For the Love of Christmas

To say I have been looking forward to this Christmas since New Year's is no exaggeration.
New Year's Eve was the day Eva was discharged to home nursing from the Children's.

I am hungering for this Christmas. I think I need it to heal my heart.
Poor Eva spent her first Christmas in intensive care and while she'll never remember it, it's one I'll never forget for all the wrong reasons. There was a ripple effect. The boys spent Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa and while I'm glad they were surrounded by loving family, I didn't realise how much I missed spending Christmas with them until I updated their baby books and for their 2nd Christmas section it asks, "What did they eat for dinner?" I have no idea. I have no idea what they did all day, let alone what they ate.

The Christmas before (2009) I was very pregnant with Eva, having bouts of regular contractions and generally over everything. I forgot to even take photos of the day.

The Christmas before that (2008) was our last without the boys. Baker Bob spent it in Tassie and I spent Christmas day swollen beyond all recognition and navigating a 24hr urine collection. The days prior and after were spent in Pregnancy Day Care, waiting for the time bomb that was my stomach (or precarious blood pressure) to explode and make something happen.

You would have thought that this would have dampened my enthusiasm for Christmas but it hasn't. I have always been an "I love Christmas" kind of girl but the last few have not only changed my view to that of a mother, it has also made me really understand the true essence of Christmas.

Last Christmas I watched some amazing people save my daughters life. I met people who, despite the fact we were strangers and essentially "a job", took such heartfelt care of my daughter that I wish I could remember all their names and thank them individually. And mostly I saw my daughter fight to come back to us from the brink of something I didn't, and don't, want to contemplate. I saw her emerge almost unscathed. I wondered were she got her strength from, and knew that I would not have her strength if she stayed in that dark place.

I witnessed a Christmas miracle and she lives and laughs in front of me everyday.
For that I will be eternally grateful.

Draft Folder

I have 6 unfinished blogs entries sitting waiting to be finished before they are published.
I am hopeless at the moment....

Lots of stuff to update / bore you guys with, but for now I'm going to go clean the toy room and hopefully I'll have some energy left to finish writing said entries

xox

Rainbow Cake Trend

What I didn't realise when I made this cake a couple of weeks ago, just how popular it was at the moment. Maybe I've set a trend.

Here is a the rainbow cake I made for our friend Noah's 2nd birthday

I only went for pale colours as I was dubious that it would be a success. But next time I think I'll use a little bit more gel colouring and make the colours brighter.

The birthday boy enjoying his cake!

Taboo Confession - #2

I can not boil an egg.
No matter what I do I never get the consistency right. If I try and hard boil it I end up with a runny mess. If I try and soft boil it I end up with an egg that is so over cooked the inner membrane won't come away.

I don't know what I do wrong. I've tried all the different recommended times. I've tried putting the eggs in and bringing them to boil with the water. I've tried lowing them into the boiling water. I've tried cold eggs and room temperture eggs.

This was my attempt yesterday when the boys asked me for "bread and eggs" for lunch. They were quite disgruntled when they couldn't "dip, dip" their bug bread  (Soy and linseed bread!) soldiers in the almost solid yolk and the rock hard egg white.

Does anyone have any foolproof tips?

Taboo Confessions - #1

Sometimes, when I'm short on time or being lazy, I commit a baking taboo.
I make cakes using a packet mix!

Here's my top 3, in no particular order...

White Wings Devine Raspberry Swirl Cake
It's sweet and moist, and not as boring as a normal vanilla cake. (Top layer)

Betty Crocker Decadent Chocolate Mud Cake
This cake is rich and moist and can be a bit much so a little slice is all you really need. Or you could pair it with icecream or cream to cut through the richness. (Bottom layer)

Green's Smooth Lemon Cake
This cake is light with a lovely lemon taste. I like to make this one as a bunt cake and drizzle a sticky, sweet, tangy icing over it.

I hope you now don't think less of me.

The Almost Severed Finger

The Monday before my first Bachelor exam the boys' were up at 6am as per usual. They were lounging in my bed watching Toy Story 3 until DeeDee woke up when I got a call from Baker Bob... "Don't panic, but I'm in hospital. I cut my finger."
After a deep breath I replied, "Oh no. How many stitches?"
"I... I think it's a bit worse than that..."

48hrs later the resulting micro surgery discovered he'd cut through more than 60% of his left index finger. He'd gone through all the nerves, artery and tendon and hit the bone. The tendon had snapped back down into the tissue of the palm of his hand so the surgeon had to open up his palm to get it out to reattach it.

Much to Baker Bob's excitement he woke up, after they injected the area with local anesthetic, and was able to test his tendon while his finger was still open. So, excluding his palm stitches, the zig zag opening down his finger has a total of 30 stitches.

So he left hospital Tuesday night bandaged to the elbow and is now in long term physiotherapy and has a special plastic moulded cast.

He's struggling with doing a lot of things for himself (you'd be surprised how often you need both hands for a task) and he needs help with his physiotherapy maintenance. After two weeks, this is what his finger looks like.... (look away if you're squeamish).



Needless to say that very little blogging has been getting done!!