My baby turned two. I am still in denial. I will still feel this way in twenty more years, and I am ok with that.
A wedding scheduled for one of our family members in the middle of my birthday hub-bub (three to throw in less than thirty days) seemed slightly stressful at first. Then I decided I would remove the stress, throw the party at the beach, and do it family style. Best thought I have had in a year.
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When I stopped and really thought about it, I was quite thrilled to be able to actually have people celebrate Allye with us on her special day. That really doesn't happen too often, especially with family members. Not only were we going to have family, but it was going to be our entire family. WOOHOO!
Some things must happen, no matter what, on your birthday in our house. The first is that your chair must be decorated with the silver star streamer that has been around since before you were born...and there must be a balloon on your chair.
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| Allye was so surprised to hear it was her birthday that morning. |
Next we headed out and spent most of the day in the pool. Having the pool at the house helped her confidence in the water tremendously.
She has not always been really sure about the water, but this summer brought her a long way, almost too far. She is reaching the, "I am not afraid of this," point in time. It was a little chilly outside on this day, which did not matter since the pool was heated, but I was determined from the first day to get a picture of all of the kids with the frog for her birthday. So, we counted to three, jerked them all out of the pool, stepped back, snapped the picture, and then we quickly plopped them all back in. Chilly might not be a strong enough word now that I think about it.
That afternoon we got cleaned up and dried out and ready for our party. I bribed begged Allye to take some pictures for me...she was not in the mood. That is the moment in time when I have to go with the flow. So, we started with the frog.
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| I asked her how old she was and she said, "Four!" ... and held up five fingers. :) |
Meme can always lighten the mood. Once Meme got her going we were off and running with excitement, and great pictures of our sweet two year old.
After a great dinner of Allye's favorite foods we got to open presents together and there were plenty of people to play with them all!
Dessert time was next and in discussions with my mom I was telling her that I didn't really want to do a traditional birthday cake. She suggested that we make different kinds of pie. What a FABULOUS idea! Sometimes she has these. ;) That is what makes her a Meme. So we did. I gave Allye a slice of the banana pudding pie to start with. Doesn't it look lovely?
She blew out the candles, took a bite or two, surveyed the other pies and decided she would be having chocolate pie instead. Lots of chocolate pie. When you are two you can do that because no one wants you to act 2 on your birthday. It was a great day and I am so thankful we could all be together for our girl's day. A lot of effort and precise scheduling was done by my step-brothers and their families and I will be forever grateful. Thank you.
Dear Allye,
On the day you were born I was not expecting you that day. I was supposed to be going to a football game to watch your biggest sister cheer. I was still unsure, after having nine months to think about it, how I could possibly love you like I loved your sisters. I was afraid of so many things, but then you were there. You gave me no time to ponder or adjust any further. The moment they handed you to me all of my fears and worries washed away. For two years you have given our family so many wonderful memories. You most certainly have your own personality, much like your big sister's, Olivia. While you have many, many words, you don't have to speak to let anyone know how your are feeling. People love to tell me that your eyebrows do all of the talking. It is true, you do have the best facial expressions ever. In one moment you can be so serious and the next full of laughter. You are a smart little whip and bring me new challenges each day. I suppose you will always know that you have more "room to roam" than the others did...the problem seems to be you know exactly what to do with that and it is not always for good. You have a tender, mothering heart already when you are taking care of your babies. I look forward to seeing more of that as you grow. After having three children I often think about the birth order. I have no doubt that I was given each of you in the exact order I needed you. Every day you remind me not to take this whole mothering thing too seriously, to stop and laugh, that whatever I think is more important than what you want me to do really is not, that food stains on clothes really are ok, that climbing is definitely the "in" thing, that there is no such thing as too many hugs and kisses, that laughter always follows tears, and that the best is yet to come because each day with you is always better than the last. Thank you for making our lives sweeter one "sugars" at a time my sweet girl.
I will love you always,
Mom
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