Baby cake for the baby obsessed girl

There just wasn't any other type of cake that I could have made for this girl.

This birthday girl, who just turned 3, is absolutely obsessed with babies.



So a baby doll birthday cake is exactly what she ordered.

And a baby doll birthday cake is exactly what her mama made her.

So I searched high and low for the perfectly sized doll to fit into this little "bathtub" and finally walked out of the store with the cutest little baby, tiniest little rubber ducky and all of the visions of a baby in a bathtub rushing through my mind.  

 Because Sophia is a little mama in the making (and an excellent one, at that). And she loves every minute of it.

So we watch as she gently tucks her babies into bed, shushing them ever so quietly as she gently wraps the blankets around them. She sings them lullabies, reads them stories, tells them that she loves them, kisses their little heads and tiptoes out of the room. Playing out what she lives herself as she is tucked into bed each night.

And there isn't a day that goes by that I don't have to unclip baby dolls from Chloe's carseat before putting her in--because the reality is that having a real baby in our house means that Sophia's dolls all of a sudden get real-life experiences.

So baby dolls get baths in our bathroom sink...

and get carried around in carriers....

and get loved on day in and day out by the girl who tells me all of the time that she wants to be a real mommy.  

So we celebrated this little girl last weekend, as she turned three. We celebrated the three years that we have had with our little Sophia. Three years full of great times and hard times--great times when we would sit back and stare at this beautiful little soul who is so loving and kind. And hard times when we would remind ourselves that two and three year olds are so incredibly tiring in so many ways and that the hard parts are only passing phases that we'll all get through, we promise. Because that's just the reality of parenting.

So we celebrated these past three years with family all around her, handing her gifts, opening cards and watching her beam as we sang Happy Birthday to her over and over again. We watched as Mya and Carter handed her their picture that they made for her together, explaining every detail to her with pride. And we watched as she tore into gifts, ate her cake and basked in the glory of this day finally arriving.

And that morning? Well, she woke up to balloons at her chair, a pink tablecloth draped over the table, party plates and cups set out, party napkins and a Happy Birthday banner hung above her 

head--because what I've learned about kids (or people in general) is that it takes such little effort (a few dollar store items that I always keep stocked in my basement) to make someone feel like this day is something absolutely special. So everyone always wakes up to decorations on their birthday--because isn't this just what life is all about? 

So with a big sister who told us she wanted to make her breakfast that morning, I guided her through every moment--teaching her each step of the way and watching as she carefully created a breakfast especially for her little sister... 

...which was quite delicious, I might add.

So happy birthday to our big 3yr old. The girl who I will always remember as being a mini-mommy, loving on her dolls as if they were her own--and loving on her own baby sister as if she was actually her real mama.

And just remember, when it gets tiring that those dolls sometimes just won't respond to all of your love the way that you want--you can always put your baby sister in a doll stroller and that's kinda hilariously entertaining too.

Just don't take your hand off of her, or her real mama will have a heart attack, okay?

Love you sweet Sophia. Love you forever. 

Love your mama xo