Archie Turned 2 🎉 His Birthday Party and 2 Year Reflections 2022

I can’t believe Archie is 2! 😮 Is every birthday from now on going to be, “I can’t believe Archie is x years old!” Because I feel like I’m going to feel like this every year 😅. There’s a quote: “Time is a thief. When time tries to snatch something from you, just grab tighter. Don't let go. That's what memory is. Not letting go.”

A lot happened in two years. We were in and out of a pandemic, I got a new job, I started a podcast, traveled alone with Archie for the first time, traveled alone without Archie for the first time, got diagnosed with depression and generalized anxiety disorder, started medication, rediscovered my relationship with God and organized religion, the list goes on & on. Has it bee a good two years? Yes and no. I find it helpful to think about life as a series of ups and downs. It’s impossible that you’ll have an entire year that’s good and an entire year that’s bad. I try to look at things from a more neutral perspective: there are good moments and bad moments and so-so moments sprinkled in throughout every day, every week, every month. It’s choosing to hold on to the good moments rather than the bad. I like to believe I have the power of choice in deciding whether something was good or bad. 🎶 Thank you for coming to my TED Talk, to my TED Talk…🎶

From a motherhood perspective, 2 years in I still love being a mom and truly believe I was built for motherhood. It just feels right. Every fiber of my being feels built for this. Most importantly, I don’t think I would have gone through some of the transformative experiences of finally getting help for my mental health and meeting people that have touched my life more than they know. Archie has been my light in the darkness, my motivation and my inspiration. But enough about me! Let’s talk about him 😊 .

The teachers at Archie’s school tell me that he’s kindhearted, calm, and sweet. When I heard that, it made my heart soar. At home he’s super goofy and loves to make John and I laugh. He’s loves his dogs and tractors, trucks, cars, basically anything with wheels. He’s also very particular about his things and about rules. At the playground, he gets upset when kids don’t wait their turn to go down the slide 🤣. He already has that older child energy and he’s still an only child 😆. Right now we’re working on holding hands in the parking lot, being careful around cars, and always staying with me when we go to stores. When we go out together I try to use any opportunity to educate him even if he doesn’t fully understand yet. He’s super smart already, knows the alphabet and numbers 1—100 like the back of his hand. He LOVES numbers and makes me read Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 multiple times before bed 😛 .

For Archie’s 2nd birthday party, we decided to have it in our backyard again. Last year’s party was a hit so we thought we would do the same thing!

Archie’s birthday has become a little unofficial family reunion. It’s been so special having my grandma, uncles, aunt, and cousin here with us to celebrate! I wish I could see them more often, but the distance is hard with a little one. I still haven’t done a drive longer than an hour and a half with Archie so the 4-6 hour drive up to Massachusetts would be tough.

We also invited our friends to Archie’s party. Now that most people are vaccinated and as the party is outdoors we felt comfortable inviting more people than we did last year. My sister and her boyfriend were so incredibly helpful in planning and setting up the party. I’m awful at parties. I was a total disaster at planning my wedding, too. Most little girls dream of planning parties and weddings meanwhile it is my worst nightmare! I enjoy having people over and entertaining but the whole planning and set up part I’d be happy to skip. Maybe next year I’ll hire a party planner 😂 . But yes, huge shoutout to my sister and her boyfriend and my family. They were incredibly helpful and I wouldn’t have been able to pull it off without them!

Here are some pictures of the party! 🎈 (I purposely tried not to share the pictures with other kids faces as I’m not sure how the parents would feel about their faces on my blog! ☺️)

Archie was not in the mood to take pictures and it’s okay, I don’t blame him 😂 It was hot, there were a ton of people, he was honestly probably very overstimulated and asking him to smile for the camera is where he drew the line. As long as we captured the moment and can one day show him pictures of his 2nd birthday party, then I’m happy 😊.

We rented the bouncy house again from Bouncin Blast. They were incredible and set up and broke down the bouncy house. I love how the bouncy house becomes a statement piece and sets the ambiance as a kids part. Everyone loved it and had a great time bouncing around! I also set up a sprinkler for the kids to run through and had little games, a tattoo station, and a big bubble maker. I wanted the kids to have things to do at the party and not feel bored. I think I did a good job at that!

For photography, we hired Kristen Helfman Photography. She was our photographer last year and was available to shoot this year as well! Hiring a photographer was important to me because I really wanted to capture the memories from Archie’s party. I knew I was going to be too busy hosting to take pictures. It was the second year in a row that I did it and I would absolutely do it over and over again!

Overall, I was so happy to throw Archie another big birthday party and plan on doing it again next year! ❤️ Maybe next year we’ll get at least one smiling photo of him 😜!

Thanks for reading! ❤️