Beautiful day for a walk.....

Joseph and Helen

happy *sigh*

No new pics to post - more soon once Judy and Joey finally get here! (can't wait!). Helen has been in great spirits and is quickly learning she can extend bedtime by snuggling with mommy on the bed before "nah nah" or by pressing her cheek to mommy so I can kiss her cheek over and over and over and over again! If that's what it takes to get her to be a snuggler (which I am generally not), then that's just what I'll just have to do! I love it love it love it. I will be a snuggler yet!

Hooray! The Sun!

We enjoyed a sunshiney weekend, with temps in the 60's - spring fever has begun (with even a real fever and bad cold as of Sunday for Helen). :-(
The grass went dormant this year and is dry and yellow. Looking forward to green, soft grass to match warm, soft days. We went to Stone Mountain park and found a big area to run around with a ball and a sippy cup. Sippy cups aren't very fun to throw.
My goose. Eye teeth are wreaking havoc everywhere - mind, gums, and poor chin. And it's been soooo dry - weird for here. I've been smearing triple cream all over her cheeks and chin to no avail.
The weekend before last, I think - a little snow again, gone quickly. Album cover, b-side?

Am listening to Girlyman's song "Storms Were Mine" - now finally into it, Jane, and bought the actual CD. Have this one on repeat. Didn't even notice this song for the first couple months on your CD, probably because it's #10, and usually can't listen to many CDs past song #4! :-)

On another note - Judy and Joey will be coming for a visit next week and we are so looking forward to it! Hope the weather will hold out, and even if it doesn't, we will have so much fun together - can't wait to see you two!!!!

And wait, for those that read this far and are interested, here are my and Helen's favorite videos on www.sesamestreet.org (ok, mostly mine because they have more than just Elmo in them). "We" have created a "my street", which contain these and many others I've culled out:

-Outdoors with Jason Mraz
-Feist: 1 2 3 4

Won't bore you with the others - these are the "coolest" ones I have so far.

Rumble

I've been sensing some rumblings from the peanut gallery - "when is there going to be a new picture of Helen? Hellllooo??". Well, here she is and this is why you haven't seen much (this is from Mon or Tue of this week):

Crank. CRAnk. CRANK.
Here's one I decided to filter out from January when she had a cranky bout then, but now seems apropos. Ooooohhh. Such a crank. Eye teeth are comin' in now. Almost can't take it in conjunction with stress at work and then some, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

Here's a happy picture from a couple months ago to offset the crank.

H-cakes

Snowdiddly

Today we had our second snowfall of the season, which I'll call "snowdiddly" in comparison to the "snowpocalypse" and "snowmageddon" of the DC area (our hats are off to our DC friends for making it through the last week!). It's still snowing right now and I bet we'll see a total of about 4 inches, all said and done. For the ATL, that's a lot a snow! (I left work a couple hours early and am glad I did - the steep hill that's behind us in the pic below was being fickle to the poor drivers trying to drive up it while we were frolicking). Helen loved playing in the snow - she was positively giddy. Anyway. Here's some pics of the snow and H and her 'rents enjoying it. Happy Valentines day everyone!
Those are purple and yellow winter pansies circling the tree behind us, poor things.

18 Months!

Here is Helen on her 18 month birthday. She is growing growing growing.
It's getting harder to get a picture with her looking at the camera. Here is one I managed.


Daddy took some video of Miss H walking around in mommy's slippers while mom was away on business this week. Helen is very delighted with this video - she giggles when she hears herself giggle in the video - see below of H watching this video - it's so cute! :-)

Bath time

Bath time is still so much fun. Especially when I open up the container of soap when mom and dad don't notice, pour a whole bunch in, and then let the bubbles ensue.
Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Soap is so yummy.

End of January

I hate to wish time away because it goes by way too quickly as it is, but I am really looking forward to spring and lots of good weather to go to the park whenever we want! We actually did sneak in a good visit late Friday afternoon - it cleared up for the afternoon and it was really nice and I left work a little early. This was the third weekend in a row though that was rainy and/or cold (for us). Note all the pictures INside.
H and her hair on Friday, before I took her to get it cut again on Saturday (We took her two weeks ago too...). We decided this whole "growing it out" thing is for the birds at the moment and I want something quick and manageable for the mornings (and the rest of the day). So, off with the locks! She doesn't look that different - see below.
"Uh-oh". I like to ask for snacks in my little plastic cup, but then I also like to dump them all on the floor and say "uh-oh" - it's really fun!
And then I like to try to put the plastic cup over my foot. That's really fun too.
And when it's almost bedtime and I am zorched, I like to sit on the couch and watch Sesame Street. (Note cute sweatjacket from Cecily from x-mas '08 - I thought she would never fit into an 18-month piece of clothing! It just seemed gigantic next to her 4-month old body.) :-)

Strawberries

Helen will now finally eat all kinds of fruit. She especially likes strawberries of late.
I like the look on her face. Very terrible two-sie.

I think we are officially in the throes of the terrible twos. We broke down and bought the video of happiest toddler on the block and watched it the other night - supposedly 18 months is the peak of the terrible twos. Hmm. It really hasn't been that bad until lately. The eating frontier is where the battle's at most of the time. Looks like as of this morning, it will also be the clothes wearing frontier...

This picture is from a couple weeks ago when it was really cold out. This would make a good album cover, don't you think?

It's not you, it's me

By the way, we did not send out christmas cards this year (last year actually, already). We $%&*. We'll try to get those out in a few years, we'll see...

More!

We had such a great time in CA with Sarah, Jim, Savannah and Jim's family. We got to play a lot with Savannah's cool toys, went to the park (yeah! sunny, warm weather!), and to the beach. We also saw several whales coming up for air from on top of Palos Verdes, some dolphins swimming in the surf at Redondo and a seal from the pier in Hermosa - how cool is that?! Thanks so much S, J and S for your wonderful hospitality - we miss you all a lot!!
Savannah is cute as a button and such a happy girl. We can't wait to see her again!
:-)
Helen had a VERY bad hair day after a nap one day.
:-)
Happy family!
Playing with cool toys.
Jane and Savannah had a good time playing too.
Big costco boxes make good toys too.
H and S on the double slide.
Love these pics of J and H in a field at the park.


When we got home, we spent lots of time looking at the picutre of S, J and S. Helen gave the pictures lots of kisses.
She went back to her favorite thing of "drawing" once we got back home.Thursday night we got a teeny bit of snow (maybe an inch?), which partially turned into a nice layer of black ice beneath the snow everywhere. The roads were terrible and still are today in some spots! H and I stayed home on Friday. After driving around on Saturday, I'm glad we did - the road near her daycare (and hill down to it) were still covered in ice! Here is H near a snowy patch near home where some other snow-dayer had written her name. We stayed out for about 10 minutes, if that, as it was 16 degrees and really windy! Can't wait for the weather to get a little warmer...

I put together this entire post while Helen is awake - she is actually occupying herself and staying within eyeshot - a post-christmas miracle!!

Helen Fix

Got back late Monday from our trip out west to see some G family (including cousin Savannah and Aunt Jane on the F side - hooray!) and have been trying to catch up with life as we knew it. Aunt Judy called tonight with a request for some pics, so here are a few I quickly picked. More later!
So cute playing together!
Headstand in the sand at Redondo Beach.
She liked the sand (even though it was cold "winter" sand). The weather was beautiful just about the whole time we were there! :-)