Favourite Things Friday

Twenty one years ago tonight I crept down to the hospital nursery to stare at my beautiful daughter in her humidity crib and marvelled that I had made something so tiny and perfect.  Even if she had made me sick for 8 entire months every single day and had prevented me from eating cheese for my entire pregnancy. The trade off was that she liked strawberries and chocolate milk so that's what I ate for 9 months. 

Between the ages of 14 - 18 I wanted wild gypsies to come and take her away in the middle of the night and return her again after she'd learned to be a human , but for the majority of the last 21 years I have been utterly , deeply and madly in love with her. So I want you all to indulge me today while we celebrate Chloe's 21st birthday because there have been times when I was pretty sure one of us wasn't going to survive to celebrate this rather large milestone. Having done so is my favourite thing this week. 

I'm resisting the urge to show naked baby shots and all the other embarrassments of her life (gawky pre-teen years , bad fashion mistakes, and all those shots of her scowling and looking rebellious and emo through her teen years ). It would be fun for me to play "lets stick all those incriminating photos on the internet" but if I do it today it'll lessen the impact when I do it next Saturday night at her party in front of people she actually knows. Sometimes you have to chose the greater of two evils.   

My life has taken a few twists and turns since that night in the nursery , many of them unexpected.  There really has been joy , and sorrow and challenges and jubilation. There has been happiness and anger, frustration and emotional highs and finally, over the last few years, a relationship based on us both being adults. (which doesn't mean I can tell her what to do occasionally because I am after all, her mother - and dammit Chloe you will listen to me because I know what I'm talking about ) 

Her Royal Highness  started the day by telling me I wasn't allowed to take any pictures of her until she had showered , dressed, slapped on make up and done her hair. Yep- she's always been a princess.

It isnt a birthday without balloons 

And flowers 

We went out for lunch 

Someone over indulged on the baby cinos...

Presents were unwrapped 

Cocktails were enjoyed 

And my cupcakes weren't a total disaster. 

So Chloe I just want you to know ...I love you once,  love you twice, love you more than beans and rice. 

XXX 

Oh and I was totally bullshitting about not showing nudey/ embarrassing shots of you . I have another set lined up for next weekend. 

Feel free to link up and show your embarrassing baby pictures or anything else you like this week too. 

To all of you who have emailed me this week offering your good wishes for my surgery obsessed family, my Dad is fine and Little P sailed through his surgery and woke this morning to wreak havoc through my house as usual. Thank you so much for your lovely emails.