Happy Birthday!!

Our sweet little baby is now one year old! She had a fun party with her own cake, and a special outing to the zoo at night. Her first carousel ride was a success!

Merry Christmas!

Nina had a spectacular Christmas, starting at home with Mommy and Daddy, continuing with cousins at lunch, and finishing at Nanna and Papa's for dinner. So much paper and ribbon!

Ho Ho Ho!

Nina got to sit on Santa's lap today, and she was not the least bit afraid. We didn't get the biggest grin out of her but this photo is a perfect keepsake for her first Santa visit.

More Thanksgiving

So here are the good photos from my good camera... Nina went casual with a little turkey t-shirt and denim leggings. She was all about the food!

Nina is 11 Months

Working without a computer is a little tricky for managing photos on my real camera, but I finally got around to importing these. Each month it gets harder to keep Nina sitting down long enough for a good photo - now she wants to crawl forward and grab the camera! And with the right kind of prop she can even stand up on her own!

Fall Fun

We've been relaxing in Houston, and taking advantage of the very mild weather. We walked to the park and found the baby swings, just right for little Nina! Then we came home and just romped in the crunchy leaves. Good thing her hoodie makes her easy to find!

Thanksgiving, part 2

We also had plenty of canine visitors at the ranch too... Up to five dogs at one point. Nina was not the least bit afraid of the barking, jumping, drooling, licking beasts that surrounded her. She also got to experience riding on a real John Deere, and by the look on her face she'll be ready to do it again!

Thanksgiving, part 1

Nina was super excited to get off a plane and into a car to drive to Boerne for Thanksgiving at the ranch. She got to snuggle with everyone, and of course got to enjoy delicious food like sweet potatoes and broccoli and just a teeny bite of turkey.

Exercise Class

One last posting from Shanghai: Nina and I joined a mommy & baby exercise class, which was surprisingly tons of fun. The babies got to crawl around and play with each other until we scooped them up to use as free weights. Great way to get buff!

Jing'an Sculpture Park

(Playing catch-up here...)
We brought Nina to this sculpture park when she first arrived in Shanghai, so we decided she needed one last visit before leaving. It is like a whole new park with giant new exhibits and a new natural history museum. Too bad it was rainy, but Nina had a good view from Daddy's shoulders.

Jitterbugs

In our last week in Shanghai we finally made it to a Jitterbugs class: singing and dancing with lots of other little kids.  We joined Breanne and Joshua, and had a blast playing with scarves, shakers, balls, and of course bubbles.  It didn't take long before Nina followed Joshua's lead and went exploring around the room to find other mommies and the mirror.  We'll be joining a class like this in Cincinnati for sure!

Hangin' with Joshua

Nina has had a great playmate in Joshua, our neighbor who is just 2 weeks younger than Nina (so actually about 3 weeks older than she should be).

They always have fun together in the playroom, going for walks in the park, and recently dancing in a Jitterbugs class.  Of course Joshua and Nina are great friends because the moms are the ones who really want to hang out, but I hope they can meet up again some day and still be buddies.

Happy Halloween

Oops... Halloween was a bit anti-climatic this year since Nina was in the midst of her first cold.  She was super cute in her Monkey costume, but only got to stay home and greet the trick-or-treaters from our building as they came by.  Let's hope that next year she gets to go out and get some candy of her own!

Time to be Tourists

Before we leave Shanghai I decided we need to do some sightseeing, so today's stop was the iconic Pearl Tower.

I always love going up in observation decks, and apparently Nina does too! She also was not bothered by the Chinese paparazzi taking photos of this blue-eyed baby.

More Crawling

Nina just can't sit still - she loves any excuse to crawl!  She'll follow us from one room to another, go examine the zippers on her backpack, or push a ball around just so she can chase after it.  Here are two videos of Nina getting around, full of curiosity and determination.


Nina Crawling: Baby's Eye View

Nina Crawling: In Her Diaper

Great Wall

Nina told us she really wanted to get out of town and go see the Great Wall.  Who are we to deny our sweet baby?  We took the high-speed train up to Beijing (5 hours) and then drove 2 hours to a quieter section of the wall.  It's a good thing Nina can nap on our laps and loves riding in her carseat.

When we got to the wall the sun was out and the pollution was worsening, so we headed straight to the top for the best possible photo op.  Poor thing was a little tired, but she was a trooper and stayed cozy in the carrier until we got back to the car... and a bottle of milk.

It was a long/short trip, with the added bonus of her getting to practice crawling in the hotel room!