Sitting in the Sun

Todd shot these on the back porch at his parents' house on November 1. Lena enjoyed soaking up the sun. She was 7 1/2 months old. She really loves playing with my watch.

Happy girl.

Revisiting Halloween

Pat and Ryan the Pirate

Lena wasn't the only one who dressed up for Halloween despite what it looks like in this Snow Owl post. 
Ryan, Todd's nephew, was a pirate. It was great to spend Halloween with Amy, Pat, Ryan, Gigi, and Grandpa.

Ahoy, matey.

A duel! Amy has the upper hand.

Lena, the snow owl.

Finishing touches, preparing the snow owl.

Ready for take off!

Anne, Lena, and Grandpa Ramsell. The snow owl is ready for flight.

Queen Bee Princess

Ready to hit the beach!

Here she is! Queen Bee Princess, or something like that. This is Hazel in her Halloween costume, which she wore to the beach before we headed over to the Strand for some daytime kiddie Halloween fun. Lena wore her black cat onesie, striped tights, and orange ribbon headband for the occasion. At the Strand we went by the Halloween fair, ate Greek food by the ships, then ate lots of candy and ice cream at the ice cream parlor.

A fearsome shadow.

A lonely bee wandering the beach.

Jen, with hoop, and Josh

Josh and Hazel at the Strand

Anne and Lena, as a black cat, with shades

Strolling around the Strand.

Funny faces outside the beach house.

Bonus Lena photo! At the beach house earlier in the day.

Day at the Beach

In October we took a family vacation to Galveston. Our friends Josh, Jen and Hazel joined us for part of the trip, but we also had a day by ourselves at the beach. I walked on the beach every day and usually Lena would fall asleep, but I timed this outing to avoid her nap time so she could play in the sand and water. She was 7 months old on Oct. 13. These were taken on Monday, Oct. 31. She had just started crawling the Tuesday before. This was her first time to actually feel the sand. I dipped her toes in the water, but that's about as close she came to swimming on this trip. Next time!

Happy 2012

Happy New Year!
and Merry Christmas
and Happy Thanksgiving...
Er, it's been a while! November was a blur and then it was almost Christmas and, well, you know how that goes.

So, it's a new year, time to resolve to update Lena's blog regularly. Not daily, but hopefully with better regularity--once a week? We'll see. Here's the first post.

Lena is 9 1/2 months old now. She took her first steps on Christmas day with a walker toy. She's practicing daily and trying to stand on her own more. More on this to come.

Lena is eating finger foods and is very open to trying new things. She'll try anything. She likes Cheerios, clementines, avocado, yogurt melts, bread, and much more.

We had a quiet New Year's Eve. Lena is sleeping through the night and went to bed on time. 2011, the only year she's every known, is over. Welcome 2012. She'll be 1 year old in just a few months. It's going so fast.

Lena playing with blocks in Lucas and Ethan's playroom wearing the dress from Great-Aunt Karen and hairbow from Silla's Soup.

Lena at North Park mall about to visit Santa Claus.

A Snow Owl

Todd took so many good photos of Lena in her Halloween costume, it was hard to narrow it down to just these few. We spent Halloween in Houston at Todd's sister's with his family. Lena showed off her flapping skills and sat patiently on the sofa while we took her picture. She was surprisingly cooperative about the costume and wore it for almost 2 hours, which is a long time for a 7 month old. Since it was pretty warm out, I skipped the white tights I had brought along, so enjoy the extra chubby legs.

My favorite photo!

November Already!

We returned from our trip to Galveston and Houston last week. I have soooo many photos to sort through including shots of Lena at the beach, in her Halloween costume, and with the grandparents. Meanwhile, here's what's going on with Lena.

I think she might have a cold. She started coughing yesterday morning. At first she would cough, then smile, cough, then giggle. I think it was tickling her and felt funny. She hasn't run a fever and has no diarrhea, just a cough. Today she has slept a lot and is still coughing, but that's it.

I felt the first pointy spikes of a lower tooth today. I can just barely see it, but it's on its way!

Lena is crawling faster and farther now. If you leave the room she is right behind you, usually crying while crawling because she can't figure out why you left!

We're still working on solids, but we've had some success with banana and today she ate part of a piece of bread. Hooray!