Lavinia’s first visit to Sardinia has been memorable. We celebrated her third birthday (two weeks earlier) with a big party, and she attended her first Italian wedding too.

The invitation

Nonna Patrizia and Nonno Giannetto, together with zia Ilaria, prepped the birthday party.

We asked Lavinia to record a video (in Italian) to invite family members and friends. Her tone sounds a bit authoritative 😆

The party

We have been blessed with a hot and sunny summer weather (despite being the third week of October). The venue had a playground outside, so all the children really enjoyed the party!

Almost everyone attending never met Lavinia: due to the pandemic, we didn’t have any chance to travel to Sardinia before, so celebrating her birthday with a big party was an excellent way to introduce Lavinia to everyone in Sardinia.

There were so many guests RSVP’ing that we needed two cakes! Zia Marzia baked Hey Duggee’s cake, while Peppa Pig’s cake was made by the same pastry shop that made our weddings’ cake and pastries, seven years ago (time flies!).

During entirthee event, she never looked in distress, even if everyone wanted to spend five minutes with her. She was always surrounded by people asking for her input, and she was fine with it – some children react badly to all this attention and have meltdowns… well, not our Vinnie.

Lavinia was happy as a Larry, ate lots of good food (sweet and savoury), thanked everyone for the presents she received (she got a million gifts!) and most of all, she had a good time playing with the other children.

Blow the candels, Vinnie!

Two cakes means that Lavinia would blow her candles twice, and she was so happy about that! She has been practising for this moment for weeks at home.

Since there were a lot of people around her when she blew the candels (on both cakes), I was afraid that she would feel overwhelmed and throw a tantrum. Instead, she hid her face with her hands (she later told me she wanted to surprise herself!), then she blew the candles.

My cousins in particular were extremely excited to meet Lavinia. Here are some photos with some of them. Marzia and Ilaria helped nonna Patrizia to arrange the party, helping with the food prep and decorations. The picture with the inflatable frame where Lavinia has a lollipop in her mouth has taken with Chiara and Giovanna, two of the dearest friends my sister and I have. They’re family.

Vinnie and Michela are best friends

Among all the children attending the party, Michela stole Vinnie’s heart. She is a few months older than Vinnie, and it’s been love at first sight between them. They were indivisible – they also went to the loo together! You can imagine the drama that’s been consumed when Michela had to go home.

The birthday photobook

I asked all the guests at the party to write something for Vinnie and take a photo with my Polaroid. I stole the idea from our friends Jenny and Paul, which did the same at their wedding.

I don’t know whether Lavinia will remember this birthday party, so I wanted to have something she can look at to remember this day.

Chiara made from scratch the yellow book with Bing’s cover, Nonna Patrizia got all the coloured pens, I brought the stickers and the Polaroid camera, Zia Sara purchased all the film for the pictures, and the guests left lovely thoughts. It’s been a great team work, and the result is fantastic.

Bruno and Giovanna’s wedding

The excellent excuse we used to travel to Sardinia was Bruno and Giovanna’s wedding. Bruno celebrated our marriage seven years ago, so we could not miss his! We stayed at the wedding’s venue overnight, and it turned to be a brilliant idea: this way we could thoroughly enjoyed the party and the venue. Lavinia particularly enjoyed the large terrace of our hotel room 😂

This is us, ready for the celebration and the lunch! The food was beyond delicious, and the company at our table was brilliant too. We had really a good time, we needed it.

Not only did Lavinia loved the food (not a news), but she felt in love with live music and band playing! She danced for more than two hours no stop! People asked us if she’s also this way, so tireless and energetic… and yes, she is! Wish I knew where her battery switch is located.

UK birthday and Halloween

We celebrated Lavinia’s birthday also on the actual day she was born, Nov 30th. It was a Sunday, so we spent the morning at home, then we went for a stroll after lunch. Vinnie and I baked a chocolate cake together, and she couldn’t wait to eat it.

The celebrations continued the following day as it was Halloween. We walked around the city centre and stopped for a boba tea. Lavinia sported her witch costume! The Ben&Holly’s magic wand is a present she received for her birthday. She absolutely loves it.

Finally, the weeks of celebrations finished with a small birthday party at Hailey’s. Lavinia chose a pink caterpillar chocolate cake after she almost had a meltdown at Tesco, as she they ran out of Paw Patrol’s cakes.

After her (sad) first birthday, and the multiple celebrations scattered in 4 months for her second birthday, this year has been a sort of closing-the-loop kind of birthday: Lavinia finally met all the people and loved ones she was supposed to meet way earlier in her life (thanks, pandemic!). We don’t know anything about her 4th birthday yet, but the bar is set very high now!

Everything has gone as planned and Lavinia had a wonderful time. She is a sweet, affectionate, empathetic, independent, opinionated little rebel, and we’re glad to see that the people around her accept and love her for what she is. We’re raising a kind human being. We’re so very proud of her.