Xmas 2007

Babies under the tree...

Auntie Mary and Helena

Granny reading a book to Helena (yes, she's lashed to her chair- a rather ancient model)




Grandpa babysits

On our way out to the farm, to celebrate with Nikolai's parents!



Four generations!

Grandma Helen keeps Helena amused...

Grandpa and Great-Grandma Helen (one of Helena's namesakes) watch with amusement...

twas the week before Christmas...

Helena, playing with ball, and Mama playing with new camera...

SUCH a Daddy's Girl

love these laughs...

crawling!

Here's another!

Just some weekend pics

Triple video bonanza!!

Helena's many activities this week:

Singing an aria:


creeping along the sofa:


Playing with Violet:

Readoption Day!

Today the Judge officially declared Helena to be our daughter, forever and irrevocably!

Happy bathtime baby is 10 months old today!!

this was last weekend, actually. This weekend she's been SICK, but is slowly recovering...

Thanksgiving '07

We gathered at the family homesteads for Thanksgiving and had a great time.
























Can you say "adoring grandpa"?






Helena is nonplussed in her winter gear...

out and about...

Been enjoying ourselves on my last couple weeks of leave, especially as sister Nell is here for a visit...
at Riviera Maya, one of our favorite restaurants:

and at that great Soup place on Michigan and Wisconsin...

on my first (half) day at work - Helena did just fine, all things considered... but when I came to pick her up, she just wanted to cuddle.

November pics

Here's Helena in a beautiful sweater, gloves and hat (on the bear), sitting on amazing afghan, made for us by the Higgins family- thank you!!

Helena and Violet...

My beautiful sisters and niece...

In Sheboygan again, meeting place of the clan...

walking the walk

Swings, geese, and a walk

It was only afterwards that we noticed the little swings were for children 3 and above. Of course, Violet is VERY advanced for her age, so- no problem, right?

These are the kind of perfect days during which I think of my wonderful, hard-working colleagues (stuck indoors in their cubicles and offices), and feel ever so sorry for them! Of course, in three short weeks I'll be back there alongside them...

blushing and grimacing

Can you believe the blush on those cheeks? Beautiful. (Even if it is from teething...)

This next shot is too ridiculous and funny not to post...

Weekend fun

Mother and daughter. I like this shot.



So Here's Helena, in a cute little outfit. I was lamely admiring how well it matched the new, clean blanket I had just laid down, when...
Disaster Struck!! (with the help of a few shreds of cheese- will I never learn my lesson to stick to the highchair? and to avoid cheese?). So Daddy came in to help clean up. He brought her upstairs to get changed, and when she came down- this is what she had on...

And here's Helena's latest trick- pulling herself over from seated to stomach, to better reach something. Crawling next?