On December 31, 1974, RT and I were thrilled to become the parents of our precious Larisa, affectionately nicknamed Stinkeroo by her Grandshaw.  Before her birth, RT and I would listen to her heartbeat with a stethoscope.  1974 was before the days of periodic sonograms.  So we had no idea whether or not our baby would be a boy or a girl until after the birth.  We went into the labor room at the hospital knowing that we’d either walk out with a Paul or a Larisa - we didn’t know which.  Ever since I had seen the movie Dr. Zhivago, I knew that I wanted to name the daughter I hoped to have someday Larisa.  For awhile we toyed around with calling her by the nickname for Larisa - Lara - but then decided to stick with Larisa.  When she was born and we found out that our first child was a girl, we were so happy and we knew immediately her name.  The baby was our Larisa that we had been looking forward to for years.  She was basically bald for the first three years of her life, but as she grew, she also grew dark curly hair and beautiful brown eyes.  She was happy and energetic and a parent’s dream.  She thoroughly wrapped her dad and me around her little finger.

The above photo is one of my favorites.  It shows her enthusiastic and mischievous nature.  I’ve always loved her smile.

This picture is also a favorite.  It shows Larisa with her younger brother, Joey.  The pigtails were typical.  She was an athletic go-getter child - always interested in life, sports, being with friends, and she was/is a great sister to her brother.  They had their spats, but have always remained close to each other.

This is how she often slept as a baby - on her back with her arms flung out to her sides. As in everything, she put herself wholeheartedly into sleep, too.  She was confident and happy.

This is one of the photos from her wedding to Steve - along with their “baby” (at the time), Caesar.   Caesar passed on to doggie heaven quite a few years ago, and they now have two human babies - my wonderful grandgirls - pictured below. 

I first wrote about Stinkeroo’s birthday on December 31, 2005, and then on December 31, 2006, I wrote about her again.  I hope you have a wonderful birthday, my precious Larisa!

This entry was posted on Monday, December 31st, 2007 at 12:01 am and is filed under Birthday Honors, Family, Stinkerro. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.