Two

Today was Ellie's 2nd birthday party! What an amazing thing to think about. It was two years ago now that Sarahlynn spent the night laboring; two years ago that we drove down to the hospital in the morning -- despite my insisting that we should just wait until Sarahlynn's 12:00 OB appointment. (Ellie would have been born in our bed if we'd tried waiting!) Two years ago that I got to watch Ellie be born; and got to call all of our friends and family and brag about her birth.

Time really is a weird thing -- relative in more ways, of course, than Einstein tells us. It seems so long ago. Ellie's been through open-heart surgery. She's learned to eat. She's learned to say "Mom" and "Dad," among her plethora of other words! She's learned to roll over, sit up, crawl, stand, and (almost) walk. She's potty training! She's already been all over the eastern 2/3rds of the country: from Wyoming to New Orleans to Chicago to Boston and Disney World!

Well, today was Ellie's birthday party. Along with tradition (sort of), Ellie got to invite two of her friends from school. We also invited family friend, Oliver, who isn't even 1 yet.

Sarahlynn came up with the most amazing cake this year: Dora the Explorer's Backpack.
A little back story here. Sarahlynn comes from a family where birthday cakes are a big deal. They're always representative of some major event from the latest year of the celebrant's life. So, one summer, her family went on a big white water rafting trip. So, one cake, that year, was iced with blue ripples of frosting, tipped with white caps; a brown shoreline; celery stalks for trees along the banks; little rafts from Tootsie-Rolls; and half-grapes to represent little floating helmets that had fallen out the rafts! Amazing.

Sarahlynn certainly out did herself and lived up to family tradition with Ellie's cake:


My wife's amazing! It's no wonder my daughter's so great!