Journey to Chloe: January 2006

Birhtday Blues

On January 19th, Chloe turned two. Mom woke up so sick that it was all she could do to take Chloe to daycare. What would I have done without that? I then went home and called in sick for the first of two days, Thurday and Friday. Pete was already very sick, so I couldn't depend on him to pick up the slack. We were both miserable. To top it off, Chloe had awaken at 2:30 earlier that morning and cried forlornly for about an hour. It was the worst nightime episode since Chloe had been home with us.

We had a big party planned for Saturday. It was turning into quite the event. I had friends from LA coming. Pete had friends from Oxnard coming. Our family from Paso Robles was coming, as well as many of the kids from daycare, all the Bakersfield family including grandparents, aunts and cousins. I was expecting close to 30 or 40 people and I had never thrown a children's birthday party before. I had big plans, baking, decorating, unstructured play activities to entertain the kids. It was to be quite the party. No matter how sick I felt, I was going to pull this off. The invitations had gone out two weeks ago. The closer the event came, the simpler my plans were getting, simpler by the hour. Thursday I wondered "Should I cancel the party?" "No! I would manage somehow". Friday I wondered, "What am I thinking? Can I do this?" "Yes. I CAN do this."

The big day arrived. I was still sick, but I knew I could make it work. I was no longer achey and sick to my stomach. I went in to get Chloe up, but she didn't look too well. She had been coughing and she was all congested. She felt warm to the touch. Oh no! Now what. All morning Chloe was cranky, fussy and then finally worked her way into a non-stop crying episode. I now knew I could no longer pull off this birthday party. Even on the chance that her spirits might improve by afternoon, she was obviously sick and contagious. I couldn't put all of our guests at risk, especially the two expectant mothers. By 9 AM I began calling everyone who had RSVP'd. I realized we would have a few drop-ins, but I had party favors ready and I would just have to make apologies at the door. First I called all of the long-distance guests, then the local people. An enormous weight lifted off my shoulders and Pete and I took turns watching poor miserable Chloe, who had no way to express her discomfort other than slapping at us and pinching us. I know she was just hurting so much, she didn't know what else to do.

She finally went down for a nap at 1 PM. The party was scheduled for 3. I intended to clean up during nap time, but instead, stole a few more winks for myself. We woke up just before 3 and I hadn't showered in days. The first guests to arrive were our family from Paso Robles. OOPS!!! How did I forget to make that phone call?! That was an hour and a half drive for them to our house. Now I don't think party favors is quite the apology for this situation. A few more guests came by. Most seemed understanding, but the little kids, mostly 3 year olds, were visibly disappointed. All I can think is at least we didn't set the bar too high this first year. We have nowhere to go but up from here.

Later that evening, Chloe was a bit less miserable. We decided to have her blow out a candle and eat some cake anyway. It was just Mommy, Dada and Chloe. You can see the picture below.