Family Update

 So much to cover! We went to the Alamogordo Fire Station last week to drop off baked goods, say Thank you for your service, and get a tour.  It was a lot of fun.  Helena got a nasty reaction to some mosquito bites on her face (in this picture you can see a red spot on the tip of her nose, the worst of it a few pictures down).
Have I mentioned that Helena is a rock star?!  My daughter has completely potty trained herself!  It started about a month ago now?!  Well let me back up.  We started putting her on the potty around her 2nd birthday (back in May) before her bath just to familiarize herself with it and would always congratulate her for just sitting on it.  Then more recently she would tell Chris in the middle of her bath (Chris does bath time) that she needs to go potty.  So Chris would always get her out and put her on the potty, ...but nothing.  Then about a month ago she went!  We were all excited!  After that she went potty in the middle of her bath almost nightly.  Then one day while I was doing laundry and Bennett was just waking up from his nap; Helena was playing in Bennett room entertaining him while he stayed in his crib and I folded laundry in the bedroom. Helena comes running into the bedroom naked from the waist down exclaiming that she went potty.  I immediately thought Oh Dear!  Where's the mess?!  So I ask Helena to show me where she went potty and she brings me into Bennett's room and she had brought out her Minnie Mouse potty that was put away in Bennett's closet!  ...we got the Minnie Mouse potty a few months ago, but she just played with it so we put it away.  Anyways, she peed in the Minnie Mouse potty!  From that moment on we said good-bye to diapers, and now only use diapers at bedtime (we eliminated the nap time diaper a couple of days ago).  She's amazing at telling us when she needs to go and has even pooped in the potty!, which happened completely unsolicited.  After she peed in the Minnie potty we brought it out into the living room for easy access and one evening she sat on the potty then stood up happily announced "mommy there's rocks in my potty?"  Again I thought Rocks?!  But it was poop!  She struggles the most in the mornings, so if there is an accident it's in the morning (but has never had a poop accident!).  Even driving back to Alamogordo on Tuesday she let us know she needed to go potty (even though she had a diaper on).  She takes advantage of the fact that we drop everything when she announces she needs to go potty, especially when we are out to dinner, and this makes it tough to eat, but she's just a rock star and I'm so proud of her!  Now the Minnie Mouse potty is put back away (who wants to clean that up?!) and we got a little seat for her toilet in her bathroom with ducks on it so she calls it her ducky potty.
In other Helena news, I miss her listening to me.  I swear we repeat ourselves all day long.  She'll ask a question, and I'll give an answer, and she just asks the same question and I give the same answer.  There used to be a time when she would easily eat her dinner and would do what I asked.  But that short phase is over.  She now doesn't want to eat unless you beg and she no longer thinks cleaning up her toys is fun.  She's so independent.
She sometimes wakes up crying and it's so sad because she can't fully communicate what's going on.  She had a super rough time going to bed about 3 weeks ago.  It was brutal.  She wouldn't sleep.  It lasted 3 nights and I'm so happy that it ended just as fast as it started.  But she'll still sometimes wake up crying.  I'll go into her room and hold her and ask her if she's ok.  She'll respond and say I'm ok.  I'll ask her what's wrong or what happened, and she says nothing.  Then I'll ask if she's ready to go back to bed.  And she goes ok, back to bed.  It's always short lived, I just wish she could tell me what's wrong.


 I am currently at the end of the Hair Lose Phase of post pardom (thank goodness), I seriously thought I was going to lose all of my hair.  I was losing hair for probably 6 weeks straight.  I'm thinking about becoming a doula.  During my pregnancy with Bennett I had thought about becoming a ultrasound tech, but now I think a doula might be a better fit.  Since Bennett is most likely our last baby, I've decided I need something to keep me around babies!
I'm so happy that MOPs is back and enjoy going to the meetings every other week, along with all the playdates.  One of the nice things about living her, is everyone has a different story.  Because Alamogordo is a military town everyone is from someplace else, and love hearing where people have come from and where they are going.

 Bennett has a clean bill of health!  We traveled to Albuquerque last week, and Bennett had an MRI on Tuesday (at 6:15am!) and his brain looks completely normal.  He was a rock star during the MRI (he didn't get put under) and the pediatric neurosurgeon repeated herself numerous times in saying Bennett is 100% healthy, and that he just has a big head.  Praise God!!!  Thank you all for your prayers!
He's sorta working on sitting up, and crawls like crazy on is back...he pushes himself all over the place, he really can't be left alone.  I call him a rolly poly because he also rolls and rolls all over the place!  He is still not a fan of tummy time.  He loves his big sister!  He hasn't shown any real interest in food so he hasn't had any food yet, he continues to love his bottle!
He laughs and laughs and is SO ticklish.  You tickle his belly or legs and he just giggles, it's so much fun!  He also loves the water and enjoys his nightly bath!
He's in 9 month clothing and overall sleeps really good.  I'm up with him maybe two or three times a week.



 Chris is currently looking for another job.  Back in August he was notified that the hospital is ending the Aramark (the company he works for) contract 120 early (which is mid-December).  He's working with Aramark recruiters to place him in another job, and they've said they'll continue to keep him on payroll until he does find another job.  So our family life is back up in the air.  I of course haven't handled this news well, in fact I'm scared out of my mind, but I'm working on praying and trusting God, and that He'll place us where we are suppose to be.  But I hate not knowing.  I really really really want to be back in Colorado.

Helena's swollen eye (we went to the doctor and got medicine and it is now almost healed completely)

Tuesday morning after Bennett's MRI

We're coming upon one year in Alamogordo (I have a whole post in mind for that).  I desperately want the weather to cool down...it's been in the 80's all week.

Helena 2yr, 4 mo

My darling daughter is growing up way too fast.
I feel like she's changing daily.  At her two year doctor appointment the doctor was a little concerned with her lack of growth, both height and weight, so we went at the beginning of the month to check on her.  And she is thriving!
She's 2 feet 11 inches, and 25 pounds.
She's such a little girl.  Lately she has been testing my patience like no other and many times I have to just walk away, but God I love her.
We transitioned her into a "big girl" bed last month and it went super simple.  I'm always so surprised at how easy each transition is.  Naptime is sometimes a little rough, but bedtime is easy.  One of the things I love most about her being in a full bed is it has given me an excuse to check on her at night.  Once we moved here we stopped checking on her at night because she is such a light sleeper and her crib was right by the wall with the door.  And she would wake up just by opening the door.  I like to check on her just to see how's she sleeping, and there have been a few times where she opens her eyes, but I look forward to that part of the evening every night.  She usually gets herself up anytime between 7 and 8 and she'll come into our bed.  Depending on how tired I am I'll usually get up with her, or she'll come up in bed with me and watch TV.
She's talking.  Oh boy is she a talker.  And she gets so frustrated when she can't communicate fully what's going on.  She's just start crying, I image it is frustrating.  A few nights ago she woke up at 10:30 crying and I went into her room and held her and asked her if she was ok, she responded: I'm ok.  I would ask what's wrong or what happened and she doesn't say anything.  Then I ask her if she's ready to go to bed, and she says No.  Then I just tell her it's time to go to bed and put her back in bed.  The biggest news is she's pretty much in the process of potty training herself!  It's insane.  Chris is the one to give her, her nighttime bath and she'll usually say she needs to go potty so Chris will put her on the potty.  Well last week for the first time she actually went potty, and has gone potty two more times.  Then just today I was working on putting away laundry in our bedroom and Helena was entertaining Bennett who was in his crib after waking up from his morning nap and she comes into our bedroom naked from the waist down telling me she went potty.  I immediately think she went on to floor somewhere, but in Bennett's closet is a Minnie Mouse potty I got awhile ago to help with potty training.  She pulled it out and went potty!  And since then she's used it one other time.  I'm so impressed.
Yesterday while driving I telling Helena my laundry list of things going on in my head in hopes that getting it off of my chest would help me sleep (I haven't been sleeping very good) she says to me "Mom don't talk to me in the car!"  It made me laugh.  She'll randomly tell me she loves me and that I'm "bootiful".  In fact if she sees me with makeup on or actual clothes she'll automatically ask "Mommy and Daddy go on date night?"  She gets so excited when Bennett roles over.  And her interaction with Bennett is amazing, she makes him laugh like no one else does.
I have to say that this stage is the most difficult (plus having a baby in the house) but also extremely rewarding.  She goes unphased by my freakouts and when she sees me crying she'll come up to me, hug me and say "it's ok mommy".  She wants me and only me to put her lotion on after her bath.  Not too sure how I got into this habit but once I put her down I take my finger and stroke the front of her head...down her forehead to the tip of her nose, and Helena calls it "hush".  So now when I read any nighttime book she'll do "hush" on all of the characters and it's so precious.  She also will cuddle and take care of her baby dolls just how I take care of Bennett.  Or if Bennett is super upset I'll hold him and say "calm down" and sometimes when Helena is upset she'll tell me "calm me down Mommy".  She rarely shows signs of jealously from Bennett which is nice and in a weird way tells me I'm doing something right.  There are a few times when she tells me to put him on the floor but not a lot.  Or sometimes she'll get frustrated at Bennett if she's crying and he starts to cry.  She tells him "hey baby Bennett I'm crying".  But overall she really is an amazing big sister.
She can count to fourteen and still does the same ABC's: "abcd hij lmnop wxy and z".  She loves to sing twinkle twinkle, and rock a by baby.  She can list colors but you ask her what color something is and everything is "blue".  She's asks every morning "where's daddy?" and "are we going to a friends house?"  If the doorbell rings she immediately says "my friends are here!".  She loves to be outside and  I can't wait for the weather to cool down to spend more time outside.  We've been going to a music class all month and she really enjoys it.  She sees ultrasound pictures from either when I was pregnant with her or Bennett and she says "we go to doctors office".  I could just go on and on.  She has a crazy good memory.  She loves to look at pictures on every bodies phone and in July when my friend Michelle was here she saw pictures from my baby shower in February at Bobbie's (Michelle's mom) house, and Helena immediately said "Bobbie's house".
She's just so much fun.  I wish I could record her.
I love her and am so blessed to be her mom.

Helena @ 2 years!

Helena had her two year well visit last week!
She's 23 pounds and 33 inches.

Helena is like a sponge.  She soaks everything in and everything is on repeat.  "Mommy read" "Mommy read" "Mommy read"  "Watch Mickey Mouse" "Watch Mickey Mouse" "Watch Mickey Mouse" "Mommy what are you doing?" "Mommy what are you doing?"  "Mommy what are you doing?" "Do bubbles outside" "Do bubbles outside" "Do bubbles outside"  You get the idea.

She loves to sing and will randomly sing "Happy Birthday Miss Helena" "A B C D H I J L M P W X Y Z"  Often on repeat is W X Y and Z, with the "and Z" sounding like one word.  She'll count but rarely starts with one.  Her counting is: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9.  Lately she'll sing something like "Single baby".

She's a great big sister and loves to sit with Bennett.  She likes to feed him by holding his bottle although it is short lived once she realizes she has to continue to hold it and will say "mommy do it".  She enjoys doing tummy time and asks about baby Bennett frequently.
She continues to be a good sleeper.  I was nervous about bringing Bennett home because Helena is a super light sleeper and wakes up immediately once you open up her bedroom door.  Our bedrooms are all close together and I was fearful that Bennett cries in the middle of the night would wake her up.  She did wake up his first night home, but since then she sleeps through them!  I'm so glad and she hasn't awoken up since we brought Bennett home (besides that first night)!  I was also fearful that his cries would affect her, but thankfully she completely zones out his cries.

She hasn't really shown any signs of potty training.  We stick her on the potty nightly before her bath, and she'll say she needs to go potty, but she has never actually gone to the potty.  She'll sometimes tell me when she has pooped but not always.  My thoughts are that once Bennett gets somewhat of a schedule I'll try and potty train her.

She's still in a crib and tries to climb out but immediately says "need help".  The transition to the toddler bed will probably happen sometime soon.

She's in size 2T, although some of the shirts are already too short.  And size 4 diapers.  And size 5 shoes.

She loves to be outside, and loves bubbles, and I'm really itching to take her to the pool, but I'm not ambitious enough to take both kids to the pool by myself.

Some of my favorite words that she says "Oh geesh"  "Daaaad"  "Delicious!" "Sopapilla"  "Tortilla" "I love you Mommy"

She loves to see her friends, and gets super excited when I tell her friends are coming over or if we are going to a friends house

She loves to read and turn the pages.  Although it's frustrating because she'll usually only let me read about 3 words before turning the page just to say "mommy read".

She loves to tickle my toes when I'm changing her diaper and when I tell her no she'll tickle her own toes.

She's extremely agreeable and when you explain something to her she'll gladly say "ok".

Overall she's a joy and I'm so blessed to be her mom.  

Helena turns 2!

tricycle from Grandpa and Grandma Sweat

dancing with Grandma Sweat at Caliches

enjoying ice cream on her birthday!

Grandma Sweat made the dress!!!

Great Grandma Sweat, Grandma Sweat holding Bennett, Chris holding Helena, Grandpa Sweat holding Hope.

she loved opening all of the presents!

Almost two weeks ago Helena turned two!  It was a great day.  My in-laws were in town the week of her birthday and having them here was wonderful.  My mother-in-law is great with both kids and she did all the cooking!!!  ...I am so spoiled!!!!
The day itself was pretty low key.  I actually left Helena at home with her grandparents while Bennett and I went to a MOPS meeting.  Chris got home early and we had an early dinner so we could leave for a special ice cream treat at Caliches.  ...Caliches is an amazing custard place, and probably the one place I'll miss when we leave Alamogordo!
That Saturday was her birthday party.  Who knows why I thought it would be a good idea to throw a birthday party with a newborn in the house, but I'm crazy like that, and there were hardly any details.  I wasted $20 on an etsy printable of invitations, a happy birthday sign, and cupcake toppers.  The theme was Curious George.  I knew I wanted the party to be outside, so we set up a little pool, a water table (her birthday gift from us), and we got lots of bubbles.  Overall we had a great turnout!!!  I just ordered a cake and pizza from the local grocery store, and that's it.  Oh and a fruit platter.  We had about 18 kids and Helena was thrilled to have all of her friends over.  My parents came down for the party and I was thrilled that Helena got all of her grandparents together!
It was a great day!

Easter Weekend

 We had a great Easter Weekend.  I'm really truly trying to treasure these last handful of weekends while we are a family of three.
We went to a local park for a little Easter parade, the Easter bunny, and a Easter Egg hunt.  It was a lot of fun.  The day before we were blessed with getting a beautiful dress in the mail from Grandma Sweat!  These dress is beautiful, and the second one (like it) that Grandma Sweat has made.  Helena wore the first one for my maternity photo shoot!  I'm so thankful she has such a crafty Grandma to make her these truly special items!
Saturday afternoon we had another meeting with my doula.  It was a great meeting, and I'm feeling more and more at peace about this baby and birth, and feeling comfortable that he'll let me know when he wants to come.
We went to a special Saturday afternoon Easter Service at a new church (we're still church shopping).  The service was ok, Chris and I were distracted as Helena accidentally got called from the day care.  So I think we need to give this church another try.

Easter Egg Hunting

 Helena didn't get a visit from the Easter Bunny last year, so we made sure he made a stop this year.  She got some hot wheels cars, stickers, and a little fish rubber thing.  And a stuffed bunny that we got from the daycare at church last week.  She really enjoyed all the goodies!
We then went up to Ruidoso to Inn at Mountain of the Gods for some Easter Brunch.  We thankfully got there right before there were done serving breakfast.  We walked around the property and had a great time.

 When we got home we colored some eggs which Helena really enjoyed, and was worried about making a mess!

 Then right before bath time Chris "hid" the eggs in the backyard, and we did another Easter Egg hunt.  She had a great time walking around saying "looking eggs".  Chris hid the eggs twice and it was a lot of fun.  She's now obsessed with eggs.

It was a great weekend.  Chris and I even watched a movie (over two nights) The Martian.  It was a really good movie.

Helena at 22 months

I want to try and document as much of this month as possible.  Mainly because this is Helena's last full month as an only child.  I specifically remembering after I had her that if I were to have any more babies, she would be the oldest.  She would have us as her parents the longest.  It's weird knowing how drastically her role in our family is about to change, and that at the same time she doesn't even really know it.  She of course knows of baby brother and there are times he kicks her while she is in my lap, and she just ignores it.  She knows where the babies room is and that mommy has a baby in her belly.  She's fascinated by his pictures on the refrigerator and likes to kiss and hug the baby.  I know that she'll be a great big sister.  I am concerned about her listening and how she'll react to the crying.  But we'll all be making adjustments.

I'm hoping that within the next two weeks to do a "day in the life" post just so I can remember all the details of only having one child.  It's crazy how things are about to double.  Like at the end of my pregnancy with Helena I find myself doing things right now because I know I can do them now much easier than what life will be like post baby.  I suppose that is what nesting is all about. Doing things now while I still can.  Without having to get two kids in and out of the car, without splitting my attention, taking my time with Helena.

Helena is changing daily.  It's amazing how quickly she picks things up.  Mainly in the world of her vocabulary.  She can carry on a full conversation.  She'll come into a room and say "hi" or "how are you doing today?", I'll respond with "good" and she says "good day today".  Or in the morning or after nap, I'll ask her how she slept.  And she'll say "sleep good".  You ask her to do something and she'll respond "oh sure".  Not too sure where she got that, because neither Chris or I say "sure".  She says "I love you too, Mommy or Daddy".  Or just "I love you too".  She loves to give hugs and kisses, by saying "mommy hugs or mommy kisses".  ...she's usually all about the kisses when she is doing something she knows she's not suppose to be doing.  She says "sorry" instead of "stop".  Like if we're washing her hair in the bathtub she'll go "sorry sorry sorry".  She loves that she can make anything into a hat, by putting it onto her head.  If you are reading a book and you ask her "where is the apple?" she'll respond and say "looking" while looking over the page and then pointing to the apple, or whatever it is you asked her to find.  She says "delicious" and it's the cutest thing you ever did hear.  Although she's been doing this for some time now I've never documented it, she pushes her hair back.  For the longest time she would just let her hair be in her face.  I think shortly before we moved she finally figured out she could use her hands to get her hair out of her face.  When I let her know she's going to the daycare at either church or MOPs she'll say "play with friends" or "toys".  In the bath she'll go swimming and make bubbles.  She knows all of her body party, animals and animals sounds.  Can count to 3.  Knows her ABC's with prompting, but will sometimes say 3 or 4 letters by herself.  She loves lotion.  She's sprouting two more teeth, her bottom canines.  Teething was really rough last week.  She hardly ate and was super clingly.  One big transition we're in the process of is eliminating the rocking chair before nap and bedtime.  Mainly because it's getting uncomfortable with me, and we need to move the rocking chair into baby brother's room.  I know the chair won't be used right away, but I would love to be able and just put Helena down without rocking.  Although truth be told this transition is taking a lot longer because I do know I will miss it.  When we do go down for a nap or are leaving the house to run some errands she'll say "bye toys".  Or specifically "bye owl" if we aren't taking him with us.  Everything is on repeat, so we have started to really watch what comes out of our mouths.  She's great at saying "please" and "thank you".  When we pull into the garage she'll say "here" or "home".  She's confused by up and down.  She knows what up is, but often if she wants down, she'll say "up" so usually she'll just say both until she gets what she wants.  She also definitely has her own language.  There are times she's talking complete gibberish and she knows what she is saying, but I don't have a clue.  There are also times where she's saying something and I should know what it is, but I don't.  But thankfully I'm learning how quickly her vocabulary is growing and changing, so I hope there aren't too many language challenges, especially with baby brother coming in the next few weeks.  She really is awesome.  And I pray that her little brother will be a nice laid back easy baby!

Two Trips

Over Christmas my childhood friend Michelle offered to throw me a Baby Sprinkle.  So we picked out a date and made it official, for the end of February.  Then I figured if I was going to make the drive to Albuquerque, I may as well take advantage of the airport in town, and fly somewhere.  Denver was the easiest choice.  So we made it a girls trip and packed up me, my mom, and Helena and headed to Denver.  My main motivation was to see Andrea and Grayson.
So last Tuesday Helena and I drove to Albuquerque.  I got to have a nice late lunch/early dinner with my cousin Kari.  It was great to see her.  Then Wednesday we flew to Denver.  Helena did really good on the flight.  We had difficulty with the car seat at the car rental that was a mess, but finally got it installed.  We stopped by Andrea's and picked up a pack 'n play they so graciously let us borrow.  We then went to a fire station to get the car seat installed correctly, and the firemen were super nice and they let Helena and my mom go back and look at the shiny new fire truck!  We then went downtown to have dinner with a couple of old co-workers.  It was fantastic going to a non-chain restaurant and enjoy good food and good company!  I loved it.  I knew I missed the food options but actually being there made me jealous that there are all of these options right at other people's finger tips.  Helena did really great.  It was a little rocky once we got to the hotel, because she knew she wasn't in her element.  And I had prepared for a not so smooth night.  We set up the pack 'n play, gave her a bath, and made sure she was super tired when I put her down.  She did wake up in the 11 o'clock hour (and she did the same the next 2 nights a well).  Thankfully each time she did wake up she just needed to be comforted, and then she would go back down and sleep the rest of the night.  The next day we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel then met up with Andrea and Grayson at the Broomfield Rec Center for some swimming!  Lately Helena has been "swimming" during her bath, laying on her belly and making bubbles.  It's so much fun, so I was excited to take her to a pool!  After the pool we got ready and went up to the play area in the rec center.  The play area is an area where Andrea and I used to take Helena and Grayson when there were just itty bitty crawlers, and to see them now is so amazing!  After the rec center we had lunch at Mad Greens, and I dropped off Helena and my mom at the hotel, for Helena to take a nap.  I then went to go see Erin for an eye-brow wax.  We then went to Flatirons Mall for Helena to play at the play area and for dinner at the Village Tavern.  It was a good day.  Friday we got up early and met Chendra for breakfast at the Huckleberry Tea House.  Chendra was Helena's babysitter, and I really wanted them to see each other.  After breakfast I went to Dance Jam at the gym!!!  Man oh man, I miss that place, those people, that energy, so much!  It was a blast.  After the gym we went back Andrea's house to drop off the pack 'n play and hang out with Grayson a little bit longer before heading to the airport.
Overall it was a great trip.  It was short, although I did that on purpose because I was really only willing to sacrifice two bad nights of sleep.  Plus it was a good farewell trip, as I honestly don't know when I'll be back to Denver.  It was a great opportunity to take while Helena is free to travel and plus I know that traveling with one child is easier than what it will be with two children.
I miss Denver and what it has to offer, but I've met some great people in Alamogordo, and this is where my life is (for now).  I truly pray that one day we'll be back in some sort of metropolitan city, and I know that I won't take it for granted.

  Saturday was a beautiful little Sprinkle thrown by my wonderful friend Michelle.  It was a really nice get together, and I'm so thankful for all of those who came.  Baby Boy Sweat got some great stuff!  And I'm finally feeling a little more prepared for this little dude.
Planning for two trips was crazy, and a lot more stressful than I had anticipated.  But I'm so happy I did it and that I took the opportunity to go.

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.