A simple Hungry Caterpillar Cake

So as you may have seen in my previous post, for Zachary's first birthday I made a hungry caterpillar cake.

As with all my cakes my first port of call for inspiration was pinterest, I have learnt now though that what is on pinterest is not to my standard and not to be disappointed with my outcome afterwards!

As I wanted it to be simple (due to having some walls being knocked down next to the kitchen) I tried to not look at the big amazing cakes too much!

The sponges I made in advance, just a basic vanilla mix, I have started using vanilla bean paste instead of extract recently and love the more intensive flavour.

The day after I put some raspberry jam and vanilla butter between the 2 layers. Then I covered in white ready roll icing (which hurrah I managed to put on without any tears or crinkles)!

I'd bought a small pack of ready made icing colours and basically mixed some colours together to make a mottled/marbled look.

The caterpillar was made by simply rolling into balls and then shaping them by flattening them down slightly.

And then with the other mixed up colours I made up lots of small circles using a cutter, and with a little water stuck them onto the white surface. 

I stored in a cardboard box, I learnt from my cake making friend never to cover in cling film (which is what I always used to do).

It tasted lovely, and got demolished quite quickly!

Zachary turns one (post over a month late)!

So on the 6th May our little baby boy turned one!

One already! How can that be?

He really isn't so little anymore either, he's a tall and stocky lad, just like his Dad and oldest brother.

I know it's cliche but this past year has flown by and is all a bit of a blur!

Zachary is such a happy soul, you know if he's crying that there is a problem.

So content with the simplest of things.

His favourite toys are balls, and cars. He's often found with a ball in his hand or chasing one!

He's been so good with feeding, taking to solids probably much earlier than he was supposed to really, but it worked for him. I fed him up to around 7 months too which is the longest I have breast fed any of the boys, after that we transitioned him to his own bed rather than his next to me crib. It took a while for me to get evenings back due to him clinging to me most evenings and waking most times we tried him in his cot. Now though he is brilliant, he loves his sleep so much that he will have around a 3 hour nap in the day which the other two boys rarely did, some mornings we might be lucky enough to get a lie in off him-shame the other two don't though.

He adores his older brothers and loves following them around the place, the biggest smiles are always saved for when we pick them up from school, it melts my heart every time.

He is saying a few words now too, mama being his first, followed by dada, Alex (Ala), Sam (lala), hiya, and his first word to an object being Alexa haha. Since his birthday he has least 'ba' which is either ball, book, back, or balloon, and has perfected 'more, more' whenever there is a sniff of food or rustle of a packet!

He's been steady on his feet for ages, standing alone for quite some time, but only started proper steps around 12 months, since his birthday he has got more and more confident. He now walks unaided (with a few little falls on his bum) and if he falls he is straight up again!

For his birthday we kept it pretty simple, the weather was gorgeous, and as we were having walls knocked down at our place we couldn't have people over. So we opted for heading to the local Zoo for the day. My parents and brothers joined us too, we had a picnic and the all important birthday cake before introducing Zac to Cotswold wildlife park, somewhere we have enjoyed visiting for many years (even as kids ourselves).

I made a big vanilla sponge and filled it with jam and buttercream, I've always wanted to make a hungry caterpillar cake for a 1st birthday so this was my theme.

The cake was delicious if I say so myself. 

It was so lovely to enjoy a summery birthday, with the rest of us 4 having birthday's in Nov and Dec it was a real novelty.

We went to my parents for a BBQ and more cake afterwards, and it was the end of a perfect first birthday.

Just can't believe that is the last of the baby days, and last of  the baby firsts! *sob*

3rd Child syndrome

Oops, I've just been updating a couple of bits of an old post as the links weren't complying with something as I've just had a quick flick through some posts of mine to realise that I really haven't written about Zac much at all, if anything other than his birth!!!

Feeling a bit guilty for that I must admit and definitely a case of 3rd child syndrome.

Life with three kids (and lets face it the hubby is sometimes like a fourth haha) is just so busy and full on that I just don't get much time to write anymore.

Zachary is nearly 9 months, which is just unbelievable in itself!

So before I forget or loose the scrappy bit of paper with important dates on I thought I'd type down a few bits I've missed on the blog!

At around 3 and 1/2 weeks he rolled a couple of times from his front to his back, I think this must have been a complete fluke though as it didn't happen for a long time after that. He was a super sleepy baby in the day at this age...night times maybe not so much!

At about 4 weeks old we had the first smiles, some in the bath and them some for Daddy! At at 6 weeks old we were treated with the big gummy grins especially after waking up.

He loved bath time, I think part of this must have been because when he was tiny the weather was really quite hot (feels like forever ago since summer now though) I was giving him baths quite frequently to cool him and make it more comfortable for him. Alex and Sam love bath time with him too, although a bit of a squeeze if they all want to get in at the same time!

At 8 weeks he did he first full night from about 10ish to  6.30, and by 10ish weeks this was most nights (unfortunately this was very short lived much to my disappointment)!

At 15 weeks he rolled from front to back, a day before 4 months old he mastered back to front and also sitting unaided for the first time!!

As he is one of my boys, and a Spencer boy at that I did decide to wean early at 19 weeks ( I know lots of people cringe when I say that), I've weaned all 3 of the boys early as they simply were starving! You know yourself if they are ready for food, Zachary was getting extremely angry at dinner time and was trying to grab anything he could off our plates. I just stuck to simple baby rice for quite a few weeks though. This made him so much happier, although unlike his brothers it made no difference to the night time wake ups and feeds.

By around 23 weeks we really knew that we had him as he no longer stayed in the same place as he got around the lounge with shuffling and his newly perfected rolling, always after the boys hot wheels as opposed to his own toys!

At 25 weeks you could see he was eager to crawl, up on hands and knees and launching himself forward when possible, at 27 weeks the commando crawl was happening and just a week after he'd discovered there were more rooms to explore other than the lounge (eek)!!

Not content with just crawling at 28 1/2 weeks he decided that standing himself up using the bath tub handle would be a fun thing to do too! Just to make bath times even more interesting I think!!

He's a strong lad so at 29 weeks he was able to sit up from a crawling position.

Now the next bits aren't so exact on the dates as A. I have no idea how many weeks he is now and B. we've been so busy I've forgotten to jot things down. Thank goodness I like to use facebook etc though!

I was super excited that one of my children said 'mama' first the other two were definitely 'dada' so I've rubbed this in a little to James who is a little put out by it haha. Such a magical moment, but I do wonder when it starts to change (like now if the older two say Mum constantly it grates on me haha).

He was up against the sofas at 7 months, although happy to just stand up rather than cruise.

At 7 and 1/2 months he tried to say Hiya.

At 8 months he climbed the stairs...I'd like to say with an adult behind him, I'd like to say I watched him do it, but in all honestly he snuck up when the lounge door was left ajar, the boys were supposed to be keeping an eye on him for 2 minutes whilst James and I were on an important call in the office. I've never panicked so much in my own home, the hall was dark, the boys oblivious to the fact he's even got out the room! I ran upstairs to the dark landing and still couldn't hear or see him, then I really panicked!! Sam then found him in Alex's room  (also dark) with a small piece of Lego in his mouth just to top off the bad parenting award! Needless to say a stairgate was bought quickly after that!!

At 8 1/2 months he's now trying to say 'dada' although it's normally just one big 'daaa' or 'dud'. We've had a few bab and lala type sounds too, and it's very cute when he's chatting away to himself.

He's such a good tempered baby, and generally only cries when there is really an issue of hunger, tiredness or pain (downside to an active one is they always seem to bump themselves into things). He is so active though as spots an open door, a little crumb (or not food but something else small to pop into his mouth!) stairs from a mile off, so really have to watch him. He's opening cupboard doors etc now too so will be ordering so door locks.

I'd say the only thing we've yet to master yet is a proper routine, not sure if it's the school routine that has made it harder for him to fall into his own routine or just that's his way of keeping me on my toes. He often sleeps at different times of the day most days so I never really know what to expect, like for example today he's still asleep in his pushchair from our morning school run (nice to sit on sofa with the laptop for a change though), sometimes he won't sleep until after lunch, sometimes he won't sleep in his cot and only my arms.

In the past 4 or 5 months I think I can count on 1 hand how many times he's slept through, he likes to wake and be cuddled in our bed! He does usually go back to sleep straight away though, up until 8 months I'd still been breastfeeding at night when he woke but I decided to try and stop and see if it made any difference. Actually since I stopped feeding him at night he seems to be settling down quicker when he comes in and will then sleep until the morning. In fact he loves a lie in! Sometimes I'm sad to see our breast feeding journey end (without me planning on it) and in other ways I'm glad, a couple of weeks ago I started to get mastitis symptoms so just decided it wasn't worth the pain and to just stop after I'd cleared the blockage!

He's such a cutie and really gaining his personality now, I just wish he'd slow down a little!! Can't imagine our family without him.

Blogtober: Babies

Babies.

That word might but the fear of God into some people, but for my husband and I we knew it was something that we wanted.

Admittedly at 19 when we found out I would be expecting on my 20th birthday it was a bit of a shock to the system, we were scared, I was panicked, I was wondering what everybody would be thinking of me, dreading the bump and the looks off of strangers. Most of all I was dreading telling my parents, so much so I made James do it!!

But once the idea had all settled and everyone else had started to get excited about it, and we had our home then I relaxed.

On the 20th November, 6 days early Alex was born at 7lb 10oz.

Two and a bit years later we got very broody again, and after a rocky few months where I felt dreadfully sick my bump grew and grew and Sam was born on the 9th December, 8 days early (thankfully as was dreading going late and over Christmas) at 7lb 14oz.

Sadly last year I suffered an early miscarriage. It shock me up a great deal, we've been so lucky and fallen pregnant first time so I just thought that my body would be great as it had been previously.

When we came around to the idea of having another baby I was so nervous, nervous and more aware of what could go wrong. I don't think that feeling ever left me during the whole Zac's pregnancy. Zac kept us waiting until his due date, 6th May at weighed in at 7lb 12oz.

I don't know where I'd be without my boys! They drive me mad, but they all give so much love!

Blogtober: All about me

I've been off the ball with blogging of late so thought this little challenge would be good!

I'm doing an A-Z of me.

A Alex

He's our eldest son, and nearly 8 years old. He's almost catching me up height-wise (up to my chin), a lively soul and very much into cars, football and computer games. He's challenging at times and we do clash, but he has a heart of gold under all the tough exterior.

B Boys

I'm surrounded by them! I have 3 sons with my husband, James, who can sometimes act like the 4th boy at times. I also have 2 brothers, and James has 4 brothers with only one sister, so you could say that I am rather outnumbered. It's a good job I'm not a 'girly girl'!

C Cars

I'm nearly 28 but alas I don't drive, James recently bought a car that is automatic, in a hope that I will renew my provisional (from when I had about 20 lessons at 17!) and have a bit more confidence in at least starting to learn again! Confidence is something that I severely lack in many ways!

D Danielle

That's me! And also the name behind my business Danielle Louise Designs. I'm on maternity leave at the moment but will be using a couple of my 'keeping in touch days' for a few Christmas markets. I love creating, it's my little bit of me time and escapism from every day life. I can't wait to have a little more time to start up again, I know that it's never going to be anything big, unless anything drastically changes but love creating art and keepsakes for people.

E Energy

Something I am very much craving right now, with 3 kids who seem to not know how to put things away in right places, cause havoc around the house, a husband who works lots and creates more mess than the kids, a baby that still doesn't like sleeping through night energy is something I rarely have these days!

F Family

Although they drive me mad at times, family is really everything to be, I don't know what I'd be or do without them. They are my life, I couldn't bare to be apart from them for long. Most our immediate family live close by, siblings starting to stray further afield now (James' brother in USA) but that makes moments together so much more special!

G Greed

I hate to admit it, but I always want more. Whether that's more me time, more money, more time as a family, more clothes, a bigger house. As much as I want to enjoy everything right now it's so hard to switch off the greed and hunger for more, as much as I am also so grateful for everything that we do have and what we have achieved in 10 years. 

H Hunger

At the moment I cannot stop eating, I think I got into bad habits from when the morning sickness stopped in pregnancy, and then breastfeeding just seems to make me hungry 24/7! I am known for getting very hangry (just like my father haha), feed me and my mood will change, especially if it's freshly baked cake!

I Ice cream

The perfect addition to any freshly baked cake! Also one reason I am slightly larger than I should be right now as I have been known to eat a fair amount of Ben and Jerry's since I was pregnant with Zachary!! 

J James

My husband of just over 3 years, and this September my partner for 10. We started dating when we were 17 and for a couple of our age have certainly crammed in a lot! 2 Houses, 3 children, 1 wedding, and lots of happy memories and stressful times in-between! James really is my rock, I do not know where I would be without him, he is such a hardworking and kind man, I feel funny writing man as he really is a big kid! But I love him so much, if only he would pick up after himself a little more ;)

K Kids

I always knew I wanted kids, and well that dream has come true and we have 3 beautiful boys!

L Love

Some other things that I love: chocolate, baked goodies, fresh sunny mornings, crunching through leaves, cold side of the pillow, being hugged to sleep, having my head stroked, craft shop.

M Mother

That is me now as much as I love it sometimes at home I wish I was called something else so I don't constantly hear MUM, MUMMY, MUM, where are you  MUM haha. Deep down I wouldn't have it any other way though.

N Nonsense

With 3 boys and James there is a lot of nonsense in our house, and well, if I'm honest I have to join in too sometimes...I'm not going to be seen as cool for long I fear so might as well give them a few laughs whilst I can get away with it!

O October

October is the time of year my mind has to go into overdrive. It's the month I HAVE to start planning (at least in my head) the upcoming 4 birthdays before Christmas, and also start stocking up on Christmas presents too.

P Popular

I've never really been the 'popular' one, I've always been pretty shy and hide behind other peoples personas. I would crave to have a friendly relationship (other than James) with someone that I can call no matter what time, about anything at all. Although I''ve had best friends etc, and I do have friends, but I'm such an introvert that I've not helped myself throughout the years

Q Queen

A band that the older two keep asking to play on Alexa. It's quite funny as now they are recognising the songs and singing along. Although Alex often asks for King instead!!

R Roast

Mum's home cooked roast is the best. I still can't manage to time a roast right when I cook it, no matter how hard I try I just get it right! I can never beat Mum's roast potatoes!

S Sam

Is our middle son who will be 5 in December, he's a funny little boy with such an infectious laugh! He loves snuggling under a blanket and watching a Disney movie or TV. just like Alex he is hot wheels mad too!

T Tentative

I am far to tentative! I always overthink, worry, and am hesitant to change. It's something I need to work on for the future!!

U Undecided

James would say that one of my bad traits is my indecision with so much!

V Voice

I need to find my voice more, not only to be more outgoing and vocal, but to speak out and get passionate about something and not worry so much on other people's opinions of what I am saying

W Work

I've only had one job, the one I started when I was 17 (I think), it was working in the stockroom at Next. To some extent I enjoyed it, and in some ways I would love to get back into some sort of work, but I've been out of work since 2012 as I didn't go back after having Sam so it will be a huge hurdle if and when it does happen!

X ray

I've had one X-ray before, I really busted my hand playing netball once. I took a tumble and landed on the tips of my fingers, my hand the next few days was very swollen! Thankfully it wasn't broken (somehow) I miss not playing netball, but with the 3 boys and out weekends already being taken up by football and parties I don't think it would be fair just now to take a few hours out on a Saturday.

Y Yes

Yes is a word I should say more rather than 'maybe', 'in a minute' 'after this job', I need to be more positive and take more opportunities.

Z Zachary

Last but by no means least. Zachary is our newest addition to the family, and he has slotted in very nicely. Although he doesn't like sleeping through the night (much to my disappointment) he really is such an easy baby otherwise, he's already got the Spencer cheeky grin like the rest of the family and everyone loves him so. Can't wait to see what he turns out like in the years to come, his personality is shining through already.

Baby haze. The early days

Every one says the early days of a new born are hard but I don't think anyone can actually prepare you for it!

The final weeks of pregnancy take their toll on your body both physically and mentally topped with labour (no matter how long or not it is) so when that baby is placed in your arms you need the adrenaline that your body runs on!

This time I think I was running on adrenaline for some time as I couldn't sleep in the hospital despite being up over 24hours.

The first couple of nights I barely slept, not sure if it was some baby insomnia where I was just too worried about baby to sleep!

Zachary was a good baby in that he would sleep laying flat which our other 2 wouldn't do, but the first few nights were hard I had barely any sleep, one night I didn't manage any until 3.30am!

The first few days seemed like we were in de ja vu as we ended up at the hospital on the day 3 (for me with a big clot/membrane), the following day we went to the children's ward for Zachary to have a jaundice check (thankfully fine). I was just in a daze and not with it at all. The bleeding seemed heavy this time around, after pains strong although not as bad as after Sam and I was just an emotional wreck.

Typically when the midwife mentioned heading to the hospital for the jaundice check I burst into tears, partly from tiredness but mostly from baby blues, that was the day my milk came in and thankfully the jaundice worked it's way out after that.

I thought I was on a roll then, thinking that breastfeeding was going well but then they got so sore. So sore I bought an electric pump and then gave him the odd bottle of expressed milk to give me a break and time to heal. I thought that was working but then another spanner in the works.

On about day 9 he screamed from lunch time, he acting like he wanted feeding but then when I tried either breast or expressed bottle he would fuss and arch. He had a small feed at 12am and woke at 7am I was so panicked. He seemed lethargic, hadn't a dirty nappy in the night and I was really scared something was wrong. So much so James went to the docs and managed to chat to my midwife who sent someone earlier than she was meant to be coming over that day.

The midwife was happy nothing serious was wrong, typically (although thankfully) he wet his nappy as soon as she turned up. No temp although warm to touch, fontanelle not sicken, we eventually put it down to him possibly having a sore tummy or something!

I was glad I got to see the midwife I had throughout my pregnancy a couple of days later (I had a couple of extra days on the books and not the typical 10)  and she weighed Zachary who had put on over his birth weight at 8lb 3oz.

I always had in my head that his pregnancy was the easiest out of them and that he would give me a run for my money in the early days!

Our water birth

Throughout this pregnancy and probably the one with Sam also I was tempted to try a water birth.

Unfortunately with Sam the pool rooms were taken which made me want to try it more so this time around, particularly as this is our last baby (unless anything drastic changes in the next few years)!

I was so pleased that when we got to the birthing centre the second time on the 6th May that we had a room with a pool.

I couldn't believe how large the room actually was!

There was the pool, a typical hospital bed, low bed, beanbag, birthing ball and an en suite.

With my stop-start labour  (read previous posts) I actually didn't get a lot of chance to be in the pool. I think I was only in there for 30mins max and most of that time I was pushing Zachary out!

Having said that I was so much more relaxed when in the pool, beforehand I was in agony, grabbing onto James's hands and even trying to bite my arm! I even had some gas and air which I didn't have with either boys!

Once in the warm water the pain, although still there, became more bearable, I no longer used the gas and air ..but still grabbed James's hands!

I still felt the burning sensation when Zachary was making his way out, I know some people say that the pool can help with this. I do wonder if I had been able to be in the pool a little longer whether this may have helped with that.

Zachary seemed to be quite calm when he came out and it was quite nice being sat in the pool a short while before needing to get out.

You do feel slightly 'on show' in the water but I think by that point you don't really care...it's not like the midwives haven't seen it all before!

The hardest part about the water birth is probably the getting in and out! Getting in I was mid contraction and getting out helped my placenta come (due to gravity I guess) at least I didn't need the injection to speed things along, it always feels super gross to me when it comes out!

If you are thinking of a water birth I would definitely recommend it, even if only for the pain relief!

The staff and facilities we had at the white horse birthing centre, GWH were amazing too.

Our 3rd birth story

So if you haven't already you may want to read my previous post to catch up...

The midwife quickly filled up the pool for me whilst I sucked in the gas and air through the now piercing contractions.

I was a little bit out of it when James and the midwife wanted to move me across from the bed to the pool. I remember having a contraction but not being able to really talk and tell. I think the midwife thought I didn't want to get in the pool!

I took the slow walk with each arm in one of theirs over to the pool and the steps into it were hard work.

Instantly I relaxed in the water, the warm water helped so much with the pain. I no longer took any of the gas and air.

I was knelt down with my hands either Ron the pool handles on in James's hands.

I instantly got the pushing sensation and got the go ahead from midwife to do so. My waters went (something that's not happened to me naturally before) and shortly after the head was born.

I was exhausted and really felt like I didn't have it in me for the next few pushes but itstill weird how your body just takes over!

He was born at 11.35pm, making the last stage of labour only 30mins!

I was quite in shock when he was born I must admit when first holding him I was in a bit of a daze. He seemed to come so quickly!!!

He must have been eager to be one of the 5% of babies born on their due date as he only just made it with 25mins to spare!

And yes, it was another beautiful baby boy.

Atb7lb 12oz he wasn't even my biggest baby despite being born a week later than the other boys.

After the placenta (which came without needing the injection) I sat back on the bed and had the check for stitches (which I definitely needed the gas and air again for)! Thankfully I didn't need any (never have woop) and after the gas and air wore off I had those all important skin to skin snuggles ans feed with our new little man.

James text our parents and even rang his older brother who lives in America as he'd knew they be around unlike most of our family due to it being past midnight.


The quiet time was perfect ano he even slept in the hospital crib after his checks.

I had a shower (always a horrifying experience post birth) and felt much more refreshed. We tried a little sleep but I was running on adrenaline...James on the otherhand was snoring so loud!!

I couldn't stop looking at our bundle of joy!

James asked when it would be possible to go home as we knew we'd be comfortable there. After all the paperwork etc we were let out about 5 or 6am.

And there we left the hospital with Zachary tucked up safe in his car seat.

After a little snooze back home we woke around 8ish and worked on choosing his middle name as we were far too tired beforehand to think of one.

So introducing

Zachary Jack Spencer
6.5.17