Saturday 2 April 2011

Birthday, swaps and life in general :-)


Well it has been a bit of a manic week here in the Sweetpea household with yet another birthday!  Our family birthdays all seem to have clumped together with March having my birthday, my Mums exactly 1 week later and then my daughters exactly a week after my Mums :-)

The week started off wonderfully with me having Sunday off work due to the clocks going forward.  I love going to work but having the day off gave me the opportunity to go to a car boot with my mate Bear's Footprints.  By the time I got out of bed at about 10am (9am old time) she has already texted an hour earlier to see if I wanted to go - mad woman :-)  I will show you my treasure on a later blog.

Monday however it went downhill a little when I got some sort of bug which made me feel very tired and sick indeed.  I managed to lay down for about 1 hour before the school pick up but that was it so I have been battling it all week really.  For the rest of the week I ached all down my legs - so much so that I wondered if I had done a marathon in my sleep.   Not great timing as I had to prepare to the party queen's birthday party.

She wanted a monkey cake originally but thankfully she saw a chocolate one in a shop so requested one of those instead.  So I started baking and made her a chocolate one with cream and jam filling - scrum.  We decided little mini eggs and chocolate curls would set it off nicely.  The curls were made by popping a chocy bar in the microwave for a few seconds and then using a potatoe peeler to peel little bits off the chocolate.


We prepared the dining room with decorations and her party food .... (this photo is to prove to Bear's Footprints that sometimes my house can be tidy lol - she popped over the other day to find buttons and felt all over the table!).


Middle Sweetpea usually has an Easter egg hunt for her birthday but as the weather forecast wasn't too good I set about making her a Pinata.  Not sure why I did this when feeling ill but it didn't work out too badly - you can see it in the top photo.  I will have to post a tutorial of how to do this for you all soon as it was quite easy.


Middle Sweetpea thought it made a fantastic hat after it fell down - she looked like Jamiroquai :-)


The girls had a fantastic time and played happily together.  After the Pinata and food they decorated cupcakes and had fun creating wonderful colourful art on them.  Instead of party bags which I am trying to move away from for eco reasons I made up their decorated cupcakes in tissue paper bags to take home.



My gorgeous little middle Sweetpea is now a whole 9 years old!  I still remember the day I had her, she took twice as long as her brother to arrive, so much so I insisted my waters were broken as I was getting bored of waiting for her (it was only 8 hours but felt a lot longer :-)).  I remember at one point in labour sitting on a bouncy ball to try and help ease the pain when having a contraction but then I got really angry with the ball and I kicked this large ball across the room, it then ricocheted off the walls and Mr Sweetpea and I had to miss it lol!   I also electrocuted myself on the tense machine - that made me forget about another contraction lol.   She arrived exactly on her due date and appeared at around 2 pm, when I took her to look out of the window the next morning little baby bunnies were hoping around on the grass.

She was quite a vocal little one from the moment she arrived - I remember wanting a bath whilst in hospital and I couldn't fit her cot in the bathroom so I popped her in the nursery next to a couple of other babies, she was fed and changed but she having a little moan.  I lay in the bath listening to her calling me and when I returned after a super speedy bath she was still there but the other babies had been taken out to somewhere more quiet :-)

Oh how I love my headstrong, full on, no fear Sweetpea.  She is so caring and thoughtful and will become a wonderful adult I am sure.

Swaps

I recently took part in my first ever organised swap which was the Spring Swap.  I was paired with the lovely Kathy from Postcards from the PP who sent me the most fantastic parcel!  Just take a look at the gorgeous packages below wrapped in ribbon and tissue paper - she thoroughly spoilt me.


And just look at the goodies inside:


There were candles, ribbons, a cute owl, a wonderful chicken tea towel, some gorgeous napkins and cards and some lovely flower seeds.  There was also a cute sheep cancer research badge and some card crafing items.

This is what I sent Kathy, now I wish I had sent more than the 5 items listed on the swap - you live and learn!


A hand made lavendar pillow with beaded lavendar cross stitch.


An egg masher, I have one of these and it makes me smile each time I use it :-)  Some chocy eggs - you can never have too much chocy.


I little notebook with a gorgeous bird print on it and some ribbons and buttons.


Here is the inside of that cute pad, it keeps shut with a magnet and then opens to reveal more gorgeous bird drawings....

Lack of Sleep

Mr SweetpeaSweetpea still won't sleep through a night.  We had a weeks worth of sleep the other week but she is back to her old tricks :-(  I even had to go in her bed one night this week for poor middle Sweetpeas sake.

I must confess I am now thinking of asking for outside help as I think I am now reaching my sleep deprivation limits after just over 3 1/2 years of broken sleep.  It doesn't help that Mr Sweetpea was on earlies this week, that seems to tip me over the edge a bit.    I just want me back, the old me with a bit of confidence and a lot more energy :-(   I popped out to the pub with friends the other night and had to really physic myself up for it, I felt quite sick with worry about going but I got there and had a fab time.  I know that this is due to lack of sleep and when I do get normal amounts of sleep I do have to battle the shy inner me a bit but not to that extent :-(  Here's to more sleep!

19 comments:

  1. Your parcel was lovely .... I especially love the notebook. It's gorgeous!
    And your lavender sachet was lovely too ... reminds me of France!
    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh wowza your just like my family 3 birthdays in march!! expensive month...wow!!! your lovely sweet pea what a sweetie and i love her cakey!
    what a fantastic job you made of it ;0)x
    happy birthdays all round xxxx
    love all the swapsie lovelies...hope your over your bug now...ive been so heady, chesty and zombiefied this week, felt dreadful, but today i see the light and feel more human xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. March is a busy month for me also, 4 family birthdays, this includes Dylan and Lucie, then Isla- Rose is the 1st of April. Thank you for the questions, I have written them out once, but I didn't sound very interesting. I will try again and get these back to you.
    Have a great weekend. xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Do hope that good sleep is just around the corner. Is there ever an opportunity for a little daytime snooze here and there? Take care...and happy birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Heres to lots more sleep for you in the near future! I constantly walk around with huge dark circles under my eyes, but that is self inflicted...too many late nights for me. I wonder why Little Sweetpea has so much trouble sleeping?
    Love all your swap goodies...both sent and received.
    Happy happy birthday to all concerned...March is a busy birthday month around here too :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hope you're over your bug now, I've had it too. I started out thinking I was coming down with flu as I was so achey but it turned out to be a stomach bug. The chocolate birthday cake looks delicious, I could just eat a piece of that. I've never taken part in a swap, the goodies sent and received are lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lots of birthdays all together, sounds like a busy time x Looks like it all went well, love the pinata.

    I hope you do seek outside help for your lack of sleep/little sweetpea. Not sleeping is such a strain :( xxx

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a clutch of birthdays. Great fun. Re the sleep problems. We had dreadful head-banging problems with one of ours and did find a very cranky solution. I'll see if I've still got your email address and let you know.

    ReplyDelete
  9. That's a good stash of birthdays for one month. I hope you enjoyed your birthday and that you are feeling better now. Lack of sleep is awful, makes everything hard work, so I feel for you and hope things improve in your household soon!

    The party things you've made are so pretty, I love the tissue party bags. xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  10. im glad the birthday celebrations went well, This is the second choco cake ive seen in blogland in the last 10mins im drooling now. i do love your swap items the chicken teatowel and the owl are just so sweet.
    oh im pleased to see that mary poppins has made a visit to help you prepare the table for the party he he.
    you know i told you that the lavender bag would turn out alright with those beads it looks fab.
    So well done you have had a tough week have a glass of wine and try and relax x hugs from me x

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely post! Hope you get some sleep! Jacs x

    ReplyDelete
  12. Happy Birthday to all, what lovely swaps, I still treasure the goodies I received from you, Hope you get some much needed sleep very soon
    Sue Xx

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hope the birthdays were enjoyed by all - what a lovely, multi-tasking pinata! I have always wanted to have a go at the Jamiroqui look being quite a fan of JayKay!!

    Lovely swap items, I have just completed my first ever two swaps and have thoroughly enjoyed it!

    Hope you have a great weekend, Helenxx

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh what a lovely parcel of goodies. Lucky you! Hope you start to get a little more sleep very soon. Have a good week. Ros

    ReplyDelete
  15. Here's sending you lots of sleep vibes across the net (and even more to the little sweetpea). You can see why sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture so I hope it works. Hope you're feeling better too. Any news on the parrot?

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a busy time you've had! I hope that the sleep issue gets sorted out soon for you. An outside opinion might just help.
    Can I just say, that to have achieved all that you have (parties, pinatas and beautiful bags of treats for the kids to take home)when feeling grotty yourself is a fantastic achievement. I've said this before, but the amount of time and effort that you put into your family life is fantastic, and you deserve a huge pat on the back! To do all this with not enough sleep and a nasty bug is even more to your credit!
    Dan
    -x-

    ReplyDelete
  17. What a lovely birthday party and I much prefer the idea of the decorated cakes to take home rather than party bags, delicious too I imagine! The pinata looks like a great idea too, but where do you hang it to?
    Hope the sleep deprivation gets better, I don't know how you've coped for this long!
    Gorgeous swap gifts too, my packaging never looks as good as others, they all looks so pretty! :) x

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sorry you're suffering from so much sleep deprivation - it makes a difference to absolutely everything, I can remember falling asleep on the carpet while my eldest played next to me one day, but I didn't have to cope as long as you have - I do hope things will improve soon. Thanks for your message just now - all too upsetting at the moment and we're still all in shock, but I guess time will help. xx

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for spending the time leaving a comment, it really does make me smile :-)