Miss Muffet turns Two ( Part Two )

Party Food and Decorations
I wanted to keep the party  really simple- to be honest, I am far too pregnant and too tired to have organised a huge affair and I also want Miss Muffet to enjoy and appreciate the simple things in life before she inevitably has her expectations raised.

We bought a large pack of balloons in a variety of colours and hung half around the living room in clusters. Of course we also had to hang some by the letter box- the Kiwi way of letting the world know that a party is going on! Amazing Sister had held a party previously and bought balloon holders ( long stems for individual balloons to be held by) so we copied and had a balloon for each child- they had a ball whacking each other with them! I also hung some bunting that we already held up and covered the table in a black and white polka dot table cloth. My final great idea was to buy reusable, brightly coloured, child sized, plastic plates and cups from The Warehouse. They looked nice and festive and the kids could differentiate which set belonged to them by the colour. Plus, I can use them in the future!

For savoury food, I prepared the following :

Chips and Classic Kiwi dip
Mini pies and sausage rolls
Pizza
Southland Sushi- also known as South Island Cheese Rolls a lot of people at the party had never had these and they were a huge hit!  Recipe here
 

For dessert, we had the following:
Lolly cake- made using The Little Housewife's amazing recipe
Cupcake liners filled with grapes, mandarin segments and kiwifruit slices
Amazing Sister and Amazing Brother in Law made individual jelly cups filled with layers of different coloured jelly, topped with strawberry mouse and sprinkles- they looked stunning!

This was the perfect amount of food as we hardly had any leftovers afterwards which was fantastic!

The Cake
Finally, I set myself a bit of a challenge to make a Hairy Maclary inspire cake. Every night we read Hairy Maclary to Miss Muffet before she goes to sleep and it is a firm favourite- she adores Scarface Claw and tries the mimic his shriek!

 

I made Hairy Maclary out of gumpaste earlier in the week and roped a gorgeous friend into helping me to make the flowers on one of our craft nights. The cake was a double layer of vanilla sponge cake, filled with cookie dough flavoured filling, wrapped in vanilla butter cream and topped with the gumpaste decorations and a wee bunting that I quickly made the night before. I was really happy with how it turned out and it received a lot of compliments at the party as well.


Miss Muffet enjoyed her party so much that the next morning as she was "helping" to unstack the dishwasher, she took the party plates and cups back to the table and set them up in the hopes of another party!
 

Miss Muffet Turns 2 ( Part One)

 It is hard to believe that my little girl is now 2! She is no longer a baby and has moved firmly into her pre- school years. Having only recently moved cities and with me being heavily pregnant, we decided to keep her birthday relatively low key- I also figure that she is still so little and so happy with such small things that I would keep it simple and as fuss free as possible while still making sure to celebrate!  I am going to split this post up in to a few sections so it doesn't turn into a long novel.

Presents 

I found it really hard to buy for Miss Muffet this time- we now have a playroom and she can have all her toys out instead of rotating through a box, which is what we did in Auckland. She is so happy rediscovering all her toys and has so many awesome toys that she has been handed down from her cousins that I really struggled with what I would buy her. I like to stick to the saying  "something to wear, something to read, something you want and something you need"  as it keeps me from going overboard on just buying her clothes! I am also really try hard not to buy toys that will only be used for a short period of time and prefer to buy more classic toys. 

We ended up buying her gumboots and shoes, ( need)  a dress and pinafore, (wear)  and an awesome train set which we picked up from Kmart ( want)  I want to get her a book about being a big sister and haven't found one I like yet, so will keep an eye out over the next few weeks. If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them!

The train set was a huge hit and needed to be set up immediately.  Miss Muffet loves visiting her older cousins, and insists on getting out their trains each time so I knew she would be very happy with her own set. I mentioned this to Amazing Sister and was blown away when her boys wrapped up a few trains from their collection to give to Miss Muffet- I understand that a lot of negotiations went into which trains could be gifted! 

 

Miss Muffet also received a drink bottle, play dough set, crayons and felts, tea set, warm jacket and Peppa Pig jewellery set from her array of wonderful cousins, aunties, uncles, Nana, Grandad, Papa and Gran- she is so spoilt, so loved and so lucky! 

Tradition 

Last year I started a wee tradition where in Miss Muffet's birthday card, I write down all the things she is really enjoying and the milestones she is reaching. I hope to keep this up and give them all to her for her 21st birthday. 

 

Party

We invited family only and found that it was more than enough! We had Amazing Sister and her equally amazing husband and two boys, Uncle Bogey with his wife and three boys, my lovely sister in law with her partner and three girls, my Mum ( Nana), Action Dad's father ( Papa) and Action Dad's half brother and his fiancé. You can see how that would be more than enough guests for a party for a two year old! It also reminded me of why we made the move back to Wellington- so Miss Muffet can grow up surrounded by her family.

The party ran from 1pm and was held at home- we are so lucky to have a huge garden which is perfect for chasing each other, playing ball, riding bikes and general fun. We didn't set a finish time and our last guests left at 4.30 pm. We decided not to have party games as we wanted the party to be relaxed and also because we were catering to children ranging from 18 months-8 years. Instead we let them just have fun playing together and once they had eaten til they were stuffed,  gave them each a bubble wand. Seriously, bubbles are the universal crowd pleaser- every single child raced around with their wand, popping them, laughing and burning off energy. The funniest thing was that Amazing Sister was right there in the thick of it- clearly bubbles are her happy place.

 

I carried a watermelon

Did you know that the average watermelon weighs about 9kg?  And at this precise moment I feel like my lovely tummy tenant is aiming to break the records and match that weight. 

As of today, I am 36 weeks and four days pregnant. Those four days are very important as they mean I am inching closer to 37 weeks and towards the finishing line. Because I have officially reached the Over It Stage. 

I am now waddling like some kind of grotesque duck and am waking through the night because my hips ache. I am super tired and scratchy and the littlest things are setting me off. I am just so damn tired and all I want to do is lie on the couch and watch MKR and eat black liquorice. 

You too could wear a sexy turbi grip ! 

Apparently, Miss Muffet has got the memo that life is about to change and that she will need to share her role as the centre of our lives. While she generally tends toward curiosity and light mischief making, she seems to know that I can't keep up with her and has veered towards actual chaos. In the last week we have had the following situations: trip to A&E after she stuffed flowers up her nostril, attempted escape from the playground at the mall, smearing the contents of a dirty nappy all over herself and the carpet and then just yesterday ANOTHER sudocreme incident. You can bet Action Dad heard all about that last one as he was the one who left it out- remember I said the littlest things are setting me off? Read RAGE! 

All signs and scans are pointing towards baby weighing between 10-11pound. Miss Muffet came in at 10.8 pound so it's not like I should have been surprised, my family just breed big babies. To be completely frank, I am floating between denial that I will need to give birth to a baby the size of a 3 month old and fear. I am scared because I know how hard it will be and I know that the recovery is long and painful. 

My lovely, amazing and wise older sister has been all of the aforementioned things she is known for and has taken Miss Muffet for some afternoons so that I can get a break. Amazing Sister is very good at getting me back on track with knowing that I can get through this labour, that I have done it before and actually when it comes down to it, baby is coming one way or another whether I like it or not. Told you she was wise. Yesterday she ran into Miss Muffet and myself at the mall and upon looking at me, told me to go home and lie down, she would take Miss Muffet home with her. When I picked her up later, I was given a cup of tea and piece of cake and a good Talking to. Amazing Sister knows exactly what to say and how to handle me and put me back together when I am falling apart. Bless her and her wisdom! 

I have been set up with an appointment with the hospital specialist,  a week before baby is due. At my most recent midwifes appointment I was given the advice of accessing my inner drama queen and making sure that the specialist knows that I am so uncomfortable and not sleeping and that my hips are pelvis are so sore, in the hopes that we can stop me from going ten days overdue like I did with Miss Muffet.  

In the meantime I am going to be having acupuncture and will start some stretch and sweeps. I will be crawling on the floor and trying to keep up my daily walks. But I will also be counting every single day and being unapologetically pathetic- sorry friends and family!