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November 26, 2001
Monday 26th November, 2001.
Well, it's official, as of yesterday my Pixie girl is now TWO YEARS OLD!!
But I'm afraid it'll be a birthday to forget, not to remember.
Yes, Pixie woke us up at 1.30am Saturday morning and started vomiting all over the bed. She continued to vomit almost every hour until lunchtime Saturday. Then she slept. And slept. And slept. She had a raging fever and refused to touch any food for two entire days. On the day of her birthday (Sunday) she watched a few videos and spent most of the day napping on the couch. She's still a bit sick today, she's slept a lot, moaned a lot, but she managed to swallow two bowls of chicken and sweetcorn soup so she's a little perkier.
Jay was in the backyard until 11pm Saturday night putting together Pixie's birthday present. We bought her a four-piece swing-set, with a swing, a glider, a tot-swing, a boat-swing and roman rings. We couldn't wait for Sunday morning to come round so we could open the family room curtains to reveal her grand present! Pixie is crazy about swings. She always asks to go to the park, and when at the park the only thing she wants to do is be pushed in the swing. So we were expecting the birthday gift to be a HUGE hit!
Well, a sick-little-Pixie looked out into the yard on the morning of her birthday, croaked "-wing," and that was the sum-total of her excitement I'm afraid. The poor little mite was so wasted from her sickness that she has yet to venture into the backyard to play on her swings. *Sigh*
So her actual birthday was a bit of a disappointment for all concerned. LUCKILY we'd already arranged for her big party to be the following weekend because a couple of friends were away on her birthday. All I can say is WHAT A STOKE OF LUCK THAT WAS! If the girl's party had've been yesterday we would have had to cancel. I can't bare to think about how disappointing that would've been. As it is I walked around all day yesterday saying, "Thank God her party isn't today!"
So we still have hope that we can celebrate Pixie's birthday in the style it deserves. Just a week late, that's all.
We've invited 5 families to join us, and we're planning a lunch-time party, hopefully outdoors. For the invitations I found some gorgeous little cards with pixie's on them, so I hand-wrote inside. This year I'm ordering in much of the food. Last year it was too exhausting baking and preparing almost all the food, so I've wised up. I want to enjoy the party, I don't want to be exhausted from too much cooking. So I've ordered mini sausage rolls, mini spinach rolls and mini quiches. I'll bake apple cake, chocolate fudge brownie, and I've ordered mini strawberry flans. I'm baking a carrot cake for Pixie's birthday cake, which we'll decorate with cream cheese frosting, chocolate writing, miniature Pooh figurines and tiny bunches of balloons. For the kid's I'm making a plate of tiny star-shaped sandwiches, a platter of exotic fruits (blueberries, strawberries, grapes and melon balls), and a tray of rice crackers with hommus dip. I'm going to put the kid's food on a low table outside so they can eat and play while we adults have a few drinks and nibbles first. For starters I'm making a bowl of salsa and a bowl of guacamole dip, to eat with organic corn chips. For drinks we'll have a choice of plantation-style iced tea, grape juice, or champagne and beer for the boozers (count me in!). For the kids it'll be organic apple juice. My intention was to have good-quality, healthy food that was also celebratory and fun.
So we'll sit under the shade of the pergola, sip champagne or iced tea, munch on home-made salsa and corn-chips, with the strains of Latin carnival music wafting through the backyard, while the kids play on the swing-set or in the sandpit. I've found a gorgeous little gazebo to place over Pixie's sandpit and wading pool, it has a brightly-coloured tent top so it looks very festive. The backyard is looking fabulous. And hopefully by the time it's decked out with balloons and streamers, and is scattered with slides and trikes, it'll look like a kid's wonderland.
I have bought myself a new dress for the occasion. Because it's summer and an outdoor party, I've gone for a fiesta-feel. I found a short-sleeved black dress with a flouncy ruffled hem, low-cut neckline, and it has a trail of hand-embroidered flowers on the skirt, mostly red with long green stems. I'd like a pair of Cuban heels and a big red flower to pin in my hair but we'll see. Pixie has a new dress too. Hers is a petticoat-style, long white dress with a flouncy skirt, and she has funky purple sunglasses and purple sandals with a big flower on the toe to add a splash of colour. She'll wear last-years headpiece (a fluff and glitter tiara), which I think I'll make a tradition. For the children attending I'm filling a cane basket with tinsel-trimmed party-hats, glittery crowns, flower-lays, and party blowers. Each child can dip in and dress themselves up.
Apart from that I'm not really doing any specific games or activities. I just want a fiesta-style party with lots of outdoor play, lots of great food, carnival music, and a festive atmosphere. So cross your fingers that the sun is shining and the Pixie-girl is feeling fit and energised for the big day!
The weather is finally starting to heat up. We've had a rather cool spring. Just this weekend gone it started to get bright and warm and sunny. It instantly made me think of Christmas. I'm sure you northern-hemisphere readers find that weird. I mean, traditionally Christmas is a winter festival - with snow, red velvet, and lots of twinkling lights. I tried to have Christmas in winter this year (July in Oz) but it really, seriously DID NOT feel right. I guess it all depends on your memories, and what you grow up associating with a Christmas feel. For me it's warm, bright, endlessly sunny days, and evenings where it doesn't get dark until 9pm. I think of new summer dresses, and shopping on warm summer evenings. I think of bright sunshine glittering over the Christmas tree, and outdoor lights draped around the pergola while friends come over for an evening BBQ! Christmas lights in Australia don't come on until about 9pm, and are chorused by the deafening buzz and hum of cicadas. Ahhhh….tis an exciting time of year!
Once again, if anyone wants to exchange Christmas cards with Pixie and I, then e-mail me your snail-mail address and I'll reciprocate. Or leave me a note on my message board…I thoroughly enjoyed exchanging cards last year with many of our overseas readers, it was very exciting to receive cards from all over the globe!
Oh and I have TONS of new photos to share. The only problem is I don't have a scanner so I have to convince Jay to drive over to his Mum's place and scan the photos to disk for me. Soon, soon, SOON Pixie's online photo album will be updated with spring photos, and birthday photos, so stay tuned, I'll let you know. The girl is definitely looking older, funkier, and more pixie-like everyday.
Much love to all,
The very festive Eloise.
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