Turning two

Two, already? 

In many, many, many ways it seems like he's been two for at least six full months now. But in other ways, it is just so hard to believe that two years have gone by since that Thanksgiving night I laid awake in a labor and delivery room anxiously anticipating my 4 a.m. wake up call to start the induction. 

Two years later, that Black Friday baby is a crazy little bundle of sweetness, silliness and strong-will, all wrapped into one red-haired boy. 

To celebrate his second birthday, Luke asked for a train cake. And a train cake he received. 

He just had the best expressions today.

In keeping with the train theme (which is kind of the theme of our life right now with two toddlers), his big present this year - because apparently the two-year birthday is the wooden-refurbished-Craigslist-find birthday in our house - was a train table.

I stalked Craigslist for weeks until I found just what I was looking for - an old, classic, sturdy, solid-wood table for a very cheap price. This one cost me $30.

I sanded it down, painted the table white, and then painted a map of Richmond onto the removable top.

There's still a reverse side I could do something with (original plan was to use chalk-board paint but I've scrapped that idea for now), and the table itself is just a great table even when the top is off. All in all, an awesome Craigslist find at a fraction of the cost of a new table.

It's safe to say Luke was pretty thrilled with his present.

The trains and track I bought off of Craigslist too, at more than half-off the original prices. Have I mentioned how much I love that site??

Someone else is also pretty into the train table. In fact, they played with it every waking moment today.

Clara even snuck out of her bedroom late tonight and unlocked Luke's door (the lock is backwards) and I found them playing inside his room. I'm glad they love it, but that's not exactly what I had in mind!

Crazy bed time aside, it was a perfect day, with a very happy two-year-old.

He even waited until 8 o'clock tonight to eat his train cake that he had been dreaming about all day.  After his first bite, he declared, "Mmmm, so good!" Just what a mommy wants to hear.

And, even better, when he was face-timing with his aunt and uncle today, he was showing them the cake and he proudly told them, "Mommy made that for me. Mommy made that for Lukie." Aw. What's better than that? It makes yesterday's all-day cake baking/decorating extravaganza (in which I swore off of sugar for the rest of my life) completely worth it.

Happy birthday, sweet Lukie!

Today was also a big day for our potential upcoming adoption. We don't know anything official, but we were counting down to this day for a long time and we think it's good news. Sorry to still be so vague, but we so appreciate your prayers and would love if you could keep them up on our behalf. Thank you!