TEETH!!!!!!

Ooh, my much neglected blog. How I have missed you! Uni work has been taking up soooooo much of my time (why set two essays due a week apart?), but happily, I got 16.5/20 for my first assignment. I was very chuffed about that, especially since I graduated 10 years ago this year, and it's a new discipline. Exams, on the other hand, are going to be a totally new experience. I managed to avoid them entirely for the three years of my degree, but now I have no choice.

Austin is cutting some teeth! Yippee! I thought I would have to have him fitted for some infant dentures soon. His two bottom ones are peeking through. I had my suspicions on Saturday when he managed to make his little gum bleed while he was having a drink, that would only happen if there was something hard trying to break it's way through. Sure enough, I was doing my daily dental check on him and there were those little lines on his gums.

He is cutting them like a dream, I can't attribute any typical 'teething' behaviour to them. Of course, the hacking cough that is part and parcel of his bronchitis pretty much negates everything else. Poor little soul, Bowen shared his chest infection with him, and he's not coping well with it. The carpet in his bedroom wore the contents of his tummy the other night, his evening feed, spag bol and beetroot (that won't stain the carpet, nooo) went everywhere. Mixed in with it all was so much phlegm that can't go anywhere but sit in his tummy. I feel so bad for him, but I can't do much to help him. He's been sleeping through a bit lately (the other night he went to sleep after a rough start at 8pm, and slept through until 8 the next morning!) now the weather is getting cooler.

School holidays are coming to a close, and we are going to attempt a McDonald's play session again today (I haven't ventured back alone since my last disaster). The boys are fighting like cats and dogs, with Riordan just in a terrible mood all the time. Everything is wrong, he always wants his own way and he can't always have it that way!

What's cooking?

This is fast becoming my baking blog!

No more breast milk baking (although I did make some pikelets with some boob juice I had left over), this time it's all about leftovers.

I made a chocolate cake yesterday, a low-fat recipe that is cooked in the microwave (a trend that should never have gone away, I might have to search for a few more microwave cakes). It uses two egg whites, which leaves the question, what do you do with the yolks? Custard, of course!

I couldn't find a recipe for custard from scratch, but I knew roughly what to do, having made it a long, long time ago for a very unappreciative Riordan. I whisked up the yolks with some sugar and vanilla, added milk and heated it all up. So far, so good. I thought it needed a bit more substance, even though it was thickening up nicely. In went some couscous for a lovely, creamy, vanilla-y pudding! Austin thought it was quite delectable, and there is some scrummy left overs for tonight.

The big people had some honey mustard chicken with rice for dinner, and I purposely cooked too much rice so I could make something, anything, for Austin with it. It needed to be firm enough for him to pick up and feed himself (we're still doing baby-led solids for the most part), so I thought some rice balls, loosely based on arancini . Once again, my recipe books failed me, so I had to wing it. In went some grated carrot, an egg, some ricotta, a little plain flour, a tiny bit of onion and some kidney beans (Austi's newest craze). I rolled them in bread crumbs, sprayed with a little olive oil and baked them until they were firm. I then made him a simple tomato sauce with just a tin of tomatoes, some onion, more kidney beans and a touch of sugar to take away the acidity, and then blitzed it all up and cooked it until it was nice and thick. Austin thought it was divine, and hoovered up three balls the size of his fist. Not the tidiest meal, there was tomato everywhere, but he loved it and it is expanding his palate.

Next on the cooking list is going to be some polenta.

Baby Masterchef, now that's an idea for a TV show!

Boobie Cake

I've gone and done a couple of things that I never thought I would.

First, I made a cake with breastmilk! I was talking about doing with my friend, Romana, not quite seriously, then I had a bit of a Google and found actual recipes with breastmilk as an ingredient in baking! I ended up just doing a recipe from the NMAA cookbook for a simple orange cake, and substituted the regular milk with boob juice. I haven't made the cake before, so I don't know what it's like with cow's milk, but it's OK with breastmilk.

I really thought it would be some magic ingredient that would turn an ordinary recipe into something truly special, but it's more like using skim milk. It doesn't taste any different, as far as I can tell, but maybe it will have special powers or something and never go off?

I feel really subversive doing it. The boys think that any cake is great, especially one with icing, but Darren doesn't really like cake so he's not going to give it a second glance. Oh well, more goodness for me!

My next milky recipe will be some savoury pikelets for Austin, he always appreciates my cooking.

****

I did something last night I thought I never would. I became a 'joiner'. I am now on the Parent Committee at Bowen's preschool. I just felt so sorry for them, the meeting had already been cancelled once due to lack of interest, and it's not that much work. It's only a tiny preschool, but it's one that I plan on sending all the boys to, and I'll get to meet some other mums and get involved a bit more.

As it's Darren's nightshift week, I had to take the three boys with me last night. I thought there would be other kids, but they were the only ones! They had a great time playing with Miss Bev for two hours, although I felt very guilty for making her come just for us.

Samantha Pearce: Full-time mother, part-time student, casual worker. Exhausted.

All about Austin

My gorgeous baby boy just keeps on getting cuter. He has these big blue eyes that I just want to dive into, and a happy, open face that conveys all his emotions. He just makes my boobies leak!

Austin is going really well at the moment. He is doing his own version of crawling, there's not much leg involvement, he kind of pulls himself along with his arms. Occasionally he'll get up on his knees, but he gets where he wants to go, fast, usually his froggy-style, and he's not changing in a hurry! He's also started trying to pull himself up on the stairs. He'll put his arms on the bottom step, straighten his legs and then... not much. He'll hover there while he tries to work out what to do next, and usually just tumbles over. He loves to sit and play with his toys, and can from sitting to crawling, although I am yet to witness that. I turn around and his shuffling away!

He's a fruit maniac. I've persisted with the Baby Led Solids, for all the mess that it entails. His favourite foods are fruit, but I can spread anything on a cruskit and he'll munch the whole thing down. He has a great pincher grip, I cut up grapes into quarters and you can hardly see his hands moving as he shoves them all into his face! Austin is still a boob maniac, having about 5 feeds a day. He's very easily distracted, which means I can't watch TV, or read while I am feeding him. He demands total attention, typical male.

Sleep is improving. He's got a cold at the moment, with copious amounts of snot, so he's upped his feeds a little, but on the whole he's only getting up once a night, around 4am. It's a big change, although I am very sick of going up the stairs in the middle of the night! Going into his own room as made the world of difference, it's noisy and I play music, and the background noise helps immensely.

With a baby this cute, how can not think about having another?

Hysterical Pregnancy!

Riordan and I were having a muck around this morning, and I thought he looked exceptionally delightful, and the light was just lovely, so I grabbed the camera. He acquiesced, surprisingly, and I got some gorgeous shots of him.

This is classic Riordy-grumpy face. The furrowed brow, ready to launch into protest.

Peek-a-boo! I love this one, it really captures the motion.

This is my heart-breaker. Check out that dimple. I could just eat him up!

*****

As the title suggests, I'm having a phantom pregnancy. Every symptom that usually indicates that I am with child is present.

Hyper-salivation? Check.

Constant nausea? Check.

Headaches? Check.

Extreme tiredness? Check.

Sleeplessness, despite the above? Check.

Irritability? Well, that never changes!

I'm not pregnant. I don't want to be right now, and it's not physically possible. Austin feeds around the clock and my body doesn't work like that. It likes to just take care of one baby at a time. I've peeed on a stick, reluctantly. I really didn't appreciate having to buy a test at the supermarket, being so used to my internet cheapies! I had to just reassure myself. There was DEFINITELY only one line there.

The nausea has been around since last Thursday. I had a hit of gastro at the same time, and also started a new medication. If it doesn't go away by this Thursday I will go back to the GP, but in the meantime I'll suffer through all these annoying symptoms with no bundle of joy at the end! I'll have to smother them in chocolate instead.

More Wedding piccies

Here is my gorgeous big boy, resplendent in his tie-printed t-shirt that Auntie Carrie insisted he have!

I had some leakage issues. Actually, it wasn't so much leakage as overspray. My forceful letdown still freaks Austin out sometimes, and he likes to get a breather. I mostly wear what he doesn't drink!

Two of my boys. Darren looks like he has had a few too many already! He did a great job keeping Austin fed and watered, the floor looked like a tip from discarded food at the end of the night, but our baby boy was happy.

Seriously, what's the point of having such a gorgeous dress if you can't pull a good pose?

I'm going to raid my mum's camera today and see if she's got any good shots, I can't wait to see the official photographer's pictures!

Leaving home

The big news this week at the Pearce household is that Austin has moved out. That's right, the 'parents retreat' that he has inhabited since we moved in has been vacated, and he's now happily ensconced in the 4th bedroom.

Austin's sleep has never been particularly good, co-sleeping and constant feeding through the night was very draining for me, and I don't think gave him enough quality sleep. Our stay at Tresillian helped us immensely, but it still seemed like something was missing. Young Austin liked to wake every three hours or so for a feed (and that was an improvement!) and resettling was impossible without disturbing Darren, who has to get up every morning before 6am to climb in the engines of big machines.

It was with a heavy heart that I dismantled the cot last Sunday, I think I could do it in my sleep now, so many times I have moved it or reconfigured it, and trekked up stairs to set it up. Austin's new room is the smallest in the house, but as the smallest person it's a good fit! Since he has been up there, his night waking has gone down to only twice a night, generally a midnight feed and an late, early morning one (if you know what I mean!). I can handle that, I would prefer him to sleep through, of course!

I think that we will have to be at the stage of Baby Led Solids where he is actually eating food, rather than tasting and spitting out, before he will jump to that next stage of sleep. I have no regrets about trying this method of weaning out on him (my little experiment) but it means that the bulk of his calories still comes from breastmilk, and I truly believe that he needs that nourishment at least once a night.

My little koala bear (constantly on Mummy's hip) will have to do without me this weekend, it's the Corinthian Girl's Weekend! This year, probably the last for the company, and definitely the last for me, is at Ettalong Beach, and while the budget is less this year, it's even BYO, it still is a nice, relaxing break from the cooking and cleaning, with only myself to worry about for a change. I still have to express more milk for Austin, I've left it a bit late, but he should have enough to avoid using the dreaded formula. I have vowed that no artificial baby milk will pass my son's lips!

The Wedding

It was such a huge day, I can't believe I haven't written about it earlier!

My baby sister was married last Saturday, nine years after her and Joe got together. I met Darren, got married and had three kids while I was waiting to be a bridesmaid!

The day started early with hair

to be continued...