The Boy's Birthday Party

We knew that with the boys' birthdays so close together, they would share a party. This actually works out pretty well with most people coming in from out of town. It meant one weekend for everyone to come in and celebrate our wonderful boys. 

About two months ago we started asking Henry what type of party he would like to have. He pretty much immediately said "race car" and from there we went. It's actually harder to find "race car" party items then you would think. Sure there's construction, some car and Disney Cars but just race car proved a little tricky. So we knew we'd be doing a lot of decorating on our own. Which is great. I enjoy making things for the boys' parties because then I can get exactly what I want. 

So the theme was set and we went to work. I hit up two party stores and Hobby Lobby. We worked wayyyyyy to late the night before (special shout out to Aunt Jen for helping) and we had our race car party. 

Everyone started showing up mid-afternoon and we had the most wonderful time celebrating our boys. Scheffler LOVED the smash cake, after being a little hesitant at first, and Henry loved opening presents (of course). 

Enjoy all the pictures below! Of course I didn't take nearly enough. Happy Birthday Boys! Major thank yous to everyone that comet to celebrate!

Here's the food table. We incorporated a red, yellow, green color scheme with the race flag pattern for the race car party.

 Made these signs for Henry and Scheffler and all their stats. This was really fun to do and think about. Henry was MUCH easier because he's got so much more going on and could answer questions. It's something that I would like to try to do every year and track how things change. 

 Opening gifts was fun and hectic. I didn't really think about separating the boys' gifts and so we had to make sure Henry only opened his. Much harder than it sounds with a four year old. Shout out to Aunt Danielle Greaves for making the boys' shirts this year. They turned out so awesome!

Best picture we could get of the cousins. 

 More party details. Lots of stop lights and race flag. The banner was much easier to read in person. I think it all turned out pretty cute. Henry really seemed to like it. We liked it so much it's still up in our house...maybe this weekend it'll come down...haha. 

 KID LOVED THE CAKE. Pretty sure he ended up eating 90% of it. Nicely done Scheff. 

 And finally, the best family picture we could get. If you have kids you get this. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOYS! 

Love you guys and thank you to everyone that came to celebrate. 

We couldn't do any of it without you!

Henry's FOURTH Birthday

Last weekend Henry turned FOUR! For some reason though it wasn't that hard to believe. Sure time has moved quickly but I think with Scheffler doing so much more growing and advancing over the past year, Henry seems relatively the same as last year. That's not to say this year wasn't eventful with him. The cliche is "the terrible twos" but anyone, and I mean anyone, that has children will tell you "Forget that. It's three. Three is the worst." We like the term "Threenager" in our house. It's like a switch flipped and he became so much more self aware and he knew he had the power to do what he wanted when he wanted. I remember going back to football in the Fall and so many of my athletes' parents were asking how I was doing. All of the questions centered around Scheffler "Are you sleeping? Isn't it hard taking care of a baby and then coming here?" And my answer was always the same, "The baby is great. The baby sleeps through the night, eats, and is incredibly happy. I know how to make him feel better. The three year old? Now that's a different story. I don't know what is problem is. Ever. He could be throwing a tantrum because the sky is blue or I made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that he asked for. He's horrible." Because that was the truth. Scheffler was so easy. He rarely got upset. Henry on the other hand, woof. I would have conversations with him that would literally go like this:

"Henry, what would you like for lunch?"

"A grilled cheese."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Henry, I am going to make you a grilled cheese."

"Great. Yes."

"Henry, you want a grilled cheese for lunch?"

"Yes, that sounds great."

"Okay, I'm making a grilled cheese for you."

"Okay, thanks mom!"

/fast forward 10 minutes

"WHYYYY DID YOU MAKE ME GRILLED CHEEEEEESEEEE?!!? I HAAAAAATE GRRRRILLLLED CHEEEEEEEEESE!!!!!" 

So, yah. 

Things are starting to come around now. He had a very hard time for awhile when I was nursing Scheffler. He didn't understand why it was always me that had to feed him and Nick couldn't. Finally he accepted that it was going to be me all the time. Now he's searching for that attention again, somewhat, because Scheffer is at the age where he can't be left alone because he's scooting and getting into everything. We are getting a lot of "Look at me! Look at me!" type moments. 

For his birthday we wanted to do something fun with the just the three of us. We wanted to make the day all about him. Well it turned out, that for the first time this year, his birthday was going to fall right on Derby. This is only a problem since we live in Louisville. The Derby, as you can imagine, takes over the town. There isn't much to do with a four-year-old on Derby Day in Louisville. I mentioned to Nick that I'd like to take him to St. Louis. My parents could watch Scheffler, depending on what we would decide to do, and then we'd have more freedom with our celebration. He agreed and then we realized the Cardinals would be playing at home that day and we knew taking Henry to his first baseball game would be a great event for a 4th birthday. 

So we headed into St. Louis and had a great day with are little man. The morning started off with presents from us and my parents. He is very into legos right now and so he got two bigger sets of those from us, a smaller one "from" Scheffler, and a few other little items I'd picked up over the past few months. My parents got him a bike! He was excited about it but still trying to figure out how exactly to pedal. It'll be something we work on this summer. After breakfast we relaxed for a bit and then made are way downtown. We decided it would be fun to take the metro link down since Henry loves trains so much. He thought the train was pretty cool and it was great because it dropped us off right in front of the stadium. At the game we had wonderful time and although, he started asking to leave during the 2nd inning, we made it to the 7th due to food bribery. Side note: the itailian ices they sell in the stands at Busch were delicious. It was a very warm day but luckily we were in the shade. If we hadn't been we wouldn't have made it very long. When we got home we grilled and ate with my parents. I hope Henry enjoyed his birthday as much as I did. 

Happy Birthday Henry! You are an amazing little boy. Even though you have your very rough days, you are overall happy and healthy. I am amazed at how many words you are "sight reading" and how good your memory is. You know more about trucks then I ever will. You love yo watch YouTube but also play outside in the sandbox. You love your little brother so much but I know the fights are on their way.

All he wanted for his birthday from us was legos. We went to Target several times to pick out and discuss which ones he wanted. These things are expensive! But he loves them and has gotten really good at putting them together somewhat on his own. 

My parents got him a bike! We are still working on learning to ride it. 

On the way to the game!

On the MetroLink on the way down! He thought this was pretty cool. 

Obligatory pictures in front of the stadium. 

Had to have a hot dog!

Henry Joseph Meyer

4 Years Old

44 inches

42 lbs

Scheffler turns ONE.

Hard to believe it's already been a year with Scheffler in our lives but somehow he feels like he's always been here. Little man loves his brother and it dying to start running around with him. Regardless of desire, Scheffler is not close to walking. He never crawled and at this point think we don't think he will. He has gotten quite mobile by shooting himself around on his butt. He sits with his feet crossed and pulls himself with his hands and feet. We asked the doctor about it at his one year well check and he stated that crawling was not a developmental milestone and not anything to be concerned about. He is trying to pull himself up but since he isn't in the crawling position it's much harder to do. But he's close and is as happy as can be just scouting along 

He loves his real food and eats better than his older brother sometimes. We haven't found much he doesn't like but he loves hot dogs, bananas, pancakes, waffles, Pirate's Booty, applesauce, cheese, pasta, and chicken. Okay, a lot of stuff. We have been blessed with two really good eaters and couldn't be happier about that. 

He's starting to love cars, thankfully, just like his brother. He loves to be outside, swing, go for walks, and bang the pots and pans together. He hates being in the car, being rocked to sleep, loud noises, and being left alone for more than .002 seconds. 

If it's possible, I think that he's an even happier baby then Henry was. Henry was one of those babies that needed to be help when he slept, for a long time. He got off to a rough start nursing. Scheffler napped like a champ on his own early on and nursed great from the start. These are both things I attribute to having done it once already. Scheffler is so go with the flow and it makes life with two so much easier.

It's been a great year and I think the one thing I look forward to the most for the next year is watching Henry and Scheffler grow together. The older they get, more the gap between them will shrink and the bettie friends they will become. I look forward to the day Scheffler can run around the back yard and chase his big brother around. 

Below are some pictures from the day and his one year stats {spoiler alert: he's still huge}. We didn't do anything too crazy, like I said before, the day is more for me then him. We will celebrate both boys next weekend with our family and friends.

Started off the day with donuts, because, duh. 

 Henry helped me make cupcakes for the birthday boy. He picked out funfetti with blue vanilla icing.

Clearly the cupcake was a hit. He's ready for the smash cake now.

A little side by side Henry and Scheffler on their first birthdays. Similar but still pretty different. Scheffler is over four pounds heavier than Henry was.

SCHEFFLER JAMES MEYER
ONE YEAR OLD
30lbs 12oz
32in

The First Birthday.

Your kid's first birthday isn't a milestone as much for them, as it is for the parents. One, very short, year ago, a new life was brought into this world and for one whole year you've managed to keep this tiny human alive and thriving. You throw a party to celebrate that. 

You brought a new tiny, squishy human into your family that needed so much love and attention you had to pull it from other places. This could've been your relationship with your spouse or partner. Or it could've been from your other children. Or it could've been from your pets. But those relationships survived and thrived still. You figured out how to balance nursing an infant and playing cars with a toddler. You figured out how to balance date nights with family game nights. All of these balancing acts made these bonds stronger because you did it together with another person. You throw a party, with these people, to celebrate that. 

But other relationships slipped, especially first time parents, because the time wasn't there. Maybe it was a college friend, co-worker, or neighbor that you just lost touch with. It doesn't mean you don't care, it means other things come first. You have one plate. You can't have all of the side dishes to go along with your main course. You have to pick out your favorite ones to have. This doesn't mean next time you don't order different ones, just not today. 

As the mother, the one who carried the child with her for nine months before you met them, you survived child birth, you survived the physical pain after child birth, and you survived the hormonal roller coaster. People talk about the hormones during pregnancy, but not after. You held that baby in the days and weeks after their birth and you laughed and cried for no reason at all. It's okay. Your body was beat up in ways that you couldn't imagine but you survived and became stronger because of it. You throw that party for yourself to celebrate this. 

As the partner to the woman that gave birth, you survived as well. You tip-toed around when things were bumpy, you tried to help when you didn't know how, you offered support when you could and you tried your best. You survived too. Throw a party for that. 

As the siblings to this new tiny human that has invaded their lives, you had to adjust to less attention from your parents, grandparents, people at the grocery store, and everywhere in between. People don't think a three year is as cute when a baby is around. You had to sit there and endure the ooh-ing and ahh-ing over your sibling, while no one cast a side eye at you. You had to entertain yourself more than you liked. You probably had too much screen time. Maybe you threw a tantrum to get attention. Maybe you colored on the wall so someone would look at you. But you did it to survive. Your parents are throwing the party for you too. It won't seem like it. It'll seem like it's always all about the baby, because it always does, but the party is for you too. 

No, the first birthday isn't for the child. It's for everyone around the child. For the village. It celebrates everything that it takes to get through that first year. The baby won't remember the party or the first year. But you certainly will. So go over the top and don't feel ashamed. Pinterest the heck out of that party because there is so much to celebrate when a child turns one. 

Throw that party. 

Scheffler Nine Month Post

For his entire life, we knew Scheffler was big. I think though it really sunk in for me at his nine month appointment. He'd gained over four pounds since his six month appointment and weighed five pounds more than Henry did at this age. FIVE! He was in 18-24 month clothing and we had a problem. When I had a second boy I was so excited (for several reasons) but a lot of it was because, with their birthdays so close together, I had clothes in the right season! When you kids are big they blow through sizes quickly. So there are a few sizes we have only one season in. 24month/2T is one of them. Henry was well into Summer when he made this transition. I had no pants. None. All shorts. It was February. Finally I looked at Nick and said "We can't cram this kid into the 18 month pants anymore." They were too short and tight around his belly. So off I went for some long sleeve onesies and pants. 

And let's talk about onesies. My child was close to being out of onesies BEFORE he was crawling. Now, he's a late (and now probably never) crawler and he's the size of some 2-3 year olds but dangit! I want onesies for my baby! I'm determined to convince companies to make onesies in bigger sizes. I found a few after scouring the web. H&M has one size bigger than 24 month and Gerber makes larger plain white onesies. Overall, the market is slim. When we hit the lottery, Nick is going to being playing a lot of golf and I'm making a chunky kids clothing line. 

The card pictures were getting much harder to take at this point. Clearly we like chewing on things. He got teeth earlier and much more quickly than Henry. 

Here's his growth chart at 9 months to give you an idea of just how big he is. 

His weight doesn't even fit on the chart.

SCHEFFLER JAMES MEYER

NINE MONTHS

27lb 2oz

32in