My 30th birthday

So today was my 30th birthday and it was definitely memorable. I went to work this morning and performed a C-section with Dr. Khisa. We joked in the office with the mom that if it was a girl she should name it Amanda but luckily for her it was a boy, although Dr. Khisa still thought she should name him Omanda in my honour. He tried to pass this off as a traditional African name but I have my doubts.
Tonight we went to Mediterreano at Nakumatt Junction for my birthday. It was our family, Lisa Avery, Marnie and Kristen (from last weekend) and some more American friends (Damian, Anna and Mike) from Washington State who picked us up in the "party bus taxi". It was a beautiful Italian restaurant and we had incredible food and wine. A wonderful birthday meal for a fraction of what it would have cost in North America. The best part of the evening though was the dessert. Keith had wanted to buy me a birthday cake but being the last-minute guy that he is had gone today to the Yaya centre to buy one and they couldn't make it in time. So he bought a cake mix and a cake pan and all other things you need to bake a cake and made one before dinner to bring to the restaurant. He did mention while making it that it was the first cake he had ever made "for a girl". He wanted to make chocolate icing and bought icing sugar and baker's chocolate and did concoct something that looked sort of like icing but it was a far cry from gourmet (I love Keith and I loved the cake but it's true - he would say that too). So anyway, the restaurant took the cake and after they found out it was my birthday they put on a show. They dimmed the house lights in the whole restaurant and came out with the cake. The newly improved cake - dusted with icing sugar, with sparklers and trick candles and a mound of whip cream on the side. They came into the restaurant en masse singing a mixture of Swahili celebratory music and Happy Birthday with mamas thrown in where my name should be (although they did say my actual name on the second round). There was clapping and stomping and it was AWESOME. We were all blown away including the people who've been living in Kenya for quite some time. Then I got to cut my cake with a knife that resembled a machete (they do not believe in small knives here). Meanwhile Cian was asleep on Lisa having decided to get so comfortable that he copped a feel (let us all remember this is one of my ATTENDINGS - however someone did point out better your son do it then your husband :P). After crying for almost an hour before we left for the restaurant he was a perfect gentleman during dinner - behaving well in his high chair and playing with the waiters. It was an incredible night and the best way to start off this new decade of my life. Asanti sana Kenya!