Ariya's Area

Ari has been rejecting her highchair in favor of sitting at the table with us for a couple of weeks, momma has just been in denial...  Guess it's time to retire the highchair and dig up a booster. It's a strange combination of relief and regret to know I don't need to save anything for the next one. Here is she is enjoying her cereal milk. That smile made the room brighter and my heart lighter. Couldn't you just eat her up?

Ariya's Area

Heath came over to have me take pictures of Gracie in a dress she made. We wound up putting it on Ari and I got a few shots. I was trying out my black backdrop, had a headache and for some reason my auto-focus was giving me trouble, so I don't think they are very good, BUT, what can I say?  My kid is a adorable and Heath did a great job on the dress, so it's worth sharing.

 

 

Gracie is going to be a big sister in 4 more months!

Memory of the Day...

Ariya is toddling around the house singing, Coooooori, La Lu! Cooooori, Coooori. LAAAAAA LUUUUU! (La Lu is I love you).

She's cracking all of us up! She's so freakin' cute!

And Now she is banging on the laundry room door, calling CORI.... Door!

No, baby, she's not there, she's home with baby Vinnie.

She's replies, K, but is undeterred, waiting patiently by the door and singing, dubba dubba da...

and now, she is toddling around looking for Vinnie, calling, Baby! Baaaby!

makes a detour to unfold some freshly folded laundry to refold it "properly".  No wait, apparently that didn't meet her cleanliness standards because it went back in the pile.

Uh, oh, gotta go rescue a kitten...

Tonight...

Ari found her bunny baby and "fed" it a pretend salt shaker. She went to bed with her bunny and a mommy-supplied babydoll bottle (I didn't want the poor thing to develop hypertension with all that salt!).
Watching her snuggle down in her bed wearing a pair of fleece footy PJs that proclaim "I'm NOT Sleepy!" and feed her "baby" was one of the cutest sights ever... and it greatly made up for Wednesday  night's less than peaceful bedtime, LOL.
Wednesday night she snuggled in with her doll and her blanket and before I got halfway across the room she sat bolt upright in her bed and SCREAMED, Mommy NO!
Ariya JEAN! It is night night time, lay down.....and you don't tell momma No!... hands on my hips in a firm but not angry voice... I was more surprised than anything. 
My sweet obedient toddler responded to this gentle discipline by ..... turning bright red, flinging her baby and SCREECHING at the top of her lungs NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! This went on for a good 15 minutes and required Daddy intervention (and he wasn't anymore successful than I was-HAH!).
Welcome to the Terrific Twos... she won't actually be two till March, but I think we are there already.
Just for reference sake, whenever I was asked about Trin during this joyous, challenging part of parenting I responded with... Trin? Oh yeah, she's doing well... I mean, she is sort of like living with a bipolar, schizophrenic midget with a Napoleon complex, but other than that she's great....
Good Times....
gooooood times ;)

Ariya's Area

Wish I could take credit for these, but only a couple of them are mine, the rest are Jesse practicing capturing catchlights. Ari had just had a bath and the kids decided to share techno with her via an iPod.
The out-take is priceless as well! I'm not sure why, but the compression for the web washed the colors out a bit. The version for print is a significantly more vibrant and rich-pinks are deeper and the brown is richer. I've never had that happen before, it's strange.

Ariya's Area

She is doing well today. Sore and a little swollen, but back to her normal impish self.
She ended yesterday by telling me she loved me. "I La Lu". I love the little reminders of God's Grace!
She started today chasing her brother around the house with a large plastic machine gun and "shooting" him. She makes the shooting sound and everything. I told Talyn no more war games with her, TEA PARTIES I said....
She is a caffeine junkie. It started innocently enough. She asked for a sip of my coffee, the bottom part with all the milk and sugar. By ask, I mean pointed and screamed until I gave her some. Now she charges in to the kitchen every morning, with a huge grin, points and shrieks "CawFeeeee!!!"

Hangin' in the ER...

Jesse and I spent a fun filled evening at the ER with Ari. She had a 105.7 fever....no, not a typo. She has a virus, so does Sylver. Might be swine flu, but the test is so incredibly inaccurate they aren't testing for it unless the parents insist. They said the flu is rampant right now and everyone there was wearing masks. The girls should both be fine in a couple of days. Ari got a cath test that she didn't even cry for, came back clean. She also got a finger stick that didn't bother her at all until they put a bandaid on it. Then she freaked out until we took it off, little goof!

There was a little girl that came in right before Ari... I overheard them say she had swallowed a metal hairclip. On the way out I saw the family checking out and she was the cutest little cherub ever! A Shirley Temple head full of curls in RED! Such a huge happy grin on that little one, as well! She was so pleased with herself, LOL. I normally find ER visits to be quite depressing, but this one wasn't bad at all.

One More...

Yup, that's a colander on her head :)

Some Pictures of Ariya from Last Month...

Ariya is getting SO big! She drinks out of a big girl cup!


No denying this little one!



Loooook in to my eyes.... you will bring me all your candy :)



This is either, Daddy has cute cheeks, or Daddy needs help getting these spikey things out of his face :)


Trinny giving Ariya a hand Up and Away! Ariya was quite unhappy about the feel of the grass on her bare feet and Trinny, being the awesome big sister she is, rescued her!
Click on this one to see it full size! Actually all of them are click-able!

Reason #237 to Pick Up Your Dirty Laundry...

Tonight while I was downstairs I heard a blood curling baby scream coming from upstairs... it was of the "I bumped my head" variety, not the "I am gushing blood" variety (yes, I really can tell the difference- it's all in the pitch, LOL). I heard Jesse go running, so I figured it was under control. Then, I heard him laughing so hard he could barely talk. Ari's latest skill is to try to dress herself. She uses diapers (clean), blankets (mostly clean) and, now, Daddy's Boxers (ummm, Not Clean). And as if that wasn't bad enough, she got her head STUCK IN THEM. So, no, she didn't bump her head, she was STUCK IN DIRTY DADDY UNDERWEAR and was, understandably, horrified. Even her little baby mind knew, This is Wrong, SO. VERY. WRONG.

My poor poor baby. I better start saving for the therapy that is going to require right now.

Life is busy, never boring :)

Ariya's Area....

She WALKED!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! She was so stinkin' proud of herself too, LOL. 

Ariya's Area....

Ariya said Happy and Cookie today. I am pretty sure in her world they mean the same thing. 

Who am I kidding? In MY world they mean the same thing

___________________________________________________

Ariya's Area....

Bri-  Catchlights :) 

How am I gonna get Daddy OUT of this thing??

Ariya's favorite pastime is emptying my diaper bag. She reached up to pull it down while I was taking her picture and I said, No, No, No, Ari. 

She responded with... well, that. 

Anyone know where she gets that? Anyone?

Ariya Is One!

Last year at this time I was in labor. I spent 15 hours at home in labor before going in at noon. Heather got to the hospital before Jesse and I! The room was filled with laughter, love and light. I knew then that it would be the last time I gave birth and I tried to be in each moment. With Jesse and Heather by my side we welcomed Ariya in to the world. Talyn, Sylver and Trinity arrived with Gramma very shortly after and we all marveled at her beautiful dark hair, giggled at her big feet and smiled in to those huge eyes drinking us all in. 

It's been a year but I can still reach back in to my memory and feel her silken hair, stroke her chubby cheek and remember how awestruck I was that, yes, I really could love someone that I just met. Again. 

This year has stretched me to the limits of what I believed I was capable of, brought me to the knee of our Heavenly Father daily, and forced me to not only accept my limitations, but reminded me time and again that I am not capable of perfection. Not even close. And that's ok. More than OK, actually. Liberating.  I CAN'T do it all and That's OK. Really, truly, ok. Wow. 

I know, now, that even though I don't have a choice any more, if I did have a choice I would choose no more children. Ariya has truly completed our family. She filled the empty space at our dinner table and that empty place in our hearts that we didn't even know we had. 

I can't wait to watch her grow and see who she becomes ... just not too fast, my beautiful little daughter, not too fast. 

Ariya's Area

Sylver taught Ari "soft touches" on Quinny this week. She calls all the cats "Popeye", BTW. She is really learning to communicate with words lately. When she was petting Quin she said, Niiiiiice. When I call her brother or sisters she hollers for them too (Bub Bub and EEEYaw!) You have to pay attention, but she says a whole lot of words! She is also quite strong willed. At dinner she tries to climb out of the high chair and on to the table or my lap. If she doesn't respond to gentle correction or distraction I put her on the floor. Most babies this age are easily swayed by distraction, but she gets something in her head and WILL. NOT. LET. IT. GO. She comes by that honest. She sleeps through the night finally! 12 hours! She won't take more than a 45 minute nap twice a day and only if I lay with her. But, honestly, I'll take it!

She was playing in the dry cat food tonight and Jesse said, Ari No, No, No... Ari looked up and nodded her head YES and put her hand back in the bowl. 

I went to Target today with Ari and Angel while Jesse took the older children to see Race to Witch Mountain. Ari was sing songing every word she knows in the Target and people where just falling all over themselves for her! It was so sweet! A teenage stock boy actually giggled at her, LOL. 

And in Kitten News, Luca had a litter of SEVEN last night! WOW! We have never had a litter this big before! She did awesome and we didn't loose any... one is worrying me a little, so we will see about him, but the rest all look really good. 

Trin and Ariya

Here is a disastrous attempted photo shoot of Trin and Ari in matching outfits. Aw well, at least I can always count on Trin to pose for me! We had better luck with Ari the day she wore her first pigtails, though! Isn't she the cutest when she isn't screaming her head off!?

FYI, you can see the full size pictures by clicking on them.