Henry's Sweet Second Birthday

Henry turned 2!! Woo hoo!!

It's been a big year for our little guy. A year ago he was still struggling with severe reflux and crazy severe sleep apnea, which both turned out to be related to respiratory difficulties ultimately caused by his hypotonia (to the best of my understanding). On his first birthday, Henry was juuuust baaaarely starting to sit on his own, and only for a few seconds! He was still struggling to eat solid foods and still depended on formula from a bottle for most of his nutrition. I remember filling a cupcake wrapper with whipped cream and sticking a birthday candle in it for him because we knew he wouldn't be able to eat a cupcake :)

Throwback to Henry's "beary" first birthday

The turning point for him really was the surgery he had last October. As nerve-wracking as it was to send my littlest into a surgical procedure, the progress he has made since the surgery feels miraculous. With his breathing improved, the reflux disappeared. He stopped aspirating liquids and after a few months we were able to stop using thickener in his formula. His feeding improved very quickly and by Christmas he was able to eat regular table foods. By spring he had learned how to drink from a straw and an open cup and we were able to wean him off of formula and baby bottles (Hallelujah!!). Now, he is a great eater. He continues to work with a feeding therapist as he slowly learns to feed himself.

Not only did his feeding improve, but over the following months he made leaps and bounds in motor development. Soon after the surgery he was sitting stronger and longer and he started belly crawling - he was finally mobile! By early spring he was crawling on hands and knees and pulling up to stand, and by late spring he was cruising circles around the house! I recently wrote this post: Motor Moves about Henry's motor development.

His cognitive development really began to shine this year as well. Henry started speech therapy in April and for the first time, we felt like we could really see glimpses of what he understood and what he was trying to tell us. Here's the recent update all about Henry's language development: Looking, Listening and Pre-Language Skills.

This year has felt like Henry's chance to finally get to the business of being a kid: playing, learning, growing. To start showing us his curious and energetic personality. To start discovering how to interact with his world and the people lucky enough to be a part of it.

As he grows and develops, the things that are challenging for him and for us, his parents, also change. But it's all part of the big picture of Henry having the chance to grow into the kid he will be. And I'm grateful for that.

Here's how we celebrated Henry's 2nd birthday!

Of course, we started off the day (bright and early!) with birthday breakfast! James made waffles and we covered Henry's with whipped cream and sprinkles and topped it with a candle.

We spent the day at one of our favorite places - the zoo!

On the zoo train

It's my party and I'll nap if I want to ;)

Calvin went around poking all the animals in the sculpture garden with a stick. 

That afternoon our cousins came over for pizza and cupcakes. My mom made her famous Black Bottom Cupcakes (chocolate cupcakes with a cream cheese and chocolate chip filling) for Henry's birthday. When it was finally time for cupcakes, the birthday boy was just about ready for bed! But he perked up when he got to eat one :)

Hooray for Henry! Our big 2-year-old boy!

Hippity Hoppity Easter 2015

I'm catching up on Spring Things! Most of the month of March I felt absolutely buried under a mountain of appointments and I couldn't even begin to think about planning anything beyond Calvin's surgery. So I let my self plan nothing for Easter and nothing for Calvin's birthday ahead of time. I waited to see how we were all feeling post-op. And this was weird for me, considering that for his past two birthdays I literally started party planning in January. I know, I'm crazy.

But surgery came and went and all was well. Calvin was feeling even better than expected. So I talked to my cousins and we pulled together some last-minute ideas, including a super-last-minute rainout plan, and we ended up having a very nice Easter celebration.

On Saturday, our cousin Ramiro came over to color eggs with Calvin. We didn't try letting Henry participate in this one... maybe next year ;) They used plastic eggs to do some stamp painting while I got the cups of dye ready, then we dipped and dyed and dried and the eggs turned out colorful and bright!

Saturday night, the Easter Bunny apparently hopped into our apartment and left some goodies for Calvin and Henry, including eggs hidden around our living room!

We did not attempt to take the babies to church, but we did start the day with reading the Easter story and retelling the Easter morning story with our Duplos and Bible toys :)

 I made Easter sensory bins for the boys where they got to hunt for tiny eggs (shh! Don't tell them they're candy!) and butterflies in Easter "grass." I even got edible Easter grass for Henry!






Later the boys hunted for the eggs hidden around the living room. That sneaky Easter bunny filled the eggs with some of their favorite little toys from our small world play! Little plastic dinosaurs, animals, and bugs ;) (They have no idea that Easter eggs are "supposed" to have candy. They were totally happy to find their own little toys hidden inside! Wonder how long we can get away with that trick...)

Then our cousins came over! And they helped me make the cute little bunny pudding cups. Pudding cup + coconut shreds dyed green with food coloring + jelly beans + Peeps bunnies + a Sour Punch straw for the handle!

I did pudding instead of my usual cupcakes because of Calvin's mush-food-only post-surgery diet. He couldn't eat any of the candy on top. These doubled as an Easter and a birthday treat and we all gathered around Calvin to sing Happy Birthday.

Of course, the obligatory family Easter photos! I can't resist. Plus, our wild and unkempt backyard looks pretty in Spring, even with the drought :)

It had rained that morning, which is why we were at our place instead of at a park like we had hoped, but it was barely a drizzle and it got nice and sunny in the late afternoon. Since the sun was out and the yard was hardly wet, Calvin, Ramiro and Abbie did a little egg hunt in the backyard. 

And then we put bunny ears on the babies and stuck them in a basket full of Easter grass and stuffed animals. And they hated it. Until we started blowing bubbles, and then they were like, OK this isn't so torturous after all :)

Ew. What is this stuff?? It's all... ew. I hate this.

Get this stuff off me! Get me out!!!

Wait. Are those... bubbles? 

We LOOOOOVE bubbles!!!!

This is the GREATEST!!

LOL. The things I do to torture my kids for the sake of a cute picture.


Then we brought our basket of bunnies back inside and added baby cousin Evan! And Evan was like "Seriously, guys?" But by then Calvin and Henry were over it and were actually having fun in the basket!

:D Happy Easter! 

Vacation by the Lake

Nice day for a sail!

After saying goodbye to Granny and Danpa we headed west, and after a quick stop to visit my alma mater, Berry College...

Beautiful Ford complex at Berry College :)

...we were off to Alabama and our lakeside destination in Guntersville.

The occasion for this vacation was to join James' parents in celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. 

My in-laws, John and Bea, decided that they wanted to celebrate this special anniversary with all their children and grandchildren. So we all gathered at a big house on the lake. James' brothers had their boats there for sailing, skiing and tubing. James is the youngest of six siblings. Between their six children, John and Bea have 16 grandkids! So when we get together we are quite a crowd!

Calvin and Henry were great little sailors! James and I never get to sail anymore, so it was a real treat to be out on the boat!

There was also a pool at the house, which was perfect for Calvin and Henry. We even brought the kiddie pool from Granny and Danpa's house.

Though John and Bea's actual anniversary date was later in August, we picked one night to do a special anniversary dinner for them. James' brother's wife cooked a special family recipe - Grandma's Spanish chicken and rice - and ordered a fancy cake for the occasion, and we set up banquet tables and decorations to make it feel really special. 

 

One of James' sisters made a family scrapbook as a gift for their parents and the grandkids gifted them with beautiful pictures they had drawn. I helped everybody make a fingerprint family tree as another small gift.

Amazing artwork by our niece, Isabel - capturing one of John and Bea's wedding photos!

Bea brought a very special dress of hers - the dress she wore when she first met John at a college dance! James' sister Debbie modeled the dress and the two of them, James and Debbie, posed to re-capture an old photo of their parents.

The next night we did another big party dinner, this time with an island theme!

The whole trip was wonderful. We had so much help with the babies that we really got to enjoy ourselves. It was such a blessing to see Calvin and Henry get to spend time with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I think the best part was seeing how lovingly our nieces and nephews played with and cared for Calvin and Henry. Calvin had an absolute blast. He adores his cousins and he had so much fun with them. And Henry, sweet as ever, baby of the entire family, enjoyed all the attention and love he got too :)

16 grandkids!

 

Wonderful vacation with a wonderful family that we are blessed to be a part of. Hope we get to do it again!