A Band Of Hearts

I met a band of hearts one day in a land of wine. They circled round and swooped me up in a collision of sparkling stars. We banded together to face the world and all the changes it brought. Hearts entwined, divided and multiplied until our circle became a busy bursting cloud of tiny futures, big todays and better tomorrows. The hearts grew wise over time, they created more life, carried heavier souls, all the while entwining themselves around each other. This circle has stretched and grown across mountain ranges and oceans and still, the hearts touch. Still, the hearts hold tight. And today, today one heart became two. And our fantastic circle grew even larger, stretched to even greater size. A band of hearts whose limit knows no bounds. Whose bonds will never break. A band of shiny, laughing, loving happy hearts.

Two Words

I have two words to describe my day: Bikram Housecleaning.
Oh yes, it's the latest craze since global warming and the Second Great Depression arrived.
I can no longer afford a house cleaner. I can't buy an air conditioner and I don't have a gym membership. All of these things rolled into one = you said it, Bikram Housecleaning!
"Ever since we put a new black shingled roof on our house, the living room really heats up in the daytime. During this month's heat wave, I lost 4 pounds AND my house is sparkling!"

Waiting for baby

I always beleived that I was reasonably patient and for the most part let things happen when they did. However waiting for babies is not one of my patient moments. It started 4 1/2 years ago when I sat at home awaiting my first bundle of joy. I was lucky enough to go through the pregnancy with two very wonderful and inspiring women who were also expecting their first. I suppose my impatience started to fester when the first women announced she was having contractions and was 4cms dilated a couple of weeks out from her (our- we were all due either on the same day or within a day)due date. She went on to be induced two weeks early. I was excited for her and was fine seeing I still had a pregnant companion. Though she somehow out-smarted me and managed to deliver ON her due date (who does that anyway???)so here I was on my due date with babies all around and none were mine. I waited and waited and then 10 days later walked comfortably and without pain into the hospital for an induced birth. My baby was in no hurry as it took nearly 2 days in the hospital to have my dear 9lb 5oz little boy . With number two I was so busy with my 18 month old that the time did pass reasonably quickly however the end was once again a heavy burden (although I only gained half the weight of my first pregnancy my belly was again a huge bump in my torso)This time I was a little more clued in and with another big baby on the way informed my doctor that if I reach my due date with no baby then I would like to be induced. I have to confess at this point that I was working on a different due date to the actual one my doc had so I actually asked her to schedule my induction 5 days before the due date I had in my head. Although I did pass the actual due date (by 3 days)I only found this out after my second little 9lb boy was born.
So here I am now 4 days out from the due date of my 3rd bundle of joy and have been expecting to have this baby for the past three weeks. Just this week it occured to me that it was highly improbable that my baby would be born before the due date and in my case without being induced. I have been walking around for these past three weeks acting over due and very much feeling like this baby was defying my every wish to come ontime. As I am now 4 days out I realise that this baby still has time to be ontime or even early if it so chooses. I am now trying to relax and take time to put my feet up (ok nearly impossible with my 2 boys)and to stop putting the pressure on (although I have gone ahead and asked my midwife book my induction next Monday because once Sat comes and goes I will be ready to have my baby whether the baby is ready to or not!)

The First Birthday

SIGH.

It is with a little bit of both happiness and sadness that I must report that we have celebrated our last first birthday! There has been drama at each first birthday party...which makes me happy that we will not have to do any more and sad that we will not have the opportunity to redeem ourselves and have a drama-free first birthday.

At SO's first (a big blow out mind you, where we invited everyone we had ever met!), we didn't think about handing a one year old a cupcake, that was essentially, on fire, with a big ol' number one candle. Of course she reached for the flame, and of course her dad grabbed her hand so that she did not get burned. But she got scared, started screaming and did not recover until after her nap. It was still fun and memorable - but that is what we remember, vividly, from that one.

Which brings us to yesterday...VO's first birthday extravaganza. This one was MUCH smaller than the first...just family. Which was probably a good thing in hind sight. It was sort of monkey themed...we had monkey invitations, banana cake (he LOVES banana) with yellow swiss buttercream frosting topped with blue monkeys from a barrel. As I was making the frosting, I definitely recognized the amount of egg whites going into the frosting. SO had a sensitivity to egg whites when she was a baby and only recently started being able to eat them without her chin turning red - she is now three. It always cleared up really fast on her, but I still had not tried to give VO eggs yet, at all (my first mistake). So, I took this into consideration when putting the frosting on VO's little cupcake, I just smeared a very thin layer on top (my second mistake), then topped it with the big number 1 candle and a little monkey. This is what his little cupcake looked like.

VO enjoyed it very much. He enjoyed the singing, and mommy was on top of the burning candle this time blowing it out right about the time he noticed it. And he MOWED the cupcake. This is what he looked while enjoying his birthday.



And this is what he looked like after.



Holy CRAP. Can you say *alergic reaction*? There is nothing like giving your 1 year old a chemical shower (so to speak) to get the frosting off his face as soon as possible. And then having daddy rub his face down with hydrocortizone while mommy makes the call to the pediatrician to find out his benadryl dosage! Good times. Good times.

Bad mommy.

So it is with the O's and first birthdays: drama, crisis, medical emergencies...presents! All turned out fine and he even started to be himself and play with all of his new toys once the benadryl kicked in, and his sister let him.

Follow Up to Last Post

OK, so the pot pie turned out pretty good, despite my best efforts to screw it up. I have a problem paying attention sometimes and trying to do too many things at once! On the first go around (yes, I did part of it twice!) I burned the roux (butter/flour thickening part), so I had to do it again. And since I was pressed for time (trying to get dinner on table to feed everyone at once) I did not chop any more shallots. Instead I threw in some minced garlic I had on hand. I did not have any cream in the first place, so on the first try I used the last little bit of whole milk in the fridge. On the second try I used 1/2 'n 1/2, which was probably a better substitute anyway. It actually turned out pretty good. But not in time to feed the kids, so I whipped up a little mac 'n cheese for them while the pie baked away. It was ready for EO when he got home from work...and he had three helpings. The man loves a good pot pie!