August-September 2010 Moms

Just a quick pop-in - love reading about all the toddlers, keep the stories coming!
Cols - John does the same thing with the blankie over his head while in his cot, the other day I "interrupted" him playing with his toys - I took the blanket off his head wondering what he was doing, he was so upset. It is too cute, playing peek-a-boo with his cot pals

I meant to phone the nurse to see if I can take John next monday for his shots, she is off duty now, I better call tomorrow. I need to have the shot with him, I never got my german measles shot as a baby, we only discovered it when I was pregnant and had the blood tests.

My friend had her twin girls on Saturday, they are sooooo small but too beautiful. Together they only weigh 100g more than John weighed at birth. Can you believe it?

Christmas pressies, I'm thinking of getting John some fat waxy crayons and paper and I wanted to look for blackboard paint but I love the idea of what you got Kerry, I will look at PnP hyper for that rather so we can stick it on the door or the wall or whatever. My MIL went to the UNICEF conference and she said the bog thing is to have things stuck on the wall for our little ones but at their eye level - it makes so much sense but I never thought of it before. So I'm going to re-arrange things in his room and put his wall art all at his eye level and then I want to try put the blackboard sticker thing somewhere too so he can be creative.

Mr Price also has these bath crayons and a wheelbarrow and watering can set and a pull along wagon that I quite like for him.

Flowergirl, where are you getting the piano and stool? I really wanted to get him this piano that Mr Price had last year but I asked at one branch and they had no idea what I was talking about!

Otherwise the grandparents are putting money in his account, very wise and nice of them. I'm sure they will also buy him something small to play with.

John also LOVES cars, he makes the noises everytime Si drives out the garage in the bakkie, or if he hears anything remotely similar, he goes "vrooooom" its sooo cute! He loves pushing along all his toys with wheels, his truck in particular goes everywhere, he puts it up on the couch and then wheels it along the armrest.

He wasn't too keen on the big pool about 2 months ago so haven't tried that again but he is absolutely loving his blow up pool now that he realises how much fun he is having. He is in and out and plays endlessly with the toys. The other day he just climbed in with his clothes on so I left them on, better for sun protection! But oh my word, his nappy was so full of water when took him out, it was hysterical, it was the the fattest nappy ever! Clearly thats why you should use swimmers nappies, they don't soak up all the water! When its just him I put him in naked or just in his cossie, its fine if he wees in the water. Touch wood no poo incidents yet!
Joybaby! How funny with Kaylee and the poo! But clever girl that she "showed" you. Re: the potty thing, John is waaaay too young to understand, I just wanted to start getting him used to the idea that when mom goes to the loo, he sits on the potty. But it doesn't work, he just keeps standing up and sitting back down again or he turns the potty over and plays with it. I think its going to be a while still, they say boys take longer than girls anyway. I was wondering if its worth buying eco nappies to try and save some money. One nappy is the same price as a pack of disposables but in the long run it will save money. But how effective are they really?

Anyways, better run, chat soon, so close to Christmas now

Joybaby! So glad to see you're back! I think of you so often!

I am sooo happy to hear how well K is doing!

Have faith my friend, something will come along that is right for you!

WRT TTC. I had a laparoscopy 3 weeks ago, I had a growth in the uterus wall, endometriosis and PCOS. The PCOS was because I wasnt ovulating. I go back to the gynae on Friday for an update and check up and next steps. How nice will it be if we can be pregnant together (again)

Evan's got 7 teeth - 4 top, 3 bottom but his gums are also crazy swollen and red! He also started getting a little redness on his bum this weekend. I'm just hoping it doesnt last forever... The pain has woken him up the last few nights. Saturday I eventually gave him nurofen... Last night though he slept through.

I put his milk and water bottles in the cot with him and he drinks in the night on his own so I dont have to go sort him out that often anymore

I love the idea of the bed. At Toys r us you can get rails to put on the sides of a normal bed so they dont roll off. I think they are about R250. Evan also has a cot bed so he will be in it a bit longer.

Kerry, I think the 3/4 bed is a great idea especially if they're sick and you need to watch them... We've got a single bed in the spare room, so that'll be Evan's bed when he's a bit older. Do the sides on K's cot not drop down? Evan's cot you can actually put the base really low and the sides too so it's nice and low if they do climb out. I will wait a bit longer before I do that.

Evan also bites his dummies now. I've thrown 2 away because he bit through them. I try only giving him the dummy when he is going to sleep now.

PM, IZ is too cute man! What a little cracker you have there! Evan loves to sing now, not anything I can understand but he loves certain songs and when we got to school and the Christmas carols were playing he started dancing and "singing" along

Flowergirl, I am glad she is self soothing so well. I leave Evan while he is still awake in his cot and he settles himself. He struggles to sleep if he's being held or rocked and if I stay there he wants to talk and play with me So I also let him put himself to sleep. I also sometimes go in to tuck him in again et because he likes to bunch up his linen and sleep on top of it I hear you, I have so much to do and would rather be at home do Christmas stuff. You will see she will ease into the pool. Evan loves it now and even tries to kick his little legs and swim He laughs the whole time

We had a jam packed weekend and yesterday was Barry's dad's golf club's christmas kiddies party. Evan had such a great time. He LOVED the clown! He kept running up to him and then running away, trying to get him to chase him He even followed him around the club. He also loved petting the pot belly pig. So cute He is so independent now and just loves exploring We then went to Carols on the Square in Sandton. Evan didnt get much sleep yesterday - 1 hour in the late morning and then 30 minutes in the car in the afternoon. Normaly he has a solid 2 hour sleep or longer. Saturday he slept over 3 hours ! So I thought he'd fall asleep in the car on our way home. Nope he sat there smilling and giggling and singing. I bathed him and put him to bed just after 7:30. A few minute later I heard this wierd squeeling coming from his room so i thought something was wrong... Nope, he was playing peekaboo with Harold (his monkey). He was pulling his blanket over his head and then ripping it off and squeeling, all for his monkey So i left him to it and went back down stairs. 10 minutes later he was out cold and only got up at 7:45am this morning Bliss!

He's having his shots tomorrow. yuck. His school closes next Monday @ 12 so I am going to be leaving him at my sister during the day for Tuesday - Thursday and then I am on leave until the 5th. He is going to love it. He and my nephew are only 5 months apart and he loves his big cousin so he'll have a great time

I bought Evan a lot of different things for Christmas. Books, a sing / read along CD & book. PJs & an outfit, bubbles, a drawstring fish that swims in the bath, bowling ball and pins, crayons. Basically I collected a whole lot of suff through the year. So if I saw something like a giant bottle of bubbles (only R6 @ toys r us) i got them, also toys that were on special etc I collected them. I dont think I really spent that much. if you see everything I got. I did the same for my nephews and niece. So now I only have to worry about the adults

Hey ladies

Xmas season has definitely arrived and I sooooo don't feel like being at work anymore my sister had a pool put in her yeard and it was finished on Saturday, so we had our first day at the pool yesterday. Emily and my 2 year old nephew were not too comfortable in the water yet, but sure they will get there.

I think I have made up my mind with prezzies. Will see once I actually get in the shops to go and buy. THis is the plan:
Treehouse with "little people" from Woolies - it is a bit pricy but looks good quality and is appropriate for 18months-4 years so I am hoping she gets lots of "play" from it.
Car racing track - toddler one, also from Woolies - my child LOVES cars!!
Piano and stool - loves playing with her cousins.
DH is making her the wall easel.

My sister is getting her a pram and doll. Not sure what anyone else is getting her.

have ordered her bed, so I am re-doing her room as well and that is also costing quite a bit, so I am broke.

As for number 2, we are ready sooner that I thought we would be, but not going to happen for a while. Not prepared for the extra financial burden at the moment and also have my studies that I at least want to finish the first year of before having to go off on maternity leave.

Don't want to jinx it but we are doing really well in the sleep department - yeah!! I have been putting Emily down to fall asleep on her own for a while now and she has taken to it beautifully!! I stay in the room with her until she falls asleep and the time that it takes her to fall asleep is getting less and less. Last night I was in there for less than 5 minutes and she was lights out. I don't touch her or anything, just sit in the room so she knows she is not alone. Another week and I am hoping to leave her to fall asleep completely on her own. She is sleeping through the night now and some nights she wakes up once, but we just go tuck her in again and walk out and then goes straight back to sleep - it's awesome, hope it lasts!!

2 more weeks and then its leave - can't wait!@ My niece is staying with us at the moment and Emily is in 7th heaven, just wish I could be home with them as well!!!

Hi all!

Iz serisouly got a bad case of verbal diarree!!!!! Geez, the babbling NEVER stops! And she tries to repeat everything we say. She and Grandpa was doing some diy work in the garage yesterday! Such precious moments! She scootched closer to him as he explained all the tools and what he's doing, on which she gave him some of her own advice . Afterwards she walked around showing off their handywork. Saying Oupa, and pointing to herself when asked who made it. In this childs' mind she is more like 15 years old than 15 months old!

We got some more Goatsmilk! Serious happiness going around!

We have DH's yearend function on Thursday night. Mardi Gras/ Carnival...urgh...still need to go look for a mask. I have a teal dress, and been thinking of cherise pink/purple stilleto's to go with it.

4 days till we go on leave! Yayness!!!!!!

K is also on the verge of climbing out of her crib, so we will have to move her soon... but i just don't have the heart yet. Her crib is toddler bed size so there isn't really a space issue yet, and some nights if she could get out she would be walking around all night, so i don't know if i am ready for that.

In saying that we are doing up the spare bedroom in our house to be her new big girl room over the christmas holidays. and DH is leaning towards putting a 3/4 bed in there so we can lie with her on paticularly bad nights as even though she sl;eeps from 7 - 4:30 most nights wakes up has a bottle and goes back to sleep for another hour or so. We do have the occasional really rough night and sometimes a patch of them...

Regarding no 2 i hear you on the not being able to afford it Joybaby, thats where we are... ideally we would like to get preggies also in feb/March and as K was a 1 hit onder we are sure to get pregnant on the first attempt, the question is definately the finances. but i think when it gets there we will most likely just go ahead anyway and trust that the lord will help us through.

Its just the R1000 medical aid and then another R1200 for creche and ? for nappies? thats a huuuge monthly expense. We can only hope to even get increases... last year DH's increase was lower than the amount his medical aid went up so in actual fact turned out to be a decrease.

Ah well wherever it goes i am sure we will be fine.

Girly K also has three bottles a day now... it was down to two for about two and a half weeks and then all of a sudden i don't know if it was a growth spurt or something but now she is eating like a horse and has brought that third bottle back. We make her 200ml bottles and she finishes the morning one, the other two she seems to leave a different amount every day so i just leave it.

Sleeps from 7 till 4:30 has a bottle and sleeps again till anywhere from 5:30 to 6:30. Some nights we have a rough night with her waking frequently, but not like it used to be. We also found she started having nightmares but also found if we left the light on in the room she just woke up and went back to sleep... if the light was off it was Chaos! oh and if she has two bad nights in a rown then we bring out the big guns... mommy and her will relax in an epsom salts bath for about half an hour before bed time. (somehow it seriously seems to help)

With the teeth I cant really help... K only has 4 and i don't see signs of the next ones yet, but oh boy she struggled with the top ones! We found that throat lollies seem to help immensely with that (LOL) she rubs the lolly on the sore part of her gums.

But she has now developed this new thing of biting her dummy.... she gnaws on it all day if you don't take it away... and while i do now take it away i don't catch her in time so we are going through 2 dummy's a week!! I did find over the weekend that Ackermans has the avent dummy rip off at 2 for R20 so i will definately be visiting them again soon to buy a handfull.

Okay... so far what K is getting for christmas (that i know of)
From DH and i -
Jack in the box - R90 - Pick n pay hypermarket
Toy car remote - R100 - discount toy shop near us
a bath toy that has a ramp to launch this penguin and a squirter and stuff - R150
(similar to this)


From my parents -
Fisher price house - R650 - discount toy store

and a stocking full of things

From DH's father -
A swing set as she loooves swings... specially the tyre ones

From DH's mom -
Water and sand table - not as messy as playing in the garden, trust me
and you could use gellibath in it instead of sand?


and then things we considered -
Aloya Giant bloks
supersized duplo basically... can build furniture with... too cute
www.reggies.co.za/p-4031-aloya-giant-bri...40-giant-bricks.aspx

Board books - K has taken a fancy to actually having them read to her... for 2 mins... then gets facintaed by turning pages

Kiddies music Cd's... we love dancing now too... if you put it on we dance

I think it was flowergirl who suggested the alex wall easel?


we actually found black board contact paper at pick n pay so we got some and intend putting it on the back of our one kitchen cupboard... and my dad then suggested putting a little shelf under for the chalk.

Hope something there tickles your fancy!

Hello ladies.
BabyK'smom - vote cast - he is too cute! Can you believe its a year later now!

JHB ladies did u get together in the end? Hope you had fun. Pics please

Robyn I had to read twice, at first I thought you were talking about Dakota! Sorry to hear about your doggy.
Glad you had a chill evening on your own, you deserve it!
Re swimming lessons, one of the moms whose daughter goes to K's daycare is a swimming instructor. I'll ask her about weekends. Otherwise I can also ask Julz cos Dylan used to go somewhere on a weekend.

Cols glad Evan is doing so well. They are growing up so quickly!
How is it going with TTC now? Will you know if the endo is back or do you just wait and see? Are you on clomid? Normally it can effect your ovulation too or am I mistaken?

Sorry for everyone I have missed - I have to go make supper now that K is sleeping. DH is at church but will be on his way home soon.

Regarding milk bottles, K is on 3 bottles of 200mls a day, one when she wakes up, one late afternoon with the daymom, and one at bed time. During the night we give her water - she wakes up once or twice for a few sips some nights so I always have it ready. At the daymom she also has tea twice in the day.
She also eats incredibly well. Eats a big bowl of oats for breakfast, yoghurt, snacks, a fully cooked lunch, and a size 4 bottle purity and sometimes that still isn't enough and I make her a peanutbutter sandwich at home. Yet she is still weighing around 8.3kgs, cant believe it!

She is incredibly energetic and goes non stop. She naps once or twice a day on the weekends, and at the daymom only once from around 11:30 till 1:30pm and goes to bed most nights between 7pm & 7:30pm.
She doesn't sleep through excepting for the occasional night when she surprises up. She wakes anywhere between 12am and 5am, once or twice a night. If she wakes at 4 or 5 we bring her into the bed so that we can all get some sleep.
She wakes up between 6am and 6:30am these days.
We moved her into her own room about 2 weeks ago, and it was a good move for me. Even though we still get up for her, at least if she's sleeping restlessly I dont hear her too much.
But last night she woke up crying twice. At first I thought it was a nightmare cos she was really screaming, but then figured she'd leaked out the front of her nappy.
The 2nd time I was already asleep so DH took care of her. Still not sure what was wrong but think this time it was a nightmare.

We are also struggling with teething. She has 4 top and 4 bottom teeth out for the last 4 or 5 months now. But her gums are very swollen where her eye teeth and first molars are. The same happened with my friend, teethed 8 at the same time for months. Most days are fine, but then occasionally it acts up. Her bum is very red at the moment. And last Thursday she had a fever we couldn't break, but by the Friday she was fine again.

Shew but this heat is going to be very hectic for them this summer. Kaylee sweats a lot poor girl. I have had her in just her nappy most of the day!

I was surprised to see about potty's being bought already. Are they not still too small for that? K is definitely more aware when she is making a wee or a poo, but I think still another 6 months before she'd be able to tell me in advance.
The other day we were tapping her bath water and so I let her run around naked for a bit. She was playing in the bathroom very quietly. The next minute she came to 'ta' me something, and it was poo. She had made one, and that was her way of letting me know she'd done it. Was gross but luckily she hadn't played with it. But it was a rather proud mommy moment!

Anyone planning on moving LO's into bed's yet? I think K is getting ready to get out of her cot and into a small bed. A friend has said we can purchase her daughter's one as she is getting a bigger bed now. I must just decide when will be right. She may still try climb off and hurt herself in a half sleep state.

Christmas present ideas please?
Definitely getting K some stacking blocks and lego bricks. She loves assembling stuff like that! She loves the shape sorters but gets frustrated if they dont go in yet.
Was thinking of a small jungle gym or rocking horse but it may be out of our price bracket. She loves being outside though. She is also very bored with the toys she has now and honestly I'm ready to pack them away as well!
The sandpit / water pit just sounds messy!

And what are you giving as Christmas presents from your LO's? Anyone getting creative? We have zero budget so cant spend too much.

My contract is ending on 13th January. I'm still searching for new work. Trying hard to have faith and trust that the Lord is closing the doors for jobs that arent perfect for me and the perfect one will come at the right time. But it's still rather daunting.
But having said that, I cant wait to leave my job!
Cape Town ladies could I possibly forward you my CV to pass on to your bosses?


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Anyways, I must make supper now!