January birthdays already get the short end of the stick, but a January birthday in the middle of one of Los Angeles’s most devastating wildfires in memory? That would be so tough to navigate — especially when no one is in a very celebratory mood. Still, moms know that the show must go on, so Chrissy Teigen pulled together to bake a cake for her daughter Esti’s second birthday. She shared the unusual cake she made for her daughter in a vulnerable new post.
Teigen, who had to evacuate from the home she shares with husband John Legend and their daughters Esti, 2, and Luna, 8, and their sons Wren, 18 months, and Miles, 6, due to the L.A. fires, shared an update on her youngest daughter’s birthday party on her Instagram story, per PEOPLE. The Cravings author shared a picture of Esti’s cake, admitting, “I’m feeling grateful to be back home. This is all I could muster up for Esti’s birthday.”
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 27: John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, and family attend the Fisher-Price X John Legend launch event on August 27, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Fisher-Price)Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Fisher-Price
In the picture, which PEOPLE has a screenshot of, Teigen has baked a round cake with chocolate icing and colorful sprinkles. But instead of princesses or animals, she decorated the cake with two action figures of her favorite wrestler John Cena, complete with a colorful cake pop in one of the Cena’s hands.
It’s definitely not a birthday cake you would see every day (for a 2-year-old girl or otherwise!). Last month, the Chrissy & Dave Dine Out star shared that her daughter “mysteriously became obsessed with John Cena” a few months ago. “So I got her more John Cenas and now she can’t do anything without a John Cena,” Teigen continued.
She shared a video on Instagram of her gifting Esti two John Cena toys, and her reaction was so precious. “Wait, Esti, do you love it?” Teigen asks her daughter.
“Uh, I want to open it,” Esti says, handing the present to her mom.
“What is it?” Teigen prompts, and Esti replies in the cutest toddler voice era, “It’s John Cena!”
In other videos in the carousel, Esti plays with two John Cena dolls in the living room. She uses a John Cena to scratch her dog’s hair, she puts her mom’s ring on the doll’s arm, and she bangs John Cena’s head on her Leap Frog laptop to help her type.
It’s a relief to see Teigen and her family are back home after evacuating their home with their four dogs and bearded dragon amid the L.A. fires. Last week, she shared a mirror selfie in her closet, where she stood next to a suitcase. “This is surreal,” she wrote. “I’m very scared now. Packing.”
She also wrote on her Instagram story at the time, “I haven’t had the words, it is a hellscape,” Teigen wrote about the fires. “We are OK as of right now, and I felt weird saying that with so many people we know and don’t know who are not OK. Thank you for reaching out.”
“Looking for any and all ways to help our community right now, please send anything you see,” she added. “And god bless the firefighters and all first responders.”
