Easter and page views

Howdy Y'all I'm back again. I hope everyone had a great Easter, I'll get to Miss K's Easter shortly, but first I had to share some randomness with you guys. For anyone of you who have a blog, you'll probably spend a bit of time checking out your stats occasionally to find out exactly how many people you are reaching, and which posts are the most popular. I check mine every day (even though the experts say you really should only check them once a month) just to see where my traffic is coming from. Early on it seemed that most of my audience was comprised of Russian spammers who were only hitting my website in an attempt to get return clicks. For a little while they disappeared, but it seems they have come back today. I don't really mind, as it drives up my traffic, but it's always a bit disappointing to think that my audience didn't even read my awesome writing before moving on to the next target.

Now the thing that surprises me the most about my page views is my most popular post to date appears to be this one giving a list of all of the cutest actors in children's television. It seems that there is at least one other person out there who has a major crush on Gavin Stenhouse, because that is the name that appears the most in the Google search words list. On a slightly different note, Iconicles is back on Aussie television right now, so I get to enjoy watching him on a regular basis again. But it isn't as exciting anymore since I started following him on Twitter, as now I get up to the minute updates on his life any time I log into Twitter, so that's even better.

Now, on to Easter, as that is the real reason why I came on tonight. I made an agreement with Miss K's dad before her birthday that we would spend the whole weekend in Melbourne with his family, in exchange for me getting her to myself on her birthday. This was an ideal arrangement for me as Easter has never been my favorite pseudo holiday anyway, so I didn't mind sharing Miss K for the weekend, and I got to enjoy her birthday alone which was also awesome. So on Saturday Miss K and I hopped onto a train with about a hundred other people (not my first choice of transportation, but both Miss K's dad and nonna's cars crapped themselves last week, so we had no other way of getting to Melbourne.)

My relationship with Miss K's nonna has always been a bit tempestuous. When I was dating Miss K's dad, she and I butted heads on several occasions as she seemed to think I was always too hard on him, whereas I thought he was a lazy selfish no-hoper who was wasting his life away on porn websites. We have continued to butt heads on and off over the past three years, but have called a truce of sorts recently so that she can have a proper relationship with her granddaughter. Of course this means regular trips to Melbourne for Miss K and me, and weekends spent in a tiny house with the man I once refused to marry, and his mother. I try to take a step back when we're there so that Miss K and nonna can spend some quality time together, but this is hard for me, as I seem to be the only person there who thinks that children need boundaries, so I spend a lot of time either making Miss K cry by not letting her break every rule I have set out for her, or watching her nonna undermine all my hard work by letting her get away with everything.

But apart from biting my tongue all weekend, I got to watch Miss K have a lovely time, and here are just some of the photos of our weekend.

This is a real ashtray, not just an empty cigarette package being used as a makeshift ashtray. I had to take a photo, just because I thought it was so cute. 

This is three hours into our first afternoon. All that sitting around on public transport really takes it out of a baby.

This is the most delicious cider I have ever had. I only took this photo so I can remember the name the next time I find myself in the bottle shop, but I don't mind if any of you get there first and buy me a case...

A very blurry photo of Miss K and her dad bowling

Miss K's new Luigi doll that her dad won for her in a claw machine. One thing I can say about Miss K's dad is that he is an expert at winning arcade games.

A traditional Italian Easter cake that nonna made for Miss K. It did have a chocolate egg on the top at one stage, but Miss K got to it before I could take a photo

And sadly that is all the photos I took of the weekend. There was so much more going on, including lots of chocolate being consumed, me sumo wrestling with a 12 year old (and kicking his butt I might add) and a second birthday party for Miss K. Nonna's great nephews stayed with us on Saturday night and were completely charmed by Miss K, to the point that the thirteen year old actually volunteered to watch High 5 with Miss K while I took a break. There was also lots and lots of food, which is standard whenever the Italians get together to celebrate, and I'm certain I gained weight this weekend. 

So that was our Easter. I can't say I enjoyed myself completely, as I did have a very unsettled two year old to deal with, as is the case any time our routine is disrupted, but we're back home now and getting back into normal life nicely. 

I'd love to hear if any of you have any nightmare in-laws that you have to deal with on special occasions, especially if you can give me any coping strategies to help me get through the next visit, which will probably be Nonna's birthday in July.

I'll be back again tomorrow with a new spotlight on mental health, so be sure to come back to hear Becc's story, but until then, as always stay awesome.

The donut cake

Well I have a rare few minutes of peace and quiet right now, as mum and my big sister have taken Miss K out birthday shopping. I really should be doing something like that soon as Miss K's birthday is in 4 days. (4 days? time to panic!)

So what does a mum do when she has a house to herself for an hour? Should I do some laundry? Well I just dumped some dry clothes on top of the wet clothes I forgot to hang out yesterday and restarted the washing machine, does that count? I could do some dishes, I put them in the sink to soak half an hour ago though, so they may need a few more minutes soaking first. I could do the vacuuming, except that Nat borrowed our vacuum cleaner on the weekend and hasn't returned it yet.

Oh well I tried. Guess I'll just stay on the computer and look up donut cakes. What is a donut cake I hear you ask because I'm right behind you!!........... Just kidding.Well a donut cake is a cake made out of donuts. I read about the idea years ago in one of my favourite books - Bet Me by Jenny Cruisie, and I've wanted to try it out ever since. Given that Miss K is one of the biggest donut lovers I have ever met, it seems fitting (for me anyway) to ignore their massive calorie content for one day and make an entire cake out of donuts just for her. (Because I am just that awesome a mum.)

Now the idea behind the donut cake is to make a ring of cinnamon donuts, drizzle them with icing mixture, then stack another smaller ring on top. You continue this till you have a tower of sticky sweet donuts waiting to be consumed.

Image courtesy of http://emmalinebride.com

Doesn't that just look good enough to eat??

Of course you could make it look neater by putting it on a tiered cake plate, if you have one.

Image courtesy of http://www.theknot.com

Or you could throw sanity to the wind and make a massive 18ft wide and 12ft tall cake decorated with donuts.

Image courtesy of http://junkfoodnews.net

Now I personally would love to have this cake sitting in my lounge room on Sunday, but given that this cake took 2 weeks to make and I only have four days, I think I'd be a bit pressed for time. 

So I'll just stick with my tiny tower of donuts for now. The next big question is what do I put on top of the cake. Looks like I need to spend another hour researching that now. Oh well the housework will still be there tomorrow.

Quick catch up

Once again I have left it way too long between blog posts. I'm only posting today to make sure the cobwebs don't have a chance to completely take over my keyboard. And also if I leave it too much longer I won't remember everything I have to share.

As promised a couple of weeks ago, I finally have the photos from Miss K's birthday party last month to share. 

Miss K in her birthday hat

The birthday cake (with the off centre writing)

Miss K seeing her birthday cake for the first time. (She seems to be wondering why the writing is so far to the right of Elmo)

Miss K having a slice of birthday cake. While everyone else was of the general opinion that pound cake is too dry to actually eat, Miss K loved it. At least someone appreciates my cooking.

There are over a hundred other photos of the big day, but they have lots of other people's children in them, and as editing them would take too long, I've decided to be lazy instead and only show you four photos. 

Several other big occasions have happened since Miss K's birthday, the first being she had her very last paediatrician's appointment ever. For those of you who don't know (mainly anyone reading this who isn't related to me, I'm guessing there's about 2 of you) Miss K contracted meningitis at 2 weeks old and nearly died. After spending the first 2 weeks of her life dragging her from doctors office to doctors office trying to get answers then spending the next 3 weeks in hospital watching her attached to drips and beeping machines, we spent the next 11 months taking her to regular appointments with her paediatrician, who wanted to monitor her for a year to make sure there were no long lasting effects from the meningitis. We passed the brain growth hurdle, the developmental milestone hurdle and finally the hearing test hurdle, and last week he told us he is happy enough to stop keeping an eye on Miss K. While having the constant reassurance from a doctor that your child is normal might be a good thing, it is a relief to finally be able to put this whole thing behind us and finally start looking forward.

The other occasion we had was Miss K's second Easter, and her first one out of hospital. Silly me forgot to take photos on the day, and we never got the chance to meet the Easter Bunny as he seemed to be AWOL from our town. I do however have a photo from Miss K's first meeting with the Easter Bunny last year when he kindly visited the children's ward at the hospital we were staying at.

The machine that the nurse is holding is an Apnoea monitor that is supposed to go off if the wearer stops breathing. It doesn't, as I found out twice. But it does go off randomly in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, scaring the crap out of a mum trying to get some well needed sleep. 

Miss K got a tea set for Easter this year instead of chocolates as I still feel guilty letting her have delicious chocolate, and since she already shows an enthusiasm for my coffee cup any time I leave it on the table, I thought she might appreciate having one of her very own that I won't take off her every time she bangs it on the coffee table. The art of drinking from the tea cup seems to be lost on her right now, because hey, who would drink from a cup when you can just listen to the awesome noise it makes when you bash it against other cups or anything else that will sit still long enough.

Miss K is also working on pushing out tooth number five as we speak. It appears to be causing some irritation, but she valiantly pushes on, and refuses to let it stop her exploring (*read getting into everything and driving mum crazy)

Well that is the end of my holiday letter style blog for today. The next time I come back it will be to resume my normal ranting about petty every day things that make me clench my fists in frustration. I'm off to enjoy the twenty minutes of peace and quiet that every nap time brings me. Ah sweet silence.

In the blink of an eye

Ok so I know I've been really slack lately and my last post was almost a month ago, but time flies when you're planning a birthday party. That's right, Miss K has finally hit the 1 year mark as of Saturday. I have no idea how this past year has gone so quickly, but the closer we got to the big day, the faster the days seemed to sped by. Now she has been 1 for a whole two days, and time doesn't seem to be slowing down at all.

We had a special Elmo themed party for Miss K on Saturday, and managed to squeeze 15 of my friends and family into my lounge room for the occasion. The party went really well and Miss K had a wonderful time. I relaxed my food rules for the day so that she could enjoy the party food, and enjoy it she did. She got to eat fairy bread and sausage rolls and chocolate and lemonade, all of which she rarely sees, if at all. She got lots of presents and attention and she relished her moment in the spotlight. She even managed to last for the entire party without needing a nap, obviously not wanting to miss a moment of the action. It was a wonderful day, and worth the weeks of preparation it needed to go off without a hitch. She especially loved her cake, which had Elmo sitting on top of it holding a number 1.

The cake making was an adventure in itself, and further proof, if ever any was needed that I should not be allowed into a kitchen except to make coffee. The cake took 2 days to make, with thanks to my wonderful big sister, who helped me to build and decorate it, and my wonderful little sister who watched the children so that we could focus entirely on the cake for a day. The end result looked fantastic, and there will be photos uploaded as soon as I get them off my big sister who took all the photos which I forgot to do. The kitchen looked like a scene from a B grade horror movie at one stage after a whole bottle of red food dye got spilt, and I managed to throw an entire ball of coloured icing into a sink of dirty dishwater while kneading it (only I would be so clumsy) but the hours of uncertainty and stress paid off at the end of the day as you will soon see.

So my baby girl is now a big 1 year old, and she seems to be growing and changing so quickly. It seems every time I turn around she has learned something new. A lot of the things that have stressed me out over the past 12 months now seem to be insignificant and totally unworthy of having spent so much time worrying over, but I guess that is the job of a new mum, and all I can say is thank heavens it's all behind me.

Now it's time for my play date with Miss K, so I'm off to stop her biting on the balloons left over from the party.