Naiya’s (Quarantine) Third Birthday

Motherhood

Sep 10

Written By

I blinked and we officially have a three year old! I'm sure I sound like a broken record at this point but I truly can't believe how quickly time is FLYING by with my girls. Also, the growth between ages 2 and 3 is truly mind-blowing!

Last year at this time, Naiya was a baby who had just started nursery school and this year, she's a non-stop talking tiny person (who is home with us all day during this global pandemic but of course, that's another story!).

Sharing photos today from our special, low-key birthday weekend together and a Naiya update below too. It wasn't the birthday celebration we would have planned but since Naiya was smiling the entire time, it was definitely one for the memory books.

This Is Three

I had SO many plans for Naiya's birthday this year and ALL of them involved celebrating with friends and family. But since it seems that all of us will be having quarantine birthdays this year, of course we set those plans aside to celebrate together safely as a little family.

First, we had a mini celebration in our front yard and then, we met a tiny group of family members at a local park. We socially distanced with masks, sang happy birthday, opened gifts and ate cake.It was truly the opposite of Naiya's past birthdays (here) but it was somehow equally special and she had the best time!

So thankful Naiya has a built in bestie in Sadie because watching the two of them together throughout Naiya's birthday weekend (and in these photos!) was pretty much sister goals.Now that I officially have a "three-nager," I'm reminiscing about how much Naiya has grown over the past year. It all started with Naiya meeting her baby sister soon after her second birthday (here). To this day, she always reminds me that Sadie brought her play doh and dummies upon her arrival (which is true--we had them ready for her at the hospital!).

Needless to say, it was love at first sight (after all, these are Naiya's FAVORITE things!)--even if Naiya still gets a bit jealous of Sadie every now and then.This past year, Naiya experienced so many firsts. In addition to becoming the sweetest big sister, she started preschool and she grew exponentially both in height and in her communication skills.

She started ballet class for the first time and fell head over heels in love with painting and Peppa Pig, aka her holy grail! Of course, we had to have a Peppa Pig cake for the occasion--it was only fitting.

A Pandemic Year To Remember

After the Pandemic hit and life as we knew it turned upside down, it broke my heart to know that Naiya (and of course kids everywhere!) had to stop playing on the playground, socializing and enjoying school in order to stay as safe as possible. Our preschool didn't open this year and since Los Angeles' COVID numbers have been so high, we've been laying low at home--still very much quarantined.

I hope that at some point while Naiya is still three, she'll be able to experience at least some semblance of life as it was before--whatever our new normal may look like!

Until then, the silver lining throughout this time has been being able to be present at home with my girls to experience all of their milestones first-hand together.