And we grew to four...

I actually wrote this post almost two weeks ago - but am only now having the time to post it!

Wow! Time has surely gone past in a flash! I sit here typing with one baby asleep in the bouncer, and one toddler asleep on the couch in the loungeroom, with the theme song for Play School repeating over and over on the DVD menu page.

Baby Ezra was born in late June, on her due date according to the scans, but two days early according to my calculations. She started to arrive in the early hours of a Saturday morning, and was here less than four hours after I worked out I was actually in labour.

Praise God, everything went smoothly. I was in at the hospital at 3.45am and Ezra arrived at 5.30am. I had the gas, although I was convinced at one point it wasn't really working. The midwife reminded me that I needed to be breathing it in for it to work - I was too busy telling her it wasn't working to breathe it in!

I feel very blessed to have had such a relatively easy natural birth, after the planned c-section with Imogen.

Anyways, I haven't had a chance to blog since then. Ezra is a placid little thing, but Imogen is not so much. Imogen gets a little jealous, so I rarely have a moment to myself. Because there is also general life things to attend to as well, not just playing with those two! Also, Imogen has decided that day sleeps are not for her - today's one is just luck.

Doing those sessions of OAMC before the baby was born was such a great move. I got a few things done the week before she arrived, and have done a few shorter sessions since then. More often that not, I do three or four meals of one or two dishes at a time. Because there are only two adults and one toddler eating the meals, I get a few serves out of one dish anyway.

My Mum is coming down for a week at the end of this week, so I am hoping to get some more meals in the freezer whilst she is here. Now that we have a chest freezer, I have some more freezing space to fill!

Update: My mother has just left this morning, and I miss her already! She was wonderful - helping with washing and doing lots of cleaning. I got some cooking done too, so the freezer is a little fuller.

Num Nummies Monday #4

Another week, another ‘so close’ on the sticking to the menu plan.

Lamb chops on Wednesday didn’t happen, but the rest of the week was okay. Saturday night ended up being takeaway (I know I said I didn’t want it this week) of fish and chips. It was a long day, with a trip to Sydney to see my cousin referee at a women’s national competition of rugby union.

Friday night was steak and potato bake – and boyo was that potato bake yummy! We also ended up bbq-ing some thin potato slices as well, as a friend came over for dinner. Well, he came over to watch the rugby league with hubby but of course we invited him for dinner first. I forgot though that he doesn’t eat potato bake (strange, I know) but we still polished it all off anyway. Imogen really enjoyed the potato from the bbq – she had stuff all over her face to prove it.

Last night we didn’t have cheese on toast, but Imogen and I finished off the fish from Saturday night and hubby ate a pie.

Menu plan for Monday 16th April to Sunday 22nd

Monday: Curried sausages and rice (freezer meal)

Tuesday: Steak and potato bake (freezer meal, with steak not cooked from Fri night)

Wednesday: Chicken legs, rice and vegies (chicken is marinating in the freezer)

Thursday: Lamb chops and potato bake (we will eat those lamb chops!)

Friday: Meatballs, vegie sauce and pasta (freezer meal)

Saturday: Tuna bake and shepherd’s pie (freezer meals, neither is enough for all of us)

Sunday: Leftovers or cheese on toast

I bought some bananas on special last week, and I will be making them into some banana choc bread. I came across this recipe for Chocolate banana bread and thought it sounded a bit of alright! I will actually have too many bananas for just that recipe, and I have just come across this recipe - Strawberry banana muffins, so I will also use up some extra strawberries in my fridge too. Hubby might enjoy these as a new recipe for the muffins he takes to work.

I am also going to make these little gems today - Cranberry Brie Puffs.

I like the change from the jam (on Joy the Baker's site) to the cranberry sauce, so that’s what I’ll do. I’m excited because there is a little bit of camembert cheese in the fridge, taunting me, as I can’t eat it cold. The things you give up for pregnancy and your unborn child! But I can eat it hot. Yay!