eight months old

helen is full-on moving around and into everything and i am well aware that this is only the beginning but i'm already exhausted by it. the hardest part with the second child is that the first child's toys - specifically all the tiny little parts and pieces - are scattered about, as is the first child. our particular first child is finding it [a] very difficult to share and [b] annoying to have her little sister mess with her things. of course, hellie isn't interested in any of her age-appropriate toys. she only wants to play with thea's puzzles, beads, books, etc. i heard an exasperated "get out of my room!" come out of thea's mouth this morning and my heart sank. i thought we had at least five more years before that nasty phrase reared it's ugly head :(

when they get along though - which is most of the time - it makes me melt. helen is obsessed with her big sister and follows her every move. thea will often give her hugs and kisses and tell her how much she loves her, followed by a [too-tight] squeeze. i have been putting helen in thea's crib for a couple minutes before they go to sleep. they lie together and giggle and thea asks if helen can sleep in her bed. i say 'no, but how fun will it be when you two share a room soon?' and she gets excited. see how i did that??

helen said 't t' this month - or at least it sounded a lot like it :) she says 'dada' and a very occasional 'mama' and that's about it so far, though she makes proclamations [see video below] and i can tell she thinks she's talking. she has become very interested in food lately too. i gave her some of my scrambled egg this morning and she grunted and groaned for more. she loves to suck on peaches, nectarines, pears and apples; and makes a most-contented murmur while she's eating that zack loves to imitate.

she has been a great sleeper since she was born but that changed somewhat this month. she was sick with a fever for a few days in mid-july and up multiple times in the night. since then she's been waking up sporadically and crying out. she goes right back to sleep but i'm up. i keep blaming it on her teeth but so far none have made an appearance. she is also a very random napper - sometimes taking 15-30 minute naps and other times sleeping for over two hours. regardless, she's always tired [exhausted] by 7p, goes down without any fuss, and wakes up around 6:30a. we are lucky.

she is a determined little bugger and still quite happy almost all of the time. however, she knows what she wants and will yell or cry briefly in order to get it. she doesn't like being left alone and if thea or i leave the room she's in, i hear her huffing and puffing to catch up. i look back and see her trying to keep up and i want to cry. i scoop her up and she's happy once again.

sometimes i think about eating her she's just so delectable.