'Tis the season...for weddings

We have come to the point in our lives where all of our friends are getting married...so brings a year of six weddings. (I know I know, Ben and I are a little off schedule :-)

I absolutely LOVE weddings. The pure joy and love that surrounds the celebration can not be matched.
In the last couple of weekends we have had the honor of attending two weddings. The first, which was a friend of Ben's from high school, was in San Diego, CA. The second was a close friend from law school and was back in Charlottesville, VA. It was so fun traveling to both weddings and seeing old friends. Back in Virginia, I got to visit my old school and see my students and colleagues. It was wonderful seeing everyone and introducing them to Ariah! We also got to see a bunch of our old law school friends.
We had a blast at both weddings--they were so beautiful! Our next two weddings are in May and we can't wait!!

Pam Bishop and Matt Adwell

Scott Dorfman and Leigh Schottinger

Ariah--ONE YEAR OLD!

Ariah's First Birthday--she loved the cake

So Ben and I officially survived the first year of parenthood. What an amazing, fast year it has been. We have had so much fun watching Ariah grow and change each and every day. We're looking forward to another fabulous year of firsts!

Ariah has become quite the walker in the past month (in fact, I think she is trying to run now :-) I was a bit nervous about having a mobile child, but it is actually quite fun. We can do so many new things now. She loves playing outside and going to the park. She climbs up the steps and loves the slide. Although I think the swings are her favorite. She got a sandbox for her birthday and could spend all day scooping the sand out and filling up all her buckets. We also started swim lessons, and she is definitely a fan of the water. She kicks her little legs as fast as they'll go. She doesn't mind going underwater, but mostly just likes to splash and kick.

She is picking up new "tricks" by the day :-) One of my favorites is blowing kisses. She gets her hand to her mouth, but doesn't follow through yet! She will say "Hi" and "Bye Bye" occasionally, but not consistently. Every day is a new adventure!

Ariah--11 Months

I can't believe we're on the countdown to the big FIRST BIRTHDAY! This has been a really fun month. She is really starting to communicate more and has all kinds of new tricks! She is trying to sign more, but gets all the signs confused! She's pretty good at "more" (go figure), and is trying to communicate "all done" (although that one is all messed up!)

Some funny things she is doing lately....every time she hears a dog or you ask her "what does a dog say", she woofs. It is hilarious. Another cute thing she started the other day was shaking her finger in the part of "10 little monkeys" that says "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

We are officially done with bows for a while. She learned how to take them out and loves to reach up there and get them out as soon as they go in! It was a sad day when I had to give up the bows!

Her walking is getting better by the day, although she still prefers to crawl. She can walk quite a long ways, but is slow about it. She still isn't great about standing up from the ground yet...which is probably why she prefers to crawl.

Here are some pictures from the month!

Vail

We just got back from a trip to Vail, Colorado where we had a BLAST! It was our first big trip away from Ariah, which was really hard, but she had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's. We went with some really special friends from college: Rachel, her fiance Justin, Danielle, and her boyfriend Travis. The skiing was AMAZING. I am completely spoiled now! We got to see a little of Denver on the way in, skiied for three days, and stopped to tour the Coors Brewing Company on the way back to Denver. Here are some pictures from the trip....

Ariah -- 10 Months

10 months old! I can't believe it! Ariah has become very fond of opening and closing things...doors, her toy box, cupboards, and the toilet. Yes, it is rather gross. She opens it up and plays in the water! I tried to get one of those toilet seat locks from Babies R Us, but they don't fit on our toilet...so we're trying to come up with an alternative plan.

As of yesterday she is taking a few steps!!! VERY EXCITING! She still doesn't have great balance, but she has the courage, which I guess is enough to get her moving. She will take a few steps to get to me, and even took a few steps to get from one toy to another yesterday.

She is still saying "dog" and we think that she knows who "dada" is now. We're not quite sure though because she babbles dadada so much. She took a break from singing milk for a while, but has revisited that lately. She signs it so much, we just can't figure out if she's trying to wave or practice her "milk" sign! Soon enough...

Another trick she learned this month was how to carry things in her mouth (yes, like a dog). She will put a toy in her mouth so she can crawl around with it!

Here are a few pictures from the month. She is a climber, so one of the pictures is when she climbed into her toy box and proceeded to throw out all the toys!

First word

I've been trying to capture Ariah's first word on video for a while now, and I was finally able to get her saying "dog!" (Of course it is in her highchair since that is where the dogs pay the most attention to her!) Ben and I are still a little hurt that the dogs got recognition before us, but we're trying to get past it and be excited about her first word :-)
(You may need to turn the sound up a bit on your computer to hear her--she says it a few times during the clip)

Ariah - 9 Months

With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays I completely forgot to post a 9 month update! Well, better late than never...

As always, she has grown and changed dramatically this past month. One exciting change is that she can eat almost all grown up food now! So meal times have been much more interesting as she explores all the new foods. She was being pretty adventuresome with her eating......until.....she learned to shake her head "no." Boy, is she proud of her new trick!! Of course, I'm pretty sure we encouraged it a bit, because it was really cute and funny at first....not so much anymore :-) Everything is "no" these days. Okay, so maybe it is still kind of cute. She even remembers the things she is not supposed to get into, and will walk up to them shaking her head with a big grin on her face!

Her signing is getting a little better. She is pretty good with "milk" and is experimenting with "all done." (She does her own version of the sign.)

Her mobility hasn't really changed that much this past month. She can stand for a little while on her own, but only if she is positioned perfectly to keep her balance. She cruises all over the walls and furniture though.

Another exciting "first" this month was her first word! She can say "dog!" When she first learned it, she was so thrilled with herself that she called everything/everyone "dog." But she has gotten better and just says it now when the pups are around.

I think that's about all the updates for the month...We'll see what month 10 brings!!!