt" according to the forums and advice columns I frequent. It seems too much of a coincidence that all the other mothers of June babies are having the same issues. Catering to my needy little princess has left me walking around like the living dead all week. Until yesterday, I literally just woke up (if I can even put it like that, since I was already up all night nearly) cared for Aria and tried to get sleep when I could. I didn't leave the apartment. Thankfully the night before last the cycle of doom was broken and she slept for 5 hours leaving mer feeling like a new mommy. I even went for a 6 mile hike with my mama at Rancho yesterday. On a side note, Aria has gotten so big and heavy that yesterday after our walk my knee hurt so bad I could hardly walk (she was in my front pack). Strolled next time I guess.

Actually I lied, on Wednesday, Kevin took a personal day, so that I could rest a bit. He was afraid that I was beginning to resent our daughter. This is not the case at all. I was simply exhausted and the crying and fussing 24 hours a day for a week was taking a toll on me. So yes on Wednesday, I escaped out for a bit with Gabby in the evening. We met up in downtown Mountain View and got some pearl mike tea. So good. Especially good since my tired thoughts forgot to think that pearl "milk" tea just might have milk in it!! Yes I drank some milk and it was good indeed. I didn't even have any guilt since this sin had no forethought or devious contemplation. I just remember thinking why WHY have I not have bubble tea sooner! hehe…oh yeah, that was it. After our lovely tea we wandered Castro street and stopped in a few shops and book stores. There was a hilarious book on the counter top at the bookstore called "Go the *** to Sleep". So baad, but too funny! It's modeled after a kids book but eloquently states what no parent is allowed to say: what they are actually thinking when they lovingly bond with their child before bedtime through the act of reading. Some parent must have just had it, and let our their steam in this lovely parody. I bet they felt much better after penning the devious text. It's funny that it says on the back, "not recommended for children". Because it looks like a kids book, I bet some parents have had a cow over it being in a prominent display. After the bookstore we at a "Pasta?" a tasty Italian style restaurant. Well we mainly ate bread and drank white wine. But our shared raviolis were well received into my tummy nontheless. I really did need some wine, chilling, and girltime with out my littlest girly. I think this is the first time, besides hiking at Rancho that I have hung out with Gabby without my bebe since she was born! Crazy and needed. Thanks Daddy Kevin for taking care of Aria and giving Mommy a break.

I'm still on awe of how fast Aria is growing. She fits well in 3-6 month clothes and I miss many of the newborn outfits that she used to wear. She becomes prettier and prettier everyday. She still can't roll over and hates tummy time. But I know she will get there eventually I'm just going to enjoy her being small and immobile for now.

Let's see what else is going on (I'm not used to having this much time to myself! She is still sleeping!). Kevin and I watched Warehouse 13 together, funny show, kind of like Eureka, another sci fi show. Now we are watching Battlestar Galactica, mainly because Gabby, Billy and Raph all watched it and I felt left out, plus it's free on Gabby's Netflix, which I have access to on our Apple TV. We finished season 1 already. It's pretty good, but not nearly at funny and lighthearted and Warehouse 13.

I really want to do a photo shoot with Aria. She is so cute and I want to document it. I need to borrow Billy or Gabby's SLR cameras. My digital point and shoot camera does not do her justice!

Next Sunday is Aria's long awaited Baptism. I'm still trying to decide if I should invite lots of people of just have a "small" family gathering. The reception is at my parents' house so I don't want to stress them with too many people. Hopefully we can get some cute picture of her in her Vinician Baptismal Gown.