Being Momma G: Day 1346

Dear Henry,

Today is your half birthday. That means you are 6 months old. You've been in this world for 6 whole months!

It feels like it was yesterday when Daddy and Momma calmly walked into the hospital and "checked in" with the doctors and nurses, who were all super efficient in making sure we met you as soon as we could that morning. We knew which day you were going to be born - 7 March - because Dr Baber and Daddy and Momma made plans for us to meet you that day. And you were perfect, right from the moment we first laid eyes on you.

In the past 6 months, you've grown from an adorable blob who didn't do very much, to an adorable blob who is engaging, interacting, and laughing with us. Your big brother calls you an "adorable blob", because you are. Sean can't wait till you can crawl and walk and move about a bit, so that he can show you how to get up to all sorts of mischief.

You have a very good appetite, drinking lots of milk, and as of a week ago, you have also started eating solids. It took a few weeks of experimenting, but you finally started to like the baby cereal, and you now wolf down your meals without blinking. You tried pear puree today. The look on your face suggested you didn't enjoy it.

You can sit up by yourself now, for short periods of time, without being propped up. You like sitting up and looking around. You like sitting up so much that when you are lying down, you try to sit up by yourself, but you only manage to do stomach crunches. But the look on your face when you are trying to sit up is priceless. Such a look of concentration.

You can roll from your tummy to your back, but you haven't yet learned to roll from your back to your tummy, at least, not consistently. You like to grab hold of something to help you roll from your back to your tummy, and sometimes, we see you throw your legs up in the air and drop them to the side, in hope that this momentum will get you onto your tummy. You haven't quite got the hang of that yet, but give it time. We're sure you will soon get the hang of it.

Although you can't roll, you can certainly still move about! You seem to be crawling, on your back! Scouching around on the floor, you can move quite quickly, and quite stelthily! We can't really leave you on the sheepskin rug and expect you to still be there 5 minutes later.

You haven't grown any teeth yet, but we can see 2 little nubs in the bottom gum. We're sure those little toothy pegs will come through soon.

You are such a happy baby and you love to smile and laugh, all the time. You light up when you see Daddy, but you positively beam when you see Momma. And you love seeing Sean do funny things. Your laughter is the best - it makes us laugh too!

You are a very gorgeous young man, who is often mistaken for a girl. So many people think you are a girl, and tell us in so many words. Some people refuse to believe you're a boy, and even go so far as to ask us if we were sure that you are a boy. Your big saucer eyes, fair complexion and your little curls might have something to do with everyone thinking you're a girl. But we know you're a boy, and we correct people when they are mistaken.

You are growing bigger and stronger every day. In the past week, you've learned to splash in the bath with your arms and legs. You and Sean often compete to see who can make the bigger splashes in the bath, much to Daddy's bemusement. You are so wriggly and strong, that it's often hard for Daddy to keep a hold of you. Perhaps it's time to start some swimming lessons for you, so that you know what to do if you slip from Daddy's grip.

Henry, we love you so very very much. You made our family whole, and you have given us so much joy over these past 6 months. We look forward to seeing what amazing things you will do as you grow. Sean for one can't wait for you to be bigger, so he can have a proper playmate!

Happy Half Birthday, little man. Daddy and Momma love you so very, very much.

All our love,
Daddy and Momma

Sean is ONE!

Happy birthday, our darling Sean.
Daddy and Mummy love you so much!

Jonathan's 36th Birthday

Happy birthday to the best husband and father in the whole wide world!

As Jonathan's birthday was also Speedy's due date, it was decided long ago that we wouldn't be doing anything too taxing on the day. Mina had been with us since early on Christmas Day and was due to go home before dinner tonight, so Mina and I decided to bake a delicious chocolate cake for Jonathan.

As for Jonathan's present, I'd already bought him a "combined" Father's Day and birthday present earlier this year (which was presented to him on Father's Day. This left Mina with a dilemma of what to do for a present for Daddy.

We did have to go out earlier in the day to buy a few things from the shops, so off to Top Ryde City we went. It was Mina's first visit to this shopping centre, so she stayed close to us and didn't wander too far away. Mina was quite insistent on buying a gift for Jonathan, but everything she picked up was cheap and / or inappropriate. It took some time, but we did manage to convince Mina that she should make something for Jonathan to hang in his cubicle at work. In the end, Mina was happy with that solution.

Most of the afternoon was spent with Mina running back and forth between Jonathan and I as we completed various tasks set down by Mina for Jonathan's birthday party. The cake was baked, but needed frosting, which Mina insisted on spreading on the cake, with supervision from Jonathan. Mina also wanted to create a "tapestry" for Jonathan, picking various items from her arts and crafts stash to be sewn on to a piece of white felt by me. In the meantime, Mina was also making a birthday card for Jonathan, so she was a rather busy little bee for most of the afternoon.

We received a lovely surprise phone call from Mum and Dad in New Zealand, who called us on Skype to wish Jonathan a happy birthday. It was so lovely to chat with them!

Before long, it was time to light the candles and share some cake with the birthday boy. Jonathan was very chuffed with the handmade card and the tapestry, and we enjoyed the very scrumptious cake decorated with M&Ms.

The only person missing from the day was Speedy, who decided that he didn't really want to share a birthday with Daddy after all. Never mind. We know Speedy will arrive when he's good and ready.

Happy birthday, my darling man. I hope you had a wonderful wonderful day!

Gloria's 38th Birthday

I had a birthday yesterday. And it was a lovely lovely lovely day.

The day started off early for both of us, with Jonathan working the "morning support shift" that commenced at 7am (but with an early finish of 3pm). After dropping him off at the train station just after 6am, I went home and had a shower, and decided that I'd catch the earlier bus to work to see if traffic was better earlier in the day. It was. I am now convinced that I will be catching the 7.15am bus every day that I have left before my maternity leave.

The bus pulled into my destination a lot earlier than expected - I'd arrived into the city by 8.05am, so I decided to treat myself to a yummy bacon and scrambled eggs roll. The shop decided to surprise me with a free can of iced coffee with my purchase - which was really yum!

I got into my office at 8.15am with plenty of time to savour my bacon and egg roll. Just as I was about to finish my breakfast, Jesse, one of the lovely ladies at work, stopped by my desk and gave me 2 gorgeous outfits for Speedy! Both outfits had long sleeves, and oh so gorgeous, and they should fit Speedy by the time winter rolls around. Perfect!

Message after message came through on the phone and on Facebook, wishing me a happy day. Dad and Mum called me, and the sisters both texted and called me with birthday wishes. I felt very loved and very blessed all day long!

The crew at work surprised me with a gorgeous cheesecake, which I enjoyed greatly. It was lovely to have all of them sing Happy Birthday to me!

The day then got busy, and before I knew it, it was lunch time, so I stopped for a quick bite while trying to decide what to do for dinner. Jonathan was still asking what I wanted to do, and in the end, I had to ask him to make a decision as I was simply too busy to think.

So busy was I that I didn't leave the office until 6pm, before hopping on any bus that took me to Top Ryde Shopping Centre. Once there, I called Jonathan and he drove the short distance to pick me up. It was then that he suggested we explore the restaurant options in Eastwood, and I agreed.

It had been a while since I'd eaten in Eastwood, so after we parked the car, we wandered around to see what took our fancy. First stop was the Szechwan restaurant, which didn't appeal to me - according to Mum, I need to stay away from spicy foods in these last days as spicy foods can induce early labour. Next stop was a Chinese BBQ shop, much like Chatswood BBQ Kitchen which we use to frequent on a Thursday night - this also didn't appeal to me, and Jonathan said that we should look for a "proper restaurant experience".

On our way to the next restaurant, we stopped by Breadtop, an awesome Asian bakery chain that sold the most delectable Chiffon Cup Cakes. So Jonathan and I stopped in to grab the cupcakes for dessert, plus we picked up a few bits for snacks as well.

By this point, I'd decided that I had a hankering for Peking Duck and Sang Choi Bow, so we wandered to the final restaurant that we wanted to check out, the Eastwood Garden Peking Restaurant. As soon as we rounded the corner, we saw a huge poster in the restaurant's window advertising their Peking Duck 2 Course Meal, so we took a peak inside. The restaurant was amazingly full for a Tuesday night, but we thought we'd try our luck, and were glad that we walked in when we did, as we got a table straight away, and those who entered in the few minutes behind us had to wait for a table.

Jonathan made the observation that the patronage was mainly Chinese, with very few white folk present in the dining room. We were quite pleased with that, and ordered the 2 Course Peking Duck without much further ado. About 10 minutes later, the waiter carried a shiny glistening roast duck towards our table, but took a turn away from us to show another table what they would be feasting on. Jonathan and I joked that we would be shown the same duck - the sample duck - and what we will end up receiving won't be as shiny or pretty as the sample duck. Sure enough, a few minutes later, we were shown our duck, which looked suspiciously similar to the first duck!

Not that we cared. The duck was then taken away to be sliced, and returned to us nicely laid out on a plate, along with a stack of pancakes and the accompaniments. All in all, there was enough meat and pancakes and accompaniments to make 12 portions - yes, greedy guts here had 6 pancakes!!!

We took our time to savour the yummy parcels. The duck skin was crispy, and not too fat, which suited both of us just fine. We were nearly full by the time we started on our 6th pancake, but we were far from done - we still had another 2 Sang Choi Bows each to follow!

Thankfully, the kitchen took a few minutes to prepare these, so by the time they arrived, we were just ready to tuck in. The filling was tasty and the lettuce was crisp, and it was a lovely way to finish dinner. We so could have done with some wet wipes or wet napkins though - the Sang Choi Bows were a bit messy!

We both enjoyed our dinner, and I was pretty sure Speedy did too, as he settled into a deep slumber as we walked back to the car. On our way down to the car, we stopped by the Chinese BBQ shop to pick up a takeaway menu. We saw that they too had Peking Duck - a 3 course version, for slightly less than Eastwood Garden Peking Restaurant. We decided we will have to return to try it out, but with more people in tow - we didn't think we could brave another half dozen pancakes each again!

We got home around 9pm, and Jonathan had one last surprise for me. He presented me with the most beautiful box of purple oriental orchids! For a man who thinks buying cut flowers is a waste of money, I was beyond surprised that he would buy me such a gorgeous but expensive gift! I love my darling man!

I am such a lucky girl, to have such so many wonderful people in my life. I'm feeling so loved and blessed and thankful. Thanks to everyone who made my day so special!

Mina's 5th Birthday Party

Mina turns 5 tomorrow, so we had a little birthday party to celebrate her milestone.

Mina was joined by Renée, Kiran and Danielle, along with Grace, for some yum cha in Chatswood, followed by a Baa Baa Sheep cake to the delight of all those who attended. Mina and Grace's little ones get along so well, and it's great to see such camaraderie between them, even though they see each other quite infrequently. I know they will make wonderful cousins for each other.

After lunch, we treated the bigger kids to a carousel ride. Grace did her "Tickle Monster" to entertain the kids, while Jonathan kept Danielle company and produced quite a few adorable smiles from the baby.

Here are the photos - as you can see, fun was had by all.