Dear Arianna, (11 Months)

Dear Arianna,
We are coming up on a year! It has been so amazing to watch you grow up so much. I love watching your personality unfold. You have started to develop so many little preferences. You love your bed and your room and don't really like to sleep other places. You know what food you want to eat and make it known during meals when you want something that you are not given. You also seem to think that toys and books are meant to be strewn all over the house. As long as they are all over the floor you have no interest in them, you act like they "belong" there, but as soon as I start to put them away you follow behind me to spread them out again. You did this at your aunt's house too :) Even with all of these preferences you still let me do your hair without a fight. I love your curls, and I get stopped all the time by strangers commenting on your pig tails.
You love buckles. Whatever seat you are in you try to figure out how to buckle the buckles. You haven't been able to do it yet, but it isn't from a lack of understanding. I think you don't have the motor skills down yet, but your brain knows how it works. You still don't like to stand, so you only pull up to your knees. But we are starting to get you to do it more. You have started to push things around the house while walking on your knees. I have tried to convince you that it would be better if you stood up, but you still don't believe me :)
You have six teeth and seem to be working on two more. Your mouth is always busy with something though. If you can't find a toy to chew on, your tongue will do and your talking has started to develop new sounds. Your most recent favorite is "na-na-na-na" but when you are especially upset, it turns into "ni-ni-ni-ni." Other sounds are ga-ga and da-da. You have said quite a few other sounds as well and are expert at learning new noises to make with your mouth. You are grinding your teeth a lot now, but we can't seem to find a way to discourage it so hopefully you will grow out of it soon.
A couple weeks ago you got really sick. It started with a fever that lasted a few days and turned into bad congestion. You did well with the fever but the congestion made it hard for you to breathe through your nose so eating and sleeping became difficult. One morning, after an especially difficult night, I finally just covered you and your bedding in eucalyptus oil and put you down for a nap. Your congestion cleared up, you slept for 3 hours, and when you woke up, you drank a whole bottle. I was very happy to see you respond so well.
Your first Thanksgiving was very fun for you. You love being around lots of people, especially the kids, and you liked seeing your family in St. Louis too. Everyone is so happy when you are around. You light up the room and make everything so much fun.
We love you Arianna....more than we know how to express, and we hope that you will one day understand how much we hope you find happiness in your life as you learn and grow to become the girl and woman that you are meant to be.

Love,
Mom and Dad.

Photo Shoot 

Ari has not been the most cooperative for pictures lately so I thought we would do an after bath, pj, photo shoot. I didn't get very many good ones, but you can still get an idea of how much she has grown. I have also included some fun videos :)

Thanksgiving

Arianna is 11 months today, and I would normally post her 11 month post, pictures and letter, but we are traveling and I haven't been able to put it all together, so enjoy some pictures and video from thanksgiving!

These are the place cards

Turkey!

Only some of the desserts!

Kids table!

Main table

What's this?

Uhhh...

mmmmmm

Catch up

Ari had been growing so much lately. We just realized that she "knows" how to get dressed. She holds each of her arms out for us to but in sleeves or her jackets. She lifts one foot at a time for socks and shoes. She also knows how to lift her shirts over her head (good thing I mostly put onesies on her.) 
She also enjoys playing so much. She has learned to "chase." She actually asks you to chase her it is amazing.Here is a video of her playing with her cousin Joe:

 

Ari also loves food. I captured just a little of her pleasure with bananas in this video:

 

My mom also got her a walker.  It has been hilarious to watch her figure it out. She still doesn't do it consistently, but she still enjoys it.  Mom, I am sorry I haven't posted this earlier, I just realized this video is a month old!

Halloween

I have been slacking on posting, so here is a little bit of catch up :)

For Halloween we dressed Ari up as a Jaguar. My mom gave her the PJs and I made the tail and ears :)

It turned out to be a great Halloween!

Dear Arianna, (10 months)

Arianna,
10 months...Wow! You are growing into a little girl more and more each day. You are no longer my little baby, but a curious little girl who wants to see, touch, and eat everything! We have moved into a bigger house, of which you are the Queen Bee. You have toys in the corners of every room and travel around like you own the place. We have had some construction done on the house and you have melted the worker's heart with your laughter, smiles, and screeches.
You have started to play with other children. You chased a boy around at church who was about your same size, but six months older. All you wanted to do was play, but you scared him. You don't know your own size yet.
You are now a master at picking up food and feeding yourself. You love bananas, avocados, yams, and pears. Pancakes have become an easy snack to give you on-the-go; you even had some gnocchi yesterday and liked them.   
You are a total jabber-box--it is hard to keep you quiet! Our new house doesn't have a separate room for Dad's office. When he has to make a phone call, I have to put you in your room, which you love, by the way. I am constantly surprised at how well you play on your own. You love having the freedom to roam and will do so without needing me for a half hour or more. 
You have 5 teeth and a sixth that should be making an appearance any day now. You have also started making different faces while you are playing. I don't know if they mean anything or you are just trying different things, but they are hilarious.
Your hair is finally getting long enough to be able to do different things. The back is getting really curly, I am excited to see what happens when it gets long!
 We have added to our "good night ritual." Dad has been so busy during the day that he doesn't get to play with you as much as he wants, but he stops the last ten minutes before you go to bed and "wrestles" with you. You have come to expect it each night. It melts my heart each time. It is the best way to end the day :)

 Photo Shoot:
We are having a heat wave, so I pulled out some of Ari's summer clothes. This outfit just barely still fits :) 

Aunt Sierra gave Ari a travel size ducky because she loved her big one so much!

Ari has been licking her new teeth a lot!

 

Aunt Karman handed down this chair, it lights up and plays music. Ari loves it!

Playful

Ari was in a very playful mood tonight, she went on for so long I was able to capture a lot on video. She loves to "wrestle" and will snuggle her head into you. I have over 5 minutes of video on this. It is hard for me to edit video down, because I think it is all cute, but I think this clip is the best. If you want more, ask and I'll put more up :)

Here are some pictures I took. Ari has been teething and is always sticking her tounge out. I think it is pretty cute. 

New house

 We have moved! That is why it has been a while since I have posted an update. Things have been a little stressful, but have settled down a bit. Arianna didn't seem to like the new house very much to begin with but she is growing to love it, as the following video will show. Ari is growing and changing so much! She is starting to play on her own and is very vocal about it. She also has started to play with other kids. It is so cute...but a little dangerous since she is the same size or bigger that most of her friends. Here are some pictures I thought you would enjoy!

Ari has gotten really good at feeding herself

New highchair hooked onto the counter

Eating Broccoli and resting

She can hold her own bottle

Playing in the mirror with daddy

Our new home (yes we are still renting)

Ari's room, the bunk beds used to be mine growing up, we gave them to my BIL and they were getting rid of them so we got them back :)

Guest Room

I was filming Ari and some of the cute things she was doing, then she just started crawling around the house, so I decided to make it an impromptu tour...enjoy, but don't judge my mess :)