Tasha and Leo with Baby V

Tasha and Leo are really doing great with Victoria. Actually better than we had hoped at this stage. Simone thinks it's gotten even better now that Victoria likes to feed some of her own food to Tasha and Leo from the dinner table. I think she's on to something.

Case in point -

Yesterday Victoria was crawling around, and started heading for the staircase to go downstairs. Tasha quickly walked over to the staircase entrance, stood between Victoria and the the stairs, and gave her a little nudge so she would crawl elsewhere. I couldn't believe it. I was absolutely amazed. So very sweet, too.
They are still getting used to her, and getting used to having to move down in the pack by one spot, but they are doing better each day. Our hope is that as Victoria gets older and can do more 'with' them as opposed to 'to' them, the three will become the very best of friends. Here is a pic of T and L in the backyard plotting on how to get rid of that little thing called Victoria...

Jeep

Victoria loves to climb over ANYTHING. She's quite capable actually. I call her lil Jeep when she's in action.
So, she has already taken on our staircase, which is a full staircase - twisting, wooden and open. She has climbed the entire thing a few times already. It must look like Mt. Fuji to her...but without the snow.

Choppers

Two more for the baby Victoria.
She now has four up top, four down below.

More birthday parties

Since Victoria was just in the US, she naturally had a birthday party there while with my family. But, we also wanted to have a party here with Simone's family as well. So we did just that. Oh, and we also had a small party on the ACTUAL day with her friends Lasa and Andy and their moms. See, in Germany you are NOT supposed to celebrate your birthday early. If it falls in the middle of the week, which hers did, you are supposed to wait until the next weekend to throw a party. So the actual date we had her friends over:

Victoria had a very nice time playing with the boys. That's Lasa's backside, and Andy is looking at my guitar. Yvonne (Lasa's mom) is with her camera, and Astrid (Andy's mom) in on the left. Victoria is looking very, very Adorable. She's wearing her outfit Aunt Amy picked out. She also wore it at the final party...

Next was her party with Simone's family. It was quite a few people actually. We had a good time entertaining, and Victoria got to enjoy more attention yet again. I don't think she minds that at all.

We had her party on a Sunday. Oma and Opa made it, as well as Aunt Liane and cousins Thomas and Yvonne, along with other extended family and friends.

We have liftoff

Shortly after returning home from her big adventure in the US, Victoria decided it was time to STAND. She has been crawling now for a good couple of months and I think she just said to herself - Enough of this. I want to try something new. So here she is trying something new. And hanging out with her birthday present from Uncle Ken - classic Winnie the Pooh.

She's gotten quite good at standing and gently sitting back down. She very much enjoys walking around the edge of her playpen as she holds onto the railing. Walking around the home is just around the corner.

Victoria's first trip to the US

Yup! Victoria has already started filling up her passport.

Sadly, Simone could not make this flight, but Victoria and I took off for what proved to be quite an adventure. Although Victoria was incredibly good on the flights there and back (and I quote from a fellow passenger, 'I have never in my life seen a baby so good on such a long flight before!'), let me tell you: going solo with a young'un on a nine hour flight isn't exactly the easiest of things in this world to do. But Victoria made quite a few friends along the way. No kidding, she had over ten people stop by our seat on the way to Chicago just to see her. One woman came by three times. One man said, 'She's quite the flirt. You'd better keep an eye on her when she gets older.'

Anyone out there ever try changing diapers in an airplane bathroom? I'm not a small man. It's not a large space. Anywho, moving along.

We took a couple of weeks in June and made our way to Chicago and Springfield to meet the family - some for the first time. Like her cousins Evan and Lauren:

Victoria had a really fun time meeting her cousins. We even went to the zoo with Uncle Bob and E and L . Victoria met some pretty big animals up close and personal.
Grandma and Grandpa and all the rest of the family threw Victoria her first birthday party. It was a couple weeks early, but I don't think Victoria minded. Here is a pic of everyone enjoying some birthday cake.

Victoria discovered a keyboard while we were there. She also likes to help me play guitar. The girl's got rhythm.
She had a great time playing with all her uncles and aunts. Here is a picture with Aunt Amy as we were getting ready to leave. Aunt Amy was very sad. So was daddy.

I also took her to our old neighborhood in Chicago, Lincoln Square. Grandma came with us. We had a good time checking out this and that. She really enjoyed strolling around and people watching.

The flight back was not the greatest of times. It was not a direct. After a long delay at O'hare, we JUST missed our connecting flight in D.C. (literally they were closing the door as we ran up to the gate). We sat in D.C. for an extra five hours and the airline had lost our stroller - so I had to carry her the ENTIRE time. You'd think after this trip I'd have biceps like the Governator. My back is still recovering. Not fun.

We made it home ok. Simone was the happiest person in the whole of Frankfurt airport.