Happy Birthday Henley Pierce Backsmeyer!
Dear Henley,1 year ago today, at 9:30am you came into our lives weighing 6lbs 12oz, and 19.5inches long. You were perfect! And we became the luckiest parents all over again.
You have been an angel since day 1. You are the happiest baby and seriously, I can’t believe you have made this 2 kid thing so easy on me.Your year has been filled with milestone after milestone…and you amaze us every day.
You are Miss Social – your pediatrician says you are an extremely social baby and interact incredibly for your age J You are the most adorable ‘waver’ and ‘pointer’ and smile and clap on command. You have a laugh that sounds like a recording of a baby laughing…it's so funny…sometimes when I get you laughing in a shopping cart somewhere (most likely at Target or Schnucks)…you laugh so hard and so funny, that people literally come over from other aisles to hear what that noise is. It sounds like the perfect laugh that you wouldn’t actually hear in person.
You are a delight to take to the Doctors Office. I have been lucky with both of you girls…you love going there whether it’s for a checkup or for an ear infection. When you get your shots and vaccinations, you hold your breath, and your face gets red for a second and we think we are going to hear the worst cry ever….and literally you barely make a peep. Your eyes water so we still know it hurts, but you make a sad face and then you’re over it. The nurses are always impressed. Speaking of doctor visits…your stats at your checkups have ranged a little bit…you usually end up between the 50%-65% for weight, and so far, you have been in the 20-30% for height - (this stat always shocks us, as your parents are giraffes) :) And the doctor usually makes a comment about how that stat is never 100% accurate. You do have tiny feet though, so maybe you will be our little shorty:)
Regardless, we are so blessed to have another healthy baby girl! We will see where you stand at your year check up on Thursday!
You are an aggressive eater – and you aren’t scared to try new foods. You take meal time pretty seriously…I think you get this from your Daddy :)
Your favorite words are Dadda, ByeBye,YEA!, and what I think is a WOW!, Mamma is finally coming out too, but sadly only when you cry :) - that's okay though! You have many other sounds coming out so I can't wait to hear what your next words will be!
You are almost walking - getting so close, you may even be saving those first few steps for your birthday today - but you are a risk taker and seem to be fearless when trying to get to things out of of your reach. Your crawl is impressive, and you fall constantly and are rarely bothered by the hard tumbles you take on the wood floors. You were quick to learn to roll over both ways, and always loved tummy time. Then you did the military crawl for MONTHS, and dragged your cute chubby legs behind you - it was so funny and it looked like it was so hard, but you must be really strong :) Then around 8months, you got the hang of the knees, and you have been crawling all over the place ever since.
You have always been a great sleeper. 10-11hours a night, and then a 3 hour nap during the day. Although, in recent weeks, you have been doing some sort of stand up comic routine around the 3am -4am hour. I blame our current living situation, as your crib is in the same bedroom as ours – so you stand up and laugh and throw your pacifier out, knowing that one of us will get out of bed to give it back. That’s not going to go over so well in the new house though babe…so you’re nights doing that in front of an audience are limited :)
If there is one thing that I am most proud about, it is your admiration for you sister. Hudsen walks into the room and your face lights up like she is Santa Claus. Hudsen hasn’t always given you a lot of ‘house’…and was definitely a little protective of her things and her attention with Daddy and I, but over the last 3-4months, the two of you have become best friends, and nothing makes me happier than when I leave the room and then peek back in and see Hudsen talking to you and teaching you how play with different toys. There is a lot of ‘No Henley, you have to put the block here,’ and then…‘Mommy, come see, she did it!!!’ Hudsen is so proud when she teaches you something new. Obviously, I am getting a kick out of the small things right now, and deep down I do realize the cat fights are probably right around the corner...but I am going to pretend that is not the case for now, as I am still trying to wrap my head around how in one year
we went from this:
To this:
I am a such a lucky lucky mom!
Happy 1st Birthday Henley!
Your dad and I are so proud of you and what you have accomplished in one year….can’t wait to see what year #2 brings!
Love You!
And thanks to Erin at Lizzie Jean Cookies, we bought some adorable LIGHT UP pumpkin buckets for the kids party favors...and stuffed with a fun box of s'mores - to go :) – and it was fun to add a mylar balloon use these as centerpieces for the tables -although it was a tad windy at times so hard to get a good pic:)
But probably my favorite thing about the party was the 12month poster of pictures. Trust me, I know NOBODY else cares about this....and I knew that when I was making it, but it was just something I wanted to do and be able to save for Henley. It was amazing to go through and look at our little 'pumpkin' and see how much she has grown and changed. I am sad that she will be turning ONE in just a couple of days, and I guess that means she is a....gasp! Toddler?! I can't barely handle that - but I guess I don't have a choice. Why do those first 12months have to go by so fast?!?!
