More ‘Toofas’!

Here are some pics from our week. I know, I know, I still owe you a 11 months post. We hope to do that tomorrow, so stay tuned. It’s a challenge to get her clean, dolled up, awake, and happy while both of us are home and able to entertain and snap pics! Some new developments…Helen Grace has two new teeth coming in on the bottom, and once or twice today she stood on her own for several seconds. It’s amazing how much can change in one day at this stage!

Anchors away!Apparently, the pointing teacher’s finger is genetic. Someone was a little hyper… She kept going… And going… Having fun with Tyler at our last Kindermusik for the spring semester (we will have a short summer term though) We went to meet Adam, Lilly’s new baby brother who was born last Thursday. The girls had fun catching up! Looks like they are getting into trouble… Ernest Adam Jacobs HG’s first Cinnamon Twist from Taco Bell All smiles! You can see her now FOUR bottom teeth!She has found the Tupperware cabinet. Ruh roh! This is our little stork…not sure if the grass was wet or cold or what, but she did not want to put both feet down. Ha!

Double Decker!

One of my favorite days of the year is Oxford’s Double Decker Festival. Obviously, Oxford is one of my top 5 favorite places in the world, and you just can’t beat strolling around the Square looking at art, pottery, jewelry, etc. and listening to bands on a beautiful spring day with your family and friends. You can count on running into old friends that you haven’t seen in years, and it’s always a great time. Since the weather was so nasty on Saturday, Double Decker was moved to Sunday, and the day definitely did not disappoint. Helen Grace definitely enjoyed her first Double Decker experience!

Can you tell I’m a little giddy? We ran into Doty and Caroline! My mom laughed and said that this surely wouldn’t be the last time these girls would run into each other shopping on the Square. :) And Ashley Abide!! Man, it’s been forever (she now lives in Charleston, SC), but I was so glad to see her! (P.S. I am so sorry to be blinding you with my paleness in these pics.) I’m trying to teach her to blow kisses, so I kiss her hand and then pull it away and blow them for her. She thinks it is HI-larious! Toward the end of the day when she started getting restless, the only thing that would entertain her was chewing on her shoe…hmmm. What mamas do sometimes to keep the peace, huh?

Just Hanging Around

Playing with Bubba (and Bella) at Spif and Google’s on Thursday One of her new favorite activities is standing at our back door and window. She loves to bang on the glass/blinds and point and yell at stuff outside. Sometimes she is even compelled to glom the window! All this playing tuckers her out.

Scaredy Cat

A little happy for you on a nasty, rainy day…this is HG’s newest trick. She gets up on her knees and bounces like a mad woman when she gets tickled (and hyper). She is in a daze at the beginning of the video, listening to Ms. Karen at Kindermusik sing the goodbye song to her (she loves to hear her own name!), but then she gets excited and starts performing.

Helen Grace experienced her first tornado warning of the season last night. She was quite the pro last year with two real tornadoes near us, but since she’s so much more alert now, I was scared how she would react to the storms. I got her to bed a little after 8:00, and then I heard the sirens go off in town just before 10:00. I am a huge storm scaredy cat (which I believe to be warranted after driving through the Hickory Hill tornado years ago although John makes terrible fun of me), and I am even more so now that HG is here. So of course, I go flying up the stairs to John’s office screaming about the sirens and asking what to do. John looks at me like I’m crazy, so I run into HG’s room, scoop the poor girl up out of bed, fly downstairs, grab pillows off our bed, and land in the floor of the hall bathroom. The sirens went off for 20 minutes or so with terrible thunder and lightning, and Helen Grace snored in my arms the whole time, praise the Lord. Seriously. It was an answer to prayers that she slept through all of it. I was able to put her right back in bed, and she slept the whole rest of the night.

Now, the storm this morning was a little different because she was wide awake and playing in the den. She was really clingy through all of it and crawled up in my lap to watch out the window with wide eyes. The bad weather was short-lived though luckily and soon blew on through. Let’s hope that we have seen the worst of the storms and that the rest of day is quiet and sunny!

True Story

Today, my dad kept Helen Grace for me, and when my mom got home from work, she was practicing our names with HG. Spif said, “Dadadadada,” and then asked HG what Dada says. To that, Helen Grace responded with a big ole raspberry! Then, Spif said, “Mamamama,” and asked what Mama says. Helen Grace gave her a big kissy face! How appropriate!

New Life Experiences as a Mama

Over the last few weeks as Helen Grace has gotten increasingly mobile, I have been experiencing all kinds of new things. I’ve been trying to keep a mental list of some of the funniest ones to share with my blog friends. Mamas out there, feel free to add your own- I know you’ve got some good ones!

• Shopping will never be the same- at least for the next 10 or so years. Before I decided to change strategies and just buy, bring home, try on, and return, I was running through stores like a mad woman, leaving a trail of car keys, cell phones, animal crackers, and baby shoes. Trying to keep a 10 month old happy and leave with my sanity intact was near impossible!
• Since she is getting around TOO well these days, when I’m home alone I put her in the shower with me. Her new favorite trick is to stick her fingers in the holes of the shower drain. I spend my entire shower balancing on one foot as I try to cover the drain enough to keep her fingers out but leave enough exposed to let the water drain. That’s quite a talent, let me tell ya!
• She’s not content to sit in the floor and play while I dry my hair, so she pulls up on my legs and then stands there holding on to my towel wrap. If she catches me off guard, she can also pop the velcro on my towel wrap. (Scary mental image, I know- sorry!) That’s why many of you will see me with curly hair on my days at home alone with her. Whew! :)
• Helen Grace has found the toilet and loves to pull up on it. Enough said.
• She gets too bored to sit correctly in the shopping cart or high chair, so as my friend describes it so politely, she sits ‘side saddle.’ I call it being stubborn. She will often put her foot up on the tray or handle too. Some high chairs have obviously been designed by someone without kids because some have a rung really high so that she can stand up on it. You know she’s ready to go when she starts standing up on the rung and bouncing. Pack it up!

Our Little Giggle Box

Birthdays All Around

We’ve had some big milestones this week!

• Helen Grace ate every food that John and I had for dinner on Wednesday- lasagna (the noodles anyway), green beans (she loves to hold them and nibble away on them), and a roll. She even ate some rice this weekend. Very cool!
• Unfortunately, I believe I caught her eating a piece of cat food this week. Boo hoo. I knew it was going to happen, but I still felt sick and awful and guilty when I pulled the little brown bit out of her mouth. Protein, it’s protein, right?
• Helen Grace roller skated for the first time- a girl after my own heart! See pics below.
• We are celebrating John’s birthday this weekend. Oh, how our lives have changed in this last year. This time last year, we thought our life was wonderful already and were anticipating adding a baby girl to our family, but we had no clue how much our hearts would swell and how much more meaningful our life was about to become!

Excited about Kindermusik on Friday morning! Lilly and Helen Grace were twinkies for Kindermusik (prearranged by their mamas, of course). Afterward, we had a great lunch with Lily, Callum, their mamas, and Callum’s daddy. All the babies behaved very well and allowed their parents to have quality conversations- how ‘bout that?!The same duo back in October 2009 in their matching outfits.  Spif, Granddaddy Google, and Bubba watched HG for me while I got my hair done on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning, Helen Grace discovered the dishwasher…hours of entertainment! After a bath, she finally gave in to a nap that had been a long time coming. Needless to say, we were a little late to my cousin Hayes’ 7th birthday party. SKATING PARTY! Happy 7th birthday, Hayes! She is getting so big and grown-up, and I loved that she chatted my ear off the whole time as we skated around and around and around. I consider that quite an honor. ;) Helen Grace even skated for a few yards with me….we would have gone farther but Spif was having a heart attack. Ha! On Saturday night, we celebrated John’s birthday a day early with dinner at Old Venice with our parents and Aunt Gloria. We sat outside on the patio and soaked up the BEAUTIFUL day! Helen Grace loved helping Daddy open his gifts, especially this sweet one from Grandma with her picture in it. She can immediately point herself out in a picture.