Milestones! Pulling Up!

2 weeks ago I posted about Ariella learning how to get herself from laying down to sitting. Well, Sunday night she learned how to pull up!!! We were playing over by the steps. I had some toys and cheerios a couple of steps up. I got on my hands and knees and then I put my hands 1 at a time on the bottom step, saying "Up Up!" She joined in and copied me! She only did it that 1 time that morning, so in the afternoon I had her trying it again. I had to help her some, but she did it a couple of times on her own.

Then, we moved her over to try by the sofa to get to my ipad to play a game while standing at the side of the sofa. She pulled right up! We couldn't get her to do it again, though.

So, then Sunday night I took her back to the steps. She pulled up a ton of times! She made it a game to stand up and then sort of try to stand without holding on. She would plop down on her tushy, and I would say "Whee! Boom!". I moved her over to the sofa, and she did it there, too - not even to get to a toy, just to do it so she could fall back to sitting and try again! Then, I brought her over to her toy where she can stand and play, and she got right up! I even got video of her pulling up to that one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SoXL9Pu6K8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Yesterday my mother in law said that she was able to pull up several times during the day on both the steps and the sofa. And, last night she pulled up on all 3 places that we've been practicing. It wasn't effortless for her. She had several attempts where she didn't make it up. But, I'll bet after some more days of practice she'll be able to do it every time.

I'm very excited! This is huge progress for her!

Zombie Day

Tyree has been on vacation this week, so he and his mom have been taking care of Ariella. Yesterday Ariella didn't take an afternoon nap, and she was overtired when I got home a little after 6pm. I got her to sleep right away, since I knew she was tired. She stirred around 7:30pm, which excited me. I figured I'd nurse her, get her some dinner, and then she'd probably get back to sleep around her normal bedtime.

Wrong! She nursed both sides, but then she was back asleep! So, I put her to bed for the night, skipping her dinner. She woke up around 12:45am, so I nursed her. But, then she didn't go back to sleep. I was up for maybe a couple of hours with her trying to get her back to sleep. Then, she woke again for the morning around 6:30am. Zombie day for me today.

I told Tyree to make sure she had an afternoon nap today. Apparently, his mom was to blame for this one. Tyree said he had put Ariella in her swing to take a nap, but his mom stayed in the room watching her (so of course she wasn't going to go to sleep) then within only a couple of minutes his mom had taken her out to play because she said Ariella held her hands up to her! Sigh.... Need sleep!!!! But, I'm stuck at work.

Bouncing off the wall!

Ariella was soooo active when I got home from work last night. Tyree was home yesterday on vacation, and they apparently came up with a new game - tumblesets on the bed! She would be sitting on the bed and would put her head down (as if she were about to do a tumbleset forward). Tyree would pick her up and flip her over! She got so excited!!! She just wanted to be thrown in the air or held upside down, pretty much the whole night! I asked him twice if he or his mom had given her sugar, but he said no. She was just sooo cute, though.

And, she started saying more "words" that started with consonants - baaa! daaa! This was new because she had normally been saying things that started with vowels - eat! ate! I wonder if the new Baby Babble video that I bought for her is making a difference. It was created by speech pathologists to encourage speech in babies. Maybe it's helping. :-)

Pictures of Ariella's Birthday!

Ariella's Birthday Party

Ariella's party went really well overall. We had a big turnout, 27 people, 5 of which were kids. I was very happy with how the decorations and food came out. My photographer friend came early, and Ariella did a photo shoot. She even took pics standing while holding onto a chair. She stood there a long time. I thought she'd fall for sure, but she didn't.

Then, Ariella took a nap, and was asleep for the first 15 minutes of the party. Luckily people were still arriving, though. After she woke up, I brought her in the living room to play. I put her on her rocking dog (not my brightest move, with all the presents right there). She fell off of that, oops, bad mommy! But she got ok very soon, phew.

Then we did food. I fed Ariella chili and apple sauce. Then, she got fussy, so I took her into my bedroom to nurse quickly. I think most people thought I was doing a diaper change.

Then we did presents. It was a lot of presents, and Ariella got a little overwhelmed. I guess it was a lot given that she's not used to many people.

Then, we did the cake. I took off her dress, but she was covered very well by her 1st birthday bib. She went to town on the icing! I think the cake was a little firm or maybe they just did a lot of icing, but that was all she got, the icing. She ate a good bit of it, too. Then, she pulled off her hair bow, covering it with icing and tried to eat her bow. Then, the icing was in her hair. Then, she was tired I guess, because she wiped her eyes. Oops. So, icing everywhere. Then, off to a bath because I'm sure icing in the eyes is not good.

After that people started leaving. All in all very nice party, perhaps a bit too much for her, but I think she had fun. At least when she's older, she'll know we really went all out for her first birthday. :-). For me, the party was kind of a whirl wind. It went by fast, as I was kept super busy by Ariella. I got to eat a little chili, but didn't even have cake until the party was long over. I guess that's pretty typical. I didn't get to talk with the guests as much as I would have liked either. But, I was very happy with how it came together.

It's Been A While!

I haven't posted in quite a while! It's been absolutely crazy at work. And, of course Ariella has been keeping me super busy. I can't believe she's 1 already!

Some more recent things with Ariella:
1. Her mode of transportation is scooting while sitting.
2. Just last night and this morning she has really started sitting up on her own from laying down! She had kind of been able to do it previously, but she did it when we laid her down in her crib, and then she was sitting up again when I got her this morning! Exciting stuff. I'll bet she'll be pulling up, crawling, and cruising very soon.
3. She does "Arms Up" on command.
4. She does "Clap" on command maybe 50% of the time.
5. She does "Wave" on command maybe 10% of the time.
6. We had another Parents as Teachers visit, and the lady said that Ariella has excellent fine motor skills.
7. Her favorite words are "eat" and "ate".
8. At her 12 month doctor's appointment she was 20 lbs 3oz (25-50th percentile), 30 inches (75th percentile), and head circumference 50th percentile. My little baby has leaned out! The doctor was very pleased with her growth.

Breastfeeding:
We're still breast-feeding! We made it through a nursing stike and getting sick, which killed my supply about a month ago - but she's back to being a champ of a nurser. I've been drinking Mother's Milk tea for about a month now. I bought a lot from Amazon. I can't wait until it's gone. I'm getting so sick of that tea (but don't want to waste it by not drinking it)! I'm still pumping at work twice. My freezer supply is down to 60oz (from 156oz). I should make it to the end of the month before it runs out. Then, I'm going to start her on organic goat's milk to add to the pumped breast milk. At the same time, I'm going to cut down to pumping only once at work! Hooray!