lifestyle Archives | bishop&holland

one year with henry

September 13, 2018

// happy birthday Henry! he was just two days old here //

Happy First Birthday Henry! On Saturday, our precious baby turned one! I am still in shock that he can be a year old – time flies even faster with your second baby. His little personality is just getting bigger and bigger by the day and he seems to get sweeter and sweeter, too. He has changed so much in one year – he is still as sweet as can be but he has a lot of sass too! He and William are just so darling playing together and it melts my heart how Henry gets so excited to see William each morning. And likewise, too.

The year didn’t come with it’s lack of hard times though. I have never felt more sleep deprived and I started thinking that Henry may never sleep through the night. But, he eventually did around 11 months old!

Henry – it’s hard to picture our family before you were here. You are the perfect addition and such an easy going baby. Your momma loves you more than you know – Happy Birthday Henry!

Here is a look back at the past year with Henry and his one year update!

// moments after henry was born //

// henry’s newborn photos //

WEIGHT/HEIGHT

Henry is 90% for height and 40% for weight.

SLEEPING

Henry is officially sleeping through the entire night. I never dreamt it would take so long, but one night he woke up at 7:30 after going down at 7:30 pm the night before. I was in shock! Since he started sleeping through the night, I decided to drop the sleep suit to avoid anymore transitions and he didn’t even skip a beat. I am so happy to be able to sleep for a full night since last September when Henry was born!

// dedicating henry at church in october //

// henry’s sip and see in november //

// getting in the christmas spirit //

PERSONALITY

Oh my goodness, this little boy has so much personality! He is the happiest little baby. It’s rare to find him with out his “baba” and he is usually attached to my hip! I think he may end up being my “wild” baby. He is all over everywhere, finds himself in the most peculiar places and stands up to his brother daily. My favorite thing he does is hand me a toy or a book and then he crawls into my lap and snuggles as he plays with it!

Henry is obsessed with his brother and wants to be right next to him all day. He also wants everything that William is eating, drinking or playing with. That’s probably been the most challenging part of parenting two boys at this age!

He is starting to talk and repeat everything! He says momma, dada, baba, gigi, bye bye, night night, uh oh and more words each day. He waves, blows kisses, says mmm when he eats yummy food and he gives this biggest, sweetest kisses, too. He prefers to be upright and moving, but he still hasn’t started walking yet! He takes the occasional step, but I think he will be full on walking in the next few weeks!

SCHEDULE

Now that Henry is sleeping through the night, he wakes up a little earlier – usually 7:30 am. I nurse him before William gets up and then we all go downstairs for breakfast. He typically takes a cat nap around 10:30 while we are running errands and then he eats lunch around 12:30. I try to aim to get both boys in bed for a long nap around 2 pm. They usually sleep until 4:30/5 and then we aim for dinner around 6/6:30 and bed by 7:30 or 8!

// they are the sweetest brothers //

// ready for vacay //

// 6 months old! //

NURSING/EATING

In the last three months, Henry went from nursing all the time to just a few times a day. Most days he nurses five times and he is eating solids for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And a snack here and there! This has been a huge change from before. He is obsessed with solids now (when just a few months ago he could care less). He truly eats more at meals then William! I’m not sure exactly when I’ll start to wean Henry. I think I’ll start to nurse him in the morning before his afternoon nap and before bed and drop the other two feedings, but we’ll see!

TRAVEL

We took our big trip to Europe in July and Henry did so good with the time change, both going there and on the way home. He learned to take stroller naps like a champion! I was somewhat hesitant about the time change, but I think babies are more flexible then we think they are. We also took the boys to Chicago for a long weekend and then spent the rest of the summer at home!

// summer baby – and I already miss that gap between his two teeth! //

// spending time in del mar this summer //

// such a trooper on our europe trip this summer – he took so many stroller naps! //

MILESTONES

He has eight teeth – the top four and bottom four!
He is standing by himself
He has taken a step here and there on his own – he should be walking in no time!
Sleeping through the night (finally!)
Transitioned from sleep suit to just pajamas
Eating solids three times a day and two snacks
He says momma, dada, baba, gigi, bye bye, night night, uh oh, thank you, please and that
He points at everything and is so interactive!
Gives kisses
This was a huge few months for Henry!

MUST-HAVE BABY ITEMS

Now that he has transitioned out of sleep suit, he wears pajamas every night. Loving these ducks, this pair of striped short pajamas and he wears this blue pair all the time!
We go back and forth from the Zoli Cup and the Miracle 360. He just hasn’t gotten the hang of sippy cups yet!
Now that Henry’s eating all the time, we love these colorful plates and the boys do too! Henry also got this placemat/plate and I love how it stays in place!
The MINU stroller has been the best stroller for us during this season. I can get it in and out of my car while still holding Henry – it’s amazing and I recommend it for everyone!
Henry has loved his blankie since we first gave it to him. It goes with us everywhere and as soon as Henry sees it he collapses on it. So sweet.
I just ordered these shoes for Henry and they are so sweet. He hands them to me every morning and wants to wear them!

// sleep stalking will never get old! //

// he loves to fight going to sleep //

// loves the water //

// we love you henry! //

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine

our home renovation plans

August 20, 2018

It’s long overdue, but I wanted to give you all a quick update on where we are in our home renovation process. After interviewing a few contractors, we have finally made our decision and demo begins tomorrow!! We are so excited to get started. Our trip to London and Portugal, along with a lot of other travel this summer, slowed things down and it’s turned out to be a longer process than we anticipated. I thought we would have started a month ago! The process should go (rather) smoothly from here on out, considering I’ve had a lot of time to think about the specifics of what we want to do and I have a very good start on selections for each room. I decided to share before/afters from each room when they are complete, but will be sharing updates to Instagram stories! Wish us luck – we’ve never done this before!

The boys have been troopers; going to meetings, showrooms, appointments at the house, etc. William’s favorite part is stopping by the paint store and choosing yellow paint for his room… over and over. Now, I need to find a way to incorporate a tiny bit of yellow into his room- yikes!

on stia: white maxi dress // sandals

Our Home Renovation Plans

Kitchen

The kitchen is mostly cosmetic – with a few minor construction changes. We will knock down the breakfast bar and rebuild to a counter height also adding more width. I’m hoping to get five bar stools around the bar when we are done. Right now the kitchen has an island, which we have decided to remove (hence, the breakfast bar addition). The sink is very off centered right now, so we will be fixing that by installing an apron front sink and reworking the cabinetry below. The pantry is a wall pantry, full of doors, so we are going to stream line that with less doors. Add in quartz countertops, backsplash, paint, under counter lighting, hardware and cooktop and we will be done!

Master Bathroom

This room is our biggest project. We will be taking it down to the studs and rebuilding it. We aren’t moving anything around, but plan to take out the tub and put in a freestanding tub, expand the shower and add a new shower fixture, install a new vanity, faucets, sinks and countertop, install new mirrors, add in new lighting (love these sconces!) and replace all tile, etc! The bathroom isn’t huge, and as a result the shower is tiny, so we are hoping to make the space more functional- at least so Caleb can raise his arms to wash his hair!

Boys’ Bathroom

The boys will be sharing a bathroom in the hall just off their rooms. This isn’t a huge project as it’s really just cosmetic. We will be replacing the tile on the bathroom floor and shower wall tile, installing a new shower fixture and repainting the vanity. We’ll also add new sinks, faucets and countertop! I plan on wallpapering this room. I’m still searching for that perfect paper!

Flooring

The entire house needs new flooring. We will be installing hardwoods in every area except the bedrooms, closets and bathrooms. The stairs are carpeted and they are right off the breakfast room, so we are going to install hardwood on those, with white risers.

Family Room

The only major change in here is the fireplace area. Right now, it’s set up for a TV to the right side of the fireplace, but we’ve decided to lower our mantle and place the TV above the fireplace. We plan to rework the cabinetry to the right side to make it more functional. There is wall in the family room that we will be knocking down. We found out that it’s load bearing, but we still want to take it down. Removing it will open up the whole house!

Paint

The whole house will have new paint and we’re taking down all existing wall paper too.

Lighting

I’m looking for light fixtures for our breakfast room, dining room, entry and bathrooms, as all existing light fixtures will be taken out. We will be adding can lights to the study and dining room. There are currently no lights in the dining room at all!

And, Phase 2

We have a long list to complete before we move in, but we are already talking about phase two! This includes: updating the upstairs bathroom, adding in a counter in the laundry room and improving the backyard- I’m thinking outdoor fireplace and kitchen, a large deck, etc… Caleb is thinking… oh, no!

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine

ten tips for flying internationally with babies

July 31, 2018

While we were in London, and Lisbon and the Algarve in Portugal, we received so many DMs for sharing tips on traveling with babies! It’s so exciting that many of you are traveling abroad with babies soon, too! While we are not experts by any stretch of the imagination, these are ten tips that worked best for us while flying internationally with babies. A lot of these tips will work well for domestic trips, too. We hope that this is helpful for all you soon to be traveling mommas, and if you have any tips of your own, please share with us!

Ten Tips for Flying Internationally with Babies

No. 1: Buy a children’s book about the place(s) you’re visiting

This was a huge help in getting William excited for the trip. We have two London books (this one and this one) at home and while we’ve always enjoyed reading them, they took on a new meaning now that William is old enough to realize we were actually going to see everything in person. We took the books on the trip with us and we made sure to check off everything that we saw that was also in the book. While we were out and about William spotted a few things before we did and he still is talking about everything we saw!

You can also find similar books for: New York, Paris, San Fransisco, California, Pacific Northwest and National Parks. We have them all!

No. 2: Talk about what’s expected on the flight.

The flight to London is long. William hadn’t been overseas since he was 9 months old and this was Henry’s first time. They’ve traveled a lot, but this was by far the longest flight with the two of them. We talked about it a lot prior to the the actual trip. We talked about how the flight would go – that we were flying at night and that we got to sleep on the airplane. The boys wore pajamas and I also carried on Henry’s sleep suit and both boys’ lovies. We let William watch his first movie ever and then after they served dinner it was time for bed. It was much later than his normal bed time, so he had no trouble falling asleep! Henry slept in the bassinet around the same time.

No. 3: Bring a travel stroller

We have talked about our travel strollers that we brought with us and they were absolutely the best thing to take! Because of the size, you don’t have to break the stroller down when going through security, they are lightweight and you can open/close with one hand. Seriously a game changer for traveling.

No. 4: Eat before the flight

Airplane food is not the best, so we decided to get to the airport early, eat dinner at a restaurant where we knew the boys would get a good, full meal and then sleep well. We didn’t want to depend on the airline’s timing of the dinner meal or what the options might be for the boys.

No. 5: Snacks, snacks, snacks

If all else fails, snacks are usually distracting and take up time! I always get a few things we wouldn’t typically eat all the time at home. Things that I know William likes (annie’s fruit snacks and mini m&m’s, for example), so that way he is excited to have them. They can also be used for bribing power! We are not above bribing 😉

No. 6: Buy a seat in the bulkhead

This is worth paying more money for when choosing seats for the flight. The bulkhead gives you lots of extra floor space! You can stand up and walk around or stretch without disturbing other people and… for the best part about the bulkhead… keep reading!

No. 7: Reserve a Bassinet

Airlines have baby bassinets available on long-haul flights, but they are only available for use in the bulkhead. So, if you are traveling with kids, be sure to book seats in the bulkhead so that you can request a bassinet when you get to the gate. Most planes only have 1-2 per flight and it’s first come/first served – at least on American Airlines!

No. 8: Make it special- anything goes

You want to make the flight enjoyable for you and those around you. We typically don’t do much screen time, so it was a special treat that William was able to watch a movie. Henry is at an age where you do everything you can to keep him entertained! It wasn’t hard on the flight to London because he slept the whole way there. It was a different story on the way home – just due to his age and him being very busy. It actually made the time pass quickly since we were so busy keeping him occupied!

No. 9: Don’t do more than one major time zone at a time

I would suggest flying into an initial location and staying a few days before moving on to the next location – especially if it’s going through another time zone. Two years ago we flew into London, had a 2 hour layover and then flew from London to Helsinki, which was another 2 hour time difference. I was up every night with William for a few hours because he had a hard time adjusting. I think it would have been different if we had been able to stay in London for a day or two to adjust.

No. 10: Stay busy to beat jet lag

This was probably the thing I was most anxious about going into our trip, especially with two babies now. As soon as we got to London, we had lunch and then went for a six mile walk. Getting the boys outside was key and they slept in the strollers if they needed too. We went to a park and they got a lot of fresh air and William ran and played hard. We got back home around 6:00 pm after our walk and time at the park and then we started to get dinner ready. They ate as usual, took a bath and were in bed around 8:30 pm. They both woke up around 10:30 pm and then around midnight they fell back asleep. They slept the rest of the night and woke up around 10:00 am the next morning. That was our hardest night. After that they fell into the rhythm of London like a dream!

What are your tips for flying internationally with babies? We are always looking for new ideas!