The Nana and Me

So we have been using our products for roughly a month now and think it is about time to give you guys our impressions. I want to break it down into bath stuff, after bath stuff and nappy stuff. These will all be separate posts close together with a little round-up at the end. I prefer shorter posts as I tend to ramble :-p

So lets start with the bath stuff.

Pnp baby soap was ok. I use bar soap on her which keeps her skin soft. I found it to make her squeaky clean, literally. I think maybe when they a bit older it would be good, but not now for my 5 month old pookie face.

PnP tear free baby shampoo was unbelievable! I was blown away by this product. We wash hair every second day and in the process she gets water in her face as well as shampoo from all the fun and splashing. Not once did I notice the shampoo bother her eyes or irritate them. And afterwards her hair smelt delicious, felt soft, was more manageable and had less tangles which she gets from sleeping. Will definitely buy this again

PnP Baby Oil was also a product we enjoyed although have only used it twice. I sometimes, only sometimes, will put a bit her bath to soften her skin. The two times I did I found the smell to be great and her skin nice and oiled after her bath. Not to oily but soft. Winner

PnP Cotton wool pleats rocked. I love the idea of pleats as well as the way they easily tear off into neat little rectangles. They were great to dip in her bath water and clean under her chin as well as her face and eyes. Would love more of these.

Well that’s pretty much all we have used for bath time. Princess loves her baths and both of us can’t wait until she can sit 100% properly and enjoy it even more. Watch out for our next review of PnP after bath stuff

XXX

So this year is nearly over and I cant help but have mixed feelings as to whether I am excited or sad to see it go. It has been a rough yet joyful year filled with an amazing birth and some deaths.  I am excited to see it go so that I can start fresh and leave the sad behind. But then I also get sad going into the new year cause that means my baby is getting older and I will have to say she was born last year. Weird, I know, but I am like that.

Work has been great. this is my 5th week back and although it felt like I never left I also can’t believe I have been back here 5 weeks already! Princess has adjusted just fine. She loves her Nanny Lungi and her Dad is also there some days which makes me somewhat jealous. He cant be the favorite parent! I must be! Ha ha ha. With the jealousy aside, the two of them are so cute together. In the beginning he didn’t really know what to do with blob baby and wasn’t that involved. But now that she is laughing and responds to him, they have their little games and moments that only a Dad and daughter can have. I have tried to play these games but she just looks at me blankly as if to say, “pffft Mommy, those are Daddy’s games. Get your own”.

The PnP Real Baby products we have been using have been truly amazing! Like I said, the one thing I was excited about was the nappies and boy have they done well in my house. Nanny Lungi is very impressed with them. She spends most of the day with Princess so I asked her to please give me feedback on all the products which she loves cause gets to be “famous” on the internet. The bum cream is a hit and she insisted we buy that bum cream over Bennetts or Fissan Paste. Very impressive in my eyes since those were my brands beforehand. She has even packed away all the other products we had and replaced the tray next to Tae’s changing mat with all the PnP stuff so there is no chance of us switching back to our other brand until these are done. Or possibly never! I will do a dedicated PnP post later in the week breaking down each and every product I have used.

Well thats all for now. I need to go raid the Chaywa coffee machine we have here at work to get myself going.

Chat later

xxx

So this is the start of something quite exciting for me. I am not the best social media person thingy majiggy, but Pick n Pay has invited me to blog for them about their new baby products. As a new mom, I cannot tell you how exciting this is for me, and what good timing! Yesterday afternoon I received my (huge) package of Real Baby products including nappies, cotton wool, cotton wool pleats, ear buds, aqueous cream, petroleum jelly, baby powder, lotion, shampoo, baby oil, soap, bum cream and wipes. All of these products come with extracts of chamomile and smell fresh and clean – in fact, I’m tempted to use some of them myself! I bathed my 4 month old princess with the soap and used the lotion on her last night and can report she slept very well, not like a baby at all.

I am especially excited about the nappies as they claim to be just as good as some of the leading nappy brands. I will be keeping a close eye on her bum and other areas to ensure a rash does not develop and they draw away moisture just like the ones she is currently using. If she gets a rash I will immediately go back to her old nappies, although I doubt that will happen ‘cause I secretly tested the nappies before even putting them on Princess. I took 200ml of water and poured it into the nappy. The water was immediately absorbed and turned into gel, which then obviously locks away the moisture and keeps her bits dry. My baby’s nanny was also impressed this morning when I showed her the nappy and told her what I did, to which she proceeded to turn it inside out and squeeze the gel to see if there was any water. But the nappy was dry and no water came out! AWESOME!

Now don’t get any funny ideas like I am using my child as a guinea pig to get free stuff. It’s definitely not like that, I am just testing other products which claim to be as good but will be more cost effective than what I am currently paying. I know all mothers can relate to that. Babies come with price tags that never settle on a number.

So here is to trying and hopefully switching baby brands which will leave me with more than a few coins in my pocket at the end of the month.

Such a serious rockstar… These make me laugh

Here is a little list of things or should I rather say traits that I have noticed about my gorgeous girl. She is 15 weeks old today

1. She is a fighter. From fighting me when I give her a bottle, to fighting to go to sleep, to even fighting nappy changes with the help of her hands resulting in pooh everywhere

2. When she is really angry she goes, ‘oink oink oink’. I kid you not. And this has not happened once but nearly daily. Her Aunty Heidi calls her piggy.

3. She takes poohing way too seriously (as @thecaz puts it). The fists go tight, her body goes stiff followed by a red face and grunting. You also can’t distract her at all when she is in her pooh trance cause she means business!

4. She loves the colour black. Well, I am sure she can’t tell the difference between colours but loves anything dark and will stare at it for ages completely fascinated by it. This includes her nanny.

5. Is obsessed with these cheap, plastic sunflowers that were in my mums office that are now at my house. We have moved them multiple times in our house but she manages to find them and also stares at them for ages. Sure she won’t be happy with me when I take them to my office.

6. Has really crazy dreams. The other day I watched her laugh, smile, whimper and then cry for about 15 minutes all in her sleep. I even video recorded it. I would love to know what’s going on in her little head.

7. Is always super smiley when she wakes up. I am sure most babies are but it is so cute. Her whole face scrunches up and she brings her hands to her face in delight and then squeals. Melts my heart every time.

8. She loves vibration. In her chair, in her boyfriend Mason’s bed (when we visit). If it vibrates, she is happy. They start young these days, hey?

9. Loves her dads hair. When he talks to her she can’t stop staring at his quaff. Ok, granted it is also dark so that also probably attracts her. He will then put his head down and she loves reaching out and grabbing it and playing. Doesn’t do this with my long blonde hair.

10. She is not so keen on the sun. She has blue eyes just like me and hates being places where its too bright. She will scrunch her face up and moan until she is inside. I do the same. Can’t open my eyes properly without sunglasses if it is a bright day. Look like a complete retard.

11. Loves turtles and tortoises. She has two of these and will reach for them first when presented with these toys as they hang from her play mat.

12. Loves watching TV. I feel guilty about this one because if I need 2 minutes to myself I put her in her bouncer in front of the TV for some peace. Works every time (bad mommy)

I don’t want to draw out my moms death and the good byes at all but today I closed a huge chapter and feel the need to blog about it. I am doing this on my phone so please excuse any typos or punctuation fuck ups.

For the last time I went to my moms house and said good bye. Not only was this my moms house but it was very much my house cause it was only ever her and I that lived there.

I remember when she came home one day and told me that her bank had called her offering her a bond. She was so thrilled and happy to eventually be in a position to own her own bricks and not pay for someone elses. I was happy as well cause the house we were living in I despised. My mom had got the house cause it was all we could afford then for the space we needed as my sister was studying and needed her space in order to be as awesome as she is today. Heidi had now moved out and it was just us two left in this scary house that really was quite old and crappy. I was in matric and in the middle of my June exams before prelims but immediately ordered my mom to get every newspaper possible for me to look for our new home. I love looking for houses, it was always my thing in the 21 times that we had moved before. I found a couple of places and in particular one off the internet that was advertised by Remax. We even used to browse the area on Sundays in her white shark car and go look at show houses but nothing really stuck out. One place did because it was so neat but it was also tiny so my mom insisted we carry on looking. I remember every detail.

Anyway back to the house I got off the net. The estate agents name was Jonathon and was quite a cutey. He was also young and very eager so pulled out all the stops when showing us this place. We pulled up to the complex and it was plastered and painted a terracotta colour and was well looked after (not like a lot of complexes in Vorna Valley). As we parked Jonathon pointed out the visitors parking and how my car would have a parking close to the house. This was awesome to me as my dad had bought me a car and I was waiting to turn 18 the next year to get it. When we started walking to house I got worried. The outside garden was overgrown and it was like walking through a jungle to get to the front door. As we walked in my jaw dropped to the floor. The walls were painted black, red and navy blue. The lady who owned it was a ‘witch’ (scuse my ignorance on the subject, I don’t mean to be rude). There were photos of wolves and dreamcatchers everywhere and her greasy, long haired skinny boyfriend kind of scurried away to the corner while we viewed the place. I wanted to leave and thought ‘no way ma, this is hideous’. The garden was a mess as the current owner did not allow the gardeners into the yard to cut the lawn. She would only cut plants once they had a red ribbon on the them and would only cut after the red ribbon so that the plant didn’t ‘feel the pain’. My mom looked around and I was mortified that she looked interested. But she had a plan and was much better and was looking at the bigger picture unlike me.

Once we left she said she loved the place and wanted to buy it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and argued with her until she pointed out that it was very spacious and cheap because the lady was eager to sell like yesterday. She said I must wait and see and that once the walls are painted it will look different.

We moved in in October 2004, the middle of Auto Africa which we were both working at. The first time I walked into our new housey I was so shocked. The walls were white and a biscuity colour, there were new gorgeous carpets and it looked totally different. And beautiful. And big. Our (just us two) little housey was stunning! And it was ours, just me and my moms.

I have so many memories in that house. We laughed there, we cried, we screamed at each and slammed doors and cried in each others arms till we both passed out. It has been very difficult for me to clear the house out or even go there cause it just hurts so much. It was the one thing me and my mom had that no one else did.

Today I collected my fifth and final car load of stuff I want. If it were just my decision then I would seal the house up and keep it as a shrine but that’s just not healthy.

The new tenants are moving in this weekend and I handed over my set of keys that I have had for so many years to my sister this arvie. I know they will love the house and make new memories there, but I think it will be quite a while until I can visit them cause it will always be known to me as me and my moms house.

I have a lump in my throat and have tears rolling down my cheeks while typing this just because it is another chapter I am closing in this bitter, hard and sudden farewell.

Love you always and forever Mamma

I feel guilty. Feel guilty cause I am not feeling guilty for going to back to work. Instead I am excited. Excited to start on a new show and be surrounded by the awesomeness that is my work and colleagues.

I left work at the very last minute before Princess Nana was born and therefore get to spend 4 full months with her. They have been amazing and I have seen my gorgeous child grow from a blob baby to a smiley, chatty and very strong little girl. I love her and love being with her but lately I have felt the urge to return to work. Not because I am bored or not enjoying time with my baby but instead feel that she is not so dependant on me and is a happy and healthy baby as long as she sticks to her routine. She is also very comfortable with her nanny which makes me less stressed and not worried at all. And strangely, I also cant wait to experience that excitement of going home to your child after a long day. Something you dont get to experience when you home with her the whole day.

I am ready to go back to work but more importantly Princess Nana is ready for me to go back to work

P.S. If you follow my Twitter stream then I am blaming my urge to go back to work on the bloody Indian Myna’s

Well now that I have started blogging again, I need to keep this up, I have my netbook and data card at home but I know as soon as I get back to work I will be blogging more often. At home I find it a mission. Most times once I get around to doing a blog, Princess has woken up and is all smiley and demands mommy has a conversation with her NOW.

Anyway, here is what has been happening with us:

Princess turned 12 weeks this week an is weighing in at 6.4kg. Wow, I cant believe how fast the time has gone (and ALL moms say this). She went for her second round of injections and was so good. She let out one cry but then was all good once back in mommys arms. I am (I think) one of the very few moms who gets upset when their baby gets jabs. From her first injection I have never cried or got upset even though with her  jaundice when she became a human pin cushion. I dont see it as my baby getting hurt, but rather getting stronger and better and in fact laugh at Tae when she screams at the nurse who jabs her cause I can see how pissed off she gets and then calms down once I am there. The face she pulls when she is angry/upset is just too funny for me not to laugh. Call me a bad/emotionless mommy but I dont think I am like every other mom out there.

Her smiles have become more frequent and she squeels with delight at every opportunity. LB and her have big conversations every morning before he goes to work, and when he comes home she always greets him with a smile which I can see absolutely melts him. LB has also been helping out more and playing with her more which makes me happy. In the beginning he kind of left everything to me cause she was (and I dont mean to be ugly about this) a blob baby. By this I mean all she was interested in was milk, sleeping and of course love. She didn’t really respond to us and was happy as long as she got those three things from anyone. Now she knows her mom and her dad. She is all smiles when she wakes up and sees us. She turns her head when she hears our voice and we feel more like a family cause our baby wants us more than anyone or thing for that matter.

I am battling to get a photo of her smiling. whenever she does smile she wriggles her body so much in delight and ther arms wave either above her head or infront of her face that it is difficult to get that moment without it being a blur or full of hands.

Got just over 4 weeks of maternity leave left and just over 3 weeks before Taes granny arrives from Knysna. I am super excited to see her and must say I am blessed to have a mother-in-law-ish like her.

Well thats it for now, wriggly baby is screeching demands and I need a good cuddle

So, its been 8 long weeks  11 long weeks. 8 long weeks 11 long weeks of no blogging purely because, OH MY FUCK where have 8 weeks gone 11 weeks gone?!? No seriously, its feels like it has been a whirlwind!

As most know my mom passed away in a car accident when Nana or now known as Princess (need to rename our blog) was 2 weeks old. A hard blow but I am ok with it now, some sad days and angry days but I am allowing everything to take its course until it’s all passed.  Sucked big fat ogre balls to clear her cupboards out but I am over it now and can tackle the rest. A big thanks to my awesome sister Snowgoose for all she has done, a real bonus having a control freak I-need-to-do-everything sister I have so much love for her, and Tatum absolutely loves her too. Only visitor she stays awake for.

Princess Nana is getting so big. She was not a small baby to start with, and although we had our hiccups in the beginning, she is just thriving now. She has started fighting me and is a proper Little Miss Muffet who lets you know immediately when she is not enjoying herself courtesy of a “help me, this lady is killing me” cry. A very vocal baby I have, she is constantly talking and moaning and gurgling and groaning. She even sometimes sighs with every breath out while sleeping with the odd cry as well sometimes. Would love to know what is going on her little head. Hmm, what else? She is obsessed with our fireplace. Wait, she has changed her obsession to her playmat and more specifically the turtle on her playmat, we call him her boyfriend old Timothy Traddle. She has also started smiling and laughing just after I originally wrote this post at 8 weeks which melts my heart completely. The best is when she wakes from a nap and I go get her, she just turns that little face and grins so wide that all I want to do is squeeze her!

As for maternity leave, I obviously have been loving it. I started going out with her quite early and now we have it waxed and go out somewhere every second day. Ok, we don’t go far from the house but luckily my friends live in the area so we don’t have to drive that far to have some company. I am somewhat looking forward to going back to work. I love my job and crave the excitement that comes with new projects I get put on. I also miss the people and chaos of the industry I work in. I know it will be tough and my domestic fairy (who will be looking after baba) has already told me I will be phoning her every half hour the first day (which will probably be true) but after that I know I will be fine. Once I have my new project I will happy and settled

Well, I think that’s it for now. Feel I haven’t accomplished much that is interesting in the past 8 weeks besides being a mommy which I guess is an accomplishment on its own and has a list of it own excitements J

As many of you already know, I had a baby last week. Tatum Maria Duveen was born at 08h10 on 19 July 2010 via a c-section and weighing in at a healthy 3.42kg measuring 53cm.

The birth itself was alright. The most painful part was them giving me a local anaesthetic for the spinal block. I am not scared of needles or pain but they didn’t warn me and jabbed me which was not pleasant. They also warned me that my blood pressure would drop which I was not prepared for at all. Once I was on the table and they started cutting me, I informed the anaethetist that I was not feeling well which progressed to, “I am going to vomit” to which I eventually did. Great. I vomitted through the birth of my baby girl with her father filming it.

Anyway, just as I was about to vom they had already reached my uterus and then I started gagging which resulted in my doctor accidently nicking me with the scalpal. No biggie, it is like 1cm but thought I would share that. As they were pulling her out they all started saying, “she is big, she is big” (we were expecting a 3.1 or 3.2kg baby at max). At this point I tried to sit up but only managed my head and pulled the curtain down to see my little angel. They took her away and started with all the usual tests while I lay there shedding a tear for the beautiful bundle that had just emerged outta me. She got quite a fright when they took her out that she took a deep breath and inhaled some fluids which resulted in her being in the incubator to warm up while they cleaned and sewed me up.

She is so precious and it feels so surreal that this little bundle is actually mine. Me and LB keep joking asking each other when are the real parents going to fetch her cause it feels like we are baby sitting for now. He is completely obssessed with her and stares at her for hours on end. I am inlove with my little family and really couldn’t ask for anything more!

Sadly as I type this on my BB, I am at the hospital where my poor precious has been admitted for jaundice. I noticed she developed it a few days ago and put her in the sun daily as instructed to do so. This didn’t help so today I asked her darling Aunty to take me as LB is super busy with his family (his gran died on Sunday night/Monday morning) to the hospital to test and her results came back very high so she was admitted immediately. We are both here for the night (in the kiddies ward… Yay. Not) which really sucks but hey if that’s what needs to happen to fix my princess then that’s that hey.

Besides all of this I am so inlove. We couldn’t be happier with our little bundle and even though I am her mom and am fully biased, I firmly believe I do have the cutest kid on the block!

P.S. I can’t load photos on my phone so go to my lovely sisters blog Snowgoose Blog to see the gorgeous post she did