(T)arina and (A)tkins in Chicago

Liora at the water park

Tarina — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:28:23 +0000

Well, Liora is 20 months old now. We were recently in Greeley and we went to the Family Fun Plex water park. Liora was a bit cautious at first but had a blast! The water in the younger kid area was so warm it was like taking a nice bath. With 50 of your closest friends. ;)
Here are some pics from our excursion. Sorry we didn’t get to see everyone. We love and miss you!

Our beautiful girl is 1!

Tarina — Wed, 18 May 2011 00:42:10 +0000

Okay, okay, so I am terrible at updating the website. It’s just such a pain in the ass reformatting pics to fit on the site (bitch bitch moan moan). It’s so much easier to just quickly upload the pictures onto facebook, which automatically reformats them so I have less work to do.
And less work is better with a baby who is starting to walk! She is crawling up a storm and will even walk short distances by herself. I can’t believe we have a year-old beautiful girl. Every day she surprises us by doing more and more things.
Here are some pics from her birthday cupcake adventure:

Liora’s first Halloween

Tarina — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 23:02:12 +0000

Okay, so I am a little behind, but I thought you guys might want to see pics of Liora’s first Halloween experience. She decided to dress up as a bunny (okay, we decided that for her) and I went as a carrot, very fitting. Atkins didn’t dress up. Or rather, he belonged to the co-op where the carrot was grown. ;)
Here are some pics:

As you can see, she’s clearly excited about her first Halloween.

Here’s a couple of her alter-bunny-ego and her silly parents:

Finally, while we were standing around chatting with the other parents and looking at all the cute costumes, Atkins caught Liora looking a little grumpy. She was hungry and tired and, I think, sick of being a bunny!

It’ll be even more fun next year when she can walk from house to house and trick-or-treat. I wonder what ridiculous costume we’ll put her in.

Yum yum yum!

Tarina — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 03:06:12 +0000

We decided to start giving Liora solid foods a little early. She was really showing interest in our food, watching us eat and staring at our forks and spoons.
About a month ago, when she was around 4 months old, we decided to try a little rice cereal. Atkins held her and I fed her. My dad took pics. Here’s one:

Liora did very well. I had mixed the rice cereal pretty thinly with a lot of breastmilk. It was barely a solid, but I didn’t want to upset her tummy. I decided after that, however, that I would wait a little while to begin again. Long story short, I read some information and decided to hold off a little while.
That brings us to October. Once again, we tried the rice cereal. She seemed to like it okay. Nothing thrilling.

I fed her in this little chair that hooks on to the table. I couldn’t get right in front of her and I think she is just a little bit too small to really handle sitting completely upright and eating. She’d lean forward too far sometimes and it was a bit of a mess.
So, today, I decided to feed her in the bouncy chair. She’s reclined at a little bit of an angle and I could sit right in front of her. We also have been trying oatmeal for the last couple of days, which is decidedly tastier. She did very well today, which was our first day with two meals. She seemed happier:

Though it was still very messy!

Before too long, we’ll be trying veggies and fruits! I’m going to wait a couple (maybe a few) weeks until we have this cereal schedule down before adding new foods into the mix.
I can’t believe how big my little girl is getting!

Liora loves animals!

Tarina — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 06:35:44 +0000

No surprise, but Liora has accrued quite the stuffed animal collection. Hm, why on earth would that happen? There are still plenty of my old stuffed animals to keep her company. Once she’s a little older, I will have to go through them and pick out the good ones. Or let her pick the ones she likes… either way.
Anyway, here is Liora with a bunny that Aunt Judy gave her. She immediately started giggling when she saw it. I think the fur reminded her of the cats. Yes, she can see the cats now. They are a source of endless amusement for her! I take her to look at the kitties when she is upset because it almost always calms her down.
Okay, on to the pics.

This other one is one of my new favorites. I wish the lighting were a little better. Anyway, that’s a tiny little giraffe that I picked up somewhere along the way. Apparently his head is the perfect munching size.

She is getting so big! She grabs things and puts them in her mouth. She is also sticking her tongue out at us and making razz noises. She’s not quite rolling over yet, but she is getting close. Her feet are endlessly entertaining. She always grabs them when I get her diaper off. I can’t believe it was almost five months ago that she was born!

Storytime

Tarina — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 02:07:11 +0000

Hi, everyone. I’m going to read you this story.

Wait, what’s that out the window?

Hm, nevermind. Back to the story, and it’s a good one! What do you mean you want to see the book? Don’t you trust me?

Okay, you win–there’s no words. Just a bunch of fun patterns. I still like it, though!

I’m ready for my closeup…

Tarina — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:12:41 +0000

I was trying to get some good close shots of Liora and her baby blues and I have to say I’m happy with the results.
If you’d like full-res version of any of these pics, please just e-mail me.

What's this shiny thing in my face?

Mommy makes me giggle!

Pensive (and beautiful)

The magic linking rings

Tarina — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:05:53 +0000

Hey, what are these?

Mmm, delicious!

Can I wear them as a belt?

Playgroup

Tarina — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:47:22 +0000

We joined a playgroup that meets in the park near our place every Sunday at 1 pm. We got there this past weekend but no one was there! It was okay, though, because the weather was beautiful and it was nice to get out of the house and just hang out for awhile.
Here are some pics of our little trip.

In the baby pouch, just after arriving at the park.

Fun in the sun. Well, in the shade, actually.

Haven't quite figured out how to sit up yet.

Asleep in the pouch back at home. Look at all that drool! The red mark is from her hat, already a bit too small, though it's supposed to fit up to six months.

More and more talented

Tarina — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:09:30 +0000

Maybe holding objects isn’t exactly a “talent” but it is something new for her. She isn’t quite grabbing them on her own, though I think that’s coming soon. Tonight she held the same rattle as in these pics and moved it to her mouth. It’s the first non-hand object that she has put in her mouth. (I’m obviously not counting the nipple here.) Anyway, I took these pics a couple days ago when we had just finished some tummy time and were working on grasping. She loved to look at the camera. I’m guessing because it’s a shiny silver thing and was in her face a bit. The result were 8 or 9 super cute pics. Here’s a couple:

The fun and amazing thing to me as I watch her learn new skills is that she has to figure out all the things that we take for granted: holding her head up, grasping objects, deciphering patterns, talking, sitting up, etc. The list goes on. There are probably hundreds of things that you and I do easily every day that she has to actually train herself to do.

Being here to watch her learn to do these things is a blessing.