This is 2

Miss P turned 2 the other day. I am close to my due date with her little brother so we assumed our families wouldn’t be able to make the trip to join us, since they’d come visit after the baby was born. But some family came into town to celebrate with us regardless, which was a really nice surprise. (It’s one of the perks of having a big giant lovable Italian family: even when you don’t live close to them, they still make it happen.)

So Miss P basically had a 3-day bender filled with cupcakes, cake, presents, a gazillion renditions of “Happy Birthday”, and lots of love.

(The poster came from a local store here in Charlotte called “Brilliant Sky”. It was around $15 and you color it/fill it all in yourself.)

(Also, you know you have a decorating problem that may possibly run through your bloodline when you open your daughter’s door in the morning to show her the birthday streamers you hung, and she yells: “Look mama! Drapes!”)

These pics were from her actual birthday, when she got to have cake and cupcakes (made by Gigi), cookies (made by Mima), and dinner with Gigi, Pop Pop, Mima, Uncle Mikey, and of course, me and Greg. (Bonus points for Gigi who held that owl cake in front of the AC throughout a 6 hour car ride from Florida, saving it from melting and being decapitated.)

My mom saved that “2” candle holder from my second birthday, and brought it with her on the 12 hour train ride from NY.

Miss P also got to have gelato with “Uncle Mikey” (Greg’s twin brother), a date she has been patiently waiting for and talking about FOR MONTHS.

We LOVE Va Da Vie Gelato here in Charlotte. They make REAL gelato using local, seasonal ingredients, so the flavors always change, and this time they had strawberry – which means they came through big time since Miss P had been asking for strawberry for her date with Uncle Mikey.

OH, and let’s not forget the giant bear that made it home with us, from Costco. Normally if we are in a store and Penelope asks to see something, I let her play with it until we are ready to leave, at which point we say “bye bye!” to said toy and put it back where it belongs. I assumed that’s what we were going to do with this giant bear.

But lo and behold, we neared the checkout and Greg started loading it onto the Costco conveyor belt.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I said. He looked at me, with the word S-U-C-K-E-R stamped right onto his forehead, and said:

“But it’s her birthday tomorrow!”

So, here we are. The guests have gone, we have an official 2-year old on our hands, and apparently, we adopted a giant stuffed bear. We are one big happy family.