We celebrated Emma's 2nd birthday yesterday as a family. Will took the day off from work and we did what we could to make the day special for Emma with all of her favorite foods and past times. And since she is two, we spent the day watching her run gleefully around the house naked, playing outside (with clothes on) and eating things like pancakes, sausage, hot dogs, fruit, mac and cheese and of course pink cupcakes.
It took some convincing to get Emma downstairs in the morning to open presents. Like I mentioned already, she was perfectly happy to celebrate the first hour of her birthday running around the upstairs of our house naked. We finally pinned her down and got enough clothing on her to be decent while we took pictures of her opening presents.
The day before Emma's birthday she started telling us how she wanted a pink baby doll for her birthday. After the fourth time she mentioned it, we decided it would be worth a late night trip out to make sure she got what she was hoping for. Besides the baby doll, she received a "like-new" tricycle, princess Duplos, a flower necklace, and a big girl bed complete with matching hand made pillow cases I was inspired by on Pinterest.
Here she is below eating her birthday breakfast.
After breakfast we set up Emma's big girl bed while we waited for the temperature to warm up enough to play outside. This was more emotional for me than anyone else in the family. Will has been pushing for this for a long time as he wants a more comfortable place to go when Emma kicks him out of our bed. I on the other hand, was quite emotional as I put Emma in the crib one last time, and then ceremoniously took her out of the crib one last time. Thank goodness she humored me.
In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best idea to start something new like sleeping in a big girl bed on her birthday. Nap time was definitely a challenge and she finally fell asleep at the time she would have normally woken up. Bedtime was only a little bit better but she didn't fall asleep until 10:30. I woke up last night at around 4, opened my eyes and saw Emma staring at me. I have no idea how long she was standing there, but told her next time to say something so I know she is there!
After setting up her bed, we headed outside to try out Emma's new bike. The weather was perfect with sunny blue skies and only a slight breeze. And although the previous two years had lots of daffodils blooming on Emma's birthday, we did find one or two cold hardy daffodils this year so I can still tell Emma that her birthday comes when the daffodils bloom. Will surprised Emma with a message on the driveway when she came outside.
I have no pictures of Emma riding her bike outside, as it was a full time job keeping Lucy from pushing Emma over, and to keep Emma pedaling on her own. Lucy had some issues with all of the gifts Emma received and at one point after a "time out" was over, she told me that on her birthday she wanted all the same things as Emma. It would have been easier if the older sibling's birthday came first but yesterday was a good learning opportunity for all of us - for Will and I to not forget other family members needs while we are trying to make one member feel special, and Lucy to realize that everything isn't about her and life doesn't always seem fair. I may or may not have told Lucy that we were getting her a bike for her birthday, and after she learned that her attitude seemed to improve. Only eleven more days and Lucy can have her special day too.
Around lunch time Will and I were beginning to think we either needed to separate Lucy and Emma permanently, put them down for an early nap or feed them lunch. We decided to put them in the stroller which had a set of five-point harnesses and headed for a walk downtown. We had a great lunch and it was the perfect change of scenery for all of us.
For dinner we had a picnic outside for the first time this year.
And for dessert, we took Emma to a local bakery and let her pick out her very own cupcake. The rest of us also picked out our own cupcakes too and the best part was there were no leftovers to tempt us today.
The day was not without it's surprises for all of us that is for sure! We are so happy to have Emma as a part of our lives though, and wouldn't trade the challenges of a family of four on earth for any other life! Happy Birthday to our sweet, cuddly, funny and loving little lady!
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