THORA TURNS THREE

As of this past weekend, our Thora is three. How did this happen so quickly? Blink. From fitting in the palm of my hand to tearing through the house singing about the potty. Can I say, so far I'm in love with three. Yes, let's sing everything! And pretend everything! Oh, you are a lion? R O A R.

And when a birthday of this magnitude comes around, you celebrate. It does not matter that you just had the floors redone and all of your furniture is stacked in the basement and kitchen (more on that later). Let's stay up late and put it away, on tiptoe, don't wake her up. Call the bakery, alert some close friends and order the balloons.

Make no mistake, this wasn't all spur of the moment. My brain churns with ideas and plans and irrational thoughts at all times. It's exhausting! So although I had days to throw it together, I knew what I wanted. I bookmarked that Oh Joy! party collection for Target ages ago. And I'd been working on a very special gift for months that I was DYING to present. In many ways, her birthday couldn't come fast enough.

The night before I got to set the stage. I was so excited to do this. Putting together the vision, seeing it come to life, is almost more fun than the party itself. I hung balloons, draped the tablecloth, pulled out the cake stand and set up this little vignette of gifts. That dollhouse right there is my blood, sweat and tears (and I promise a post all about it). I couldn't wait for her to wake up!

Of course, what she saw first is that giant No.3. And it kind of freaked her out. As in, stopped dead in her tracks and would not budge. It took quite a bit of coaxing from us to get her to walk into the room.

Of course, eventually she did.

The dollhouse was well-received! And here is where Mommy collapses to the floor in a giant sigh of relief and complete bliss. In the distance she hears a soft voice saying over and over "soooo tiny..."

We spent the morning playing with the dollhouse, getting dressed and cleaning up. I stopped often just to stare, amazed at the little lady she has become. So independent already. And she is happy. She is happy! Then we had her favorite lunch, peanut butter and jelly, and off to nap. Because that afternoon was her party!

The cake was red velvet from Hopkins Street Bakery in Berkeley. It was yum! And I am happy to report Thora took a bite. This child has been presented with countless cakes, cupcakes and cookies and had never put one in her mouth until this cake. I credit her friend Jonah for showing her the way.

The spread was a minimal variety of snacks. Cheese, crackers, olives, mini quiche, mini pizzas, fruits, veggies, easy peasy. We had sparkling water and beers. The most important part was good friends. I'm sure I've mentioned before we do not have family nearby. Friends are everything and they are voices to sing.

And man, does this girl like it when people sing her Happy Birthday! (Side note: This was technically Thora's second party for her third birthday. While the floors were being refinished, she and I headed to Laguna and celebrated there with her MiMi, Uncle Pete and his gf Yvette. If it isn't obvious, this is one lucky girl. She also Skyped with her Grandma and Grandpa in Illinois. Lots of singing. All around.)

Cake-eating evidence.

Presents! This girl loves her some Daniel Tiger and man, was she psyched to get her own trolley!

Admittedly, she still has not fully embraced the joy of ripping open some wrapping. This is how it usually goes—I follow her around saying "Thora! Look!" and somehow I do most of the work. It's okay, I know this will all change soon. And she was truly thankful for everything she received. We are blessed, there is no doubt.

These two.

I swear.

That night it took forever for her to fall asleep. Girl was wound up from the fun and festivities, so was I frankly. And when she finally conked out, Mike and I sat on the couch together with big pieces of cake and smiles on our faces too.

Happy Birthday my love!

THORA'S 2ND BIRTHDAY » RAINBOWS AND PINWHEELS

Last week this little family packed up all of their essentials and hopped on a plane to Chicago. We were on a mission to celebrate! To see family that we've missed ever so. And friends too, beloved long-time friends, the kind of friends you grew up with, the kind you can't make in adulthood. And their offspring.

It was Thora's second birthday afterall.

My child has thankfully not connected with any characters yet, no princesses, no Trademarks. It's a blessing for me because it means I get to keep on decorating at my whim. She does like crayons though, and paint and chalk. She's a coloring machine so obviously what's more colorful than a rainbow? Not to mention, easy to whip out with two days of local shopping before the big day.

My poor mother. Upon arrival at my parent's house in Rockford, I unloaded upon my poor mother my frantic, anxiety-riddled need to prepare for this party. It was Go! Go! Go! until the moment guests arrived. Plus Thora was dealing with the two-hour time change and, I realized when we got home, the arrival of one of her two-year molars. Needless to say, she was grumps. Mike and I tossed her back and forth like a football and when I was off-duty, my mother and I were driving across town hitting up Target, Part City, Hobby Lobby, Logli... oh I'm exhausted just thinking about it. She probably wanted to kill me too because I was being P-I-C-K-Y.

But it paid off! In the end, we managed to represent all colors of the rainbow, ROYGBIV style, and create a wonderland in the middle of my parent's sunroom. When Thora woke up from her nap that day, she was pretty psyched. My anxiety lifted, her joy was all I needed.

My folks have these amazing windows and we filled the center with paper fans and gift bags all in a row beneath. Oops, we forgot purple. Do not look behind the curtain. Moving on!

The gift bags each came with a pinwheel—which if you ever need cute pinwheels, Hobby Lobby is THE place—bubbles, a sketchbook and a pack of Crayola Washable crayons. These are a must! I would never unleash any other crayon on my friends or their cabinets, walls and carseats.

Speaking of crayons. To the right of this rainbow explosion we set up a little crayon table, Pinterest style. Each color filled a mason jar and I set out placemat pages to color on. I wanted something nice and generic for this but in my time crunch grabbed these Jake and the something or other Pirates pages. In the end I realized this detail was insignificant. The kids would have drawn on toilet paper for all they cared. Pirates or princesses or whatever, this crayon station became the hub of the party. Success!

We kept the food pretty minimal: a bunch of cheeses with crackers and bread, some nuts, Mrs. Fishers chips (gotta represent!) and these fruit kabobs, also a Pinterest idea. These turned out cute and they were all gone by the end of the party. We also had juice boxes and mini-milks, water and pop for the adults. I avoided candies, cookies and things because I considered the cake itself enough of a sugar bomb.

The cake, sigh... a Pinterest failure. I had ambitions about making the famous rainbow cake. You know the one, the white cake that teeters on 6 lovely layers of color, only revealed upon cutting. It's a sensation, a marvel! And from what I heard, time-consuming as all get out. Yeah, I don't live there. Absorbing the mantra, Accept the Things You Can Not Change, I trudged to the grocery store to order the least-offensive cake they had. And we were all more than happy. It was yum! And only kind of ugly.

Now for a slew of blissful chaos that was the time had by many toddlers, friends, grandparents, cousins, uncles, aunts and one birthday girl:

What am I taking away from this experience?

• That kids all together in a gaggle is the cutest sight the world over
• Don't overthink activities. These children are creative and find fun in simply being in a new place
• You don't have to spend a lot, or craft a lot, in order to make a memorable event
• When throwing a party together quickly, don't shop around. Buy now and avoid multiple trips
• There is nothing wrong with cake from the grocery store
• If you can, aim to have a 10-year old cousin on hand. My nephew Ethan was the best ringleader, entertaining with bubbles and a fantastic sugar-burning game of chase.

I hope you had a wonderful second birthday, my pickle. I think you did! And although you still do not care about opening presents and only had two bites of birthday cake, you looked like you were having the best time. xoxo...

THORA'S 1ST BIRTHDAY » YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE

This past weekend was Thora's second birthday and in light of such a milestone, I started going through old photos. I pulled up pics from her first birthday party, all graciously shot by our dear friend and amazing photographer Aubrie Pick, and am blown away. These kids really really grow so fast. Last year she barely had hair! She had just started crawling. I remember feeling like it took forever for her to become mobile. I worried whether I should worry. The constant teething made her such a drooler. Her blue eyes dominated her face, still do actually. And her world was (is) full of wonder, which made (makes) my world full of it too.

Life was hectic, our new norm. And at the time we barely came up for air. But we needed to celebrate. Even if that meant pulling a rabbit out of a hat, which we did, and hopefully we made it look easy. I decided on Your Are My Sunshine as the theme because that was the song I sang every night... when I used to rock her to sleep. See, that has changed too! I still sometimes sing it in her ear on the way to bed. I love it so.

Going along with the theme, and considering none of our attending friends had little kids, we decided to do a brunch. Nothing terribly sophisticated, just enough to entertain adults and impress a one-year old. Mike illustrated the invite based on some quick iphone shots for reference and I designed it. We had it printed locally at PS Print, they have amazing deals on postcards, and paired it with a yellow envelope.

I remember sweating over her outfit, running around looking for the perfect, adorable yet equally affordable, something. I was surprised that I chose a dress, considering I am very casual by nature, but this little blue number called out to me from across the mall. (Shh, it was from The Children's Place. But doesn't it look like Janie & Jack?) This was also the debut of her first pair of Salt-Water sandals, size 4 and too big for her at the time.

All decor was relegated to the dining room, a manageable space. Literally the day before Thora, myself and both grandmas ran around town, gobbling up anything yellow we could find. We ordered polka dot balloons, bought streamers, placemats, tablecloths, flatware... if it was yellow it was ours. In my usual frantic pace, determined to have something hand-made for her party, I whipped up the Happy Birthday bunting in record time: design letters on the computer, print, cut out circles, layer onto craft paper times two, string together with ribbon, done and done.

The cake... the cake! The cake was made by our friend Siobhan, a pastry chef. I really wanted the ombre look so we decided on yellow to white. Inside was a vanilla cake with two different fillings: one was chocolate and carmel, the other vanilla and mango. To die! The frosting is all buttercream.

I had lofty ideas for the food but instead settled on Costco muffins and quiche. Ha! Mike is the cook in our house (I'm generally useless in the kitchen) so he made the roasted potatoes and biscuits. My mom made her tried and true deviled eggs and my girlfriend Melissa, who always seems to save my ass when I'm in a pickle, sent us the Edible Arrangement.

Thora, not so great at opening presents. Confused is a word I might use? So Mommy did all the heavy lifting and Little T did her best to feign interest. Sigh...

She'd rather be swung by Daddy.

After presents we gathered around the little lady, all strapped in her chair and thoroughly perplexed. We sang her Happy Birthday, even Grandpa who was on Skype, then presented her with a little cake all her own.

Alas, you can lead a babe to water, but you cannot make them eat birthday cake.

They say that once your child hits one, she is no longer a baby. I remember that thought ringing in my ears throughout the day. We relished those final moments with our baby and did our best to welcome her to toddlerhood. That face there at the end, we call that Squares! Happy to say Squares! has not changed, not one little bit and she still does it all the time.

I'm in the middle of editing her second birthday party pics, a rainbow party and can't wait to share them here. She still has not grasped the greatness that is opening presents, but she did eat two bites of cake!