It's official. Todd and I are the parents of a two-year-old. After I put Hazel to bed and Todd and I made bets on whether or not she'd actually fall asleep, Todd said, "This was the best day of Hazel's life." She's had some pretty good days, but I'm thinking Todd's right. She has been excited about her birthday for weeks now, and it seemed like she loved just about everything about today.
For starters, she was standing up in bed when I peeked in to see if she was awake yet. Standing. Up. That was a first. Usually she's lying down twirling her hair, or sitting on the edge of the bed.
We had scrambled eggs and strawberry shakes for breakfast, two of her favorites. Then, per her request, we made a princess crown for her to wear in honor of her special day.
She soon noticed the "uffly cake" on the counter that I stayed up late last night finishing up. She has been very specific for nearly a month now (ever since we started talking about her birthday) that she wanted a pink butterfly cake for her birthday. Well, she got it. Her two favorite details about it were that it was pink, and that it had candy on it. She asked to be held up to look at it several more times throughout the day.
I think the best part of the day was that Todd was sick, so he stayed home from work. He spent the whole day sleeping on the couch, but it was still nice for Hazel to be able to go over and talk to him and give him kisses, and for him to be around for the whole day instead of just in the evening.
We spent the morning outside, riding Hazel's bike and playing at the park. It's been fairly cold and rainy for the last few weeks, so the nice weather today allowed us to enjoy being outside for the first time in a while. She was riding her bike so fast I almost couldn't keep up at a jog. And I will confess, jogging hurts my body just a wee bit right now. But it was all about Hazel today.
After lunch, we let Hazel open some of her presents. Lucky Ducks turned out to be a huge hit. It is a game with ducks who have shapes on their bottoms. They swim around the board in a circle, quacking up a noisy storm, and then each player picks up one duck and looks at the shape on it. You are each trying to collect all the ducks with your own shape on it. Hazel was super into it. It had cute ducks just the right size for her hands, and she's just starting to get interested in shapes, so I think it'll be a hit for a while.
Unfortunately, it was a bit too big of a hit today. Hazel spent two hours in her bedroom plotting what to do with her ducks when she got out and didn't sleep a wink during naptime. Usually she's a solid three-hour napper. Not so today. The second I told her she could come out of her room, she said, "My ducks!" and ran back to the kitchen table to play with them.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with toys and Daddy. I knew she was going to need to go to bed early, so the afternoon was short. She spent a good part of the next few hours lobbying phone calls and Skype visits from loving family members. And she helped me make teriyaki chicken for dinner, which she scarfed up. We're talking asking for seconds and even thirds!
Then we had cake - she did awesome at blowing her candles out - and opened the rest of her presents. Aunt Kelsi made her day (and, I'm sure, the rest of the week) with a box full of princess supplies.
Very soon after dinner, as she began having meltdown after meltdown, we turned on the bathwater and went through our bedtime routine. She was wired. Wired and tired. It took both Todd and me to hold her still enough to even get her pajamas on.
At the very end, she lay in bed while I sang to her. Her heavy eyes drooped shut, and I thought, "She'll be out in two minutes." But then she pried them back open and whispered, "Birthday. Uffly cake." and grinned at me as her eyes twinkled. Good grief.
That was 45 minutes ago. I haven't heard a peep from her, so I'm hoping the Sleep Fairy won tonight's battle. I'll go check after I post this. But I sure am pleased that she loved her birthday so much.
Highlights of the season include:
Having cheese fondue for Christmas Eve dinner. We may have to make this an annual tradition.
Sleeping in until 8:00. Gotta soak that up while we've got it. 
Hazel hit present overkill about two-thirds of the way through and refused to open all her gifts. We stashed a few under the bed for later. She had not yet unveiled Santa's Big Deal gift, though, so we waited until after lunch and then led her back to it. A play kitchen! Super huge hit. She plays with it all day, every day. 
And making it through Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Todd's birthday (the 26th) without going into labor. Phew! 
