Ariah--17 Months

WOW! I'm behind! Ariah is now 17 months! She has changed so much in the last couple of months I don't even know where to begin. Her vocabulary is growing more and more every day. I stopped writing down all of her words when she got to about 30 words a couple months ago. She is beginning to put 2 words together, and daddy consistantly gets a "byebye dada" on his way out the door. She understands so much of what we say and watches our every move! Recently she picked up my trick of tapping my toe when some food is dropped for the dogs to come and get it. So now whenever she drops food she taps her little toe on the ground too! It is very cute.

She is still LOVING the Little Gym. She has learned to jump, and gets off both feet! The bars are her favorite where she loves to swing and pull her feet up to the bar.

After 6 long months I think we are finally coming out of the separation anxiety phase! She no longer crys when I leave her in the nursery at church or with babysitters and she lets other people besides mommy hold her even when I'm in sight. She still has her moments when only mommy will do, but I think the worst is over.

I can't believe we are coming up on 18 months! I am so excited to watch her communication and language increase in the months to come.

San Diego

We just got back from our annual trip to San Diego with my parents. We had such a wonderful time and got to see lots of my family from Cali. We went out on our friends boat, went jet skiing, spent lots of time on the beach, walked and rode bikes on the boardwalk, and had a great time!
Ariah loved the beach and had no fear of the water! As soon as we got to the sand she would say "byebye" and run to the water! Here are some pictures from our trip....

Ariah--15 Months

So when I started stroller strides last year I met a group of moms that had 15 month olds. At the time those kids looked like big kids. And now here I am with a 15 month old of my own. And my perceptions were all wrong--she's still my baby, not a big kid. But she continues to change every day! We go in for her 15 month check up next week and I have my fingers crossed that we've hit the 20 lb mark so I can turn her car seat to face forward in the car!

Her vocabulary continues to grow each day. Some new words she's picked up this month include belly, shoe, duck, and no. She's very fond of using the dreaded 'n' word! She makes sure to tell the animals what they are not allowed to do (according to her 15 month old mind) by shaking her finger and saying no-no-no-no at them! It is quite cute, I'll have to work on getting it on video.

She just got another tooth this week, and it looks like the last 3 (besides her 2 year molars) are on their way down too. YAY! Almost done.

She started her gym classes at the Little Gym this month and absolutely loves them. She climbs over everything, swings on the bar, and can walk the balance beam with my help. One downside...I think it is contributing to her desire to climb up everything now! We were at a friend's house the other day and I looked over and Ariah had climbed right onto their glass coffee table! The little squirt.

Every day is a new adventure!

Happy Father's Day!

I realized how blessed we are in the "dad" department when I went to buy our Father's day cards this year. There were so many people to buy for! With Ben, our dads, our 3 grandpas, my Godfather, and Ariah's godfather...there were quite a few cards in the cart! Very special!

Our Father's Day was wonderful! We are so lucky to have our amazing daddy's so close that we were able to spend time with both. We celebrated with the Reeves in the morning over brunch and then had dinner at my parents house in the evening. Ben picked out some new shades for Father's Day and of course got treated like a king...he didn't even have to change one diaper (okay, so that's not really much different than normal) but he had a great day! We love all the dads, grandpas, and godfathers in our life!!

Ariah--14 Months

It has been another exciting month for little Miss Ariah. All four of her molars came in, which she wasn't too thrilled about! Hopefully we're done teething for a bit since we've worked through 6 new teeth in the last month and a half.

She's still enjoying swim lessons, but I think we're going to stop for a while and work on everything we've learned on our own. She has gotten really good at kicking, holding on to the wall, and swimming to the wall and grabbing on. She doesn't like floating on her back all that much, but we're still going to practice since it is so important!

Since we're stopping swim for a while, we are going to try out the Little Gym. Knowing how much she loves to climb, I think she'll have a great time!

She is getting very good at the words she already knows and has been working on some new words/sounds this past month. She's now saying "uh oh", "all done", "push" (for the swing...although most people wouldn't be able to decipher this one :-), and my parents noticed yesterday that she's starting to say her name. It sounds like she's trying to sing it...with all three syllables very clear. I've never noticed her doing this, but we've already heard her say it twice now since my mom mentioned it last night! Amazing!

She's very in to playing outside these days, despite the heat. She loves to play in the dirt, water the flowers, move rocks around, swing, play in any water she can find, chase the cat, anything she can find to do outside!

Another change this month is her attachment to Blankie. She's always been very attached to Blankie, and it comes with us everywhere. But these days we can't go more than 10 minutes before she does her sign for "where's Blankie?" I don't mind having Blankie around all of the time, but it gets a little tricky when Blankie needs a wash or when we are somewhere (like in the pool) where Blankie can't come!

Here are some cute pictures from the month. She had a blast looking at herself in the mirror with sunglasses on!

May Weddings

This past month brought two more fabulous weddings. Lindsey Palmer married Dylan Miller on May 2 and Betsy Lawson married Derick Kurdy on May 23rd. Both weddings were absolutely beautiful and tons of fun! It's always so much fun to see old friends at weddings that you haven't seen in years.
Our next weddings are in October...can't wait!

Betsy Lawson and Derick Kurdy

Lindsey Palmer and Dylan Miller

Ariah--13 Months

This month didn't start out all that well, but it got remarkably better :-) Ariah was sick for a week or so with a stomach bug, and not very pleasant (I can't say I blame her as Ben and I both got it too and it wasn't much fun.) Then I took her bottles and formula away, which she didn't like all that much, then she got two new teeth! That's a lot for a baby in a couple of weeks! But things worked themselves out toward the end of the month, and she's a much happier baby now! She's eating all sorts of new food (since she's forced to eat, rather than rely on formula!) She hasn't really taken to whole milk yet, but I think that'll come eventually.

She is communicating more and more every day! She has several new words this month. She learned "up" rather quickly when she was sick because all she wanted was to be held :-) (It comes out more like "ut", but she's been working really hard at that 'p'!) She also started saying "more" but that one comes out "mo mo mo". It's really cute! She is also saying "hi" and "bye bye" more. But she's still selective about who she gives those to. She was happy to say "hi" to all of the animals at Petsmart the other day, but wouldn't give the cashier the time of day. Daddy consistently gets a "bye bye" on his way out the door now!

It is amazing watching how much she actually understands now. When I say "let's feed the doggies" she will go and pick up Copper's dish and bring it in to have me fill up. Everyday is something new!

This month also brought her first airplane ride to Virginia. She did pretty well considering we flew for about 5 hours. We bought her a seat and were SO glad we did, as you know she is quite a wiggle worm. I was so worried about the whole trip, but it all turned out great!

Here are some pictures from the month....