One-Year-Old Boy

Natey's birthday was at the end of April.  His brother and sister were very excited for him.  The Bairn spent a lot of time thinking about possible cakes for him and woke up early for days before the birthday, because he was so excited about the day.  He (The Bairn) was disappointed that there were no decorations on the actual birthday and when I told him I had streamers if he wanted to put them up, he said, "Yes, let's put a streamer outside the house that says: The [Family] house - it's run down but, still, it's home."

On the big day, we took the whole family, including Grammie and Papa, to the children's museum in Halifax and, then, my favorite part, we grabbed lunch at the big seaport farmers market just down the road.  The Bairn ate a giant pretzel, so we spent the next two weeks fashioning giant pretzels at home. ( Ellen was insistent on making teeny tiny pretzels and also making large, strangely shaped creations with her dough.)

I made a sad-looking bunny cake and we fed the birthday boy his favorite meal: spaghetti and peas.

Little Natey is so small and cute.  He kisses on request but generally turns his head away when the other kids try to kiss him.  He loves to 'beep' our noses  while triumphantly announcing, "Bup!  Bup!"  He's recently figured out how to climb up on the kids' chairs, but he can't get down, so I often finding him standing on a chair in the middle of The Bairn's room hollering.  He is a master mess maker and also excellent at snuggling.  We love to hear his little feet pattering around the house.

A 5-Year-Old Boy

The Bairn turned five last week.  We didn't invite any children to his party, but his friend Sam made him a birthday card and the little girls who live behind us showed up at the door with a card for him also.  We took cupcakes to his preschool class (my 'helpers' just about sent me over the edge making those cupcakes) and then we had a family party with crepes (The Bairn's favorite food) and homemade ice cream cake (which was fairly gross but met the birthday boy's specifications).

Eating a leftover cupcake from preschool.

We attempted to visit the wave pool for our family birthday trip, but there was an incident before we arrived so it was closed down for cleaning and we visited the natural history museum instead and then let The Bairn eat chicken fingers and naan at an Indian restaurant in Halifax.

Reading at Grandma's house over Christmas break.

At five-years-old The Bairn is very interested in the world.  He spends a good chunk of his days discussing ghost ships and unsolved mysteries (he has solutions for the Bermuda Triangle and Stonehenge).  We're currently reading an adult book together about the Mary Celeste mystery.  He loves reading books about Lego constructions and building little cars with his actual Lego bricks.  He plays with Hot Wheels and Transformers.  He's very interested in helping me cook.  He loves playing with Natey but I have to spend a lot of time asking him to stop picking up his brother.  He wants to keep the Sabbath 'unholy,' he tells me.  He cannot get enough snuggles and tickles.  Sometimes he says to me, 'Mom, could you snuggle me?  My snuggle bank is really low.'  He explained to me recently that all the snuggles I give him during the day slip out of the snuggle bank at night, so he needs to cuddle a lot every day.  He's very recently started calling me mother, which he pronounces mudder.  So I hear a lot of Oh, Mudder!  He would like to live on candy.  He is a sweetheart.

Snuggling a brother.

Three Years Old

Ellen's birthday was yesterday.  She's three.  She's screamy.  She's worried about sock fuzz.  She loves to swing.  She insists on holding my hand to walk up or down the stairs.  She calls herself Superkitty.  She likes to jump.  If we ride in an elevator, it's her favorite part of the day.  She's grateful for trees ('they sway').

We went to a corn maze/fun farm for her birthday.  It was cold and she was scared of all the bouncy pillows and play structures when she saw them up close.  She did agree to look at the animals in the petting zoo.

And she asked to take her picture in this pumpkin sizer.

She's still not quite potty-trained.

She requested a kitty cake and a tree cake.  Cake decorating is not one of my skills.

Natey ate green beans instead of cake.

This is from today but it shows pretty well how E feels about her brother.

We love our little E.

Four Years Old

The Bairn turned four on Tuesday.  As is traditional, I gave him a truly awful haircut for his birthday and a super low-key party.  The Bairn has a couple of friends whose birthday parties he attends.  There are bouncy castles and party favors and one million presents involved in these parties.  I'm always worried that The Bairn will compare these parties to his own and feel let down by what Steve and I offer him, but so far, the small parties we have are still enough to send him into a frenzy of celebration.  This year Steve's parents and aunt joined us for a crepes (The Bairn's favorite food) and an ice cream cake that I'm mostly getting to finish off all by myself because everyone else seems to have forgotten it down in the deep freeze.

The mint chocolate ice cream cake I made The Bairn.  Ellen was indignant that she didn't get to blow out the candles.

I'm not sure what Ellen is doing here but she's got some pretty crazy hair going on.

At four-years-old The Bairn

• loves to snuggle.
• enjoys all things involving wheels.
• has learned to make his own bed, takes his dishes to the sink, and has finally given up a sippy cup.
• keeps a pile of coins in a shoe on his bedside table (he made his first thrilling purchase with birthday money from my parents this week).
• is deeply interested in male anatomy.
• still naps (hallelujah!).
• adores anything silly.

Father's Day For My Spouse

The Bairn and I talked about Father's Day early this year.  It was on my mind.  We would serve Steve's favorite meal.  We would make festive hats.  The Bairn suggested that we purchase Steve a gummy candy shaped like a snowblower, because I guess that combines two things that The Bairn associates with his dad.

Yesterday I woke up feeling sick and a few hours later Steve was also ill (though in a much more melodramatic man cold kind of way).  The family meal was postponed.  I had no energy to make hats.  I didn't even remember to have the kids write in Steve's Father's Day book that we use every year.

Today we feel better, but still a little fragile.  We made homemade macaroni and cheese and ate it on the couch while the kids slept and then watched Lady and the Tramp with constant Bairn commentary after naps.  It was kind of perfect, actually.  Comfortable and low-key.  I'm glad to be married to someone who's happy with that kind of celebration.  Who spent the week helping me clean up sick kids and is currently snuggling Ellen down to sleep.  He is a good dad.  Happy Father's Day to him.

37: Mistakes Were Made

Friday was my 37th birthday.

I should not have spent the morning trying to clean the house.

I should not have volunteered to bake my own cake.

I should have checked to see that there was enough paint left to paint the dining room before requesting the painting of that room as my gift.  (That one painted wall looks fabulous, though.)

I cheered myself up by blowing up balloons for the kids.  They went wild and insisted on decorating The Bairn's room and our dining room chairs with them.

The Bairn looks like a beaver who attends special school here.

And we made hats.  The Bairn was very serious about gluing his together and wearing it all through dinner.

Ellen's got a bit mangled, but she still wore it until the end of (mediocre) cake.

Steve really makes better cake than I do.  I'm more of a pie baker, so yesterday I made this really delicious rhubarb pie and pretended it was my birthday again.  A better birthday.

Five Years

Is it too late to say that Steve and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary two weeks ago?  And Steve's dad came and babysat?  And we went to get the oil changed in the car because we are extra romantic?  Except then we went to Halifax to eat really, really good Vietnamese food and see a play (but first we stopped to check the price of 50 lb bags of oatmeal), so it was actually a very nice celebration.  I can't remember the last time I've been out so late, and I felt strange without being accessorized by babies.  Today when I went to the post office to pick up a package, The Bairn's lip trembled when I told him I was going without him, because he and Ellen and I like to do absolutely everything together, preferably with both of them clinging to me and pulling my hair the whole time, but Steve's Dad knows the trick of all the very best babysitters and he brought a whole stack of movies for The Bairn to watch, so I don't think I was missed at all that night.

My Bigsy Girl

When Ellen was born, the nurses handed her to me (after pumping her full of oxygen) and she seemed entirely familiar.  I looked at her and thought, "Well there's my Baby E." 

Today she turned one.  

She gives the best kisses.  Actual kisses with a satisfying mmmm-wah sound effect to accompany each one. 

She climbs like a monkey. 

She's sweet and gentle. 

We love her dearly.  Today in the car The Bairn was watching her sleep and said to me, "She's so cute.  Can I hug and kiss her?"

Yesterday we celebrated her birthday with Steve's parents and aunt, two little children close to my kids' ages, and the children's mothers.  Ellen enjoyed a pumpkin roll.

Now, right this moment, she is enjoying some jet-lagged staying awake past her bedtime.  Again.  I will forgive her because it is her special day.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl.

Four Years

Steve and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on Thursday by enjoying a corned beef lunch in town and getting the kids' car seats adjusted (as all romantic couples do).  Saturday we went on a family date to the children's science museum in Halifax and, as per The Bairn's request, to look at the temple.  When Steve asked The Bairn what we he was planning to do at the temple, The Bairn immediately answered, "Get married."  As we were driving there, he sang a little song that went something like, "Going to the temple to get married . . . or something."

We took the ferry from Dartmouth over to Halifax, because we thought The Bairn would like it.  He did.

Two Years

The Bairn is 2-years-old today.

Several weeks ago he picked up (snatched) a pamphlet for the Museum of Industry at our local market and decided he wanted to visit for his birthday.  We took him on Friday and he loved it.  Here he is being amazed at a little train running on a track overhead while he stands in a wooden children's train.  That night in his prayers he was grateful for "little trains that go chugga choo."

Today we had cupcakes after half an hour of throwing fits.  You can see a little tear still on his cheek here.  Sundays are rough.

Then I took some weird photos of him.  (No, the kitchen hasn't been painted yet and, yes, there is a big white spot on the wall where the previous owners painted around the calendar hanging there.)

Some of the photos make him look like he goes to special school.

Happy Birthday, Little Boy!

One Year Older (and wiser too)

Friday was Steve's birthday.  I spent all day making him a Black Forest cake.  It would not have taken all day except that I had to make the chocolate sponge twice (immediately after which I threw away our defective springform pan), I had to run to the store to buy more cream, and I couldn't open the jar of cherries.  After 30 minutes of struggling with the jar, I seriously considered using a hammer to open the cherries, but I thought the taste of broken glass in the filling might adversely affect the taste of the cake.

The Bairn spent all day wandering around practising his birthday greeting for Daddy--Happy 'Day!  When Daddy actually arrived home, though, I was in the process of boiling water for some much-anticipated noodles and when asked what he had to say to Daddy, The Bairn would only answer, Noodles.  Noooooodles, as he attempted to rip the bag of noodles open with his teeth.

AND Steve still had lots of work to do when he got home, so we ate dinner, sang Happy Birthday, blew out candles, and then Steve had to run off to write a report, and The Bairn and I ate cake without him. 

The Bairn is a big fan of birthdays.  This morning when he woke up, he told me, Happy 'Day.  Eat cake.  So we did.

Steve hamming it up for the photo

I Think That This Is Middle Age

Yesterday was my birthday.  When I came downstairs in the morning, there was a present sitting on the baby gate purporting to be from the Bairn.  I find this claim highly suspicious since The Bairn is not allowed to have money as it is a choking hazard.

Steve baked an Italian cream cake and made Thai pork lettuce wraps for dinner.  The Bairn was a big fan of both, adding Thai pork to my list of Foods I Did Not Expect My Child to Like, which also includes grits and barbecue sauce straight from the jar.

Here he is planning to help himself to a little cake for breakfast.  There was no cake for him today, but I had a slice for every meal.  Happy Birthday to me.

Celebrating the Season

It's almost the end of maple sugar season in Nova Scotia, so Saturday we drove up the mountain to the annual Maple Sugar Festival.  It's held in a one-room schoolhouse maintained by the community for local events and consists of a pancake supper with baked beans and sausages and live music.  The Bairn sat at the end of our long stretch of table, eating pancakes and delighting the elderly folks who interpreted his sign for 'drink' (which really meant, in this case, 'Mama, please give me another styrofoam cup to shred') as waves to all of them.  I ate approximately 1,000,000 (or maybe 4) desserts because they kept bringing out new plates of them for our table and I would think, 'Oooh, that lemon bar thing looks delicious' (it was not) or 'I must really try a Nanaimo bar actually made in Canada.'

I boiled Easter eggs to color over the weekend but then we never got around to dying them and turned them into egg salad sandwiches without any decorating. 

I have a cold and it's -2 degrees outside and we had a snowstorm this week, even though it is Aaaaapril.

Happy Anniversary to Me

Today is our wedding anniversary.

In three years, we have lived in 3 homes (and a holiday cottage), owned 3 cars, visited 4 countries, and acquired 1 baby.  I considered returning the baby today after he put my shoes in the oven drawer, pulled the tablecloth (and all items on top of it) off the table, and spent the entire day turning all of his kisses into bites.  Fortunately, Steve came home just in time and instead of listing The Bairn on eBay, we all ate the last piece of groom's cake from our wedding, which has been preserved in our freezer all this time.

Graduation from Baby to Toddler

I discovered I was pregnant with The Bairn because I was having abdominal pain that I thought could be appendicitis. When I performed my due diligence and consulted a medical expert (the Internet) about appendix pain, I realized that my appendix was on the other side of my abdomen, but the Internet suggested that I might have an ectopic pregnancy, so I took a pregnancy test. Then I called Steve, who was away in Aberdeen, to tell him I was pregnant but not to get too invested because I thought there might be a problem. In retrospect, that may not have been the best way to announce his impending fatherhood to him.

Because the National Health Service agreed that an ectopic pregnancy was a possibility, we spent a Saturday at the hospital maternity ward and had a very early ultrasound.  The Bairn didn't even have a visible heartbeat yet.  He appeared as a tiny circle on the ultrasound and as soon as I saw that little circle, I loved him and hoped the best for him.

Of course, he was fine.

And he's become a funny, romping boy, who celebrated his first birthday on Saturday

with cake,

delicious cake,

and aunts and uncles,

Uncle Doug turns 100 this year

three of Steve's uncles,

who were willing to share their cake with the little beggar.

Happy Birthday, Bairn!

How to Make a Pie Entirely for Yourself on Someone Else's Birthday

While Steve and I were housesitting for our friend Becky over Christmas, we watched Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives every night and longed for restaurant foods other than curries and fish and chips (we were a wee bit burned out on Scottish fare).  One night we saw a blueberry goat cheese pie featured and I determined that as soon as wild blueberries were in season (in 8 months), I would make it and love it.

Blueberry season coincides with Steve's birthday, so I baked this last week for his special day.  I did not ask him how he felt about goat cheese before making it.  Turns out he's not as big a fan as I am.  He wasn't really loving his birthday treat.  He kept assuring me that he didn't "not like it." 

Fortunately, I thought it was super tasty and after my brother tasted it, he broke out into a happy pie dance in the kitchen.  Mixed reviews.


Blueberry Goat Cheese Pie 
(adapted from Food Network recipe via 3 Sisters Cafe)

Ingredients

Filling

• 1/2 cup soft goat cheese
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• Pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
• 5 cups fresh blueberries

Topping

• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup melted butter

Mix all filling ingredients except blueberries together.  Add blueberries.  Pour into prepared pie crust.  Mix topping ingredients together and spread over pie filling.  Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes and allow to cool.

The Giving of Gifts

Steve and I have a difference of opinion about gifts.

Last week when Steve was wondering aloud what he should get me for my birthday, I wrote up the following list of gifts he could feel free to offer me at any time.

• theater tickets or dinner out and babysitting arrangements
• the new Dar Williams CD
• a cake stand
• a mop--and then sweep/dust/mop all the floors all month
• a couple of new spiral-bound notebooks
• a magazine subscription
• a selection of fancy groceries to make salads
• a sewing mat
• take The Bairn on a long walk so I can read/do yoga; bring back a delicious food snack 

I knew when I made the list there was no way he would actually give me the groceries or the notebooks or the mop, but they are all things I want for my own pleasure and, consequently, good gifts.

When Steve presented me with my gift, he noted that he had not purchased a mop because felt that that would pretty much be the most oppressive gift possible to give a stay-at-home mother (and Steve worries a lot about my level of oppression).

Too bad.  I need a mop.

In addition to giving me a gift, Steve made this German chocolate cake (my b-day cake of choice) for my birthday, which took, no word of a lie, FIVE hours to make.  Steve researched and the Internet promises that it is the best German chocolate cake going.  It is very good.  I like to eat it straight off my new cake stand with a fork while Steve's at work.

Of course I'm watching the Royal Wedding

I don't know any Scots who are planning to watch the Royal Wedding.  It was noted on the radio that while there are a number of street parties planned in England and Wales tomorrow, there will only be 20 in all of Scotland.  There are other forms of wedding celebration planned, though.  I talked to a 4-year-old this morning who informed me that they're having a special wedding party at her nursery school today.  She's wearing a pink dress and a crown and she thinks that maybe the party is happening because Princess Katie (she had to think for a long time before coming up with that name) is getting married.  She advised her 3-year-old brother that he would have to be the prince, which made him stomp his feet and declare that he was a pirate, not a prince.  Steve and I are having our own wee 2-person party tomorrow.  We're eating celebratory food (chips and salsa) and parking ourselves in front of our computer and maybe sprinkling some of this commemorative sugar over something as it's been our only Royal Wedding-themed purchase.

Happy Steve Birthday

People always think I'm younger than I am. When I was traveling last year, middle-aged men kept asking me what I was studying in school and friends at church always express surprise when they discover my age. Even Steve thought I was probably too young for him when we met. I'm actually two months older than he is. Yesterday was his birthday, so now we're both 32 and I can stop telling him to grasp the halcyon days of 31 and promising him that he'll be so much wiser at 32 (like I am).

We celebrated at his aunt and uncle's house with the Theresa cake slathered in the best and easiest frosting (cream cheese + marshmallow fluff) and wild blueberries.

Steve assumes the position for candle blowing out.

The cake is better today than it was yesterday.

Happy Birthday to the Steve.

Birthday 2 of 3 This Week

I forgot to take my camera to Madame M(5)'s birthday party tonight. It's fine, though, because you can just refer back to the photos from my party to get the feel of the evening. The sushi was the same (M(5) wanted what she considered a Chinese party with sushi and egg rolls and M(5) floating about in my sister's silky blue robe, which looks like a kimono if you have a very active imagination) and Tuey's signature dipping style was the same and the little children pumped up on sugar and the thrill of an event was the same. So just picture all of that again and then add a very large cake in the shape of a purple pony head with a flowing red (fruit leather) mane and milk dud nostrils and imagine the marmots and some little neighbors kids whacking a pony pinata in the living room and try to conjure up the image of Tuey enraptured by "pilly pocket" furniture and guarding it very fiercely from his siblings and throw in Marmot Babe wandering around clapping his hands and trying to eat teeny tiny doll shoes and you'll have a fairly clear idea of our evening.