Happy Birthday Arianna!

The day has finally come when our baby is no longer a "0 year old". Now, we just have to wait until 10:46 pm (the time she was born). We are so happy and proud to have such an angel with us even when sometimes she does not let us sleep much :) Happy Birthday Ari!

Coming to a year... (Part 3)

First visit to IKEA. Since this picture was taken, we had gone back to IKEA a few times and she loves the store. Although the mac-n-cheese that they sell did not meet her standards. It was the first time she did not eat it, and she loves cheese!







Test driving for a walker. After using the exersaucer for a few months, we realized she did not want to be confined in one space so we went to the stores and she tried three different walkers. The one in the picture is the one that she liked the best. We still use it and while she is riding (running sometimes) in it, I can do a few times without worrying that she may get in to much trouble.





Do you think that she loves the swing? We went to the park a few blocks from our house a couple times a week and I finally took my camera. As you can see, she was so happy; you can even see her bottom teeth. (At this point, she had 4 teeth already.)










Crawling time! This is the first time that she lifted her tummy and went a few feet forward! She was about 7 months.






This was her second time to the zoo. The first time we went to the Brookfield Zoo because Mike had an assignment, but we only stayed at the monkey site. This time we went to the zoo in Michigan City and went around. So, she enjoyed much better.









We went to TN twice in her first year, in March when she was six months and in July when she was ten months. I think she enjoyed both times, but the second time she was more alert and did not want to sleep by herself in her crib!




Before mommy's birthday I went to a few birthday parties: Dad, Dave, Tiffany, Scarlett, Phoenix, Glenn and Logan... wow! Here I am with my mom and my cousin Glenn, we are trying to help her open her presents faster :)






This was her first pool experience with her new bathing suit. It was at Glenn's birthday party in July. She loves water, so I did not think she was going to cry. She loved it and enjoyed playing with some of the toys. Who knows, maybe she will be a swimmer...










Ari has a lot of pets! We have two cats (Penny - our third cat - passed away last thanksgiving and we still missed her so much ), but we still have Betsy and Misty. I am sure they will appear in some of the future photos. Here are 2 of the 4 rescued gerbils. Galinda our previous gerbil passed away in June so we went to Animal Welfare League and found a mother with three gerbils (2 girls - 2 boys) so we adopted them. In the picture, you are seeing Geordi and Data (males). We also have Esmeralda and Sophie. As you can guess, we have them in separate houses (males and females) because we do not need more gerbils right now!

There were so many things that happened in one year, but it will be impossible to do all of them in here. Regardless I hope you can enjoy the ones that I was able to put in here. Now, I can pretty much start with a new September - a new year -. Let's see what is coming together!

Coming to a year ... _(Part 2)

First winter coat! She was almost half the size of this beautiful pink coat when we first tried to put it on. Now, it does not fit at all, so we have a new coat for this winter. Sometimes Mike asks me if she has grown, I think this is the answer.






Many of you have seen this picture because I used it to make her Baptism cards, but I love the fact that she looks as big as the binky and this is her first binky. She only used it for about a month then decided she did not need anything until she started teething and then her finger looked good to her.








First high chair. She used to love to sit in this very comfy chair and we used the chair until she wanted to keep standing on it (and the seat belt did not restrain her enough) so we had to switch to the kind you put in top of the chair. Luckily, the hair that fell out when she was about 3-4 months has come back as well, phew! I love those green socks :)



I think Ari and Yoda were becoming friends! This was our first trip to a museum, in this case, the Museum of Science and Industry. She was very attentive to her surroundings, maybe next time we can go to the hands-on section for kids. I think she will definitely enjoy that.










She was having such a blast that she smiled for the first time. We were so happy to see that, no gas. This was a very real smile with a bit of giggles.







Thank you grandpa, I was really hungry. This picture was taken after her baptism (December 16, 2007). Thanks to Dave, Tiff, and Glenn for the nice frame and picture. We never forget the date because of the frame.





This was the Christmas gathering at my sister's place on December 24, 2007. Her kids are so excited because we are finally going to open the presents. Arianna was so excited that she decided to take a nap during the entire screaming event.






This was our first Christmas morning (December 25, 2007) at our house. We woke up early and went downstairs to open the presents. Mike helped her open her gifts; she was interested in a few. I think this coming Christmas will be better because she will have a better concept of the Holiday, but we love that this was our first Christmas together.



This was our first Christmas with the Nelson Family. Like it was with my sister, Arianna slept through most of the celebration, but we had Glenn to keep us amused. He was so happy to open his presents. [ If I remember correctly we celebrated Thanksgiving at Dave and Tiffany with a delicious turkey and side dishes, but I could not find any pictures for the event. Still, that was the first holiday with Arianna]


This was her first trip to Michael's. As many of you know, mommy loves crafts and she behaved wonderfully. She still does now, but I have to give her something that shines or makes sounds so that she gets entertained. She knows the store so well that when we enter, she knows the cart and the aisles already. Are you looking at a future crafty person? Only time will tell...
This was the first time that she was going from tummy to back and back to tummy. She was about 4 months. The colorful mat was part of her crib. I took her out and put it on the table so we could exercise better.




Ah! For the love of the T.V. control. She was learning to sit around this time, but she did not have the control to go up and down. The t.v. control started slipping when she was sitting down and she decided to go with it. Yes, she still in love with our control to any electronics, especially the t.v. She knows how to change the channels now, and does it until she sees something that she likes.



This was her first trip to the Little Red Schoolhouse. I forgot exactly where it is, but she was awake during the time we were watching the critters in the school. For our hiking/walking part,she took a nap, and then was awake for awhile, but we thought it was a bit chilly to take her out of her cocoon.





Arianna's first time ever shoes! They were pink and Winnie the Pooh. She was also starting to stand, that is why we bought the shoes. This is in March 2008, so she was six months, but then she went back to crawling again (mostly) so we did not put her shoes until now (11 1/2 months).





Thanks to Dave, Tiffany and especially Glenn for lending us the exer-saucer, she loved it from 6 -10 months. I will put her in there, and I could do a bit of cleaning, eating, or going to the bathroom without worrying that she may flip or something. She especially enjoyed the froggie, but she also liked all the bell and whistles that came with it. She used to jump so hard that she will poop as well, something that was really good for us since she did not go that often before the jumping :)



Love my shopping cart! We went shopping for a few items for our upcoming vacation to TN. And I remember that I had my camera, this was one of the first times that she was sitting on the cart (not in her car seat attached to the cart). She loved it then, she loves it now. I know the day will come that sooner rather than later that she will want to push the cart, not sit in it. But, for now she likes it, although she does not sit forwards; she sits sideways!

This concludes part 2, wait... we still have some pictures of me in TN! Stay tunned.