Birthday Catchup

In August Oshawott turned 5!  

Seeing as we are living in practically a construction war zone we knew that inviting a class of 5 year old Kinder kids up to the house would be disastrous, at best.  So the party was held at the nearby Play Centre.  The only things I needed to do was make the cake, and also some party bags.  It was so so easy!  Almost too easy, I found myself twiddling my thumbs and waiting for the time to pass before calling the kids back to eat, and then for Cake time.   He had a great time and you can see that from his great big smile.

The cake of choice was a replica of his favourite toy, Super Croccy.  So fittingly I made cake Croccy a saddle so that Super Croccy could come for a ride to the party.

He is a very polite little boy and was very good when opening presents to show great enthusiasm for each, even including the accompanying cards.

In September, Pichu turned 3!  To celebrate we had a few friends come along for a play in the local park.  I made a cake, bought a few chips, supplied some drinks and threw down a picnic blanket.  Too easy! 

After missing a week it feels good to be able to link up with Essentially Jess for IBOT (I blog on Tuesdays).

The Birthday interrupt

Happy birthday! Here is your dose of croup!

Not the best start to a 7th Birthday.

I had carefully prepared 30 cupcakes for Voltorb to share with his class on his birthday.  The same night he ended up being up most of the night, unable to sleep because of a persistent cough, that was beginning to resemble that of a seal bark.

With just a few hours of sleep under his belt it was obvious he wouldn't be going to school on his Birthday after all. Bummer, he got to stay home most of the day playing with his presents.

Blue Pokeball cupcakes

Rather then freezing the cupcakes to use later when he did go back to school, I added them to the pile of baked goods I had made for Oshawott's bike-athon, scheduled that same day.  They were having a cake stall and I figured they may aswell go to good use, I'll just bake more for the class.

Oshawott preparing his ride.

Thursdays are busy, this one in particular slightly more so, with a bike-athon and a birthday-athon thrown in.  Voltorb came with Daddy to watch the Bike-athon, and impatiently waited for the end of school when I had told him he could open another present in the car with his brothers before he had to go back home with Daddy.  We have swimming after school, so Voltorb not only had to miss out on that, he had to wait until we got him at 6pm to open the rest of his presents.   Yet when I got home with the other boys Voltorb was asleep, finally crashing after his terrible night.  When he woke 30mins later, he couldn't catch his breath very well and was coughing up a sealy storm. So we bundled him into the car and I took him to the ER.  

He was much more settled when we arrived, but figured we would get it all checked out while we were there.

 Another present while we waited at the ER.

 
We didn't have to wait very long at the ER (which seems like an oxymoron!) and he was seem to and prescribed some redi pred, which he wouldn't take of course (allergic to Medicine you know..) so we were allowed to take it home with us to mix in strawberry milk.

Two of the boys were asleep when we got home, so no presents, no cake, no singing and no candles.   Instead we opted for 3 hours trying to get him to drink his medicine.  Always a good Birthday trade off.

The next morning he was feeling much better and opened the rest of his presents.  That night we also did a family cake for him, with singing of course!

On his request his party was held at the local play centre and what a good decision that was!  It was so easy!   

Also on his request I made a Pokemon cake, Tepig to be exact.  

If I hadn't have dropped the cake when we arrived it would have been smooth sailing completely.  The cake was ok luckily! Considering it slid off my lap onto the ground from Tarago height was pretty impressive that it was just a bit bent up.

 Tepig Cake

After the party we had one of his friends come for a sleepover.  That was the night we trekked up the back hill to see the Aurora.  

And also the night that this seemed like a good idea.. 

 Slime does not come out of hair very easily, funny that.  He had to have a shower and a hair wash, and this was all after he was meant to be asleep!  (King of stalling this one!)

For School on Monday I made a second batch of Pokeball cupcakes.

Overall the Birthday spanned across 4 days, not a bad effort!




I am joining Jess and all of the fellow IBOT bloggers.

What Valentines Day means to us.

A few months ago I was privileged to be part of Kylie at A Study in Contradictions' series called "Confessions of a New Mum".  You can read all of the entries in the series here.  I wrote the birth story of our first born, and seeing as it all happened on this day 9 years ago, I thought it appropriate to publish it again, here at iSophie.



It was a 43 degree Valentine's Day in Broken Hill the day our first son was born.  He was a few days early, but considering it was February and we had been suffering through 40 degree humid days my body was just over the whole extra 10 kilos business.

It was so hot and sticky that day, all I could do was lay on the lounge, with a damp towel draped over my entire body hoping for some relief from the heat.  I had just watched a 'chick flick' and had gotten up to use the toilet for the hundredth billion time that day.  Suddenly I felt extra moisture running down my legs, and at first it was difficult to differentiate between streams of sweat and my water's breaking!  I told Coder and even though I was cool, calm and collected he wanted to be the one to make the call to my parents.  As we didn't own our own car at the time, they were coming to pick us up to take us to the hospital.

I rang the midwives, they told me to take a shower and mosey on up.  No rush, they assumed, being my first baby, that I was probably a) in false labour and/or b) it would be hours, if not days before something happened.

I started to have a few contractions, only 4 or 5 before getting into the car, and having another on the way to hospital, then on the walk in... and so on and so forth until they got me into the examine room to 'check'  things.  Low and behold, I was already 6/7 cms dilated!   It had only been probably 30mins since the water breaking at that stage.  They were very surprised, and I was very happy I didn't take their laid back reaction to heart, and mosey'd around before having a baby on my loungeroom floor!

They offered pain relief, I said no.  I didn't want to be a sook, it would get worse yet, right? I would wait.   I didn't have to wait long, there was no time, Baby wanted out, and out now!  The pain didn't get much worse, just closer together, so not many breaks from the intensity.  And suddenly I was pushing!  I remember in between pushing contractions I would just lay back into 'zen' mode, which got many comments from the midwives and my sister who was there with Coder for support.  I was a silent mostly, though pretty sure there was some grunting at the end. 

Baby was born just 3 hours after my water broke, al' natural.  At 9 lb 9 ounces, he certainly was a bonnie boy!  His shoulders had come out squarely and not offset, which resulted in some tearing, which resulted in stitches  Ouch.  I remember that stinging pain of the needle more then the birth!

Fittingly for Valentine's Day, though extremely weird, the placenta was heart shaped, so much so, that it became a spectacle for the other midwives and students that day.

After the birth, I felt faint.  No wonder I suppose, it had been a relatively fast birth (for a first baby) and we had been through such a hot summer.  Plus he was huge and I was tiny at 45kgs (pre pregnancy), my body was just in a wee bit of shock.  They wheeled me in a wheel chair, in which I fainted in... to the alarm of the nurses who were trying to hold me up and get me to the room quickly to assess me.   Coder, who was trying to eat his McDonalds at the time, had to come out to the rescue.

The next day, after fainting again, they put me on IV fluids.  I was ok, it was all just the shock of it all... or something.  I am a fainter in general, having fainted during my school years often.

During those first few days, a training Paediatrician discovered the baby had a murmur, as all babies do as their hearts adjust to their new responsibilities.  But instead of asking his superiors for advice, he sent us off for an ECG.  Bizarre.   Everything was fine.

That was nothing compared to the shock we were about to receive after taking the baby home.  Our first night as a family was one of utter shock and terror, with less then an hour sleep thrown in for good measure.

Baby was feeding hourly, and basically never sleeping in between!

There was pacing, rocking, singing and hushing.  There was exasperation, there was much second guessing, self doubt and then the realisation, "What the hell have we done!? We are -never- going to sleep again".

Everything seems worse at night? Nope, pretty much I felt the same way when the sun came up.  I would say, when I woke up, but seeing as I was up all night...

After a few nights, we did manage to get him to sleep in his cot.

But his day naps were a nightmare.  He wouldn't sleep in the cot, he wouldn't sleep for more then 30 minutes, and he wouldn't even stay asleep that 30mins unless someone was holding him.   Didn't have to be Mummy, he couldn't have cared less if it was the homeless man at the Plaza, just as long as he was being held.

I teetered on the edge of the Post Natal Depression for awhile there, I wasn't eating properly, I would just cry over nothing.  My family noticed and was able to pull me back out, cooking meals, and making sure I ate.  And many many hours of support, like baby holding, taking the baby to family gatherings with Coder while I stayed home to sleep (meeting them later for his feed).  My sister would come over at night and after his bed time feed I would hand him over and go to sleep.  She would settle him before going home.

We invested in a baby hammock and after several sessions of progressively less crying each time, he finally would nap in it.  But still not for very long, I used to sneak in just before the 30 minute mark and gently start to bob it up and down to coax him into sleeping for another session.

At 7 months he started to nap for an hour and a half straight, with no bobbing.  Yay!  

We have gone on to have 3 more boys, so the experience didn't put us off for long, as we quickly adjusted to the new way of life with little sleep and all that comes with parenting.  And we love it!

Happy Birthday Legoman!

Taken in 2005, at age 1.

 Same train, Broken Hill Train Museum 2012, age 8.

 (in black)

 


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I am linking up with Grace today, for FYBF at With Some Grace.

Happy Birthday to me... Blah blah, and blah!

I turned 37 on Saturday.  I can say, I honestly am not overly fussed by the whole Birthday thing.  No, that's a lie.  I love Birthdays!  When they aren't my own.  And it's not because I'm getting older (cue violins), because I am, I am 37 now!  It's more my occasional social awkwardness that makes me feel uncomfortable with the attention.  I try to keep things low key as to minimise the fuss.  

Coder and the boys bought me a new lens for the Nikon, and a tripod.  I badly needed both of those, so I was a very happy Birthday Girl.   My Mum and Dad had sent me a parcel of clothes.  How well does my Mother know me?  She always buys me underwear because she knows I just couldn't be bothered buying it myself, some new PJs and a jacket.

My friends took (forced) me out to dinner, which was actually such a lovely evening, that we need to do that more often.  

 I had to give the new tripod and lens a whirl.  Coder took the 2 older boys to Little Athletics.  Pichu and I went into the paddock to remove some unused chicken wire to fix the coop, in order to keep the new babies safe.

I like blue.

 

What, is there something on my face?

Conveniently, the icing matched his top.

New leggings from my sister. So cool!!

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I am linking up with Jess, at Diary of a SAHM.

Little Charley Bear tastes delicious!

A baby turns 2: Part 2

And so the Birthday celebrations continued on from Wednesday...  On the morning of his Birthday, his brothers, who were clearly more excited then he was, happily 'helped' Pichu open his presents.  Then they happily played with them for half of the morning, and unhappily for the other half of the morning, fighting over who had too many 'water' pieces and receiving lectures on the importance of taking turns.  After much bickering, a slammed door and a room sulk they produced this:

Duplo Dinosaur land, where it seems there is a common theme.  Twins.

 I -cannot- believe you got me a BOX!  Best. Present. Ever!

 Stand back, i've got this.

The day I went to Melbourne for Nikon School it was sunny and warm (enough) back in Hobart for the boys to play with Pichi's new toy. Only requiring one complete wardrobe change for each boy.

For lunch we went to Sandy Bay park with two other families.  This was my opportunity to make the Little Charley Bear cake that his brother's insisted he wanted and really must have.  Granted, he does love Charley Bear, and I figured that he (hopefully) won't still like Charley Bear so much when he turns 3, so this was the only chance I have to make that cake (well doesn't everybody dream of making a Little Charley Bear cake? Of course they do!).

Pichu loves blueberries, so they made the perfect 'black' for the cake.  

The cake was delicious if I do say so myself.  It was a very yummy butter cake recipe I found on taste.com.au, complete with butter icing and a complimentary cholesterol test afterwards.

Bubble mower was certainly up there with the box on the present scale.

Cutest jumper that ever was on the cutest 2 yr old that ever was.  I am not even being bias because I am sure we have a T-shirt that confirms this.

 Someone get that mirror out of my shot please!  Pichu sits happily -insert laughter here- with his best buddy who conveniently doubles as his arch nemesis.  An awkward 5 second truce is established as I take the photo.

Cutest 23 month old ever. Both boys clearly fans of Little Charley Bear.  This cheeky smirk is brought to you by "bubble mower stealing maneuver alpha".


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It's not a party until someone is crying.

Luckily I have plenty of 'someones' and it's a good chance it will be one of my children crying.  

It was Pichu's Birthday last week, and because he has had many months practising for his terrible twos he slid into the role with ease.  He was the fortunate recipient of 'Mummy guilt', receiving not 1, but 2 cakes!  After outsourcing Oshawott's cake a few weeks ago I had to redeem myself in the cake making department.  I also was torn between two different cakes, so when the opportunity arose to do a second cake I jumped at it.

It was school holidays and we had made plans to meet with several families for a play and BBQ at the bike park.  Seeing as it was just 2 days before Pichu's Birthday I decided to make a cake for him.  After seeing a photo of a sandcastle cake on the web somewhere I decided to have a crack at it.  Much googling of cake images later I had the design in my head and a few ideas on how to approach it.

Never one to err on the side of caution, Pichu immediately found the -only- puddle in the whole entire park and walked straight though the middle of it.  Oh well, not something I wasn't expecting after our last foray into puddle land.  Wet feet sorted he proceeded to inspect the puddle with a stick.

Pichu with his best friend, who coincidentally doubles as his arch enemy.

Voltorb in motion.

Pichu loves his sandcastle cake. 

 He loves candles even more.

Arch enemy leans in to help Pichu with his candles.

We all had a great day, the weather held out just long enough, with the wind picking up and bringing with it some rain just as we were leaving. 

Unfortunately Oshawott managed to somehow fall of the seat he was crawling along, banging his head first on the table, then on the concrete.  He split a section of his gum above his teeth and there was a fair amount of blood.  Not something he needs right now, he is still recovering from Scarlet Fever and is very pale and lacks energy. 

Yet his biggest concern was that he wouldn't be able to eat cake!

(cake number 2 photo's here!)

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