Birthday Bonanza

I'm picking up mid-story here, so be sure to read part one of the Birthday saga...

I made it to the grocery. The weather turned while I was out, and the skies opened up. Though the bag boy and I got the car loaded before the storm rolled in, driving conditions on the way home were horrible. Why do I mention this? It put a serious crimp in my plans to finish the rocking chair.

10:30 Friday night saw me standing in my garage holding a can of spray paint, swaying on my feet with exhaustion. My husband gently took the can and ordered me to bed. I was a little teary eyed at what I percieved to be abject mommy failure! After a few mild protests, I succumbed to my better half and headed up the stairs to sweet oblivion.

7:30 Saturday morning came soon enough. I fed my boy and put him back to bed, then, with the help of my hubby, tackled the list of things that still needed doing. We ironed, decorated, cooked and did a little last minute cleaning.

10:00 My father and his family, who were supposed to arrive at 9:30 in order to get a little extra visiting time in, call. They are running late and will now be arriving closer to 11:30. I'm a little annoyed, and a little relieved. This gives me more time to finish everything that needs finishing.

10:15 The in-laws arrive with the balloons and cake. Shortly there after one of my best friends appears with some extra ice (our ice maker is not working.) I put her to work placing balloons artistically about the corners, and making a last minute bow for the (unfinished) rocking chair.

11:00 Our first guest arrives. I'm still in my grubby clothes, with no make-up and unfinished hair. I greet the guest, grab the baby and run upstairs to feed him and get pretty.

We had 23 guests, three of them babies from Will's playgroup. The party was a smashing success, and ran over by a good thirty minutes. I had too much food and was gently teased for calling it a "light lunch" on the invitation. In my defense, I consider chicken salad to be "light," after all, it isn't as if I were serving lasagne!

The baby ate his cake, once I took the icing off of it, so all of the muffins paid off. I still can't believe the little guy is a year old now, but I'm glad he had such a great party.

Birthday Blues

Those few of you who are actually regulars will have noticed the severe lack of recent updates to my blog. In truth, I expected you to be so engrossed in the world of "fan fic" that you wouldn't notice! Just kidding.

As much as I enjoy writing, and reading, it is hard to do either when one's primary job is the nurturing and care of a spunky eleven month old boy. With Will's first birthday fast approaching I've been very busy. I hope that our guests on Saturday find that his party is fun, the decorating perfect and the house effortlessly maintained. In the meantime, I'd like to document just how NOT effortless the process has been. That way any other moms who come surfing the web, trying to learn how to throw baby's first birthday party, will know the truth. Moms spend a lot of time trying to fill that nasty "supermom" stereotype. If more of us were honest with each other, then we'd all be able to relax and enjoy our imperfections and all of the little things we DO get right. That would be much better than obsessing over all of the things we don't, because in the real world of mommy-hood, there is more that doesn't get done than does!

Preparing for Will's party:

6 weeks -2 months in advance: I start offering muffins to my son in preparation for his first cake

5 weeks: Compose invitations and have them printed

4 weeks: I start refinishing the rocking chair I received from my grandmother on my first birthday.

4 weeks: take the print his Grammy sent for his room to be framed with money she also sent

3 weeks: get sick, which sets back the rocking chair project and makes little things like regular housework start to pile up. Realize that, while I have the invitations in hand, they still need to be addressed and gotten in the mail, PRONTO.

2 weeks: Go out of town, with baby in tow, while still sick. The little guy is already scoring loot from his out of town relatives. Mommy needs a bigger suitcase to bring it all home.

1 week: Frantically work on the rocking chair, and give up on the cross-stitch blanket. Maybe I can finish it by Christmas. I still have hope on his scrapbook, but the printer is out of ink which makes printing more pictures impossible.

4 days: Cake! We need a cake! Still sick, I go to a reputabal bakery and place my order. Work on chair proceeding at a comfortable pace.

2 days: Payday. Shew. Now I can go to the grocery and party store. Balloon order placed, check. Cups, plates, bib, decorations, check. Run out of time for the grocery...drat! I get frantic about the chair and use too much spray paint, causing blobs and uneven-ness. Now I need to sand those parts and give it another coat. Eeep!

1 day: Mother-in-law has offered to help clean the house (and boy does it need it!) while Grandpa and Uncle Eddie babysit Will. God bless this woman. Uncle Eddie aggrees to babysit during naptime, as well, so I can run to the grocery, but when am I going to work on the chair?
I could be working on it now, but I'm writing on my blog instead. Why am I doing this? There's work to be done! Could it be I'm stalling?

That's it folks! Will I finish the chair? How about make it to the grocery? Can I keep my cool (not to mention my sanity) through Saturday morning? Stay tuned for the results...