She's Back!

I missed you all!!!

I realize it has been far too long since I have posted any new Aurelia updates. She has grown up before our very eyes. She is an expert fast crawler. She has 7 teeth (four on top, three on bottom). She has excellent balance and spends lots of time squatting and standing back up again holding onto her bar or furniture with only one hand. Sometimes she will walk with you, holding only one hand, but she prefers two hands, thank you very much. I am amazed at her daily progress with motion and sound. Her favorite game is the "Hi" game. She loves to talk to people and her favorite thing to do is to get their attention with her sweet little "Heh" (aka "Hi"). She will start with one "Heh" and will continue intermittently until she is acknowledged by the "Heh" recipient. Once acknowledged by the "Heh" recipient", she will break into an enormous smile and possibly throw in a few more "Heh"'s for good measure (likely with her finger adorably in her mouth). You can tell how proud she is that she got you to speak to her. She is lovely and amazing. I will try to catch this experience on video. It is priceless.

When Aurelia was tiny and could only dream of the day she could wear ruby slippers, her Auntie Ivy gave her the most beautiful pair imaginable. The other day, I brought them out and Aurelia was captivated. We had to put them on. She stood in front of her mirror and put on a wonderful tap routine. First her right foot: tap-tap-tap. Then her left foot: tap-tap-tap. . . . By the time i got back with the video camera, she had grown more comfortable in her baby Manolo's. Here she is checking out her lovely feet. . .

We had a fun day with hats a couple of weeks ago. I am a hat lover and I think Reli looks pretty spectacular in a variety of hats. Fun!

The Healds, Ingrams and Kaplans packed up and headed to Lake Travis for a little weekend getaway at the end of September. We rented a fun house, cooked for each other, looked at old family pictures and reminisced about when we Heald girls were Koruna and Aurelia's age. It was fabulous to experience all of these branches of the family tree together under the same roof. Here are some pictures from our adventure.

The Cast

Just A Boy and a Girl

With the Moon Shinin' All Around

Our Little Family

Still Life With Native Girl

Bath Time

Dada and his Girl

Hanging out with the Dads

Papasita and Reli

Grumps and Grandma are Awesome!

Honey came to visit again weekend before last and we had a wonderful time with her. She showers these girls with love and attention. (And by "these girls" I mean me, Berry, Whitney, Koruna, Aurelia, our friends, etc.). I love when she comes to stay here. It is never, ever for long enough, but it is so sweet that she makes the long journey here on a regular basis. Thank you, Honey!

She happened to come here on the weekend of Austin City Limits, a huge music festival. Jeri Lynn and Ian had tickets to some awesome bands so we got the absolute pleasure of Koruna's company for an extended period of time. I dressed Reli in her best Rocker outfit in celebration. She was a Koruna groupie, in her black onesie with Koruna's name on the back, complete with rock star hairdo.

Jail House Rock

One last "O", Making her move . . .

Rockin' It Family Style

Koruna with Bow

Hey Ladies!

And finally, this past weekend was Cousin's Weekend. My cousins Emily and Rachael came down from Dallas to spend time with all of us. Here they are with Reli.

Rachael & Reli

Emily and Reli

Last, but certainly not least, Yano was playing with Reli's favorite fish toy and captured her reaction to the fishie's breath. Sigh. I love these two . . .