Goodbye, Toothless Grin ...

... and Hello, Teeth!


We will miss the toothless grin (and the innocuous, sweet gumming of our fingers). But the teeth are pretty cute, too. Along with the teeth comes the desire to chew on absolutely everything. The toy chicken:


Her blocks:


Her turtle:


Mommy's face:


Other parts of Mommy's face:


And along with the chewing, comes another innocent but painful habit. Yes, you guessed it, hair pulling. (I'm not sure why I look so happy in this picture. I think it's because it was just at the beginning of the hair pulling stage. It's no longer quite so entertaining.)


Our little Aria is six months old today! That's a (whole) half a year! Wow. We can't believe it. She's growing by leaps and bounds. She's been practicing sitting up by herself. On a good day, she can go up to an entire minute without tipping. See?


Here we were practicing sitting up, but got too distracted by the shiny, silver camera:




A couple of weeks ago, Aria's uncle Riley and I took her on her first trip to the beach. We bundled up and had a lovely time.







Generally, we've been having lots of fun. Aria's had lots of visits from family and friends and she seems to be enjoying growing into herself. We managed to remember to take pictures while Uncle Shmiel was visiting on his way to Guatemala (the grand adventurer!).


Following is an assortment of pictures that , for various reasons, couldn't be left out.

First, in response to a specific request from Grandpa, here's the family:


And, Grandpa, notice how many more pictures are here that include Mommy? I've been trying! Here are a couple more:



Every once in a while, someone is lucky enough to get Aria into a fit of the giggles. It's just about the best thing ever, although rare enough that it's very hard to catch on film. I managed a couple and Riley got one with his fancy iPhone.

Giggling with Nana:



Giggling with Mommy:


Maybe this blogging thing should be done by someone other than Mommy. I can't seem to choose between pictures. Thus the following sequences of very similar shots. Maybe you can appreciate how hard it would be to leave out a single one?

Playing:

and more playing:


and more playing:


and more playing:


and more playing:


and still more:


Playing is tiring!

Chillin' with Carmen:



That's all for now. Remember, there's nothing like the real thing. Give us a call and come by for a visit, if you can.

Halloween and beyond...

So... since our last post, so much has happened.

I got to celebrate my first birthday as a mommy with family and friends. It was pretty great. Thanks to all of you who were able to participate.

For Halloween, Aria and I dressed as a couple of marsupials. Or Kanga and Roo, depending upon your preference. (Shhhh... don't tell anyone that it's the same costume that we wear for our walk on any cold day or evening.) The three of us went for a little Halloween walk to spy on trick-or-treaters and ogle at their cute costumes.

Guess who's Kanga and who's Roo.




Incidentally, we were wearing this same get-up a couple of weeks back as we walked to our local neighborhood drug store to pick something up. The sales woman was very friendly. Aria got fussy and I tried to reassure her that it wasn't personal. I had some brilliant explanation like, "I think she just likes being outdoors better." Anyway, I didn't notice the clerk's persona change until I heard her say, sort of under her breath and clearly disapproving, "What is that little girl doing in a blue cap?" Her demeanor was definitely consistent with someone of the opinion that I was damaging this poor child. We think Aria looks lovely in blue.


Aria has passed the five month mark! We can't believe how quickly time flies.

I remember reading the Armstrong's blog a while back and seeing something about them having been blessed with a time of relative ease. That's how we're feeling. Aria is getting better at communicating her needs and we're getting better at reading her communications. She sleeps pretty well most days. She's pretty content much of the time, her moods ranging from giggly and interactive and talkative to introspective and silent. She enjoys music and books and flying and waving her arms around when she gets up in the mornings and watching Mommy and Daddy eat. She enjoys her daily walks and soaks in the sights with pleasure.

I couldn't resist including another series of fun expressions. Somehow, single photos don't really capture the ever changing nature of this child.







Aria's little friend Stella, who's parents, Tara and Phu, we met in our childbirth preparation class, is six weeks younger and not quite ready for her little Bumpo chair, so Aria's keeping it warm in the meantime.


With Thanksgiving approaching and lots of great visits planned (Uncle Beastie and Victoria, Uncle Ivan and Mariko, Nana, Tony and Tomoko, Keisha and little Kaire, Uncle Shmiel, Uncle Riley, and on and on) we should have many more exciting photos coming soon. That's all for now.

4 Months and Counting...

I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I know it's been more than a month since the last post. Somehow, between caring for this little one, finding time to work, doing my silly online class and trying to get some sleep, it's a challenge to find a moment. Uncle Shmiel is visiting from Washington today and he inspired me to do a quick post. (You'll have to wait for the next one for more pictures of him.)

Aria has passed the 4 month mark. Inspired by Richie, Bethany and Luke, we celebrated the momentous occasion with milk, and more milk. And a trip to her doctor for a friendly checkup. She has been declared still supremely healthy. She measured in at 23.5 inches and weighed in at 13 pounds, 2 ounces, a very respectable set of measurements.

She is so much fun these days. She's very interactive and extremely expressive. She has settled into life and seems much more comfortable in her skin and in this world, much more content to sit and watch us do various stuff (especially eat - oh, yes, that time is coming).

Without much time to write, I'll just get to the pictures.

Did I mention how expressive she is? This series of photos was taken over a time span of only a couple of minutes.

Chillin' with Turtle (thanks to Leslie, Laura, Jake and Alex for Turtle!):

Amused by something:


Talking about it:

Relaxin'. Chillin' again.


Back to talking:
Becoming a touch fiesty:

"Mama, can't you tell I've had enough of my chair, already?"


"I wonder how high my pants can go..."

Here she's wearing the little ducky suit that many a Baldinger baby wore long, long ago. She does it justice, if I must say so myself.



We went to a reunion for our childbirth preparation class. Here are our classmates with their healthy and happy babies.

Uncle Beastie (a.k.a Ethan) has been coming down to visit lucky little Aria quite often. There is a plethora of beautiful pictures of the two of them. Here are just a few.





These days, Aria spends about 90% of her waking hours with her fingers firmly planted in her mouth (and sometimes my fingers or her dad's). And the drool fountain has begun to flow. We think she's teething, an opinion confirmed by her doctor, although he says we may not see any teeth show themselves until December.


That's all for this time. Thanks for your patience. Don't give up on us. We'll be back again in not too long...