Reading my favorite book "TAILS" with daddy...

The Yoga Master

One of my favorite things, pulling up on my toy shelves and picking out stuff to throw on the floor.

Mom ran upstairs and I pulled the laundry basket on top of myself somehow...

Amazing Valentines Day cake for C

Playing with the laundry basket...

Yesterday she pushed it across the rug!

Riding in the laundry basket...I LOVE to play with daddy!

Counting cheerios...

Behind me is my cardboard "pull up" box. I also love to pull up on the car...

Crazy week!

Yesterday during nap-time Aria stood up in the crib! As soon as nap was over we lowered the mattress to the lowest level and took out the aquarium. She is pulling up on everything now--but still no sign of real crawling. She takes two pulls forward and collapses her legs so she is lying.

First babbling, now pulling to stand all the time. C is going out to get baby-proofing stuff this weekend. I'm going to post some pictures of her eating cheerios...she has recently mastered the pincer grasp.

In other news, I am down 26 lbs since 12/27. Still have 30 lbs more to go but at this rate I could be back at my goal by early May!

Finally BABBLING!!

We went in her room this am and she greets us with "Blah, blah, blah" in an Adam Sandler-esque voice. We are so excited! She finally babbling (making bu, pu, ma, da sounds) and we hope "ma" and "dada" are soon to follow...

Pulling up...

Aria is still working on her crawl. She's up on all fours, rocking, occasionally moving forward before she's back down on the ground. Her favorite thing is pulling up. Yesterday she pulled herself to her feet using the toy rack---and started picking out toys!! We're going to have to get serious about childproofing pretty soon. Still getting over our colds but looking forward to a visit to Aunt J and Aunt N in Northern CA soon.

Another cold...grrrr!!

We went to the pediatrician yesterday for Aria's 4th and worst cold of the season--he heard wheezing so he put her on albuterol inhaler with a spacer. It is surprisingly easy to give her the dose, once I pin her arms with my leg. She is a trooper and has a new toy--see below--which she is really enjoying.

The other news at the pediatrician...Aria has put on 4 lbs since her visit just 1 1/2 mos ago. She is now almost 19 lbs. We didn't get a height measurement since it was a sick visit. She has quite the gut and butt now, now to mention an extra chin. It is sooo cute!

Riding my new walk 'n ride

I love this thing!!

Trying to change gears, for some reason I can only go in reverse...

Aria discovers cherries...

Suckin' cherry juice through my mesh feeder...

Thanks oxyclean for getting the cherry juice out of my UVA bib!

Look ma, no hands. Now if I could only say "ma"...

Check out my teeth!!

Cheese!

I love my exersaucer...

Two pearly whites!

Contributing to the blog...

Update...7 MONTHS!!!

Aria is doing great...despite teething and what I now suspect is a cold. She is getting around by rolling everywhere and scooting backwards on the hardwoods. With us she is always laughing and smiling--if strangers fuss over her she bursts into tears--real tears and lots of them. Very disconcerting for people :0 She quickly recovers and once she gets used to the attention, smiles and flirts =) She loves her exersaucer and spends most of her time in it pushing objects off the side for me to pick up.

She has been enjoying football season and following the Eagles, Redskins and Chargers. She is very excited that the Chargers have moved ahead in the play-offs and play the Colts today. Aria loves to eat all fruits and vegetables although I avoid peas now since they have unfortunate side effects and challenge my diaper changing, clothes washing abilities. No crawling or babbling yet although we spend a lot of our time saying mama and dada to her.

Check out new pictures below!

Pictures from my brother-in-law, K

Cousin K feeding Aria while Cousin L supervises...yes, Aria's cousins are as sweet as they look.
Aria with her Sweigart GREAT-grandparents at Grandpa J's
Aunt Mel and great-grandma...
Having fun with the Sweigarts...
Green beans are Goooood!

Aunt D and Cousin K. Aria LOVES her cousins!
Opening gifts on just before Christmas. Aria loves this dog, a gift from Aunt M and Uncle K. Uncle K gets a amazing pictures of Aria!

Pictures from Christmas in Virginia!

Lots of great photos taken by my brother-in-law H and sister S. Their adorable red-head, A is feeding Aria and playing with her.

Back in CA

We had a fun time in Virginia seeing family and friends. Aria was a real trooper with all the traveling and had a great time with all her cousins--on both sides of the family. Chris and I had a wonderful time being with family and seeing our old friends. It was, as always, too short and there were a few people we'll have to catch up with during our spring trip back.

Aria caught her second cold and we've been laying low since we returned on Christmas between the cold, teething (her two lower front teeth are pushing through) and jet lag we've been struggling to get back on some semblance of a schedule. She is still sleeping 12/13 hours at night but going to bed at 5:30!

I will try to post some pictures as soon as I get them...

Back to VA for Christmas!

Hope to see most of the readers of this blog soon! I'll leave you with a picture of Aria's Virtual Play Group Holiday Party ;)

6 Month Check-up

Aria was weighed, measured and poked today at her 6 month appointment with the pediatrician. Her weight is 14 lbs 14 oz (25%), height 27" (90%) and head circumference 42 cm (normal). Everything went well. We are starting "solids" ie pureed foods (in addition to the rice cereal we've been giving for more than 2 months)

We are very excited to be going back to VA in less than a week!!

A Day in Our Life...

Most days Aria is up at 7:15 or thereabouts. C goes and gets her and changes her (if I get her she realizes she's hungry and cries) then brings her into our bedroom for me to nurse. Her smiles when she sees me sitting waiting in bed for her are the best part of my morning! After I nurse her and give her a bottle we usually watch daddy brush his teeth with the electric toothbrush. Fascinating!

She plays in the exersaucer while I drink my coffee, check my online board and email. Then we play on the floor until she's been up for about 1 1/2 hours. We strap on the Baby Bjorn and I take her with me while I walk Casey. We will sometimes do Baby Einstein when we return for 10 min then it is down for a one hour nap. We try to get out every day to the store, the mall or a play group at some point during the day.

Evenings are bath time with daddy, bottle with mommy and bed. Aria is in bed by 6:30 which leaves plenty of time to make dinner, watch a dvd, football or our favorite Tevo'd shows!

Christmas Photos