Henley's 1st Birthday!

It is so hard for us to believe that it has been a year since our baby girl Henley entered this world on October 2nd 2008! I have gone from wondering what I would do with a girl to what in the world would I do WITHOUT our girl! Henley is just our sweet baby that is growing up so quickly before our eyes! Today we went to the annual punkin patch they have in our neighborhood and I saw this tiny, tiny baby. It made me sad to think that this time last year she was just a few days old! Wow, how time flies by each day! I think once you have children your life hits the fast forward button and before you know it they are grown! I want it to slow down because I am enjoying the kids ages sooo much right now! Brian and I laugh constantly at our kids and the funny things they do! We were just discussing how quickly Henley has picked up things that Christian might not have been doing at this age! Maybe he was and my memory is just horrible, but I think we might have a smarty pants on our hands! Most of our family knows how serious she is and maybe she is just taking it all in and processing everything she watches? We are curious to watch her little personality develop and see who she becomes as she grows older! However, right now she is still very much a mamma's girl. I find it hard sometimes, but I love that she always reaches for mommy!

Henley is not walking at this point in time, but I feel she is getting very close! She loves pushing toys all over the house and chasing her brother is her favorite past time! I think Christian is quickly becoming one of her favorites, regardless of the mean things he does to her daily! I love watching them interact especially when they know I am not watching! Christian was helping me the other night work with her and the walking. It was so sweet when he would go across the room and call her to him, "come on Hen you can do it"! So adorable! When she would get to him he would hug her and say, "Yeah, good job!" If only he would be that nice to her all the time! I think I tell him 100 times a day to leave her alone, give that back to her and stop pushing her! The one day I wanted the sibling love to be flowing was on Henley's 1st birthday! I wanted her day to be perfect and hassle free of her big brother and it pretty much happened that way! Her birthday fell on Friday, but we had her party on Saturday morning. We invited all our family and close friends that are in her life regularly! We were very excited that her Nene ( Brian's Mom) was able to be here to help celebrate! She loved all her new toys especially the Learning House from Nene and Poppy, the stroller from Grandma and Boppa and her chair that we gave to her.

The party started around 11:00 which I timed around her morning nap and she woke up after the first guests started to arrive. Thank goodness she took a good nap because I wanted her in a good mood for the party. Henley was in a great mood and looked precious in the outfit that I appliqued and monogrammed for her for her special day! We had food, drinks and of course the football games on in the other room! How could I have a party on a Saturday, in the middle of the day and not have games on for the men? The kids played, everyone ate and then we did the cake! This is my favorite time for any baby's 1st birthday because you just never know what will happen. Henely was not so sure at first, but soon realized that this was indeed her favorite thing to eat...sweets! She was very clean in the beginning and just used her fingers, but once she got a taste of the chocolate cake...well it got more messy! I have to think it was due to the fact that her big brother and cousin Bennett were helping her out a little bit. Not to mention I think they were enjoying the cake themselves too! :) We took a picture at one point with all the cousins digging in to Henley's smashcake! Very cute!

I usually do not open gifts at birthday party's because it is to much chaos and very overwhelming for the birthday kid. However, I am not so sure any three year old can pass up the opportunity to open presents especially when they belong to his little sister. Before I knew it Christian was opening his sister's presents. I hardly had time to get a pen and write down who gave who what! I can say, that at least he would show her what she received after he opened her gifts. I think Bennett even got in on the action at one point! It was chaos and and funny to watch! Hopefully, next year will be different. I still do not think that Henley gets to play with any of her new things without her brother trying to steal it out from under her. I think some of her favorite times are when he is not around and she can play in peace!

I think that it was a great day and Henley had a great first birthday! Happy Birthday baby girl we love you so much!!! For those that know and love our little girl...the pictures fit her little Miss Serious attitude! Notice hardly any smiles in these pictures??? What in the world is she thinking about so intently? Got to love her!!!