However, I’ll be back! Watch my space!

Our Scottish friend, A, travelled all the way down from the Borders to celebrate the day with the Angel as it is also her birthday! What a lovely afternoon of chicken rice and quiet celebration and the company of splendid sunshine!

We had a barbeque this year and it was such a bash. Everyone brought along some food which added on to the pile! I really enjoyed having all those friends around and everyone talking to just about everyone else. It was meant to be some sort of a farewell party since very soon, we will be packing and leaving.

Most importantly, the Angel was happy.

Each year this time, I have many things to be thankful for.

When the Angel turned one, I was thankful that I made my first few friends in the UK. I’m eternally grateful to have C. as my faithful friend here. When the Angel was one, the party wasn’t so much of hers than ours!

When the Angel turned two, I was extremely thankful that she self-weaned off breastfeeding. At that point, I no longer enjoyed breastfeeding and was advised a ‘cruel’ way to wean her off. I held it off for as long as I could and thank God! She self-weaned, and before she was two, it was all over for me! I also learnt that the birthday song can be very calming for a child when it has meaning to her. The Angel really liked the birthday song session and when she had her upset moments, singing the birthday song gave the most soothing and calming effect above all else.

Just as the Angel was turning three, she finally discovered for herself the ’solution’ to her habitual night scratching. She has finally released us of those endless nights which had rendered me helpless and hopeless and her sleepless and bloody. Now, we generally enjoy a good night sleep and even if she is awaken, the habits of the past surface for only a short duration or none at all. Sleep is still sweet. Amazingly, for the first time in donkey months, the Angel went to sleep with the alternative dad with no fuss.

As for me, I’ve been awake for almost 24 hours and I feel as if I can still go on. I realise that the Angel’s birthday holds more meaning now for me than my own. In the quietness of the night, where finally everyone is asleep and I have the house to myself, I wish that sleep will steal upon me in this euphoric state of mind.