Clair is 2!

Our baby girl turned 2 on Sunday!

We celebrated by having a relaxing day, just the five of us. We went to church, came home, the kids had lunch and took a nap. And while they were all sleeping, I made cupcakes, decorated the living room with party-themed goodies and strung up some balloons.

When the kids came down from their nap, they were thrilled!

And we had our very own birthday party, complete with kids music, a few small presents and an activity: decorating the cupcakes with sprinkles -- as many as they wanted! (They took that part to heart, believe me.)

Clair mostly wanted to eat frosting and sprinkles. She enjoyed her presents for a few seconds, but then she wanted more sprinkles. Note to self: Never buy presents for 2-year-olds, no matter how small. All they want is sprinkles. And balloons.

Also at the "party," I gave the boys some pirate gear, which has proved to be a huge hit.

AAARRGH!

My little baby girl is 2, y'all. Two years ago I was still in the hospital, sore and crying because she wouldn't nurse, and soooo, sooo happy that my little Curve Ball had finally arrived.

She has turned into such a beautiful, spunky, hilarious, determined, loud and lovable little person. I am so glad God knew better than we did when we declared we were done having children.

Happy birthday, Clairzee! We LOVE you!!!

(P.S. I haven't forgotten about my promised post about girls' weekend. But I couldn't let my baby's birthday go by un-documented!)

Happy Birthday/Mother's Day/No-Bottle Day

What another fabulous weekend!!!

The boys had a wonderful birthday, in spite of the fact that I barely planned anything!

They had fun blowing out their candles in their ice cream and I even gave them seconds when they asked for it.

Dean ate his so fast, I barely had time to get the camera out before he was finished. He even ate the candle too. Can wax poison small children? I guess we'll find out.

Cary also ate his candle. My children either have PICA or they're just weird.

 Later on that night, Lester gave me a pre-Mother's Day gift to die for: He BAKED for me! My friend Angel, seeing my love for Morton's LEGENDARY HOT CHOCOLATE CAKE!, sent me a recipe for molten chocolate lava cake (or something like that). Lester tried his hand at it, and it was delicious!!! I ate two of them, hot out the oven, with ice cream on the side, and swooned from happiness. Thanks, Angel! Thanks, Lester!!!

On Sunday, Mother's Day, all three of my boys fixed me breakfast (pancakes, fried cinnamon apples, sausage and coffee) and then gave me beautiful cards and gifts.

They also sent a Mother's Day message to all the Moms in their lives. (Well, Dean did most of the messaging. Cary was too busy "READING!")

Later, my mom, Dad, my Aunt Fern (Mom's sister) and my Uncle Buddy and Aunt Pam (Mom's brother and sis-in-law) came to Baltimore to have brunch at the Rusty Scupper, overlooking the Inner Harbor. So they stopped by our house afterward. I loved having them over, and so did the boys. And Clair didn't get put down the entire time they were there, so she was in Heaven.

Aunt Pam, Auntie Fern, me and Mom. Happy Mother's Day to us!

It was a wonderful, wonderful, family-filled weekend. I was really very much at peace and feeling loved and blessed, and not stressed, all weekend long. That is a beautiful thing. Happy Mother's Day to me!


AND!!!

As planned, we sent the boys to bed last night without a bottle for the first time in their lives! Following my weekly weaning plan, they had already gotten down to only 2 oz. each, so I figured they might not miss it. Boy was I wrong! There was considerable crying from both boys -- but the hysterics came mostly from Cary. Deanie seemed to understand much more when we explained that only babies have bottles and they were big boys now. But Cary (as usual) didn't really care what we said. He flipped around in his crib and screamed bloody murder. He wailed and moaned like someone had died. He refused to sleep, refused his lovey, refused his blanket, refused comforting. He was really putting on the performance of a lifetime.

I was feeling very determined as a mother to cross this bridge, but I was also feeling quite sad for him. It's Mother's Day! And I'm torturing my child. Also, I had to bathe Clair and put her to sleep. And also Mad Men was coming on in an hour or so! I needed this child to sleep!!

So after 45 minutes and several times of me going in to comfort him and reason with him, finally Lester went in and firmly told him enough was enough and it was time to go. to. sleep!

And you know what? He did. Just like that. Not a whimper out of him for the rest of the night.


Yes, it was Mother's Day, and yes I am a darn good Mom, 95-percent of the time. But I've said it before and I'll say it again: Thank the good LORD for fathers. :-)

(Note: One night bottle-free down. The rest of their lives to go. Pray for us!)

(P.S. This is my LAST WEEK of maternity leave. Waaaaaaaah! :-( )

Happy 2nd Birthday, Dean and Cary!

Already, the boring birthday I forgot to plan is going fabulously!!

First off, we let the boys watch TV this morning, and they thought this was the BEST THING EVER! Yo Gabba Gabba singing about birthdays and sharing made them giddy!  I probably could've stopped at this as their birthday present and they would've been happy.

But there was more...

We came downstairs and found out that Cookie Monster and Elmo came to see them for their birthday!!
Party with Cary and Dean!! Whoo-hooo!

The boys were so excited about their balloons and party hats and presents, they almost didn't want to go down to the playroom to see their big present! But we convinced them to go. And boy were they glad they did!

After playing with their new kitchen and pretend food, Dean and Cary NOW didn't want to go back upstairs to see their balloons and presents and party hats. But we convinced them to go. And boy were they glad they did!

New pails and shovels!

Presents to open!

NEW BOOKS!!

Birthday beads and birthday blowers! Books, pails and shovels, oh my!

Then it was time for birthday breakfast: Waffles, their favorite. With syrup!

Then we read and played, and headed outside, where Michelle gave them their new lawnmowers!! They LOVED these!

Picture them running around going, "brrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmm. brrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmm!"

Michelle also bought them these! Awww!

After lunch and naps, we're going to the playground for outdoor birthday fun, and when Lester gets home from work, after dinner, we'll have ice cream, in their very own bowls, and let them blow out candles.

I'll post pictures of all that later. But suffice it to say,  it's 10 a.m. and we are already having a 2nd birthday blast! Hooray!!

I plan to stop procrastinating...someday

It's two days before Cary and Dean's 2nd birthday, and I STILL have no plan.

Sigh.

And I really have been trying! I've come up with -- and shot down -- a half dozen ideas or maybe more: a full-fledged birthday party (house, too small; cost? too much); a visit to Friendly's for just us or just us and a few friends/family members (would people think I was footing the bill? SHOULD I foot the bill? Would they sit for this or be crazed the whole time?); Nature Center visit (toddler-friendly event is too early for us to get there without rushing and I don't want this to be stressful); B&O Railroad Museum Train Day event (see what happened at Touch a Truck day to see why that got vetoed); invite folks to the park for cake and ice cream (too similar to party idea, so same issues. Also what time to do it, considering boys nap from 1 to 4 and my family and friend Kelly all have to travel an hour to get here); go to my Mom's for cake and ice cream (it's Mother's Day this weekend, so I don't want to usurp my Mom's day)...etc. etc. etc.

Nothing seems ideal.

I want simple, but not "it might as well not even be their birthday" simple. I want something active, so that their birthday is not just about eating stuff and getting stuff, but all the good stuff to do is too early or too far away or too expensive. Like even the zoo here costs a good bit, and I have been on the sucky unpaid portion of my maternity leave for quite a while.

Today I went and bought a few Sesame Street-related party accessories, like cups, plates, balloons, etc. so in case we decide to do anything on Saturday or Sunday, we'll have it all ready. And on Friday, their actual birthday, we'll display the balloons and sing "Happy Birthday" and have ice cream (their favorite thing) and give them their little play kitchen, plus some books to open.

We'll play outside with the little plastic lawnmowers Michelle is giving them, and it'll be great, I know.  And they won't remember this birthday anyway. Just like they don't remember this one from last year (which turned into something much bigger than I ever wanted):

How cute is this??

But I did want family and some of my friends with kids their age to be involved. And I really did want them to do something fun or out-of-the-ordinary for their big day. Intellectually, I know they'll be fine with whatever. They don't even KNOW it's their birthday!! But emotionally, I feel pressure.
Why does it seem like I'm not doing enough?