Ariya Marie | ONE YEAR!

Our sweet girl turned one two weeks ago and my mind has still not completely wrapped around the fact that my baby is a whole year old.  From the day she was born until today she has been nothing but a ball of sunshine. (I mean, she HAS been a baby, so there have been plenty of long nights and fussy days but looking back on the year the only thing that stands out to me is how go-with-the-flow HAPPY she's been!)

At her 1 year checkup, she rocked the charts weighing in at 23 pounds, 7 oz and is 32. 75" long. She has 8 teeth and the sweetest little curls.

She's started to assert her independence lately and has a bit of a flair for the dramatic. When she first started taking steps she would take one step, deliberately lay down and put her head on the floor like it was so much work for her to take that one step that she needed to rest. This girl is always putting on a show!
Ariya made these weekly photos the easiest task ever. The photo shoots got more and more efficient every week and by the end, we weren't spending more than 30 seconds from start to finish and I only ended up taking 10-15 shots, most of them being good ones! She knew the drill and giggled away as soon as I got the camera out.

Ariya's favorites:
Life!
Flirting with everyone
Smiling
Music/Dancing (the girl has moves!!)
Socks (and carrying them all over the house)
Climbing the stairs
Running into the road
Playing with her big brothers
Waking up happy, clutching the tags on her blanket :)
Saying the sweetest "Hi!" and waving to everyone she meets
Dogs!
Excitedly saying "Doh!" all day
"Dada" continues to be her favorite word (mama only when she's tired/hungry/hurt)
Playing in the rain
Being outside
Bathtime
Eating ice
Drinking from her sippy cup

A photo of Ariya at 11 months and me at 11 months!

The day after her birthday, we had some family and friends over for an ice cream social to celebrate! It turned out to be the most beautiful day full of sunshine and sprinkles and thanks to our lovely niece, Emma, Ariya's cake didn't become a Pinterest fail :) 

We are all head-over-heels in love with this girl who has brought more joy to our lives than we could've ever imagined. What an amazing year its been watching her grow into her sweet personality. XOXO

And because I'm feeling sentimental about my babies getting so big, here's AVERY AT ONE and CULLEN AT ONE

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

Ariya is 8 Months Old!

Ariya continues to learn and grow so much faster than I can keep up with. She is an absolute ray of sunshine in our days, 8 months in and I still can't get over what an happy, agreeable baby she is.

Every week I pull my camera out to take her weekly photo, she just poses and smiles her sweetest smile. The whole ordeal takes less than 5 minutes and somehow I still have the hardest time choosing just one photo - they're ALL so cute!

This month:  
Ariya earned her 2 bottom teeth! Her first popped through on Jan. 10 and the second showed up not long after. In true Ariya form, she cut those teeth without batting a sweet little eyelash (although many drools were certainly drooled!)

Ariya has her own room! At the end of January, Cullen decided he wanted to try sleeping in Avery's room (again) BUT this time, Avery decided he was ready to sleep on the top bunk. Apparently the stars aligned and this new arrangement finally took hold - which means Ariya moved into Cullen's old room and claimed it as her own.
 
She's grown out of her sleep-all-night-every-night routine a bit and often won't fall asleep until she's nursed and rocked about 3-4 times. Even then, she will get up at least once or twice a night, sometimes for extended periods of thinking it's morning when it's not. Despite losing her rockstar sleeper medal, she still wins the award for happiest morning baby- I really look forward to peering over her crib at her ecstatic little face in the morning! 

She either takes 2 shorter naps, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon, OR she takes one monster nap in the middle of the day. Every day is a little different and, being baby #3, her naps are often interrupted or taken on-the-go. Naturally, she is A-OK with wherever the day takes her, as long as she has us around she's happy.

Ariya EATS! She will gobble up 1-3 baby bullet servings for breakfast, lunch and dinner along with a bunch of finger foods. She loves to eat and is so good at feeding herself. Her current favorites are kale, apples, mango, sweet potatoes and avacado/pear. She tried some cheese for lunch today and pretty much thought it was the greatest thing ever -  a true Wisconsinite at heart :)  

The love Ariya has for her brothers is so strong and so obvious, she ADORES them and all of the loud and crazy games they play. The boys are so, so sweet- always making silly faces, kissing, singing or tickling her and she repays them by giving them nothing but smiles and giggles.

As long as I am nearby, Ariya is generally happy and oh-so-smiley with everyone she comes across. I love to watch her smiles light up everyone around her- her brothers, our friends, or perfect strangers at the grocery store. Her happy energy is contagious and makes my day - every day.
 

Ariya is a strong girl and her circle of destruction is growing larger by the day as she inches closer and closer to crawling. It will be a bittersweet day for all of us when she becomes fully mobile. Keeping her away from choking hazards is going to become my full-time job and although the boys try all day to get her to crawl, I don't think they truly grasp what this means. They love little sis like crazy, but they love her on their terms. We will see how well they adjust to her being all up in their business all day. Ariya, my dear, you're welcome to stay put just as long as you'd like :)

Ariya loves to play games that get a reaction out of us, this one was especially funny this day - that belly laugh!! :) 
 

Ariya @ 6 months old!!

Ariya continues to be a dream baby. The kind of baby I've heard stories about but didn't believe actually existed. She couldn't be more easy-going and happy, constantly smiling and content. She sleeps, eats, is healthy, and loves everyone. Walking into a room and watching her face light up to see me is probably one of the greatest joys of my life. These babies... what a power they have over sappy mamas like me!

At her 6 month well-baby checkup, Ariya weighed in at 18.5 pounds and 28" long, in the 90/95 percentile. She wears a few 9-month outfits but is onto mostly 12 month clothing. (skinny pants for infants are sort of a joke...right?)  

Her first tooth (on the lower left) popped through yesterday (Jan 9) and she's been chewing on everything in sight. Although she will tolerate being on her tummy for short periods, it's not her favorite so she's mastered sitting and crawling isn't even on her radar yet. (Which is just fine with me, I've been working on hiding away the small jewels, Legos and coins that I find but somehow new ones keep appearing.)

Ariya loves to eat! On top of being a very efficient nurser, she got her first puree on Thanksgiving day and has worked up to eating twice a day- at breakfast and dinner. She's tried: oatmeal, peas, apples, mango, sweet potato, avacado, green beans and carrots. She loves them all (mango is her favorite) and gets very excited to eat when she gets in her high chair!
 
About a month ago, Ariya moved from sleeping in a cradle in our room to sharing a room with Avery and sleeping in a crib! After numerous failed attempts at getting Avery and Cullen to share a room, it just made sense to put our best sleeper (Ariya) in with our oldest sleeper (Avery). So far, it's working out great and Avery is so proud to share a room with his li'l sis.

We spent our holidays at home this year and Ariya enjoyed every bit of her first Christmas. She is at THE perfect age for it - old enough to get joy from all the little things like wrapping paper and lights but young enough to stay where I put her and not EAT said wrapping paper and lights :)  

Avery and Cullen continue to love love LOVE Ariya. For as much as they bicker with each other, they are nothing but sweet, kind, and gentle with li'l sis. This little girl is so loved, by so many. She's brought so much joy to our life, I can't imagine what we would do without her!

I took so many photos this month that were meant to make their way to Instagram and well... didn't. Here are some of my favorites of my girl - 

And a few of my favorite videos!

2016 was so, so good to us. 
We are excited to welcome 2017 and all the adventures that await!

Ariya is Four Months Old!

Our sweet Ariya is already 4 months old She smiles and chatters all day long and is so alert and curious about everything around her. At her 4 month checkup, she weighed in at 16# and is 26.5" long, in the 90th percentile for both. WHY must I have the fastest growing babies of all time?! 

Ariya is SUCH a good baby, so predictable and easy to please. She's such a joy - to all of us. Her brothers couldn't be more smitten with her if they tried, they just radiate love - It makes my heart swell. For as much as they pick fights with each other, they have nothing but sweet words and gentle touches for their little sis. Their "little missy."

Ariya continues to sleep like a rockstar, 8-10 hour stretches every single night and a solid nap in the middle of the day (along with a couple small catnaps in between) She's unreal. I think Avery slept through his first night when he was...11 months and Cullen was maybe 6 months. She was 2 WEEKS and has done it consistently since then.  She still sleeps in our room and until we can figure out how to get Cullen and Avery to sleep in the same room together, that's where she will stay. She breaks out of her swaddle every night but usually falls right back to sleep with her fists up around her ears.

Her favorite spot to nap is on her tummy on our bed. When she doesn't fall asleep nursing, she prefers to be cuddled in the cradle position and have her bottom patted. It works every time!

Ariya loves bath time and kicks half the water out of her infant tub before she's finished. 

Her neck and core are getting so strong and she tries to pull herself up every time she gets a hand to grasp. She would rather sit up (with support) to look around than play on her tummy, though she tolerates it for short periods (the mirror helps). She she's only rolled over a couple of times but enjoys grabbing her feet and rolling from side to side.

When she gets scared, she lets out a very high-pitched squeal and if what's scaring her doesn't stop, the squeal turns into a cry.

Ariya's taken up the two-finger-chew (like her brothers did at this age) and drools all over everything. She LOVES watching her brothers and having them up in her face entertaining her is her favorite. She's especially fond of Avery right now because he takes his big brother role so seriously and knows how to anticipate her needs. He wipes her spitup, alerts me when he diaper gets full and knows all her favorite toys. He's very proud that he can help her sit up when she's fussing and she LOVES this arrangement :)

For as sweet and calm as she is, she has a 'fussy time' from 5-7 every evening - like clockwork. It makes preparing dinner and rounding up dirty boys from outside pretty difficult when all she wants is to be held. She often gives her lungs a good healthy workout during this time ;)

I took these photos of Ariya last month and just now got around to posting them - she has already grown and changed so much since they were taken.

I never could've imagined how perfectly this sweet little person would fit into our life. I love to see her so aware and learning so much every day, but feel a little tinge of sadness every morning I wake up and see how much she's grown during the overnight hours. I spend every hour of every day with her and somehow I still can't keep up with how quickly the time is going. I'm so grateful for the time I have with these three babies of mine. 

xoxo 
 
I've been enjoying looking back on these blog posts from Avery and Cullen's baby days. I love them so much, I'm going to make a point to continue with Ariya's updates - I knew I would appreciate taking the time to write all of this down!
Avery @ 4 Months
Cullen @ 4 Months

Ariya Marie @ 3 Months!

Our baby girl is 3 months old! I can't even believe how fast these days have gone. Ariya is THE sweetest baby I've ever known. Since the day she was born, she has been so calm and agreeable, It's like she knew that in order to roll with her brothers, she was just going to have to go-with-the-flow, and from day 1 that's exactly what she's done.

Ariya nurses like a champ, has smiles for miles, holds her head up and is most happy when she is able to be up and looking around. She's getting good at following her brothers around with her eyes and her face lights up when they get in her face to talk to her. We think she's going to be our social butterfly- most of the time she cries it's because she's just lonely and wants someone to be talking, singing or dancing for her. Easily fixed around our house!  Tummy time is a breeze for her if she has her buddies around to keep her company. She's even rolled over a few times already!

Avery and Cullen have nothing but love, so much love, for their little sis. A few of their nicknames for her: Li'l Sis, Baby Sisser, Li'l Missy, Sister, and Cullen still loves to call her Ariya Marie. They love when they can get her to smile and watching them put on a show to get those smiles is the greatest. They just can't give her enough kisses in a day! (she's probably the most germy baby ever because of it, poor thing)

Above all else, Ariya SLEEPS! She slept through the night for the first time when she was only a few weeks old and has done so many times since. (It took the boys almost a YEAR to do that!) She usually does gets up a time or two to nurse during the night but gets what she wants and goes right back to sleep. She knows that her mama needs sleep now more than ever and, bless her heart, she gives it to me. She takes a solid nap in the middle of the day on the couch while her crazy brothers drive trucks and build houses around her.

In the evening, she tends to fuss between the hours of 5-7 every day and is really only calm if she's being held (dinnertime gets pretty tricky) or if we are pushing her in a stroller. When she's fussy or tired, patting her bottom helps her to calm the quickest.  She consistently goes down to sleep between 7-7:30 and then gets up an hour later for a little extra nursing before sleeping a 6-7 hour stretch. Every night! EVERY NIGHT! I used to think babies like her didn't even exist, this girl is just too good to be true.

We are all enjoying watching this girl grow into her own little personality and from what it looks like it's going to be a pretty sweet one. I'm sure we'll pay for this angelic behavior when she's a toddler - or a preteen. BUT, for now, we are soaking in every moment because every morning she wakes up a little bit bigger and wiser and a little less like the tiny infant I gave birth to last week (or so it feels anyway...)  Alas, she's ever so healthy and happy and we couldn't ask for any more than that. 
We love you, sweet Ariya.

XOXO