Our angel Helen turned one year old today! She is such a light in our lives, and I don’t know what we ever did with ourselves before her!
It is Muhlestein family tradition to give a baby her first ice-cream cone on her first birthday. Here is Helen with hers. She liked it quite a bit at first, but ultimately it was too cold for her hands and she needed Grandpa’s help to eat it.
If I’m being honest, I have to admit that adding Helen to our family has been hard. Something about kid #4 has pushed me past my limit! But Helen herself is SO WORTH all the frustration of trying to figure out how to not fail at life. The only thing that keeps her from being the perfect baby is that she has never been a good sleeper. And she still isn’t. But in every other way she is the sweetest little chunk of chub the world has ever seen! We love her!
Presents and a party hat! She LOVES that little cube she got. She did not love the hat. 🙂
One thing we love about Helen is how curious she is. She loves to explore any new setting, including, but not limited to: the dishwasher, cupboards, the bathroom sink, the aisle at church, the garbage, drawers, and outside. She does make her share of mischief, but she always has the sweetest, most innocent grin, or even better, the sweetest most guilty grin!
For a couple of weeks this basket was Helen’s favorite destination. If ever it was on the floor, she would hop in and just sit there, happy as a clam! She really liked it when I gave her a ride around the house in the basket! (Sorry for the blur.)
Another fun thing about Helen is that she loves to rock out to music. For multiple months I have noticed that if she is upset about being in the car I can turn on music and she will be placated. She also loves to move to the music in a seated baby-dance. It is adorable and makes everybody else want to dance with her!
One of the reasons Helen is such a good baby is that she is just content. She doesn’t demand undivided attention–which is probably because she’s smart enough to realize that the chances of really getting it are slim–but she will happily take any and all she can get. She’s content to explore the house; she’s content to sit and play with toys with someone; she’s just content. She is, truly, so good to us!
I don’t know which of the big sisters gets credit for this; but here is Helen Rapunzel. I thought it was all very cute, and Helen was a good sport about it.
Some other interesting info about Helen includes:
-She has 8 teeth!
-She can stand up in the middle of the room (I.e., not holding on to anything) and take 3-5 steps!
-She used to say “Dada” and something like “hi” on command, but now she mostly just babbles (though it is the cutest babbling in the whole world!)
-Mom is her favorite! (I will savor it with my whole being until the bitter end!!!)
-Her favorite foods are yogurt and fruit. She could eat them all day!
Yummy!
I am beyond grateful for my sweet baby girl! She has been such a fun adventure for the past year and I am super excited to see how she will change and grow in the coming year!
We love our little Chub-chubs more than a million! Happy Birthday, Sweety!
Helen 1 to 6 months 
Helen 7 to 12 months
Oh, sweet little Helen! She really is the most good-natured and content baby. I love those cute bobbing baby dances, and she looks so cute in that basket! Daniel learned he can sit in his toy basket and it is my favorite 🙂 Happy Birthday Helen!