Eyes open slowly, straining to keep them open. A hand slowly shades herself from the sun that was just starting to come up. It was early, too early for Kate to want to get out of the warm bed but she does anyway. Slipping out of bed and moving slowly toward the bathroom, where she stripped herself of her clothing and shut the turned the water on in the shower and waited for it to get warm. Kate rubbed her eyes before she gathered her razor from the cabinet along with the shaving cream. Getting in the show was the easy part but soaping up her hair, shaving, cleaning herself with a rag all took effort that Kate hadn't wanted to use.
Out of the shower, she went when she was clean. A towel was clinging to her as she walked out of the bathroom and went to her dresser to find something for the day to wear. She easily settled with a pair of jean and a blue t-shirt. Drying off and putting her clothes on before she brushed her hair out and pulled the wet mess into a ponytail before walking out of the bedroom and going to Meg's room.
The child laid wide awake in her crib, a smile on her face when she saw her aunt. Tiny hands reaching out to her as the birthday girl sat up in her bed. Kate shook her head at Meg, ❝Give me a moment, Princess. I have to find you some clothes.❞ A quick look in her dresser was all it took for Kate to find a pink pair of pants with a pink shirt that had a pony on the front. She set the clothing on the changing table. She pulled out a diaper of one of the drawers and set it with Meg's clothing.
The child started to cry after a few minutes of not being picked up, it was clear that she wanted attention and she wanted it now. A sigh escaped Kate's lips as she went over and picked up the crying child. A hand goes and rubs soothing circles on her back. ❝How about we get you dressed?❞
When Kate laid Meg down on the changing table, more tears began to fall from her tiny brown eyes. Taking off her footie pajamas and diaper before replacing the old diaper with a new one, along with putting on her outfit for the first part of the day. Kate did quick work for she wanted to pick Meg back up into her arms so the cries would die down. The cries, in fact, did die down when Meg was picked back up into her aunt's arms. ❝There you go. It wasn't so bad.❞
The walk to the kitchen was nothing but the sight of seeing Chris dancing around the kitchen was something to see. A small giggle came from Meg as she clapped her little hands together at her uncle. The smile that was on Chris's face when he heard and then saw Meg was the smile of a man that would be a great father someday. ❝Breakfast is almost ready and the coffee is already made,❞ he tells his wife as he takes Meg from Kate without asking, not that it bothered Kate one bit, nor did it seem to bother Meg either. Chris put Meg in her high chair while his wife made herself a cup of coffee and finished making the pancakes.
Chris poured some orange juice into a sippy cup for Meg along with two normal glasses full of the liquid. Kate was busy cutting up a pancake into small bit sized pieces for Meg to be able to eat it on her own. Nothing like having chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast in the morning.
On a normal day, the Callahans would just have cereal but this was no normal day, not by any means. Today was Meg's first birthday and the first birthday of many without her parents being alive to celebrate it with her,
Kate set the plates with pancakes on the table before putting the cut up pieces of pancake on Meg's food tray. Chris followed suit with the orange juice, placing Meg's sippy cup on the tray before setting Kate's right in front of her. The adults ate in silence as Meg chatted on about something that neither of them could understand because it was all gibberish at best.
Right on time, Kate's mother was when she knocked on the door five minutes before nine o'clock. A smile on her face asking where her adorable granddaughter was. The adorable grandchild crawled from the kitchen to her grandmother right on cue, two adults following her.
While Kate's mom hugged Meg before picking her up into her arms before hugging her daughter. She moved onto Chris next, none of them saying a word until Chris broke the silence. ❝Hey, Ruth, nice to see you again.❞
Ruth, Kate's mother smiled and nodded at Chris, ❝The pleasure is all mine. You are looking good, so is Katie.❞
A groan came from Kate but she didn't comment on how much she hated to be called Katie, instead, she leaned in and gave Meg a kiss on the cheek. ❝You be good for grandma, okay?❞ A quick nod from Meg was all Chris and Kate were given before Ruth told them that they would be back around two.
Chris went to get the party supplies that they would need while his wife went to the kitchen to make the cakes.
At eleven, the cakes were baked and frosted with pink frosting with both having writing of happy birthday Meg on them. Chris was back with the supplies and was spending the time putting everything together in the living room and dining room. Neither Kate nor Chris asked the other if they needed help for they were both busy trying to get this all underway.
Right at two, Meg and Ruth were back in the house and headed straight for the bathroom, where Ruth gave the child a quick bath before handing her off to Kate, who dressed her in a little pink dress. Chris was the one to come in telling everyone that he had something to add. He pulled out from behind his back a small tiara and placed it on Meg's head. A wide grin on both of their faces at this on a simple action. ❝Now the princess is ready for her party.❞
Guests started to arrive around four, at which time Kate ordered the pizzas. It wasn't long before everyone was filling up on snacks, pizza, and soda that Chris suggested that it be time to open up the gifts. Kate had everyone be quiet so that she could speak and then Meg could open her gifts. ❝I would like to thank you all for coming, you have no idea how much this means to us. After the death of my sister and brother and law, we wanted to make sure that Meg would have a good birthday, that her life would be one filled with as much joy as we can give her. Chris and I were at a loss when we were told that my sister had left her only child to us if something were to happen to her. It was something we hadn't expected but are grateful that Meg is alive and well. Liz would have wanted you guys to be here today at her daughter's birthday party and I know that she is grateful for everyone taking time out of their day to come.❞ She had tears in her eyes as she spoke but she managed to not break down with everyone watching her. Handing the event of opening gifts and snapping pictures off to her mother and Chris before she went to the kitchen to calm herself down.
After opening presants there was cake and after eating cake everyone decided to call it a night. Ruth stayed behind to help Kate and Chris clean up the mess from the party, which thankfully didn't take more than two hours to get done all together. Meg was busy playing with her new toys to notice the adults cleaning. The giggle that escaped her lips had all the adults smiling from ear to ear, they knew that this was what Liz would have wanted for Meg and that Meg had a great birthday after all.