Juliette is Two!

As of two Thursdays ago, our teeny baby is two years old! I'm sure you all know that we are absolutely reeling over this, because wasn't it just a few months ago that we started residency, moved in to our sweet little house, and brought this tiny thing home from the hospital?

Apparently not. :)

She had an ear infection on her birthday (sad) but she still enjoyed herself (just with a little more crabbing and an extra nap) and we were happy to celebrate her. She chose to watch Wall-e for her birthday movie, so when Daddy got home from work and Gracie had finished her homework, we put that on.

We dined on Papa John's pineapple pizza (a family fav), though some of us found it hard to focus on the meal because Wall-e was still having lots of on-screen adventures.

Next was gift time, of course. Grace handmade a sweet little card and a "lift-the-flap" book, using post-it notes as the flaps. Beneath them were little surprises like a bird in a nest. She was very proud to present her gifts to baby sis.

Mommy's favorites were gifts of cute clothes from the grandparents. Most especially this coat. Because look:

Big sister supervised the gift-opening and hair-tousling.

When it came time to open the gifts from Mommy and Daddy, I was feeling pretty invested. I wish we had gotten on video her response to opening this doll stroller. She just said, "Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!" in the most breathlessly excited little voice. It totally melted us and made us giggle at the same time. :)

And her final gift needs a little introduction.

For the past few months, Jules has been obsessed with a Wyldstyle minifigure (from The Lego Movie). We have two--one is Steve's and one is Gracie's--and Juliette systematically swipes whichever one she can get her hands on and carries it around to her various activities.

Like, for example, her birthday dinner:

Steve and I had been talking about getting her a doll to play with. And why not skip the baby doll in favor of her true favorite? But after a little internet searching we discovered that there was no plush or doll-sized version of Wyldstyle. So I picked up a copy of Wee Wonderfuls from the library, and modified one of their doll patterns to make a baby-doll version of Wyldstyle.

And I have to admit, I teared up a teeny bit when Juliette opened (and liked!) it. It's always a gamble to make something for a toddler--they tend to have, you know, opinions--so I was pretty thrilled that my little girl liked the gift I made her.

She stuck her right in the stroller and took her for a walk.

A really really really long walk.

She basically went around the couch again and again and again without ceasing until the siren call of birthday cake interrupted her. :)

We opted for a Coldstone ice cream cake this time around, and it did not disappoint.

The only problem we faced was how to get it into our mouths fast enough. :)

Happy birthday to this cute thing. She's a little bit of walking sunshine and we love her like an Oreo ice cream cake.