Noah is TWO!

Ah, you guys I have a TWO YEAR-OLD! What?! How is this possible? Time has just flown by. I feel like we just took that sweet baby boy home and now here we are with a two year-old toddler who is wild and crazy, and now we're waiting for the arrival of his sister.
Noah brings us so much joy to our daily life. I can't even remember life before he was in it.

This year we decided not to do a big birthday party. We did a big party last year for his first birthday (check out his party here) and it was awesome, but this year we decided to focus on quality time and experience (even tho he won't remember himself) vs a party. Noah is all about "play, play, PLAY!" I can't tell you how many times a day he asks to go play. We heard about an amusement park that is two hours from our house called Gardaland, and it has a great area for toddlers so we knew he would be in "play" heaven. We went the weekend before his actual birthday because I was 36 weeks pregnant and we thought that should probably be the last time we travel that far from home. It was fun to start his birthday week off exactly the week before at the amusement park. Robbie's good friend joined us for the day and he loves Noah! He is actually who we are counting on to baby sit if I go into labor at night. Thank goodness for friends when family isn't close by!

Noah had SO much fun! He was asking to go on the big roller coasters! Such a little dare devil. He definitely gets that from his daddy. I was impressed with the amount of rides he was able to ride and all the play grounds they had. They even had a splash pad and another water area for kids but I didn't bring Noah's suit so we stuck to the play grounds and rides. We spoiled him with way too much sugar and a new basketball. He was such a good boy the whole day and the car ride there and back. He is still rear facing so sometimes long car rides can be rough but he watched his movies and did awesome!

It was a bit of a tight squeeze for daddy!! 

His actual birthday was the 27th and Robbie was able to get someone to cover his shift at work so he could spend the day with him. We woke up and Noah immediately found his birthday cup cakes I had made the night before. Before I could even get to the coffee maker he was holding one saying, "cake!" so I gave in and let him have one with breakfast. It's totally acceptable to have cake for breakfast on your birthday, right?? haha. Then we facetimed Mimi and Papa so they could sing to him. After he was done talking to them I made some pancakes in the shape of a number 2. So simple but so fun!!

We decided to let him open his gifts that morning so he could play with them all day. Oh man, this kid can rip through some wrapping paper like no body's business. He has def gained some skills since Christmas haha.

I am so proud of Noah's manners. He is full of "please" and "thank-you" without prompting and that made his birthday even sweeter. I am so proud of my big boy.
Even though he didn't understand that it was birthday he would tell you he is "TWO!" when you asked how old he was turning. He could def sense the excitement of the day. He was asking to go "bye-bye" and we told him after his nap we would be doing something fun. He was then asking to go "night-night" and woke up sooner than usual very happy! It's like he knew something fun was planned for him!

We took him bowling which is one of his favorite things to do. We had a couple friends join us which made it even more special for him. I am thankful for the friends we have made here. I know I mentioned that before, but for real. It is HARD making friends but especially overseas so the ones who show up at a moments notice really mean a lot.

Noah loves to give hugs!! :) 

The bowling alley allowed me to bring in his birthday cup cakes so we could sing to him. Otherwise it would have just been Robbie and I singing to him at home, which I am sure he would have still loved. I was really missing family when it came time to sing "Happy Birthday"! It just makes a little one's birthday so special. 

He has all of a sudden started loving elmo so I tried to make an Elmo cake from cupcakes. It's def not pinterest worthy and almost sent me into labor the night before from frustration haha but it did the job and Noah loved it. That's all that matters, right?? I am so not a decorator! 

We finished out the day with his request of pizza for dinner and a facetime call to Grammie. He opened his present from her and Grandpa and was so excited. Thank goodness for technology!! It is safe to say he had a fun birthday!!