On Friday, June 4th, our firstborn turned TWO! I have to pinch myself to believe it these days - my baby is no longer a baby ðŸ˜. Zoe is blossoming into a sweet, caring, funny, and adventurous little girl, and I have the front row privilege to see her grow. I would have never guessed how much love I can have for someone until she entered this world.
Her birthday this year fell on a Friday, which gave us a great excuse to turn it into a birthday weekend. Last year, we had to resort to her 1st birthday to Zoom because of the pandemic, and I was determined to make this year a little more meaningful and inclusive of our family and friends. We kept things more casual on Friday since both Z and I were working. We recycled her birthday decoration from last year to set our condo up the night before. We took a family photo together as her last night being a 1-year old. Zoe got to see her dad before he left for work, and she also noticed the balloons and knew immediately that it was a special day for her.
I sent her off to school (aka daycare) as usual because I wanted her to be able to celebrate with her friends. I packed a goodie bag for each kid (all bought from Target: birthday cones, toy cars, mini bubbles, and individually packed animal crackers). I became that mom packing birthday favors for kids the night before; but, I'd like to believe that the kids enjoyed their little presents.
The following day, I had planned an outdoor party for her at Colonial Park that provides a shaded picnic area and quick access to the playground. For a while, the weather forecast was a real kicker because it kept forecasting a 70-90% chance of rain, especially for that morning. I had to come up with plan B (at the recreation center in our condo but was not my preference) and was prepared to switch location at the last minute. Lo and behold, I check outside at 7am and there is the sun ☀! Somehow, the forecast completely changed overnight, and we ended up expecting full sunshine almost the whole day. And Houston made sure to not disappoint us by providing a very humid Saturday morning that made us sweaty 10 minutes into it.
Something you should know about Zoe is that she is obsessed with boots these days, so the quintessential 2-year old self wore boots on her own before the parents even had a chance to interject. I ended up bringing a separate pair of shoes that are a little more playground-friendly.
Her cake was panda-themed to reflect her long-time love for her panda doll (technically, a Wubanub, a pacifier-attached doll) as was made by Moeller's Bakery. Breakfast was catered by La Madeleine.
For future reference, I should have started the gift-opening part sooner because after spending a good hour at the playground with her friend + the infamous Houston heat, Zoe was pretty tired by the time. She was still a good sport about it and really enjoyed opening her birthday gifts. Our friends and family were so generous with their gifts and thoughts to her whether they were there at the party or sent from afar - we thank you so much!
That afternoon, after a glorious nap (why is a kid's birthday party so exhausting?!), we made a trip to Cavender's to fulfill Z's biggest goal for Zoe - to get her legit Cowboy boots. Well, let's just say going to a boots store was heaven for her, and she may never take off these boots this year. More tantrums for me to deal with. 😉
We really couldn't ask for a better way to celebrate her birthday. And I know a lot of these earlier birthday celebrations are really for parents' memories until the kids grow old enough to remember these events. But, my heart is full knowing that we were able to truly celebrate this time that is not just Zoom and that my girl got to do all her favorite things with her favorite people that weekend.
May your life be full of love and joy, our little one. Thank you for being born and bringing so much happiness to everyone around you.
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