Today is Zachary’s 3rd birthday, and we celebrated his party yesterday with our close friends and family members. The party theme was Angry Birds (his favorite game), hence his Angry Birds t-shirt in the photo below. Party pics are forthcoming!

We can’t believe that we have such a grown-up little boy now, and the three years since Zachary’s birth have simply flown by. We are so thankful to have such a happy, thoughtful, and creative child. At three years old, Zachary loves to play with us, hug us, tell us how much he loves Mommy and Daddy, and he is constantly singing the most adorable songs. He is the happiest kid we know, and an absolute gift. It’s been so exciting to watch him grow up, and I love watching his personality and interests develop.

Happy birthday to our sweet boy with lots of love from Mommy, Daddy, Maya the dog, and your whole family!

Today is my little dog’s 8th birthday! She is so little that I always forget she is getting old just like the rest of us. We are so lucky to have such a loving little animal in our lives!

Here is a dreamy looking shot of Maya at her happiest – snuggled into a patch of warm grass, with a tennis ball in her mouth. Happy birthday, little Maya! We love you!

Zachary will be turning 3 this November, so I’m in the beginning stages of planning his birthday party. As a typical two year old, he changes his mind often about what he wants – but he really loves playing the Angry Birds game on the iPhone and iPad and has been asking for an Angry Birds party more often than any other theme, so at the moment, that’s what I’m researching.

Although we’re just planning to have a small family party again for his third birthday (as part of our celebration will be Zachary’s first trip to Disney World this fall), I’m still thinking about how I can fulfill his wishes for a fun party centered around one of his favorite games.

How old were your kids when they chose their own birthday party theme?

I’ve found some great inspiration for the Angry Birds party using Pinterest and basic Google searching.

First off, this adorable blue bird angry birds plush toy, which Zachary says is his favorite. Definitely need to get him one of these:

Gorgeous Angry Birds cookie favors by The Cookie Jar:

Fabulous Angry Birds party decorations by Busy Bee Party:

Last but not least, there are some amazing cakes out there! This one is from Little Miss OC’s Kitchen:

My grandma’s birthday was today! Zachary and I spent a few hours with her this afternoon and had a wonderful time! He had lunch, practiced his piano playing skills, showed GG his trains (Thomas & Percy) and they played with them, sang with GG, and we all relaxed and watched a little bit of Nick Jr. on TV as things were winding down. Zachary absolutely adores his great-grandma and did not want to go home! We had a great birthday visit and can’t wait for the next time we see GG!

Zachary’s 2nd birthday has come and gone. I am astounded I am now the mommy of a 2 year old boy!

We had a very low key party for him, with just my parents, grandma, my best friend Amy (Z’s godmother) and our close friends Jason & Lu and their 3 month old baby daughter Lana. Zachary was showered with some amazing presents! He got a ton of Thomas/train stuff, an amazing train rug/playmat from GG, Toy Story stuff from Jason & Lu and Aunt Lissa & Uncle Brij from NY (who sent their packages – we will see them next month though), clothes, and a very cool tool/building workshop from Aunt Amy. Gram Z and Grampap from TN got Zachary some early birthday gifts when we saw them about 2 months ago, which he’s already been loving, especially his tent and alphabet magnets!  We also got some very sweet cards with gifts inside from other family members.

It was so  nice to spend time with our closest family members and friends. After a fun but hectic 1st birthday party, and the knowledge that his 3rd birthday will be hectic too, since he will want to have  all of his friends, it was a relief to have the special people in our life with us to share our baby’s birthday and just enjoy the day.

Here are some photos from the party. Zachary loooooooved all the Thomas decorations & seeing the cake. He especially loved the Thomas bracelets I got for him at the party store. He would not take them off! It was so much fun to see his face light up when he saw a “choo choo!” :)

After everyone went home, Adrian and I sat with Zachary as he played with his new trains, and talked about what a great day it was. It sounds cliche to write that, but that’s just what we did. We looked over at our sweet little boy, who was loving his new toys, his new Thomas DVD, and thoroughly enjoying playing, and thinking about how great our family is and how lucky we are to have our Zachary. We fell asleep early that night after putting Zachary to bed. It was a great end to a a great day!

There is a lot more that I could probably say about my little guy being two, but I think that paragraph kind of sums it up. I wouldn’t know where else to start. We are so happy to have our happy, quirky, adorable, funny boy. He is the most precious thing in the world to us. We are beyond excited because we know just how much he is going to grow and learn and change this year as he is on the road to turning 3 – and we can’t wait to find out just a little bit more of who he will become along the way. We love you, Zachary!

Photos taken on Sunday, November 21st.

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Zachary’s pumpkin-themed first birthday party was featured on the fun and inspiring kids’ party blog, Party Like a Kid! I’m a huge fan of the blog and love checking out the photos they post to get ideas for parties that I may have myself in the future. I still have NO clue what we’re doing for Zachary’s 2nd birthday party, but for now you can click the link below and relive fun times from his first birthday!

Click here to check out the feature!

Yes, my mom’s birthday is the day after mine, and this post is dedicated to her!

Happy birthday to my mommy! I couldn’t have asked for a better mom who is there to help me out, help out with Zachary and Maya when needed, and provide support and advice. I love her very much!

Here’s a picture of me and my mom from my baby shower in 2008:

Thanks to my friend Jessica for taking this pic! :)

It’s my birthday today (I’m 28), so today is all about me!

I haven’t yet shared the images that my amazing husband Adrian took of me, but if you’re a FB or Twitter friend, you may have already seen them. If not, check out this amazing photo! It’s my new favorite picture of myself.

I’m so thankful my husband is an incredible photographer in addition to being an amazing husband, dad, and lots more! We’re planning on spending a relaxing evening together for my birthday by going out to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner.

Click here to see more photos of me on Adrian’s photo blog!

Here are some photos from Zachary’s special day.

We started the day off with a blueberry waffle for breakfast and a phone call from Aunt Amy, who called to wish Zachary a very happy birthday. Zachary loved hearing the birthday song!

After Zachary’s nap, Adrian changed the car seat to be facing forward. Zachary is tall, so his legs were starting to get a bit scrunched. We were really looking forward to making the switch at the 1 year mark. Zachary really loved having his legs dangle down, looking out at everything and playing peekaboo every time I looked back at him. He thought it was the funniest thing!

Then we went to Volunteer Park, a great park in Plantation. I do a lot of photo shoots here since there’s great light and the scenery is nice and the park equipment is in good condition. It was Zachary’s first time on the slide and only his 3rd time on the swings. The last time he was on the swings was when he was much younger, so he really enjoyed swinging now that he is big enough to appreciate it. I had so much fun pushing him in the swing and taking photos of him smiling and laughing and having a great time.

All in all we had a really wonderful day. I’m so glad we decided to go to the park for Zachary’s birthday. Even though it was hot outside (almost 90 degrees, yuck!), he had a WONDERFUL time and I felt like I was able to experience magic and happiness through his eyes. :)

I also have to say that I’m glad I was able to get some cute shots of Zachary wearing his adorable tie-dyed Converse. Those shoes are adorable but they were pretty pricey, so I was hoping I’d get a chance to take some nice photos of Zachary wearing them before he grows out of them. He still has some room left to grow, but who knows when his feet will have a growth spurt. Mommy will be very sad on the day that her baby is unable to wear those cute shoes anymore…. mainly because I know I won’t be able to drop another $50 on a new pair!! ;) LOL!

It’s November 21st and today was my baby boy’s birthday! Zachary had a very full day full of lots of fun – changing his carseat to face forward (he LOVED it!) going to the park (he adored the swings), the bookstore, and playing with Mommy, Daddy, and Maya… and finally heading off to bed. He didn’t want to go to sleep tonight. He’s teething – and he just wanted his mama to sit with him, so I did. I told him how I had such a nice day playing with him and that tomorrow we were going to have another fun day, since his Aunt Amy was going to come over to play with him, so he needed to lay down and go to sleep, so he’d be all rested up.

And my cute little boy did just that. He curled up on his tummy with his favorite dachshund stuffed animal (“Doxie”) and stuck his little tush in the air and looked over at me and reached for my hand. Holding my hand, I could see him smile in the light of his night light. I felt happy, but a little sad, too, because my baby boy would never be this little again. Every day he grows and matures SO much.

Soon the clock will turn over to the next day. One year ago, it was at about this time that I was finally settled into my hospital room after waking up after my c-section, and I finally got to hold my baby boy for the very first time, what an awesome experience. And what an awesome year it has been!

Pictures from our day coming soon. :)