william

Happy 5th Birthday, William!

January 19, 2021

boy in ront yard with happy birthday sign an 5 balloon

I cannot believe we have a five year old! Truly, the days are long and the years are short. William turned five last Thursday and we’ve been celebrating all week!

William has grown so much the past year. It has been amazing to see how much he has grown in all areas of his life, and as a mom, I’m also feeling all the emotions! We are so proud of him and all he’s done this year. He’s a joy to be around and it just gets better.

Height/Weight

I think he’s around 44 inches tall and 42 pounds, but we have his well visit scheduled for this week!

Sleeping

William has always been a good napper. He actually still naps! In the past week with all the birthday excitement, he’s stopped and we will probably start doing a quiet time instead. He also sleeps solid at night – especially on the days when he doesn’t nap!

Personality

He is the sweetest, most caring boy. He is a true first-born – he’s a rule follower, likes things organized, etc. He is very analytical and wants to know how things work by building them.

William loves his brothers and includes them in almost everything (and also gets annoyed when they knock over his creations). He looks after them, helps teach them things and is just all around proud to be a big brother.

William loves school and learning. He is in his last year of pre-school and was so excited to get to go three days a week. He’s learning to read, loves math and his favorite part of school is the playground time with his friends.

He is very determined that once he tries something he won’t stop until he accomplishes it. Last Spring he decided he was ready for a pedal bike and the first day he got it he learned how to ride it without training wheels!

Activities

William loves playing golf and we started a “family golf night” tradition once our lockdown was lifted. We played every Thursday night until the time change happened. He got golf clubs for his birthday and was so excited!

We started tennis lessons last Summer and he picked up the sport fast. He also started soccer this year and he’s loved being on a team with boys that will be in Kindergarten with him next year. He’s grown up SO much in the last year I can hardly believe it!

Things William is loving:

Woom bike: We picked this bike because it is very lightweight and comes in yellow 😉
Legos: We are in a major legos stage right now. He is obsessed! He builds and then takes apart to restart building again. He worked on this airplane all day Sunday.
Golf clubs: These are the golf clubs we got for William. They are the 45s.
Tabletop easel: This was a Christmas gift and he can sit there for hours painting!
Hot wheels: He loves building the tracks.

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine

three years with william

January 14, 2019

// at his birthday this weekend //

Happy Third Birthday to our sweet William! We spent the whole weekend celebrating our big three year old! For William’s birthday this year, we had a family birthday party at our new house. William’s only requests were lots of yellow and that his great-grandmother come from London (she arrived Thursday :)). It was a great weekend and he’s been playing with his new toy kitchen ever since!

Wow – the jump from being a two year-old to a three year-old is a huge one! On Christmas, Caleb and I were watching some videos on my phone from Christmas the year before and William was barely talking. He had his few words, but nothing like the vocabulary and sentences he speaks just a year later. It has been so much fun watching him develop and become more independent this year!

Happy Birthday to our sweet William!

// spent the weekend in Chicago in August //

three years with william first day of preschol

// first day of pre-school this September! //

HEIGHT/WEIGHT

We head to the pediatrician tomorrow for his well visit, so I will update once we know. He usually follows 80% for height and 50% for weight.

SLEEPING

We moved from my parents’ house into our new house just around Thanksgiving. Both boys did pretty well transitioning, but William started waking up around 5 and running into our room – not ever going back to sleep! It felt like forever, but he’s back to sleeping until about 7:30, thank goodness!

William once slept with so many different animals, blankets, etc and now he’s down to just one. His big white fluffy blanket (which he named Fluff) and it goes with us everywhere!

three years with william birthday cupcake

// celebrating Henry’s first birthday in September //

three years with william out in the yard

// obsessed with all things outdoor and garbage trucks //

PERSONALITY

I don’t even know where to start with this boy! He has the biggest, sweetest heart and he has just grown up so much in the past six months/year. He cares so much about others and I love seeing how much he loves to help and teach Henry to do things, too. I love when they are playing and I hear him saying “Henry, put the puzzle piece here” or “No, Henry this is how we do that.” It’s so sweet.

Like I said earlier, the biggest change of the year is his vocabulary. He speaks long sentences, sings songs and is just a blast to have a conversation with. He says so many funny things that I’ve started to keep track of them in my phone. One from last week – He was driving in his ride-on car and it ran out of battery. My dad told him it ran out of “juice,” and he said maybe it needs some apple juice. 🙂 Little things like that come out of his mouth all day long and he has us laughing like crazy!

He doesn’t stop all day long, even if he’s tired! He and Henry are constantly coming up with a new game or fighting like brothers. He definitely has the older sibling mentality, looking out for his little brother and always making sure he is okay.

But, along with all the fun comes the “threes.” Terrible twos didn’t hit us too hard, but I’m already starting to see more tantrums as we got closer to three. They are always over silly things and as quick as they start they are over – but I guess we will be navigating that now!

EATING

Not much has changed since William’s 2.5 year update. He still eats the same things for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We still have trouble with vegetables, but I always offer them and then resort to a veggie pouch if needed. He has gotten a little pickier where he won’t try foods he hasn’t had before – hoping this is just a phase!

three years with william relaxing by the pool

// he plays hard and relaxes hard, too //

// he is all about the games and puzzles (this was during our Vegas trip) //

SCHEDULE

Another thing that hasn’t changed much since this summer – his schedule is basically the same! Up at 7:30, nap around 2 and bed around 8!

ACTIVITIES

William is in Mother’s Day Out again this year and loving it. He now goes twice a week, which was a big adjustment from last year! It’s nice for me to have some one on one time with Henry and William loves going to school to play with his friends. That’s the only “organized” activity we do at the moment. He continues to love doing jigsaw puzzles and he blows all of us away with the level he is able to do – he does them with the pieces turned upside down, too. He loves cars, trucks and parking garages. He still loves to paint at his easel, taking his bike out for a spin and loves his marble maze that Santa brought. We try to get to the park when it’s nice enough and not too cold and he has loved being in the kitchen helping me cook, clean and put away dishes, etc. It’s so sweet to see how he just wants to do what I do all day!

// still a good traveler! //

// we always have a visit to the pumpkin patch //

POTTY TRAINING

We attempted to potty train a few weeks ago and he just wasn’t ready yet. I may try again over Spring Break or wait until school is out for summer. Just waiting for him to give me the “okay” and I know it will go a lot smoother!

MUST-HAVE ITEMS FOR THREE YEAR-OLDS

Lunch Box: We use this lunch box and bento box for school.
Backpack: William has an epi-pen that goes with us everywhere. I typically keep it in his backpack, which we have had for awhile. I’ll use it as a diaper bag and keep it stocked with toys and snacks, too.
Underwear: These are the underwear we bought around Christmas when we were going to give potty training a try. We decided to re-try after a few hours, so will pull these back out when William’s ready!
Step Stool: My boys drag their step stools all through the house. It’s great in the kitchen, in their bathroom and at their little table. Highly recommend!
Jigsaw Puzzles: William started off doing these large format Melissa & Doug floor puzzles, but now he’s into smaller sized puzzles. I order most on Amazon. He loves doing “adult” puzzles too, especially when the whole family is working on one during the Holidays.

// he went through a major fireman phase this year! //

three years with william brothers on front porch

// brotherly love – and finally in our house in November //

six favorite christmas traditions baby boy christmas pajamas

// christmas 2018 //

three years with william yellow balloons

// he wanted all yellow for his birthday party //

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine

henry’s ice cream birthday party

October 1, 2018

// happy birthday henry! //

We can not believe our little Henry is one year old! We had so much fun planning his first birthday and preparing for the big celebration. So much of our extended family was able to be with us, including two great-grandmothers! Our closest friends and their kids came and celebrated Henry with us, too. It was an absolute blast and Henry loved it all!

At the beginning of summer I found some darling ice cream decor and ice cream shaped sidewalk chalk at Target’s Dollar Spot and that was the beginning of our theme; an ice cream party! I’d say it was a huge success and the most important part was that the birthday boy had fun! He loved trying all the ice cream and running around with his little friends!

// singing happy birthday to henry! //

brothers eating ice cream at picnic table

// it’s safe to say the coffman brothers like their sprinkles ice cream and cupcake sundaes! //

// the perfect little sprinkles layer cake for the birthday boy! //

// the birthday boy! //

Invitations

When I started to plan Henry’s Ice Cream party, I didn’t realize that everything I would find would be aimed towards girls. I contacted Lucy from Love Lucy Designs and she created the most perfect ice cream invitation for a little boy! This was the original ice cream invitation and below is the one Lucy created for Henry – so sweet!

// the cutest ice cream invitation for henry’s party //

// we gave ice cream cone sidewalk chalk for party favors //

Venue

When we originally started to plan Henry’s party, we thought for sure we would be in our new house in the backyard. Well, you guys know that we are still not in our house, so we had to come up with a Plan B. We decided that we would have Henry’s ice cream party at my parents’ house in their backyard – perfect for an ice cream party right?! It rained so hard all day the day of Henry’s party, so we moved to a Plan C! Ice cream and cupcake sundaes outside underneath the patio with Henry eating his birthday cake inside. It turned out to be perfect, even with all the changes of plans! If you’re brave enough, an ice cream party would be equally as cute at your neighborhood park, etc – just make sure to come up with a Plan B in case of rain!

// float balloon bar created the most amazing balloon ice cream cone and waterfall! //

ice cream and cupcake bar at birthday party

// the ice cream and cupcake sundae set-up! //

mom, gig and aunt and baby's birthday party

// celebrating our big one year old! //

Food/Drinks

We contacted Sprinkles Cupcakes to see if they did ice cream catering, and it turns out that they do, bringing the most adorable ice cream cart filled with so many flavors of ice cream. They also brought mini cupcakes in five different flavors, mini cones and also giant waffle cones – so that everyone would could make mini ice cream and cupcake sundaes! It was just so perfect for our ice cream party. Sprinkles has also just started making layer cakes and they provided one for Henry’s smash cake. Y’all it was so cute and so yummy- the best smash cake ever!

(Note: We had napkins and ice cream cups custom made, but Sprinkles provides branded cups, napkins, spoons, etc – all within the catering price).

It couldn’t just be sweets for everyone, so we also served mini corn dogs, and Kettle Brand Chips provided mini bags of chips for our guests. So in between servings of ice cream and cupcakes, everyone enjoyed the corn dogs and the fun flavors of chips.

We had water for the kids and served beer and wine for the adults!

// the sprinkles ice cream and cupcakes were a huge hit //

// custom made ice cream cups //

// our guests snacked on kettle chips and mini corn dogs in addition to the ice cream and cupcake sundaes! //

// found the ceramic ice cream cones at target dollar spot //

Decor

To start things off on the right note, Float Balloon Bar created a giant ballon ice cream cone and balloon waterfall. It was amazing and so much fun! They also brought two giant balloons with tassels that said “Happy 1st Birthday Henry!” and “ONE”. The balloons made it all so fun and festive and Float Balloon Bar delivered and set up everything for us. It couldn’t have been better!

// henry was very serious about eating his birthday cake! //

// sharing some of his cake with Gigi //

// the whole family celebrating henry’s first birthday! //

Outfits

As usual, when I pick a theme, I just go with it! A to Z Monogramming does all the boys custom monogramming and she can do just about anything! I sent her the Love Lucy invitation and she created the sweetest little ice cream monogram for the boys!

The three of us girls opted for dresses – even though it was raining! We didn’t come up with a plan B for ourselves ;).