#twoundertwo no more

In just two short years, we went from this:

to this:

How? I'll never know.

I got a lot of sweet messages wishing him a happy birthday, and, more importantly, two asking me what my new hashtag would be. Something else I don't know. #twoundertwo #cantuseitanymore

I'm not sure why, but Dalton turning two hit me harder than when he turned one. Maybe because I was pregnant when he turned one, so I knew I was going to get to do it all over again? Now, they are just both growing so quickly, and as much as I love it, it's going too fast. Said every mom ever. I cried every time I thought of it all week. 

I'm still trying to comprehend how my tiny little 6 pound, 14 oz bundle of baby joy is now more than 27 pounds of toddler. Turning one is a huge milestone, but they are undoubtedly still babies, even at 12 months. At two, Dalton is officially a walking, talking, hilarious tiny person, full of jokes, kisses, and opinions. Not a baby by any stretch of the imagination. 

It does turn out that even at the mature age of 2, kids still don't really get the idea of "a birthday coming up", or at least, mine didn't. Probably because he's too young to have any concept of time. We'd originally planned on having a birthday party, because that's just what you do. Then my friend mentioned she wasn't having a second birthday party for her son, and I was like GENIUS. I never even thought of that. Dalton doesn't care, hates people, and I'm lazy AF. Not having a party fit into that framework perfectly. 

On Dalton's actual birthday, we had balloons waiting outside his door for him when he woke up, and he was SO excited. He was marching them all around the house and just thrilled beyond belief.

After work, he helped me bake Funfetti cupcakes, and then we had those for dinner #goodparenting. 

FOCUS

He loved having us sing happy birthday to him and definitely understood that he was getting special attention. The boys usually go to bed around the same time, but Royce was really tired and ended up going down early, and we let Dalton stay up a little late (his birthday was on a Friday so he could sleep in the next day, who doesn't love that?). It was perfect - we got some extra playtime with just the three of us and were able to focus all our attention on the birthday boy. 

Saturday, the four of us went downtown for the Baltimore Book Festival. I'm actually just mentioning that to show off this picture of me in my prepregnancy jeans with  my new haircut.

Since I fit into my jeans, I immediately stuffed my face with Shake Shack.

Also on Saturday, my stepfather came to visit! Dalton was so excited to see his grandpa and was squealing like crazy as soon as he pulled up.

On Sunday, we met up with friends for a playdate at the pumpkin farm (when editing, I realized I originally typed "pumpin" farm...yikes). 

Is there anything sexier than a man pushing a double stroller?

We went for the first time when Dalton was 3 weeks old, and Eric has been impatiently waiting for the moment when Dalton was actually old enough to enjoy all the activities.

The huge slide. 

He was fine going down with us, until his friend went by herself, and then we were dead to him.

Maybe he wasn't so sure about it?

The tire climbing thing. 

This kid loves tunnels.

Loving life in the stroller, as usual. 

I got a workout pushing the stroller up the hills. 

Getting all of our mommy group together is kind of a big deal, I'm so appreciative all these ladies came out so Dalton could celebrate his birthday with his little besties! (Sorry my hair is hiding Emma in this pic!).

My kids were both busy on eating #typical.

We took 17,000 hayride pictures, and Dalton is intently staring at the view in all of them. 

To review - all the kids had a crap load of fun, I didn't have to clean my house before or after, I prepared zero food, I have beautiful non-iPhone pictures for my blog (thanks Vince!) and frosting wasn't smeared on every possible surface in my home. WINNING. 

I need new hashtag suggestions.