p is for party

Friday morning 6.30am: "Mum is it my birthday today?"

6.31am (after I nudged Daniel to wake up): "Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to YOU!"

6.33am: Che stands up, looks at himself and declares that he is most definitely bigger. We then ask him to look under the bed and in all his hurried excitement he pulls the presents out and bumps his head. "I'm ok!" He opens some books, a ruler, some clothes and, finally, the lego jet plane. His response: "I have wanted this for all of my life, for years and years. It is wonderful! It is amazing! Let's build it now!"

So while I baked cookies and made sandwiches and prayed for the sun to stay and the wind to stop, Daniel and Che started building lego. A few hours later we headed to the park that was, unfortunately, wildly windy. Gale force. Like nature was celebrating the birth of Che - my air child - it has been windy on his 1st, 2nd, 3rd and now 4th birthday. We played at the park for half-an-hour then headed to Mama and Popa's house for tea, cake and party food (in the calm that was shelter).

The lego cake was a hit (oh the vivid sweetness that is food colouring!), the party hats made for lots of fun and the wild duck sitting on her soon-to-be-hatched eggs in Popa's vegie patch provided a little bit of 'farmyard' entertainment. I was reminded, like I am every year, that with little kids it's the simple things that are the best. Who knew that star-shaped vegemite sandwiches, party poppers and stripy straws could keep a bunch of four-year-olds happy?

My favourite moment of the party was when Che's little (girl) friend Vali came running back into the house to give him a handmade pressie: "Che, this is a pink clay love heart that I made for you," she said. And then we all melted.

The night before his birthday I cuddled with him in bed and, like every year around this time, I shared with him the story of his birth.

"Four years ago I had some niglings in my belly and I knew that you were coming. You were about to arrive in the world. So we went to the hospital and after a few hours there you were born. Daddy cut the umblicial cord that was attached to your belly button and I cuddled you for hours and hours. You made me a Muma that day."

"How did I make you a Muma?"

"Well, before you were born I didn't have any children."

And then he starts crying and exclaiming: "You didn't have any children!"

"It's ok sweetie, I've got you now. You and Poet are my children."

"And you're our Muma."

And then he fell asleep.

B is for birth-day, f is for four and l is for love. A sweet friend of mine sent me a text message yesterday and informed me that a four-year-old asks an average of 437 questions per day. I think four will be fun, frivolously so.

happiest day...

Daniel Grey! My love turned 30 today (actually, he turned 33 but he likes to say 30 so we'll just go along with that). He woke to handmade cards and camera gear wrapped in a "che painting". Then we all bundled into the car and visited a brand new little cafe in our seaside town. It's got a bit of a city vibe which is always appreciated 'round these parts. We ate like birthday kings and queens, visited the park a little later in the day and then celebrated with the grandparents and gobbled up Mama's famous cheesecake.

Birthdays are such special times and in our house they're celebrated with lots of love and happiness. Daniel gets to choose his favourite dinner tonight. So what does this 30-year-old request? It's absolutely a la carte and deserved of awards, I tell you.

Beef nachos. Oh, he's just a big kid!

all snug and cosy...

and warm inside. That's how I felt after my birthday weekend. Daniel went out early on Saturday morning to photograph the sunrise and came home with a bunch of flowers and a paper bag full of freshly baked croissants. The croissants were, without doubt, the best I've ever had. We topped them with lashings of raspberry and blueberry jam and we enjoyed them with a few cups of tea. I opened my presents from my boys, a collection of books I'd been coveting for ages, and then headed out to teach my pregnant students.

In the afternoon two friends from Sydney celebrated with hot chocolate and brownies at one of my favourite local cafe's (Daniel made a film there a few months ago) and I treated myself to some ink & spindle goodness in the gorgeous new gallery, the pear house.

That evening, dinner at mum and dad's and on Sunday, I taught an all-day birth workshop to seven pregnant couples. Most of the "Pregnant and Prepared" workshops that I teach attract first-time parents. But on Sunday, six of the the seven couples were already parents and many were preparing for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). It was incredibly inspiring to see the determination in these pregnant women and the unwavering support from their partners.

Friends of mine and past students came to share the birth story of their beautiful baby girl, Nylah Pixie. It was the first time I had met Nylah and while holding her she found my gaze and chatted with me in her coos and aahhs for a good five minutes. Her muma had attended my classes throughout her entire pregnancy and it became so obvious to us that Nylah recognised my voice from when she was in the belly. The connection was precious and the moment absolutely melted my heart. Nylah's birth was swift and powerful - her muma's waters breaking soon after her blessingway. Nylah swam into the world a mere three hours later.

Sunday concluded with a big bowl of vegetables and noodles cooked in homemade chicken stock. And it was cool enough to wear my new toast slippers. The perfect end.

bump: birthday belly

25 weeks pregnant and 27 years old. My Mum and Dad hosted a little birthday party for me complete with balloons and a hearty meal of roast beef and Yorkshire puddings (in celebration of my birth in Ascot, England). Che helped me blow out the candles on my homemade raspberry and peach sponge cake. It was the perfect end to a beautiful day - full of special treats and my favourite people. I love birthdays.

che che turns 3

Last night I told Che that three years ago I had pains in my belly and I knew he was coming. Daniel told him I was making noises like: "oohhh, ooohhhh, ooohhh". When we had family and friends over this afternoon for cake and celebrations Che told them that three years ago: "...I was a baby and the umbilical cord was on my belly button and Daddy cut it."

The fact that he's old enough to retell his birth story (or at least snippets of it) just mesmerizes me.

This morning he ventured into the lounge room to find a tee pee and some surprises within it. Last week he told me he wanted a strawberry cake (I was so relieved that I didn't have to mold sponge cake into a rocket ship) and I immediately opened to Sipi's Strawberry Cake in the stunningly beautiful Falling Cloudberries. While he played this morning I baked and then we ventured to the beach and the park for play in the sun and birthday treats (dixie cup ice-cream).

He really gets the 'birthday' thing now which means he really is getting big. He's such a big, little boy but he'll always be my baby.

Happy happy birthday Che Che. Thank you so very much for making me a Muma. It's the very best thing I've ever done. I love you so much, even more and even more again. xxx