Saturday is for Vivian: 3rd Birthday, Part One.

Vivian was born on a Saturday, very early in the morning and at least for the first year of her life I did a monthly update on her growth, vitals and milestones each month on Saturdays. I called those posts "Saturday is for Vivian" because since Vivian's birth in 2013, Saturdays have taken a new, more important and very significant meaning to me. Well I haven't done a Saturday Special Vivian post in exactly 6 months and since today is the 19th (Vivian was born on January 19th 2013), it is the perfect time to do a little catch-up. I cannot believe my baby girl today is exactly 38 months old - the best 38 months of my life, I tell you. I look at her every morning while she is still sleeping and tell to myself "Life is Great!" Well, today, 2 months late I am doing a little recap from her 3rd Birthday. I decided to make it a two-parter because it would have been too long of a post with a million pictures, since we did a little celebration the day of her birthday and a big party for all of our extended family, the Sunday after her birthday.

I hope you enjoy! Warning, there are a ton of photos n this post. You can skip it if you like. ;-)

These photos were taken on January 19th, the morning of Vivian's 3rd Birthday (I shared a few of them on this post). I wanted Vivian to wake up wearing a new sleeping gown/dress and I purchased this one with Disney's Frozen Princess Elsa. I even got her some "Frozen" Shoes but Vivian insisted on wearing her Gray Sneakers so that is what she wore - it was her birthday after all, I couldn't say no to her. I also bought her this mixed patterned large bow to put in her hair that day. I had purchased a Mickey Mousse balloon and a balloon with the number 3 for her and I purchased the banner with the triangles which I DIY-ed myself where I wrote "Happy Birthday" in a thick black marker. I wanted to do a little decorating for our home for her birthday, of course. The afternoon and evening were followed by a small celebration at home with mom, dad and my parents, with a birthday cake, of course. My brother got off from work very late that evening and unfortunately couldn't make it, but he came the following evening, bearing a lot of gifts.

This doll is one of Vivian's first dolls (my mom purchased it for her when she was about 7 months old). That day, she was really reaching for that doll. She kept saying purple, since the doll's outfit matched her own outfit (the skirt of the dress is in a lavender color). But yeah, she has a lot of dolls, while a small stuffed doll is her most favorite, she takes turns playing with the other ones.

Vivian's Outfit:

White, Lavender & Baby Blue "Frozen" T-Shirt Dress w/ Tulle Tutu Skirt: Disney (New).

Pink+White Argyle Knit Tights: Wal Mart.

Colorblocked, Multi-Patterned Large Bow Hair Tie: Wal Mart (New).

Heather Gray+Hot Pink Sneakers: Carter's.

The Presents:

I decided to put all the presents for that day by the fireplace, late in the afternoon, after my parents came (with their presents to her). If I had left them there in the morning she would have opened them for sure. She now truly knows what a present is and when she sees a wrapped package, she automatically thinks is hers, too. I purchased the Minnie Mousse wrapping paper on clearance at Toys R' Us and that is where I wrapped the two presents I picked up for her (from her dad and I), two new toys from Toys R' Us. We had another present for her to be 'discovered 'during her birthday party on Sunday (some books and a learning toy). The present with the polka dot wrapping paper is by her Great Grand-Aunt who had mailed it to us and I let her open it that day. The rest of those presents are from my parents. And trust me, this was just the beginning of the presents for Vivian lol.

Vivian in action opening up her gifts. One of the toys I got for her 3rd birthday is those building blocks (the last photo above). Vivian loves toys like Leggos and building blocks. Besides playing, these building cubes do double duty since they teach a child the letters (they have the whole alphabet, starting from the biggest cube with A, B, C to the smallest one on top with the Z) and there are ten of them so the child can learn to count from 1 to 10. Also, one side of each of these sturdy cartoon blocks is open so each cube can fit into one another. All 10 then fit into a cartoon box which also has a handle to hold on to. Such an interesting and great toy which is super easy to pack up too. I definitely recommend it for kids 18-36 months. It is by Melissa and Doug. Melissa and Doug has great learning toys, I have several at home for Vivian.

The Cake:

Oh, there is a story behind the cake. I ordered it from a local bakery which had gotten great reviews on cakes, especially for children's birthday cakes. I had only tried pastries and cupcakes from them before and loved how they tested. The day I went to order this cake (for the day of her birthday) and a bigger party cake (for the day of her party on Sunday), the owner had me try a raspberry-cream cupcake which I loved. It was a light vanilla cupcake with a raspberry cream filling on top. I loved it and since we all like light cakes I wanted this rose cake to be exactly like the cupcake. I loved the simple rose cake, however I wanted the name Vivian and the number 3 (it is a sugar frosted number, by the way) to be white. Well, the cake, though still quite pretty disappointed us. The name was misspelled (the second I was missing) and that is a big deal, the filling inside was all in a heavy raspberry with the bread part being raspberry too, unlike the cupcake I tried that we agreed on and the letters and number were supposed to be in white. It sucks, because I had talked to her on the phone too, after first ordering the cake, making sure it was what I wanted. For a custom-made, expensive bakery cake despite the mistakes and how it looked, it tasted so-so, it was way too sweet and not at all what we expected. Needless to say, I called her the next morning and canceled the second cake which I had designed to be with all her favorite characters. It sucks because that meant I only had a few days to order a new cake. We still had a couple of bites each just to celebrate Vivian and of course Vivian had a little piece too because little kids love frosting and sugar. She ate almost the entire number 3.

Of course Vivian had to wear another new dress in the evening.

Vivian's Outfit:

Coral Wool Kitten Dress: Little Lass (New)

Pink+White Argyle Knit Tights: Wal Mart.

White+Red Chevron Grossgrain Ribbon Bow: Wal Mart (New)

After having cake, Vivian switched into a comfy tee with leggings. As you can tell her new toy (the stacking blocks) was a huge hit!

Vivian's Outfit:

Coral Long-Sleeve Tee & Black+Coral Leggings (both part of a 3-piece outfit): Little Lass (New).

White+Red Bunny Lucite Hair Barrette: c/o A Children's Boutique (New).

Stay tuned for a very special Mommy+Toddler post with me and my munchkin on Monday. We got Easter in our minds and we also got some guests joining us, that day. So stay tuned.

Have a great weekend, everyone!