Happy 1st Birthday!!

We did it !!! We all got to through the first year. YIPEEE

We had a lovely party today - cake and coffee and pin the tail on the donkey. DH took so many photo's which I  will try and find and post (there is one at the end of the post...look down... there you go).
We had a Dr Seuss theme which everyone loved - lots of funky food etc. As you can see the kids wore Thing 1 & 2 t-shirts,  which looked so cute.

There were no melt downs or accidents even with my friends kids. It was a great mix of little kids, middle sized and big kids. We even had the UK contingent via Sk.ype (crazy SIL wanted me to break away from the kids party to concentrate on them!).  Great experience and wonderful memories. Who could ask for more?

It was so much fun blowing up balloons, the streamers and the paper plates. Man, having kids means you get to do all this cool kid stuff!  Right now, the kids are wired on cake (they only got a tiny bit but sugar is sugar) and so DH is trying to zen them into submission! Both DH and I are introverts (sorry kids) so after the party DH went to bed and slept for 3 hours!! I cuddled with Mimi while Pip passed out.

Oh, and the kids had real cow's milk at diner time - they both loved it. Wow. We are moving on!!

Thank you all for your support and friendship through this first year. It has made the world of difference.

This photo is Mimi and Pip post birthday chill out ...

Singing, chatting, meowing, worming

Yes, we have the weird kids that learnt to speak cat before human words. Actually Pip can grunt like a pig and Mimi meows but hey, animals it is.

Pip still likes to go around in circles on his bum when not scooting off marine style to some unclassified area of the apartment, like our bedroom or the cats litter box. Mimi took a few little steps but she is a little under confident about the whole stand up and walk thing.

I think Mimi will be the first to actually speak words. I swear she said breakfast this morning but I'm so sleep deprived (due to a neurotic cat) that she probably just burped.

I looked at my kids this morning and thought - right, time to step it up in the fitness front. Yesterday after a marathon baby day (20 hours more or less) I was totally knackered. So tired and achy. So today I took a snow day and went to the gym. I actually ran/stumbles/staggered/walked for about 40 mins. It felt great. Next step is joining a yoga class for flexibility. I feel like we have some active toddlers growing here at home and I need to be ready.

On another note - Mimi has ringworm. The doctor doesn't seem to be bothered at all. It sounds so Victorian. Ringworm! Anyone else out there been down this road?? 

Award time...

Sprogblogger (or Sproggie as I fondly think of her) gave a few of us a bloggie award which I LOVE getting coz my ego is clearly crappy!

THANKS SUSAN!

The rules are the name 7 random things about oneself and nominate 7 bloggers.

OK

7 bloggers that I think are bloggers with substance (I could name many more):
Best when used +1 (http://bwub.wordpress.com/)
Losing Kara  (http://losingkara.blogspot.com/)
Barren Babe (http://barrenbabe.blogspot.com/)
As good as it gets (http://chhandita-phoenix.blogspot.com/)
Eggs OOT http://hopebpatient.blogspot.com/
Mama Bird (http://www.mamabirddiaries.com)
Art of Being IF (http://artofbeinginfertile.blogspot.com)

What I admire about these bloggers is the level of skill in expressing themselves, even when discussing really hard personal topics. They manage to create an emotional landscape that is rich and fascinating without being self pitying or overly dramatic.

Alrighty - 7 random things about me.
1. I have massive voice range. Bottom A to top E (doesn't sound good but its big)
2. I've read over 1000 plays. When I was a kid I wanted to be an actor or director and would read plays all the time.
3. I can sit on my heels but not touch my toes.
4. I'm funny but can't tell a joke
5. I'm afraid of the dark but need it to sleep!
6. Hopelessly disorganised - I have about five notebooks on the go at any one time and if I put something down I lose it
7. I read people magazine at the hairdresser the other day and didn't one single celeb in there. 

Feckin' update

I called the stroller company (thanks Kathy!) and all is well. It was a break thingy and a roller disk whachyamacallit and now we have a smooth running stroller. Whoop!

I was really worried we would have to buy something or replace something coz you know it would end up costing hundreds of dollars. But - crisis averted.

I haven't bought anything for the kids in ages. It seems to have slowed down. Or maybe its because they have a birthday coming up and I assume we shall get swag from that? My dear friend has given us a great birthday present for the kids - a night in a swanky downtown hotel for the parents! I cannot wait since Mimi is having sleeping problems (this after boasting on HDYDI.com that my kids don't have sleep problems).

I wonder if she has started dreaming? It could also be that we are weaning her off a 9pm bottle. Pip hasn't had the late bottle for ages but she seems to wake up hungry in the night (or that's the only reason I can think of).  Mind you, she doesn't drink the whole bottle so I am just making the shyte up.

Any ideas dear readers?

Did your kids every have a 11 month, 12 month sleep pattern change?

Wobbly Wheels

For fecks sake. I spent more on the stroller than any other piece of monkey business and the feckking thing has a wobble wheel that looks like its going to drop off.

Feck feck feck feckity feck

Reason to be irritated beyond belief
1. the thing is expensive and you 'get what you pay for' apparently so I paid a lot for crapped out wheel mechanism
2. The place we bought from can take our money and run and there is nothing I can do about it
3. See 2
4. I am married to a photographer. If it doesn't take a photo he cannot fix it.
5. I am not handy but will have to attempt to fix it
6. Well, I'm lazy so I just can't have more shyte on my to do list.

I am do lazy I can't be bothered to write any more on the list!

We have a Baby Jogger City Select Double. Any trouble shooting advice more than welcome. From anyone. Even if you don't have a stroller. Or kids.

feckin wobbly wheel is the big one at the back

Drive by posting

Still insanely busy but I wanted to think out loud about something that just happened.

Last night I arrived back from my latest trip to San Francisco.  I was so excited to see the kids I was almost screaming at the plane to fly faster.  Pip and Mimi were engrossed in their Bab/y Einstei.n, sitting in their new chairs,  little feet tapping to the music. As is my usual MO I quickly sit in the rocker and DH picks up the kids and places them on me for a 'double cuddle' or 'maximum mum time'. Oh man, they had just had their bath and had that great baby smell.  I'm usually in seventh heaven at this point but for some reason I became overwhelmed with a profoundly sad sense. I hid my face and the tears fell.

What was that about??

It was such a freaky reaction.

Any ideas? Anyone else had that happen?

DH done good

I am not drunk.

I love my DH. Remember project 'grow the fuck up'? Well, mission accomplished. No really.. accomplished.

He has been working on being a dad and I am amazed at his transformation. He just spent the day looking after the kids and they were fed, bottled, bathed and in bed by 6.30pm. He plays with them and they squeal with laughter. They cry and he soothes them. He got me iced tea coz he knew I'd be hot and bothered by the time I got home. He did the washing, cleaned up the kitchen... well, you get the message.

I am so frikkin proud to stand by his side. I am so very proud.