Aria Grace: Four Months

We are four months old, people!!! And life is good!  (Except for teething, which is rough.)  Here's what's been going on!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Weight: 16lbs 1 oz (95th percentile) -as of last week

Height: 25 1/4 inches (88th percentile)

Wearing size 6-9 month clothes.

Sleep-  You still are getting up twice a night to eat.  I can't complain too much because it only takes you about 10 minutes to eat, then you go right back down.  Your naps at work are getting much shorter, and you tend to fight them more now.  You typically fall asleep in your swing in the evening after supper, and wake up when we go upstairs to bed to eat one last time.  We are planning to move you to your room soon, and I'm hoping it will help you sleep longer at night!

Supporting our Kansas teams for the NCAA tournament

Eating-  Still breastfeeding and doing great!  Eating about every three hours, but you are not afraid to let me know it if you are hungry before then.  (It doesn't matter if Mom thinks it's too early or not...we are eating NOW!  lol)

In her swing at work, watching nursery rhyme videos on YouTube...can you see the phone rigged up there on the right???

Likes-  Your favorite thing is to be smiled at and talked to.  You get the biggest grin on your face, and it absolutely makes the day of whomever you are talking to!  You love your baths, kicking around on your play mats, music, and being outside.  You absolutely love all the girls at mommy's work.  They have you so spoiled...all you have to do is make a peep and one of them will come to check on you saying, "Were you calling me, Aria?  Want to come play?"  They have your swing set up in the front office and have lullabies and nursery rhymes ready to play for you.  It is awesome.

Biker babe with a bow!

Dislikes- Those darn teeth have started to bother you the last week or two and it drives you crazy some days.  Your hands are constantly in your mouth, along with your blanket, and anything else you can hold well enough to chew on.  Since you've been teething you don't want anything to do with your pacifier.

Easter Sunday

Fun Firsts- You learned to roll over both ways this last week!  Lyle also got the first laugh out of you!  Your Dad and I were standing at the stove finishing supper, and Lyle was singing (super loud) to you in your seat, and you just started laughing at him!  The best moment EVER!  During spring break you finally got to meet your cousins Summer and Weston, and Auntie Kristen and Uncle Philip.  The babies were fascinated by each other!  It was fun for all the aunts and uncles to get grins out of you!  You also celebrated your first Easter, and looked absolutely darling in your Easter dress.  We had a great time with family (although you slept through all the Easter egg hunts!)

The Norris cousins

Lyle Update: You still LOVE your brother and he still LOVES you!  I am so happy for this and hope it always continues!  He loves to help with you and entertain you.  When you are sitting close together, if your arm bumps him, he will squeal and say, "Aria!  That TICKLES!!!!"  So funny.

Lyle reading you books.  Precious.

What a perfect addition to our family you are, sweet Aria!  We love you so so much!

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend celebrating with family.  And what a reason to celebrate; that Jesus did not stay dead after he was crucified on the cross, but he has risen!  The foundation of our faith and the reason for our joy.  Our church puts together a devotional book during the time of Lent.  This year we went through the book of Mark, and each day's devotional was written by a different church member.  These are always such a blessing to me, to read through the story leading up to Easter, and to learn from the insights of fellow believers.  

Gigi telling the Easter story with Resurrection Eggs

Cousins ready to go on an Easter Egg Hunt

Lyle told me he thought Peter Cottontail was going to hide the eggs for the egg hunt!

They LOVED it this year!

Lyle

Zoe

Eric..  A little windblown. :)

Gigi and Aria taking in the action

Easter Baskets

Lyle has a major sweet tooth, so we went more in the direction of little goodies for their baskets:  new pajamas, swimsuits, chalk, books, etc.  

Ready for church!

Family picture success!

He is lovin some Paw Patrol lately

Books!  Bulldozers, Loaders, Firetrucks, etc.  This boy's love language! 

Singing "Little Peter Cottontail"

Telling Great Grandma all about it!

Wonderful to spend Easter with family.  Now if only we could have had ALL our family there! :) SIBLINGS....move closer!

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

On Friday, Lyle got to go to the zoo with his Grammy (who had the day off of school) and Papa.  I was pretty jealous (because I LOVE the zoo), but was glad they could go and have fun!

Here is some of their adventure!

Trying to get the ducks to say, "Cheese!"

Singing "Easter Bunny! Easter Bunny!"  This kid.

Hippo!  I don't think I've ever been able to see them underwater!

When we asked Lyle what his favorite animal at the zoo was, he said "the not-real lions."  Apparently the statues were the best part!  LOL

The "real" lions

Grammy and Lyle!  Papa is looking a little tired in the background! :)

And...he's out!

Lyle had such a blast at the zoo!  Thanks Grammy and Papa!

Spring Break Reunion

A couple of weekends ago we had the rare occurence to have all of my brothers and sisters together for a weekend.  This typically only happens at Christmas (or maybe for a quick weekend in the summer if we are lucky!)  My sister Kristen and her husband Philip had twins born 8 weeks premature in June, and have been on house quarantine since they got out of the NICU.  They did not want the babies to be exposed to any additional germs they could avoid.  

So finally spring came, and they were ready to break those babies out of the house!  So to Kansas they came!  Mike had a client he needed to visit, so he was able to make the trip too (but we so so missed his wife Stephanie! SO MISSED her.)

Everyone else is within a few hours of home, so we all got to be together for a couple days.  It was awesome!

Uncle Jeff!

Weston eating like a boss. 

 I had not seen the twins since they were in the NICU and it was so much fun to spend time with them.  Such happy babies!

Playing at the park with Sarah

Uncle Mike!

Weston

Zoe and Lyle helping with the candles on Carrie's birthday cake

Gigi, Grandaddy, and all their grandkids!

Gigi and Aria

Sweet Summer Joy! 

The babes.  They play together so well right now!  lol

Aria and Summer in matching bows (chilling on the quilt I made Weston! ;)

The first time all the kids have been together!

Weekends like these make my heart happy!  

What's Up Wednesday

Just some randoms for your Wednesday!!!  

What we are eating this week:

Monday:  Dinner with church friends!  I took my favorite (and easy easy) strawberry spinach salad.  (And by easy I mean buy bagged spinach, cut up strawberries, put almonds, or sugared pecans on top, and finish it with raspberry vinaigrette dressing)

Tuesday:  Breakfast!  We had eggs, sausage, strawberries, and cinnamon raisin toast.

Wednesday:  BBQ wings and potatoes

Thursday:  Bierocks (from the freezer)

Friday: To be determined!


What I'm Reading:

I've been reading "The Best Yes."  It's been really good so far.  I just have an awful time getting through non-fiction books.  Even if I love them.

I am also reading "12 Huge Mistakes Parents Can Avoid" with a few girls in a bible study.  It's been good so far.


What I'm Dreading: Putting away our laundry.  I really don't mind doing laundry or folding it.  But the putting-it-away part always gets me!

What I'm Working On:  Picking fabric and a pattern to make Aria's quilt.  I think I've got it all picked out, but wanting to get it "Zach approved" before ordering.

What We've Been Up To: Celebrated St. Patrick's Day with some green.  Lyle and I also whipped up some Lucky Shamrock Mix and took it to daycare and work.  Lyle kept saying how excited the "kids" would be to eat it!  HAH!  It was a great treat for him to help with.

Recipe

What I'm Excited About:  Seeing my family this weekend!  I think we are going to have all the siblings home...including my sister and the twinsies!  I have not seen them since July when they were so itsy-bitsy in the NICU.  And Aria will finally get to meet her last Auntie and Uncle!

What I'm Watching:  Oh goodness I don't know if I should admit all the shows we record!  But there are so many good ones!  Right now we're watching The Voice.

What I'm Listening To:  The Lullaby station on Pandora.  Aria likes to sleep to it while we're at work.  It's surprisingly good!

What Am I Annoyed By: Allergies.  Booooooo.

What I'm Reminiscing About: Our Hawaii trip.  I'm ready for a vacation! 

What I'm Looking Forward To: More warm weather! Warm temperatures and sunshine make me happy!

What I'm Thankful For: My husband.  I've started going to a class at the wellness center a couple nights a week, and he watches the kids.  It's been nice to have a few kid-free moments.

What I'm Hoping For: We are supposed to get rain tonight, and I would love a good spring thunderstorm!  But please keep our electricity on.  And no tornadoes.

What I Wore Today: Normal work attire! And glasses because of these darn allergies and a sleepless night due to my sweet kiddos taking turns being up.  Anyone else feel like they are scheming and say, "Hey Lyle!  I just finished eating and mom just laid down....your turn!"

What Else is New?

Lyle is great at portraits....Mom and Dad.  HAHA