Mr and Mrs Humble

As most of the people that are on my blog list in fact pretty much everyone apart from cheeky monkey were at the wedding it is not much point writing about it, so thought I would let the pictures speak for themselves. It was a beautiful day and an even more beautiful venue and an even more even more beautiful bride and groom.
Here are some pics:

In the swing of things

Well I have been back at work for just on 2 weeks now and it is an adjustment working and trying to juggle time to play with Joshua when I get home, bath him, feed him and start supper all by 7pm.! Needless to say it is a challenge, but know that millions of women out there do it so... so must I. Last weekend was hectic for me as my nanny that looks after Joshua had a family emergency her son was admitted to hospital therefore she wasnt at work on Friday and I was in a predicament as our back up granny and grandpa were away in Oudtshoorn, so Clive and I looked at each other in the morning at 6:30am and said 'now what?'. Yes I have heard the 'if your child was in creche you wouldnt have had this problem' but that was not the choice I made, yes I know family emergencies happen - still damn Murphey and his Law that it was the first week I was back at work!

So pack up Joshua and his campcot (thank goodness I invested in one of these 3 weeks prior) his pram, his bottles, his overflowing nappybag and off to work we go. Luckily I have quite a large office and it is my own so he stayed in with me not disturbing anyone else. BUT what a nightmare, never again, he was out of sorts and too much to look at, I was out of sorts as how do I work while he is moaning and wants to be played with, how does he sleep while the phones are ringing and I am tip toeing around my office in case I wake him working in the dark so the downlighters dont keep him awake...! NEVER NEVER NEVER again. I would rather put in a days leave. Speaking of which I am yet again stunned over this country's policy with Family Responsibility Leave, now I know that there are people out there that take advantage but really when I heard Kristian (Wendy's hubby to be) say that they had 15 days Family Responsibility leave I almost choked on my cappuccino! We have 3 in this country 3 days out of 365!!! and some companies will only grant it for sick children or dying 'immediate' family relatives. Gavin Davis if you are reading this can you please raise this issue in parliament!!! haha only kidding!

Well from there we had Wendy's Kitchen Tea on the Saturday I had booked a pedicure at SKIN with a about to expire voucher I had received as a baby shower gift and thought how nice I can relax and Clive can look after Joshua and I can stroll around after.. not to be! Steven was fetching my hubby for paintballing (Kristians bachelors) at 11:30 so I had to race from SKIN to the parkade home to have Joshua handed over to me and sort him out pack the numerous bags and accessories you have for a baby to take him to Wendy's Kitchen Tea (which as Susan put it was outnumbered by little ones) It was a great Kitchen Tea and really well put together by Caroline but I was exhausted still from the Friday debacle and rushing on Saturday that when we eventually got home on Saturday at 6ish Joshua was ready to play and not sleep, he was all out of sorts so I threw my proverbial toys out of the cot as they say and told Clive he was to take over. I mean enough was enough, I needed a break, I was in bed on Saturday night at about 8:30 and felt much better on Sunday.

I am soo excited for Wendy and Kristians wedding on Saturday a night out whoo hoo!!!
Am disappointed that Catherine Davis will be missing it as she is stuck in the UK but that is another whole story - shame poor Gav thinking of you - know you must be missing them.
Well I am off now
Have a great week all
xxx

It's Official

Hi all it is official.... I am now a Working Mother. Damn! Being back at work is not great, but have found that it is (so far - we are only 3 days in) not as bad as I thought it would be. I pictured myself sobbing at the front door and mascara streaming down my cheeks by the time I got to work, and surprised myself that it didnt happen. Yes I felt emotional in the car on the way to work yes I miss him terribly in the day, and yes I probably overcompensate when I get home and do absolutely nothing but play and cuddle him till bath time and sleep time.

A large part of being able to do this is that I had Meriam with me for a month and a half and she knows how I do things and Joshua has gotten used to her so I feel comfortable leaving him with her. Of course huge doses of prayer that all will be well goes into the equation as well. And I have to let go and trust that he will be fine, however I am watchful and aware of his moods / patterns etc. so will still be keeping tabs on that.

Joshua is growing so fast, I loved Pia's post which was in Your Baby last month too, on wishing someone had told her about last moments. So mindful of this every moment I am with him I am trying to suck it all up into my being so that I will never forget it. He is already only down to 2/3 breastfeeds a day compared to sole breastfeeding. I had to put him onto formula 3 weeks before I came back to work as I just could not express enough to store up and would not be able to express 3 feeds a day at work. Let me tell you I dont miss that breast pump as good as it was! But he loves his bottle and knows it when he sees it and the hands already go out with moaning of course. It is amazing to see how has evolved from that tiny little baby who just slept and drank. I am sure it is only going to get better as he gets older just please Father Time not too fast. He is now on some rice cereal and is loving it though I am only giving him very little just to let his tummy get used to it.

So this mom has to get back to work now ...... I leave you with some pics of the cereal eating..

Joshua & Mommy Day - 28 July 2008

Josh playing at Gymboree with mommy

Bubble time

With dad singing 'Grand Old Duke of York'

The birthday boy - Matthew Brooker

The Cake

At the beach with Lily and Wendy

With Merriam our nanny

Josh chilling

On his way out to the party

Mom and Dad and me at Gymboree

What was that ma

Gorgeous Lily

Josh with Lily's glasses on - all wrapped up

Ms Model with her glasses on

Wendy singing at the table :-)

The title of my post is Joshua day it is my last day alone with my baby today, his nanny is off today to the clinic and we are home alone as we were when he first came home from hospital. So I have dubbed today Joshua and Mommy day. He currently has a cold with a cough so am going to phone the paedetrician today to see whether he wants to see him, there is no colour to the mucous no fever and he is still drinking fine. I have read up on internet and apparently there is no medication that can be given, but we will see if the paed wants to see him.

We had a wonderful weekend although am so ready for summer as we have had enough of this cold weather! We went to Matthew Brookers 1st birthday party on Saturday at Gymboree whichwas great fun. Last week Clive celebrated (well not actually he said 31 is a pathetic no.) During the day while he had to work I met up with Wendy and Lily and we had a lovely walk down at the beach, and stopped for a coffee, where Joshua tried Lily's glasses on :-) He is such a good baby and am enjoying this age so much.

Then on Saturday night I went to meet little Sarah Cobley for the first time - yay she is gorgeous and has such blonde hair, am so pleased she is finally home!

Well I am off now as I have lots to do today ..... play and play and play with my little angel.
xxx

4 Month old mark is a coming…

Hi all sorry for the delay in posts, have being trying to enjoy each and every moment with Josh as I am back at work first week in August…sigh…double sigh! But yes reality is starting to hit me, today especially. I popped out to Canal Walk today without him and found myself racing around the shops because I just wanted to be home with him. Have been feeling a little bit emotional today about it all, am trying to be strong and know that I am not the only mom out there that had to go back to work…but still know that I will miss him terribly during the day.

Joshua will be 4 months old on the 24^th July – 1 day after my hubby turns 31. I am not sure of the milestones, but my little boy loves to stand preferably sitting and then I pull him up and say ‘Tada!’ Or ‘Superman’ to which I get huge grins and he straightens his little legs all stiff and starts to move his legs forward. When I took him to the clinic I showed them how he loves to stand and starts to step forward, and they said to me he will walk early…but we will see he still has to master crawling. He has also started talking….wow my boy must be a genius…only kidding talking as in his own baby language almost singing in a way...very cute! He is also starting teething. The classic drooling, rosy cheeks, gnawing on his hand on my finger. In fact you can see one or two teeth in his upper gum that are there waiting to coming down I suppose, shame it must be quite sore, he has been relatively good and am just using Ashton and Parsons powder at the moment. Many people have asked when I am going to start him on solids and this is a much debated issue at the moment, the WHO (World Health Organization) is now recommending infants only start solids from 6 months, but know that some babies start the cereal as they just are not full enough on the milk, I would be interested in some feedback from the mommy bloggers.

Tomorrow we have a pediatrician appointment and so will hear how he is doing from that perspective – at the clinic he weighs a whopping 7.040kg, so is doing well. I am pleased that he is still having 3 breastfeeds in the morning, midnight (actually about 2am) and evening and then 3 bottle formula feeds during the day. Some people have said that some babies don’t take the breast after having the bottle so am pleased that he is still having both.

Another milestone in Josh’s life is that he has just migrated out of his moses basket / bassinet into his campcot in our room now as he was just getting too small for that thing! I know he must go to his cot in is own room but with breast feeding in the middle night I must say selfishly it is easier for me and can keep an eye on him.

July and August is another month of much ado about a lot - going on that is. I am looking forward to two things mainly: Sarah Cobley coming home! Dying to meet her and have her come home and meet all of us and enjoy her beautiful nursery and for mom and dad Cobley to have their little girl all to themselves. And secondly to Wendy and Kristian's wedding, It will also be a night out for Clive and I which will be nice.

Other than that we have a lot on the horizon trying to sell our house to move to a bigger one (in this market!) and fitting in time with friends and Josh while still on Maternity Leave.

xxx

Weaning and things....

Me and My Teddy

Playing on my Tum

Hmm - I'm a thinker

Is this all I get to eat?

Fun in the big bath

Well here I sit at the PC late at night when I should be in bed getting rest as I know I am going to be woken by Josh at about 11:30pm / 12:00pm. Although last night was a good night he went down at 6:30 woke at 01:30am and then again at 05:30am, but who knows if tonight will be the same, normally it is 11 or 12:30 then again at 4:15/4:30 and again at about 6:30/7:00. I really need to do some research on whether this is all considered the norm as I have pretty much allowed him to set his own rythym. He is quite set on his bath time routine though and starts to get very irritable and moody at about 5:15 pm or so as he knows bath time is between 17:30 and 18:00, I end off the bath with a bit of massage singing his favourite "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" very softly and then he knows it is time for food which at the moment is still breastfed.

I have started weaning him from the breast for the 10ish am and 1ish pm feed. The reason I use the words "ish" is because he seems to want to have breakfast promptly at 9:30 and lunch at 1:00pm and it doesnt matter if he only ate at 7am via breast he still wants the bottle at 9:30am, which has me tearing out my hair when will he stretch, he has never stretched 4 hours apart from the very beginning, he has always been a maximum wait of 3 hours between feeds but more commonly 2.5hours in the day, the night time he is very good with. Initially he did not really like the bottle and even less so accepting it from Meriam our nanny, I think he associates feeding with smelling mommy, so thanks to Heather's advice we now place a blanket that I have held him with over her shoulder and voila he takes the bottle from her. Now I sit and wait for him to make poos as you need to watch this when on formula... sigh the joys... and the colours sorry to be graphic but it is amazing at the things you now have to consider!!!

In addition Meriam our nanny and I have started a first aid course a level 1 plus as we do infant cpr and choking in it too, it has been really informative and the second and last session is tomorrow, I now know how to perform cpr on an adult and baby and what to do if a baby / toddler is choking. It is something we think we will never need, and yet can save a life if we just knew what to do. I can definitely recommend it to any new and old moms !!

Here are some more pics of Joshua ... he is just getting so adorable now and he knows me so well his face lights up and he makes noises when he sees me it is the most rewarding thing, sometimes I force myself to go out and when I come back I have missed him so much it is the most rewarding thing to come back to that cutie pie face.

3 Months is a coming

Hello everyone I turn 3 months old this Tuesday 24th June 2008, and am getting so big and clever, here are some pictures to show you.

A big welcome to baby Sarah Cobley born 18th June 2008, we know you are in good hands and cant wait until you are out of hospital to meet you personally - photos are just not good enough!

More good news is that my Nanny Meriam has started and she is absoloutely great so far, so that is a HUGE weight off my shoulders - Yay!

Can you see the resemblence - its me - many moons ago

Joshua at just on 3 months - taken today

What Mom?

Its a sin to be this cute...

After my 2nd set of injections on Thursday - eina

Moms a bit messy but hey we were playing...

Kisses for my angel

xxxxx

Highs and Lows (mostly Highs though)

Relaxing on mom and dads bed am getting so tall

In the bath with dad - loved it!

When you going to take me out this chair mom?

Smiling for this damn camera again

Max Davis - 1st Birthday party and his cute face he pulls

Davis family

Sigh... life is good - in the arms of Nana Fi at Max's Party

Motherhood has highs and lows and the other day I was at a low. Joshua my little angel was not being an angel! He has started to wake again for the 10 / 11 pm feed and I am feeling seriously sleep deprived again, he does not adhere to the so called 4 or even 3 hourly feed pattern and it is more like every 2 and a half hours. Those that have breast fed know that the period between feeds starts from the time you 'start a feed' so for example 9am start - next feed is at 12 or 1, well some feeds only end at 10 or 10:15 and then he wants to feed again at 11:30, which does not leave room for me to do anything. Not to mention to worry what will happen with the nanny when he is at home with her. So I will speak to the breasfeeding clinic again as it is probably a growth spurt again as he will be 12 weeks on Monday and due for his next set of jabs. (shame) I was lucky last time he was fine that day and the next but the day after was miserable no fever though so am hoping that it will be the same this time round. It looks like though sadly that when I go back to work I am going to have to supplement his day feedings with formula as I just cannot express enough for 3 feeds in the day so am hoping that he wont go off my breast once I introduce him to formula. So therein lies another whole new chapter and learning curve with formula bottles etc, which I am not used to, how much, side effects, storing etc, all new things to learn.

Oh yes, good news, I have found a nanny she must still meet clive and she will be on a trial basis for 3 months (probationary period). Her name is Meriam and so far so good, she is 40 and is a african mama who has her own 2year old boy (and 2 older boys) and was just great with him, singing to him and picking him up, and is so jacked around the house. She worked for a family for 5 years in Melkbos who are moving to JHB and she is not going with as her family is here, she is initally from Bloemfontein and speaks really nicely. So fingers crossed everyone that she is THE ONE. Must say that is a relief that I have made some progress there. Other than that life with Joshua is so precious and he is growing so quickly that I cant keep up and am trying to mentally savour all the moments I have with him. Secretly cant wait to have another one, crazy I know but really would love a little girl, and dont want to be 36 or older when I am pregnant again.

This last month and half of Maternity Leave will be really eventful lots happening and lots of friends down, Wendy and Lily arrive, Sarah Cobley will be arriving and another friend from Qtar Kelly arrives so we will be having a busy month and a bit.

We also had Max's 1st birthday party last week (Joshua's 2nd party in the same amount of weeks) Max is too cute for words and has a lovely facial expression that I am going to try upload on the blog with our ridiculously slow internet connection.

Motto for today: Life is great, Life is precious, look to and hold onto those things that matter most to you and ignore the rest.

Have a great weekend and Fathers day especially to Clive who will be celebrating his first !
xxx

Halfway Mark.......

Today is the 1st of June, it is a number of things. A friends 30th birthday, halfway through the year and more importantly to me, halfway through my paltry 4 month maternity leave. I know I have gone on and on a bit about this maternity leave, but honestly the companies in this countrys maternity leave is pathetic. I mean a baby is really tiny at 4 months, and what is a mom to do, these days it is few and far between those that are able to stay at home, and I am just unfortunately not one of those moms that get to stay at home.

Suffice to say I am jealous of those that are able to and I am quite happy to lose myself for awhile and relish in the joys of motherhood and take in all precious moments. Having read Pia's blog, I unashamedly know that I am the Alpha mom. Knowledge is power and I love knowledge. I have and do read a lot and have done since very young suffice to say I dont know everything but I know a lot from reading, be it stories, newspapers, biographies and believe it or not a lot of my general knowledge comes from my good old 'story teller' tape and book set I used to get once a week when I was younger. How else would I know Thor is the god of Thunder? Through my story teller I tell you. Anyhow I digress. How I long to stay at home and take in all of Joshua's new learnings. How on earth can you love someone so much. Clive asked me the other day if I love Joshua more than him, so I said it is a different kind of love, his (Joshua's) is unconditional and yours is conditional. Haha sad but true, although the love for my husband has increased since having a baby.

I must say I cant wait to have the second, not right now because I want to enjoy Joshua, but cant wait to have a little girl (hopefully....) or even another boy if that is what is written in the stars. There can be no greater gift or privilege than to be a mother, I wanted to start crying when I read Sandra Green's post on being a mother and am quite happy to put myself on the back burner for a while, unfortunately it is not possible for me to stay at home, but I will endeavour to make sure that I am the best Alpha mom when I am with him and not take a moment for granted. I am amazed that when I go out I miss him so much and when I am back home just hold him close to me and whisper "Mommy loves you" and I get a gurgle back, who needs anything more than that....

My little boy is growing at a rapid rate and is 10 weeks tomorrow, he has started to smile nicely talks to his mom all the time with goos and gaas and loves his bath now. Here are some updated pics for you all.

Me and My Dad

Me at Cafe Ntidia for breakfast

Me and My Mommy

Me and My Mommy again...

and again....

I am sooooo cute man

we are F.A.M.I.L.Y

Levi Nell - our godson's 1st birthday

Joshua sleeping through his 1st birthday party with his party pack

Levi's cake