Green thumb Ari

Ari absolutely loves playing in the garden - today I decided to just let him have at it - mud and all

He love, love, loves watering the plants and he is so smart - he just watched us do it and then one day started picking up the hose and going from plant to plant - today I let him do it while the water was actually running


Today he worked up a thirst so he decided what was good for Mother Earth was good enough for him

After all that great work in the garden, Ari was rewarded with a fudge- sicle .... which I would have never let him eat had it not been for the fact that he was already covered in mud and all sorts of grossness

so what do you do when your covered in snot, mud and icecream ...... bath time!!!!!!

Spring has SPRUNG

Ok to be honest its been "spring" here for a while - say what you want about Southern California, but the weather can not be beat. We love Spring

Happy Easter

So Ari is making it a tradition to be sick for Easter- I can't say I am excited about the "tradition" and I am going to try my darndest to stop it next year
Here he is - poor little guy

Aquarium of The Pacific

We took a trip down to Long Beach back in March and went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. I normally don't really care for aquariums because they always seem to give me a headache but I had such a good time. I think it was because there was lots of open space and stuff to do outside.






Ari had so much fun while he was there. It was so fun to seem him get excited about the fish, birds and other wild life.

A little bit of catch up

Okay so it looks like I have a window of opportunity to do a little bit of catch up work on our blog.... so here goes another blogging marathon

*** longest Sigh of RELIEF ever***

I can finally take a breath and relax...
sorry the posts have been few and far between. Last I left off Ari was totally under weight and we were having quite a battle trying to get this kid to eat anything. That was three weeks ago but it seems like FOREVER and just yesterday all at the same time.
Ari had his first Dr. appointment on a Monday and we were told his weight was a HUGE concern and I left the office feeling shaky. Then just when Ari was starting to do a little better eating he got a stomach bug- and it lasted 10 DAYS - he kept nothing down and I was basically a full functioning zombie. (although I wonder how functioning I was and owe a HUGE thank you to my in laws and husband for getting me through it all)
Everyone in our house, (accept me) ended up sick to some degree but Ari had it the worst. Everyone was better and he was still throwing up everything. When we took him to the Dr he had already lost another pound. Not great news when your in desperate need of packing on a few pounds.

But finally he got better, and he got over his ear infection.... and he started to eat. He went back to sleeping on his own in his crib like it was no big deal (I had been sleeping in the spare bed in his room while he was sick) and then pretty much without even realising it- He was weaned. I am not really sure how that happened- mostly it was a smooth transition since I was barely nursing him while he was sick and then I got laryngitis and could not talk **** everyone laugh, I know its funny
anyway,
the medicine I was taking gave Ari the runs so he had a sore bottom so I just stopped nursing him and since I was barely nursing him before that- while he was sick it just sort of happened- Ari is weaned....
and today we went to the Dr for his follow up to determine if further testing was necessary and
ARI GAINED ALMOST A POUND..... he is 19 lbs 6 oz and the Dr said that was REALLY impressive considering the battle we have had for the last three weeks to just keep him healthy.....
finally a much needed sigh of relief
So here we are - 16 months and Ari is sleeping through the night in his crib and weaned- I can honestly say I have no idea how any of this happened- Ari is the one who deserves the praise- he really made it easy on us- I just had to work on his schedule instead of my schedule (sounds like someone else we know)


Oh, and as for the pictures - we were able to find an outfit of Ryan's that he was photographed in at a year ... lucky we found it when he did, a few days later and it never would have fit- so when we went and got Ari's Easter pictures taken we also had some totally adorable pictures taken just like Daddy's...... (these two could have been twins)
Man we love him!!!!!!!!













p.s. thanks to everyone for for all there help, advice and prayers - they really are appreciated