in-laws come to Alamogordo

My in-laws traveled to see us over this past weekend, and it was great to see them.  I truly appreciate them making the trek to Alamogordo, as traveling to a small town from a small town isn't easy.  They had to drive 4 and half hours to Wichita, KS, fly Wichita to Dallas, then Dallas into El Paso.  Helena and I drove to El Paso on Thursday to pick them up at the airport.
We had a great visit, and the big highlight was going to White Sands.  Helena had a lot of fun playing in the sand and everyone else loved the beautiful scenery.  We bought a sled to go sledding, although I was happy just sitting down in the sand.  Helena was pretty clingy this trip, mainly due to teething, I think.  She got a pretty bad runny nose...it's now a lingering cough.  She wouldn't really leave my side while playing with her new sand toys.  She did however go for a walk with Grandpa and Grandma Sweat.  She also screamed when we put her on the sled.  Overall, it was a lot of fun.
Grandpa and Grandma also got her a swing for the backyard, and a lawnmower that blows bubbles!  They cleaned up our backyard (which I'm extremely thankful for) and put together a storage unit for baby Boy Sweat's room.  It was a really nice trip!

Helena at 20 months

I've been meaning to write this post for the past 3 weeks.  Here's some details (I hope I don't forget too many) of Helena at 20 months.

23.4 pounds
33.5 inches
46.8 cm head

The biggest milestone as of late are two word phrases.  The most common one is when she hears the garage door open she immediately says "daddy home".  And "thank you bath" when she tells daddy thank you after her bath.  Her vocabulary is still increasing daily.  She picks up new animals super easy, and recently learned giraffe and penguin.  She's also great at actions, she knows how to put on lotion, and tries to wash her hair, along with clip her finger and toe nails, and brush her hair.  She's getting better at using utensils.

Her biggest 180 as been in the eating department.  I remember around the holiday season I talked about her not eating at all.  And now she seems to be a bottomless pit.  I feel like I can't keep up with her.  She still isn't a big fan of eating in her booster seat and she usually only goes in there for dinner time, but she eats none stop.  She'll eat big bowl of Cheerios for breakfast and some egg or bread.  For lunch she'll have a orange and two pieces of turkey.  Once she wakes up she'll have some yogurt and cheese, and usually before dinner she'll have another snack.  And she'll eat whatever we have for dinner.  Last night she loved the White Chicken Chili I made.  Per her pediatrician I've cut her milk intake in half, so she now only has about 16oz of milk a day.  She loves peas (thank goodness, I loath peas) and green beans.  Any bean really.  Apples, oranges, and bananas.  She now knows that an orange is not an apple and for that I'm thankful.  Definitely a growing baby girl.

She went to the dentist the week of my birthday.  And now she loves to point out her teeth and say dentist.
She also loves to go meet "new friends".  And when she says train it is "choo choo train".  I've also recently got her attached to watching Curious George.  She'll now come up on the couch and say "George George".

She loves her baby brother.  I have ultrasound pictures of little dude on the fridge and she'll point to them and say "baby baby" and I'll respond "that's your baby brother" and she gets super excited!  She'll also check on the baby about once a day by lifting up my shirt and kiss my belly, or owl will kiss my belly.

She's getting a little better at letting me drop her off at daycare when I got to my MOPS meeting or for church.  It's hit or miss.

She has learned her name, and will say "Lena".  It's super cute.  She can sorta say "I love you" it sounds like "wuv you".  She absolutely loves to read and knows which book is which.  We've started having her repeat the ABC's when we are in the bath.  Along with sitting her on the toilet right before the bath.  We've only done this a few times and she just says "no no no".  I don't think potty training will be happening any time soon.

She's a great listener when she wants to be.  She really enjoys doing something she's never been asked before.  But just yesterday she was getting into Chris' nightstand and I just had to tell her once that there was nothing in there for her and to close it, and she did it.  The biggest struggle is when I sit on the floor to change her diaper.  I'll say over and over again "Helena please come here so  I can change your diaper."  "Mommy asked you nicely to come here.  Please come here.  Please listen to mommy."  And she stands just within reach.  It's super annoying, and once I grab her and advise to have her listen to me she is smiling thinking it is a joke.  Not too sure how to stop that behavior.

She is in size 4 diapers now, and still 18 month pants and onsies.  But if it is an actual shirt 24 months or 2T fits her best.  And dresses are also a 2T since she's so tall.

She gets up in the middle of the night about 2 or 3 times a month.  She has different screams and sometimes it is the horrible gutwrenching scream, and I know to get up and comfort her.  Majority of the time I just need to hold her and put her back down.  The other noises she makes I know she'll be able to selfsooth and put her self back down.  She still takes one afternoon nap.  It's around 1pm, although twice this past week she didn't take a afternoon nap, that was brutal.

She loves to dance and be outside.  And overall just a gem.