Happy 1st Birthday Hannah!

Diary of her day…

6am

Woke for a feed. Mamma whispered happy birthday. Daddy woke soon after and gave her a birthday cuddle. A little while later Will woke, and excitedly gave Hannah the present he had wrapped and card he had made, proudly tracing ‘William’ at the bottom. Hannah was very pleased with her doll. She had found it in the cupboard a couple of days before and cuddled it instantly, so we knew it would be a hit. She then opened a present that had travelled with us from Australia – a lovely new outfit from Helen.

We dressed and went to breakfast, which Andrew cooks in the Guest House kitchen and meals area. Hannah enjoyed her milk, banana, passion fruit, toast and omelette as usual, sitting in her high chair. She had a lesson in table manners. (Very wanting – as she has developed a culture of tantrums and having a selection of 5 foods in front of her while demanding the exact same thing from someone else’s plate. The lesson went well – she’s a fast learner and has been much more pleasant at the table since!)

9am

Hannah and Mamma enjoyed a walk to the post office to see if the present from Oma had arrived yet. It hadn’t, but should do soon. Hannah fell asleep on the way home.

12pm

Hannah woke to find her doll had been napping too – in a doll’s bed from Grandma and Grandad which had just been finished across the road. Hannah enjoyed putting her dolls to bed, and then decided to use it as a couch.

Daddy cooked pikelets for lunch while Mamma was cooking for the party, and then Hannah (after playing in a muddy puddle) had a shower and played tea parties with Jane.

2pm

Guests began to arrive – about 25 all together. Hannah enjoyed eating, playing, cuddling and opening presents. These included a doll, giraffe, biscuits, home-grown cabbage, mangoes, papaya, bananas and pineapple.

Hannah had spent the previous day practicing blowing out her candle, but got stage fright at the vital moment. William kindly stepped in and helped her out. Then she ate some more, played some more and cuddled some more.  She enjoyed her party!

4.30pm

The guests left and Hannah had a nap. In fact, she told us she needed one and almost took herself off to bed.

5.30pm

Hannah woke and looked at a couple of enchanting e-cards and emails with birthday wishes. She tried to eat one of her birthday mangoes unpeeled while playing with William. Then Daddy gave her a left-over sambusa for dinner.

As her Mamma and Frederick were packing up the party room in the dark of evening Hannah decided it was time to play chasey, running away with peals of excited giggles as they followed carrying pieces of furniture. When she got tired, she started putting her dolls to bed, kissing them good night and tucking them under the covers.

8pm

Hannah went to bed after a big, exciting day. I zipped closed her mosquito-proof camping cot at the foot of our bed, and she quickly fell fast asleep.

 

Here’s a few photos of the day. The full album will be up shortly at http://picasaweb.google.com/smegswife/hannahsbirthday. Click on the link if you want to see some more photos of the day!