The best (almost) birthday party ever!

It was sure to be the biggest, bestest birthday party ever...almost.

It was the day of Hannah's big party, and everything was set. The bounce house had been picked up; the hot dogs and buns and all the fixins were ready; the balloons were ordered; the cake was decorated; the Hawaiian punch frozen to a perfect slushy mix.

But at 5 a.m. Saturday morning, I heard the pitiful cry coming from her room. And when I got to her I knew there would definitely be no party that day. Bless her heart, for the second time in a week, little Hannah was throwing up...in her bed...talk about awful!

So I cleaned her up and got her in bed with me and Jason. Just like earlier that week, only this time she couldn't stop. So I got out the big guns...phenergran that Dr. Baldwin had given me to keep for times like these.

Carter (who had gotten his shots on Thursday) had run a fever all day on Friday and was still feeling awful when he got up. So I fed him a few bites and rode him around so he could go back to sleep without waking Hannah. While I was out with him (this was before 7 a.m.), I decided to start calling all our friends to call off the party. I wanted to do as much of that as possible from the car so Hannah wouldn't hear me telling it over and over. (And she didn't even know yet)

I did pretty good for the first couple of calls, but when I called my dear friend Cat, I just fell all to pieces thinking of how disappointed Hannah would be. It just broke my heart to think of telling her we were going to cancel her party.

By the time I got Carter to sleep and back to the house, Hannah was waking up. Jason and I talked, and he told her that we weren't going to have her party that day. At first she didn't believe him, so she looked to me to set it straight. I told her that even though we wouldn't have her party that day, we would still have it later. And since it was Easter-eve, we would decorate eggs and hunt them and put up her bounce house anyway. Her reaction? "OK"

That made it even sadder for me...that she took it better than I did!

So we inflated the house for her and Carter (and mama and daddy and even Mimi and Pop), and dyed a dozen eggs for hunting (and eating). On Sunday, Jenna came to jump and hunt eggs, so it all turned out OK in the end.

So...this is the make-up party weekend. I'm holding my breath that nobody starts throwing up or running a fever or otherwise ailing. And I'm gearing up for the promised "biggest, bestest birthday party ever." Wish me luck!!