Plans sometimes have to go out the window. For Daniel's 9th birthday we originally planned to have birthday dinner at Mum and Dad's with our family before heading up to Hervey Bay on Wednesday. With the threat of borders closing again we felt it was important for James to head up to Hervey Bay early to be with his Mum for the one year anniversary since Malcolm passed away so he changed his flight to Saturday evening. This meant that we needed to give Daniel his birthday present of his new bike earlier on Saturday instead of Tuesday night. Fortunately Mum and Dad were fine with us popping over to do that. Daniel was very exited to get his bike. We there then still able to celebrate Daniel's birthday together at Mum and Dad's with dinner and his bass cake. He loved it!
Last night we found out that because of Covid we were needing to isolate up here. We were in Sydney after a certain date so Qld government wanted us to isolate for 14 days. James was fine to be out and about though because he flew up earlier. Fortunately we had been able to go to Nan's 100th birthday but it did mean that our plans for Daniel's birthday needed to stop.
Poor Daniel was so upset with this news. He was so keen to go bowling and to hang out with Aunty Jen, Maddie, Aly and Uncle Ryan. He went to bed in tears. It is so hard seeing your kid go to sleep so upset and not be able to do anything to help him out. He eventually settled with Charlie lying with him on his bed to go to sleep.
In the morning I went and got Daniel at 6:30 to come and lie with James and I in bed. He likes to do that at home so I thought he would enjoy the cuddles in the morning. He stayed there until 7:30 so I do think he enjoyed it. He got up when Alexander came in to tell Daniel that he helped put up the Happy birthday sign for him. We were curious so went out to see that Nana J had put up some balloons and happy birthday signs in the dining room. He was excited about that.
We played a game of Uno from Daniel's request. He won one game and I won another.
James made him breakfast, sharing some of his avocado bagel with him as well as making him a fried egg.
We then had present time. He loved reading his messages in the birthday book. And he was very excited with the gifts he received. Winner! It was lovely to see Eliza and Alexander excited about the gifts they chose for him and Daniel being so grateful towards them.
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| That's the reaction you want to see with a gift |
After the gifts I finished organising his morning tea, including icing his cupcakes meaning he got to lick the beater.
Morning tea started with singing Happy Birthday to Daniel with his cupcake with a candle. It was nice to have Aunty Jen, Maddie and Aly here to celebrate with Daniel too. The fruit was demolished by the kids and the cupcakes too. The cheese and crackers were enjoyed as well.
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| Oreo cupcakes |
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| Maddie made Daniel a special birthday board with an acrostic poem about him |
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| Covid cupcake candle blowing |
After presents (which he was very excited to get, particularly Hotdog and Weirdo books) we then got into some of the games which Aunty Jen kindly organised.
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| Crazy cousins |
When we found out that we had to change plans, I wanted to do something special for Daniel here but really had no ideas. I think I was just so exhausted from all the emotions leading up to coming up to Hervey Bay and then the emotions while being here. I had nothing left in the tank to be creative. I thought about a Science Day but that wasn't the most exciting idea. Then Jenny messaged me to say that she was organising some activities for us to do. This brought tears to my eyes. It really meant a lot!
We started with the ball toss. James did the best getting 50 points, Maddie was 2nd best with 25 points. Daniel got 20 points. It was fun to see everyone playing together. It was pretty tricky to get the balls in the cups.
Next up was a game where we needed to open a present with using oven mits. It was quite funny to watch. We drew 2 names out of a hat to see who was completing. Each person was able to open 1 present. Daniel managed to open 2 presents (although he had challenges with a competitive Dad who tried to steal the present, made Daniel fall to the ground while doing it.)
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| concentration tongue |
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| Daddy wanted to open that present so jumped onto Daniel too. Daniel still won. |
For the next game you put a stocking on your head that had a tennis ball in the end. You had to swing your head to try and knock down the drink bottles. It was a bit tricky at the start with the bottles full to do but the kids had a blast trying. We then emptied out half the water which made it a lot easier (although still hard to do) to knock over. Many giggles were had and different people won the challenge.
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| Being pregnant makes it even harder to do! |
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| First up, birthday boy and Alexander |
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| Alexander needed Daddy's help to get the swing action right |
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| Maddie took on Uncle James |
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| And won!! |
Daniel started to get into a rhythm with the swing and got really good at it.
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| Eliza decided she wanted to have a go against Aly. She did really well and actually ended up winning. I loved seeing the girls' reaction at the end, just so happy for each other that Eliza won. |
The next challenge was to use tweezers to stack plastic cups in a pile. Then to try and go the other way. The vacuum seal made the 2nd part of the challenge quite tricky.
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| Eliza decided to make a tower with her cups |
The kids got Charlie into the birthday action.
The last challenge was to see how many post it notes you could put on your face in 30 seconds. The most was 7 with Maddie and Aunty Jen getting that. I loved this game!
I am so so grateful for Aunty Jen and her care for Daniel's birthday, helping make him special. I am thankful for Maddie making the board for Daniel. I'm grateful for Aunty Jen being able to fill in what I was struggling to do. My brain just couldn't come up with creative things, it was just too tired. Also not being at my own place makes it tricky because I didn't know what things were around.
Jen took the girls home and the kids had fun setting up and playing Daniel's birthday present from Nana J.
We then decided to have a movie afternoon, watching Eliza's gift to Daniel - Lego Movie. We snuggled up on the couches and enjoyed watching it. Quite. good movie for us all.
Throughout the day Daniel enjoyed watching videos and reading messages from friends and family. It was so very nice to have everyone surround him with love. Last night I messaged everyone that I could think of who were special and significant to him and asked them to send him a message saying happy birthday. I do love that so many people decided that they would send him a message wishing him a lovely day. Nana and Poppy, Auntie Jenny, Uncle Howie, Oscar, Auntie Sue, Kimberly, Uncle Mark and Auntie Ros, Nat, Steve, Elyse, Daniel and Owen, Lachie, Ems and Flynnie, Sadew, Josh, Noah, Atea, Mel, Ben, Kaysey and Tristan, Aunty Julie and Uncle Pete, Aunty Megan and Mark. So many messaged Fromm family and friends. It put a smile on his face every time.
We finished off the day with Daniel making some of the lego that he got for his birthday.
We had the Golden Chicken for dinner (take away) as Daniel's choice of meal. It is a good one to remember for future meals! He was a very happy boy. We finished with ice cream for dessert.
So our plans for today did have to change but I am so proud of how Daniel embraced the change. I'm glad that we still saw Aunty Jen, Maddie and Aly and we got to have lots of fun and laughs together. I'm grateful that we were able to be here with Nana J and Charlie. Daniel was surrounded by love and by family. His day was still so very special.
Happy 9th Birthday Daniel! This year as we celebrated you showed resilience and a real joy. I hope that you realise how special you are to so many and that they loved spending time with you or sending you a message for your birthday. The plans went out the door but you still had a wonderful time. Thank you for sharing your laughter, your smiles, for being real and honest when you were upset. I love your care for others, I love how much you love Charlie and Chilli, I love your thoughts and even though it drives me crazy at times, I love your inquisitiveness and your need to say what is on your mind. I love the way you give things a go. You are like your father and are so competitive but I also love the way that you put your mind to a task and you focus so hard on being able to do it. Never change my sweet boy. Keep loving life and loving others and most importantly, loving God. I look forward to taking you bowling when lockdown is over to celebrate your birthday yet again.
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