he is two :: the rest of the day

So I have a confession. There will be a few posts about the little prince's 2nd birthday. Because I just can't cram it all into one. Sorry bout that. It is what it is.

And what it is, is good.

Because at naptime on his big day, I held our Gabe in my arms like a baby. And I sang "Happy Birthday" to him. And he literally fell asleep grinning in my arms. And I nearly raptured and went to be with Jesus. Because life doesn't get much better than that. Love, love, love this boy.

The what it is was also good because after a long day of prep work and decorating and cleaning...we had our showers, and put on our pj's and ordered the yummiest birthday pizza ever and sang "Happy Birthday" to our Gabe and watched him open a few gifts.

Sometimes I love me a good ol' run on sentence. ^

When he had his 2nd surgery, that required him to be not so active for TWO weeks, he took a liking to a Winnie the Pooh movie that Jase DVR'd for him. Gabe is not a big TV watcher. But he will sit for the entirety of this particular movie. And so we got him a bouncy Tigger! It's the cutest thing. He sings and bounces and laughs.

And Gabe? Right along with him. See?

Our great friends, the McNabb's {also known as Mamaw and Papaw - no blood relation other than that of Jesus}, send money to us for the kids' birthdays. Still. After 10 years. Because they love us...and especially love our babies.

So we bought Gabe a Sit and Spin from them as well as a new toddler swing for our swing set out back. Ours had dry rotted a few years ago right after Joel came home and so Gabe couldn't really swing except for one of us holding him. And while Syd absolutely adores to hold him and swing, it nearly gives me a heart attack each and every time.

So. We used their money to buy him a new one. And a Sit and Spin like they had gotten Kennedy when she was little. Suweet. He was happy, happy, happy and it didn't take him long at all to figure that joker out. Brilliant, I tell you. The boy is brilliant.

Around 9pm, Jason's brother and his family came in from out of state. It was so good to see them. They

hadn't met Gabe yet and we hadn't met our newest nephew, River, from China either. So we spent a couple of hours with them laughing and watching our kids play. At one point, River and Gabe were sitting across from each other at a toy and just looked at each other and hugged. It was just precious. Sweet boys. I hope they have a great cousin relationship.

But 11pm rolled around and we said goodnight. It was getting late and we had to get our party on the next day. :)