It was Anika’s 10th birthday yesterday.
Yeah. 10 years. Double digits. She’s a pre-teen na. Malingat lang ako ng saglit, rereglahin na ito. Hindi pa talaga ako ready. When I was buying her first bra, a few months back, nanikip dibdib ko. Naluha ako. I never thought buying underwear can be that emotional.
Days before yesterday, I kept on staring at Anika. Ang ganda ng anak ko. She’s so big already. I can still remember breastfeeding her. I can still remember how excited we all were when she took her first steps. Whenever we go to the mall, may production talaga with all the things I had to bring for her. Until napansin ko, pakonti na ng pakonti dala ko until wala na akong dala for her. She now carries with her her own bag. As I look back, I can never say nahirapan ako. I enjoyed every minute of it. Yung puyat when she was born, the worries, pati yung nagkalat siya ng jebs na napunta in my bag strap and hair and clothes, OMG. I cherish all those memories.
Ngayon eto na. She’s grown into this sassy (in a good way), strong willed, smart, loving, kind hearted young girl with a good sense of humor. I am happy how Anika turned out to be. I know it’s too early to say because she has a lot years to go pa before adulthood (8 more years, ano ng pinagsasabi kong a lot pa?!), pero so far so good. I am praying she’ll maintain it. Ang bilin ko lang is for her to be kind, humble and fear God. Yun lang.
Anyway, sumakit bangs ko yesterday. It was so difficult to plan a birthday celebration under quarantine. I was only able to find a balloon seller the day before. Lintek na yan, taga Marikina so I paid a total of 500 pesos (including Lalamove fee) for 6 pieces of balloons na wala naman ka-special special. I didn’t have a choice because they were the only ones who replied to my inquiry.
Anika said she wanted to help decorate for her birthday. Every year kasi we decorate when she falls asleep. This year daw she wants to be involved so game. When she woke up, we started on the decors.
It was nice because it was something the three of us did. Bahala na sa design. Whatever one said, yun ang ginagawa. It turned out pretty nice, IMO.
Faye and Pineda sent more balloons so nadagdagan kahit papaano.
After the decorating, we had our tradition of blowing out the candles of the birthday cake.
Anika’s birthday cake this year is from Phoebe Bakes Cakes. I initially ordered Anika’s cake from a different cake maker before the quarantine. Tiktok ang theme. May design na and all. However I had to look for a new cake because they can’t deliver anymore because of the lockdown. Thank God I found Phoebe Bakes Cakes. The owner was so nice and accommodating. Since we are in quarantine, there were only limited cakes to choose from. I chose this for Anika.
We had it delivered via Lalamove. Naiyak ako because when the cake arrived, it slid to one side. Hindi cool naka-motorcycle ang delivery ng isang butter cream frosted cake. Nasira yung cake so we had to look for a side that’s least damaged for the photo ops.
After breakfast, Anika and Lyn baked cupcakes and cookies.
We didn’t have powdered sugar for the buttercream frosting so nagdikdik na lang si Lyn ng normal white sugar. Ang taba ng utak. The cupcakes and the frosting were so good!
For lunch, Faye bought us Japanese food from Kikufuji. Napakabait talaga ng pinsan ko na yan. She knew that somehow we wanted Anika to have a special birthday so she went to Kikufuji (walking distance from where she lives) and ordered these including Anika’s favorite California Maki. Madami ito ha. Mabigat. Binitbit niya lahat yan pauwi so I can have Lalamove pick it up from her. Napakabait talaga. Super thank you Faye!
I ordered the Special California Maki na ubod ng fantastic. It has everything on it: ripe mangoes, fat fish eggs and spicy Maguro.
She went swimming in the afternoon. Alvin made her water balloons kaya naaliw naman kahit siya lang magisa ang naglalaro.
At 4pm, we went online for her video call with my family (Lolo papa, Wowa, Toots, Russ, Faye, LT and Isabel), Alvin’s family (Ka Lydia, Ka Pito, Paul, Gabo and Ellie), Anika’s second cousins and Maeko, her bff.
It was simple lang naman. They all sang happy birthday to Anika. Lolo Papa’s internet was a little wonky so nung bumalik siya sa chat room, we sang happy birthday again. Tamang tama, dumating sa chat room yung parents ni Alvin.
Alvin bought party poppers, the large ones mind you. And nagkalat talaga kami ng bongga! Hahahaha! Clean up was real! Good thing I didn’t open the containers of the food, otherwise all of the confetti will be on it. Kaya yung cake ni Anika, daming confetti hahaha!
Speaking of food, I had a difficult time ordering through Grab or any delivery food that day. As in talaga wala. I couldn’t find food for the “online party”. Buti na lang, my MIL was able to cook pancit last minute. Alvin grilled BBQ and hotdogs tapos nagpaka-old school kami. My MIL also cooked Leche Flan so yun na lang yung “handa” namin.
Anika was a good sport all through out. Game siya. She didn’t complain with the simple celebration. When we received the cake, ako pa yung mukhang devastated when we saw the cake. She told me, “It’s okay, Nanay. It’s fine. There’s a side naman that’s not affected. Let’s just make that face the front for the photos.”
Napakabait. Okay lang siya kahit siya lang magswimming magisa. Masaya na siya na nagbake sila mag-Ate. She even helped out in sweeping and cleaning all the confetti. Walang reklamo tapos tawa pa ng tawa. It made me parang want to have a celebration after the quarantine. I want get her a fondant cake with the design she likes. We are still booked at this farm resort so we are still pushing through with that plan.
Hay naku, sweetheart, we are so lucky to have you. Happy birthday our baby girl!!! We love you to the moon and back!