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Happy second birthday to my baby!

I’m going to be optimistic here and say that Paxon, who already has an extremely strong personality, is going to have a year of figuring out what he’s already working with. He’s a jokester as much as he is dramatic. He’s stubborn as much as he is heart wrenchingly sweet. He will blow you a kiss in the same second that he smacks you across your face (yeah, we’re working on it – ie. I have to hold his arms so Micah can kiss him goodnight).

At the end of the day, he is my creation and I wouldn’t give up any of his giant personality because it’s from me (the sweet part) and Micah (the otherwise part, obviously) and he will grow and change just as we have done our whole lives. I’m thankful for every second I get with him.

This year, I felt major nostalgia setting up his Winnie the Pooh decorations with my dad. Of the few shows that he somewhat pays attention to, Winnie the Pooh is one that always catches his eye.

I’m lucky to be with a guy like Micah who just goes with whatever I’m feeling when it comes to our son. I was on the fence about a theme and decided on this one last minute. Thankfully every decoration we ordered was available for Prime shipping on Amazon Prime!

Another important decision was the dessert. Last year I did cupcakes because I love the convenience of individual cakes and not having to cut into anything. This year, I wanted to do something different.

After deep diving through the internet and all things Winnie the Pooh, I settled with something pretty simple for someone like me who isn’t the best baker but is still trying!

The beehives turned out very homemade-looking. The cake was a subtle honey flavored white cake (link here) that turned out really good. To me, cream cheese frosting is disgusting so I had an Italian meringue buttercream that I tried (link here) but it turned out to be such a weird texture. I think that might be because I don’t have a candy thermometer. I ended up adding powdered sugar to the mixture to thicken it up more and it turned out slightly better but still very weird looking – as evident in the picture above.

Thankfully, any cake is a good cake to a toddler.

In terms of gifts, Pax got very lucky again this year. I’m always amazed at how generous everyone is when it comes to his birthday and making sure we’re getting what he really, truly needs.

First, we started off the month with a gift we’ve been wanting to give him for a little while. Ever since we moved to the bottom floor, it seemed like perfect timing for a trampoline. If you follow my Snapchat, you know how he feels about it:

Otherwise, he got so many clothes for the colder weather coming up sooner than I would like! I don’t have pictures of him in anything quite yet, but keep an eye out on his Instagram (@paxonohl).

Considering all he received this year, I think the two trucks he got were his favorite. Once he realized they were his, he ignored everything and had us open his clothes, paying no attention to anything else.

Most importantly, thank you to everyone who has helped us make it this far. Gifts are great, but it’s your continued support and relationship with our little family that’s the most important to us. Seeing the way our son interacts with you all is so vital to his growth as a person and I’m glad he has such a huge amount of support. He will always have someone to turn to and, to me, that will always be the most important gift anyone can give.

We love you guys!

Again, happy birthday, Paxon. Here’s to a year of terrific twos.

❤️