Days 5 and 6

We're starting to have longer waking periods, although Baby's still a little hard to settle into an eat-activity-sleep routine - he much prefers going to sleep during the "eat" part, preferably interspersed with a few activities.

He's taken to seriously enjoying snacking, but while he's still a little jaundiced I'm trying not to be too concerned about stretching his feeds out.

More cuddles from Grandma E, and showing the fantastic outfit previously worn by two of his cousins :).

Ginger Rose is really enjoying having Grandma E here to play with her, and is enjoying the warmer spring weather. This is how she says "cheese"!

Happy birthday, Possum!

Guess who turned 12 today? I think he enjoyed his birthday, even though he didn't get the sleep-in he'd been planning (Ginger Rose escaped me to visit him shortly after 8am instead of the 9am he'd anticipated!).

Here's our second photo as a family of seven! Grandma E very kindly did a cake run, so we had a celebratory Indian takeaway dinner (Possum's choice) followed by yummy chocolate cake.

Ginger Rose was very keen to help Possum blow out the candles. They split them - she blew 2 and he blew 10. But who's counting?!

Shame there were only 4 bits of whipped cream and chocolate - in family division terms, that works out at 3 adults and one birthday boy...

Birth day!

I was in the very large hot bath at the birth centre very shortly after we arrived!

Second stage arrived shortly after I hopped into the bath, and soon I was able to lift my beautiful boy up onto my chest for our first cuddle together.

He was willing to latch on within a few minutes of birth and had a brief suckle.

There aren't any respectable photos of Baby's Dad cutting the cord, but here's Baby blissfully unaware that we're being separated. We wouldn't have cut the cord except that it had well and truly stopped pulsing and was too short for me to safely carry the baby out of the bath with.

Day 4

Baby enjoyed a brief waking spell today, and spent time goo-ing and gaa-ing at everybody before going back to eating and sleeping. Sadly, he likes to sleep better during the day than the night!

This afternoon we're wearing a hand-knitted shortie from Auntie C over a TotsBot (thanks, Carol!).

And, as you can see, Baby is a very charming sleeper - so totally edible! And he gives the sweetest smiles when he sees the milk supply coming.

If only he'd sleep at night...

Big sister

Briar Rose held the baby while I unpacked the bag we over-packed to take to the birth centre - she did very well, and Baby enjoyed some new songs!

New baby photos

I'm still working on neatening up the immediately post-birth photos (a little too much of my bare flesh in most of them!). Here is Ginger Ninja having his first hold straight after we arrived home from the birth centre. Ginger Ninja bought the beautiful booties because he wanted to get something "practical" for the new baby, while the other children bought soft toys.

Unfortunately, we had a scare. Later in the afternoon the baby wasn't able to dislodge some mucous and turned blue and choked. It was very scary. He's been possetting and throwing up a lot, so we've taken it in shifts to stay up with him - well, by staying up, I mean he sleeps and we stay up!

Special thanks to Auntie C who must have anticipated our needs - I thought we'd only need a couple of 000 outfits, but with all the vomitting we've already exhausted my supplies of 000 gear and bunny rugs!

Possum having his first hold. Usually the children are nursing their babies a little earlier, but with the choking episode we've been a little cautious.

Grandma E has been wonderful. She drove down Friday night just in time to be here to help out while I was in labour Saturday morning, then she followed us to the birth centre an hour later to bring the children to meet the baby!

Meeting baby brother Andrew!

Sorry I don't have a clearer shot of Andrew (we think!), but here he is being "discovered" by his big brothers and sisters. He's now 5 hours old, home and nursing like a champ!

How big can it get?!

It just keeps growing! I keep reassuring myself that what goes up must come down, but I'm hoping it'll stop going up quite so fast! I think I'm about 40w now, but the official due date isn't for 3 days yet. I just FEEL overdue!

Ironbark pumpkin

Fresh from the garden is this speciman of ironbark pumpkin, lovingly watered and nurtured. Of course, it took me a while to realise that "ironbark" would have implications for cooking...next season, I'm growing butternuts!

To use this monster, I had to bake it in a slow oven for an hour until it was soft enough to cut open, deseed, and peel. We used it in a vegetarian lasagne, several batches of soup, and I froze several serves of pumpkin for roasting.

Trying not to be superstitious...

But look at the size of the egg Ginger Ninja found in the henhouse today! I'm trying hard not to compare it to my enormous belly and the fact that I'm fast approaching my longest gestation time with no real signs of any impending labour...

It weighs in at 107gm on my Tupperware digital scales.

Chef or washerwoman?

You decide! For some reason, Ginger Rose decided to get dressed up in Briar Rose's shower cap. Bizarrely appropriate for baking, I thought ;).

Pop star!

Briar Rose was invited to a "Come as your favourite pop star" party. As we don't have favourite popstars (well, not ones that we'd dress an 8yo up as!) we chose a generic model!

Knitting for baby

I like to knit something new for each baby, and here is this baby's addition to the collection! It's a simple garter stitch but I just couldn't resist the softness of the wool. I have just enough wool left over to knit a simple jumper in blue with green contrast for next winter.

I wasn't able to get enough of the neutral colour to continue the stripes as suggested by the pattern, so switched to a bolder stripe, which I think I prefer.

Ginger Rose turns 3!

We held a surprise family birthday party for Ginger Rose - she LOVES balloons and party hats, and with 3 siblings to celebrate with her we had exactly the recommended number of party participants (child's age + 1).

She had been practicing singing happy birthday and blowing out candles, and was very excited to get to try it out for real!

The other children made a throne for her to open presents on. She LOVED all her presents, especially the books and clothes from her cousin in the UK! Mr Pusskins has been a favourite bedtime story!

I miss them!

Is it just me, or are my boys looking like teenagers?

They're currently in far North Queensland, and I'm missing them (and their Dad!) terribly - but am relishing the opportunity to clean out their bedrooms without interference !

One minute they look like miniature adolescents...

And the next, they're still my sweet little boys!