Celebrating Gabriella's 2nd Birthday!

Today we happily celebrated Gabriella's second birthday and her first birthday home!

Gabriella was running a low grade fever last night and her cousin Bella, who she had spent time with over the weekend, was sick, so I was worried about Gabriella being sick for her birthday, but she woke up feeling well with no fever. One dose of Motrin seemed to do the trick, so I was very thankful for that.

First thing this morning, directly after waking up, Gabriella opened a couple small presents from us. Look at the determination in her eyes!:

Throughout the morning we received lots of birthday calls for Gabriella. Lots of family and friends sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She would hold the phone to her ear and listen, but didn't say much. She was probably wondering why so many people were singing to her today!

I had a doctor's appointment in Boston this morning and following the appointment we took Gabriella for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Gabriella loves animals, is always imitating monkeys, and is constantly making animal sounds, so I thought this would be a perfect birthday treat. Boy, was I wrong! She hated it! She was scared and didn't want to move from my lap. She didn't eat much, because she was so nervous, but she did manage to eat a bit.:

The wait staff sang "Happy Birthday" to her, but, again, she wasn't too impressed!:

After lunch we went home and napped. After our nap we got ready for dinner with my family.

We eat out frequently and Gabriella recognizes Emma's "big man," as we refer to him, more knowingly than she recognizes Mickey Mouse! She spots him the second we pull into the parking lot and says, "Oooh, man" and instantly knows where we are!:

Each time we eat at Emma's, Gabriella always asks for a dollar to play the claw machine. Since it was her birthday, of course we had to let her play!:

After dinner we went back to our house for cake and presents. We are installing ceramic tile throughout my house, so the house is in complete disarray. But, we managed around the mess and had a fun celebration anyway!

Gabriella's princess cake:

After the candle was blown out, Gabriella kept walking up to the cake and blowing like she was blowing out more candles. It was very cute:

Enjoying cake...well, enjoying frosting actually!:

Opening birthday cards and presents:

Good things come in small packages...:

...and big packages too!:

We then went outside to play with the Step 2 Roller Coaster that Ken and I got her:

To end the fun day, Gabriella and Tita had a great time playing outside!:

This evening we also called Gabriella's foster family in Guatemala. They love Gabriella so much and I knew they would want to speak to her on her birthday. Gabriella and I spoke to Daniel, Sandy, and Alejandra. We also called Norma, but she was not home. Daniel said he was very sad this morning when he woke up because he wouldn't be able to see Gabriella on her birthday. I felt for him because I know how much he loves Gabriella and I remember how I felt when I was missing her first birthday last year while she was still in Guatemala. We also received e-cards from them for Gabriella. They are wonderful people and I am so thankful for the love they gave Gabriella and the love they continue to have for her.

It was a fun day but now we are looking forward to the big birthday party on Saturday!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl! Mommy loves you so much!