To my sweet Aria, you are becoming quite the little lady and less of a baby! Babbling all the time to anyone who will listen. We love to hear your pronunciation of your words. Daddy likes that when you call for him, you have a slight British accent. It’s so fun to hear what you have learned already! Finally you have some hair starting to fill in and grow. We have been able to do some small ponytails and even a set of the most darling pigtails. Give mom some time to practice and we will create some cute hairstyles together. Holidays have come and you are definitely more interested this year. Halloween costume this year was a black cat and you made sure to thank everyone for your candy from trick or treating. Thanksgiving we spent with the Stokes side of the family. We enjoyed the company and swimming in the condo pool. Christmas is defiantly more exciting with you! Unwrapping the presents was a lot of fun for you and you didn’t care if they were for you or not to unwrap. We will be able to take a mommy and me dance class starting in January and I am so excited. I hope you come to love dance as much as I have through the years. Officially 18 months old means that you can now attend nursery. It will take a little getting use to, but I think once you discover the toys and snacks you will love it. You are so fun to play with and love to laugh. We color, play princesses, run and jump, tickle, and dance. You are recognizing new characters like Moana and the Grinch who stole Christmas. It’s a little sad that you are closer now to 2 years than my 1 year old but what a beautiful lady you are becoming. Statistics Height: 32 in (48%) and Weight: 21lbs 8oz (30%) wearing size 12-18 month clothing. You sleep through the night just fine about 10-11 hours with one nap during the day. Couldn’t be more proud of our girl. We Love you Aria.
Monday, January 29, 2018
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
12 Months
You are officially walking and unstoppable now! A little wobbly, but you never give up. We don't even mind holding your hands and walking slower to help your balance. You have been playing with all your new teeth using your tongue. Usually you will just end up sticking out your tongue completely at us. I love seeing your toothy grins. It's amazing to see how much you have grown! Statistics for your 1 year doctor check: 29 inches (41%), 19 pounds (36%), 6 teeth, wearing 12 month clothing, one curl on the back of your head, walking, and talking (Mama, Dada, Daisy, wow, OoOo).
A cake smash was defiantly in order for our sweet little girl! It was funny to watch as we sat you down with that cake in front of you. You never actually smashed anything. So surprising, but you were a perfect little lady. You picked/pinched at the frosting and cake and licked it all off your fingers. You were so cute in your little tutu and pearls, eating your cake though.
To celebrate you turning 1 year old we took a family vacation to California. Before the big birthday celebration began, we spent that Sunday with your Daddyto celebrate his first official Father's Day. We took him to see a baseball game; the Kansas City Royals versus the Aneheim A's. First time at a baseball stadium for you. Mommy was about your age when she attended her first game too. You defiantly knew it was all about Daddy that day, because you were wanting to be in his lap most of the time. Daddy says it was the best day ever, spending time with his girls.
We spent mornings shopping. You and I will make great shopping buddies in the future. It made us giggle that your show your enthusiasm by exclaiming "OoOoo" or "wow" at the shiny outfits or toys. Don't worry there were a few things we bought for you. In the afternoons, we liked to cool down by playing in the pool. You still love the water so much and since you're our baby “and not officially one until the 21st” we went to Baby Beach. You loved the waves coming up around your legs and then washing back down. We loved seeing you squish the sand with your fingers and toes as you explored around the beach.
Disneyland was a must on our trip. A trip to Disney is something I have always wanted to do as a family and I am positive that we will go again. We took two days to visit California Adventure and Disneyland. You loved it! We loved spending time together on rides like: King Tritan’s Carousal, Flik’s flyers, Ariel’s Underwater Adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dumbo, the Haunted Mansion, and more. The brighter colors and music seem to capture your attention the best. We even rode a couple of them twice since you seemed to like it so much. I think all three of us most enjoyed the spinning tea cups at the Mad Tea Party. We all couldn't stop smiling. This is the memory of you that we will never forget; that toothy smile as big as the Cheshire Cat's grin. Your smile was contagious to all and everyone just adored your princess wave. When asked how old you were, you gladly held up your finger to indicate you were 1 and everyone just "aww"ed and wished you happy birthday. Of course, you clap afterwards to show how proud you wereof your talents. We met several characters including: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Ariel, Cinderella, Spider-Man, Lightning McQueen, Tinkerbell, and more. You were a little timid at how large everyone was, but overall you seemed excited to see them. In the evenings, we watched the World of Color and firework show. Though you slept during most of these in your Daddy's arms, I think you had sweet dreams of them. On your birthday, June 21st, we ended our night in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle and shared a cupcake. Even though it was a bit past bed time, you still had a smile on your face, along with some frosting.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
11 months
We always knew you liked music, even from the time you were still growing in mom. You have discovered the piano and what sounds can come from it. Standing up, you can reach your hands onto the piano and like to play the keys. Of course you like to perform, so you have to make sure that everyone is in attendance for your concerts. This only makes you beam brighter and try to play louder. I think lessons will be something we look into for you.
Your balance has improved so much as the month has progressed. You even took several, unassisted walking steps forward on 05.06.2017. For whatever reason, you do best when you are holding something in your hands as you walk. We will count it as walking, even if you cheat and end up crawling to get somewhere faster. Our evenings this month have consisted of sitting on the floor and you walking back and forth from Daddy to me. We are so proud of you and its crazy seeing our little baby grow up and acting more and more like a toddler.
Another tooth is erupting! Tooth #F is coming in right on top. You have already started to test out what you can do with them. I have caught you grinding them together, the sounds sets me on edge. Crackers and Cheerios are lots of fun to crunch. You like to bite them in half now. More teeth still to come and then even more things you can enjoy eating.
As a family, we took the opportunity to attend the Idaho Falls Temple open house. Mommy was a little nervous that it might be hard for you to behave as we walked through the Temple. Needless to say, you continue to surprise us. You were an extremely well behaved girl. Daddy and I mostly alternated who held you as we walked from room to room, but you never cried or fussed. As we continued our tour, I couldn't help but feel extremely blessed that we were able to share this experience with you. I am sure you were able to feel just how special of a place we were at that moment. We are so lucky that you are sealed to us for eternity.
Things at our house are going so well. We all seem to have a pretty good routine down. About 7-8pm is about the time you start winding down for the evening. We usually give you a bath, read a book or two, brush teeth, and then we start to settle down for bed. It easy to tell when you get sleepy. You love to have your blanket up on Daddy or Mommy's shoulder and then you will lean your head in and cuddle up close. Your hands will work their way up and down to lightly brush against our arms as we hold you. Sometimes you reach up and will begin playing with Mommy's hair. I laugh that you do this, because as a little girl your Mommy did the same thing. I use to twirl your Poppy's hair; he claims this is why he no longer has hair. Serves me right that my daughter would do the same as me. Please don't pull all my hair out!
My favorite thing about this month is all in thanks to you. This month I was able to celebrate my very first official Mother's Day. This day is something I have looked forward to for an extremely long time and it all became possible thanks to you, my little miss Aria. You and Daddy presented me with a beautiful figurine that has a Daddy, Mommy, and baby all close together. It is entitled Our Gift. Aria, I want you to know that Mommy loves you very much. You and your Daddy are my everything. I am still learning and I know that I might not be perfect, but I hope to be your best friend and be the very best Mommy I can be for you. Thank you for my first ever official Mother's Day. I Love You Aria.
Monday, May 1, 2017
10 months
The beginning of the month you were working on getting your strength to stand up without assistance. It only took you like another week before you got that little trick down. Overall I would say your balance is getting better and better. You love to check and make sure we are watching you. We don't think it will be too long before you start walking, then I think it will be impossible to keep up with you! At least we are completely sleeping through the nights now. This will hopefully give me more energy to match yours baby girl.
It's officially you can now say "Dada"! It seems to be your new favorite word now. Daddy is beaming with pride every time you say it. Even when you yell it during church....we are working on teaching you about volume now. Together you and daddy read your Dada book and you finish with the last page saying "dadadadada" basically until you run out of breath. The two of you have the cutest relationship and I adore the love you have for one another.
Along with practicing words we have been working on our baby signs. You have the "more" sign down, although it looks a lot like your clapping too. Sometimes you even interlock your fingers and just shake your hands back and forth. We count it though. The "please" sign is still in the works.
Aria you celebrated your very first Easter this month. We attended an Easter egg hunt in Grandma and Grandpa Stokes neighborhood. Your cousins Carter and Jenna were able to join us this year too. Daddy made sure to help you pick out a couple eggs from the yards that were assigned to your age group. You did well even placing your plastic egg in your pink basket. After you let it drop into the basket you liked to dump it over so you could pick the egg up again. Your favorite part was to shake the eggs, because the candy made a fun rattle sound. We attempted to dye Easter Eggs, but you were less than interested this year. Daddy and I decorated one for each of us to have for Easter breakfast. Although you didn't care for coloring eggs, you sure like to eat them. As a family, we spent the day together. Breakfast, Easter baskets, church meetings, and Sunday naps. We joined the Stokes family for dinner and a special family home evening on the meaning of Easter.
It was a great Easter celebration, even if you were feeling a bit off. You began to run a fever and wanted only to cuddle daddy or me all day. Later that week you found that you were working on another new tooth. #P has been working itself right next to the other one. Two teeth right on the bottom. We will be needing to schedule to have your dental exam and cleaning done around your first birthday. Mommy is pretty excited to take you into work and introduce you to all the fun things we will use to clean and examine your teeth.
This tooth hasn't been easy to cut through. So Daddy thought of a wonderful idea to get your mind off of it. He took us to Artic Circle and bought all of us an ice cream cone. Yours was just the right size for you. You dove right into it and even got some on your nose. You were a little surprised at the cold touch of it, but your eyes got wide and lit up as you kept biting more ice cream off the cone. You were so messy by the end of it. It was so worth it to watch you enjoy that sweet little treat.
Just as we were thinking you were wouldn't learn any more new words for a while you go ahead and surprise us again. It seems you are trying to say "Daisy". We realized that we all do say daisy a lot, to teach you her name as well distinguish each of your toys. Needless to say you have shared a few things back and forth. You love your Daisy puppy so much. You try to show how much you love her by petting her softly. Daisy loves to give kisses to you and you will lean right in with an open mouth to give her a kiss in return. It's so funny that we all giggle at the sight. Daisy loves to come over especially when you are eating. She has realized you are good at sharing. You will give one piece to you and then a piece to Daisy. What a sweet hearted girl you are. Its amazing seeing your personality shine through! Daddy and Mommy love you very much Aria.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
9 months
Every month I think it can't have gone by so fast and yet here it has come again. My baby girl is growing so fast!
We have been practicing kisses this month. You must have been watching Daisy puppy to learn, because you like to go in with an open mouth and tongue out for your kisses. It makes us smile anyways it's so cute and kinda wet. We still can't say no and will gladly take kisses from you anytime.
Chattering and making new sounds is what you love to do lately. You are working so hard to put sounds together to make words. You have officially said your first one though.......drumroll........it was "Mama" and you said it on February 25th. Daddy was the one to actually get you to say it and even recorded it so we could re listen to it. You are really close to saying "Dada" but you have been inconsistent and like to whisper that sound in particular. I am sure you will love telling us all sorts of stories as your get older.
As a family, we celebrated that you completed your swim class. Daddy took us to swim at the indoor Lava kiddie cove pool. The water was so warm and we introduced you to the little fountains first. You loved them! You were smiling and climbing all over those mini fountains. It was so cute to see. You splashed and kicked and had a great time. It didn't seem to even bother you when water would splash up onto your face. Daddy couldn't believe how well you did in the water.
You have been trying to push all your toys around, so we decided to give you one that was meant to push. This walker might be your new favorite toy! The biggest smile comes across your face because you are on the move and you love that mom and dad are watching and applauding your every move. It's hard to think you are big enough to do this yet.
Books are so much fun to read with you. This is actually one of the only times you will sit still on our laps. Your favorite books are mostly the touch-and-feel ones. The soft fluffy ones seem to be your favorite to touch. One book in particular you like to lift the flaps yourself to be able to see the hidden animal and feel the texture. It's crazy how smart you are to have figured that out already. I foresee many more books in our future and trips to the library. We have been practicing our waving "hello" and "goodbye". Seems like you are starting to get the concept. Your waves are part like a "beauty queen" wave, as you like to twist your wrist while doing it. You go back and forth on what hand you use so you might be left hand. We will just have to wait and see what happens.
Meal time is becoming more messy now. You really would love it I just handed over the spoon so you can do it yourself, but I know it will end up everywhere if I do. We compromise and I give you a little bit of food that you can grab with your thumb and pointer finger to feed yourself. It's fun to watch you figure out all the new textures and new foods we are giving you now. You didn't seem to love the texture of the banana bit I handed you but you liked eating it. You are eating more now and your appetite is growing. Your tummy is starting to fill out nicely.
Nine month doctor check up this month was good. We didn't have to have any pricks this time so that was nice. I laughed a little when we placed you on the scale this time. You wanted to sit up and you watched as our nurse, Tiffany, moved the sliding weights to record your number. You must have thought it look like fun because you reached to grab at it too. I can't help but giggle as I thought you were attempting to change what number she was about to record and put in your file. Doctor was extremely happy with your numbers for height and weight and reports that our next appointment won't happen until after you are 1 year old. I avoid thinking that we are that close to 1 year. But we still have some time before that comes so we will continue to enjoy each month and milestones you continue to achieve. Mommy and Daddy are so proud of what you have done in 9 months. We are so lucky to have you in our lives.
Monthly Stats include:
17lbs and 12oz for weight (41%)
27 and 3/4 inches for height (50%)
17 and 1/4 inches head circumference (47%).
Eating 3-4 meals of solid food and 3 helpings of milk in between meals.
Naps 1-2 times a day (one short power nap in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon)
Sleeping 7 hours at night. We are so close to sleeping through the whole night.
Wearing size 2 diapers
Wearing 9 month clothing
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
8 months
Aria, you love your bath time! Since you've taken to the water, we decided to take a Mommy-and-Me swim class together! Our first class was on 1/25/17. Honestly, I was curious to see what you would do when we actually got in the water. At first you clung to me and the water wasn't quite as warm as we like to have but by the end of it you were really enjoying yourself. Only three total in the class and you were the youngest and only girl there. You wore an itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka-dot bikini! And you looked absolutely adorable. I love my bikini baby. In the class we practiced front floats, back floats, blowing bubbles (go figure it's the only time you wouldn't blow your raspberries was in the pool), kicks, and climbing out of the pool. I wouldn't say we are ready for the Olympics, but you sure did a great job and it must have been exhausting work. Nap time always followed our swim class.
Still crawling all over the house. You especially like to come after us if we start to leave the room. You are getting quick too! Sometimes we pretend to chase you and you squeal with excitement. Or we will let you peek around the corner to "surprise" us. It's so much fun to play with you. You love it when we will throw you up into the air and catch you! You are fearless and I have to admit that is kinda scary for mommy. But Daddy and I think you will love going on roller coasters in the future!
We have been trying to teach you to blow kisses. You have not been consist with it but the one time you actually did it on your own and it was directed at Daddy. It made your father extremely happy! You have occasionally made fish lips and it makes us laugh so much! I guess that is what you think we look like when we give you kisses.
Everything is trying to make it into your mouth these days. Must be wanting to test out your incoming tooth. #O tooth is just barely cutting through. You can get a little fussy with it, but we already have been practicing our brushing which you take to very well.
This month we celebrated your first Valentine's Day! You actually (with help from your GiGi) made us a little gift to celebrate Valentine's. You picked out Frozen Valentine's to give to your Daddy and me, along with a cute picture printed from your Valentine's photo shoot. It was the sweetest thing, receiving a valentine with mommy written on the card. You will always be our Valentine forever. Happy Valentine's Day. We love you so much Aria!
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
7 Months
Merry First Christmas Aria! And it was a very white this year. So much snow you weren't quite sure what to think of it all. Mommy may have given you one small taste of the fresh snow. Once you got over the initial shock of cold you seemed to like it. We made sure to visit Santa this year so you could sit on his lap. We weren't sure how you would react, but you surprised us. You stared at Santa, pulled on his beard, and then looked at us for a quick picture with a very little smile. We told Santa that you were a very good girl this year and he wished us all a very Merry Christmas. For Christmas Eve we all opened one present, Daddy helped you open yours. It was your very first set of Christmas pajamas! You must have been a little excited for Christmas morning because you did not want to sleep that night at all! Still we got up early to open gifts. You were so spoiled with gifts from Santa, mommy and daddy, and both sets of your grandparents! You were the only gift your Daddy and I wanted this year, and we were so blessed to share the holiday with you. Best Christmas ever!
New Year's Eve we went out to dinner to celebrate with friends. The three of us must have been still tired from lack of sleep Christmas, because we all went to bed before midnight and didn't get to ring in the New Year watching the countdown. Maybe next year we can try to stay up later. Welcome to 2017 Aria! Its going to be a great year with you.
You are definitely starting to like your food more! We have tried a variety of things now including green beans, peas, carrots, apples, peaches, pears, squash, and bananas. My favorite was when you tried bananas for the first time! It must have been the texture combined with the taste. You gave us a sour look on our face and scrunched your nose as you kept eating. Lots more first foods to try from here on out!
All this food I think is making your grow stronger. You began pulling yourself up into a standing position using the couch, coffee table, and your crib. I would come into your room after you wake up from your nap and there you were standing up in your bed with your little eyes peering over the rail. Then once you spotted me you had the biggest grin on your face. It was time to lower your crib down.
You are pretty proud of your accomplishments, but not as much as your Daddy is. He loves to share your progress with everyone on how advance you are. You also discovered stairs are a great thing to climb. I was so impressed with how quickly you figured out you can go up them, but you love to check and make sure everyone is watching you only to flash a smile. Now that you have the climbing up stairs mastered we need to work on the proper way to come down them. Besides showing off, you love to babble and make all kinds of sounds. You are trying to imitate us by sticking out your tongue. It's so fun to watch you discover new things. You have to scratch and test all your surrounding textures.
I think one of my favorite things this month is that you have become a little bit of a mommy's girl. You love to reach out your arms towards me and have me hold you. I can never reject that request either! I love that we are so much alike. You have a head tilt just like your Mommy. It's so great that you want to go wherever I go. I will gladly carry you around too because you are my best accessory! I hope that we will always hold a special relationship between the two of us as mother and daughter, but as best friends too.
Baby stats wearing 6 month clothing still. Eating three meals a day (sometimes only two) with bottles of milk in between. Still not sleeping through the night entirely, but doing well sleeping in your crib. Getting more cute every day!