Happy Birthday Ady!

44 today. I remember my Dad being 44, I was nine and he came dancing into my bedroom singing ‘I’ve got the key of the door, I’ve never been 44 before!’ which was rather out of character and now I wonder if he was possibly drunk at the time :lol:.

After discussion on birthday gifts Ady was adamant he only wanted a box set of dvds which I’d already ordered (and arrived just in time) but last night I popped out to the supermarket and got various little treats like posh filter coffee and croissants which I put in the kitchen with HAPPY BIRTHDAY post it notes on, a tub of his favourite ice cream which is in the freezer with post it note on and various packs of crisps and chocolates that he likes which when he next goes rummaging for snacks he will find in the cupboard with post it notes on. While we were camping at the weekend he got OCD about washing his hands because he loved the smell of the ecover handwash so much (lavendar) so I got a shampoo and shower gel by them with the same fragrance for him too. Lots of little nice things rather than something to gather dust or take up space and never be used. 🙂

Ady is always restless about his birthday about his mum – it’s the only time of year he thinks about her on the basis that whether or not they are in contact she can’t possibly help but be thinking about him too on his birthday. I think it is also one of the times he really misses his sister too. So he was up at about 4am and enjoyed his coffee and croissants apparently. He had hoped to get home early today but work conspired to keep him there later with various things cropping up.

We had a nice day at home – just the three of us ;). We watched Doctor Who from the weekend, made a cake for Ady, let the chicks spend some time outside in the sunshine, watched a baby bird that was on it’s first flying lesson and plopped down onto our lounge windowsill – we have so many nesting birds in our garden at the moment, blackbirds in the hedge, pigeons in our ivy covered tree, starlings in the roof and of course our bantam is sitting on eggs too. We watched some of King Arthur’s Disasters which was on Nick jr and I’d not seen before and thought was hilarious. We also watched some of the Rugrats show where they are all grown up and teenagery now. Ady and Scarlett made some birthday cards for Ady and we wrapped up some of his presents and then Tarly and I made some chocolate cupcakes. Tomorrow at Badgers they are doing ‘share a hobby’ for Creative Badger and Davies is talking about his painting and Tarly wanted to talk about baking as one of her hobbies so we thought it would be cool for her to take in some cupcakes she’d baked to share. She did all of it with minimal supervision and tonight we decorated them with chocolate buttercream and sprinkles. They also played with Betty Spagetty, geomags (naturally ;)) and the plasticine.

Later we had swimming lessons. Davies is doing really well and is mastering back stroke now. Scarlett is still rather at the splashy incoordinated stage but Carolyn the instructor mentioned a plan for her for next week so hopefully she’ll click with it all soon. When we got home Ady was waiting for us so presents and cards were given and attention lavished on Birthday Daddy :). I faced my fear with the fiesty cockerel (and was slightly mollified when my Dad mentioned what a nasty piece of work he is after coming to look after them at the weekend). Mum, Dad, Frazer and Granny all arrived at about 7pm with more cards and gifts and then Dad and I went out to get fish and chips for everyone’s tea.

Davies played top trumps with Frazer for ages, Scarlett was patronised by my Granny who pointed at a giraffe in a book and asked her if she knew what it was 😆 what amuses me is that she will follow that up with a question like ‘and what is 7 times 8?’ :lol:. Ady blew out all 44 candles on his cake in one breath and then I took D and S off to Tarly’s room to read some Famous Five while Ady showed everyone else our pictures from the weekend before they left.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Scarlett had appeared out of bed and watched some of Teen Mum High with me, including the 13 year old having her home birth with all her family around her. We talked a bit about all of it; why they were at school, why they still had to live with grown ups even though they were now mummies and how their bodies were still growing so there were more complications with pregnancy and childbirth. I wasn’t sure she was taking it all in until D appeared too and she then explained it all to him in wonder. Putting it in context for them that those girls were only 2 years older than some of the 11 year olds they know and still think of as ‘children’ albeit bigger children than them really hit home for them.

And that was today really. Nice, relaxed and the only other people’s children here were accompanied by their mother and happened to be my own brother and mother anyway! 😆