..and my baby turns 4!

Okay if you are not planning to sit down and read for a while, I suggest...finding time to do that first before you start reading...because this is going to be a long post, haha. Noesheen turned 4 on the 9th of this month. I can't believe how fast these four years have past. It only seems like last sunday, i put on that tent of a dress to go to church....because at that stage of my pregnancy that was about the only thing that could fit me...i was huge! a hippo-mummy-to-be! Although the docs wouldnt tell me (they do that here you know) the sex of my baby, i knew my baby was a girl...and before i was sure of it, my mom was sure of it...from the time i got pregnant, my mom declared it was a girl! So there i was squeezed into the second last row in church sitting next to my distant cousins the Vareas. There i was smilinh at everyone, because they all had the same thing to say, "you still pregnant!" "when is that baby coming?" "weren't you due like last month?".

The answer i gave them..."yah, baby will come when she is ready!". Sitting there that sunday on the 8th of August, i felt different, more tired, yet more calm. My baby was due on the 17th of July, needless to say, that was a huge miscalculation! Nadim had taken time off work because for weeks now we were told, "any day now".

I remember that Sunday night, we were watching TV when the contractions started...about 15 mins apart, being first time parents, we rushed over to the hospital, the docs took one look at me and said, "nope you not ready yet, your water has to burst first, go home, try and get some sleep". So we went back home, around 11.30 the contractions were closer together, more painful, but still no "gushing of water". Nadim couldn't handle it, so we went back to the hospital, the docs said, "no you not ready, your water has not burst yet", i said, "well my contractions are becoming 5 mins apart, i dont care about any "gushing ofwater" I am not going anywhere, cos you are going to admit me now" Heehee that did the trick, he found a bed for me and I was officially admitted. "but you know, you are still a long long way from delivering could be tomorrow afternoon..." the doc warned.

I didnt care, coz i knew she would come sooner than that. At that time the maternity ward in the hospital was under renovation so we had to use the old theatre area...plus they wouldnt allow Nadim to stay with me! That was the hardest part i guess for me, was not to have him with me. Needless to say, the contractions got worse, my mom sneaked in to see me, and pushed me to get some sleep, "you will need all the strength you have baby!" she said. I finally fell off to sleep around 5 or 6 in the morning after some frevent praying. When the HOD did her rounds at 8 the next morning she declared, "you're ready!".

Boy I was overjoyed!! so there they wheeled me off to a another room full of women who were ready as well, so like 45 mins later, she said, "okay now you ready to push". I think at that point, I could not feel half face and my hands...coz i was numb with pain... and there was a problem with my bp as well at that point...I remember thinking to myself, "okayeeee, sure". Then i had to get up, hold my IV and walk to the theatre in the next room and climb up onto the delivery table (yah i know what you thinking) but, the little walk felt better! So after pushing for a while Noesheen came into the world at 9.45am 9th August! I wanted to find the doctor who told me I was going to be in the hospital all day and say, "haha, I told you so!!!! This baby was coming sooner than you think".

Noesheen was 4.1kg and 51 cm tall, with a head full of jet black curls. I think she suprised the midwives with her size, coz they exclaimed, "gosh what have you been eating!" She fell off to sleep the min they wrapped her, actually she didn't even squeal, it was almost like she just needed to sleep off the whole tramatizing experience. Nadim was beside himself with joy when they finally allowed him to come see us, he thought i would just about die! Infact, when everyone asked me, "so how was it" as if i was going on vacation, i would respond "well it was like i died and was re-born with Noesheen!" But i am glad for her spirit and the joy and mischief she gets into. So now at 4 I can see that she is officially "not a baby anymore", but a little girl.

With Nadim away (yes still!) I thought she needed to have the best birthday ever. When i first asked her what she wanted, she was adament, "spongebob". Then it changed to a pool party, and i was soo glad about that, i quickly did the invites and sent them off.

Then she wanted a guitar cake, i thought to my self no problem that's easy. But then a few days before the party, she decided she wanted "spongebob squarepants", and if any of you have lived on this island, you would know, theme birthday cakes like spongebob are hard to come by if you can find it. and if you can find it, you will literally pay the price for it. But i give credit to all the cake shops that do all the birthday cakes, cars, trains, batman, superman...i mean most kids just want that right? So I took on the mammoth of a task and decided to make it my self, with a few internet searches (thank you internet) I knew what i was going to do....

I baked the yellow cake the night before at my sister Sharon's place, got up like at 6 on Sat morning, and started decorating the cake after 7, it took me a while but I was done by like 9ish. Of course, then Noesheen got up before it was done, and wanted to help out, which meant eating like half the icing. Then all the birthday phone calls came in, and of course Noesheen wanted breakfast and had like 2 million urgent questions that needed to be answered immediately! But I am pleased with how the cake came out, whatchathink?

After doing the cake, we had to make a trip to the supermarket to pick up the bread for fairy bread and some lemonade for the punch, so Noesheen got ready to go to the store, and no I did not dress her like this, and no i did not direct the poses for this photograph.

The party was a small... well you can say, family affair, coz it was full of Noesheen's cousins and aunties her age (and some not). Noesheen was in her togs (swimsuit) and in the pool the min uncle Simon and uncle Sashi were done inflating it (thanks guys).

The rest of the picts are random picts from the small party. It was the best ever, coz she had sooo much fun and did not get out of the pool til she was shivering cold at about 4pm!

Birthday prezy from Aunty Sapna and Uncle Alan (Nadim's cousin and her husband)

Here is Nadim's cousin Noelene with daughter Jazel (seated) and niece Irris, just before we blew the candles out.

Here is me and my sister Sharon's son Zedekiah. Noesheen adores him and treats him like a brother.

Cake with Candles! Waiting to be blown out! Noesheen was super excited.

Here is my eager beaver, we were in the middle of singing happy birthday and she wanted to blow the candles out already! Thats my hand on the right trying to tell her to hold on!

you mean i can eat it now? I'm giving her a little help to dig into the cake!

I decided to keep the snacks basic, so we had homemade choc-chip cookies, choc-choc-chip cookies, cheese and crackers, dip and nachoes, fairy bread, mac and cheese and my special nibbles and of course birthday cake.

Jaz, Sheen and Irris hit the pool!

So while all the kiddies were swimming downstairs in the pool, Aunty sapna was tasting the food...you know just to be sure everything was okay for the kiddies to consume!

Zedekiah was the only one who could not join the girls in the pool, the water was a bit too cold for his liking.

Grub time, while Irris and Jaz had had enough, Noesheen when back into the water when her lil aunty Resha arrived, she had way too much fun with Resha and Jon in the pool. Sorry no picts there!

Sheen just did not get enough of her birthday cake, so she took to it again after all the guests had left!

At the end of it all she was thoroughly exhausted, I had to put this picture in... I am so thankful that Heavenly Father thought me worthy to me mom to this active little girl. I thank him every day for her and the joy she is to me and Nadim.