Starting him young! :-)

When we first used the hand vacuum, Henry was terrified. There's been a little role reversal at our house and he's now my big helper! Love it...and Love him!

Birthday Party Photos

The cakes and cupcakes

Part of the spread

Pre-cake family photo

So excited!

Why is everyone staring at me and what are they singing?!?!

First taste

Not really interested in another family photo

"Wow this is yummy!"

The beginning of a huge mess!

"And the sugar is officially in the system!"

So EXCITED!

Cousins

First haircut by Grandpa C

Blocks from Ryan and Rachel

Enjoying some quiet time on his truck - with the balloons of course!!

Awaiting the 'good' photos taken by Henry's uncle!

Earthquake - in Pa?!?!

Yes you read it correctly, we experienced an earthquake here in PA. It actually originated in Virginia and resonated up to New York. Let me just tell you, I practically had a heart attack. There I was rocking Henry to sleep for his nap and I hear a sound, kind of like when it's REALLY windy out. I peak out the window and it's not windy at all. Then all of a sudden I look through the Jack n Jill bathroom into the quest bedroom and I seriously see the 2 twin beds moving. I freak out, hurry out of Henry's room - leaving my phone behind, and race down the stairs and out the back door. I grab our house phone on the way out and I'm convinced our house is going to collapse. They are doing construction on the lot very close by and I'm thinking that maybe they hit something underground. I go to call Henry and realize our house phone isn't working and I don't know any ones number really. The only thing I can think of is to grab my car keys and back the car out of the garage and strap Henry into his seat so that I can run back in the house to grab my cell phone. It takes me 40 very frustrating minutes to get a hold of Henry. He then educates me that we were hit by a 5.9 earthquake. Of course he's in Atlanta on business and this could never happen when he's here :) After my heart palpitations ceased, we went back inside and watched the news. I was seriously shaking for a while, super scary! There goes my thought of ever moving to California, I'm sure one get's 'use' to it, however I like the ground I walk on to be a bit more sturdy.

Henry's 1st Birthday Week

Where did the time go? I feel like it was just yesterday that daddy and I were severely sleep deprived yet cuddling up with our 6 pound baby and loving every second of it! Yes of course we're loving every minute of Henry still, it's just amazing how much he has changed!

(Henry Lyons; seconds after he was born)

(Henry Lyons; thoroughly enjoying his first birthday cake!)

Henry's birthday week was filled with fun and activities! His actual birthday fell on a Tuesday, so we headed to King of Prussia mall to 1) beat the heat and 2) do a little shopping and lunch to celebrate! I was shopping at Nordstroms and a lady working there gave him a blue balloon so he was in heaven the remainder of the day. When we got home he couldn't go anywhere without it - he cracks me up. Wednesday daddy came home from his business meetings so we enjoyed cupcakes together to celebrate - Henry just kept looking at us like "I can really have this?" On Thursday, Grammy (my mom) came to help get ready for the big party which was to take place on Saturday. We had a lot of work ahead of us since I decided to make everything from scratch -- with my mom's help of course! Friday was a super busy day with Henry's 12 month checkup in the morning, his first happy meal for lunch (I felt so badly for all those shots he got) and then we spent the remainder of the day making lots and lots of food!

Side note:

Henry's stats;

Weight: 19 lbs 14 oz -- 10th percentile

Length: 29 1/4 in -- 32nd percentile

He also got his MMR, Varicella, and Hep A shots and did amazingly. They also poked his toe to check his hemoglobin and lead -- he talked through this!

Back to our week. Friday night my dad came to help out with lawn work and the manly activities. Around 9 pm, my mom and I were finishing up our cupcakes and the power goes out. We patiently wait for it to come back on, however come 10 pm we just decide to go to bed and finish them in the morning. I was freaking out just because I was without baby monitor when going to bed, however I got through it and by 11:15 pm the power came back on. I went downstairs to turn the slow cooker (which was cooking my 10 lb pork shoulder for pulled pork) back on and back to bed I went. Saturday morning came and my mom and I worked very hard in the kitchen getting all the last minute food make and out on the table. Henry cooperated very well and took an almost 2 hour nap in the morning which was key being that his party started at 1 pm - his normal afternoon nap time. My bff Alex came an hour early to help out which was AWESOME, since I still needed to jump in the shower. What matters is that by 1 pm all the food was prepared and out ready to be served, everyone was ready and the lil man was in a great mood (thankfully the shots had zero effect on him!) We had 40-50 people here for the party and it was such a great day. We couldn't have asked for better weather, it was 75-80 degrees out in mid August (I can still remember leaving the hospital 1 year ago on this same weekend, and after being cooped up in a cold hospital for a week I practically melted once I stepped foot outside).

I will do another post just for birthday photos, but I will just say, Henry really enjoyed his cake. It was hilarious watching him eat it. It was so messy that we took him outside, stripped his diaper off, let him crawl around while we hosed off his highchair. He got his second bath for the day after, which was much needed.

My mom and I were exhausted and Sunday was a day of cleaning up the house and RELAXING! My mom stayed until Monday night which was great. We then were able to actually spend some quality time together with the lil guy!

Now I just need to find a place for all of these new toys.

15+ weeks pregnant

It's amazing how quickly time has been passing us by! I love watching Henry reach new milestones and turn into a little boy, however I'm trying not to blink because this first year is going by TOO fast! This pregnancy is flying by as well! I remember last time when I'd be counting the weeks and now I'm stunned to believe that I'm already 4 months pregnant. Craziness right?!?!

I've been watching my friend Erin's baby a few times when she has to work, so we had a little play date last week. Molly seems more into the photo session than Henry.

Since my blood pressure went through the roof during labor with Henry, I'm a little paranoid that it will do the same thing this time so I'm constantly taking my blood pressure. Ok maybe not all the time, but when I get headaches I do. Just want to keep on my toes, even though my blood pressure has been great so far. My blood pressure cuff has become a favorite toy of Henry's; future doctor, maybe!

Last weekend Henry's parents came down with two of the cousins for the night. Henry loves it when Grandma C wears her glasses, it's always a fun game of taking them off!

We received a preview of Henry's pics that were taken a little while ago, and I'm falling in love with them. How am I going to pick which ones we put up on the walls??

Anyway, that's our week in a nutshell. It rained all day yesterday, so we were busy finding indoor activities to keep us busy. I'm pretty sure I built towers with blocks for hours straight and he just couldn't get enough of it. We also colored a picture for daddy, played ball, rode around in our wagon and Henry took 3 steps on his own!!!

Prayers are being sent for lil miss Tory today. Let's hope she does a flip-a-roo for Heather's sake!!