Photo Shoot

This one totally cracks me up. So determined. So committed. It reminds me of mom (Aline) too.

Stats

Helen had her 6 month check up today. She is doing great. She grew over 2 inches since early December and is as tall or taller than many of her 9 to 12 month daycare counterparts. She is absolutely adorable and I love every inch of her!! :-)

5 and 3/4 months old!

Hi again, Aunt Judy. Sorry for the delay in posting new pictures of me. We've lost track of time because we've been having so much fun. I've been sitting up really well and spending lots of time at school talking with my friends.
Helen's trying her new highchair, literally. A friend at work gave us this awesome one that folds down flat as can be and the tray goes in and out with one hand! Who knew this was an important feature until after the fact!
Yes, Helen? You had a question?
Taken this morning. :-)

Helen's Peeps

Leo the Lion.
Leo and his gal pals.

Some new pics from the new year

I couldn't resist taking these pictures of her Friday morning before we were off to start our day. So cute.

I can almost sit up by myself - yeah!
Pixie ears.
Smiling at Walter.

She looks like somebody else again in the pic, but it's still my Helen.
Cheeks and eyelashes.

Helen's 1st real food, sort of

I'm not so sure, mom
mmmm. watered down rice cereal is really yummy. the new year brought some changes to H's diet. we've since moved on to sweet potatoes which she likes very much. below is some video of H in action the 1st and 2nd days.

Christmas catch-up

Helen caught up on a little reading during the Christmas holiday.
When she wasn't reading, she was part of on-going discussions with her aunts, uncle, grandparents and cousins.
Some deeper conversations with grandpa and Aunt Cathy.
Two peas in a pod.
Too cute.
Check out Jane's new tats.
A big part of the present was the paper - such fun to play with!
Aunt Judy, the baby whisperer.
So serious in opening up this present - thanks to Aunt Naomi and Uncle Toby for sending presents to Michigan. Thanks to Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jim for the presents too!!
The ceremonial bath in grandma's sink, the 6th grandkid in a row to get a bath there.
Joey put on a fabulous live christmas concert.
Too cute again.
Pile 'o shoes.
zzzzz.

Kitty Wrestling

Feet

Helen's first attempt at communicating via a keyboard

O98M9U46EEEEEH GG;R’; NTG TDFG TFY N ASCCCC2DD

Test Drive

Here's Helen taking a test drive in her new super economical, super snappy stow-and-go umbrella stroller. It's amazing the ridiculous amount of time one can spend picking out such an item. The gnashing of teeth, the wringing of hands, the in-store arguments with the significant other over the shortfalls of one cheap stroller vs. the others we saw at 2 other discount retailers. D won this equipment argument. I thought she would be slumped over and cut in half like a sack of rice in it. She's completely fine, obviously. We did several loops around the apartment tonight and she really liked it! I can't wait to take her out for a walk in it. It's going to be 70 degrees here tomorrow! Woo hoo!
Here's Helen playing with the cool wooden clickety clackety ball Aunt Jane got for her. Her little fingers are almost ready to spend lots of quality time with it. It makes really satisfying clicky sounds.
We really love bath time. Waking up and going to bed are the best - she is so cute and happy during both times (except when she wakes up howling 1 hour after going to bed, which she's been trying out more and more). Thank goodness for binkies.

Happy Girl

Here's a video of Helen in her play thing, with a special guest cameo appearance!

Helen, CEO

Helen and mom work out the details of their agreement. Both parties walk away happy from the negotiations. Helen fought for the right to wake up twice in the middle of the night once a week and mom asked for more razzberries and babbles. Deal.

Cutie patootie

This isn't the only kitty cat Helen became very interested in this weekend. She has been stopping to stare and smile at Walter throughout the day. Walter has seemed oddly receptive to her too.

I'm 4 Months Old Today!

Somebody's very happy that she's 4 months old today. Or maybe it's that she's 3 sheets to the wind right before bedtime and is a little punchy. I love it when she gets that way.
She looks so cute and long in this pic. At her 4 month checkup a couple days ago, she measured 26 inches in length, which means she's grown 1/2 foot since birth! Yeesh!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We took a walk up Stone Mountain today. It was my first time. Helen's second. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (i.e. I made it up). There were a lot of people going up and in the park for Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful day - warm and sunny by late morning. Here's Helen during a break going up. So happy and cute. Cath - that's the hat of Sophia's I was talking about - the braids are sooooo cute!
Who's the pretty baby in the mirror? Helen smiles shyly at herself. :-)
Helen's new Jenny Jump up. I love that foot.

Brrrrr. It's getting cold out.

Raspberries

I was trying to be all stealthy when I started this video. Sometimes it seems as soon as I point the camera at Helen, she stops doing whatever it was I wanted to catch. Anyway - it gets better at the end. This is another long video, so again, beware.

Helen video from Sat. 11/15

Warning - this video is over a minute and a half long. It's kind of dark as usual too, but she's really cute in it. We're going to have to buy some stage set lighting or something so you can see her in these better...