Ian is 2!

I cannot believe it, but my baby is two!!!  

I always hear parents say how fast time goes by, but now that I am a parent myself, I understand just what they were talking about!!  It is crazy to think that it has already been two years since this miraculous little love entered the world.  He brought endless amounts of love and joy with him, and I have loved every minute I have had with him in it.  

For me, having a newborn was both thrilling and enchanting.  

Having a toddler was exciting as we watched his personality start to develop, and to see all the new things he could do and was learning.  

And now, I am very excited to see what joy having a two year old will bring into my life!

CHEESE!!!!

But before I get into telling you all about the birthday celebrating that went on, I just wanted to show you something.

This was my little man on his first birthday.

This was him on his second birthday.

Notice anything similar?
Yes, at two years old he is still able to wear the same size 12 month shirt that we bought for him last year=)  The sleeves no longer go clear to his elbows and it was a little shorter at the waist, but it still fit just fine.  Gotta love that little man of mine!!!

Now onto the celebrating...

We celebrate birthdays BIG in our house, and as Ian is the center of our lives, his birthday was no exception.  The day he was born is certainly something to be celebrated, so we tried to make it fun and exciting.

As do most 2 year old boys I know, Ian loves cars, trucks, tractors, trains - basically any automobile or mode of transportation.  Well, we got the idea from a friend of ours for a train themed birthday this year and thought, what better way to kick off this celebration than with an actual train ride?!?!  So we started the celebration a few days early by boarding the double-decker commuter train "Frontrunner" and heading north.  

As you can see, Ian loved it!

I love this one!!

We took the train to Ogden, where we got off and headed to "The Treehouse Museum".   This children's museum is amazing!  It is by far better than the one in Salt Lake City at the Gateway!!  If you ever have a chance to take your kids, you really should.  It is great!  

This one is for Uncle David and Aunt Hollie=)

If Ian ever decides to run for president, or become a doctor, we will have evidence that his dreams started early on!!!

 We loved it and could've spent all day there if it weren't for our growling stomachs and a boy who would be in need of a nap soon.  So we had lunch and got back on the train to head home.

The morning of Ian's actual birthday was really fun too.  We put up a banner, which he loved!

And he got to open more presents, so he was in heaven!

Our future musician!

Daddy bought him some hot wheels and some "race tracks" so this is how the rest of the morning was spent.  (I could watch these two play together all day!)

Ian had been asking for donuts all week, so for his birthday we got him one.  We put a candle in it and when he saw it he exclaimed, "Ert-day (birthday) donut"!  It was so cute!!

Last year we had everyone (my family, Mike's family and some friends) over to our house on Ian's birthday, and I think it is safe to say that we won't be doing that again any time soon!  We had fun, but decided it would be better to have a few smaller celebrations this year instead=)  So, later in the day on Ian's birthday, we went to Leatherby's for ice cream and to celebrate with Mike's family.  Even though Ian isn't a huge ice cream fan (are we sure he is my kid?=), he did really good at the restaurant and had fun seeing everybody.

He thought it was so funny when I leaned in for the picture, so he leaned in too=)

After he went to bed that night, we had my niece come sit with him while we went to an "ugly sweater party" at our friends house.  This is another blog post altogether, but if you want to read about it, click here.  Anyway, while we were there, we received some goldfish as a white elephant gift.  We debated about just giving them to our neighbors who already have a fish tank, but that idea was out the window as soon as Ian spotted them.  We had them pushed back far onto the kitchen counter, hoping they were out of his line of sight, but he asked me to pick him up for something, and he spotted them right away.  It was like a tractor beam just sucked him in, and his eyes got really big.  As he pointed and said, "look fishies" we knew there would be no getting rid of them.  

Here is Ian's new fish tank.

The day after his birthday we celebrated with my family.  We had pizza and I made him a birthday cake.  I made him a cake last year too, and this is what he got then.
(I just LOVE that we have had our son in our lives long enough to have pictures to compare from previous holidays=)

This year I debated about whether to make one again or just buy one instead.  In the end, I decided that there is just something special for me about being able to make a birthday cake for my child, so I made it again.  This year's was red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting...Mmmmmm!  My mouth is watering just remembering it!  Maybe I will go eat a piece for breakfast!

Here is what it looked like.

Blowing out his candle.

More presents from Grandma and Grandpa.

I cannot say enough about what having this boy in my life means to me.  To steal the words from my friend Laura, it feels like I didn't really start living until he came along.  He changed me so utterly and completely that I am a totally new person now.  He has filled in a part of my soul that was missing, and transformed my heart into something I never knew was possible.

I am so grateful to have Ian as my son and so grateful to have the peace of knowing that we get to spend ALL of his birthdays with him!

Happy Birthday my big two year old boy!!  I love you!!