Day +48: A Day With Friends

Sean and I had the pleasure of spending the day with two lovely ladies and meeting a gorgeous little man called Liam.

6-month-old Master Liam is the son of our friends Alex and Michelle, and we had been looking forward to meeting Liam since he was born on 1 December last year. For obvious reasons, we had not had the chance to spend time with Alex and Michelle and Liam, so when we were invited to their house today to help Lissy plan her baby shower, we eagerly jumped at the chance to have an outing.

We arranged to meet at Michelle's at midday, and I thought it would be nice to bake some brownies to take with us. Sean circled my legs while I made the brownies, and was ordered away from the oven a number of times while the brownies baked and filled the house with their warm and sweet aroma. I love Betty Crocker's Triple Chocolate Fudge Brownies, and for extra special goodness, today I threw in ¾ cup of mini marshmallows and ¼ cup of mini M&Ms. The finished product looked amazing, and I couldn't wait to try them with the ladies.

Sean and I left our place just after 11am to head over to Michelle's place in Northmead. I hoped Sean would sleep for a bit in the car, as 11am was the start of his nap time, but alas, Sean didn't fall asleep until we were almost in Northmead. We arrived with plenty of time to spare, so I took my time looking for a good parking space before trying to get Sean out of the car without waking him. No such luck.

Laden with bags and our pram, we headed up the few steps to the front door of Michelle's apartment block, and rang the doorbell. No answer. I thought I had the wrong building, so I looked around, and concluded I was standing at the correct security door. I rang the doorbell again, and again, and again, without any success. I tried to call Lissy to see how far away she was, but she wasn't answering her phone. I checked through my phone to see if I had Michelle's number, but I came up with a blank. I started to panic and wondered if I had the correct date!

Somehow, I managed to lug all the bags and the pram, as well as Sean down the stairs again, and headed back to the car to repack the bags into the boot. I thought I may have been in the wrong complex, so I strapped Sean into the pram and we walked up the driveway and out onto the footpath, and checked the street numbers on either side of the complex we'd parked in to make sure we were at the right place. Our little walk proved that I had indeed parked in the correct complex, so we walked down the hill again and headed back to car, so we could grab our bags again before heading up to the front door to try the bell again.

I must have rung the bell about 20 times with no success by the time Lissy arrived. I thought she might have had Michelle's number, but as it turned out, she didn't have Michelle's contact details either. I was getting really worried about Michelle, and hoped that nothing bad had happened to either her or Liam. Lissy and I decided to try some of our other friends to check if they had Michelle's number, and Ian came through with the goods. Michelle answered her phone immediately, and quickly let us in to the building.

Michelle had been wondering where we were, as we were now 40 minutes past the agreed time. We told her that we had been ringing the doorbell repeatedly - I assured her I had been trying to get into the building since midday - and upon closer inspection, the doorbell was found to be on silent. Michelle had turned off the ringer earlier in the day to ensure Liam wasn't disturbed in his nap, and forgot to turn it back on again.

I finally got to meet Liam, so is just the cutest little man ever (second only to Sean). Liam is such a good natured little man, and he was happy to be passed between Lissy and me for cuddles. Sean got a little bit jealous of the attention I was paying to another baby, and kept wanting to be in my arms when I was holding Liam. I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to hold a baby who wasn't able to wriggle out of my arms and push me out of the way.

Michelle made a delicious frittata for lunch, which we enjoyed immensely. We chatted away all afternoon, and spent some time organising Lissy's baby shower, compiling a guest list and deciding on the menu. It was fun organising a party for Lissy and her little one.

Lissy asked me and Michelle lots of questions about what she might need for the baby, and what she should buy now in preparation for the little one's impending arrival. We gave Lissy some pointers and left her to decide if any of our information was useful.

We shared the brownies after lunch, and they were the best brownies I had ever made! So delicious!!! I must remember my special additives for the next time I decide to make these Betty Crocker brownies again. Yum!!!

Alex came home from work a bit earlier than expected, so we were able to see him and say Hi before he disappeared into the study to finish work for the day. He too enjoyed the brownies and Michelle's frittata, and stopped to have a chat with us while he ate his food. It was nice to see Alex - I hadn't seen him in a while and he looked exactly like any new father did - bags under his eyes, a bit frazzled and exhausted, but content with life. Liam was not sleeping well through the day, or night for that fact, and both Alex and Michelle were suffering sleep deprivation as a consequence. I tried to assure them that this phase will pass - soon - so there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Time flew, and before we knew it, the light was fading and the day was turning to dusk. We needed to get a wriggle on towards home if we were to beat Jonathan home from work, so we thanked Michelle for her hospitality and dragged everything down the stairs again. Sean fell asleep in the car on the way home, as I predicted he would, and we arrived home just after Jonathan walked through the front door.

It was a really lovely day, spent with two beautiful friends and two gorgeous little boys. We are looking forward to the day Lissy's little one is able to join in the fun!