Henry's Party

Henry's party was supposed to be a duck theme but it ended up mostly being a blue/white/yellow pinwheel party with like, three duck-shaped foods. Ohhhh well! We all had a blast hanging out with old friends from Washington, new friends from Georgia, and a ton of kids all around Henry's age. Baby parties are kind of a lot of work. I'm glad it's over!

"Wait....it's OVER?!"

last two pictures by caila!

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Happy Birthday Garrison!

Or as Henry would say, "Happy DayDay Daddy!" We are so lucky to have this life with you. Happy 27 Garrison, we love you "Soooo mutts!!"

Bieber Fever!

Henry's got it bad. I know this is a little on the longish side but you guys? Um, he break dances at the end. Just saying.....

Henry's Birthday!

11 pm cupcake bake

When I told G these were the prettiest cupcakes I've made, he said, "Yeah. They're so pinteresting".

Henry had a great birthday. I know this because the entire day was his. Anything he wanted to do, we did. Anything he wanted to play, we played. Anything he wanted to eat, we ate. Life was good! The night before his big day, we blew up a ton of balloons and made a whole box of chocolate cupcakes. We dumped the balloons in his room while he slept so he'd wake up surprised and probably a bit confused. On the baby monitor I heard him say, "Mama! Dada! BALLOONS!" Garrison had to leave for work pretty early so we lit up a few candles on the top of the biggest cupcake ever and let him eat a huge amount of junk at 7:30 am. He was really into blowing out the candles this year and wanted us to relight them a few more times before he ate the cake. The rest of the day we colored, went to the park, and opened presents that have been slowly trickling in from family in Washington. Because of the big snow they recently got, his presents are still arriving. Every day he gets to open something new and his party isn't until next weekend so he probably thinks his birthday is an entire month long celebration. All hail Prince Henry!

Happy DayDay Henry!

Wow oh wow oh wow oh wow. TODAY YOU ARE TWO! Happy Birthday to the funniest, cutest, sweetest little boy in the world!

How a Baby Thinks

While we were in Washington, we visited Garrison's grandpa who lives on a boat. This was a big moment in Henry's life as he's always been interested in boats but really only seen them in books or parked in yards. I think it kind of blew his mind to realize that you can actually go inside boats and that sometimes, they look like houses. He played with a pile of coins and packets of sugar that he found on "Bomma Mike's" counter there, which seemed to be the highlight of the experience. He kept talking about Bomma Mike's moneys on the boat.

We've been home for a few weeks now and he still talks about that boat and the money he found. The first days back we'd say, "Do you remember when we went on Bomma Mike's boat?" and his eyes would light up and he'd say, "Nnnnn money?! So mutts money?!" Then he would talk about the people jumping into the water at the Polar Bear Jump we had watched right before getting on the boat. As time went by, I could tell he was forgetting bits and pieces of the experience because he'd start saying, "Nnnnn people and moneys?!" Now whenever we mention the boat, or show him pictures, he tells me, "Nnnnn people jump in moneys?!" Like he remembers the events individually but has kind of jumbled them up in his mind.

As Henry starts to talk more, we're really beginning to get a glimpse into how his mind works. It's so fun! I mean, even when he was a newborn I'd look at him and wish so badly that I knew what he was thinking. From what I can tell right now, he has a great short term memory but his long term memory is still developing. It's so interesting! I mean, does he really think back on that trip and see people jumping into money on his great grandpa's boat?

Growing Up.

"Pum on, mama! Pay outside!" A phrase we're hearing a lot these days. Henry's language is exploding and I'm watching him quickly morph from my baby to my little boy. Last week we literally collected every stick in the front yard and carried them in his little green bucket all the way up stairs where he'd yell, "Dump sticks!" He was so proud of his collection, I could tell by the way he carefully arranged them after the dump. Most of the time daily events happen so quickly but occasionally it's like time slows down and for a few seconds I'm quiet, kneeling in the leaves in awe, watching him be a big kid. <3

Visiting Favorites and a "Stolen" Package

This is Garrison in front of our old house before the lamest garage sale of the century. Seriously, we sold maybe four things before putting an EVERYTHING FREE! sign in the front yard. Even then nobody wanted our stuff. Who doesn't want free crap? Dumb people, that's who. I still find excuses to drive by this house, even though we've been out of there for almost a year. The sweet memories of 3 am nursings and new baby smells flood my mind and it hurts my stomach. It's funny actually, I dreaded those night feedings when they were actually happening but looking back on it I'm all mush. I guess time erases the, "I've played Bejeweled on this phone for an hour now, my eyes hurt....Oh wow. Did I just fall asleep sitting up?...I know there are 43 slats on these blinds but I'm gonna count them again..." and replaces it with a whole lot of "Awwwwww <3".

Anyway, the point of this post is that today I got to go back to that house! My aunt sent our Christmas present there by mistake and called yesterday to tell us that somebody else was probably enjoying our gift. Last night I was all ready for a confrontation. I had a whole sad guy speech planned out, "We don't have very much money and no family here and we were really looking forward to opening that gift. I won't even judge you if you've already opened it. If it's food or candy, that's okay! Just give us what's left. I just want my son to have a Christmas...." and then I'd pinch Henry or something and he'd start crying and the people would feel so bad that they'd hand over our package (kidding trolls! like i'd pinch my kid). I was getting really mad about it, prematurely frustrated that someone would have the guts to open our present.

But sometimes, people will surprise you. This morning our package was sitting on their kitchen table, ready to be returned to the post office tomorrow. No need for a speech. No need to threaten a stolen package police report (jk). No need to pinch a baby. Just a nice guy and a friendly exchange. My faith in humanity is restored!

Thanks for such wonderful gifts Gwen, we love them!

Almost Two Whaaaa?!

Ugh. Motherhood has got me feeling all sappy again. Henry is going to be two in nine days. TWO! Uh, that's like legit not baby anymore. That's total toddler. How did this happen?

Yesterday after my run, I went to pick him up from the childcare and they told me he was walking back from the playground. I turned the corner to see all eight kids walking behind the teacher, holding onto one of those ropes with handles. BIG KID. I couldn't believe he was actually doing it by himself! The amount of cute turned my heart to mush for the rest of the day.

I've been working on getting Henry's birthday party together, I think we're doing a duck theme. I figure the easiest way to pull off "ducks" is to go the rubber duckie route but it's hard because a theme like that could turn out extremely tacky. Like he's going to notice anyway, ha! Apparently this party is way more for me than it is for him!

Here are the party invites that I finished last week: