A friend of ours, mother extraordainaire to two awesome little ones, just launched a new website and adventure for herself.
If you live in or near Middlebury VT or are visiting, check out this awesome site. Its’s got all the happenings for local families of what’s happening around town, a calendar of events, a guide for summer camps, great playgrounds and places to play and more.
Such a great idea that I will be using a lot.
Congrats, E!
Happy, happy birthday to Jackson and Gray. My two favorite people in the world.
(photo: Orchard Cove Photography)
Though all party guests promised to not bring a present and we begged family to keep G’s presents to a minimum (the child literally does not need a thing), somehow he woke up on his birthday morning with a LOT of presents.
With efficiency on our mind, we decided to sit down and just open all of them. Thank you, to everyone who made Gray’s birthday so special.
But I think we made a mistake in opening them all at once. Because Gray doesn’t get random presents, they are a BIG deal and he was SO excited to open them! But I noticed something after a few…it was almost like he became a bit desensitized to them, getting less excited then he would’ve if he had only opened that particular present.
Jackson and I didn’t even end up giving him our presents (a mini rake and a wagon), which we’re saving for a rainy day.
So for Christmas and next year’s birthday, we’ve got a new plan. Only a few presents on his birthday, and holding onto the rest to open one at a time. Yes, this will prolong the thank you note process, but I think he’ll appreciate each present a lot more.
Any other tips or advice on how to handle birthday presents?
I made these cupcakes for G & J’s birthday party, substituting canola oil for olive oil and adding some flax seeds.
They were all gone, so they couldn’t have been too bad!
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup local honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg
4 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup very finely grated carrots
Preheat oven to 325 and line muffin tins with papers. Stir or sift together the flour through nutmeg. In a separate bowl combine honey, vanilla, applesauce, oil and egg. Add carrots and wet mixture to flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Divide batter among 5 tins. Bake at 325 for about 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.
Frosting:
Directions:
Beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.
I highly recommend either marrying a great photographer or befriending one.
I’m lucky to have both.
When we invited our good friend Amanda to Gray’s birthday party, we hoped she’d come, eat a cupcake or two, hang out and have fun. But I couldn’t hide my happiness when she walked in, carrying her big honking camera, and offered to take a photo or two.
Her photos are honest, easygoing, gorgeous, and special. I’ll post a few of my favorites, like this one, and here’s a few more on Amanda’s blog.
I once worked with a woman who invited 200 people and created a faux Paris in her backyard, complete with a mini Eiffel tower, a caricature artist, a mime, a band, and mini french bistro tables and chairs for her daughter’s second birthday party.
Wow.
While I wildly respect her creativity and gumption, I’ll never be that mom.
Gray and Jackson share a birthday, and every year my goal is to make it the best, most fun day and party. I spent weeks, (months) brainstorming foods, activities, decorations, presents and more.
But then it hit me. Their party should be about them, and what they love.
And suddenly the planning got a whole lot easier.
Food? Gray and Jackson’s favorite snacks (which ironically are very similar). Yogurt, string cheese, pirate’s booty, grapes, honey bunnies and strawberries, grilled pizza, chocolate milk, cheese & crackers and more.
Activities? I scoured Pinterest and other websites looking for fun games for Gray and his little buddies. But then I realized that he’s two. TWO. I didn’t need to kill myself coming up with creative activities, and instead got some of Gray’s favorite things…tons of balloons, a craft table with markers and crayons to draw, bubbles and tons of balls, which we covered the yard with and invited kids to take home as a favor.
And the sweet treat for the birthday candles? Healthy carrot cake cupcakes (recipe to follow). I also made chocolate cupcakes for everyone else and filled them with Gray’s other favorite thing…tractors, bulldozers, and construction workers digging.
Four years ago when we were planning our wedding, we wanted a special place, good music, food, and our favorite people.
The same is true of your two-year old’s birthday party. It just needs to include favorite things, friends and food.
Perhaps the best present Gray received for his birthday…a song, written and sang for him, from our very good friend Jim.
Jim agreed to sign away legal rights to the song and allowed me to post this here, so all royalties will go into Gray’s college fund and we hope he doesn’t change his mind.
What a wonderful gift.
(*editorial note…sorry for the shaking. the camerawoman couldn’t hold it together and was laughing too hard.)
I’d like to pause for a moment to look back two years and one month ago.
I was pregnant, overdue but still comfortable, thinking about Bundle. I ended up going almost three weeks past my due-date, and the bigger my belly, the more I looked forward to my maternity leave and summer with this little babe…picnics at the lake, long walks, napping under a big umbrella, reading in the hammock…we did it all. That spring and summer were, not to be cheesy, magical. Though he didn’t sleep through the night, Gray did just about everything else that made life pretty easy, in retrospect…he stayed wherever we put him (and would usually just fall asleep), smile at passersby, hang out in the sling while we went out to dinner, and just take in the world around him.
One year ago, we suddenly found ourselves living with a toddler…walking, yammering, thankfully sleeping through the night but with no consistency, eating everything and still our sweet baby. He stayed in his stroller without the straps, couldn’t run very fast, and started to really love being outside.
And this year? Let me tell you, life has certainly changed. Gray seemed to wake up on his birthday, realize he was two, and decide to act the part. Suddenly Gray picks out his breakfast, clothes, snacks, books, activities and everything else. ‘Idoit my-seff’ seems to be the catch phrase around our house these days, and we’re learning to allow extra time to get ready before we have to leave the house so that Gray’s little independent spirit can figure it all out.
He insists on climbing into both his stroller and carseat himself, decides on what he’d like to eat and what glass (long gone are the safe sippy cups) he’d like to drink from. He’s up at 5:30am and ready to GO (though we do sincerely appreciate that we don’t hear a peep out of him all night), jumping in his crib and throwing everything out of it.
He’s two…TWO! How did that happen? Since the day Gray was born people have told us to enjoy every moment because it goes so fast, and it’s true. Two years have gone by in a flash and when I watch Gray standing at his bureau, trying to decide between his airplane shirt and his ‘bluuuu’ shirt, I’m blown away that little Bundle has the wherewithal to pick out his own outfits.
Those carefree easygoing days of yesteryear have long since passed, and though we loved Baby Gray, Two-Year Old Gray is a flipping blast. I have loved every single moment of his first two years, and am so excited for what lies ahead.
Every time someone asks me how we’re doing, I tell them that I’ve never been happier.
It just keeps getting better.
Sorry to be out of touch…sometimes, to soak up everything that’s happening, you have to put your computer away and just be present.
So that’s what I did.
With all the craziness leading up to Gray and Jackson’s birthday(s), family in town, party planning and trying to take a moment to be here, I unplugged.
Usually I write to process what’s happening in my world, in our days, but the last few weeks I’ve wanted to just be here 100%, without looking down to type something away on my phone or computer. I just wanted to be here.
Because our baby, Bundle, turned two. And that is just insane.
But I’m back now, with birthday updates, weeks of questions, and so much to say.
Probably too much.
I just got to see a friend’s dream come true…something he’d wanted his whole life.
And it was good.
It’s pretty amazing to think that what Gray dreams about becoming right now could lead his path in life. How amazing to truly follow your heart, stick it out, and get there.
For Gray I guess that would mean being a firefighter and/or cheese-taster.
Either way, I will wholeheartedly support his little dreams in the hope they become big ones, like our friend’s did tonight.
Congratulations, C.
Happy Mother’s Day, to me. This little man has brought more happiness into my life in his two short years than I ever could’ve imagined.
I’ve had a really incredible life. Great family, amazing friends, fantastic education, jobs, and travels. Not to mention my ridiculously wonderful husband. I’ve felt lucky, and happy, my whole life.
But my world changed at this exact moment…when I became a mom.
Nothing can prepare you and no one can explain the heart-pounding primal love you feel for your child the moment they arrive. It is a force that goes so far beyond the label ‘love’ that it’s almost laughable to use that word to describe how I feel about Gray, as it extends so far beyond the love I’ve felt before.
There are millions of theories and ideas about how to parent well and clashing debates recently in the media about how to raise a confident, smart, successful child. The Tiger Mom, ‘Bringing Up Bebe’, the cover of this week’s Time and ensuing discussion about attachment parenting, the viral video of Alicia Silverstone feeding her baby from her mouth, Don’t Carpe Diem…the list of other people’s opinions about how to raise your baby is endless.
For me, it comes down to one thing. My love for this boy. Every decision is based on that. Sure, he came into our life (and not the other way around) but with my newish title of Mom, the best thing I can do is to keep Gray happy, healthy and curious about the world around him.
I could read endless books about what we ‘should’ be doing, but for me it always comes back to our gut instincts. It isn’t always easy, it’s never perfect, and just when we think we’ve figured something out, it changes. But instead of looking out, we look in.
That is the best thing I can do as Gray’s mom. We don’t ask others what to do…we rely on our love for this little person who is half Jackson and half me to guide us through this crazy thing called parenthood, and we do the best we can.
From day one we’ve realized nothing was going to happen as we had planned, from sleeping to nursing to bottles to diapers to everything. And that’s okay. That’s amazing, actually.
Because Gray is Gray, and no one can tell us how to love and care for him except us.
Gray’s arrival marked the happiest moment of my entire life, and on this Mother’s Day, I finally know what true happiness and luck feel like.
Happy Mother’s Day, to me and to all the Mothers out there. We’re doing a good job.
1 note