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!

New hat!

Grandma L visited this weekend, and while she was here whipped up a little head confection for Ginger Rose :) . It's toasty warm, fluffy, and, I think, almost as cute as the wearer!

I can jump puddles!

Guess who loves playing in puddles?

Paint & Play is back!

Back to the first day of paint and play for term 3! Ginger Rose has been desperate to get back to paint a "dinosaur and a puppy" , and headed straight for the painting area when we arrived.

Unfortunately, they were out of smocks but waiting wasn't an option, so we were very very careful with our painting - hence no hands for the camera!

We enjoyed the obstacle course and there were plenty of sports activities set up. The adventurous kitten reappeared, and was happy to be petted and stroked, but was distracted when one of Ginger Rose's throws went over the fence! Who knew a cat would chase a ball?

It was also great to catch up with Ginger Rose's best friend, Bronte. We were both busy over the holidays and it was probably the longest time they've had between playdates so they were thrilled to see each other again :) .

Harry Potter day!

It's the end of an era! No more eagerly waiting for the next Harry Potter release date!

It was a chilly morning, and took me an extra 10 minutes to scrape the ice off the windscreen (I can't reach the middle over my enlarged stomach!) so we arrived a few minutes late for the official Harry Potter breakfast at the local mall.

It was pretty disorganised, and as the Ginger Ninja had a friend with him, his place at the breakfast was taken by Ginger Rose, who didn't really understand what was going on, but enjoyed having her face painted for the first time.

Possum didn't want to look like a "Harry Potter nerd", so asked for a Voldemort face which was very well done! We all helped the girls fill in the quiz.



Sadly, our second copy of the book was left behind, which meant that I was the only person to get to read it in our house today. I was very annoyed at the loss, but feel much better now I've finished the book :).

After the breakfast, Grandad took Briar Rose to see Bridge to Terabithia, before he headed home.