henry Archives - Page 2 of 5

Henry’s Pony Birthday Party

October 1, 2019

toddler boy taking bite out of birthday cake

Happy Birthday Henry! We had the best time celebrating Henry’s Second birthday at Play Street. We invited all of his friends and family and it was so special celebrating with the birthday boy. Most importantly Henry had the best time!

Invitations

In the past, we’ve ordered the boys’ birthday party inviations from Love Lucy, so we were so sad to hear that Lucy decided to take a break from doing invitations (she just had her fourth baby!). We knew we would have to find someone to do the invitations for Henry’s birthday party. I stumbled upon Bryna Cumplido events and loved her invitations. We did a custom design for Henry’s pony party invitation and we are just so happy about the way they turned out. The pony invitation is now available for purchase in her shop. We ended up having her design the invitation for my grandmother’s 80th birthday, Ford’s Sip & See and the boys’ Pumpkin Party!

pony birthday party invitation and decorations

Venue

Henry loves Play Street Museum, so it seemed natural to do his Second Birthday party indoors (it is September in Texas) at his favorite play place. Since our theme was a pony party, we decided that Play Street McKinney was the perfect spot – it’s theme is “on the farm”. The kids loved playing in the barn, on the truck and hearing the cow say “Moo.” One of my favorite parts of having a party at Play Street is how great the staff is. You are able to set-up 30 minutes before your party and the staff is so helpful. They guide the party – inviting the kids in to play, helping direct everyone over for food and cake, and then guide everyone out when the party is over. It’s seamless and they have it down to an art!

Food/Drinks

Henry’s party started at 11:30, so we decided to provide lunch. One of his favorite foods is pizza, so of course that is what we served! Pizza, cupcakes, juice boxes and water made for a quick lunch so the kids could get back to playing!

two toddler boys taking bites out of birthday cake

Decor

Everything is as cute as can be at Play Street, but it’s always fun to go all out for a party theme. The cake/food area is a clean slate, so we had a lot of fun coming up with a plan to decorate! We worked with Float Balloon Bar to create the perfect balloon garland – horse included! We also had two large balloons – one to greet everyone and one by the food. Our invitation designer Bryna worked with us to create a banner, cake topper, cupcake toppers and welcome sign – it all matched the invitations!

three women and a baby at birthday party

What the Boys Wore

We found these adorable pony outfits at Dondolo last winter and we are so glad we bought them then! They wore the cutest red cowboy boots and these cowboy hats that were passed out as party favors to all the kids!

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine

Happy Second Birthday Henry

September 10, 2019

baby boy's second birthday eating cake — // from his second birthday party this weekend //

Happy Second Birthday, Henry!! It kind of goes without saying, but time is flying and it seems to be going faster and faster. We celebrated Henry’s Second birthday this weekend – his party on Saturday and as a family on Sunday. He knew it was his birthday and he was eating it up!

There are no words to express how proud we are of Henry. He has taken to the big brother role to Ford better than I could have ever expected and he loves his family well. We adore you Henry! Happy Second Birthday!

PS: Henry’s 18 month update, 15 month update, 12 month update, 9 month update, 6 month update and 3 month update.

PPS: Here is his first birthday party, sip & see, baby dedication and birth story.

baby boy's first birthday eating cake — // september: from Henry’s First Birthday party! //

Height/Weight

We go to the doctor today, so will know later!

toddler boys in firefighter costumes — // october: firemen for halloween //

Sleeping

For the lack of sleeping that Henry did the first year of his life, he is making up for it this year! He is my best sleeper right now. He goes down for bed and naps so easy and sleeps so late. This summer he was sleeping until 9:00/9:30 and perfectly content, needing time to wake-up in the morning! He still sleeps the latest, but is getting up around 9:00 these days. I have to wake him up on school days so we can get there on time!

baby boy sitting in front of Christmas tree — // december: moved into our new house and ready for Christmas! //

toddler boy laying on floor — // january: we had a few weeks of cold days and sickness so we spend a lot of time inside in our jammies! //

Personality

Oh, boy! Henry is full of personality. He is so sweet and full of sass, too. He continues to be all momma’s boy. Always saying “hold me momma.” It’s so sweet! He still looks up to William in so many ways. Good and bad! If William does something that gets him into timeout, you better believe Henry is going to do the same thing to be in timeout too! They do everything together and if they are apart at school or church – they run and give huge hugs to each other like they haven’t seen each other in forever!

I was worried about Henry’s transition with the new baby, but he has surprised me in so many ways! Henry thinks Ford is his baby, always smothering him in kisses, hugs, talking to him in the most loving voice and making sure he has his pacifier. He wants to be next to Ford all day long and it has been so sweet to watch!

He is also Mr. Independent. Always saying “No, I do it,” picking out his clothes and wanting to pour his water or milk in the morning! His favorite things to do are: play with trains, play with the Little People toys and swim! He has no fear – even boogie boarding during our trip to California!

mom with toddler boy in lap — // february: cuddling on the couch with all his “guys” //

toddler boy in sunsuit — // march: 18 months old and cute as ever //

Eating

Henry is my grazer. He doesn’t sit and eat a full meal, but would rather snack all day long. His favorite things are almond butter, eggs, pancakes, yogurt, any kind of berry, fish tacos, taco meat, almond butter and jelly sandwiches and anything sweet! He has a major sweet tooth.

toddler boy with easter basket — // april: his first time actually hunting easter eggs and loving it //

toddler boy on beach — // may: celebrated gigi’s 60th birthday in the bahamas and henry loved the ocean so much! //

Schedule

He is usually up between 9-9:30, eats breakfast and plays, then we run our errands for the day. Home for lunch around 12:30/1:00 and then down for a nap before 2. He sleeps until 4:30 usually, then snack and play until dinner around 6. He’s in bed most nights by 8:30.

toddler boys in grocery cart — // june: getting ready for baby brother at one Henry’s favorite spots – Costco //

toddler brothers with new baby brother — // july: we welcomed our little brother at the end of june and took his newborn photos in july //

Activities

We started swim lessons for both the boys this summer. For the first few lessons, Henry would just sit on the step listening/watching and before we knew it he was swimming on his own by just watching!

He just had his first day of pre-school on Thursday and he had the best day. He had an extra pep in his walk and energy about him after I picked him up!

toddler brothers at the beach — // august: another beach trip and loving life – ice cream on the beach //

Milestones

Counts to ten
Speaks in full sentences
First day of pre-school!
Slept in a big boy bed on vacation – still working on that at home!

Must-Have Baby Items

I’m sure you guys have seen Baba in any pictures or Instagram stories of Henry – he loves it!
We just stocked up on more of these shoes for the fall – our favorites!
This is Henry’s favorite spoon to use for taco meat, yogurt, etc.
He loves playing with Little People toys – he talks and plays and it’s so cute watching his imagination. A few favorites: he just got this barn for his birthday, this bus, boat and house.
We still use the MINUs for the two younger boys – seriously, the best stroller!
He uses this nap mat for school.

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine

15 months with henry

December 13, 2018

Our little Henry is 15-months old! I could hardly believe that it was time to schedule his 15 month well visit! It seemed like we were just there for his one year appointment, but here we are and he has changed so much in the last three months. I know he’s still a baby, but all he wants to do is everything William is doing, which makes it seem like he’s much older than he is!

The biggest change from his one year update is that Henry is now full-on walking! Around his first birthday he was taking a few steps, but at 13 months he just started to take off and he hasn’t stopped since! We’re pretty sure it’s because he’s trying to keep up with big brother

We love and adore you Henry!

Outfit Details

bubble // plaid top // jeans // giraffe // prints // crib

Weight/Height

Henry is 90% for height and 50% for weight.

Sleeping

Henry is still sleeping through the night, thankfully! We did have a few nights when he would wake up around 5 a.m. crying, but he was cutting his molars. He is back to sleeping around 11-12 hours a night. He takes one nap in his crib in the afternoon and we try to sneak in one cat nap in the car in the morning while we’re out and about!

Personality

This little boy has got some major personality! He is sweet as can be and just as sassy, too. He loves to give kisses, hugs and his favorite person to be around is his brother. He is still attached to my hip most days and I love it!

He isn’t afraid of anything and climbs on everything. I can’t take my eyes off of him for one second or he’ll have himself in some peculiar situation! He plays hard and ends up with a new bruise most days! He loves his vacuum and he pushes it around for hours a day (if only it worked as well as our big one!).

He tries to do everything William does and I love watching them interact. We are at that stage where they are truly starting to play with each other and it’s so sweet! They make up games and I love to see their relationship start to take off. They play hard and they also fight like brothers ;). Henry loves to run and knock on William’s door while he’s napping. It’s hard trying to keep him out of William’s room if he’s awake while William is sleeping! They already have plans to share a room when Henry moves out of his crib.

Schedule

We went through a stretch when Henry was waking up earlier than usual, but I’m happy to say that he’s back to waking around 7:30 most days. He nurses once in the morning and I usually grab him from his crib and bring him into our room for morning snuggles. William wakes up around 7:45 most days, so we start breakfast then! The boys will play while I pick up from breakfast and try to get ready for the day. We tend to do our activity or errands in the morning and we are usually out the door by ten, unless William has school that day! Henry almost always falls asleep in the car on the way to wherever we are going and then I wake him up when we get there – he doesn’t transfer from car seat to stroller very well! We do lunch around 12:30/1 and then they boys typically nap from 2-4ish. Henry has a snack when he wakes up and then we play at the house, go for a walk or the park if it’s nice and then try to be home around 5:30 to get ready for dinner. Dinner is usually by 6:30 and then bath and bed by 7:30/8!

Nursing/Eating

This was probably the question I got asked the most on Instagram. I have been slowly weaning Henry since he turned one in September. He was nursing about 5 times around his first birthday and I just started to skip the feeding after naps and offer a snack instead. I did this for about a month, then decided to drop his feeding before his afternoon nap. That left us with him eating once in the morning and once before bed! At the end of November, Caleb and I had a date night and I decided to not nurse him before we left. Since he didn’t seem to mind, I decided to try it again and just like that he dropped his night feeding. I will probably wean him completely in the next few weeks, although it makes me sad!

Henry loves solids – he will eat pretty much anything and has no problem letting you know if 1) he’s still hungry or 2) he doesn’t like what he’s eating! His favorite foods are yogurt, blueberries, cheese, beans, and eggs. He also loves blueberry muffins!

Travel

We took a trip to Vegas to celebrate my great-Aunt’s 80th birthday. We had the best time and the boys loved relaxing by the pool all day long! Henry continues to be a great traveler and he just goes with the flow. When he gets too tired, we’ll take him for a quick stroll and then he’s asleep for a few hours!

Milestones

A lot of you had questions on when Henry first started walking. He took steps around a year, but didn’t “walk” until closer to 13 months!
Henry went from 8 teeth to 12 teeth – He cut his 1 year molars!
First loss of his “baba”: Baba goes with us everywhere, so you can imagine it was pretty traumatic when we lost baba for two days. Henry had dropped it during William’s pre-school drop off and we found it in the lost and found a few days later! Now we have a bak-up incase we lose it again.
He is talking so well and saying new words everyday: momma, dada, baba, gigi, brother, nonie, kat, bye bye, night night, uh oh, thank you, please, that, Santa, cracker, yogurt, ned (the name of our stuffed giraffe), neigh, meow, moo, block, book and yes.
Caleb and I had our first night away from Henry at the end of November. The boys stayed with my parents while we attended Caleb’s work party. Henry did much better than we anticipated, since he is a full fledge momma’s boy!
We also spent a weekend in Charleston to celebrate Katherine’s birthday! My MIL and SIL watched the boys all weekend and they said Henry did great. It’s always nice to have that first time away under your belt!

Must-Have Baby Items:

Our favorite shoes for walking – Henry has them in red and navy
Booster seat for dining: Henry was over his highchair a while back. He wasn’t the same height as William and couldn’t sit right next to him at meal times, so this was the perfect answer. We can put it at the table or on a bar stool depending on where we’re eating.
I know it may be silly to spend this much on a baby coat, but we got this for William for his first winter and now Henry’s worn it two years in a row! The key is to size up and roll the sleeves to last longer than one year. It cleans up great and the hood comes off.
Again, I have no idea what we would do if we didn’t have Henry’s “baba“
We’ve hit the mega blocks stage and Henry is always building!
favorite books: Henry is loving this London book and any of the Jellycat books!
Henry got this small bunny for his birthday and he loves talking to it when he goes to bed and in the morning!

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine

Photographs by Audrie Dollins