Look who's 2!

Today is your 2nd birthday! We had your party. It was a sea-themed party. I found a picture of some cupcakes and got inspired. Lots of people came to celebrate with you: Nana, Papa, Great Papa, Great Uncle Denny, Great Aunt Marilyn, Jason, Kristina, Christopher, Great Aunt Mickie, Addy, Uncle Jeremy, Teryn, Hobie, Kristen, Liz and Tony.

You were ready and rearing to go to open your gifts. Boy did you get a lot of things: a kitchen, a tricycle, a wooden train set, an art easel and some art supplies for it, a baby doll complete with stethoscope and other doctor pieces, a princess doll (Mulan - she's kick butt enough you can keep her), a jungle set with animals, and some really cute outfits among other things. When you opened the clothes from Nana and Papa, you thought they were really cute and you started walking around showing everyone one of the shirts. After that, any toy you could carry you took around to show off to people. I'm so glad you're appreciative and excited even now! Yes, you wanted to rip into each gift, but you took time to look at every thing you opened.

When we did cupcakes, you were really confused when everyone was singing to you. I thought you would have joined in. You weren't too keen on eating the whole cupcake, but you did like your MSU dairy store ice cream. Daddy and Uncle Jeremy braved MSU tailgaters today to get it for us.

Showing the outfit for your new princess doll to Great Papa.

Submarine sandwich, complete with sails.

Buckets of veggies with "sand" around them.

Treasure chest cupcakes - the inspiration for it all.

It is 9:05 pm. You are in bed. (I think you might have put yourself to sleep without a bink! That's the next step we're taking so that would be great!) 2 years ago at this time, your dad and I were amazed by you. He was looking at you as the nurses cleaned you up and did their preliminary checks to make sure you were ok. The docs were finishing up with me. It was a short labor (about 6 hours) and didn't take much pushing (I think it was 6 pushes in about 30 minutes). The day started out with a doctors appointment just to see why you were so late. Little did we think the day would end with us having you! As I look at you today, I worry there are awesome things you've done that I have forgotten about because you replace them with other new amazing things. I try to write down as much as I can, but I'm sure I've forgotten things along the way and that makes me very sad.

It was also sad to not have your Grandma here today. I know she's watching and proud as can be. The other night you picked up a phone and pretended to talk to someone. When we asked who you were talking to, your dad and I were both surprised you said, "Grandma." I'm not sure how long your memories of her might last, but that warmed my heart so it's something I will always remember.