One month

And three days, but you'll forgive me the delay. Helena has changed her mind about a few things: she now likes the swing and the pacifier, and tolerates the sling. She has mixed feelings about the Miracle Blanket. She starts off with a quizzical expression which quickly leads to one of extreme indignation when she discovers that her arms are tightly swaddled to her sides which means her hands are down there somewhere too. Now, the faint of heart might unswaddle her at this point, but I have discovered that the loud protest only lasts 5 minutes and then leads to 5 and sometimes 6 HOURS of uninterrupted night sleep for Helena. And, perhaps more importantly, me. She really prefers, as you see from the photo, to be on her stomach, which is, of course, a big no-no. With Harper, I adhered to the Back-to-Sleep mantra so strictly that she got a flat head. I am pretty much mantra-free at this point. Harper (her head did round out nicely once she could roll over on her own) held Helena for the first time this week.We are all about ready to re-enter the world. We have pretty much been wearing our pajamas for 34 days. We do change them occasionally. Harper has grown so weary of being inside that she has taken to dressing up her stuffed animals to "take them places." Yesterday I was surprised to find out that there is something of a familial structure to her menagerie. "Just the kids are going to the dinosaur museum today," she announced as she put a lovely frock on her brontosaurus and gave him a good brushing, "and the grown ups are staying home." I asked who the grown ups were, and she said Wolfie (who is actually a lamb) and Brown Bear, who are the largest of her animals. I thought that made good sense. She has been keen on this idea of going places by herself for a few months now. At one point she had a grand plan that at some undisclosed point in the near future I would drop her off at a bus stop and she would get on the bus and go to karate school. All by herself. On this she was emphatic. She would also be wearing a gi. She had not yet decided what color her belt would be.

Hudson has, for some mysterious reason, decided that when Daddy goes to work, there are horses involved. As soon as the husband walks out the door, Hudson launches into a dramatic monologue that sounds a little like this, "Daddy work gerbuhhhgaghdkifin gububb HORSES!! alllajoutuchudrim lackshimi!! Daddy, ababidododjerrubuduh and the HORSES!!!...." Is Daddy a cowboy? A rodeo clown in a really nice suit? A jockey? We don't know, but I'm sure it does not involve any motions for summary judgements or depositions.

All of my children just pooped within 3 minutes of one another. So.