Fayfessels in Atlanta
Some day Helena will look back on this and think: “Why did I hate being on my tummy so much?!” But for now Helena must practice, practice, practice and documenting the practice will show progress some day. Crawling is in your not-so-distant future little buddy!
For a few weeks now Helena has been learning how to swim. It’s supposed to be good for their development and considering how much of the time Helena cant really move or go anywhere on her own (which is all of the time), a 15 minute swim is a big work out! Helena swims now most days and when she does she gets a deep sleep.
Helena likes to FaceTime with her grandparents whenever possible. Sometimes she’ll even dress up for the occasion
Helena has started rolling over – from back to front, which is more unusual we’ve been told as normally babies start by going from front to back. Maya has left her on her stomach for what seems like a torturous amount of time (1 min.) with the sink or swim mentality but she’s yet to make that move. Helena is improving at tummy time and today set a new record of over 2.5 minutes! Here is the back-to-front roll from today.
Today Helena went to work but mostly Maya’s colleagues were the ones working. Helena tends to do well with the ladies!
Helena, like her daddy, is a talker. We’ve actually heard her say what sounds like “hello” several times. Maya speaks to her primarily in Russian and Andrew primarily in French (except her for the video). Given that Maya and Andrew don’t speak each other’s languages (at least not very well yet) and her peers will be English speaking, the trilingual goal is ambitious but it’s worth a shot! She gurgles and makes a few attempts at speech everyday, mostly she’s happy as seen here.
As Andrew takes over full-time parent duties, let’s take a moment to celebrate father’s!
Andrew and Helena can’t twin quite as easily as uncle Jonah and Abel (see below) but they’ve made an effort on at least one occasion.
Helena also went to her first professional MLS game with the new and crazy popular Atlanta United FC game. It was so loud she ended up later getting headphones!
Finally, friend and photographer Rachel S. did a whole photo shoot at the Atlanta botanical gardens – a few favorites here
Sadly after 3 amazing weeks in the Northeast, Helena and company returned to Atlanta. The weather isn’t nearly as beautiful back in Atlanta but Helena was glad to be home. After meeting and hanging out with so many friends and relatives Helena wanted to take a moment to look back at some of the trip highlights.
Almost exactly 10 years ago Tobin and Andrew both graduated from Macalester college. Amazingly, within just two weeks their wives gave birth to a boy and a girl. This post is a little overdue as they met over Memorial Day weekend back in May but it was a great visit not to be missed in documentation!
Grandpa and Grandma help change Helena and teach her Russian:
Meanwhile, everybody is enjoying swimming:
Finally, a trip to Storm King Arts Center was not disappointing at all! Even though Helena probably had no idea what was going on, it was still pretty impressive!
Helena met her closest cousin in age Abel on her recent and first trip to the Big Apple. Besides saying hello to Uncle Jonah and Aunt Maysha, she was reacquainted with Grandpa and Grandma Solomon and Roza and got to know some of her Queen’s roots.
Helena also was fortunate enough to visit her great Aunt Amy on the Cape during our vacation. She snapped a few great ones for us. Even babysat for a few hours so we could go kayaking.
Going back a few days to last weekend, here are a few photos from Jeff Travis and Megan Adam’s wedding on the Cape. DJ Helena is actually wearing noise cancelling headphones and slept through a majority of the wedding. She was quite a hit there. Andrew and Maya also celebrated their first anniversary together too!
Reclined seating and free ticket. Beverages included. Not a bad first train ride
Summer has offiially started and we are off vacationing. After arriving in Boston and seeing a few family members and friends we took off on our first adventure of a weekend on the Cape. First stop was Wellfleet to visit childhood friend Thomas and girlfriend Meredith
Helena is also doing her own version of a work out, all the time. She’s growing like champ! Over 80th percentile for height and head circumference according to physician on our recent visit!
From their visit a few weeks back. A little late but better now then never!
Helena would rather rock out than get ready for bed
Sporting her jailbird outfit
The socks I found mixed in with my laundry today don’t fit very well!
Helena is starting to get much more attentive lately! Letting her cool off in the GA heat
More to come soon!
We have not yet found a regular schedule with Helena. We are working on it but it’s tricky and there’s no telling if it could be easy 30 minutes to bed or 3 and a half hours to bed night.
Here’s Maya rocking Helena to bed
Something about riding in the car just puts most babies to sleep – Helena is no different –fortunately! In fact, she likes the seat so much that sometimes we put her in the seat to calm down at home and it works like a charm, as seen below.
Maya threw a surprise party for Andrew and friends got a chance to meet Helena! Everybody commented on her beauty and cuteness and now she’s all pooped out!
Looking back at Abel’s photos for inspiration and came across this one. Can you tell which kessel is which?
Helena continues to grow and get used to this new world. Every day there is a new thing for her to marvel at and reactions and attention seem to be improving. She seems to also be getting used to the baths more and may even like them!
Grandpa Solomon plays with Helena, or as they prefer to call her, Isabela
Helena has a few extra baby sitters these days during paradise in Georgia, AKA spring.
How a baby is not supposed to sleep
What Helena does most of the time and we are glad when she does
Helena has been getting use to her new digs (outside the womb) and on a more micro-scale both her sleepyhead pod and new crib (as seen in pic #2 below).
I think the video speaks for itself
Helena, like her parents, is a night owl. In fact, some nights she doesn’t want to go to bed until after 1 AM or later, and sometimes not at all! It’s not easy but she is adjusting to her new life in the world outside of the womb. After feeds we try to get her to burp, as demonstrated in this video.
Cousins Steve & Peg Freedman came over with deli meats (those were missed during Maya’s pregnancy) and drinks for a beautiful Atlanta spring dinner and to meet the new lady. Helena put on her best behavior as we celebrated.
Our niece Havi recently asked, “why didn’t you name her Fayfessel?”
Sherlock has been very curious since the moment Helena arrived in our household. He is our new babysitter! The sequence below describes their typical interaction
