november beach day

a great way to spend thanksgiving weekend....

i'm up

hellie started standing in the middle of the room this month and lisa captured a couple great photos!

eleven months old

yikes. two months has gone by in the blink of an eye.

dear sweet little hells bells,

please don't think my lack of writing has anything to do with how i feel about you. i love you more than i thought was possible. your gentle yet tough personality continues to grow every day and it makes me happy to see that you don't take any s**t from your big sis. you are the cuddliest thing and i've become quite attached to our 5-6am snuggle time. when you want something you make it known but otherwise are pretty content to go with the flow. we've had a remarkably busy couple of months and i thank my lucky stars every day that you are easy going and cheerful. you are so happy! i look forward to coming home to you because you always reach out for a hug with a smile. a couple older ladies in the grocery store on separate occasions have called you an angel. i guess it's evident to others too.







often when i am holding hellie she will crane her neck to look at me very close up and make eye contact. it's her way of checking in and getting a read on things - at least i think so. i smile at her and she always gives me one of her huge grins back. she's also become quite funny and knows how to make us laugh - especially thea. they spend a lot of time giggling together these days and nothing warms my heart more than this. i picture them growing up together, knowing there will be fights, but ultimately loving each other completely. i'm excited for that but really i kind of just want time to stop right here, right now.

nine months old

helen turned nine months yesterday and i can't believe how quickly time has passed. every day she does something new and i marvel that she's becoming a 'real' person. her infant stage seems like such a blur.

she's pulling herself up and trying to take some steps now. she claps and mimics, she loves to hear songs and she's started dancing to music. she talks by sticking out her tongue and speaks gobbledy gook. she wants to touch everything and doesn't like missing anything. sometimes i find her in a corner with her books, already interested and turning the pages. she has the sweetest voice and i love that she says 'mama' now when she wants to be picked up. she's a cuddler and when she's tired, she'll find her blanket and lie peacefully on her tummy. she loves her family - she absolutely lights up when any of us come into the room - and we all love her so much.



she still doesn't like grass though.

ohio outtakes

i'm just now getting around to looking at the CD of photos we ordered from the shoot in ohio. the ones the photographer took are wonderful, of course, but some of my favorites were taken by her assistant. we have jpegs of all the images if anyone wants them!

love from connecticut

grama and jimbo flew in for a quick visit last week and it was so wonderful to see them. i spent the three days they were here working and being sick [poor me] but thea and helen got to enjoy their grandparents a lot which is all that matters. in the time that they were here, helen upped her talking and noise quotient significantly and is no longer our quiet little mouse.

i took a few pictures just before G and J left for the airport. although it wasn't a particularly sunny morning, we stayed and hung out by the pool at their hotel for a few hours so thea could go down the water slide a hundred times and hellie belle could kick her legs in the water.







[check out these photos of thea in the exact same outfit, two years ago this week.]

sunday afternoon

this past sunday was the first sunday of the summer where both girls were healthy and we didn't have anything that we needed to do. sad, but one hundred percent true.

in the morning, thea and i set out on an adventure to spend some much needed alone time together. we stopped into a pet store because thea wanted to see the kitties but it turned out that the mice were her favorite. it took every ounce of my strength to stand in front of a cage filled with the little rodents [and above it, the rats] and pretend like i thought they were cute/funny/entertaining. i deserve a medal for that one.

we came home with a 'pool' at zack's request and after lunch and an entire family nap session, both girls spent the afternoon in it. why can't every day be like this one [minus the mice]?

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.