Henry's Birthday Party

Yesterday was Henry's birthday party. We woke up a little later than we had planned (something like 8:20AM). Miss R actually slept until some time after 9AM. It was a bit of a rush to get everything done, but we somehow managed to do so. We gave Henry one of his birthday presents before the party in hopes that he'd tire himself out with it and take a nap before the party. No such luck. But doesn't he look adorable in his new red peddle fire engine?

The party went really well. We had it at our house so that our neighbors could stop by. And each one of them did! It was really nice. Our party included: Grammy, Poppy, Aunt Erin, Uncle Brian, Uncle Jim, Michele, Leo, Carolyn and Adelyn, Jamie, Steve, Dana, Nikki, Nick, Janice, Swanee, Karen, Yvonne, Jeff, Henry, Miss R, and me. Our neighbors Paul and Janine stopped by before the party to give Henry a Thomas & Friends train named Mike.

Henry absolutely loved having the house full of people. Several people commented on how social he is. He is indeed our little social butterfly. Miss R was shy at first but then relaxed and let several people hold her. I saw her with Karen, Swanee, my mom, Dana, and Jamie. She did really, really well. Very proud of her. Jamie made Miss R a turtle sun dress. I can't wait to put her in it!

I wish that Henry had taken a nap before the party. We rushed out the cake when it become apparent around 2:15PM that he was beginning to fade.

Aunt Erin lead the party in a round of "Happy Birthday." Jeff commented that it was perhaps the most melodious happy birthday that we'd ever heard...complete with harmonization. Jeff and I had a bit of a panic right before we brought out the cake and realized we forgot to purchase silverware. Ooop! Thank goodness for rounds of individually packaged sets of silverware from Pei Wei and Lovin' Spoonfuls, which we tore open and thankfully had enough forks to go around! The cake was excellent...an acquisition from Nadine's Bakery.

Our family, friends, and neighbors were very generous in their gifts. Henry received building block sets, stuff animals, books, trains, a toddler guitar, clothes, stickers, and other neat things. I'm personally hoping that he begins to direct his energies toward these new toys rather than continuing of his current passion of sneaking behind the big screen TV and trying to play with the chords. Miss R wasn't left out in the fun. She also received some presents, which she loves.

Henry and Miss R crashed as everyone left. Unfortunately, Miss R began to vomit as she dozed off on the couch. A huge thank you to Jamie who helped clean it up as I tried to clean Miss R up!

We went for a family walk at dusk. We put on our party hats, which we forgot to wear during the party. Ran into Swanee, Hal, Annie, and Luke. Miss R was very calm with Annie and Luke tried to kiss her.


At dinner, Henry was very loud and uncooperative about eating. As Henry was yelling and Jeff was getting a wash cloth, I think I told Henry to keep it down. When Jeff appeared with the wash cloth, Henry said, "Be quiet! Shhhhh!" He put his fingers to his lips as he said "Shhhhh!" but I don't think that he really understand the concept of the "quiet" voice.

We had a rough night. Miss R started throwing up again and had a slight fever. We gave her some Tylenol. I ended up staying up with her and holding her upright as she fell asleep on my chest. This was around 11:30PM. I was disappointed because we had just put new sheets on the bed (600 thread count), and I was so looking forward to the high quality sheet experience. Jeff came out at 3AM to take Miss R's temperature. I had fallen asleep holding her. I managed to put her in the crib without problem. She seemed to do OK on her tummy. The sheets were awesome as expected. Miss R woke up, however, at 5:30AM. She had vomited a little. She was yelling, so I took her into the living room to change her diaper so she wouldn't wake up Henry. But she did wake up Henry. Henry then proceeded to vomit all over Jeff and the new sheets. Sigh.

We called the nanny to let her know. At first she was going to come but leave her daughter at home, and then she called back to say she wouldn't be coming at all. Shortly before 8AM when Miss R was napping on the couch, Henry announced he was hungry so I gave him a small piece of a muffin that he seemed to want. He took one bite and started vomiting again (mainly liquid b/c that's what he had in his stomach). I called the doctors shortly after 8AM as I had planned. Henry was for the most part acting his usual active self. He was happy b/c I let him watch whatever he wanted on TV. The nurse called me back around 9AM. Basically, I'm to keep the kids on liquids. Only give Tylenol if the temperature is 102 degrees or higher. Dehydration is the big worry. Keep giving small amounts. If child doesn't vomit, then I can increase the amount. They can have crackers or toast if they haven't vomited in an 8 hour period. They can eat regular food if they haven't vomited in a 24 hour period.

My mom came over around 10AM to help. Henry had vomited all over me around 11:45AM. Back to small doses of liquid. The Twins are both having back end issues too. Miss R has been wanting me to hold her a lot. She did eventually let my mom hold her. They both fell asleep on the couch in the early afternoon.

Jeff is off work now so he'll be working with my mom taking care of the little ones' needs. I'm going to start my work now. The hope is to get as much done as I can tonight under the assumption that I'm probably going to come down with this too. Jeff hasn't made the reservations yet for his and Marley's trip to Oregon. That may have to be put off until next week. But we have to do it soon b/c of the issues of heat and travel.