Malia's 4th Birthday

Today our biggest little girl turned 4. It has been a week long celebration as we had her party last Saturday to avoid a clash with her pre-school Christmas party. The girl has a far busier social calender than I do that's for sure. Last Saturday she had two little friends over for a fairy party. I spent all morning making and hanging giant pink paper flowers to decorate the backyard, blowing up balloons and icing the all important butterfly cake (my own design, which I am very proud of). When the girls arrived they got dressed in their special fairy outfits, decorated butterfly cookies, coloured in cardboard castles, played fairy games, ate lots of pink food and watched Tinkerbell (a movie that I have now seen at least 20 more times in the past week). I don't know about them but after 3 hours of this I was exhausted!

A few hours after the girls went home we had the family over for the night time celebration. Malia made sure she had her fairy wand at the ready so she could turn everyone who knocked on the door into a fairy (they weren't allowed to come in otherwise). The little girl was of course, spoilt rotten with lovely gifts of books, games, scooters (ok, there was only one scooter), movies and more. Malia loved every minute of it and was a little disappointed when I had to explain to her that it would not all be happening again the next day.



A week has passed since the party and today was her actual birthday. Last night Jonathan and I spent some time blowing up balloons with the intention of filling her room so she would see them on waking, however she wandered out into the living room at midnight and ruined that surprise (although I think she still enjoyed seeing them in her room the next morning). She opened her gifts this morning and was particularly taken with a book of fairy puzzles and a special little handmade jewelery box we had bought for her. We had homemade pizza for dinner at her request and a tiny rainbow mudcake for a birthday cake.

After all this our girl is now 4. There is no denying it. I'm sitting here shaking my head in disbelief, not quite knowing where the time went. 4 years ago today that we became a family, rather than simply a couple. I remember the first time I held her in my arms, seconds after she was born and felt like I already knew her, that somehow I recognised her. I still remember sitting in the hospital room late at night, holding her in my arms and looking out the window as I told her about what was waiting for her when we finally got to go outside (we had to wait a week for that which felt like an eternity). I remember not being able to sleep because I could not stop starring at her through the plastic bassinet walls (for the sake of a new mother's sleep they really shouldn't make those things see through). I remember the day I walked out of the hospital with her wrapped in the shawl that my mother carried me out of hospital in. I remember the pink bundle that was so tiny you couldn't see her in the car capsule unless you looked right in. I remember how much I loved her from the very first moment and still do.

It is definitely different being a mother of a 4 year old than it was a baby. I struggle with loving her immensely, yet having to discipline her. I have discovered frustration and anger deep inside of me that I didn't know existed because she drives me so crazy, but no matter how mad she gets me, I love her. I love her laugh, I love the way she runs around the corner and pretends to be a statue for me, the fact that she thinks balloons are filled with 'wind', the way she says 'I love you Mummy' for no reason at all, her cheeky grin, her ability to turn on the Wii and play games without needing our help, the fact that she always wants to 'help' even if her help actually makes the job longer or more difficult, the way she wanders into my room at night for a cuddle because she has had a bad dream (although I don't love it when she comes out and says she has had a bad dream 5 minutes after going to bed when I know she hasn't even been asleep yet), the way she loves her little sister and sits behind her and cuddles her when they watch television together, the way she calls Zoe 'precious baby', the fact that after almost a year she still talks about how she helped get Zoe out of my tummy, the way she asks a hundred questions when you are trying to read her a story (and that's just on the first page), the way she runs up and cuddles my leg. I could go on like this forever. I love her. I love my little girl who is growing up faster than I was prepared for. She has promised me many times that she is going to stay a baby forever, however she is not doing a very good job at keeping that promise. I guess growing up and having birthdays is just too much fun.

Thank you Malia for being my daughter. Thank you for being you. I love you with all my heart my sweet, beautiful girl. You fill my heart to overflowing with love. Happy 4th Birthday precious Malia.

A few more photos of Malia's special day can be seen here.