Dear Arianna (5 Months)

Dear Arianna,

You are 5 months old today, and you have changed so much in the last month. It hasn't just been physically, but also mentally. You have discovered your feet and are constantly trying to grab them, even in your car seat. A few times you have gotten your fingers intertwined in your toes. You have also figured out how to reach out and grab things held in front of you. Then of course, as soon as you have it in your hands, it goes straight to your mouth. We have just started to not swaddle you when we put you to bed. I have been really impressed with your ability to calm yourself down and fall asleep, usually within 10 minutes. 

Teething has been really bad this month. The teeth haven't broken through yet, but you can see two of them right up front.  This has caused some sleepless nights and some screaming fits...but mostly you just whine. You have good days when you are happy and playful like normal. But the hard days are the days you whine the whole time you are awake. I can't wait for these teeth to push through...but then I guess we will start all over again, huh? :) 

You have gotten very strong. You can stand up if we hold your legs...I have yet to get a picture of it. You also have a very strong grasp. You will not let go of something if you want to hold it-that includes hair. 

We took a big road trip last weekend, which I am behind in blogging about :D Thankfully, you have gotten over your dislike of the car, but are only happy in your car seat for about an hour, then you get restless. You are enjoying the outdoors more and more. It is one of the things I can count on to help calm you when you are upset. You love to watch the birds and the butterflies. Some night we will have to keep you up late so you can see the fireflies. 

You have started to eat solid foods! I have never seen a baby learn to eat before, so watching you try has been fascinating to me! You caught on pretty quick, but that first face was priceless...you had no idea what was in your mouth or what to do with it. You now "chew" and swallow, but hate big lumps. We have only given you rice cereal, which I grind for you, but there are new foods coming shortly :)  

Ari, we are truly starting to get to know your personality. You are easy going, easy to entertain, and love to smile. You endure pain very well and are patient. I am so blessed you are my daughter. I am so glad that I have had so many precious moments with you. July is going to be a big month for us, I am so excited to add you to our "Forever Family."

 I was going through the pictures I took and I remembered that I had a very similar one from earlier...this is neat to see how much your face has changed :)

5 months

Almost 3 months

Pictures

OK this is a total cheating post, but I know you will all like it... 

Ari has been teething and hasn't been the happiest lately, but she was better this morning, so I thought I would get some pictures...

 

She is not sucking, she is chewing...she loves to chew on fingers...

 

We have started feeding Ari solids...the videos haven't been the best, but you can get the idea. 

Important Happenings...

Something very important happened this weekend and I would like to share with you why it is so important. The Kansas City Temple was dedicated on Sunday. This building is a house of the Lord and is a place of learning and worship. Many of you who read my blog are not of my faith, so I would like to take a minute to share why this building has so much significance. 

Ben and I were married in another temple in St. Louis, very much like the one in Kansas City. In the temple we made covenants, promises, to each other and to God. We promised to be true to each other and to the commandments. In return we were promised blessings, much like the blessings promised to Abraham. Through these promises we were sealed to each other, sealed together, for time and eternity. That means we believe that our marriage will not end at death. If we stay true to our promises, we have been promised that we will be able to be together again after this life. 

These promises extend to any children that are born to us. They would be born within the promises that we made to each other. That is one reason it was important for us to not have a relationship before marriage. We wanted any child that would be born, to be born within the promises made in the presence of God. We have not yet been blessed with a child born to us, but we have been blessed beyond measure with beautiful Arianna. Because we are adopting her, we must adopt her into the covenants we made when we were married. 

After Arianna's adoption is finalized, we will be able to take her to the temple and have her sealed under the covenants we made and continue to keep. She will receive the same blessings we will, just as she had been born to us, through the power of God on this Earth. 

I know the God lives. I know that He loves us and is involved in our daily lives. I have felt His hand directly. I know that the same power he gave to Peter "and whatsoever thou shalt ^dbind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:19) is found in temples. I know that I will live with Ben and Arianna after this life. 

That is why temples are so important. They allow us to make promises that last forever...so we can be a family forever.

Here are some reminders of why family is so important:

These are Ari's cousins, she is so loved!

Play time :)

Ari is playing by herself more and more. It is almost as fun to watch her play as it is to hold her :)  Here are some videos of her latest accomplishments. 

This one I took because I am a mom. It is probably long and boring to most of you, but I can see so many changes in her! I love to see how she uses her hands, grabs things, starts making different noises, even tries to follow me when I move. I love that this is how she plays when she can't even see me...she is one content baby, we are so blessed! 

We have some wonderful friends who got together and bought us a really cool exersaucer when Ari was first born. As Ari got older I realized that a jumperoo might fit her active personality better. I exchanged the exersaucer for the jumperoo and here are the first attempts...(well the first video is really the second attempt, the first attempt was just crying)

This is a day later...she wasn't interested in bouncing, she really wanted to stand or eat it  :)