It took us a few days before we were finally able to get Erin properly settled again at home after she had been in hospital. The nights were much disrupted, even more so than usual and it didn't help that we had to go back to hospital every other day for her to be checked up on. After about a week of check-ups, the hospital finally gave us the 'okay' that she didn't need to come in anymore and luckily that coincided with the last of our exams. It then became easier to give Erin a routine again, one that didn't involve driving all around the place.

A part of me thought that summer would be slightly less stressful as I don't have school or exams to think about but instead I have been busy planning a party for Erin's first birthday. I've not even had the chance to think about it too much with everything that has happened. My mind has focused on school, and then the drama in the hospital and suddenly it feels like it has just popped out at us.

I've spent the week deciding what to buy Erin for her birthday, not really sure what you should buy a one year old. I have spent far too many hours of my life wondering around toy shops, more than I care to admit. A lot of the toys seem too old for her or the ones I do like someone else has already bought for her, which is something that has pissed me off. Surely being her mum means that I get to dictate what other people buy for her?

The morning of her birthday finally arrives with the sounds of Erin crying, jolting us awake. Cory is the one who gets out of bed first but I decide there is no point sleeping in any longer, knowing that there is a lot to be done for today.

The party is being thrown in the afternoon. It is not going to be a huge celebration, just family and friends in the garden but there are still decorations that need to be hung and food to prepare.

"Morning," I greet Cory through a yawn as I walk towards the kettle, eager to make myself a coffee. "And happy birthday to you," I kiss the top of Erin's head who is oblivious of anything going on. All she cares about is the bottle that she is drinking.

"Morning. Did you manage to finish wrapping all the presents?" Cory asks as I perch myself down on the sofa next to him.

"Just about. Pretty sure I almost fell asleep on top of them," I tell him through a laugh while remembering the small pile of presents I volunteered to wrap last minute. "What time does your parents train get in at the station?" I ask him even though I know I've already asked him this before.

"Just before eleven. They should get here before noon so that they are able to help set things up for later," he replies just as Erin takes the last sip of her milk.

I motion for Cory to hand her over to me so that I can have a cuddle with the birthday girl. Soon she is in my arms, reaching up to try and pull on my hair which is currently down. She takes a firm grasp of a lock and pulls on it with all of her might, causing me to yelp in pain. This only then encourages her to do it more and laugh while doing so.

"Could you find me a bobble please before she makes me bald?" I ask Cory after trying to get Erin to stop tugging on my hair with little success.

A few moments later he returns, handing me the bobble so I quickly tie my hair up before Erin has the chance to hurt me anymore.

"It's a good job it's your birthday otherwise I would have been really mad," I tell Erin who is staring at me intensely, looking like she is listening to every word I say. I hear Cory chuckle to himself while he is in the kitchen, making himself a drink.

"When are we doing presents?" Cory asks when he enters the room again.

"Probably when my mum is up, unless you want to wait until your family arrives?" I ask him.

"No that's fine, I'm sure my parents won't mind and Missy will only end up trying to open everything herself," he says to me as he wraps one of his arms around my body.

I let myself lay against his chest while Erin lies against mine. Outside we can hear the birds tweeting in the early morning sun and not much of anything else. There's no traffic on the street and with it being a Sunday, there won't be any for a while yet. The House is utterly silent for a few moments. That is until the floorboards begin to creek upstairs, signally the fact that my mum is awake.

"You're mum is up early," Cory comments when he hears her.

"She probably wants to start setting the party stuff up as soon as possible like I do. There is still a lot to be done," I tell him, kissing the side of his shoulder as I do.

"Where is the birthday girl?" my mum asks in a sing-song kind of way as soon as she enters the room, her eyes landing straight on Erin who is nearly asleep against me.

Before I have any chance to protest, my mum scoops her up off me and into her own arms. I see Erin's eyes dart open as she wonders where she is going.

"Did you have to do that? She was almost asleep," I whine at my mum who is cradling Erin as if she is a new born baby again.

"I just wanted a cuddle with my granddaughter on her birthday. Besides she's falling back to sleep again already. Why don't the two of you get some breakfast and I'll look after this one while you eat. We have a busy day ahead so you might as well enjoy this quiet time now," she practically instructs us.

I make my way into the kitchen, dragging Cory along with me.

"Your mum is in a good mood today," he points out once we're out of earshot.

"Yeah I notice and its worrying me. if you had told me when I first found out that I was pregnant that my mum would be acting like this only a year later after the baby was born then I wouldn't have believed you.

"Birthdays and babies, they make everyone happy," he says before pulling me into a kiss.

Breakfast goes quickly and so does the rest of the morning. While Erin is still asleep (and in my mums arms) I begin to organise the decorations into outdoor and indoor decorations. Once that is done, I bring the pile of neatly wrapped presents downstairs so that they are sitting on the floor, opposite the sofa. Cory and I make numerous cups of teas between us, some for ourselves and some for my mum while we wait for Erin to wake up. Eventually, a couple of hours later, her eyes flutter open and search around the room.

"I think she's looking for you Kristen," my mum says as Erin suddenly bursts into tears.

I take her back into my arms, sitter her on my lap so that I can stroke the ever growing amount of hair on her head. Immediately she begins to calm down causing a feeling of smugness to wash over me.

"Hey, look at these," I say to her in the same sing-song voice that my mum used earlier.

Erin's eyes look up at me and then to the pile of presents in the middle of the room. Carefully I sit down on the floor with Erin still sitting on my lap. Cory joins us on the floor while my mum watches from the sofa.

"These are for you," I tell her although she doesn't understand what I am saying.

I take a present from the pile and slowly begin to unwrap it in front of Erin. She places her hands on top of mine, trying to take hold of the wrapping paper herself. I give her a bit to hold which she tugs, ripping a small bit of paper off. Instead of throwing the paper on the floor, she places it in her mouth which I quickly have to take out.

"No, no, no, we don't eat it," I sat but she pays no attention to me, instead she looks disappointed that she wasn't able to eat.

I finish unwrapping the present for her to reveal a set of bath time toys. Cory unwraps the next on, and then I do the next as we fall into a pattern. As the two of us unwrap the presents, Erin becomes more and more interested in the wrapping paper which has slowly surrounded her. She ignores the actual presents and crawls around in the wrapping paper, laughing as she does so.

"That's kids for you. I remember one Christmas I got you a Wendy House  and you were more interested in the box it came in," my mum tells me with a grin on her face.

"Oh I remember that," I say as I think back to the small play house that used to sit in our back garden for a couple of years until we got rid of it.

"I could have saved myself a fortune that year," she then jokes as Erin continues to roam around.

Cory and I move the pile of toys and clothes into Erin' room so that they are out of the way for when people start arriving. The rest of the morning is spent hanging decorations up in the house while my mum prepares the food for later.

Just before noon there is a knock on the door which Cory answers, taking Erin with him. As soon as the door opens, the house is filled with the sounds of 'happy birthdays' again.

"Kwisten," I hear someone running towards the kitchen, where I am stood helping my mum, so I turn around to Missy pelting straight for me.

"How have you been?" I ask her, bending down so that I am level with her face.

"Bored. Mummy and daddy have to work all the time leaving me at gwanmas house where she has no games," the little girl tells me, crossing her arms as she does.

"Well hopefully you'll have fun here," I say to Missy who just grabs y hand in response and starts leading me into the living room where everyone is gathered. I give my mum an apologetic look before leaving her alone in the kitchen.

"Can we open Rin's presents now?" Missy questions me as we walk into the room, not quite pronouncing Erin's name correctly.

"I don't see why not, is that okay with you?" I ask Cory, knowing that he has heard what his sister asked because he is looking at her while laughing.

"That's fine with me but I think she might need some help. Do you think you could help her Miss?" he asks Missy who is nodding her head up and as fast as she possible can.

My mum joins us in the room to watch as Missy tears away at the wrapping paper to reveal a box containing a sandpit.

"Oh wow," I say to Erin who is once again sat on my lap, enjoying all the attention she is getting. "You're going to have lots of fun with that," I tell her as she screeches with delight.

"How is she doing now?" Cory's mum asks me out of the blue. "We haven't seen her since before she went into hospital."

"She's fine again. Back to her usual self," I tell her as Erin begins to bounce on my leg.

"Except at nights. She hasn't quite fallen back into her usual routine but we can live with that," Cory inputs into the conversation.

"Hmm, you would have thought that by one she would have settled down," his mum then replies almost like she is suggesting that we are not doing something right.

"Well she has been through a traumatic time," I bite back at her.

"Anyway, don't you think it is time we put Erin down for a nap and then we can start hanging up the outside decorations. People will be arriving in a couple of hours," Cory changes the subject and I agree with him.

I put Erin down for her nap, thankful for the fact that she goes to sleep straight away and then join everyone else downstairs. The first thing I see is Missy running around in the garden, getting in the way of her parents who are moving some tables outside. I decide to go back into the kitchen and help my mum who has gone overboard with the amount of food that she has so far prepared.

With the extra pairs of hands, it doesn't take that long for the garden to get set up for the party, leaving just enough time for a quick outfit change and then to wake Erin up.

Not that many people have been invited, only close friends and family but I thought it was worth making the effort seeing as it is Erin's first birthday after all. Adam is the first one to arrive with his sister Taylor, clinging to his hand. After them Maddie and Leigh are next to arrive, shortly followed by Laura. Even Reynolds pops over but only to drop off a card, apparently finding it weird to stay as it is a house filled up mainly with his pupils.

Missy and Taylor soon start bonding and it doesn't take long until they are chasing each other around the garden. Taylor even gets brave enough to start bossing Missy around, claiming that she can because she is the oldest. When they get tired they soon collapse on the floor, laughing at each other which sparks the interest of Erin who crawls over to them.

"I can't believe it was a year ago since you had her. It really doesn't seem that long ago," Maddie says to me as I keep my eye on Erin who is playing with the girls.

"I know. It's gone so fast,"

"I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like. It always looks so painful in films. Surely you must have had an epidural?" Leigh asks me which causes me to laugh.

"There wasn't much time for that in a lift," I reply back to her and I see her face being taken over with confusion.

"Did I never tell you that story? I must have done at some point. It's the most exciting thing to happen in my life, how could I have not told you? She gave birth while we trapped in a lift. We were all there..." I leave, letting Maddie fill Leigh in on an exaggerated tale of how I gave birth to Erin.

"When can we have cake? Cory said we couldn't have it for ages yet," Missy comes up and asks me with her new friend following behind.

"Soon maybe. A lot of people are still eating their lunch," I tell her which brings a frown to her face. "Have you seen your brother? I haven't seen him since the two of you arrived," I turn my attention to Taylor this time who immediately backs away behind Missy and then whispers something in her ear.

"She says that he is probably snogging his girlfriend somewhere. What's snogging?" Missy the asks Taylor who again whispers the answer in her ear before I have the chance to say anything. "Ewwww," Missy shouts before laughing which spurs Taylor to follow her lead.

"I'll find him myself," I walk away, picking Erin up off of the ground as I do so that she isn't left alone.

It doesn't take long for Erin to start crying in my arms as she misses the company of the girls she was playing with. I realise that she hasn't had her lunch yet so I make my way into the kitchen with her, only to find Adam and Laura with their lips firmly pressed against each other's.

"Your sister was right Adam. You are somewhere snogging your girlfriend. A little inappropriate at a one year olds party don't you think?" I joke with them, causing the two of them to jolt apart, both looking very flustered.

"Were you looking for me for any particular reason?" he asks while casually buttoning up some of the buttons on his shirt.

"Not really, I just noticed that I hadn't really seen you around. I don't know who is currently looking after your sister at the moment though  apart from Missy. And even though she is a few years younger than Taylor, she is a bad influence. I wouldn't be surprised if the two of them have got their hands on the cake," I guilt trip him into looking after his own sister.

"Yeah I should go check on her. Are you coming Laura?" he asks and the two of them make their way out of the kitchen.

"Next time the bedrooms are a lot comfier," I shout after them, seeing Laura's face turn red before they disappear into the garden to join the rest of the party.

Feeding Erin doesn't take that long as she gulps down her food as fast as she can. She also manages to get big orange stains all over her party dress but they go well with the grass stains she managed to get earlier when she was outside.

Everyone is outside when I go back into the garden. Maddie is still talking to Leigh and I wonder if it is about the horrors of this time last year or something completely different. Laura and Adam have joined them but now Adam is keeping an eye on Taylor who has her nose practically pressed against the cake along with Missy. My mum is talking to Cory's mum and they actually look like they are getting along. At least there haven't been any more snide remarks from his mum. Cory is stood talking to his dad near the food table.

"Hey," I walk over to them with Erin wriggling in my arms as if she is trying to escape me. "Do you think we should let people start on the cake because if we don't I'm scared that those two are going to start drooling all over it?" I ask Cory who takes Erin from me.

"I was thinking the same. Missy has already asked me three times if she can have some yet," he says to me with a wide smile on his face.

As soon as it clear that people can now have a slice of cake, the table becomes crowded as everyone goes to get one. Quite typically, Missy gets a slice but then ends up leaving most of it because she feels sick which earns her a scolding from her mother for being greedy. By the looks of things, everyone else manages to eat their slice without any problems, most even go back for a second slice.

The rest of the part goes by quickly and soon comes to an end when the children begin to grow sleepy, mainly Missy and Erin. There's no time to open the presents that people have bought Erin so we decide to save that for tomorrow. Instead people begin to leave so that the birthday girl is able to have sleep after having a busy but practically perfect day.