The Dower Family

Well the helium balloons are popped or deflating, there is a mere sliver of leftover cake and I'm snacking on the last of the party favours.  Yep, the first birthday party is well and truly over. It was fabulous.  A small group of friends and family in a way too small space.  Lots of yellow food colouring.  Screeching children.  Evie freaking out over all of the above.  But seriously, it really was great. I have to give a massive thanks to my two party helpers, Nick and Mum.  It seems that I may have been a little harsh on them in the lead up to the event - it might have been the "if you're here then who is ruling hell" comment that gave it away.  Mind you, they had their moments.  Especially Nick's decision the night before the party to go downstairs for a few hours to make furniture for the dollhouse.  Anyway... The party, in pictures: The cake.  VERY yellow.  I figure this is the last cake Eve will allow me to make that won't need to be sup

Wow, how have twelve months passed since they put your sweet little squishy self on my chest and I instantly fell in love all over again? In keeping with tradition, I just want to share with you, my sweet girl, some of the things that I have loved the most about the last twelve months: - your gorgeous clear blue eyes that are so big you could just fall into them - your freaky little curved up tongue that looks kind of like a lizard - your sticky uppy Mohawk hair that you had for way too long. - that you stick your thumb in your mouth as soon as you are the slightest bit tired. - that you look a bit like me. - that you make this cranky little Marge Simpson kind of sound when you are going to sleep. - that you love to dance any time you hear music or even just a beat. - that your favourite song is Intergalactica by the Beastie Boys.  But you're also partial to a bit of Daft Punk.  Pretty much anything with a bit of robot synth. - that you get this full face squinty smile

Evie bear is nearly one!!!  I can't believe that in just four sleeps she will officially no longer be a baby and will be a big one year old.  It is absolutely crazy. This morning in the car I asked Ol what he remembered about meeting his sister and this (to the best of my memory is what he told me: "Two people did drive me in the car to the hospital. Daddy did take me for a walk around to see all the cool things. I was scared because I didn't want to see the big baby from your tummy.  I thought she was a monster". I'm not sure if he really did think she was a monster but he seems to have a pretty good recall of it all, even if he relegated poor Nanna Carmel & Freddie to "two people". As the beginning of her birthday celebration Pa & Nanna Kaye were the first ones to give her a lovely present.  Eve seemed pretty thrilled with it, even before she opened it.  That crinkly pink tissue paper would have been enough of a gift in itself! Bu

Sleep.  It's one of those things that you don't really give much thought to until you're not getting enough of it. I've always been a pretty big fan of sleep.  Often coupled with a doozy of a hangover I could easily sleep away the first half of the day.  When pregnant with Ollie (& definitely not nursing any hangovers!) I would think nothing of going to bed at 6pm and sleeping all the way through.  But those days are definitely just a distant memory now. Now I'm not going to tell you that my little sweet peas aren't good sleepers.  Because in general they are.  But sometimes the wheels just fall off.  And that my dear readers is what is happening at the moment. But in the spirit of sharing, it is pretty unusual for them both to put me through my paces in the same night.  No, they must have some unspoken roster for which night they want to give me grief.  Or Evie will take the daytime naps and Ol will wake up five times in the night. And they are q

So about that blog last week...  Sorry. It was a pretty yucko week around here.  After months of colds and flus hanging around this joint, the absolute motherload of the flu hit me like a tonne of bricks.  Honestly I cannot remember being so sick in a very long time.  And the thing about being sick when you've got little kids to look after is that they don't care in the slightest that you aren't feeling up to the task.  They still want to be fed, entertained, cuddled and have their four millionth inane question answered. Needless to say I wanted nothing more than to crawl under a rock and sleep for a month.  Thankfully Nick saw the agony I was experiencing (perhaps my sobbing and fevers in the morning before he left for work helped) and was able to come home early on my worst day, allowing me to spend the evening in bed. The timing couldn't have been much worse though with Nick's project at the pointiest end of the stick possible.  Last week saw him working