Happy 2nd Birthday Olivia!

Today we celebrated Olivia's 2nd birthday. I think I truly enjoyed every minute of this day. We slept in this morning and sang "happy birthday" before ever getting out of the bed. Pretty sure she had no clue, but we sang to her. Then ate waffles with cool whip. We put on swimsuits and headed out for a day at home being just us. We followed Olivia and did whatever she wanted to do. We started in the sand and then headed over to swim. Once she had her floaties on, she didn't want to take them off. So....we have pictures of her on/in everything with her silly floaties on. She was happy and that is all that mattered on this very special day. We went from the pool to the swing set and then back to the sand.

We decided it was time to come in for some lunch so we ate and then had our own singing of "happy birthday." We tried the candle thing, but she wasn't having it. The song ended with her in my arms and me holding the cake and blowing the candle out.

She was tired at this point so I rocked her and got her down for a nap. John and I finished putting everything away from Saturday and then I took a little nap, too. When we all got up, we went upstairs to check out all of Olivia's new toys. She had a blast! I on the other hand felt a little sick to my stomach as I was trying to figure out where to put everything. It looks like my house exploaded in toys! We then cleaned up and went out to dinner. We attempted a family picture....lots of out-takes, and this one was the winner.

After we ate we stopped and got Dairy Queen and brought it home to enjoy. Olivia took her baby for a spin in her new stroller, and then it was book time, prayers and bed.
Throughout this day, I have had two special people on my mind. One is Olivia's foster mom. Did she remember today was my girl's birthday? Did they celebrate or do something to remember her? She is very special to us as she took care of our girl her first year of life.
The other woman is Olivia's birth mom. I am forever grateful for this woman. She gave Olivia life and also made the hard decision to give her up for a better life. For that, I am thankful because I get to watch her grow and I get the honor of being her mom. I wish we could tell her that Olivia is happy, healthy and doing well.
I felt somewhat sad that I am here happy and loving this day while they are in Korea thinking of Olivia without her there. I know that feeling. I did that last year. I am so grateful that she is here in my arms this year and for all of her birthday's to come.
We wanted to do a balloon release today, but we never left home to get the balloon. The plan was to use one from her party, but the rain deflated them. So....maybe tomorrow? We want to do that every year as a remembrance for her birth mother. Who knows....that balloon may make it to Korea. That is what we are going to go with anyway.

Happy Birthday to our sweet, beautiful daughter. We are so proud and blessed by you in many ways! We love you so much!