Even though the guest of honor was battling all-day morning sickness, we in our family don’t let birthdays go by unobserved. After serious negotiations that took up most of yesterday, it was decided that we would celebrate Tammy’s birthday (which isn’t until Tuesday) with a drop-in ice cream social today. It would be low-key, and we would try to leave before anyone had to ask us to go.

And it worked out pretty well, even for Tammy. Sure, she wasn’t feeling well, but she allowed us to make a fuss over her, and she ate a bowl of ice cream and socialized (which is, after all, what an ice cream social is all about). We regaled her with presents and sneaked away after little more than an hour. We couldn’t possibly let her birthday go by without reminding her how much she means to the rest of the family.

On the other hand, with a baby in the house, she didn’t have to be the star of the show any more than she felt like being. Aiden is quite capable of diverting attention in his direction. He doesn’t even have to try very hard. He was on short sleep himself and wore out early, but he bopped around the living room and sang his little “la-la” song and made other noises (he specializes in coughs and raspberries). And of course he dazzled us with that smile of his.

I nearly didn’t make it to the party on time (which means I could have missed it altogether). The Boss called as I was getting ready to leave the house. He was working on getting his ex-wife, who turns 65 soon, off the company health insurance plan and onto Medicare, and he wants the premiums to be deducted from the checking account automatically. That means that I have to deliver two blank voided checks to her, and he would like to have had it done today.

The thing is, he put this whole process off until the last possible minute. I know a thing or two about crunching deadlines, so I can’t really blame him, but I can blame him for expecting me to jump on a Saturday without any warning ahead of time. By the time I’d talked to him for twenty minutes, and then another twenty minutes with the ex, it was past the time I’d planned to leave the house.

Anyway, I’m going to deliver the blank checks to her tomorrow instead of today. That will have to work. I’m meeting her in front of Wal-Mart. She said to call her when I get up in the morning to arrange the time. I told her not to expect a call in the “morning,” because I don’t plan to rearrange my weekend sleep schedule for anybody. Not anybody who isn’t in the family and having a birthday and giving us another baby, at least.