Helena's First Birthday!

Today, our baby turned one.  It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed already!  We had Helena's one-year checkup this morning and everything looked great.  Here are her current stats: Height - 30 inches (75th percentile); Weight - 19 pounds, 10 ounces (25th percentile - it's also 2 pounds more than Sophie weighed on her first birthday!)  Helena's pretty much given up crawling and prefers to walk everywhere now.  She's also been sleeping through the night for seven months now, she's totally done with bottles, and she's almost weaned. 

We were fortunate enough to have family in town to help us celebrate this huge milestone, so it's been a busy and fun-filled past few days.  Last weekend, Sophia and Helena got to spend some time playing in their pool and we also paid a visit to the zoo: 

On the day of Helena's party, she happily posed for photos (doesn't she look like such a big girl?):

Although she received lots of wonderful gifts, I think Helena's favorite part of the day may very well have been her first taste of cake.  Once she got started, she dug in with both hands and there was no stopping her:

After the party, Helena enjoyed time with some of her birthday presents:

It seems that the past year has just flown by.  Although it's bittersweet watching Helena grow up so fast, we're so proud of her accomplishments and so excited to see what the future holds for her.

A Visit from the Tooth Fairy

It's been a very eventful weekend. We have family in town to celebrate Helena's first birthday this week and yesterday we also got to experience another important event:  Sophie lost her first baby tooth!

Sophie was so excited!  Because she was fortunate enough to lose her first tooth while we had visitors, the tooth fairy was especially generous with her.  She was so happy about finding the tooth fairy's surprise the next morning that she asked her Grandma to pull another one of her teeth out so she could make some more money.  Unfortunately, none of the others are loose enough to come out yet, so it looks like she'll have to wait a little longer.

Helena's Baby

Until recently, Helena has shown absolutely no interest in her baby dolls.  Everytime she picked one up, she would throw it or bang its head against another toy.  A few days ago, however, she found this baby in her closet: 

She just started carrying it around.  Ever since she discovered this baby, she's been hugging and kissing it and even patting it on the back.  It's really cute!

New Additions

We are pleased to announce that we have two new additions to our family!  Last weekend, while we were running errands, Sophie spotted the fish tanks in the store.  We decided to stop, "just to look", and ended up leaving with two new friends:

This is Sammy:

And this is Sally:

Sophie seems to be pretty attached to them already, so I hope we don't have to make use of that 30-day replacement guarantee.

Happy Independence Day!

We spent the 4th with the girls at a local park.  We were very anxious to see what Helena would think of her first fireworks display, but before the fireworks started, we enjoyed some of the local food and spent some time enjoying the rides.  Sophie especially liked the swings and the pony ride:

Finally, the fireworks started!  Both of the girls really liked them.  Although Helena enjoyed the first few, she didn't quite make it through the whole show before nodding off.  It was way past the girls' normal bedtime, but Sophie managed to make it until the very end.

Bath Time!

One of Helena's favorite times of the day is bath time.  She loves the bath water - playing in it, splashing in it, and, of course, drinking it.  I love it right when we get her out of the tub.  Her hair always looks a little crazy and she is impossible to pin down and get dressed.

(Of course, I had to squeeze in a little naked baby picture...)

Sophie is a different story.  Although she loves being clean, she doesn't really care for bath time.  She does like it, though, when we make time to have a little fun (especially with her hair!)

Grrrrr...

I am animal.  Literally.  This past month I have eaten the following:  a sticker, part of an envelope, a toenail, part of a crayon, and toilet paper.  

Mom and Dad try to keep me from eating these things, but I'm quick.  My favorite is the toilet paper.  Every time they leave one of the bathroom doors open, I head straight for it.  I'm not even sure why I eat this stuff because they give me enough food to feed three normal babies, but I know I like it.