2009 Debate Champion

Try to argue with this cuteness. I dare you!

Not Quite

We have been waiting patiently (ok, not always) for Alia to roll over. She is not quite there yet, but is FINALLY showing some interest and desire. Here are a few clips of her attempts.

Playing Outside

We have been experiencing some absolutely gorgeous weather in Portland. It is hard to stay inside and play, so we have moved our fun out to our lawn. Alia loves being outside! We take a blanket and toys, but she mostly enjoys watching cars go by and listening to birds. Here are a few pictures from our afternoons outside.

Mommy/Daughter Weekend

Jason went to a concert this weekend at the Gorge with some of his buddies, so Alia and I were on our own. Luckily, the weather was beautiful. We managed to find a few ways to entertain ourselves!

Here we are taking a break at the mall after doing some shopping. Mommy ate a pretzel. Alia chewed on her teething ring!

After a very short nap, we played at home for a while. Alia practiced sitting up in her Bumbo chair. She'll sit just about anywhere as long as you give her something to chew on.

The weather was gorgeous so Mommy put a blanket out in our front yard in the shade and we played together and had girl talk.

Before we knew it, it was time bath time. Alia showed off some of her great tricks!

On Sunday, we went to the zoo with our friends Tom, Simone and Nicholas. Alia was very excited to finally get to wear this very cute dress.

After the zoo, Alia and Mommy talked about all of the animals that they saw together.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot ...

Alia's newest trick and current favorite past time ...

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful first "official" Mother's Day. The only gift I wanted was a night of uninterrupted sleep! Jason was kind enough to take night duty Saturday night. I was able to go to bed at 10:30pm and not get up until 6:00am. It felt great! Alia was a little confused about the whole thing and managed to keep Daddy pretty busy. We enjoyed a nice relaxing day together. He hung out, played, napped, shopped and went to the farmer's market to check things out. Jason made a wonderful dinner for me that night too. As we were getting Alia ready for bed we realized that we had neglected to take any pictures of Mommy & Alia so we snapped a few before bed time. I am a very lucky lady! I have a great family and I love being the mommy!

Here is a little video clip we took during the day. I'm trying to get better about posting videos so that you can get a better look at all of her new tricks and how much she is GROWING!

I'm Trying!

Here is a little video clip that we took of Alia one day last week. She still isn't showing any interest in rolling over or side to side movement of any kind, but sure would like to have the strength and coordination to go forward. She does this really funny thing with her arms and legs like she's trying to crawl, but it looks more like swimming. That's what we were attempting to catch on film here. She's been hanging out with some older friends (9 months - 1 year) and it really seems to interest her the way they move around. I think we still have a little while before we need to worry about a crawling baby though!

Alia is doing well and growing like crazy ... not a big fan of sleeping though. There have been some interesting days and nights around here lately. I think Miss Alia is learning how to manipulate good ol' mom and dad. Yikes!