Today was the big day - Isabelle's 3rd birthday! I feel like in a lot of ways this was our first "normal" birthday together; her first birthday was full of the emotional turmoil of what was happening politically in Guatemala and truly not knowing whether I'd ever bring her home. Not to mention the fact that I wasn't with her...
Her second birthday was the first birthday she was home for and so it had all of the emotion of that rolled up into it. Add to it the fact that my whole extended family was in town and we did her baptism the same weekend, complete with lunch for 50...and that I had a horrible gut infection and barely remember the entire month...
So...all of that is to say today was "normal." A good normal :) A great normal, actually! Isabelle had told me the day of my nephew's birthday party that for her birthday she wanted a pool with balls...so that's what she got! The only other thing she asked for was the Little Critter book about getting a baby brother...hmmm...not sure what to make of that, but she got it as well!
I had the pool all set up when she got up and came down for breakfast and she was super-excited! If only she had known what was to come later...
She was up at the crack of dawn because she knew that we were going to the zoo and she was READY! It was about 90 and felt like the whole trip was uphill with the stroller, but we had a good time and she loved it! I think her favorite was the polar bear, probably mostly because he was huge and close to the edge so she could see him really well. Hat went with us too, which was fun...and I was grateful for the help!
At one point we stopped for a drink and she suddenly told me she needed to go to the bathroom. Well, she'd JUST been. But you know how these things go so we went again. Or started to. Turns out she was just using it as a ploy to get outside because she'd spotted the safari car and wanted to ride! I let her get away with it...because she's kind of cute...
Okay, and the big fun came when we got home! Hat distracted her with a cupcake in the kitchen while I hid all her presents in her ball pit! When she finished I just casually asked her if she wanted to play with her balls...and had not mentioned presents all day. She went to town and had a blast!
Even though I couldn't be with her for her 1st birthday, I'll always think of her foster family on her birthday and remember the huge celebration they had for her...including inviting the whole neighborhood! I know how much they love her and I am so grateful for the wonderful start they gave her - it has made a huge difference :)
I also think a lot about her birth mother, especially on days like today. While I did not get to meet her, because of the way things were working with adoptions in Guatemala at the time Isabelle's foster mother did get to meet her and simply pass on the message that she had met and knew me and that I loved Isabelle very much. I pray that is able to offer her some peace at what I would think would be a hard anniversar for her.
1 comment:
what a great day!
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