The girls’ birthday fell on a Saturday this year; the coldest day of the year so far at only seven degrees centigrade. It was overcast too, reminding me of the days after their birth when I was cocooned inside one hospital and then, after the girls and I were transferred by ambulance to the baby care nursery after they were stabilised, to another. I remember feeling like I had been reborn into another world in which the only environments that concerned me were the warm inside of my house, mum and dad’s house (where I stayed for a few days as it was a little closer to the hospital for those night feeds), and the baby nursery of the hospital, where the babies slept and grew. Visits are probably not allowed but I’d love to take the girls back to show them where they spent their first two weeks of life, and see the tiny babies to show them how small they were back then.
The focus of their birthdays these days are the parties, the cake and the presents. We shared the love in relation to the cake; because they are in different classes at school and our dear friend Helen who has provided cupcakes in recent years for the class is overseas, there was the need to make two lots of class cupcakes/cakes this year. Then there was the family birthday cake, and finally the birthday party cake. I flat out refused to be involved in the class cupcake baking but Steve stepped up and made two chocolate heart-shaped cakes for the Friday before their birthday, complete with chocolate icing overlaid with red-coloured icing. Maggie offered to make the family cake as well as to host the family afternoon tea; but I was happy to make one cake, I made the same chocolate cake with red-coloured icing, enhanced by some thumb-sized horses made from white and yellow icing bought at the cookery shop at the market, chocolate freckles, coloured sparkler candles and a purple candle with the number eight. The party was held at an indoor play centre which was unheated but did supply all of the food and two ice-cream cakes. All in all, my cake effort was just about the least effort I have put in to making their birthday cake since the girls were born, though no less appreciated by them for being so.
The girls enjoyed their birthday party and loved all the presents they received, including a total of six barbie-type dolls from some of their friends, which I had told mum I didn’t want her to buy them, despite the girls’ requests. On the upside, they have been playing imaginary games with them together. Their buddies came to the party for the second year in a row, and their last: they are moving back overseas permanently with their parents in a few weeks’ time.
For me the highlight of the birthday festivities was the family afternoon tea at Maggie, Peter and Oli’s house. It was a big help not to have to have people over to our house, and their renovated space is lovely to be in. But more than that, Maggie is a warm host who had not only given the girls the gift of tickets with experiences to be spread out over the whole year, like ‘a sleepover’ ; ‘a camping trip’; ‘a tickle’ – but she also arranged for paper plane-making competitions which engaged the adults (including the girls’ godparents) as well as the kids. There was a competition for flying your plane the furthest down the corridor (won by Oli who scrunched his up into a ball and threw it the furthest); the best decorated plane (not judged in the end, but it was fun to do); and the longest in the air when thrown from the upstairs mezzanine (hard to tell who won that, it would depend whether you counted the two planes which were stuck up on the rafters). Given Steve’s training as a glider pilot, he was the judge.
We bought the girls a luxury item each for their birthday which I don’t even own myself: a hair-dryer, so they can have dry hair when they go to bed. They have enjoyed the feel of that. They also blew their birthday cards around the room with them, and later Lara exclaimed: ‘oh I get it! It sucks the air in from here and it goes through and out there!’
It’s nice to celebrate the girls’ birth with chocolate, hearts, friends and family, with the fresh experiences of warm air and soaring flight.
