baby maximus: so much to celebrate

He's two now.  Still a baby, right?  My giant baby.  Karl took him to the mainland last week so he could see his physical therapists.  When Maximus leaves the island his hair gets super straight and looked kind of like Rod Stewart.  So Karl cut it.  Cut ever last little blonde lock of hair off.  I can't believe how bad I mourned this.  Such a silly thing.  But I wanted to be there, and I would have saved a lock or two.  It had to be done, I guess.  Because big babies shouldn't look like Rod Stewart.  I am used to it.  It made him older.  And fatter (I guess long hair is slimming :)).  But now he just looks like my Baby Maximus again.  Good thing.

Sometimes when you are two, your birthday is spent running errands and you don't even know or care.  There are lots of reasons why being two is awesome.  

But after we finally settled down, after dinner, and baths, we stuck a couple of candles in the sugar cookies my mom sent (which is better than any cake) and sang to him.  He knew just what to do.  And he applauded himself.  Then he opened his small mountain of presents from his family from afar that loves him so.

He loved all the presents (thanks family!).  He lined them up here.  Then there.  Then there.  And then there...

And even though Maximus was perfectly happy with his small celebration, we still wanted to party.  

This has been a huge year for Maximus.  And for us.  We have a lot to celebrate and be grateful for.  So we wanted to have a big party to thank every one.  So much of the help was anonymous.  So we did our best to invite everyone,  just to cover our bases. 

Here he is resting up for the big party.  He's still a baby, right?

We had the party at the beach.  It was kind of significant.  Because, to me, it kind of means we are back.  

We set up.  And I almost cried just once because there was only a tiny pavilion left (because silly people that plan ahead took the other ones) and it was smack dab in the middle of the tents and set ups of people that may or may not be living there on a semi-permanant basis.  Which is fine, but it felt silly to be partying right in the middle of it.  But Karl said we could just move the food table, so the backdrop was the water.  And it ended up being beautiful.  

He built this Totoro out of fondant and we put it on top of a Coscto cake.  Because, let's be honest, Costco cake tastes better than a cake I would have made myself.  

Pretty water.  

And the sun set just in time to greet the guests.  Couldn't think of a prettier welcome.  

Eva over came her fear of the sewing machine and helped me sew these favors.  I am so excited she isn't afraid anymore.  Hi-chews were inside.  

This isn't everyone.  I was trying my best not to hide behind the camera.  But I want to be able to show Maximus this one day, and show him at least some of the people that love him so.  

My friends cooked green papaya chicken (thank you Jamiee!) and Kalua Pork, and chicken long rice, and teri chicken, and rice (thank you Chanel!) and everyone else brought so much food to go with it.  It was a feast.  Just the way we like to party.  

When we got home that night.  I was exhausted.  There were a lot of emotions that night.  And there were so many different people at the beach that night.  The pavilion next to us had a disco ball, and karaoke and balloons.  That was one extreme.  And then there were the pavilions filled with the guys that are there to drink their worries away.  And there were the ladies that needed our duct tape to fix their broken tent.  And they were hungry because they hiked all day and then spent the evening fixing their tent.  So we fed them.  And there was the little boy that kept following Karl around and calling him uncle, who said he was seven, and looked like he needed to eat.  And a bath.  And his big sister.  We tried to feed them, too.  Even the little stray kitten.  We fed it, too.   

Big party, lot's of food.  We were trying to get ahead a little on the thanks.  But maybe it will never happen.  Because as each person showed up, I felt more and more like they were still serving us.  Because that night, as I looked at the photos as I downloaded them, as I looked at all the people that came, and the pile of presents (sometimes people like to give super nice presents even though we try to tell them that just coming to the party is plenty and that they probably have already given so much), I felt like we were indebted even more.  

I guess that's okay.  There were people and kids and even a kitten at the beach to remind me that we have so much.  There were friends and gifts and mounds of food to remind me that we have so much.  And Baby Maximus.  What a year he has had.  He reminds me that we have so much.  I'll still sweat the small stuff, I'll still get sad when I remember that I forgot to put the little banner on the cake that I spend so much time making, I'll still get impatient when Maximus is trying to explain to me without any real words that he wanted to pour the juice himself and than he wants the juice that I poured to be dumped down the sink, I'll still probably focus on my half empty cup more often than I should.  But, this night was significant.    I will always remember the quirkiest things about it.  And all these quirks will remind me that we do have so much to celebrate.