Arianna's First Birthday

I can't believe we are celebrating Arianna's first birthday! Time has sure flown by this year. She is such a joy in our lives and I can't imagine life without her. She makes us smile all the time. She loves people and always has a smile on her face for everyone to see. She is into everything now. She is walking very well. She loves to give me hugs and kisses (well, open-mouth and slobbery raspberries is more like it). She has a total of 16 teeth, very unusual for this age I suppose. She still sleeps very well at night for us, which is a good thing because I am a monster when I am sleep-deprived. She loves her big brother, Christian, and loves it when he plays with her. She also loves to go into his room. We keep her out most of the time by shutting the door but if she disappears and we don't hear a peep out of her, more than likely she got into his room and into one of toys.
Since we just moved to Syracuse and don't know many people, we decided to travel to Jason and Sunshine's home in PA to celebrate her birthday together. My friend Denise and her daughter, Julie drove up from Harrisburg to join us. I decided to make it easier on myself and order a subway platter for lunch. It was a very nice day and things went rather well considering the temperament of a one year old. Her birthday theme was Baby Einstein and since we couldn't buy a baby einstein cake, Sunshine and I decided to make one out of cupcakes. I think it turned out pretty good for a homemade cake. We attempted to make the worm that Arianna loves so much when she watches her video. Whenever she sees the worm, she smiles really big at it. It was no where near the quality of the cakes on Food Network's Ace of Cake or Cake boss, but I think we did okay with it. I don't think Arianna knew the difference, which is what matters!

Pictures

I love this picture of me and Arianna. We are so happy together.

Christian and his big brain!!!

Camden, my nephew.

First time swimming,

Keeping the kids entertained, Christian with his DS and Arianna with her Baby Einstein

Waiting to board the plane

Getting comfortable for the plane ride

Just starting to crawl

Her first pigtails

Easter 2010

Update in the Days of Our Lives

It has been awhile since I last posted but I have a good excuse. My computer has been on the blinks lately and finally died on me. When I went for a visit to Syracuse I brought back Steve's laptop and have been using it ever since. It took me awhile to finally figure it out the multi card reader that it has. But, Voila!! I did it. I got the pictures loaded onto the computer and able to share it with my family and friends. a

Let's see now, what is going on in our lives. First off, we have our house on the market now since we are moving to Syracuse, New York where Steve has gotten a job as a inhouse patent attorney. Since we were moving up there, I decided it was about time that I see my new home town, So, the kids and I flew there to visit Steve and Syracuse. It was a good trip. We stayed with Steve in his studio apartment. That was something else. Imagine the four of us in a one room apartment. It was quite a squeeze to fit in but we made do and had a good time. We visited downtown Syracuse and toured the MOST (Museum of Science and Technology) Museum and Christian really enjoyed and wants to go back, which is a good sign. During out time there I drove with the kids down to Danville, PA where Jason and Sunshine were visiting and doing a house search since they are moving there. I stayed there overnight and drove back to Syracuse the next evening. While there, my friend Denise and her daughter, Julie, drove up from Harrisburg and we visited. We took the kids bowling, then to Friendly's for lunch and then to the pool for a quick swim. They all had a good time and I got to see one of my best friends. My drive back to Syracuse was a very long and difficult one. For some reason, one hour into my drive it started SNOWING! What the heck. I drove into a blizzard. Pretty soon, everything turned completely white and I was slipping and sliding on the interstate. I was going 15 MPH for about 2 hours until I got out of the Poconos area and got into New York. What a drive. It got so bad and I was hunched over with both wheels tightly gripped to the steering wheel and Christian sensed that something was wrong that he prayed that we would make it safely back to Syracuse.

By the time we got back to Knoxville, it was Easter weekend. This year was a weird Easter for us. It was just Christian, Arianna and me. We couldn't go to Memphis to visit family because we had just gotten back from Syracuse. So, we stayed home and celebrated Easter by ourselves. I had a small egg hunt for Christian and I got Arianna a large stuffed lamb. It was a very boring Easter for us. Our Easter dinner consisted of Ramen Noodles and Chicken Nuggets.

Arianna is now 8 months old and doing so much now. She has been sitting up, rolling around and now she is starting to crawl around. Time is going by so fast I feel like I am falling behind. She has already got 8 teeth and I think she is still teething. She is still drooling like crazy. She really loves to bite into her baby biscuits. They are a bit messy but it makes her happy. She is a very good baby. I love it when she looks at me and gives me her biggest smile and then reaches for me. No matter what I do or how I look or how bad I smell, she loves me unconditionally.

Christian celebrated his 10th birthday this year. For his birthday he chose to take two of his friends and visit the indoor waterpark in Pigeon Forge. So, I got a friend to take Arianna for the weekend and I spent the weekend with 3 boys at the waterpark. It was nice. I think the boys had a great time. When we got there they got to go to the waterpark that was open until 10pm, then we got back to our room and ordered pizza. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep that night. The next morning we got up and spend the whole day at the waterpark. They had a very good time and I think Christian will always remember his 10th birthday.

Christian's Trip to the Bahamas

I just realized that I never posted anything about Christian's awesome trip to the Bahamas with his aunt and uncle and 5 of his cousins. Steve's brother, John and his wife Sharon decided to take 6 of their nephews to the Bahamas with them. I think John had an Optometry Conference and thought this would be a great opportunity to enjoy some of their nephews. It was actually great timing for us. Since Steve was unemployed last year and I was pregnant with Arianna, we decided not to take a beach vacation. Christian has always looked forward to our week long beach vacation that we tried to take every summer. So, when John and Sharon called us up and asked us if they could take Christian off of our hands and take him somewhere wonderful, we were ecstatic. Not only will this be the first time that Christian has ever spent more than a few days away from us but he was going somewhere exotic. Christian, of course, was a bit nervous because we were not coming with him. We met John, Sharon, and the others in Atlanta, where they would fly out of, on Sunday, July 4th and they did not come back until Friday, July 9th. Christian had a very good time. They got to swim with the dolphins, feed sharks (which Christian did not participate in), play at the beach, and lots more that I can't mention because I wasn't there. But here are some pics of their trip. I think the best part was the dolphins. He even touched their flippers and fed them fish.

Arianna's 6 month

I can't believe how much time flies. My baby is 6 months old already. I took her to Portrait Innovations to get her pictures made. She was awesome! She was so happy, cute and adorable. I had such a hard time picking the pictures I wanted. There were so many good ones.

Last week she had her 6 mo. check up. She was 18 lbs and 4 ounces and 26 inches tall. She is in the 90% for weight and 70% for height. She is such a happy baby (well, most of the time). Her favorite time of day is the morning. When she wakes up and I come into the room she gets so excited and gives me her biggest smile ever. She is rolling over now and sitting a little bit on her own. She has been teething lately and has already gotten 6 of her teeth in. So, needless to say, she is drooling a lot! She loves to grab at stuff now and she thinks everything she sees is a chew toy. She doesn't like the pacifier but loves to chew on her fingers or suck on her fist. I think I would prefer the pacifier to her hand. She is so interested in the world around her. I can take her to the store and she will just sit in her stroller and stare at everything. Have you ever noticed how bright and colorful Wal-mart or Target can be? She has started eating baby food. She loves sweet potatoes and squash and will tolerate carrots but I don't think she likes it much. She loves applesauce and bananas but not the peaches. Next food to try is sweet peas, YUCK! She does the cutest thing when she is going to sleep. She will "talk" to herself. You can tell when she starts getting tired and ready for a nap because she will start "talking" until she falls asleep. This definitely is a trait she got from her dad! She is such a wonderful baby girl and I am so glad to have her in my life!