TWO!!!!!

L is two!!!!!

How is this even possible? How can I have a two year old.... a toddler? It seems impossible how fast the time has gone. But two years ago today at 2:45 P.M. they placed a screaming, wrinkly, cone headed and beautiful baby boy in my arms and the pain and discomfort of the previous nine months (not to mention the 17 hours of labor!) disappeared. And I didn't think I could ever love him more then I did at that moment.

I was so, so so very wrong.

Every single day he amazes me. Every day he melts my heart with a hug or a kiss, he breaks my heart when he cries, and he makes me laugh with his funny and sweet personality. Everyday I love him even more.

OK, this post could get really sentimental and sappy, but I"m going to try and control myself!

First "big boy" change we made? Front facing car seat.

I'm not going to lie, this makes me nervous. I hate having him on the side instead of safe in the middle, but it's just the reality of having two car seats soon. Really, I wish I could just package him in bubble wrap every time we left the house, or could possibly upgrade to a tank for a family car.... but I guess that's out of the question!

So since Daddy had to work today, it was just me and L all day. I decided to take him out to a "birthday breakfast" instead of our usual cheerios routine. I took him to a place called "My Daddy's Bakery", which is (unfortunately) one of the only locally owned places we have out where we live. It is tucked into a dingy little shopping center on a busy stretch of road. The shopping center also houses such gems as a drapery store, western/cowboy clothing store and a butcher. Oh, and sometimes there is a guy selling either cat condos or knives (depending on the day) out in the parking lot. Trust me, it is not a place you would ever think, "Oh, we should stop there!".  But S and I discovered it a few years ago, and despite being not much to look at on the outside, the inside is cozy and cute, with cases and cases of fresh made pastries, cookies, breads and desserts.

I order us a cherry and cheese danish and a blueberry danish, figuring that L loves blueberries, so it would be a hit.

Um, wrong. He is going through a stage right now where he does not want to eat anything except for the few things he already knows that he likes. He won't even try new stuff. Seriously, I tried to make him taste the danish and you would have though I was trying to feed the kid liver and brussel sprouts.

So he got cheerios and Graham crackers and mommy ate both pastries. We were both satisfied. (Hey, lay of my, I"m eating for two!)

Next we stopped at Barnes and Nobles. It's still too hot to really do anything outside here (although it has cooled down to a chilly 98 degrees this week!)  But L loves running around the kids section and playing at the tables and looking at all the train books.

After that it was home to play, have lunch and then a much needed nap!

(Poor kid, he obviously doesn't have enough toys. Hopefully he gets some for his birthday!)



Finally Daddy got home and he brought him a BALLOON! He was in love with this balloon. Seriously, he wouldn't let it go the entire night until it was time for shower and bed.

(I snapped this pic about 2 seconds before Charlie decided he was scared of the balloon and bolted. Unfortunately he caught the string on his paw, freaking him out even more. The result was a toddler getting pulled rather roughly to the ground since he refused to let go of the balloon. There were tears, but were quickly forgotten.)

And of course a cupcake and a candle for the birthday boy. He was fascinated by the candle, he kept trying to reach out and touch it! And notice, he still has the balloon!

And last, but not least, presents. We gave him a few small presents tonight, he will get his big present on Saturday when we have a BBQ for him. I"m not sure if a big present will even top these though. He got a Thomas the Train book and two sets of hot wheels, both of which seems to be his most favorite things in the world right now. It was so fun to buy for him this year and see him open them, because he got really excited and was so much more aware that there was a celebration going on and that it was for him.

So there you have it. My baby is two. It makes me want to smile and cry at the same time. But, the bottom line it, even when he is 40, he will always be my baby.

And this face, will always make me smile!

Happy birthday Monkey! Mommy loves you more than you will ever know!