Dear Arianna (7 months)

Dear Arianna,

It has been quite a month!! I think it has been the most eventful since you were born. You are now officially a Petersen. We had our finalization court date and received the final decree with so much joy, mostly because of what it meant: we could bless you and have you sealed to us. Three days after the court date, we went to the Kansas City Temple and added you to the covenant that your dad and I made when we were married. We promised each other that we would keep the commandments and be true to each other. Through these promises we can live together again after death. Because you were not born to us, but came to us through the loving arms of Lindsey, we took you to the temple so that you can live with your family again. It was a wonderful blessing to have these promises. 

We were also able to bless you in church. In this, you were given the name that will be on the records of the church and received a beautiful blessing. Listening to the words, I was given a glimpse of the young woman you will become and I am excited to watch your personality unfold. We did make a discovery...you did not like the dress we bought for the sealing. You cried in the temple, and we couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then you cried again when I put it on you for your blessing. We realized it was the dress and took it off...you stopped immediately. Luckily we had the dress that you wore to Aunt Skylar's wedding, so we put that on you, and you were happy!

We had a lot of family and friends come into town to be here for the sealing and blessing. We had a whole week of nights staying up late and days with crazy naps, but you did wonderfully! Everyone loved you, you were always quick with a smile and so playful.

You have continued to grow this month. You are sitting up, passing things from one hand to another, and have 3 teeth! You have two bottom teeth and one top. You also have just started to "scoot" around on the floor. You get your knees underneath you and grind your face in the floor with your arms flailing out behind you...it is hilarious. You have started to do much better in the car on our long drives. You even slept for an hour during the last one!

I measured you this morning, and you are almost 30 inches long! You are wearing 12 month clothes, but I don't think that is going to last for long...

Your sleep schedule hasn't really changed much, you still sleep for 10-12 hours a night and take great naps during the day. You make life very easy. You did get your first cold this month, and it was my first experience with a "fussy" baby. It wasn't even that bad! You still slept at night and for your naps, you just weren't very happy when you were awake. You have really spoiled your dad and me.

Ari, we love you. You are a blessing in our lives everyday. We couldn't ask for a better daughter. Thank you for all the joy  and excitement you bring to our home. 

Love, 

Mom and Dad

Photo Shoot:

Before Ari was born we bought "school" colors for her, expecting her to be in 9 month clothes in the fall, but because she is about to grow out of them, I thought I would do the photo shoot with them this month. 

 

 *Note to all the family and friends who have been taking pictures, can you e-mail them to me? Thanks!!

Adoption Day!

Arianna is officially adopted!

We woke up early this morning and drove to Plattsburg (about 3.5 hours away). Ari didn't cry once on the trip! We spent about an hour in the court house. Ari kept everyone entertained and smiling with her squawks. Our lawyer told us it would be great if she did it in the court room...and she did...She had the judge laughing and the court recorder couldn't hear the questions our lawyer was asking Ben. 

She did great on the drive back, and actually slept for a hour :)

Ari is ours, we will get a new birth certificate in the mail with our names on it and we will be able to be sealed to her on Friday...Happy Week!!

Catch up...

 Ari continues to bring light in to every aspect of our lives. We went to the doctor last week and she weighed 17 lbs 6 oz and was 29 inches tall! For those of you who aren't as familiar with how big a 6 month old should be, average height is about 26.5 inches. And for those of you who are visual, here is her growth chart:

Ari is now in 12 month clothes, and still growing like a weed. Her first tooth popped through the other day. No pictures because I can't capture it, but Ben will attest to it being there...she bit him. 

Ari is really learning to sit up! She likes it better because it is easier to play with her toys...

 

 

 Ari is also starting to get up on her knees, usually she pushes up with her elbows too, but this is the only shot that I was able to get that wasn't too blurry:

I put Ari in her Bumbo when I work on the computer and this is the face that I look up and see every so often:

 

She is very interested in the laptop screen and the mouse. I wouldn't be surprised if she surpasses me in computer knowledge in 5 years!

And finally here is a fun video, I think this really shows how much she has grown cognitively...

Happy 4th of July! I will get pictures of Ari's 4th and post them later!

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!