Max Turns 2!

Wow! I can't believe that my little baby turned two!

It seems like only yesterday ...

...we were terrified to even bring him home from the hospital!

But then he grew and grew and even his first birthday caught us by surprise...

And wouldn't you know it, my sweet little bundle grew into a rowdy, noisy (and even sweeter) 2-year-old!

We decided not to have a big party this year. It's too cold outside and we weren't excited about a bunch of toddlers running crazy through our house, nor did we feel like planning a "destination" party--just too hectic. Max is at a stage where he really doesn't like to share his toys anyway and he really wants the spotlight all to himself--so we figured inviting his friends over to celebrate would distress him more than excite. So, we gave him a three-day Birthday Celebration Extravaganza! (And boy, was it ever exhausting for the adults)!

The one thing Max can't get enough of right now are tractors. He LOVES them. He categorizes, though--backhoes, excavators, bucket loaders, graters and scrapers, combines, swathers--they are all "tractors". But, he can definitely distinguish between them all--he knows the difference between a bulldozer and a backhoe. He can even point out when one has "track" wheels. Every time we pass one while driving, he begs "More tractors, mommy, more tractors!" Sometimes I have to circle back and pass them again, but I never realized how many "tractors" we pass on a daily basis--it's quite surprising. And his toy "tractor" collection is ever-growing as well. He even has a favorite DVD of real tractors at work on a construction site.

Given that, we decided that a perfect birthday outing for Max should include a lot of TRACTORS! Unfortunately, a three-day drive to papa's farm was out of the question, so we set out to a John Deere dealership instead.

Max was in tractor heaven. He didn't know which way to go first.

Inside the dealership were more tractor toys than we could have ever imagined! Not surprisingly, Max wanted one of everything. Since it was his birthday, we obliged and he ended up with a few John Deere goodies.

Day two of the Birthday Celebration Extravaganza came with gorgeous fall weather--73 degrees and sunny. What a perfect day for a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo! This zoo is awesome--it is very large and has a lot of cool animals. It was the first zoo in the nation.

Maggie was nice enough to push a sleeping Sam in the limo stroller so that both Paul and I could have fun with Max.

On day 3--Max's actual birthday, we went to the Please Touch Museum. I had heard from a lot of people that this place is really great, and indeed Max had a wonderful time.

He got to drive all kinds of cool vehicles...

Ride in a train...

But his favorite part was grocery shopping.

It was so funny to watch him push this little cart up and down the aisles, grabbing boxes of macaroni, cans of soup, and produce. The food looked so realistic he actually tried to take a bite out of the bananas.

He also really enjoyed the carousel since he got to ride a "horsey" (another favorite of his). He did get a little upset when it was time to get off, though.

And of course, the celebration wouldn't be complete without a big birthday cake--with candles. Max has been invited to a lot of b-day parties and he has always been so excited about the cake, especially the lit candles and the whole custom of blowing them out.

We got this cake from Sam's club so not only was it five times too big, but there were about 3 layers of frosting too many.

Of course, Max's favorite part was the frosting. I am pretty sure that is all he ate of his huge piece of cake. They must have dumped an entire bottle of food coloring into it because Max had bright green poop for the next three days.

No celebration is complete without presents!

Max got a lot of wonderful gifts that he really loves. However, his biggest gift of all was this huge train table. I don't have all of the track set up in these pictures, but it is a neat table. Several of his friends have one just like it, and they have them at random places like bookstores. Max loves to play with it at any of these locations, but the one we gave him for his birthday--he couldn't care less about it. He has played with it maybe once. Darn! Hopefully Sam will like it one day.

Like I mentioned, the extravaganza was a little exhausting, but we all had a terrific time--especially Max.

I have to post a few pictures of my two boys. When I am sitting with the both of them I will often say, "I love my two boys." So now Max will get next to Sammy, give him a hug, and say, "Two boys, mommy, two boys!" Then he tells me to go get the camera. He is too funny.

And I need to post a couple pics of Sam--he is changing so much and growing so fast. He sleeps next to me in a co-sleeper that attaches to our bed. I always take a big glass of ice water with me because I am constantly thirsty and I set it on the night stand that is just at the head of Sam's co-sleeper. Sammy was sound asleep in his little bed last night when I reached over for a drink and accidentally dumped the entire huge glass of icey cold water all over him! I felt so bad. I had to cuddle him the rest of the night after that rude awakening.