"Happy birthday Birdie!" Anna and Jason Anderson called the second Blaine opened the door. His almost one year old daughter, Birdie, on his hip. Birdie beamed at the sight of her grandparents. 

"Gap!" She squealed, reaching out for Jason, who gratefully took her holding her up above his head making airplane noises. 

Birdie was a pretty little girl. Her eyes a combination of green and hazel, they were already huge, but when she got excited you would think they were going to come out of her head. Now at the age of eleven months and twenty-eight days, she had six teeth, four of which were in the very front of her mouth. And she loved to show them off in a bright smile to anyone who would look. Her black hair didn't curl, but it wasn't straight either, it went a little past her ears and flipped out at the ends, it was currently pinned back in a half pony-tail. She was clad in a yellow shirt covered in ducks, and a sky blue skirt she'd picked out herself while Blaine was trying to decide what to dress her in. 

Blaine and Anna both made their way back to the kitchen where Blaine was preparing food for the guests he was expecting for his daughter's birthday. 

"Thanks for coming over early mom." Blaine worked at putting the final icing touches on Birdie's pink cake while Anna finished slicing what was left of the vegetables and putting them all on a plate separated into sections.  "And having dad come early with you to keep Bird-girl busy was a good idea too." He chuckled. 

"It was no problem sweetie." She leaned across the island countertop and kissed him on the forehead. "Besides, your father and I love coming to spend time with you two."  She left the room to spend a few quiet moments with Birdie before other people started to show up. 

Blaine only smiled, pulling a few more things he'd made out of the refriderator to put them out, now only waiting for his friends from school and a few of children Birdie had met in day care to arrive.  He walked into the living room to join his parents who were on the floor with Birdie, rolling a purple plastic car between the three of them. He slumped down, holding himself up only by leaning on the couch. He closed his eyes. 

He'd gone out the night before to get some gifts for Birdie for her party, but decided to go after he'd figured she was asleep, leaving her with Jasmine, a friend he'd met through his part time tutoring job. Only to find out when he got home at almost eleven, she'd been awake the entire time, looking for her daddy.  So needless to say when he got home to her, she wasn't quite ready for bed. Only wanting to cling to Blaine and cry because of simply how tired she was. Not to mention she was awake at her normal time of 7:35 sharp the next morning, ready to play. 

Almost imediately after his eyes were closed he felt two hands on his face. 

"Da!" She squealed. "Up!" 

"Oh Birdie!" Jason moved over to pull her away from her dad, which she first protested before being pre-occupied by the fact that she was seeing her grandpa again. "Leave daddy alone for a second." 

Anna moved herself over to sit against the couch with her son. 

"You okay?" 

He nodded. "Just tired. But I don't think there's been a time when I haven't been tired for the last year or so." He chuckled. 

She moved her hand over top of his. "I want you to know, I'm really proud of you, for doing such a good job with Birdie. I'm sure it's not always easy to do everything on your own." 

"I need to do this on my own."  He said simply. 

"But you know you can always ask for help."  She squeezed his hand. "Your dad and I love you, and we absolutely adore Birdie, and we want to help you." 

"I know.." He grinned at his little girl from across the room while she babled something at Jason and he nodded and talked back to her. 

"I'm really proud of you baby, you've raised a lovely little girl so far." 

"Thanks mom." He put his head on her shoulder.