Happy Birthday, Gio!

It is so hard to believe that two years ago today, we brought our little guy home from the hospital and our lives changed forever..for the better, of course!!

We had a great day celebrating our little boy this year and although it was a very low key celebration--it was still plenty busy. I find myself becoming much more tired much more quickly these days and Thursday was no exception but it was totally worth it to just see the joy in his face throughout the day.

Bryan and I have plenty of different family traditions from our upbringing. In regards to birthdays, he grew up opening presents first thing in the morning and I grew up opening presents after dinner and before cake. So, as we so often find ourselves doing, we compromised. Gio woke up to open a few gifts from his daddy's family and the rest were saved for the evening. He also received his kitchen from Aunt Carrie in the morning since daddy was so nice to put it together for him the night before. He loved all of his gifts and is so lucky to be loved by so many generous people!

I took Gio to a mommy and son breakfast at Panera and although Panera isn't that original, he really loved being able to take his bagel and sit at the fountain at a small indoor mall we have near our house. He threw in his obligatory pennies and had fun 'dip, dip' dipping his bagel in the cream cheese. He loves fountains and I wonder what he wished for on his special day! I know that I wished that special moment would not end. I truly love seeing his sweet personality emerge.

We also took Gio's two year old pictures on his birthday before we met daddy for lunch! What a treat that was for all of us! We love spending time as a family and have not been able to do that very often lately as Bryan has been very busy at work. It was nice to have lunch at a restaurant (Gasp) where one of us wasn't running around, someone brought us extra silverware to replace that which was dropped on the floor, refilled our drinks, and even did the dishes. It was glorious to sit down with my guys...I didn't want to leave but Redbeards probably wouldn't have waited on me all day. Oh, the name of the restaurant was Redbeard's, not the server.

The rest of the day was picture perfect-naptime, dinner as a family (this time at home), and cake time!! Gio waited patiently all day for his cake even though he wanted it as soon as he woke up because the previous day we told him 'tomorrow you can have cake'! Well, he is pretty smart and expected it immediately!!

At two years old, Gio has certainly reshaped our lives and I'm sure his baby brother will do the exact same all over again! We never imagined that we would find more happiness in staying home raking leaves or kicking a ball around the track then going out and spending money. He has certainly helped us become better people, enjoy the little things, and smile much more often. I have always been a relatively happy person but he brings so much more happiness into our lives-it is amazing. Every time he runs to give us a hug, says our name or just smiles at us melts our hearts. We are truly blessed parents of one amazing little two year old! Happy Birthday, Gio!!