Friday, May 5, 2017

Ariya | 10 Months!

Ariya doesn't get much cooler than she is right now. She's at SUCH a fun stage where she's becoming more independent and particular about things but is just so, so HAPPY all the time! She takes a few steps behind walking toys, figured out a straw and crawls at top speed. She spends her days pulling up to standing on everything and walking behind me while holding my legs (she seems to think this is especially fun when I'm trying to cook dinner or use the bathroom.)
 
 
Even after already going through this stage twice before, I'm still amazed how quickly these babies start piecing things together; understanding things that seem like they should be above them and associating real words with things. Every time she greets people with her big 'ol smile and wave and says "Hi!" my heart bursts into a million pieces. Along with "Hi" "Dada" and "Mama", Ariya knows "Dog" and gets VERY excited whenever she sees one, pointing and shouting "Tsh! Tsh! Tsh! Dog!" She also associates pretty much any other furry animal with the word "Dog" right now too :)

When I put Ariya down to sleep for her naps, I place her on her tummy and then watch her pull her feet up underneath herself and snuggle in. It's her current favorite sleeping position and the cutest thing ever.

Ariya rocked
her first Purdue baseball game! (a first for all of us, which it ended up being sort of a fail because all Ariya wanted to do was crawl around a crowded hill full of people and eat discarded popcorn and garbage off the ground, so we only ended up staying about 4 innings. It was fun while it lasted though!) :)


Ariya raiding the fridge, eating lasagna (one of her most favorites!) and her and I twinning in our cheeks :)

Getting dirty and making messes is Ariya's favorite pastime and watching her in her element is so sweet I usually just let her enjoy those those messy moments, even though it means much more clean-up for me later. She is the third child after all :) Her clothes have all been brand new for her and she still doesn't own a single pair of pants that don't have stained knees. :) 

Avery and Cullen continue to adore Ariya to pieces. They are the always watching out for her and playing little games with her and she just eats it all up. She is just loved to pieces over here!


Well, the honeymoon has ended when it comes to ease-of-photo-taking. Gone are the blissful days of plopping her down and talking to her while she beams up into the camera at any moment of the day. Now it's more of a 15 second photo shoot, 11 seconds of which are spent wrangling her back and smoothing the backdrop. Thank goodness she's as happy as she is for those 4 good seconds of face time :)

Ariya Marie | 9 Months!


Ariya is on the move! On February 28, Ariya took her very first crawling stretches and she woke up on the 29th and was off like she'd been crawling all her life. The next day she pulled up to standing and now she's essentially looking like a toddler and I wasn't quite ready for it. 

Ariya wants to play with anything that isn't formally considered a toy so we basically have baskets of colorful, singing decor taking up space in every corner of house while she happily spends her days hunting down and knawing on Nerf darts :) She puts everything in her mouth but thankfully (knock on wood) has yet to have any choking incidents.

Ariya is growing at about the same rate as her brothers did at this age: WAY too fast. At her 9 month appointment, she measured in at:
29.5" long (95th percentile)
21 lbs (81st percentile)



Ariya eats finger foods almost exclusively now and is still a good eater. She very much prefers fruits to vegetables, blueberries, grapes and mango being a few of her favorites. She will often clean all the fruit off her plate, throw the rest off onto the floor and whine for more of her beloved fruit... such a rascal. In other news, she's consumed her weight in dirt and sand and summer hasn't even officially begun yet. Yikes!

Ariya is such a celebrity when we go out and about. She smiles her big winner smile and just loves to have people talking to her. She's started saying 'hi' and waving when we pass people and going grocery shopping is the best, I just love watching her spread her light throughout the store. "Hi Dada!" is her sweetest phrase and something she says very frequently now when Justin walks into the room. She tends to only say "mama mama" when she's tired and wants to nurse, but I'll take what I can get :) Clapping is still one of her favorites. She knows what 'no' means and when I do say 'no' and she listens, she immediately applauds herself and giggles.

Time is a crazy thing, and motherhood has totally warped my sense of it. I find myself wanting to take photos of everything or write things down more so I don't forget these days, I'm so grateful I get to spend them with my babies. A fun little photo project 39 weeks in and 39 weeks out:

And our sweet baby girl at 9 months old. This world is such a brighter place with her in it!



Avery at 9 months here

Cullen at 9 months here 

xoxo