Happy FIRST BIRTHDAY Helen!

On June 8th Baby Helen turned ONE!

On Helen's birthday eve, I realized how unprepared we were to celebrate. We hadn't purchased any gifts, we were still drowning in moving boxes and packing paper (we'd been in our house nearly 2 weeks by then) and I had been so consumed with thinking about Ian's KinderStart (all-day practice Kindergarten class) that was on Helen's birthday, that not much thought had gone into planning our special girl's big milestone. And it made me sad. So at 11 pm I dug out our box of birthday decorations and stayed up an extra hour covering the dining room with balloons and streamers. I went to bed feeling much better prepared for her birthday the next day.

Good Morning Beautiful Birthday Girl!

This sweet girl wakes up with a smile on her face, and pretty much stays smiling all day long. She is always still pleasant and smiling even when we lay her down for naps and at bedtime.

Her brothers couldn't resist climbing in her crib and getting the party started.

But then she got bonked on the head and this adorable pouting face came out.

But see her smile trying to break though? She just couldn't hold a sad face long!

Those boys are helplessly in love with Helen. She loves them back, but she's learned to be cautious around their rough-and-tumble shows of affection!

Ian and Joseph were thrilled to see the decorations when they came down for breakfast. Helen was a bit confused by the balloons on her highchair.

But she warmed up to them.

After dropping Ian off at KinderStart and putting Helen down for a nap, Joseph and I began making Helen's cake. While wearing party hats, of course!

Our sweet little crawler. At this point, she wasn't looking very interested in walking. But she sure was a quick crawler! On her birthday she followed Joseph up the stairs for the first time!

Attempting to get a sibling picture. 

Nice. 

When Scott got home we ordered Dominos pizza. Pizza has somehow become a First Birthday tradition and we've had the same menu of pizza and Cheetos for all three kids. We thought back to Ian's First Birthday and how that day he tried soda, pizza, pickles, cake and ice cream for the first time. By contrast, Helen is an old pro at eating junk food!

She was a great sport about wearing her party hat! Perhaps she thought it was a pointy headband. 

By the time dinner was done, our Birthday Girl was more than ready for her 6 o'clock bedtime. So we postponed cake and presents for the following day, which was Saturday.

She's ONE!

Look how excited everyone is!

She somehow knew how to tear the tissue paper out.

Checking out the shape sorter.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

Then it was time for cake! Helen was ready for her morning nap, but the party moved forward. And anyway, who doesn't like birthday cake at 9 am?

I moved the cake closer to her while we sang Happy Birthday, and she starting tasting the frosting while we sang and the candle blazed. 

I have never seen a child so eager to eat their first birthday cake! Once the candle was gone, she grabbed that cake with two fists and took a big bite!

She was distracted for a minute by us laughing at her birthday cake gusto.

But then she went right back to work.

Grabbing fistfuls.

Patting the sides was fun too.

Then her big brothers helped. Three layers is a lot to eat by oneself!

A messy birthday girl!

The aftermath. Helen leveled that birthday cake!

The week of Helen's birthday she had a burst of new skills. She began pointing to the light when we asked her where it was. She even said "light" a couple times. She began to pretend sneeze (complete with sounds and a big nod of the head), she climbed up the stairs for the first time, she began clapping and waving. It was a big week for her developmentally!




Helen asking to be picked up (looks like milking a cow, accompanied by "bup, bup, bup" (up).

Helen's eyes are hazel. There is a bit of brown and a whole lot of green with flecks of blue. I am not convinced they will stay this color, but they will definitely not be blue, and they are still far too light and varied for brown.

Our baby girl has 8 teeth, all of which she has had since she was about 8 months old. (the first four came through in January, and the rest about a month later.) She loves to eat. Especially cheese, plain noodles,  whole broccoli and peas, diced carrots, corn and whole beans. Like her siblings, she easily made the switch to sippy cups (though she is still willing to drink an occasional bottle in the car if we have to drive Dad to work right when she wakes up in the morning)

It's no secret that Helen has a ready smile. But she is usually the audience, and generally not the one putting on the show. It was fun to see her really hamming it up on this occasion!


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Helen has been a wonderful sleeper ever since we sleep-trained her at 6 months, and currently she goes to bed at 6pm, wakes up at 7am, and then naps for 1.5-2.5 hours at 9am and 1pm. Lately she will roll over and stand or crawl in her crib when we put her to bed, but she usually doesn't make a peep and always goes right to sleep. Unfortunately the boys usually wake her up briefly when they noisily clamber up the stairs at their bedtime! She always drifts right back to sleep on her own though.

All these backyard pictures were taken about 2 weeks after Helen's first birthday. She had just started taking her first steps!

Helen, we could not have guessed how beautifully you'd fold into our family. I admit that bringing you (our third!) into our family was a frightening thought at first, but from the time we knew you were coming to our family, you have been a joy and a blessing to all of us. For the past year we've been smitten by your sweet dimples, wide grin, bright eyes and calm, sweet disposition. You've taught your brothers to think and feel more outside of themselves, and I frequently see them seeking ways to assist you, encourage you and teach you, and I can tell that your happiness and comfort matters a great deal to them. We love getting to know you as you grow, and we are so happy you came to our family! We love you  Baby Helen!