Dear Arianna, (6 months)

Dear Ari,

Your personality has come out in full this last month! Your best quality yet: You smile at anyone who smiles at you. I can't tell you how many people you have made happy because you smiled at them. You have had a lot of strangers play with you this month, and you have behaved wonderfully!

You still have no teeth, but you love to chew and drool! Your new favorite thing is to hang upside down. You love to lay across my legs with your head hanging over. It calms you down and you usually start cooing. Your hand eye coordination has really improved and you are able to grasp almost anything in front of you. I have had to be much more careful with what is within your reach. You can't sit up yet, but you are working on it. If you have something to look at you will sit up for about 30 seconds. I wouldn't be surprised if you were sitting up on your own in a week or two. 

You have also started to hold your own bottle. You have been doing this for a while, but recently you have combined the holding with "throwing" yourself backwards to eat. I am impressed that you have figured out the connection. You have finally started to use your arms to push up while you are on your stomach! That has helped you to be happier on your stomach, but you still get frustrated. I can't figure out why you don't just turn back over...you know how to, but you don't...

We have had some real adventures this month. We went up to St. Louis twice! Once for your Aunt Skylar's wedding shower and the second time for a Petersen gathering, wedding prep, and Skylar's wedding. I was so surprised at how well you did with lots of strangers, little sleep, and crazy meal times. You touched a lot of hearts. So many people love you, thank you for showing that love back. Most babies don't do that. 

We haven't gone to the doctor yet this month, so I will have to update later with the stats, but we did weigh you at a friends house. You weigh 17.2 lbs. You just keep on growing. 

Arianna, you are the joy of our lives and bring happiness everyday to those around you. We love you. 

Photo Shoot: 

Dress was a gift from Aunt Amy Wu! Thanks!

Oops! Can't sit for that long!

but long enough to get a smile!

I love her kicking legs!

I feel like she looks so old here...

Wedding Preparations

My wonderful sister Skylar got married on Saturday! I don't have pictures from the wedding yet, but I do have some prep pictures and other things, so I thought I would load you all up on the random stuff I am been up to for the past week...

Ben's niece's choir was invited to sing at the Cardinal's game on the 9th, so we decided to make a  mini-family reunion out of it. We met Ben's parents and three of his siblings up in STL (St. Louis). We went to the magic house and the game. We had a blast and Ari did exceptionally well. She did not cry once at the Magic House, even when it had been 5 hours since her last bottle. She also enjoyed the game and got a good nap during it (I don't think she was the only one). 

Because my sister's wedding was a week away I decided to stay in STL while Ben went back home to work. It was hard being apart, Ben really missed Ari and I missed Ben, but I had a lot of fun with my sisters!  

One of the things we had to work on was the favors. Skylar came up with this cute idea of doing chocolate lips and mustaches. We had to figure out a way to display them, this is what we did:

 Here are some fun pictures from the week:

Ari loved sitting on Skylar's couch, it was the perfect shape for her. I left my laptop on the side table and Ari "found" it. She loves the screen saver, but I have never seen her react like this...

 

I made this for Father's Day for Ben:More on Skylar's Wedding to come!

Pretty Pretty Princess

 Do you remember that game? I loved playing pretty pretty princess, except the earrings hurt...and I always wanted to get the crown before  my sister. Well, I thought Ari looked like a princess this Sunday, so I took some pictures. A family friend gave her the dress, and she couldn't keep the bow out of her mouth! I hope you enjoy!

Another blast from the past, doesn't she look like one of those cupcake dolls?

Ari is getting big enough to really enjoy the swing, when the sun isn't really bright...

Ari and I were playing peek-a-boo and I caught it on video. My favorite part is at 53 sec.

The Start of Summer Craziness

We have had two very busy weekends. So I figured I would cover both of them in one post.

Two weeks ago we drove to Kansas for my cousin's high school graduation. Ari did really well with all of the family and got to see her great-grandmother again :) Ben and I discovered the wonderful world of cell phones as baby monitors and took a short dip in the hotel pool while she slept.  

The next day we drove up to Lindsey's graduation. Ari did fairly well in the car on the way there, and slept through the entire ceremony in my arms.  We had a great time meeting all of Lindsey's family, at least until Ari needed a nap. The drive back got rough, but we all made it home in one piece.

This past weekend Ari and I went up to St. Louis for my sister's wedding shower. Ben went on a fathers and sons campout so it was just us girls. Oh and Ari's future Uncle Matt.

Bride to be

Groom to be

The beautiful Aunts

Fun with Grandma

 This is the table setting we had in one of the rooms. We were going for a garden theme...We had this set up for the guests to make their own personal fruit pizzas. I think it turned out pretty well. 

We had a great time visiting with all the family. It was surprisingly less stressful than I anticipated...However, I did discover that headphones are a good thing to help keep me sane in the car ;)
The other big project we have going on is our garden:

 The lettuce has been growing like crazy, and the green beans have just started produce fruit. We have had some trouble with rabbits...but the weeds are doing nicely!