Busy Weekend

We have had a busy great weekend. My sister Sierra came and stayed the night. She had a great time with Ari. Then my dad came to visit. We had lunch and more fun Ari time! That evening we went over to Ben's parents house and Ari had a bad night. She cried/screamed for 45 minutes straight. I think she is teething. You can see two white spots on her bottom gum...Saturday she was wonderful. She even let her uncle Jarom babysit her so we could go out on a date. Sunday, again, she was very good all through church, but lost it that evening. I saw it coming this time and got her calmed down much faster though...

Today we went to the Doctor. Everything looks really good...Ari is officially off the charts for height and 70th percentile for weight. Here are her stats:

Height: 27 inches

Weight: 15 lbs

She got one shot today and was perfect through it. She cried for all of ten seconds and was smiling at Ben over  my shoulder as soon as I picked her up. She is a wonderfully healthy, happy baby.

This is Ari right after her shot:

I also thought I would include this:

This is Ari trying to fall asleep. You can hear her ocean waves sound in the back ground. I am glad I finally caught her moving on video...she is usually in a different position when I get her up...

Working from home...

Most of you know that Ben and I own our computer repair business. This lets me stay home with Ari. I answer the phones and do the paperwork and can mostly stay on top of things. Occasionally I have to go into the other room so that a customer won't hear Ari cooing in the background...But yesterday it couldn't be avoided.
On top of running our computer repair business, I also tutor from home. I used to go to my students but with Ari here, I lowered my rates and have them come to me. Ari is pretty good at entertaining herself, but when she gets tired she gets LOUD...I know this wasn't very professional of me, but I got a video of her during our tutoring session. My student was amazing and just ignored her, but she was going on like this for over 10 minutes. She is also learning to bounce herself...I think it is pretty cute and I thought you would like to see...

Dear Arianna (4 months)

Dear Arianna,

I just put you to bed; you still fall asleep in my arms just before bed time. You don't really like to do that any other time. I am amazed how big you have gotten. We were supposed to go to the doctor today, but they had to call and reschedule, so I don't know how big you are right now, but I will update next week :) We were at church on Sunday and someone asked if you were 8 months old...it just made me smile. You are healthy and happy and that is all we need...Oh and the 12 hours night sleep isn't too bad either ;)

Mom, what do I do with this?

Never mind, I figured it out

Lets see, new things this month...You have figured out how to use your hands to get something into your mouth. You almost always have something in there...your hands, your blanket, a toy, or your dress...I think the dress is your favorite...You also have a tendency to gag yourself. I have to wrap your hands in a blanket so you can't get your fingers down your throat. 

You have also learned how to bounce yourself in your bouncer. You kick your left leg in and out to make it move. You have continued to roll back and forth, but only when you are upset. You are usually pretty content to just play on your back. 

We took our first big road trip. You do not really like the car. We are figuring out different ways to keep you happy, but I just hope that you out-grow it :) 

You saw a lot of people this month. Everyone wanted to see how much you had grown. You got to spend time with Lindsey, Tyson, your Grandma Schoenfeldt, and all your Petersen cousins! You are so loved and spoiled. You bring light to so many people. I love that you smile at everyone you see. 

You continue to talk up a storm. For a little while it was just growls, but it has now turned into high-pitched squeaks. Sometimes I will hear you talking to yourself when you have woken up from a nap and flipped yourself over on your back. I am impressed that crying is not your only method of communication.

Ari, you are the best thing in your dad's and my world. You have an amazing spirit and I am so excited to watch you grow and experience the world around you. You will do great things...

Love You Always

4 Month Photo Shoot:

I did these pictures to show off the duvet cover I made, but there are some really good pictures of Ari...

For all you who love those chubby legs

What are these things down here...

Mmmm, yum yum yum

Hippo nose...nothing tastes quite like it

This one is for you, Lissa!

another good shot to show you how much she has grown :)

Mmm...I am going to eat you...

Ahhh Mom....It is going to eat me!!

Peek-a-boo

Arianna's Sleep habits

Ok, so I am going to admit it...I am spoiled! Arianna has been sleeping through the night since she was about 8 weeks old, now, she has started sleeping 10-12 hours a night. It has been amazing! On top of the 12 hours she sleeps during the night, she takes two, 2-3 hour and one, 1 hour nap a day, normally. And if she misses a nap she does sleep longer in her later naps...Sleep is one of many things Ari does well. And I know it has spoiled me and I know that our next one will probably not be this great, but for now I am going to enjoy it.
Ari has gotten into some interesting habits with her sleep. She moves a lot! I almost always find her in a different position than I put her down in. It has been difficult to get videos or pictures on this because she is normally crying when she wakes up. But I was able to get these:           
Enjoy!

Visit to Kansas City

Ari and Aunt Lissa

We took our first road trip as a family, complete with staying in a hotel and everything! Ari doesn't really like to sleep in her carseat, I think it is because she is used to sleeping on her stomach. I did find that if I "rocked" the carseat while we were driving she could fall asleep for 30-40 minutes. So I spent a lot of time in the backseat. 

I have decided that getting a suite is totally worth it when you have a baby...especially when you are bottle feeding, the large sink, fridge and freezer made things so much easier! Ari liked the hotel room too...She slept for 12 hours straight the night that we were in the hotel...an amazing feat considering she wasn't in her own bed.
*Side note* The weather has been so wacky and Ari has been growing like crazy that I didn't have very many long-sleeves clothes for her to wear, but luckily a good family friend sent her the cute pink outfit! Thank you so much!

We spent a lot of time with family and with Arianna's birth parents. Friday night Lindsey and her family met us at the hotel and spent some time getting to know Ari.We were able to meet up with Tyson on Saturday afternoon.

Ari and Lindsey

Ari and Tyson

Family Picture in front of the Kansas City temple

We are so excited to have another temple in Missouri. To me the temple is the most peaceful place on Earth. It is a wonderful place for instruction and reflection. If you would like to learn more click here.

Happy Easter!

Ok, I know it is a little late to wish everyone a happy Easter, but we have had a very busy weekend. Ben and I got the garden in on Friday. We decided to till it by hand instead of getting a tiller. It actually went faster than I thought it would. Ben had been so busy with work lately we knew if we didn't get it in on Friday it probably wouldn't happen for weeks. So we just jumped in and finished it. 

Saturday, Ben and I went up to work at the Kansas City Temple open house. For those of you who are not LDS, temples are sacred places for us to worship. We believe they are literally the house of God.  It was a wonderful experience to be able to serve. Ben's family was able to watch Ari for us and the drive was pretty easy. The weather was colder than we expected. We didn't dress warm enough. I ended up putting shoe coverings on people's feet to help protect the carpet, and Ben was a kind of "errand boy." We are excited to be able to go up next week to tour the building. 

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday. The weather was perfect and we had a relaxing morning. Ari slept 10 hours through the night and took a 4 hour morning nap. That girl likes to sleep. We were also able to get some family Easter pictures. I hope you all enjoy!

Getting ready for pictures

Conference and other stuff

Twice a year the leaders of our church speak to us in what is called General Conference. This meeting is held in Salt Lake and is broadcast around the world. We are given guidance and advice from prophets of the Lord. We are blessed to be able to get it over the internet and get to make it a family event to sit and listen to. If you are interested in learning more or hearing a bit of what we believe you can go here. 

This event can be a really good way to mark time. A friend of mine asked what we were doing this same time last year and it made me think. Last year during conference I had just started making this:  

And this year I get to wrap my beautiful daughter up in it. I had hoped but didn't dare to imagine that my life would change so wonderfully in a year's time. I have truly been blessed. 

This year, my mom came down to visit and we had a wonderful time. Ari slept through a good portion of the meetings, but when she was awake we had some good bonding time. I took a few pictures:

 

Ari loves faces, the bigger face you make, the harder she laughs...

14 weeks 4 days old

 

One week old

I took this one this morning as another illustration of how much she has grown!