My special little guy is two years old. How did this happen?! Even though I see him every.single.day, he has REALLY grown this past month or two. Sometimes I look at him and do a double take, he grows so damn fast! He comes all the way up to my waist! He’s 34 1/2″ tall now, almost 3 feet! He weighs 27 lbs. He wears size 6 diapers and shoes. When I hold him on my hip, his legs seem to dangle on forever. This is all a far cry from the 15″ he was when he was born. I remember he was exactly the length of my forearm, from elbow to wrist. Insane!

Jack's party location

He’s made several new little friends this past year, and I was originally going to have the party at our house, but when I started looking at the guest list I kind of freaked out and thought we wouldn’t have room. We have a big house, but it’s all spread out everywhere, and the limit to people congregating in my kitchen is probably about 6-8. Since we invited way more than that, including a bunch of rowdy kids, we changed the venue at the last minute to Broken Arrow Park in Lawrence. I’ve always hated that park, but Brian found a hidden playground and shelter on the north side of the park that I have never seen before, and it was perfect.

We had about 26 adults show up, and about 10 kids or more! It was a great turnout and loads of fun. (We… ummm… we were late getting there, and a couple of our guests were there waiting for us for about 10 minutes. We really do suck with time. It’s truly awful.) But we apologized profusely, quickly set everything up and grilled some burgers and dogs.

It was a great day. Plenty of room for everyone, and a great playground for all the kids. I gave them all goody bags filled with fun things and sidewalk chalk, so they all had plenty to do. The weather was a BIT chillier than I was hoping for, but the rain thankfully held off, and that was the big thing!

DJ Lance cake and accompanying pals

Everyone loved the cake and cupcakes I made. Heh heh. It’s not like they were some grand creation— I just followed some instructions over on Nick Jr.’s website. (<!– begin mini rant –> even though the instructions suck and oh my god, if you ever make these, do NOT try to use taffy like all of them suggest, working with taffy is AWFUL! Learn how to make and roll fondant, it’ll save you hours and hours of frustration! </ end mini rant> )

But it was pretty awesome, even I have to admit. DJ Lance’s hat is actually coconut. Some people thought it might be shredded cheese. Whaaaa…?! Ew! The cupcakes are of course the rest of the Yo Gabba Gabba gang: Foofa, Brobee, Toodee, Plex, Muno. (By the way, Brian did half of this! He’s awesome and I have learned he’s a great little decorator. This will come in handy for the future!)

I’m going to have to keep topping myself, too, because I’ve created a monster and now all my friends expect great things from me. EEEK! My friend Stacy said, and I quote:

“She is going to make us all look inadequate. She is the Martha Stewart of KS only cooler and better rap sheet…”

I had to tell her I wasn’t sure the rap sheet part was ENTIRELY accurate. *snort* And the only thing I have in common with Martha Stewart is that most people who meet her think she’s a bitch. HEH.

So yeah. I’m going to have to do something amazing every year now! *BIG DRAMATIC SIGH* (Just kidding. I love it that people think I’m capable of great things. )

Jack especially! His reaction made it worth it. He’d stand up on his little chair and watch us decorating it and would smile and smile. SO CUTE!

And he had sooooooooooo much fun at the party! In all honesty, I was really surprised by him. Usually whenever people are around (especially a LOT of people), he’s quite shy and tends to shadow me pretty closely, mostly insisting on me picking him up. But on that day, he was a little social butterfly! He mingled with all of his mini guests, playing with all of them for a bit. He came over and checked with me every 30-45 minutes or so, but I barely saw him! I couldn’t believe it. It was almost like he was saying “Look, mom, I’m two now, and I’m way too cool to be hanging out with you all day.” I was so proud of him.

His Aunt Kelly followed him around and snapped a bunch of cute photos for me.

Love this one

Wow, that's a long ways up! (He climbed it, too!)

Hangin' out on the slide

Chuckling

Pushing the wagon his great Aunt Lynn gave him

Playing with Jenne, who was also there two years ago on his actual birth day!

Sometimes when I’m relaxing at night after Brian gets home and Jack is on my lap cuddling with me, I think “I am THE luckiest woman on the face of the earth.” And I really do believe it. My heart just bursts with love when I think about it. These past two years have been the absolute best, despite the scary beginning and all the resulting drama.

There’s been a lot of crap I’ve had to deal with over the years, and I’ve carried around a lot of baggage because of it. But I feel like I’ve been (mostly) successful at shrugging it off. It’s done and there’s really nothing I can do about it any of it now.

Yesterday is history, Tomorrow’s a mystery. Today is a gift; that’s
why they call it “the present”. — Unknown

Happy little guy

The only thing that matters now is my little family. I’ll take everything I’ve learned (good and bad) from my own past and use that knowledge to help me provide this little boy with a secure home with two present, stable, and loving parents in a healthy marriage and a fun, happy childhood. That’s ALL that matters to me. It’s my #1 priority.

Just look at his little face. I think I am succeeding so far, don’t you?! And all the joy that he feels? I’m proud that I (we) are the cause of that. <3