Zachosaurus is one!

Zachary had his first birthday on Sunday 9th October. He has a few dinosaur toys at home, and so when we say to him "Zacky, what do dinosaurs say?" he says "Raaaaaaarrrr". So, he had a dinosaur party.

For the invitations I made a dinosaur stamp using several layers of funky foam mounted on corrugated card. I used ordinary acrylic paint to print them. Once dried, I glued on a google eye. I know it's a bit of a cheat, but I was short on time, so the wording was printed from the laptop and glued on using PVA (I know, I know, not the best choice, but it was all I could find and the invites had to be sent out you know!)

That was kind of the process for the whole thing - quick quick, birthdays coming, 5 minutes break from revision, quick quick....

The actual day was split into 2 parts on account of our house being designed to hold only a handful of people at once. In the morning his baby friends and their mummys and daddys came. Auntie Potato Salad Heather, who is one of his Godmothers was there too (the mummy and daddy of his little friend Ethan are also 2 of his Godparents, and they were there in double job capacity).

We just let them all loose in the living room to play. The smaller person actually did open a few presents on his own. He had a Vtech bike from mummy, daddy and his sister as a main present, then some clothes, a stuffed dinosaur from his sister, a few books and most importantly, a talking Nok Tok toy (from Waybuloo). From his friends and godparents he had some money, some cars, a jigsaw, some books, and some building blocks. He really doesn't know where to start with it all!

For decorations we used plain orange and plain blue balloons, and also some that were blue with 1's all over. I bought some blue first birthday banners, some blue first birthday dangly things to hang in the doorway (that Mr Bogert got really cross with because he kept tangling himself up in it!), and we bought some blue happy birthday bunting. I'm so glad I did because I intended to re-use the blue bunting from his christening, but we lent it out for a village event and now it can't be found : ( I will be very sad if it doesn't turn up. Hours of cutting, sewing and ironing went into the making of it. (and I want to re-use it for Alexandra's birthday party at the beginning of December). We also made use of the blue name banner I painted for his christening.

For food we put a small table with little finger food things for the babies. There were baby crisps and rice cakes, fruit pots and mini yoghurts, dinosaur shaped jam sandwiches, cut fruit and other bits and pieces. We put more out in the kitchen for the grown ups, nothing fancy, just some pizza slices, different sandwiches, pasta mix, and sweet things like danish pastries. I also baked some dinosaur shaped biscuits. I don't think I like the recipe though, think I'll try a different one next time.

In the afternoon we had family round, so Nana (my mum), Nanny (Mr Bogert's mum), Grandma and Grandpa (my nan and grandad), Grandad and Karen (my dad and his partner), Auntie Helen (Mr Bogert's sister), Auntie Steph (my sister), Auntie Amy and Joshua (my cousin and her son, who is also my Godson) and Uncle Matt, Lauran and Isobella (my cousin, his partner and her daughter). Auntie Heather stayed which was great - we put her to work in the kitchen! (Thanks Heather!)

He had more lovely toys (vtech things, clipo, thomas the tank, Yo Jo-Jo from Waybuloo, clothes, and dinosaur things) he has been a very lucky boy. The small person thought it was great because there were finally some children her size to play with, so they played in the garden (that needs a major overhaul by the way). I guess we were lucky it was dry and quite mild for the time of year. They'd have been very bored inside with the grown ups.

The cake was baked by Auntie Steph (I always try and rope her into the baking - she can bake, I can't) and then I decorated it. This was an evolving cake. The idea came to me as I hacked and stuck peices of chocolate cake together. The icing broke in several places because it was really hard to cover such an odd shape. I now refer to it as "Franken-dino" but at least it tasted OK! We had a big number one candle and some cake sparklers. He was very disinterested in the cake (even turned his back the first time we brought it out) but did rather like people singing to him.

For the goody bags I made some very quick tote bags from some sheeting fabric my nan gave me a while ago. I didn't have use of a zig-zag stitch, so I made enclosed seams to stop the fray. The ribbon handles are stitched into the double hem at the opening. The names were printed from the computer using the same font as some of the wording on the invitations. This was then placed under one layer of the fabric and traced over using a fabric pen, pink for the girls and blue for the boys. This was set with a hot iron. If I had had more time, I would have liked to use the same dinosaur stamp from the invitations with some fabric paint on the bags. (the girl dinos would have had little pink bows on their tails!).

The bags were filled for the babies with:

• "How do dinosaurs learn colours" book.
• dinosaur bath toy.
• white chocolate buttons.
• dinosaur biscuit
• small chocolate cake with orange icing

The bags for the older children were filled with:

• "how do dinosaurs go to school" book.
• plastic dinosaur toy.
• foam dinosaur glider.
• sheet of dinsaur stickers.
• dinosaur biscuit.
• freddo chocolate.
• small chocolate cake with orange icing.

I got a great deal on the books in The Works. The RRP was £2.99 but they were marked up as 99p each, then when I got to the till, they were buy one get one free at 99p! Yay for the bargains!

So it's all been and gone, my smaller person had a very busy day with all of his family and friends, and we'll have plenty of photographs to show him when he's older of just how he spent his very first birthday. No rest for the wicked though, I do believe a certain little miss turns 6 (6!?) in just over a months time, and so Wonderland is calling me...

All about the boy

We are home safe after our hospital stay, but we don't want to talk about that now, we want gaze back over the past 12 months, the amazing growth of my little wish and the journey we have taken to get to where we are right now.

It simply has not sunk in that my little man is now one. No longer a baby (although he never seemed to be a baby long), but a walking, talking, little person with his own thoughts, personality, likes, dislikes, habits and everything else that makes him an individual. Even the small person said "Is Zack a baby now he can walk?" I had to answer he's not really a baby any more, but a toddler. She's been going round telling everyone that he's a toddler. A big boy.

The year has passed far too quickly. I remember being able to savour moments of the small person's first year, the smaller person's has been slotted in around family life, work and study, but looking back, we've had plenty of fun. And he's such a happy, relaxed little soul.

We went trick or treating, to Auntie Steph's 21st birthday party, to a big bonfire party at someone's house, to Alexandra's super-hero party, started going to toddler group, went on a Christmas fancy dress pub crawl, had a lovely family christmas, went to the panto and saw Santa, welcomed his new little baby friends into the world, celebrated Daddy's 30th birthday, took a couple of trips to Scotland, went on holiday to Woolacombe, had lots of day trips to the art gallery, Kenilworth Castle and other places, had a lovely christening and finally, a fantastic first birthday party (more on that next time).

So he can walk. He's wobbly, but he takes every step with either a deep look of concentration, or if he sees me or his daddy watching, with the biggest, proudest cheesy grin you've ever seen!

He loves Waybuloo, and Nok Tok is his favourite. He can say Nok Tok. If I ask where Nok Tok is (his toy) he points and says "Is-air". If I ask him to get Nok Tok he shakes his head and grins at me. This boy knows his own mind. His first word was "Mama", his second word was "bum" - this resulted with me being greeted every morning with "Mama bum" as he hits his full nappy demanding a change.

He adores his big sister. She is his favourite play-thing. He finds her hilarious, much to her delight, I mean who wouldn't love an appreciative, captive audience? He chases her around and she runs away giggling, just allowing enough space not to be caught, but to still keep him interested in the chase. When he does catch her, he pulls her hair. This to him is a sign of affection (I know, we're working on it) and even though it hurts (and one time he actually pulled a big tuft out of her scalp) she takes it very well and maturely tells him "No, Zacky. Gentle."

He has a sweet tooth. I can't imagine where he got that from (Mr Bogert)...
He will always take the fruit pot or yoghurt or cake if there's any on offer. He picks at his savoury food until he thinks he has a better offer. He is far too independent to allow us to spoon feed him, but not coordinated enough to do it himself. This requires lots of patience and finger food!

He is an explorer. He would rather be active, walking, crawling, climbing on everything. He hates being strapped in his car seat or pushchair, but calms down as soon as we move and he has new sights to see. He loves going to toddler group so that he can escape the baby area and go and play on the see-saw and other older toys. He loves staring out of our living room window. It faces down the full length of the street and we have a good view of everything. He is a nosey neighbour. He is not a sit down and craft or read a story child. This does not concern me (ask me again when he's 3 and still not showing any interest - only kidding!) because I'm sure when he's finished developing this side of him, he will have time for the quieter things. Alexandra was the opposite, so when it came to the physical stuff her nursery friends were doing, she seemed less capable, but she got there and she can hold her own in sports day, at swim classes and dance.

He is like the small person in the sense that they both have confidence and determination. If neither wants to do something, they simply wont. If they want to do something you would rather they wouldn't, they will still make every attempt to get their way. There is stubborness, and occasionally tantrums involved in this boundary testing, sometimes even shouting or growling as little fists get thumped against the floor or table. This doesn't worry me either. I'm glad they have confidence, the other bits we can work on as they grow.

The amusing thing about their personalities is their one striking difference: Alexandra is a typical silly giggly girl in all the best ways, she has a silly sense of humour, loves acting in silly ways and does all of this giggling about everything. Zachary is rather more serious. That's not to say he's not filled with laughter, you just have to work harder for it. He seems to think more. I swear sometimes it's like the thoughts running through his head are "You want me to laugh at that? Really? How old are you? I'm 12 months old and even I know that's just not funny." If he could roll his eyes, he would.

His vocabulary is coming along nicely, but what he lacks in words, he makes up in enthusiasm, facial expression, body language and increased volume when you don't listen the first time!

He is a true Mummy's boy especially when he is tired or not feeling himself. He does recognise that Daddy is all about fun though, so his face lights up when Mr Bogert gets home from work. The reason Daddy is all about the fun, is because technically Daddy is only a couple of years older than him. The eternal child within Mr Bogert is very strong. This will either have the effect of ageing me early (having 3 children to keep an eye on), or keep me young for longer!

He loves songs. His current favourite is "Little Peter Rabbit's got a fly upon his nose" he does the flapping actions. His old favourites were "Jig Jog" and "Mmm, Mmm, said the little green frog". He still likes them, but loves peter rabbit. When he was born he loved Dean Martin. We used to play the CD all the time to calm him when he was upset. Good old Dean...

Zack has 6 teeth, 2 on the bottom, 4 on the top. His hair is very long, dirty-blond and curly. We don't intend to cut it any time soon. He has rosey cheeks and has kept his blue eyes, like me. His sister and Daddy have green/brown eyes. But he did inherit his Daddy's thick long lashes, just like his sister. He has big square shaped hands and lovely chunky feet that have a very high instep. His belly button is neither an outie or and innie, it's somewhere in between which makes him unique in the Wishes house in this respect. He still has lovely chunky baby thighs which are very very ticklish! He is also ticklish under his chin, under his arms, along his ribs and under his feet. His laughter is infectious.

Do you know what can make me laugh every time? He has this face he pulls. He grins, sticks out his chin, slightly off-set, so he's all teeth, scrunches up his eyes and wrinkles up his nose. It's a funny face, and he knows the reaction he will get if he pulls it, so he does it frequently. It's not just a funny face though, it's a face that reminds me why I love being a mum, and it fills my heart with love and happy thoughts.

I love my little family. My children whilst not perfect, are as perfect as I would ever wish them to be. I have loved this last year with our newest Little Wish, and I can't wait to see what the next 12 months have in store for us and especially his growing personality.

A belated happy bloggy birthday to my little angel man. I'm so glad you joined us. xxx

Just to let you know...

you really haven't missed a thing.

I'm in full-on revision mode for my final exam for A210 Approaching Literature with the OU. I have not been a participant in life much these last few weeks. Mr Bogert is taking it all rather well considering he is now main bread-winner, cook, pot washer, cleaner, father and mother. I think he's storing the brownie points up for future lie-ins and roast dinner requests. That's fine, he deserves them. (He's even been tidying up the garden, shed and conservatory today.)

I have also been a bit ill so I wasn't even at toddler group last week. Painful cotton wool brain is not good for absorbing revision information :(

My exam is on the 11th October, so after that horrid thing is out of the way, I will be back to show you:

• Zack's birthday invitations (OK, so I have done something in the last few weeks other than revise)
• Zack's first birthday party (which is next Sunday 9th October)
• My beautiful flowers from a neighbour
• Some family photos
• Zack's operation (which you will have no clue about, but we have had a date for)
• Plans for Alexandra's birthday
• Bits and peices from toddler group
• Halloween festivities

So, unless you would like me to stick around and explain how Jane Austen uses irony to throw a critical light on society of the 19th century, the general conventions associated with realist and gothic genres, how difficult Romanticism is to define and why nature and childhood are important themes to Romantic poets, or how Wilmore from Aphra Behn's the Rover represents the stock rake character of Restoration comedies, I should go, with a promise to return after my exam with less literary things, and more crafty things on my mind.