Parenting
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Family Photos/1st Birthday Cake Smash:Sneak Peak
Yesterday my family and I trekked to the other side of Port Elizabeth for our annual(ish) family photo shoot. This would be our first with Miss Curlysue and would also double as her 1st birthday cake-smash shoot.
Thanks to the amazing photo package photographer, Michelle Janse van Rensburg, of Cutepix/Full Circle Photography, has put together, we were able to take pics of our princess, a couple of portraits and get some much needed family photos in. Oh and the cake was included in the price too. Score!
Michelle had asked us to meet her at a tiny cafe on a long road, where her hubby, Marius, acted as a chaperone transporting us from one destination to another. It seems our “karretjie” just did not have what it takes to navigate through wood lands. After driving for a couple of minutes, we stopped smack dab in the middle of a forest where Michelle was waiting (with camera en tow) – the forest was to be our stage! After applying lots of mosquito repellent on to little arms and legs we were ready for our shoot!
The first couple of frames were of us with “ours” – Chris with Seth and myself with Kyle.
We took some with our Little Miss and a bunch of pics as a family.
And that was our moment of fame for the day. The rest was all about Curly!
The next scene had Curly sitting in front of a kissing booth, with a very chic looking hat perched on her head. Michelle had hand-crafted every single prop! The setting was “carnival” themed and very cheery and colourful. The forrest makes for the perfect backdrop!
Cake smash time didn’t go according to what I had envisioned. Sigh! I feel like a struggling artist! My child does not do cake. She did not like the sweet taste or the feeling of icing between her fingers! But I also think that it was alot of stimulation all at the same time and she was just tired of it all.
All in all the shoot took about an hour long (which I was totally okay with! happy baby, happy mommy!) and it’s the next day and I have a couple of photos to ooh and ahhh at already! How on the ball are they? 🙂
Loving it already. Cant wait to see more! Stay tuned!
xxxL -
And then I found out I was pregnant
I fell pregnant with Karis like, two months into our marriage. It was a beautiful, scary surprise… one we were not prepared for! Yep, it was all totally unplanned, but such an exciting thought. Plus, more children to make me tea… I was winning already. And now, as we prepare to celebrate her birthday, I can’t help but remember the day that I found out I was pregnant. It’s one of my favorite memories!
Planning to plan
We knew we wanted to have babies – since Hubstopher has one and I have one. Having a kid of our own just made sense. But my spreadsheet brain planned (hahaha because I think that I can plan these things) that I would only fall pregnant once we were married for a year or so. We had just moved into our new place and I was still busy unpacking and preparing the boys rooms and all of that. I had wanted to get some new curtains and carpets and had so many diy decor stuff I wanted to try out. I wanted to set up our kitchen so that I could be a culinary expert for my family, cooking them gourmet Jamie Oliver stuff. (All gone in the wind. Try doing that when you’re puking your lungs out because you cant stand the smell of lettuce).
So, taking my spreadsheet brain into consideration, I would like to think that I was always very diligent with those tiny, annoying contraceptive pills (which took some getting use to). I mean, im my mind, I could just like, you know, decide to not fall pregnant and that would be it. (Because it worked so well the first time around, right? Well done, Luchae.) Anyways, I had started taking the pills about a month before the wedding, but they gave me leg cramps and a bunch of other nasty side effects. The nurse at the mediclinic advised me to stop taking them immediately, because the cramps were a symptom of blood clotting! She told me to wait for a month and then she would put me on something else. Easy peasy. I mean, how much trouble could we get ourselves into, in a span of 4 weeks? I remember hanging up the washing a few days after that, and I put my hand on my belly and said “God, if you want me to be pregnant, then bugger my plans… I’ll be okay with that! Have Your way.”I just knew
Soon after that I started feeling queasy and drained. (Who lied and said that you only feel tired when you’re a few months pregnant?! Shoot that busy.) Look, if you’ve been pregnant before, and you know what morning sickness nausea feels like, then you KNOW the difference between “oh I just ate something and now I feel queasy” vs “Oh my hat! My stomach is doing cartwheels, while breakdancing, on it’s head. I’m pregnant!” I mean, I had to reprimand myself for being too dramatic, but I just KNEW that I am ‘with child’. The fact that I could be pregnant seemed far fetched and I was elated and excited but also so concerned about what people would think. I mean, we’ve only been married for a couple of seconds. What is WRONG with us?!
Anyways, keep in mind that all of these thoughts occured before I even did a test. Bwahaha. So I did a couple of home pregnancy tests, and it came out negative. (Yeah, I said “a couple”) The last one I did (at work nogals) had a faint second line. So I promptly sent my bestie a message saying “what does this mean?” (She had found out she was pregnant two weeks earlier and had sent me the same message.)The best moment
The next day, my family doctor did a pee stick test as well and said “sorry, its a negative”. But he sent us for a blood test anyways, which we did the following day, en route to a wedding. Since we had to sing at the wedding, the blood place person (sorry, what are they called now again), was a friend of a friend, so she promised to send me a text once she had the results.So picture us, sitting at a wedding ceremony, getting ready to go up to sing, and I get this sms:“Congratulations, you’re going to be a mom again!”
Woohoo!!! Of corse my darling husband wanted to burst out in tears! The wedding ceremony was underway, so we couldn’t even scream or shout or hug each other and then 10 minutes later, we were called to the stage to sing… talk about an Oprah moment! It was very dramatic for us.
Post wedding, we called our families immediately. Whaaat? I know that you’re suppose to wait until you’re atleast three months along, but we were just so excited! The boys were told together. They were excited. And apprehensive. Both had already received a newly acquired sibling (from their other parents), so they reckoned they were experts already. And then lo and behold my doctor calls, saying he’s been trying to get hold of me since Friday. It turns out the pee stick test turned positive after we had left the surgery! Haha. Talk about a movie ending.
And our Karicurls is the star! Man it has been such a journey ever since! Our little darling has brought so much joy and I wouldn’t trade any part of it for anything! Having this baby just restored so much in our lives. God’s plan is the best plan.
Thank you for journeying with me today. Karis celebrates another birthday tomorrow – she is a tad bit more excited than I am.
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Being the parent of a purpose filled child
I’ve become a vote-hogging-fiend.
All because of the beauty that is my daughter.
Yes, I am now one of those “Please vote for me!” people.
But hey, guys, please vote for me! HahahahahComfort, Living&Loving and Jet Stores are looking for a beautiful babe to grace the cover of the December issue of Living&Loving. This babe will walk away with amazing prizes and will be featured in a cool spread in the magazine.
I’ve entered my curly girly into the competition, simply because, like any mom, I think that she is the most beautifulest babe in all the land!
When she was born, I spent almost a whole week in a funk… the doctors had given us some not so good news with regards to her thyroid not functioning properly. I remember thinking, “Oh Lord, this is not what I wanted for my perfect baby girl!”
The thought of her living a life where she had to struggle totally broke my heart!Fast track 10 months later and she is healthy, super smart and growing so amazingly. I can only attribute it all back to the faithfulness of God. When I think about those dismal few days when I prayed fervently over her, with tears in my eyes, I can now see how every prayer has been answered!
We, as parents, have the responsibility to cover our kids in prayer. There are so many premature deaths happening all around the world – young lives taken before their time! I pray that my kids (and yours!) will not face premature death and that every single purpose on their lives will come to fulfillment.
God is faithful. He is alive and He hears our prayers.
This the honest truth that I have seen happening, first hand, in my own life!As parents of children who are full of purpose, promise and expectancy, I pray for the wisdom to always know when to push and when to protect!
I pray that we will know which doors to help open and which doors to keep shut!
And I pray that we will always be the best example that we can be for them!I am so excited to be this girls mom and I am looking forward to seeing her live her life and walk out every single purpose she was designed for!
xxxL
BTW if you’d like to vote for my Karicurls, please click HERE, find our pic (it’s the same as the one below) and click on VOTE. You only do it once but once is enough 🙂 xxx
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And then I bought a string of Baltic Amber Beads…
So, today, I went out and purchased a string of baltic amber beads for my Curlysue.
She’s going through her teething season and I feel SO sorry for her 🙁
Besides for the fact that the pearlys are right beneath the surface of the gum and they refuse to budge an inch further, she has also been drooling a lot, which causes an eina looking rash on her neck.
She is so uncomfortable. And needless to say, sleep has eluded us for many a night now.
Not a good look on me.
And then I heard about the amazing amber beads. They are apparently made out of (duh) amber and it is said that this amber stone can help to boost the immune system, reduce inflammation and accelerate the healing of wounds. Many swear that they are perfect soothers for babies who are teething as well.
I’m not sure about the healing properties of this here necklace and my hubby says that it’s “voodoo” but after reading up on it, I am willing to spend R195 and give it a go!
Being all spreadsheet brain’ed (and stuff) I Googled as much as I could and found this article, found over at Belly Belly , especially interesting. It says: “In addition to assisting with reducing pain, drooling (for which amber is said to work by stimulating the thyroid glands) and irritability that is often associated with teething, Baltic amber is believed to help relieve eczema, speed up wound healing and stave off ear and throat inflammation, amongst other ailments.”
Sounds worth a try, right?
The nice lady at the shop I bought it from said to give it 4 – 5 days before it will take effect.
So let’s see what happens.I will be checking if the beads assist as a relief from:
– Constant drooling
– Rash on face
– Pain and uncomfortable behaviourI will report back in a weeks time to let you know whether this thing is worth the price of a pack of diapers!
xxxL -
Guilt free baby lovin’
In a perfect world I’d be a stay at home mom. I would also be a size 6, freckle free and have a rich husband. But this is not a perfect world. So here I am, in all my size 10 glory, a 9 to 5 working mom with a 9 to 5 working husband. Life’s pretty decent and I get that I am at my place of employment for a season and a reason, but I must admit that it sucks a lot when I have to leave my baby with a babysitter every morning, and only get to see her again when it’s dark outside. I guess I have a severe case of what I’ve dubbed ‘guilt free baby lovin’.
I felt this even more so yesterday, when I had a particularly hectic Saturday and only picked baby up at 4pm. We then went to visit friends, where an aunty took baby for a bit to say hi and for some play time. A couple of minutes later, I spot aunty and baby, and I see my baby’s head is down on auntys shoulder, as if she is tired. But she cant be tired. She’s just had a nap. I then realized that my poor baby probably thought that I had left again and had resigned to just laying there, on auntys shoulder, until I came back.
Oh my heart broke at the sight! I immediately went to get her from the kind aunty and when baby saw me, she was instantly full of joy and energy, so excited that mommy isn’t gone after all!I know that millions of moms all around the world have 9 to 5 jobs as well and their babys have grown up to be mentally sane and emotionally balanced and all of that. But this doesn’t make it easier for me to be away from mine. With my first born I was ever thankful when someone took him off my hands, allowing me some free time to do whatever I needed to. But with this little one it’s so hard for me to be away from her. I prefer staying at home with her, rather than going out. I’ve said no to many an invitation and have even declined hubstophers request for a weekend (or even a night) away from the kids. I’m not ready yet. Fortunately my husband is understanding and he is okay with this. And I’ve decided to be okay with it too.
I have had people tell me not to “spoil” her by holding, kissing her playing with her too much. Uhm. No thank you lady, I’d prefer holding and kissing and playing with my kid. Her dad is crazy about her and she semi freaks out (good freak out) when she sees him. She gives him the best shrieks and belly laughs when he does silly antics for her. I will never ever deny her that. I don’t think it is “spoiling” her. I think that it is giving her a sense of belonging and security. Her parents love her and we want to always make her feel that she is loved.
And you know what, she will only be a baby for so long and I plan to enjoy every single second that I have to spare, with her. I am okay with lavishing my love and attention on our little girl and I am okay with being selfish with my time. Our older kids have each other and yes, they also get the attention that they need, but obviously, since she is 9 and 12 years their junior, she requires a bit more. We all understand this. It makes sense in our world.
And hey, maybe one day Ill attend that party or go away for a weekend. Maybe one day I won’t rush home from work, just so that I can see her. One day. But not right now. No guilt here. No shame here. No unresolved issues here. Just pure guilt free baby lovin and I’m going to savor it for as long as I can.
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Life with sons: starting a band, baby…
Our kids are weird.
I say this with all the love in the world.
These boys (aged 10 and 13) literally sit and sing together, while playing XBox. And I’m not saying this because they have amazing, Luciano Pavarotti voices. Nope, they just enjoy singing, randomly. They don’t even sing popular, trending, songs… their choice of chorus are theme songs – Movie theme songs, ad jingles, series theme songs.
Them, 6 years ago Sometimes it’s funny. Sometimes it’s “shhh the baby is sleeping!” Sometimes we all join in. (How Highschool Musical of us) And sometimes, I’d be in the kitchen, humming a little tune (and by “humming” I mean “belting out” and by “little tune” I mean “Mariah Carey”) and one of them would join in! As if I invited them! I mean, hello, can you not see the spatula (aka mic) in MY hand?! Is nothing sacred anymore?!
Seth (the youngest) also has a habit of memorising tv ads. He knows all the words, all the songs and sometimes even mimics the actions! Kyle is a movie quoter. He is so NOT good at doing the accents but insists on telling you exactly what the lead actor said, in accent, even though you were sitting right next to him, watching the exact same movie a few minutes ago! He also quotes stand up comedians (thanks alot Trevor Noah) and sometimes says things and just leaves it in the air… no point. No reason behind the story.
Example: “Mommy, so today my friend picked up his pencil from the floor and then I was like, haha your pencil fell…” Okay. And then?
Our first date was a quadruple date – kids entow With all of that said, I remember something a dad of 3 once told us about his boys.
He said “The best thing I could ever have done for my son is to give him brothers.” (Thanks Manny) I was reminded of it this weekend, while watching these 2 together.
Flashback – few years ago: It was a couple of years after Kyles dad and I had split up and I remember feeling a bit disheartened thinking that my boy would not experience the joy (and torture) of having a sibling that is close in age to him. I mean, I love my sister – we are 3 years apart, and I remember many days of playing Barbie dolls together (me cutting her dolls hair in my “salon”… her crying about it) and hey those were some of the best days of my life. So I was really sad that my boy would not experience that. I mean, at best, his next biological sibling would be 10 years his junior. So no playmate for him.Enter: Hubstopher and his boy. I think that the pair came at just the right time, age and height! I found the man of my dreams, and our boys found each other. The 4 of us fit together like a puzzle. (I said something along these lines at our wedding too. And I wrote a song about it. So original.)
So yes, our kids are weird. But they are also extremely awsome! Both sets of moms and dads (on either side) are married with a baby and these 2 have taken to it very well! In fact, they are stellar big brothers to their half sisters and brother and they are amazing step brothers to each other. They have their disagreements but I am so pleased at how well they get along. They stand up for each other, like brothers. They sometimes tell on each other, like brothers. And hey, now they sing together too. So yes, we are starting a band baby, starting a band.
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Dreaming with your children
Recently I was asked to write something for J-Star Magazine about encouraging your kids to be a destiny walker. It really made me think! And reminded me of a great book I read by Bruce and Darlene Marie Wilkinson called “The Dream Giver for Parents.”Living in a world that pressurises us to make the most money, wear the fanciest clothes and drive the snazziest cars, it’s safe to say that our children can be influenced by the superficial which in turn could motivate how they choose their future ambitions. With suggestions that it’s actually money that brings happiness and not walking in your destiny, it’s easy to understand why there are so many unhappy people sitting in offices around the world, not living life to its fullest potential and not daring to dive into the big destiny that has been designed for them. This raises the question:“Are we encouraging our children to dream with God?”
As destiny walking mothers we honour God in our lives by allowing Him to reign in the lives of our children. In the book of Samuel, Hannah dedicated her son back to the Lord. This was a bold and public act of showing that she trusted God’s Big Dream for him and was willing to sacrifice her plans for His. Don’t ever give up on the Dream Makers Big Dream for you and your family – it comes from God’!Authors Bruce and Darlene Marie Wilkinson’s book, The Dream Giver for Parents, explores the concept of allowing your children to nurture their unique God-given dreams. The Wilkinson’s shared seven principles which enable parents to assist their children in discovering their dreams. They also aim to help parents find out how these dreams fit into “God’s Big Dream” for the world.DareDare to allow your children to dream of changing the world! By teaching your children that it is possible for impossible things to change, you are allowing them to develop a thinking pattern that could very well result in them bringing about change. Dare yourself to surrender to God’s will. It is not up to you to create a dream for your child but for your child to discover God’s dream for him or her.RaiseRaise your children with dreams that will bring meaning into their lives! God does things big, and if the dream feels like it’s too big for you, it’s usually the one God’s dreamt for you. When you dream with your children, always keep the Dream Giver’s Big Dream in mind, talking to them about how their dream fits in with God’s.ExploreExplore all the life-areas that your children are good at or that excite them! Psalm 37:4 says to delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. God puts desires in your children’s hearts and as they draw closer to Him, so He will begin to uncover and reveal those desires to them more and more.AffirmAffirm your own belief in your children’s dreams by exposing them to all the available information and experiences that will help them define their dreams! Teaching your child the beauty of humility and self-worth and the thin line in-between, holds a value like no other. Passion.Make UseMake use of every opportunity to help your children learn from role models – both positive and negative! A simple but important truth is that children learn from what they experience. As a parent you are the first role model for your child and as much as we want them to bear witness to our good experiences and character traits, sometimes life happens and they see the difficult times and negative traits as well.EncourageEncourage your child to rely on the Dream Giver as the only guide who will show them how to shape their dreams to fit with God’s Big Dream for the world! As a parent, it is so easy to fall into the unintentional trap of playing God in our children’s lives. It is so important to remember that we are not the architect of our children’s dreams and cannot be everything to them.RemindRemind your children that following a Big Dream requires perseverance, tenacity and creative problem solving! No dream comes true by itself. In John 16:33 the Bible says “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.” We need to allow our children to dream but also remind them that faith, hard work and determination are the waters that allow their seed to grow!Originally written for and published in JStar Magazine -
Professional tips on how to keep your baby entertained
Amidst my supper-cooking and dishes-washing I threw some random kitchen items into a bowl to keep my curlysue busy. I thought I was being extremely clever and one of those cool, hip, blog moms who finds alternate ways to keep their baby entertained.
Well, that was until my dollface emptied the contents of the bowl onto the bed and rather played with said bowl. I still take that as a win though, because the bowl kept her occupied for a precious 15 minutes.
Other things she did with the bowl:
– Banged it against whatever object was closest
– Stared at it as if she was figuring out how to take over the world
– Vomited into itAll in all a good time 🙂
I should write a book about this.xxxL
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Our mamas&babas social&share 1st meet
This Saturday saw the start of our baby group social club, as 5 mommy’s (including me) got together to talk about mommy stuff and basically just chill it out (as best as you can with a 6 month old hanging on you).
My Curly Sue and I thoroughly enjoyed the standing play station, that belongs to host mom Lyda and her baby, Kayla. My girl spent a solid amount of time, amused and entertained by the sights, feels and sounds on the station and I totally enjoyed not having to carry all of her 9 kilograms of cuteness around. 🙂Hot topics for the day included breast pumps, starting baby on solids and co-sleeping. As you know, we co-sleep and are not yet ready to have her in her own bed yet. But I can feel the time drawing nigh, since she has recently started with solids and I am predicting that she will be sleeping right through the night really soon!Another hot topic was whether we are broody yet and if we would contemplate having another baby soon, since, we have all the gadgets and growing expertise now anyways. I mean, if you think about it, it makes sense to get all of the “growing a family” stuff out of the way, and just have all your babies in a row, since you’re used to the irregular sleeping patterns and spit up on your shirt. Not that I am interested in having another right now… or ever, for that matter. I mean, since hubstopher and I technically have a family of 3 already, I feel like I am done, thank you. He, on the other hand, is so keen for another and has already picked out names! I’ve given him an answer of “maybe… on condition that….” and am really just leaving it up the Lord!But with that said, we both realize that we have enough to handle with, with our dazed teenager, needy primary schooler and giggly baby girl. We’re good for now.
(left to right) Janine and Zach, Us, Karin and Rissa,
Tess and Josh and host, Lyda and baby KaylaLyda ended the meet off beautifully with a prayer and short message taken out of Stormy Omartin’s book “The power of a praying parent”. I love this book and find the prayers and devotionals to be short but powerful, inspiring and real soul food.From the book:“Parenting! The word itself can bring contradictory emotions to the surface. We try to do the best we can raising our children. Then, just when we think we’ve got the parenting terrain all figured out, we suddenly find ourselves in new territory again as each new age and stage presents another set of challenges. Sometimes we sail through smoothly. Sometimes we encounter tempests and tidal waves. Sometimes we get so tired that we just want to give up – let the storm take us where it will. But I have good news. We don’t have to be tossed and turned by these winds of change. Our children’s lives don’t ever have to be left to chance… Nor do we have to be perfect parents. WE can start right now – this very minute, in fact – making a positive difference in our child’s future. It doesn’t matter if the child is three days old and perfect, or thirty years old and going through a third divorce because of an alcohol problem. At every stage of their lives our children need and will greatly benefit from our prayers. The key is not trying to do it all by ourselves all at once, but rather turning to the expert parent of all time – our Father God – for help.”It goes on to explain the power of prayer and submitting to God, whilst dedicating our children’s lives to Him. I really recommend this book!Future plans for the Mama&Baba group is to invite more new moms along and to include stimulating and learning activities for our babes, as they grow. I saw a few interesting ideas online and am quite eager to try them out!Yep, I am definitely enjoying this season!xxxL -
Teenager 101
I am the mom of a teenager.
This daunting realization only hit me a few weeks ago (months after my son actually had his 13th birthday) when we had an argument about his hair style.
Yep, it happened. I became that mom.The boy has decided to follow the new “comb over” trend (short back and sides, top hair combed over).
Example 1:
Photo: learnhaircuts.com But instead of maintaining it, he pretty much just wakes up and runs his fingers through his hair.
So its basically short back and sides, top hair… sticking out everywhere!
Its not quite “combing over” as the hair style would imply.
He has really thick hair, albeit isn’t curly, but it isn’t exactly Justin Bieber.I am sure you can tell that my boy is everything I am not!
If I am a list maker, he would be the one to use the list to stick his gum into.
I want things to be perfect. He wants things to be easy.With this said, I am slowly learning that I cant turn him into a mini me (like when I excitedly told him he could audition for the schools drama club and he looked at me as if I had leprosy).
Our kids are not meant to be like us.
And I am making peace with the fact that God has given them each unique personalities, traits and interests.
In order to bring out the best in my child, I need to support his dream and who God has called him to be.
Even if it’s uncharted territory for me!So after the realization that I need to let go and slowly step away from the hair… I remembered MY awkward teenage years where I insisted on wearing my hair in 1 style: a ponytail at the base of my neck… and not in a cute way.
Example 2:
Photo: Google Images Just as I grew into myself and into the woman I am today, he too needs to grow into himself, all by himself… without me making him feel like a dork about it.
So this me, officially stepping away from the hair….
xxxL
