Pigtails

Every time I muster up the courage to put pigtails in Helen's hair, I have to take a picture and share because it's just so darned cute. I'm pretty sure the last time she had pigtails is documented somewhere down there in the April or early May archives! I should document how this looks at the end of the day - soooo much different. She has been very patient lately when I mess with her hair too, so I'll have to try more.

We've been having a great and mellow week. Helen's sense of humor seems to be coming out at the seams all the sudden - everything is silly and funny! Yeah! There's nothing better than to giggle over flung captain crunch that was once on your frozen yogurt at yogli mogli thanks to some serious elbow grease trying to spoon some up to your mouth (side thought - who knew captain crunch could be so good on frozen confections? I would never buy a box for breakfast, but I might now for an ice cream party). Anyway - happy Thursday! Almost Friday and I am sooo looking forward to the weekend. Super hot here and muggy. I miss the drought.

Fun Memorial Day Weekend with the Fam

Helen and I made a quick trip up to MI for the memorial day weekend. She did a stellar job on the plane, on my lap, both there and back. Thank goodness for early flights, huge Elmo sticker books and small ziplock baggies full of snacks!
We had so much fun with bubbles this trip. We ran through an enormous bottle of bubbles!
J and S (above) are excellent bubble blowers.
Helen, not so much. She puts the wand right on her lips and blows, but by that point, all the bubble juice is on her face, so no bubbles. Probably not very tasty.

Dad got a new, nifty riding lawn mower - here's his first ride. Helen loved seeing Grandpa on his "go-go".
It was very warm over the weekend, but none of the local pools were opened up yet. Luckily grandma had this kiddie pool to play in. Helen and Aunt Judy enjoying spraying and splashing each other.
Helen really likes to help (as she says, "hep") out. Here she is helping grandma get all the freshly cut grass of the driveway.
More bubble playing in the street!
Grandma was so cute - she set herself off from the rest of the pack and quietly blew bubble wand after bubble wand. There's something mesmorizing about it!
The wii dance revolution in G&G's basement. That was so much fun to watch! Sadly, the three in this picture will be beaten by yours truly in the next dance competition.
Had fun playing in the sprinkler too!

Needless to say, Helen was EXHAUSTED this week. Thanks so much to everyone for traveling so much up/down to G&G's house. We can't wait to see you again!

Home safe!

We made it home alright today and are trying to catch up on:

1) Sleep. H in bed by 6:45 pm and badly needed. Me soon too.
2) Blogging. Took a quick video of H on the flip tonight after her bath, right before bed. She was so cute pushing her kitty around on her pooh-mobile.

More updates later - had so much fun in MI and miss you much. Pics of that soon. XO.
(P.S. bought just dance online tonight too - Cecily, Joe and Sophia, you are going DOWN in July. DOWN.)

Iseedis?

So, about a month ago, I sit down at our regular desktop computer at home after a day at work and a night with H where things weren't super hunky dory (i.e. H was a super crank-en-fuss). I put this in the google search engine: "extremely guilty working mother". I look through the search results. Click on a couple, skim some stuff, then hmmm. Something seems to be wrong. There are messages popping up that say that I'm unprotected and am being attacked by a virus. And then my web browser starts spawning windows such as ww .viagra.com (and much worse things) and then I know I've been duped. Must of been some right-winger evangelist hacker who thinks working mothers are the devil who planted that bug. That made me feel better.

We figured out what it is and still haven't fixed it per se. For some reason, it's sort of went away and we can pretty much use our computer, but I still stay away from it mostly. I think D is going to repair it soon, if possible (or wipe the drive), but it's so hard to fit things like that in, especially when you have other computers at your disposal and it's not a priority (eh hem, I'm not on the clock).

So... that, plus I've just been pooped lately = no posts. There will be more soon, especially after this coming weekend. I can't wait and H nods her head "yes, yes" when I ask her - "are you excited to go see grandma, grandpa and your aunts and uncle and cousins?". So excited.

H has been adding steadily to her vocabulary lately (and phrases) after a long dry spell. Daddy went to get her Sunday morning from the crib while I continued to lay in bed still and she toddled into the room saying "Get up! Get up! Get up mommy!". Where did that come from? And she says this constantly all the sudden - "Iseedis?", meaning "can I see this?". And, my favorite, "sTOP!" whenever I so much as start humming anything. She does not like my singing, no she doesn't. I suspect it's not because she undervalues my superb melodious voice so much as "can it! they play simpery, kiddy music ALL DAY at daycare and I need some silence PLEASE!". I get that.

Anyway, in lieu of a current photo of H, here are some ramblings. See you soon! XO

Token Pic

I know it's been a while. Here she is on Friday morning.

Lovely visit with my mom and dad!

My mom and dad came down for a visit last Friday and we had a wonderful time hanging out together over the weekend. After arriving, my mom and I picked up Helen and brought her back home to grandpa and daddy. She was a bit under the weather (umpteenth cold so far in her life - child's nose is apparently only in the "on" position for the foreseeable future...), but was still her cheery self and brought G&G quickly into the "read to me, play with me, kisses, kisses, hugs, hugs" fold. Seriously - it's like they live next door and come by everyday - she adores them.
After a brief hiatus, H loves to read books again. A lot. As you'll see.
Helen doesn't like to say a whole lot of words right now, but she knows what a lot of words mean. When we drill her on what's in a book, she knows what a pumpkin, hot air balloon and other things are without missing a beat. She still won't say her name (we had about 3 lovely days where she said it when we asked her what her name was about 2 months ago) and won't say anything we ask her to except "apple" and "go-go" (which means any cool means of transportation, like a motorcycle, bike, go-kart, etc). She has a nifty "things that go" book, her fave, hence her love of things that "go-go". She did try out three new words this weekend, ever so slyly and very shyly - grandma (gan-ma), grandpa (gan-pa), and banana. I guess she doesn't like to mince words. And she won't say them anymore, no matter how nicely I ask. I wonder how many other words she says that I miss completely because she says them so softly or when I just don't notice!
Ganma and ganpa playing with H at the park.

Some computer time with grandpa. :-)
We spent a lot of time on our porch, thanks to the fact that our chain-smoking neighbors moved out (hooray!) and that I bought a shop vac to clean it up (1/8" of pollen coating everything was just too gross to deal with a broom and dust pan anymore!).
Read.
Read read read.
Grandpa does such an excellent job playing the boob and Helen just eats it up. Here, grandpa is putting Helen's shoes and socks on, which first started off with grandpa putting the socks on Helen's hands! After that point, Helen paid close attention to grandpa to make sure he was doing things correctly. :-)
Grandma had lots of fun with Helen at the park!
They even found a fuzzy caterpillar!

Southern Belle

Here's our little southern belle, just a walkin' up Stone Mountain. I do declare, she looks so dainty in that hat.
Eatin' chips and guacamole with a spoon - mmm.
Lately, Helen enjoys bringing us lots of things. Here, daddy is the king of stuffed animals.
A little piece of - toast!
Putting caps back on things is another fave.
Here, Helen is giving Sebastian a sticker. Aunt Sarah sent her some easter stickers and they were a HUUUGE hit. She enjoys placing them all over, including our legs and bellies until they run out of stickiness (then they work great in the bathtub). Speaking of bathtubs, she insisted on getting in the big tub today and I don't think there's any going back - she was absolutely delighted with the extra water and space to scooch around. We accidentally found out today that one of her foam toys makes an excellent stopper, so viola! A real bathtub for Helen!

Ala Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Part 2 (videos)

Ala Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Here are some more pics from Naomi and Sebastian's visit. The title is just a phrase I currently have stuck in my head thanks to www.sesamestreet.org and their silly games and I can't think of anything better to name this post! :-)

A few boring orchid pics to wade through. In case you haven't noticed, we are a broken record in terms of what we like and where we go (the Botanical Gardens, Stone Mountain). You'll be happy to know that we just got a season pass to the zoo, so there is one more venue to add to our weekend updates!
Blah.
Blah blah blah. (For the record, I like these pics David took of the pretty flowers).
N and S by a beautiful flowering tree.
M and H walking across the main botanical garden lawn towards the koi pond (cannot spell the fancy name for goldfish) that H liked very much.
Another pic in the "Helen eating cheerios on a park bench" series.
N and S near the Easter tulip garden.
Helen playing the sand pit at our favorite park. The sand pit is increasingly grossing me out - moms out there - public sandbox (or any sandbox) - yeah or nay?
S snoozing away while H played in the sand. :-)
Sebastian hangin' out with Uncle D. No cropping needed! I now know how to take pics of D without his head so I don't have to bother with the process!


H, S, N and D went to the zoo on Friday and had lots of fun. No pics of animals to report - maybe next time.

Aunt Naomi and Cousin Sebastian are here for a visit!

Aunt Naomi and Cousin Sebastian are here for a visit this lovely Easter weekend - we've been so excited to meet him and we've enjoyed having them here so much! We went to the zoo, 2 parks and the gardens - they plum tuckered Helen out so much that she fell asleep in her stroller during tonight's dinner (refused to budge from it until we went "bye bye") and we just put her to bed instead (at 6:30!). More fun tomorrow!

Here is a video of Sebastian and Helen. They are very cute together. I'll add more later too - just going to pick a couple as I heard through dad that the peanut gallery is asking for new photos (no names, Judy). Will post more later!

Big Girl

We were so sad to see Judy and Joey go last Monday, but we're looking forward to the next time we get to see them again (less than 2 months!). Helen picked out her outfit on Friday morning and was so proud (top pick with black pants). I bought a bunch of black knit pants on clearance at Target a while ago and now she insists on wearing them almost everyday. I managed to slide in a pair of jeans yesterday when she was distracted, but could NOT put on Cathy and Sophia's cute overall gift, no matter what tactic I took. The girl is (almost) all about the knit. Anyway... Having fun with pigtails lately too - they make her look so much older.

Had a nice weekend - yesterday was beautiful. Played outside lots. Today was rainy and we went to the pet store for an outing and enjoyed the gerbils much. Also went to yogli mogli and it's just not the same without you Jud and Joe... They had a new flavor - red velvet cake, which I did not try because I like the peach too much, but I will soon!

Looking forward to later in the week when Naomi and Sebastian come for a visit - we can't wait!!