Ari's sixth week was full of visiting with family and meeting new friends. We continued to enjoy hanging out with Jené, Carter, and Lily, who came from Kentucky to meet Ari, but both they and we had busy social calendars, introducing people to our new daughters.

Arianna was born on a Friday, so the first photo in each week's entry is always one taken on the Friday of that week, though the others are from throughout the week. This way, we'll have a photographic record of how she looked at weekly intervals as time progresses. Someone gave Lily a really cute dress but it's too small for her now, so Jené brought it with her for Ari to try. She's about 5 minutes away from outgrowing it too, but we think it makes for an adorable picture of how she looks this week!

We enjoyed the beautiful day Saturday (the "beginning" of the week) by going for a fall walk with Jené, Carter, and Lily. Then Carter and I built a crib — that Leona's son, Ricky, lent us along with some other great baby gear; thanks! — at Mom & Dad's house for Lily to sleep in during her visit. Carter and I seem to be developing a tradition of building and fixing things together, which we both enjoy. We also got a changing table and put that together, so now we have a pretty good nursery setup at Mom & Dad's house.

That afternoon, Kenny & family came over to Mom & Dad's house with his unforgettably delicious hot links, BBQ chicken, and ribs, and we had a nice extended family dinner. Lori, a long-time family friend who used to teach Jené and me when we were kids at Montessori school, came to meet Ari and Lily. It had been a long time since we'd seen her, and was a really nice treat! Jené and I both have nice memories of riding in the back of her red VW bug (old-school, 25+ years ago) listening to and all singing Funky Town at the top of our lungs. Ari also got to meet Uncle Terry (technically my cousin-in-law), who was out of town when Vanessa met her.

Sunday, we got to meet Allan and Denise's new daughter, Eliza, at Denise's baby shower. Eliza arrived a bit earlier than expected, so it was great to be able to celebrate her arrival with her there! The girls both slept through most of it, but I look forward to them getting to know each other.

I'm really glad Jené, Carter, and Lily came to visit. Aside from the general enjoyment of hanging out with them, it was great to see Lily again, and ooh and aah about how much she's change in such a short time (she was still just a newborn when we went to meet her in June), and I know it means a lot to Jené to experience Ari as an infant. I'm glad we're able to start building a connection between Ari and Lily; I really do hope they'll become friends and have an active relationship. Modern communication technologies really do shorten the distance between here Kentucky pretty well, so there's some hope for that.

I've noticed that having a child really does deepen my sense of family. It was really satisfying to have so much of our growing family all together, celebrating these adorable new members. The wonder, joy, and delight we're all sharing is a welcome happy note on which to bring us all together.

Ari also met Leah & Ted's new daughter, Isabella this week. Leah came over for a visit, and the four girls spent a fun afternoon together.

Milestones & Metrics

• Ari gave us our first real, social smile this week, and Ania and I were both there to see it together! We were at the changing table, and she just flashed it out of nowhere, but we were both looking at her (and probably smiling at her without realizing it) and saw it at the same time. Even though we didn't have the camera to catch it, that sweet moment is a memory we'll always cherish. Here are some of the moments we did capture in photos.
• How Arianna looks this week:

Did I mention that we adore our daughter?