Three

It's official -- we are now living with a 3 year old! It's been one week since he turned 3, and what a week it has been. Warning: this is a long post with lots of photos!

Oliver's Birthday
We woke him up with a great Monday-morning edition of the Happy Birthday song, a decorated door and two bundles of balloons. We didn't get a shot of him in front of his door, but I managed to sneak one in (he moved the balloons to the living room) quick before we had to leave for work:

I'm 3!

Oma had mentioned the week before that she had plans to bake cupcakes with Oliver for his birthday. He likes to help in the kitchen and especially likes to mix, and she sent us photos of their making his birthday treats:

Mixing is one of his favorite things!

I think after this cupcake Oma frosted and let Oliver do the sprinkles.

Opa took off work a little early to have some extra time with Oliver before we picked him up, which I think they both enjoyed. On our way home, Oliver crashed and didn't wake up when we brought him inside (a rarity -- he usually wakes right up when we get home). While Tony was ready to let him sleep through the night, I just couldn't let the first birthday we got to spend together look like this:

We agreed to get his presents out and try waking him. If he still wouldn't get up, I would give in and we'd celebrate on Tuesday. I guess the presents did it, as he perked right up! 

After gifts we had a fun dinner, featuring a few Oliver approved items (pepperoni pizza, corn on the cob, cupcake and ice cream). There was time to play with his new toy, then bath and his new firetruck jammies. I savored the family time and the opportunity to spend Oliver's birthday with him this year, and think he had a pretty good day too.

The Unexpected
Something I wasn't expecting on Oliver's birthday -- how difficult it was for me to:
1) not spend the whole day with him;
2) not be the one making a birthday treat with him;
3) not making him a treat at all for his birthday (I thought I would be okay just having the cupcakes he made earlier in the day as the birthday treat, but discovered that it really bothered me to not have a Mommy-made or Mommy-and-Oliver-made birthday dessert for our family celebration);
4) think about the first three birthdays of his life (the day he was welcomed into the world, his big traditional first birthday party and his second birthday). What we missed, how those in his life before us might be feeling on his 3rd birthday, how Oliver might be missing those that came before us.

I had expected to just be over-the-moon happy without any conflicting emotions, but it was actually a really hard day for me. It might have been the first day I cried at work because I missed him so much. I'll admit I had unrealistic expectations of being able to do all sorts of fun birthday things with him when in reality we only have 2-3 hours with him at night. There were things I had thought I could let go of, be okay with, etc., but in the end I found it too hard. I do hope that some of the grieving I seem to experience on holidays eases as time passes. I also hope Oliver doesn't struggle with grief on these occasions as he gets older, too.

Oliver's Birthday Party
Back to happier topics! To celebrate Oliver's birthday we held a small party at our house. In June we asked Oliver what kind of party he wanted -- trains or emergency vehicles (two of his favorite things) -- and he chose trains. My mom, stepfather, niece and nephew all came up for the occasion, and we had a few close family members and friends over Saturday morning. The weather didn't cooperate as it was extremely humid and drizzled off and on (the party was outside, though we did have a couple of canopy tents), but we managed.

I'll admit that I got a bit caught up in all of the pinterest ideas. As I am not naturally very crafty and creative, though, I didn't get too crazy with the train theme. We also wanted to keep things simple for Oliver so he could just have fun. We didn't have any structured games (but did have some coloring and activity pages around for folks to color), we just let the kids play and the adults chat. Oliver had a blast! He loves other kids and really enjoyed getting to play. We of course had time to open some gifts (he had fun with that part, and was blessed with some fun and incredible gifts), and finished up with cake, cookies and ice cream. 

Our snacks table featured an Animal Car, Spare Parts Car,
Candy Car, Coal Car, Log Car and Produce Car

One big area of concern was the cake: we needed enough to feed nearly two dozen people (so more than just a 9x13 cake); custom-made cakes are pretty expensive (and we weren't having a Thomas the Tank Engine Party, so the standard and less expensive character cakes wouldn't work); and I was feeling pressure to have a homemade cake (mostly pressure from myself). With some encouragement from my friend, Becca, a lot of encouragement/help/work/guidance from my mom, and one late night of decorating we had a train cake for the party!

Train Coming Out of Tunnel - First Attempt at a Creative Birthday Cake

I also ordered some custom sugar cookies, which turned out pretty cute:

I know Tony captured some great shots with the real camera, but I don't have those yet. Here are a few photos taken from various phones:

 

He couldn't wait for the song to finish before blowing out the candles.
Thanks, Nana, for holding him up!

 Oliver did great both at the party and all afternoon. He had so much fun and has since asked for more train party! I owe a big THANK YOU to those who helped make the party a success, from loaning items to helping set up / clean up, and everything in between. Thank you!

While this wasn't the first birthday of Oliver's that Tony and I celebrated (see here for his first birthday and here for his second), having the birthday boy here in person is a lot more fun!  

Cool Cut
It's amazing to me how many ways Oliver "takes after" Tony and I. With no biological connection and with minimal behavioral influences, he joined our family with traits that are easily identifiable as "just like Mommy" (he likes to clean and likes to line things up) or "just like Daddy" (he likes to take big bites and he seems to like golf). One trait he and Tony unfortunately share: they both get hot and start sweating super fast. I can still be cool and wanting a long sleeved shirt and they will both have beads of sweat forming at their hairline! Oliver's hair is so thick, and we've been trying to keep it thinned and somewhat short. A month or so ago I told Tony that as soon as our family photos and his birthday party were over, we could get Oliver's hair buzzed. Sunday morning found us at the kid's haircut place and I nervously asked for a close cut. The results are far cuter than I had expected! I sure hope this helps him stay a bit cooler!