Author: andrew@kesselimaging.com

An art exhibit in the park brought to you by Helena

This was taken a few days ago before grandma and grandpa left

Mom and dad returned from their Utah trip to find Helena well taken care of and happy after a week with grandma and grandpa. They enjoyed their first family dinner back together again.

Helena excited to be picked up from daycare by her grandfather

Helena has a lot of fun at Urban Explorers most days while mom and dad work

Grandma and grandpa report that all is well back in Atlanta and Helena is having a great time with them

Helena loves corn, not sure why she looks so serious in this photo

Grandpa Solomon and grandma Rosa are now lo king after Helena while mom and dad visit the Utah national parks. Her grandparents are helping her prepare her audition for dancing with the stars

Helena has learned to blow on her food when it’s hot

The Lake Claire Land Trust in momma and papa’s old neighborhood has an Emu named Lou. Helena paid a visit to Lou. They were fast friends

The family all celebrated together the Jewish new year at the Freedman’s

Since Helena got a new seat for the bike she has been enjoying more local bike rides around the park. She also joined her parents at a colleague’s wedding on Sunday in her prettiest yellow dress

Helena started off a little hesitant and dipped her feet in the ocean water. The temperature was perfect. After a few minutes she loved it.

After a long car ride, an hour ferry boat ride from st Mary’s, and a bike set up- Helena and co set off for their camp site. The journey was arduous but beautiful

armadillos and wild horses dot the island plum orchard, former vacation home of the Carnegie family

The family traveled to the Georgia coast for the Labor Day weekend for an adventure. Friday night was Helena’s first experience at Hostel in the Forest (more on this in next post) in Brunswick, GA. Helena did great both on the car and boat rides and enjoyed the new sights

Seven minute work out

And

Gardening (picking tomatoes)

https://youtu.be/7K5nnWyDCJQtk

Helena enjoyed the kid zone quite a bit!

Helena sometimes doesn’t seem to like sitting on a couch with her neighborhood groupies but she otherwise normally has a great time !

Helena went on her third Or fourth ever bike ride this past Sunday with mom. They visited the neighborhood splash pad.

Helena’s favorite past time

Maya has finally picked Helena up from NY. One last fun video from her time there

Being passed down

Always Be Climbing

Just practicing since mom’s flight was cancelled and she now has to wait another week to go get Helena and finally bring her back to Atlanta

Watermelon is now Helena’s favorite food. She still likes yogurt but she can’t get enough arbooz!

Helena is picking up speed

Last Sunday Mom and Dad visited Helena and grandparents on their way back from Iceland. Ir was nice but also sad since it was a short visit

Helena now has almost all of her baby teeth. Here she is literally enjoying the fruits of her labor with her grandparents.

(She loves her grandparents)

Helena is almost running now. Joining the track runners at Queens College

While making new NYC summer friends!

After watching a fair amount of the World Cup and seeing Mother Russia lose in the quarter finals, Helena decided to get going on her soccer skills to help the 2032 team

Since mom is working and dad is traveling Helena has become a temporary NY resident at grandma and grandpa’s. As mom and dad prepare to go on vacation to Iceland, most of the pictures and videos here for the next few days will be guest posts.

The last time Helena was held in front of the globe in Corona park she was only just over two months old and it was dad

 

Helena enjoys playing with uncle Adam’s fake ice cream set

Two of Helena’s favorite activities at once and no help needed going straight down these steps!

Popsicles and lights

Childhood friend Joey and new friend Ella meet Helena

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Visiting uncle Amy

deer siting in monsey NYCtrain strolling

Helena and dad have taken off for an extended Northeast escape from the Atlanta heat just as they did last summer. Staying with grandma and grandpa in Flushing has been great. The family arrived Friday sans mom as she has to work this whole week but will meet up in Boston at the end of this week with them.

Helena seems to have figured out that dog food is not for eating but for feeding dogs. Purely on her own she decided to start feeding Sherlock

The whole family is excited about the Honda plug-in car upgrade

The firsts continue with stair climbing at school and then noticing the moon for the first time

fresh cucumber from the garden confuses Helena

Un grand soulagement (a big relief):

Hanging with friends @centennial park downtown

Helena has not been as quick to take up the water as her parents would have thought after showing a great love for it in her early days. But she’s working on getting into again…easing in slowly

A first person view from a young toddler:

Helena can claim to have done the entire walk-in trail with little assistance to the overlook and back at Cloudland Canyon at age 14 months.

Helena lives near the mounted police force in Atlanta and this last weekend she walked over to say hi

Not actually a camper but a future one at dad’s tennis camp for school

Maya’s parents have been visiting this last week and will have another week to spend quality time with their grand-daughter

Oakland Cemetary, our local historic and beautiful cemetery, hosted an art exhibition recently. Helena found it quite fascinating

you want one?

Helena is now going down the big slide all by herself. She is loving it

Helena explores the mole rat tunnels at the zoo

 

Despite some moments of unhappiness, it was a very relaxing nice evening at the gardens.

reading of course

Update : Helena is now walking! She switches between crawling and walking still and can’t go very far but she can take several unsupported steps now! Video to come out shortly !

Helena watched papa’s tennis match this weekend while training herself for the game

And papa’s birthday!

This video is now a little bit old but it gives a good idea as to Helena’s progress towards walking and some good quality time spent with her grandparents

Helena is getting back to her normal routines at daycare and hanging in parks with mom and dad. She’s almost walking and loves climbing stairs!

Helena met three month old Sydney on their recent visit to Boston. Sydney is the daughter of friends Pam and Sarah and Helena is finding babies even smaller than herself interesting!

The family went to Boston for the weekend for Esther’s bat-mitzvah. It was a great trip and opportunity for more of the family to meet Helena. Helena also learned she’d have a new cousin friend from favorite (and now pregnant) cousin Rachel.

Helena has just started wearing shoes and still getting comfortable “walking” in her own shoes (more to come on this)

professor Sherlock watches over his pupil

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Actually these pictures were taken in Germany while Andrew was on Spring Break with his students in France and took a day trip to Europa Park. Europa Park is a amusement park organized by countries thematically. Papa misses Helena very much and saw a few reminders of her in the Greek part of the park

With papa gone for the time being, grandma and grandpa are visiting from New York making sure Helena is happy. She certainly seems to be enjoying their visit.

why on this day do we recline?

With Andrew off to France for Spring Break with his students, it’s time for Helena to put in some good mom time with Maya (and some baby goats)

Helena loves to turn pages of books now on her own

Helena had a rough day at day care after her birthday but rebounded strongly the day after. She is now on Urban Explorer’s food program and enjoying many new things

Helena may have enjoyed the gift wrapping as much as her presents themselves

Helena turned one today but the family celebrated yesterday on a balmy Atlanta Sunday afternoon with friends, family, and neighbors. The year has flown by and it’s crazy to imagine what she looked like in the hospital just coming out of the womb. Seems like we have an almost toddler on our hands now.

 

 

Researching strategy on the way to the tourney with the JV Boys Dunwoody Tennis team. Helena was a big hit among fans and players

Helena can now go both up and down stairs:

Helena continues to grow and explore. Lately she’s started crawling backwards down the stairs and using her training potty even more. She is quite the active baby!

Wearing her popped collar proudly

Another visit to Atlanta from uncle adam