Well, it happened.
My baby became a kid.
Stephen's parents flew in for the birthday weekend and we started celebrations with some pancakes. It quickly became apparent that Ivy does not like fire.
But she does like presents. As she sat down to open her gifts she said, "Okay! Here I go!" which is her longest string of words ever. She was either really good at faking enthusiasm or genuinely excited about everything she received, including the socks that I purchased to make my Gap.com order total eligible for free shipping.
We spent the afternoon at the zoo, cause, you know, it was a day that ends in "y". We're at the zoo all. The. Time. As we pulled into the parking lot Ivy said, "Monkey, lion, quack quack," quack quack referring to the geese and peacocks that roam the grounds. Ivy chased a peacock for a good ten minutes, and we fed half a bag of popcorn to the geese. We also saw a baby leopard, performing sea lions, and zip-lining monkeys. Mary and Phil (the Walter parents) took Ivy for a ride on the carousel, a real birthday miracle, and I have one million pictures of their blurry faces on the back of a ceramic cheetah, like so:
It was a short visit for Mary and Phil who flew home that evening, and Stephen, Ivy and I spent the rest of the night watching Brave and eating popcorn.
The next day, her actual birthday, we had my aunt, uncle and cousins over for dinner and cake. They have kept us alive and nourished these past two and a half years with Sunday dinners at their house, and we decided it was finally time to return the favor so they joined us in our shoebox apartment. But because I am apparently incapable of photographing anything or anyone beyond my child, I have no proof that guests were actually in attendance.
Anyway. Here's the cake. It's a frog. My vision of what I wanted the cake to be was a lot less sloppy, but my vision didn't account for my lack of piping bags and tips.
Still afraid of the candle flames, this is as close as she would get.
Two years ago, when I was waiting for Ivy's arrival, I'd take long walks around the neighborhood to try and jolt my body into labor. Everyday I listened to "She's a Rainbow" and everyday I grew more excited (read: unbelievably anxious, irritable, and impatient) to meet my baby girl. When she finally did make her appearance, she did not disappoint.
I can't believe it's been two years. I can't believe this sweet kid is mine.
