Swimming Disaster!

So BJ and I thought since Helena did not have a good lesson last week, we should get her in the water to just have some fun! We decided to go to family night at the pool. BAD IDEA.... we were in the pool for maybe 8 minutes and the next thing you know she had been smack in the head with a diving ring that some little kid threw! These were not supervised kids and the little girl felt horrible! Needless to say Helena cried like she never has cried before. She was so pissed and of course that was her first real injury.... POOR GIRL. We told the lifegaurd what happened, it took us awhile to calm her down but she was back to her old self before we knew it. I took a bath with her last night so she did not end the night with a bad water experience. I had her totally cracking up, we played for about 20 minutes splashing, blowing bubbles, and floating around. So glad we did that! So we will see how she does on Friday, we may walk into the pool area and she may just start screaming!!! Wish us luck:)

More Videos.....

This is one of her favorite toys still!!! She was 3 months old here....


The cutest giggle you will ever hear!


Helena loves to ROAR!!!

Videos

I have finally downloaded some videos.... I hope you enjoy.....

First day in the hospital.... she is so small where is that little girl....



So little!!!!

What A Week!

So the Cook family has been falling apart!
On a positive note, we had an awesome Easter! Helena loved her basket especially the shredded paper:) We spent the day together as a family and actually all got some down time. Helena and I have a packed schedule every week, between kettle bells, play dates, story time , and other things that pop up I feel like sometimes we are never here! So on Easter we went to breakfast downtown and then we just had a comfy Sunday and enjoyed playing with Helena and watched some movies. For those of you that have not seen BOLT, very cute and we give it 2 thumbs up.
On Monday, I was going to go to dinner with the girls, when BJ who had not been feeling well all weekend with sporadic fevers came home very ill. So started the long week of the Cooks falling apart. We ended up going to the Dr's for BJ and found out that he is ok and just needs to take better care of himself. Helena has been cutting her other top tooth which means we are up 2-5 times a night and with that we are also up for 1-3 hour stretches at a time. This is the hardest thing I would say about the first year. I have never slept thru the night, however there were weeks and days in there where Helena would sleep for 7-9 hours stretches. So when we are up every 1-3 hours it is very DIFFICULT! I feel very bad for her and I really hope that after this tooth is out we have a little break! GOD knows we need sleep! And then due to the lack of sleep I started to become very congested and running a low grade fever myself. We all have recovered except Helena she is still cutting that tooth:(
Helena is doing new things everyday, she has started to scoot on her butt in a circle, she is also scooting on her back. Still no crawling, but I'm sure we will get there soon. She is also pulling herself up with your fingers or if she has a ledge. She loves to be standing on her feet. She is not that big into walking her feet yet, but again I am sure we will get there. She loves feeding herself and is getting more things in her mouth. She does a great job eating her puffs she eats them one at a time and does it all by herself. She also loves drinking out of cups! The Easter Bunny brought her, her very own big girl cup and she loves it and does not dump it on herself which is GOOD! Last but not least, I know we have talked about swim lessons before, BJ took Helena this week by himself and apparently they did not get to participate very much because Helena cried most of the time:( Hopefully next week will be better! I hope everyone enjoys the beautiful weekend. I know we are going too!!!

8 months

HAPPY 8TH MONTH HELENA JAMES!!! You are growing in to such a little lady. We love watching you grow and learn. We love all of your funny faces, noises,and smiles! YOU never cease to amaze us! We are blessed to have you as our little girl! We love you very much!

Teething yet again!

Helena is officially cutting her top teeth. The first has broke through and man is she extra clingy and moody. She really wants to be with you all the time! I was fortunate enough today to get all the laundry done with her help of course and a light cleaning. We just dusted a little. When she teeth's she either sleeps a lot or not at all. This time it has been a little bit of both. I sure hope she gets some relief soon. Something fun is that she will be 8 months this Saturday and I am sure the Easter Bunny will be visiting on Sunday. Enjoy the picture of her folding laundry, we are having her start chores young. ( She was playing peek-a - boo, and when she pulls the shirt of she was keeping her eyes closed... like if she did that I could not see her! So silly:) )

Growing....

I just realized I did not update her height and weight after her 6 month check up! Her next appointment is in May!

• August 18th, 2008 20 inches long, 6 lbs 10 oz
• September 9th, 2008 21 inches long, 8lbs 4 oz
• October 22, 2008 22.25 inches long, 11lbs 13 oz
• December 18th, 2009 24.25 inches long, 14lbs 12 oz
• February 27th, 2009 27 inches long, 18lbs 9 oz
  

Is it really April!!!

So I have not been writing because I have had an eye infection. I have some stuff going on with my corneas, so I have been trying to not be on the computer as much. I have been on drops for almost a week and my eyes are getting better and my vision is no longer blurry! We had Helena's second swim lesson this week and BJ and I both took her. She goes on Fridays at 9:30am which is not the best time, because Helena is usually napping around 10ish, so she is just really tired and cranky at this time. Friday, she was a little bit of both. She was doing great until it was time to practice underwater swimming. The teacher did the first underwater dive and we noticed she goes under the water with her eyes wide open! She then comes up a little angry that she went under! Everyone in class claps for Helena and then she stopped! BJ did the next one, I know he was super nervous but he did a great job, she did not go in has head down as she was suppose to, so she was even more mad when she came up! Helena has the week off from swim lessons this week and I am sure she will be grateful!

• Helena also started clapping this weekend! It is very cute, she joins in when we clap and she seems to start clapping when we say YEAH!!!!! She also closes her eyes when she claps it is pretty funny!
  
• We are also still having tummy time to encourage her to crawl. We know she can get up on all fours because she does it a lot. So for now she just scoots in a circle on her belly! She is also defending her sit and reach championship!
  
• Helena is also feeding herself more with her hands and with her spoon. We give her melting puffs on her highchair tray and she gets 1 out of 5 in her mouth and then the rest she gets stuck on her face:) She does really well her spoon, she gets it in her mouth and then she picks it out with her fingers and smears it all around! Lots of fun before bath time!!!
• She is also still talking a lot, between squeals, cooing, and yelling MAMA in lots of different ways. She is also really good at singing to songs! She hmmmmm's along, IT IS ADORABLE! She is also blowing tons of bubbles that is very wet:)
• Helena is getting really good at taking all of her rings off her ring tower, she is also getting a few back on. The best part is that she has realized she does not need to take them off one by one anymore, she now just turns the tower up side down and watches them fall off! HA HA
  
• Helena also did something new today, she was sitting on BJ's lap and I was across the sofa from them, I reaching my arms out and she was trying to stand herself up! She did a few times, she is just so cautious so she would just lift her butt up a little bit!
• BJ wanted me to add that on the weekends Helena enjoys lounging on him! She does this almost every night and pets his arm hair. She really just loves every minute she can spend with him and I know he loves when she snuggles on him!!

BJ and Helena were playing guitar this weekend, she got very excited about this and enjoyed strumming with him! I also brought Helena to lunch with me this weekend with a girlfriend! She did so great! Never fussed, just ate her puffs, sweet potatoes and teething biscuit! She loved talking to everyone around us and just being the center of attention!

Other updates for the Cook's, BJ's business is really booming, they are Fung Shuing the office and getting settled. We are really enjoying that summer has arrived in San Diego, yes we skip spring! It was 79 degrees today:) We are just enjoying every minute with Helena, I just can not believe she is going to be 8 months next weekend!