Dear Arianna, (9 months)

Dear Arianna,
You can crawl!! You are all over the place. You love to explore and try new things. You have developed your own method to decide whether you like something or not...First you look at it, then you rake it with your fingers, then you taste it...if it passes all those tests you bury your face in it. Your favorite toy right now? Your yellow ducky pillow. You will crawl across the room to get it and as soon as it is in your grasp you throw your whole body on top of it.  Your least favorite toy? The purple elephant rattle. I have no idea where this aversion came from, but you can't stand it. You shriek and shake and try to get as far away as possible. I have to say...it is pretty funny to watch.
Just today you learned your latest trick. You can shake your head back and forth. You started doing it copying daddy; now you just do it for fun. You like to play peek-a-boo with burp rags and will even do it yourself!
You haven't figured out how to pull yourself up on the furniture yet, but you are getting close. You like to get up on your knees. You also have started doing a neat trick with the piano. If I play a note you will stop what you are doing and "sing" a pitch. Then when I change the note you will "sing" a different pitch, usually matching the direction I moved with the notes. It is really remarkable. You  love music so much.
You have kept up your good sleeping habits, with occasional lapses. You do wake up crying a few times per week. We hold you for a few minutes and you go back to sleep. I don't know if these are bad dreams, or you have just woken yourself up, but it isn't usually too hard to calm you down.
We are moving in a week so your life has been turned into boxes and disorder, but I think you are handling it pretty well. You are an easy going baby.
You still love bath time, and you have taken to blowing bubbles in the water. It doesn't seem to bother you to have your face in the water...I still haven't decided if this is a good or bad thing.
Ari baby, you are our little sweetheart. You brighten up the room whenever you are around. We are so happy to have you and care for you. You help us to keep a good perspective on life and remind us to be humble too.

Photo Shoot:
Sorry this photo shoot isn't much. Ari wasn't feeling well and I hurt my back moving boxes and killing flies :) and most the pictures turned out like this:

So much potential to be cute, but blurry...but enjoy what Ben and I were able to get :)
 

 

Here is a a fun video of her playing: