birthday prep

ok so Eliz will be 14 on Monday which means this Mommy needed to get her butt in birthday mode this week. I got a call earlier in the week from Joseph- my college boy. He called to ask me what Eliz would like for her birthday. Choke. There are these moments when that boy of mine just gets me all Mommy-misty. He's there at school but he thinks to remember his sisters birthday. Maybe this doesn't seem like such a big deal to some - but hey this is an 18 - soontobe 19- year old kid. They can often be a tad self-centered at this age. Anyway I give him the run down off her birthday list - short as it is (she's not a greedy child - she basically asked for 4 cd's and 2 graphic novels).
Later in the week I'm shopping and realize i should just purchase his gift for him (we'll settle up later) and text message him just that. He texts me back (we love to text - he and me) he'd appreciate it as he's a little busy with school - exams around the corner - little time for trips into town. So i find 3 out of 4 cd's and feel somewhat successful. I hit the Borders today in search of the graphic novels. The website says they have one in stock - they did not - but strangely enough they have the final cd she's wanting.
I hate it when they ask for very little and you have trouble producing an item for their birthday (or for that matter, Christmas. We don't gift our kids a lot - but birthdays and Christmas - we try to make those wishes come true). I'll be reduced to ordering it and it won't be here on her birthday. She, being the child she is, will be excited to get a note wrapped in a box, saying the books are on their way.
On the way home from Borders, i stopped at the grocery store to pick up the necessities to bake her cake. This is the first time in many years we are not making the traditional Ice Cream Pie. The aforementioned dessert came into existence years ago for Joseph's birthday. He and his Dad share birthdays one day apart. That's a lot of cake in one household as I believe everyone should have their own birthday cake made to order. So one year we came up with Ice Cream Pie - a decadent concoction of ice cream, oreo cookie crust and additions of the birthday kids choice (examples being hot fudge, m&m's, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips.. i think you get the idea). Nauseatingly good. Not for the fainthearted. But i guess my baby is growing up. She said she thought she'd like just a regular birthday cake - butter cake with chocolate frosting. And as birthday girls are queen (or birthday boys are king) - her wish is my command. I just finished frosting that cake. Tomorrow we'll go out for dinner - her choice of restaurant ( i can bet it will serve crab legs - her favorite birthday fare) and we'll return home and we'll have some cake. And then we'll do the cake & candles all over again on Monday nite.
As each year goes by I seem to get more and more sentimental about these birthdays of theirs. You cannot help but think back to theeee birth day. Their arrival into the world. (The two most amazing days of my life.) And all thats happened since. How you are handed this little creature and look into their face and wonder who they will be, what they'll be like. And it seems so long ago yet just like yesterday all at the same time. And each year goes along and another birthday is celebrated and i know they're thinking "now i'm 14" - or "now i'm 19" i'm pretty grown up. But me- the mom- i see it so differently. I think how did they get so grown up? I was here all the time and they did it like a magic trick right in front of my eyes.