She's here!

Our baby girl arrived! Tuesday morning at 10.19am- all 8lbs and 10 1/2 oz of her (3.92kg)


She's perfect. Dark hair with hubbie's nose. She seems to have taken after his side completely which given our pregnancy history is just amazing. We are utterly smitten.

Her name means "pure unmerited favour of God". On the blog she will be Blossom but if anyone wantes to know her name please feel free to email me!



(Sorry but!) labour was pretty fabulous considering. We have just under 10 half hours of it and it was all natural. I did have a ittle gas in the last couple of centimetres of dilation to get me there.


The obstetrician and midwife thought we were amazing BUT it was honestly down to the method we used for labour (plus God of course!). We cannot recommend it enough. It's the Bradley Method or Bradley Way (or "husband coached birth"). It's all about relaxing your body around the uterus. Not easy and we practised for months beforehand. You also do stretches and practise squatting which is for the pushing stage. All this meant I had only 3 stitches.


Gotta say the physical sensation was mind blowing. And not always is a good way. That head moving down through the cervix and down and out is soooo scary.


So here she is!!!


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I am home and am just loving getting to know my little girl. God is so good!

40 weeks and 1 day

This is how I feel. Heavy. Lumbering. Sloooowww. Like a rhino.

39 weeks and 5 days

(infertility alert...)





Well here I am. Heavy and waiting. Well, so is everyone else around me (haha!) I have learnt to preface phone call conversations with "Hi, I am not in labour..". Have given my hubbie a couple of heart attacks before that little gem sank in.




I have been unable to follow the midwife's advice of cutting out all sugar and carbs to stop baby girl putting on more weight. May as well cut off my supply of air when you tell me to stop eating fruit and chocolate.... So I have tried (honestly I have!) to cut down but I can't cut it all out.



I have nested myself into a coma. Things sparkle around here. Although strangely enough, just some things. Not the whole house. The inside of the fridge looks like a sterile laboratory at the moment so I keep looking at it. It's pretty! And have organised myself and the house and tidied up a lot. I like it and I won't apologise for my compulsion...

And well, not much else to say. Hmmm (sound of fingers drumming on desk..).....

Will see what the midwife says today. Praise Jesus we decided on a "shared care" option with an OB and midwife [ in NZ pregnancy and birth care is free when you go with a mid wife. This is an area where the health care system is fabbie] as the OB will let me go a week over and the midwife would not. My age and the fact it's an IVF pregnancy mean they get nervous when you get near to your due date. Our OB is super relaxed and really nice and said he will overide the mid wife, yay!

Having said all that, am not keen for another week and a bit of this. Praying hard that labour happens soon. Like as soon as I finish writing this post. Oh yes, and could it be painless and really fast too???

Getting ready and shutting my ears

Boy, there is a lot of negativity about labour and birth around. I don't think people even realise how negative they are (I know they don't mean to be).



Add that to the negativity spoken about the transition from one child to two... and I have decided to shut my ears.

1. I am not going to allow my midwife to talk a level of pain she describes as "agony" into my labour.


2. I am not going to have a ginormous baby and struggle to birth her.


3. I am not high risk and will automatically be induced.


4. Labour is not horrendous for everyone.


5. Rupi is not going to regress in all areas due to another child.


6. I will be able to cope with two children and my little business.

This is a blessing, not a curse! I never thought I would be here and refuse to have all the joy sucked out of the experience.

Yes, baby girl is big at 3.8kg (estimated) already. But as a friend said, bigger babies help birth themselves and cope better after birth.

Yes, labour may be hard but I want to start out thinking that I can do this!

Yes, we will have to make room for Rupi to adjust, he's just little. So making room is about providing one-on-one time for him and some new things to make life special for him. We got him a little slide today and he loves it. Super cute!

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I am so excited about the next couple of weeks. Imagine! Barren girl with TWO children!!!! How wonderful is our God?!?

38 weeks and 1 day

Well, here I am. In a place I never expected to be. A place I had died to and surrendered. I carry a baby that will survive if born now. Now. This moment.



I am full. Replete.



She reminds me of her individual presence contantly. Squirming, moving and shuffling. I press a little elbow or knee back and she moves. She hiccups and jumps at her brothers noises. She is her own little person. Unique and created in the image of God.



I am waiting to meet her now. And I am not impatient. As God breathed life into a cluster of cells and watched over her as she grew, He will guard her journey to the start of her days on earth. His timing is perfect.



I am so grateful.



AND!



The apple of my eye is 18 months old today! He is cute, loving, tender, determined, methodical, reserved and I love every last bit of him.



In early July 2008 we stood at my father-in-law's funeral and talked about the loss of that man. We opened up in front of 500 odd people about our struggle with infertility. We would never ever have guessed that in under two years we would have two children. It's hard to believe when you are in pain, but God is truly the restorer. He has restored the years that the locusts ate.



And I will be eternally grateful.

34 weeks and 2 days

Infertility alert, a pregnancy post....(much love)

A day of randomness and busyness.

It started with my scan- all good. She is still a girl, phew! Otherwise baby would be wearing a lot of pink! And everything is where it should be. She's chubby round the tummy but her head is average size (praise Jesus!)

Rupi and I played in a park near a cafe and I learnt just how fast he can run straight into the parking lot.... without listening to my "STOP"!! I also learnt that I can waddle at very high speed to go and get him!

I went to my last work meeting (hopefully) and dropped all the accounting reports at the accountant. Hopefully the business tangles will be sorted very soon!

Then to the midwife who thinks baby girl may be around 8 lbs at birth. That good? I think so bearing in mind that Rupi was over 12 lbs... I like my midwife. She's good for me, a "go with the flow" person who is opposite to me. I need someone like that. If she was like me, it would be like a military operation and not good at all.



And lastly introducing my lovelies.... new shoes. My first in 18 months! A world record for me. Normally I wear heels. I LOVE heels and don't like flats. However a 15 kg toddler and big tummy mean heels are a bit beyond me.



So here are my new shoes! And the combined cost of these cuties was half of what I used to pay for a pair of shoes...not too shabby.









So all in all 34 weeks is not too bad. Sore (par for the course) and hormonal (again par for the course) but otherwise happy as a clam.

Tired

I am so tired. Emotionally drained without any reserves . Am I supposed to feel this way at this stage- 32 weeks? Is it part of pregnancy? I have no idea.

There's been so much going on. An emotional earthquake has ripped through my sweet little business and there are massive changes to come. In my personal life I tried to please someone and ended up pleasing no-one with the consequences unexpected. Anyone been there? And there seem to be more friend and family tangles coming.

I am so tired. I keep wanting calmer waters but don't see any in sight.

A verse keeps running though my head and I know it's for me from Him. "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me- I'll show you how to do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matt 11:28

There's no real answer except what is found in Him. Life does not slow down and there is no typical rest period for us pre-baby. This is what we have and I know we can do it, with grace and ease. The way and the answer are found in Him.

Eat me

Here I sit waiting for more food. If you know me, you know that I am pretty healthy eater. Well, not today....


I am starving.


I started with a chocolate bar when buying office stationary and then scoffed it in the car on the way to my meeting. Abnormal behaviour. Chocolate is to be treasured and not scoffed with no attention paid.





I them moved onto a pie for lunch. I HAD to have a pie. And I can't remember the last time I had a pie. A bit like the unbelievable craving I had for Coke (evil bad substance that has not passed my lips for years!) a while back. I had to have some. No control. So I did.



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Then at home I have just slavered arrowrrot biscuits (plain biscuits) with butter and ate them. The last time I had a plain biscuit with butter was when I was about 10 years old and they were Marie biscuits in South Africa.








And now I have dispatched my poor husband with Rupi to go and get fish and chips for dinner. He valiantly tried to deflect this craving onto something more healthy and was still trying as I shooed him out the door. A chicken wrap? NO. Japanese? NO. Anything other than fish and chips? NO. NO. NO.







So here I sit, waiting for food. It better hurry up.

Incredible

[My beautiful infertile friends may wish to skip this post. I think I'll post a warning when I think a post is too much as I know I am in the "hard phase" for someone to see who's going through infertility. You know, the heavily pregnant and newborn phase....]



This is incredible. We have loved this whole pregnancy and are still overwhelmed with thankfulness that we get to do this. Who would have thought? Not us, that's for sure!



We have relaxed more and more as we have progressed without any worry (thank you God and my amazing body!) and are thoroughly loving each moment.



Now that the end is in sight we are trying to appreciate every second. After all it's highly unlikely I will be here again. With Rupi , God broke through. His name means "restorer" and God truly restored. With this baby girl, God gave us an abundance. This is the cherry on the top and the high note.



I stare at my bump in awe. And the feeling of having her move inside me is indescribable. It is one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced. I get tears in my eyes just thinking about it. She moves! A little person moves inside ME. The so-called barren one!



My heart just sings!



And while we wait and appreciate and cherish, this little man brings us such joy. A determined, methodical, Mommy and Daddy's boy, who fills the house and our hearts to bursting point.



We are so blessed!

Happiness is...

We went to a party on Sat night and I did a LOT of standing and even some dancing. We left a bit early because baby girl was kicking me so much (think the music was too loud) and I felt like I was going to lie down and die.

So.

I have strained myself in places no-one should and I am not going to explain how much I hurt and where. Let's just say it's a girl thing.

So today I got myself one of these. It's a belly belt and it feels so much better. When will I learn that I am pregnant and can't cavort around like normal?

I got the belly belt at my favourite shop. It's the shop that used to make me die inside as an infertile and I still can't quite walk in and feel like I belong. But the sales staff are so nice and the clothes are so lovely and they fit! It's not cheap so I shop when they are on sale which is a whole 2 times since I got pregnant.

So really I have a dress (heavily discounted as a birthday present and oh so lovely), 2 tops (got 70% off- go me!) and a belly belt. No-one would call me a regular customer now would they?

Anyway, I was in there today pleading for a belly belt and I saw these!!!! I found them on the internet and was going to order one around the 8th month. They look fabulous and supposedly help you after birth to get all the muscles and what-nots sucked back into where they should be. I am liking it. Like a huge stretchy bandage...!

So for the price of this in US$ I can get it without postage costs in NZ$. Yay! I was very happy. AND this shop has bras that lift AND separate. Because to be honest, I am hating the maternity bra I have and sneak in the odd occasional wearing of my friend the forbidden under wire bra. For those times when I do not want to appear that I have one solid shelf of a chest...

So I am happy and my nether regions are happy and my tummy will be happy after birth. One huge happy family!

28 weeks and 0 days with a little grieving

Warning: another deeeeep post! For those of you who have popped over for a light and fluffy read, this may not be your week....!

Birth is coming! And I am really looking forward to it. In some bizarre way I am looking forward to the experience as I never thought I would have the chance to experience it. I have enjoyed being pregnant and watching my body blossom and welcome and protect a little baby and I trust that my body can do birth.

I have been reading some books and have ordered a couple more gentle birth books off Amazon.
As I research this and realise how aware babies are I am grieving a little. We have always held the view that babies are a lot more aware that we give them credit for. We have always respected Rupi as a person and tried to always involve him in the things that happen to him. Tried not to do things to him. But it seems (with good reason) to go back even further, back to the womb. Babies are aware in the womb and even through the birth experience.

I grieve that I could not have carried and birthed Rupi. I don’t know what happened to him over the time he was in the womb, the stresses, worries and strains that accompanied the adoption situation must have been felt by him. And the birth was so prolonged and traumatic. The thinking is that babies have a lot to do with when they are birthed and Rupi was induced 9 times. He just would not come. What did he think the outside would contain????

When we met him, he was like a closed book. He had not attached to anyone. It took him a while to trust us and then he attached and honestly, just latched onto both of us with a vengeance! Was that all because of his birth and womb experiences? I just don’t know. Sweetpea and her family are wonderful and very loving but the whole situation must have been so stressful.

So I grieve that I couldn’t protect him and carry him and birth him. I missed that and it can never be replaced.

In my family we are all about “fair”. My Mom and Dad treat us all the same and never favour one above the other. So some crazy part of me does not want baby girl to have what Rupi didn’t with me. Yes, I know it’s mad….

But it has occurred to me that Rupi has something that baby girl will never have. 18 months of pure and undiluted attention from us. We have poured ourselves into this little man and surely that must make up for some of what may have happened over the time before we were around? God has guided us, I believe, and we have done stuff that may be a little mad but I know has helped him attach. We never let anyone other than the two of us bottle feed him; we have never let him cry for long periods of time and have never spent much time away from him. Lots of touch, no shouting (of course, no smacking!) and lots of affirmation.

Despite all this, I am a little sad. It’s caught me by surprise as I have never longed to be pregnant and I think would have been fine if we had adopted two children instead of bearing one of them. But now that I get what fertile women get and am facing what fertile women face, it’s come out. It’s probably a good thing to face and deal with.

But all I can do is trust God. He knows the beginning from the end and I trust Him with us. I trust Him with Rupi, I really do. That is saying a lot as I am very protective of my little boy. I truly trust Him. He’s Good and I know loves us.

So as Rupi has special things from us that no other child can experience, baby girl will too. And in the end I believe that they will both be secure and loved. God loves them so much and He will heal any hurts and fill any gaps.

I heart Him and I trust Him.

Lift and Separate

Warning: following on from Simoney's infamous post about "the girls", this post is about.....chests!!!!!!

I am an underwire bra girl. Have been since I developed into a D-cup at 16 years old. You can imagine the school yard trauma at being a C-cup at 12 years of age but that's a story for another day! I LOVE underwire bras. They are so pretty and have the (almost magical) power to transform a chest into a thing of glory.

So I have seen no reason to give up on my love affair so far and have just exchanged my D-cups for a DD-cup set a few months ago.

I started feeling a bit breathless and like a boa constrictor was wrapped around my ribs and after talking to Simoney (yes, she is playing a leading role in my posts lately!) in passing, she suggested I may like to go and get fitted for a proper bra.

Nah, I thought. This will pass. A few more days of unbelievable heat and humidity combined with my friend the boa squeezing me under the armpits and I gave in. I went to see a lovely lady at a local Bendon shop who fitted me with a new one and filled me in on a couple of facts.

1. Underwire bad for pregnant ladies
2. Underwire sits on the spot where our milk ducts are and can block them.

This scared me so I got a new one immediately with very little arguing.

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Disclaimer: this is not a photo of MY bra as it's on me and do not want to take a photo of me in it OR take it off and photograph it....lazy you see.

My new bra has flexiwire which pretends to be like underwire but really isn't. The girls do not look like they should at all! But. The comfort. Sweet Lord, the comfort. I can breathe! And that is (nearly) worth the lack of glory displayed by my chest at this time....

Another thing I did not know

There are many things I do not know. Despite being very ordered (some cruel folks would call it it OCD) I am not a great researcher or very detailed. I do things intuitively and this would include pregnancy.



I have read bits of books and picked up wisdom here and there. One of the "pearls" I picked up is that eating for two is nonsense. Apparently you don't need to eat for two people when one of you is very small.



I have taken this to heart as I have seen the scales go up and up. Add to this my previous eating issues and well, I have been eating pretty much as normal. We are healthy eaters and don't do a lot of junk either.



I have found recently that by the time my hubbie gets home, I am unable to cope with life anymore. I have the shakes, am absolutely shattered and highly emotional. After the evening meal, life returns to normal. I am at peace and suddenly everything looks rosy again. This cycle has continued for weeks....



My chiropractor asked me if I was eating enough when I complained of fatigue and I talked to a couple of other people about it. A light dawned- maybe I should eat more...and yes, this would be ok.



Honestly, this had not dawned on me before. Duh.



Adding an extra meal in today has been miraculous. My hubbie came home and found his wife at home instead of Medusa who snarls and growls and cries (a lot).



Life is good again. I feel like a person again. And that is quite nice.

Normal

Part of me revels in the fact that I am so normal at this stage of my life. Normal. It feels so good. A normal pregnancy. I know enough not to take it for granted and little enough to almost be casual.

I lug my son around when people whisper not to lift him, I go for walks when the same whispers say not to overdo it. I act as if I am pre-pregnant most of the time and have developed a relaxed and casual air about the whole thing. I don't read every book known to man and don't walk around with my bump on display. Casual....

Is this what it's like to be normal in this area? I wonder if this is what it feels when women fall pregnant at the drop of a hat? To be nonchalant about conception, pregnancy and birth? I have no idea and won't even try to imagine.

Because I know I am NOT normal in this area at all. Firstly, I am an older first time mother. Secondly, this is my first pregnancy but I am already a mother. Try explaining that one! And thirdly the child I carry is not biologically mine. Yup, so not normal it screams out loud!!!

So when I carry on and pretend like I am normal in this pregnancy, I enjoy indulging my own little fantasy. It's kind of fun, pretending to be like 90% of women in the world! But I also like how I get what a gift this is. Infertility taught me that. Next time you see an infertile with her baby, watch her face. She gets it. I love seeing the face of an infertile with her baby almost as much as I love watching the face of a groom as his bride walks down the aisle.


So I do not take one second or baby flutter for granted. And that's why even when it feels like my back is breaking (probaby 80% of my day) I will not moan!!! I will gently wail to myself on the inside, I admit, but no moaning girl! That's right.

24 weeks and 3 days

Yessah I am on the homeward slide towards birth! I got a bit freaked out the other day when I realised that no matter what happened from now on, I would be giving birth. Alrighty then.



My little girl is about 600g in weight and about 30cm tall. She must be quite squashed (!) My tum is continuing to expand and is now pushing upwards. Overall I am great. My back is killing me but that's because my back is not good, full stop.



People keep asking me if I am coping in the heat and I don't feel any different. I LOVE this weather. Super hot and humid. Utter bliss.



Not much else to report on the pregnancy front. I am trying not to have a nervous breakdown at the rate the scales are going up, I am nearly the heaviest I have ever been. But truly would put up with a lot worse to be here, rounded and chubby and very very pregnant!



As I don't have any picture of my baby, (the last 3D scan of her face made her look like an alien and I offended the scannie person by refusing to look after the first glance. I mean, hello. Does anyone want to see their little girl look all distorted???], I will leave you with a picture of the cutest small man on the planet.



Yes, that's right.... it's RUPI!!!

Oversensitive

I am so grateful to have Rupi and so grateful to be able to have another child too. Part of me never thought that this would happen for me. I am freshly grateful every single morning.

Infertility robs you of a skin thickness. I am still so thin skinned when it comes to kiddies. I hate whining and complaining about children and the burden they bring. They are a blessing during good times, tired times and tough times. End of story.

And my point?

I wanted to murder yesterday at the midwife. I was waiting for my appointment and a woman comes in with her little (gorgeous) 5 week old baby. The receptionist asks her how she is going and she says that she's ok when her child is not being a demon. Then laughs and says "Actually she's a demon all the time!" and looks down at her baby and says "Aren't you?"

I know how tired you get and she may have been speaking from that tired place. But come on. A demon?

She trots off to the loo and the receptionist laughs and addresses all of us waiting. "What a hoot she is" she says "When she gave birth she asked for the gender and said to the midwife that if the baby was a boy she wanted to hand him back. And her husband said that she was serious!" (lots of laughing)

Wanting to hand her back should she have been the "wrong" gender? Hello? None of us laughed actually and I was so mad.

Yes, there are jokes and time for giggles but I know tons of incredible girls who would love a baby and I guarantee that the word "demon" would not be applied to their child.

Argh.

21 weeks and 2 days

Over the half way mark- woohoo! I found out (when I visited the ER department because the maternity unit wouldn't see me) that the health system views a baby as viable after 24 weeks so 3 more weeks to go... woohoo I think?

I have a big bump now and when I stand in the shower and look down I no longer see my toes. There are gone. Not there anymore. I just see bump.

People keep asking me if I have felt the baby move and really, I have no idea. They mention "butterflies" and fluttering sensations but none of those have happened. I got a weird stabby ache or two yesterday that were not ligament stretching pains, so maybe they were it?

Right, I am seriously rambling. Onto my favourite subject....

Rupi on the other hand, I can feel. A lot! He's cute and scrummy and cuddly and just so cute. We are trying out "big boy undies" at the moment that my friend M made. They are great! They hold a wee in until we notice, usually straight away.

We are trying to teach him to tell us when he needs to go which is trial and error right now. BUT! Tonight he cried in his cot and when we went in we asked him if he needed to go poos and showed him the potty along with the potty sign. He nodded and went "up"- his version of yes. And....he did a big poo in the potty. Yay!

This whole potty thing we have done and are doing is kinda hard to explain and I have had lots of shaking heads and even a few eye rolls. But it works for us and our little boy is happy. No pressure and he loves it. It's hard work as you do potty cleaning for a loooong time but I reckon that he's be potty trained by the time he's 2. Here's hoping!

Big Boy Undies- they are super cute!

Potty love

The good, the excellent and the miracle

The good: My Dad is doing ok with radiation. His crazy humour is intact and all he feels is a tingling where they are doing it. He says it's because the tumour is p****d off and angry (his words- crazy man!) He says he feels for the tumour because despite it's anger it has no idea it's going to zapped every day for the next month and die...... that's my Dad!

The excellent: We are having a GIRL! A girl, a girl la la la la! A little princess! We are so thrilled. We kind of knew at the 13 week scan when the scannie lady said it's likely a girl but wanted to wait until we were sure. Lets just say that yesterday we saw the girlie bits clear as day and the scannie man said he was 100% sure.

I am not used to being blessed in the area of children and this blows my mind. Not that we wanted a girl per se (we ARE just so thankful to be pregnant) , but wanted a girl for what we think Rupi needs. It will be so good for his confidence, security and identity in our family unit to be the only son. While God (of course)would have made it ok for him if we had another baby boy, this is just perfect. PERFECT!

Plus I get to do something first. We are having the first baby grand daughter on my side of the family (after 5 grandsons) That little gift from God just heals something inside. As the eldest I mourned not having the first grandchild, silly as that may be. This means that I am first with something. Wow. Amazing blessing. God cares about the details and the little heart aches that sometimes we don't even say out loud.

The miracle: on the way out of the scan I was dialling my Mom's number and tripped. Body slam onto the concrete floor of the car park. I wasn't able to protect myself at all. My hubbie nearly had a heart attack.
Miracle #1: I landed on my side and not my tummy.
Miracle #2: I am almost completely unhurt. A bit stiff but that's it!
And most importantly Miracle #3: after being sent to the emergency department and dying a million deaths while being examined..... the baby is ok. Heartbeat still going, still moving, no bleeding, no placenta rupture and no amniotic fluid spill. And nothing happened overnight or today.
And yes, I realise that using my phone and walking is not good. On the bright side, it's times like these when I realise how much my hubbie loves me. he was beside himself. Literally.

So a drama filled day or two, nothing less in my life. But God moved and all is well.

16 weeks and 3 days

I am seriously popped now! And it may be because the little bean is now the size of an avocado! Yikes! And (apparently) is going to double in size over the next 3 weeks.... ouch.

Had a lot of stretching and aching as all the scar tissue starts to expand. But it seems to be normal and hurts less than I thought. I have only had to use Panadol once- woohoo!

I finally went for my bloods this morning and visited my friend B at Labtest in Milford who is nice and gentle. It was lovely to see how glad she was to see me and that it's all going well so far. I thought I had better go as I see the midwife next Monday and she gave me the blood forms a month ago!

Trying to slow down and appreciate this amazing time. Just so grateful.

14 weeks and 0 days

14 weeks today! Woohoo! My hubbie put his finger on it when he said "It all feels solid now" We are past the nail biting anxiety of the first trimester and are well into the second trimester. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???? I obviously can't at times!

I posted my candy off for the Great Candy Exchange but can't show what I posted as I had to do some last minute changes at the postshop when my 1.5kg of sweets cost the earth to send. So my photos are out of date! I had to ask the man behind the counter to repeat himself at the amount.... so some swopping occurred as I was not willing to let go of the two big bars of Whittakers chocolate I had in the stash. It's chocolate, people, and jolly near the best there is! Lucky I had spare packets of sweets on me (well, I couldn't buy for Froggity and not for myself now could I?) I got it down to 1.2kg and left it at that. There's only so much compromising a girl can do.

I also haven't posted about Rupi's first birthday party. It was a very awkward occasion and this is partly my fault. I really wanted both the birth mum and birth dad there as I know how much it will mean to Rupi one day to know they came. So I asked both and bless their hearts, they both came. But all the emotion, the grief and history meant that the two groups could not mix and so we ping ponged between the groups with Rupi in tow. Who had not had an afternoon nap and was very very grumpy.

We couldn't spend time with our family and friends and luckily they all amused themselves. The thick tension in the air was hard to miss, except by Mr G, Simoney's husband who finally figured out what was happening as they were leaving. Men.... God bless them and their ability to ignore vibes. Imagine a world of only women- horror!

We got some lovely photos anyway and this will fade to a distant memory. My hubbie is adamant though that the next time we inflict this torture on all concerned will be Rupi's fifth birthday!

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The gathering of awkwardness

My Dad, Rupi and me

My Mom and Rupi

My MIL, Rupi and my hubbie