A visit from Tia Gloria and company

We had a visit from Tia Gloria, Melinda, Mikala, Anaya, and Silvia at the end of August (sorry about the time delay!) Natalia had a great time hanging out with her family, including a trip to State Fair and a trip to get her ears pierced.

Make way for ducklings! (A trip to Boston Public Garden)

The whole family went on a trip to Boston Public Garden to ride on the swan boats. Apparently, these same swan boats have been in operation for over 100 years! Natalia had a delightful time, bouncing and singing for most of the trip. The subway ride to get there was quite an adventure. She finally did fall asleep from sheer exhaustion on the way home.

A momentous visit to Boston!

This dates back to the beginning of August.... Natalia and her parents went again on the plane to Boston. It was quite an adventure! Natalia had a great time with her cousins, Julien and Robin. She had a particularly great time with Robin, who was around 14 months old at the time. They were very sweet with each other, at least, as sweet as two beings with minimal motor skills can be with each other. They seemed to mutually understand that a poke in the eye could mean a great display of affection.

Natalia also finally got a chance to meet her Uncle Erik and Aunt Erica. It was a great family adventure involving a great deal of baby herding and toting of gear.

Pictures from the last days of summer vacation....

A few images from our days together over the summer..... Natalia has loved going for walks-she particularly likes going in the baby carrier (the Baby Bjorn). She could walk in the Baby Bjorn forever, but she does tire of being in her stroller after around half an hour. At a garage sale we were at, Natalia saw a baby doll and was absolutely delighted. The doll is quite hideous, but Natalia squeals with pleasure whenever she sees her (we have called her "Crea", short for creature).
She is now tearing around with her crawl, she definitely has a second gear she can go into when she wants high speed.

I'm a dancing baby, la, la, la-la!

Natalia has really started to enjoy having standing time. She has a pretty sturdy stance, although standing and walking on her own seem to be a long ways off. She continues to cruise along with her little commando crawl. In the last few days, she is even showing some signs of wanting to get up on her hands and knees.

Rough day at the office.....

Playing with baby Kathryn/ Natalia has a crawling breakthrough

This is backdated about 3 weeks....Natalia went to a "play date" with her friend Kathryn. This play date was much more interesting than the last, where the two of them just sat (or tried to sit, in the case of Natalia) and drooled on things. When Natalia saw Kathryn, she was so excited she started to crawl towards her. Her style of crawling really proves the theory that if you really, really want to do something, it does not matter if your technique is completely off. What she lacks in technique, she makes up for in determination. Kathryn and Natalia are absolutely adorable together! Very different styles.....