FOUR!!

Gabby turned four last week! It's still hard to believe that she's already four... time goes by so fast.

We ordered a special "Belle" cake for her birthDAY. And, we let her open all her presents from us and other distant family members right when she woke up that morning. The two big hits were her Disney princesses bike and the Disney princess castle.

Even Rocco thought the bike was cool... and we sort of had to wrestle him off of it so the birthday girl could also spend some time on it.

After she opened all her presents... she said "Are there any more presents for me to open? I want more!" I thought this was funny, as it must be one of the four-year old developmental milestones to actually "request" more presents.











Not only did Rocco really like Gabby's new bike... but he took charge when it was time to blow out the candles on her Belle cake. Every time I would have 2 or 3 lit, the little guy would quickly blow out all the candles so I'd have to re-light them again. This had Gabby and I laughing so hard. Rocco on the other hand was very frustrated when I was finally able to hold him back far enough from the cake that he couldn't blow out the candles.











The only thing that Gabby REALLY wanted for her birthday that we weren't able to get her was Matteo. Several times over the past 4 months, Gabby has said to me "Mommy, I hope Matteo comes back to life for my birthday" or "My only wish is that Matteo will be back in time for my birthday". It's obviously beyond heartbraking the first time you hear those words come from your 3 year old's mouth. But, even more difficult might just be having to see their eyes when you to try and explain to them that you can't wish somebody back to life. That death isn't something you can change. It's sad and difficult knowing that she still has some sense of hope that she'll see Matteo alive again. It's hard to know that she doesn't fully understand exactly what death means.

Anyway, we did tell her that even though Matteo wasn't physically here with us on her birthday... he was/is with us. He is always in our hearts and on our shoulders. And, she still frequently tells me she has Matteo "sightings"... or that "Matteo was just tickling me".