miami!

below are some of my favorite photos from our trip to miami. we feel so fortunate to be able to visit such an amazing place, be treated so well while we are there and see [almost] all of our family, who traveled a long way to be with us. it was a wonderful vacation and we're already planning for 2012. we will come prepared with lots of airborne, homeopathic immunity boosters, oscillococcinum and tissues :)

on the move

helen rolled over today from tummy to back. i'm calling these her first legit rolls even though she did roll over once awhile back. it was the night carol was leaving san diego, so i think it was january 17. we had said goodbye to grama and closed the door when she remembered she had forgotten her phone. she knocked on the door and came back inside and at that very moment helen made her grand move. instead of cheering and rushing to take a video, zack and i just looked at each other in horror. the look on our faces must have screamed, "oh hell, we're so not ready for this!" because carol immediately said, "...and that's the difference with baby number two."



happy birthday to uncle eli and happy anniversary to nana and papa, both occuring yesterday!

three months old

hellie belly turned three months old today which didn't go unnoticed by her big sister who, never one to let a celebration pass her by, sang 'happy birthday' many many times.

helen had a check up in early february and she weighed in at a hearty 12 pounds six ounces, doubling her birth weight in just two short months! she was 22 inches long which put her in the 37th percentile for height and 85th percentile for weight. i thought she was going to be a peanut but looks like i might have been wrong!

i've been meaning to post this photo, which is a lot like this photo, since the day of our appointment:



helen handled the immunizations like a champ...looking at the size of her legs, i'm surprised she felt anything at all!

this month marked her first trip on an airplane, taking four flights to/from miami and, simply put, she was amazing, waking up for a sum total of about two hours the entire time we traveled.

she continues to be such a sweet thing and oh-so-quiet. she gurgles quite a bit but in the softest, most gentle way where you have to lean your head in and listen closely to hear her.

she's a little angel. in fact, we have two angels and i thank my lucky stars every day.

the plague

the girls and i have been struck down by a bad cold and cough [plus a fever and added ear infections for thea] that we picked up in miami. we got home today and need a few days to recover and get our health back. i'll post more photos soon.

we miss everyone very much and had so much fun!

a scary thought

thea had her first nightmare last night. well, her first official one where she could tell us what she had been dreaming about...and it was a doozie. she screamed out at 2am and zack and i both rushed into her room. she was all frantic and terrified and when she calmed down enough to share, this is what she said: "a puppy was trying to move my bed."

i present a photo of thea in happier times, eating yogurt with papa, one of her absolute favorite things to do while my parents were here. the suger high kicked in less than 30 seconds after her last bite.

my first friend

here are helen and mason yesterday. they were slightly more into the superbowl than i was.



we all hoped they'd be friends but the relationship seems to be progressing a little fast for my taste. helen and i have spent the last few tuesdays with amy and mason [and it's been so nice to have the company] but this is the first documented photo of the two babies together. so, as amy says, "we'll have it for the slide show at their wedding. "

do re mi

and a recent photo of thea, audrey and olivia:

two months old

hellie belly is an extremely happy baby though the photo above doesn't necessarily reflect this. she's pretty much smiling and gurgling whenever she's awake. she still sleeps A LOT and has a total hibernation day every few days where she goes into power sleep mode [PSM]. other than that, she's perfectly content lying on her back for long stretches [at least 30 minutes or so] and every time we check on her she's chuckling to herself. then she'll be so tuckered out from all that lying on her back that she falls asleep. all on her own with no fanfare or fuss. this is especially amazing to me because i used to have to swaddle, shake and shush thea to sleep. sometimes i still do.

zack and i constantly thank her for being such an easy baby and encourage her to keep it up. we feel so lucky, though i think zack was secretly hoping she'd be difficult so i wouldn't want more children. in fact, i hate to rub it in but she's pretty much a dream baby. as i write this i'm cursing myself because i'm sure i'll jinx it but helen has been sleeping through the night except for one 15 minute feeding around 3:30 or 4am for the last month. she's got a sweet, slightly mischievious personality and is just the kindest, gentlest little soul. we've heard her cry twice - once when thea accidently bonked her on the head and once when thea accidently-on-purpose bit her hand. thea insists she couldn't resist because hellie is 'just so cute.' the first time she cried zack and i looked at each other and said, "oh, so that's what her cry sounds like," in amazement. by the way, her cry is totally different from thea's.

here's a video from january 26. helen started making some noises a few weeks ago and still gets really out of breath working them out of her not-quite-so-tiny-anymore body.