I Can't Believe I Have a 3 Year Old!

Well, the title says it all. I REALLY can't believe Jacob is 3 years old. We celebrated his birthday this past Sunday the 22nd. The theme was Spiderman, of course. For the past month, we have been talking about this birthday party. I mean, I've really been building it up to the point that I think I was as excited about it as Jacob. We'd ask Jacob what kind of party he was going to have, and his quick reply was, "Spiderman!"
"What else do you want at your birthday party?"
Jacob: "Spiderman cake, ice cream, and TOYS!"
So with all of the excitement surrounding this monumental event, I felt I had a lot of expectations to live up to. Granted, they were the expectations of a 3 year old, but those of you who know me know that stress is part of my nature. I wanted it to be perfect for Jacob.
Sunday morning started off nice & relaxing. I woke up at 7:15 and thought, "Okay, the party doesn't start until 2:30. I have plenty of time to wrap his gifts, make the cake, prepare the finger foods, write in his card, decorate, shower, and carry out all of my normal day to day motherly duties to Jacob & Alex. I'll probably even be done early!"
Yea, right. Didn't happen that way. Without the help of my wonderful and awesome mom, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and sister, I think the party may have started about 3 hours late. Thankfully, they were there to help prepare food, get balloons, calm me down as I stressed about Jacob's cake (just wait- that story is coming up), watch the kids, help take pictures, and help set up the party. I honestly don't know what I would have done without their help. Thanks again, everyone.

The day before the party, when I asked my mom to pick up white icing & red food coloring at the store INSTEAD of the simple, ready made colored icing in the tubes, I must have been out of my mind. I've never used food coloring for anything other than dyeing Easter eggs. Why did I think I should give it a try for Jacob's party? Hindsight is 20/20. So my very helpful mom, sister-in-law, and husband took the kids out for a boat ride while I got to work on decorating the Spiderman cake. I rubbed my hands together and excitedly (but nervously) began the process of creating red icing. Directions: for one canister of white icing, use 24 drops of red food coloring. Simple, right? I think the panic set in when I was up to 40 drops and the icing still looked Pepto Bismol pink. I kept adding drop after drop until the bottle of food coloring was empty and the icing was a lovely shade of dark pink. Then, as though I were some kind of artist creating the perfect hue for her painting, I got the brilliant idea to add a splash of blue food coloring to darken the pink, and perhaps manufacture a shade more closely resembling red. Two drops of blue plus dark pink equals a shade of purpley (is that a color?) pink. So then Lauren Picasso Higdon decides to add a drop of yellow to lighten it up. Whatever. That didn't work either. So I paced around the kitchen, glaring at the bowl of icing that I named "dusty rose". There wasn't time to go to the store to buy the icing in tubes I should have asked for in the first place, so all I could do was start icing the cake. It wasn't the vibrant red & blue Spiderman I envisioned, but thankfully, the icing darkened slightly to a sort of faded red. Here's the final product:




Lesson learned: I will never use food coloring again. Ever.

I planned on having a few outdoor activities for the kids during the party. We played outside at the beginning of the party because I was afraid we'd be rained on if we waited. So after snacking on the finger foods, we threw swim suits on the kids (Jeff, am I allowed to tell them that you somehow put Alex's trunks on Jacob without realizing they were the wrong ones? Poor Jacob came waddling out in 12-18 month sized shorts.) and we all went outside. Jacob's aunt Tricia brought her inflatable pool and I bought bubble guns for all of the kids so they could each have their own. I also found a battery operated Spiderman you set on the grass and it blows bubbles on its own. Perfect in theory. Of course one of the bubble guns never worked and Spiderman blew his bubbles for approximately 10 seconds before becoming defective. Oh well. The kids still had a blast. There was swimming in the lake, swimming in the pool, "fishing", and bubble guns that DID work as advertised. Here are a few pictures:

Uncle Matt is glad that Jacob has possession of one of the working bubble guns.


Jacob & his cousin Daniel


Even though he was getting over a virus, Alex got to enjoy the lake with Daddy.


Jacob enjoying the pool's slide. Good thing he had on that life jacket. Whew. :)


Jacob & his friend, Victor, looking cute as they fished together.


After having fun outdoors, we all headed in for ice cream and the "dusty rose" & blue Spiderman cake. I had been singing Happy Birthday to Jacob the entire week before the party. He even began singing it to himself. But when the entire crowd in attendance sang to him, I couldn't get over the look on his face. It was a cross between excitement, happiness, and utter amazement that all of these people were singing directly to HIM. Being the emotional sap that I am, I got very tearful looking at my 3 year old son who I love so much. I could clearly recall his 1st birthday, as we all sang to him around his highchair. His birth and first birthday don't seem that long ago, but at the same time, they do, if that makes any sense. There's something very bittersweet about each milestone the boys hit. I remember crying when Jacob got his first tooth because I was going to miss that adorable gummy smile that's a baby trademark! It is amazing to watch your child learn to crawl, take his first steps, say his first words, converse with you, and grow up. But at the same time, it's a reminder that I'll never have those first moments again. I only have the pictures & video footage to remind me of the baby that he was & never will be again. It reminds me that he's almost too heavy for me to carry for an extended period of time, almost too tall for me to hold him comfortably in my lap, will start preschool in the fall, doesn't need me as much as he used to and wants to do things "all myself!", and will continue to become more independent and need me less & less. It's such a cliche, but they really do grow up too fast. Even Jeff admitted to having a difficult time with the fact that our baby is so grown up. He was such a big boy sitting at the table, looking at his cake, & smiling at all of us. Fortunately, I was able to pull myself together before turning into a blubbering mommy and enjoy watching my son blow out his 3 little candles.






I figured that as the mom, I was entitled to a few moments of sappiness & nostalgia. Right?



We lit the candles twice more so his cousins Daniel and Lainey could help blow them out.



Luckily, the person I was trying to impress the most (my birthday boy) was thrilled with his cake. He loved it and after he ate it, he came up to me and said, "Thanks for my cake, Mommy. Dat cake was so good!" So it was a happy ending to the cake fiasco.
Here's a picture of the 4 of us at the party. You can tell Jacob was ready to get back to his cake & ice cream, but a picture of all of us was a necessity. Would you believe this is the first picture of the 4 of us together since someone took one at the hospital when Alex was born? Two pictures in 10 months!



After we ate cake & ice cream, it was time to move on to the presents. It was also time for my big surprise. Spiderman would be making a cameo appearance at Jacob's party. All of the adults knew about it, but none of the kids, and especially not Jacob. When we would talk about who would come to his birthday party, Jacob would rattle off a list of people, and I'd ask, "How about Spiderman? Will he be there?" Jacob would look at me with a grin and say, "No, mommy!" as if I were silly to even suggest such a thing.
We all heard a knock at the door. I called out, "Jacob, someone's at the door! Will you come open it up and see who it is?"
So Jacob hurries over and opens the door. I carefully watched his face, worried that he would be terrified and the surprise I was so excited about for weeks would be ruined. And for about 2 or 3 seconds, he did look quite apprehensive about the tall man with a red suit & mask at the door. But then he broke into a big grin and opened the door wider to let Spiderman in. Aunt Tricia captured the moment perfectly:



Spiderman did worry a couple of the other kids, but I don't think he caused nightmares or scarred anyone for life. But I was relieved that Jacob loved every second of it. Spiderman handed out little gifts to the kids, and when he asked Jacob if it was his birthday, Jacob looked to be in awe that Spiderman knew that about him. When he got his gift from Spiderman, he said, "Thanks, Spiderman." And he couldn't take his eyes off of him the entire time he visited. Since Spiderman left to go fight bad guys, Jacob has talked about his surprise visitor and who was under the mask: Peter Parker, of course! Who else would it be? Not Uncle Chris, that's for sure!





Jacob enjoyed all of his gifts, receiving cars, a race track, action figures, a Spiderman couch, a Superman costume and a Spiderman costume. He loves all of his presents. Earlier today, he was playing in his room, alternating between his new cars and superheroes. He came out of his room, with his hand covering a smile on his face. I asked, "What's wrong, buddy?"
Jacob: "I so happy! I really like my new cars and I love you!"

Since he opened up that Spiderman costume from his mommy & daddy on Sunday, I've probably put it on him at least 20 times. He makes an excellent Spiderman.




Working on his laptop. What, you didn't know Spiderman has office hours too?


Jacob sharing his new Superman costume with his cousin, Daniel, who just so happens to be a huge fan. Perfect! Now we have TWO cute superheroes!


Jacob has also enjoyed trying out his new Superman costume. At first Superman was shooting webs, but after a quick lesson from mommy on Superman's powers, he now flies around the house.




In spite of the icing disaster, and the fact that the Spiderman cake is far from winning any decorating awards, I suppose I can consider the party a success. The birthday boy enjoyed every minute of it, and whenever I looked at him, he was having fun. Mission accomplished. All of the stress & planning paid off & knowing he loved the party made it all worthwhile.
Thank you to everyone who came to Jacob's 3rd birthday party:
Nan & Pop Pop
Grandmom & Granddad
Nani
Aunt Kerri & Uncle Matt
Uncle Scott & Aunt Tricia
Daniel
Lainey
Uncle Chris & Sarah
Brian, Angela, & Victor

We loved having all of you there. Thanks for helping to make my big boy's day a special one!

Even when he's a teenager who argues with me & thinks I'm uncool, or when he wants to devote all of his time to his friends, girlfriends, and later, his wife...no matter how many of Jacob's birthdays I celebrate, he will always be my baby & my sweet little man. I'll never forget the way I felt when I first met him on June 22, 2005 at 3:16 p.m. It takes time for some moms to fall in love with their babies...I guess I was one of the lucky ones who loved hers at first sight.



I hope he always knows how wonderful I think he is, & just how much I love him. Happy Birthday, buddy!