VIVI TURNS TWO

Technically we don't know if May 14th is Vivi's actual birthday. It doesn't really matter to me that we don't know. In the grand scheme of things, knowing the date and time you are born seems insignificant to me. I can't speak for how Vivi will feel about it as she grows older, but I hope she can accept not knowing more about the circumstances of her birth as part of God's plan for her life.

Her birthday this year was tricky for me for a few reasons. First of all, I thought I would know what size of party she would be ready for, but I really didn't know how she would react to a bunch of people being at the house. I limited our guest list and even made a special (hopefully kind) effort to explain to some people why they weren't invited. This was the first time we did have lots of people over since her coming home. Thankfully she seemed to enjoy it. Secondly, it was Mother's Day. Mother's Day is pretty much my least favorite day of the year since I have become a mom. I always try not to have huge expectations for the day, but I still find myself frustrated and annoyed that it's supposedly "my day," but I'm still going around and doing all my mom things. Things that, by the way, I don't mind doing any other day of the year. And lastly, we stayed at church much longer than I had anticipated so I didn't really allow myself enough time to get the house ready for any real party. I did want to keep it low key and not make it a big deal, but I felt stressed and I wish that I didn't.

As for Vivi though, I'm pretty sure she loved her birthday. She loved having her cousins to play with. She loved blowing out her candles. (We did it twice since I forgot to video it the first time, and I thought it was also kind of making up for missing birthday #1.) She absolutely loved opening gifts--each one was a treasure.

I felt so blessed to have her with us so we could celebrate her. She deserves all the hoopla in the world, no matter the day. She has brought us so much joy.