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Congenital Hypothyroidism: “Sorry, there is something wrong with your baby…”
This time last year I was probably sitting on my bed bawling my eyes out and feeling pretty hopeless. If you remember I had recently celebrated the 1st birthday of our baby girl (check out my trip down memory lane ya’ll, it’s quite scenic) and that would mean a year ago, she was about a week old.
At the doctor’s surgery, the day we got the news Well, at a few days old, we were summoned to her pediatricians office where he delivered world altering news with a steady look on his face: “The test results came back. Your baby has been diagnosed with Congenital Hypothyroidism.”
The rest was a blur as I tried to hold back the tears.
My perfect, beautiful, baby girl – the one that I had been dreaming big dreams for… the one who was going to change the world and do great things… the one that was an answer to a prayer… there was something wrong with her.
There was something wrong with my baby.
The worst news a new mother could hear. I don’t know how I made it through that appointment because I could not wait to be alone so that I could cry my heart out. How could this happen to us? To her? To me?The doc said that the condition affects 1 in 5000 babies and in his +20 years of being in the field (and he is a favorite in our city), he has only ever treated 1 other baby with the condition. And that was when he first started practicing. So the condition is THAT rare.
The day she started meds He said a lot of other things, which was honestly just a bunch of words, with phrases like “growth could be stunted” and “learning disability” and “medication for the rest of her life” screaming out at me. And all I could think of was… if it’s so rare then why does MY baby have it??? Couldn’t it skip us? Couldn’t we perhaps just give it back, and take spot number 4999 and have it pass on to someone else, sorry for whoever that is, I am sure they can handle it. But I cant. I just cant.
Backtrack a bit to a few days prior: She was a few hours old when the doc came to my hospital bed to tell us that they found an abnormality in her bloods (Blood screening is done for all newborn babies, immediately after they are born). He said that they would be running tests but it’s probably nothing. He threw around words like “T4 reading” and “TSH levels” which really meant nothing to me because I could not wait to leave the hospital with my baby girl so that we could start our lives with her. I only realized the enormity of the situation when I was sitting in his office a week later, listening to him deliver the devastating news. I think I was in denial.What is Congenital Hypothyroidism?
Eventually I calmed myself down enough to absorb the information:
My curly’s thyroid gland was under performing. This is basically what it boiled down to.
We later (muuuch later) found out that she was born with half a thyroid gland. A thyroid gland is a small butterfly-shaped gland in the front of your neck. It produces thyroid hormones which travels via your blood to all the parts of your body. This is important because the thyroid hormones help your body work. They control how your body uses food for energy and can affect your metabolism rate, which means it controls how fast or slow your organs (like brain, heart, muscles etc) work. If your body’s clock is too fast or slow then you won’t feel well. This means that you don’t have enough, or you have too much, thyroid hormone.You may know a couple of older folk who have a thyroid problem. To my knowledge adults can suffer from over or under performing thyroids as they grow older. These adults probably drink thyroid pills to help regulate the hormone in their bodies, and they are fine and dandy. But it’s much more serious when a baby or child is affected by an inconsistent thyroid.
You see, babies NEED the hormone to be consistent and stable in their bodies, so that they can grow and develop when they are meant to. If a small body is without the hormone for a little bit too long, then it could mean that they would miss a very important developmental stage, which could affect them in the long run. Sometimes CH affects a child’s development in such a big way that it results to autism or other big developmental delays that affects their speech and mobility. Muscle tone is also affected by CH and some kids cannot walk or start walking at an older age.
The doctor told me to avoid Googling it, because the cases on the internet are very severe and are based on the fact that those babies were not treated early enough. But I am much stronger now, so while checking out info for this post, this is what I found:
Infants born with this condition are normally either premature or they are born after term.
Symptoms, after birth, include:
Decrease in activity – they are very lethargic
Heavily jaundiced
Hoarse cry
Unable to breast feed
Small stature and poor growth
Coarse facial features
Developmental delay
Cool and dry skin
Umbilical hernia
Among other things.
The pics freaked me out. My baby did not look like that, and I did not want her to!You know, this is the part where I say BUT GOD.
I am so thankful that during really crappy times, my autopilot kicks in and I begin to remember all the things He has promised me in the past. God does not ever change His mind or say things that aren’t true. So I began to remember all His promises – that He is always with us and that when things don’t make sense then we should just cling to Him because that is the only way our negative can turn into a positive! You see, it’s hard to be negative when the promises of God are engraved in your heart. And God does not end things on a negative. He turns it around for your good and for His glory. And this is a fact.
We win!
And so we put on our armor, grabbed our swords and faced this “condition” with determination and not resignation. We began to learn all we could about Congenital Hypothyroidism. We learnt that there are hundreds of children all over the world who have CH and they are fine! I joined a few support groups and met adults who were diagnosed with the condition at birth and started treatment at a few days old – they are perfectly healthy now! We also learnt how to monitor and control the hormone. In order to make sure that she has enough thyroid hormone in her body, she has to go for blood draws every 3 months (which sucks). The “blood place” (as we’ve started to call it) would then run tests and our doctor would let us know if her meds should be adjusted.We now see each win as a sign that God is fighting on our behalf and all we need to do is rest in Him. For instance, after having to increase her meds a few times over the past year, last week we were told that her hormones are stable, so we don’t need to increase at all! Woohoo! At the moment she is on one little thyroid pill per day – we crush it and feed it to her in the morning, via a spoon. She’s a pro at opening her mouth for it already. Eventually she’ll probably chew it, like she would a multi-vitamin. Once she’s taken her pill, we forget that Congenital Hypothyroidism exists and life goes on, happily and merrily. Because our wonderful doctor picked up the deficiency in her blood, when she was a day old, she was fortunately put on her meds quickly and therefore did not suffer any delays at all.
She is 100% on track and doing so well.
There are other wins that we got to celebrate within the first week of her life. Like the fact that our girl did not have a problem with breastfeeding. Ask my nipples. They bare the battle scars. CH babies struggle to breastfeed, and she could with ease. That’s a big win right there!
Another is that she has never ever been lethargic or without energy. We have the sleepless nights as proof, just like any other parent of a newborn baby. In fact, besides for the jaundice that went away after a couple of days and the umbilical hernia that eventually went away (her belly button stuck out a bit for a while), you would never believe that this girl has any kind of “condition” at all.
Our miracle girl is growing wonderfully and is picking up weight (which is a big deal) and she has way to much energy! At 12 months and 1 week she knows when to say the “woof woof” part in ‘How much is that doggy in the window’ and she can show you exactly where, when you ask “Where’s your nose?” (so no developmental delay). Her favorite word is “dada” – which she sings in 10 different versions, based on how excited or amused her dad is making her. (speech is a big deal too).
There is NOTHING wrong with our girl.
She is still perfect. Still beautiful. Still fearfully and wonderfully made!
Thyroid shmyroid.
For a long time I wanted to keep this under wraps – I did not want people to know about it for fear that they would pity us or speak negativity into the situation. But after a while, when I realized that, “hey, guess what thyroid, we win!” I started to get more and more comfortable with sharing information about the condition with others.
Sharing is caring! Knowledge is power! And I never know how our story could equip someone else to help another who might be faced with a similar situation and is in need of comfort or wisdom. I believe that God wants us to be a blessing to others. And that does not necessarily mean that I am giving someone money or things. Sometimes that means that by sharing how I have overcome something, it will give another person the courage to overcome whatever they are going through too.
I pray that my girl will always remember that she is an overcomer and that her story will help her to change the lives of many one day!
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Karis first birthday carnival theme cake smash photo shoot
So my Curly turned 1 on Saturday! To celebrate, we had a small cake and tea for the family and looked at the fabulous cake smash pics taken by the talented Michelle at Cute Pix. (Remember, I shared a sneak preview and description of how it all went down, the other day)
But, let me not waste any time… Herewith, please find the most adorbs 1st birthday pics and stunning family portraits that are so beautiful, they make me want to shed a tear in awe and delight! Heeheeee I didn’t want to post all (150) of them. Your data/internet can thank me later.
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Hello baby! – A birth story
Today we celebrate one of the most special days in my life: The day I became the mommy to a beautiful little girl! It’s been a trip, you guys. I read a beautiful saying the other day: “When a baby is born, a mother is born.”
And that’s exactly how I feel! I mean, even though I had been a mom for a good 12 years when I found out I was pregnant with Kari… it just felt different somehow. Plus now I have someone else’s hair to brush in the morning. Hey, I’m not complaining, it’s a perk! Anyways, I can go on and on and on but let me pull myself towards myself and start at the beginning!
D Day – 29 November 2014
Exactly a year ago today, we woke up really early (5:30 yo!) because my gynae had advised me to get my pregnant butt to the labor room since I had been ‘in labor’ for a couple of hours by then. Keeping in mind I was still in no real pain or anything. But you can read all about that in this post.Hubstopher and I woke up super early, got ready and took a slow drive to the hospital… watching as the city woke up around us. We were so excited, but in such a calm way! It was a serene drive and we barely spoke, as we listened to some music on the car radio. I cant even remember which songs we were listening to, but I do remember being extremely emotional… I mean, could I have been more dramatic than this? No, no I could not. But it was so fitting… I was about to give birth to one of the most dramatic little girls that I know!
We walked into the labor room at about 6:20am, to be greeted by extremely friendly and chipper nurses who advised us that all the labor rooms are full. But seeing my totally calm disposition, they asked us to have a seat at the nurses station in the meantime, while they prepare a room for me. We spent the next while chatting to the nurses and generally have a good ol time socializing and was eventually placed in a room where I watched Generations (for the first time in my life) and took a nap.
When I woke up, I decided to give the big bouncy birthing ball a spin. Hubstopher enjoyed my antics and took video clips and photos. I was like, I’m going to bounce on this thing until my baby comes out because I cant wait anymore! Also, I was not about to be in labour for copious amounts of hours! Nope, we will bounce until this princess makes an appearance! At about 9am a nice nurse came and did the dreaded finger test on me. (Hated those.) She advised that she would need to help my water to break a bit more.At 11am we were moved to the labour room (which is not the same as the delivery room, where the actual birth takes place) and Hubstopher turned the lights low and played some soothing worship music. He kept doing little happy dances… guys, it honestly felt like it was Christmas!
Here comes the pain
I took a walk up and down the hospital stairs, to get some baby moving action going. And by that time I started feeling intense contractions mixed with…oh what is that I feel down below… PAIN!It hurt real bad (like the Danny K song) but it was manageable. I had long before decided that I would not lay on my back, like in the medieval times, and allow my contractions to get the better of me. No ways Margaret! I handled my contractions by standing next to my hospital bed, with my arms and head resting on the bed. So my belly was “hanging”, basically. With each contraction I breathed in and out deeply. I believe this really helped since the gravity of standing helped my baby to get into position quicker and there was less pressure on my back (which normally happens when you are laying down). All of this was coupled with clever quips from the husband and even more quirkier comebacks from me. I remember laughing a lot and giving him running commentary of each feeling that I was experiencing.
But look, I am no super woman! Eventually, I had to get my sexy laboring butt onto that hospital bed! Hubstopher tried to sweet talk me and gave me little rubs and kisses and kind words but I reached a point where I was like, “babe, Im sorry to be rude, but can you not touch me anymore please?!” Hahahaha Hey, atleast I was polite!
By 1pm, I was like, “nurse, something is happening! I think I need to push!” I don’t think they were quite ready for that because she had to quickly go and call the doctor. When he got there, it was like… 1 push…2 push… 3 push… Baby! Ta daaahhhh!
Hello baby!
I remember looking at her and thinking… omw, I just gave birth and now I have a baby! I also remember thinking, “Praise the LORD, that is over! Woohoo! No more being in labor!” I couldn’t stop staring at her as she wailed those first few cries, and I said “hello! hello baby!” Hubstopher was quite emotional, and when he held her for the first time he immediately spoke a blessing over her. We laughed, we cried, we were swooning! “Look at her hair!” and “Listen to her cry!” and “Who does she look like?” Besotted.The nurse placed her against my skin and she immediately began looking for boob. Eventually, I got up to have a shower and change, as my mom dressed our curly girly in clothing for the very first time. She looked like a china doll!
Being Karis’ mom has been the craziest ride of my life! A crazy, fantastic, giddy ride of pure joy! This girl is as sassy as they come and I love watching her personality develop and am so excited about her future! Happy Birthday my curly girly!
Clip note: Interested to hear more about my preggy journey, with Kari? Travel down memory lane with me, as I reminisce about when I found out I was pregnant, my pregnancy, my ultrasound drama, all the baby showers and all the other little things in between.
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The nice doctor said I’m in labor and I laughed… {1st Birthday Celebrations}
Our curly girly turns 1 on the 31st October, and we’re spinning around in circles, like “huh?! did that just happen?!” For the next few days, sometimes in my blog, but mostly in my head, I will be reminiscing on my glorious pregnant days and all the prep that went into making sure the transition from womb to world was an amazing one.
Ever wake up and feel like, this is it. Today something big is going to happen! Well, that DID NOT happen to me on 30th October 2014. It was a normal day of maternity leave, but this time I got to see my curly girly on the screen at my gynaes office! As I’ve said before, I loved ultrasound days, because I was able to see my curlys little arms and legs moving around and hear her precious heart beat.
A day or so before that I had felt a slight tummy rumbling or 2. Not exactly cramps. More like, okay I need to use the loo now. So, when I went in for my check up, I mentioned this to my gynae, who did a check (with his fingers. I hated those!) and told me “You are in labor! You should go the labor room right now! You are 4cm dilated already!”
SAY WHAT?! I just laughed! Keep in mind I had been trusting God for a supernatural birthing experience. I wanted it to be filled with joy and happiness and not miserableness and pain (so to say). So I had to tell myself not to be shocked that I don’t FEEL like I’m in labor. I felt great, actually! I told the doc this too. He was a little shocked that I wasn’t in any pain or that I felt nothing at all. I managed to convince doc that I am okay and that I’d prefer to go home and if anything changes then I will get myself to the labor room asap. He told me that if there is no change by 6am the next morning, then I should book myself in. It was a deal.
I went home, washed my hair. Hubstopher washed the car and went for a hair cut and a shave. (He said he wanted to look good for our Curly). Our domestic was in for the day, to spring clean (again). And I went over all the check lists to make sure we were 100% ready. My daddy and step mom came over for supper that night and I cooked and washed the dishes even, unperturbed!
That evening, we sent our sons away (that sounds awful), with promises of a surprise by the next evening. I had a nice long bath, and got into bed. My hubstopher, in all his sweet excitement, grabbed his guitar and stole my heart by playing and singing beautiful songs of worship and thanksgiving to God. It reminded me just how much I love him and why I chose to spend the rest of my life with him.
It was such a tender moment – one that I will always cherish and remember. And it was in that moment that I felt like, this is it. Something big is going to happen tomorrow! And my heart was ready for it.
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How to pretend to be prepared for a baby… {1st Year Birthday Celebrations}
Our curly girly turns 1 on the 31st October, and we’re spinning around in circles, like “huh?! did that just happen?!” For the next few days, sometimes in my blog, but mostly in my head, I will be reminiscing on my glorious pregnant days and all the prep that went into making sure the transition from womb to world was an amazing one.
This has been such a trip! I enjoyed looking back to when I was pregnant, all the great stuff that made my pregnancy such an experience and all the other stuff like the 4D Scan and the baby showers. It made me realize how much WORK goes into planning for a baby! They don’t just pop out and “ta-dahhhh!”… No sir, you have to plan and pre-plan and unplan and replan and plan to plan your plans. Such a brain freeze when your brain feels like mush!
It’s no secret. I am kind of a freak when it comes to being organized. So you can imagine the brain work that I had invested into planning for Curlys arrival! For starters, I had a very precise check list of things we needed to get before she arrived.
I also knew what type of birthing experience I wanted. I believe that God answers prayers and I knew that I had to be specific with what I wanted. And so I made a list. Top of the list was that I wanted a birth experience that was HAPPY and not “AAARGGHGH!” (like how woman make it seem in movies).
Here’s a snippet of my list:
– Painless labor. I wanted to be joyful and not miserable.
– First signs of labor must be at home
– Water to break naturally
– Short labor. I especially wrote down 3 pushes. lol
– Smiling and happy
– Supernatural stretching. My body would do what it was designed to do, naturally.
– No afterbirth pains. Apparently those really suck.
– Breast feed naturally and easily
– Healthy and happy baby and mom
– No complicationsI prayed over this every day and I believed God for it. I also read the most amazing book called ‘Supernatural Childbirth’ by Jackie Mize. It’s a must read for any expectant mom. I highly recommend it.
But besides for the spiritual and supernatural aspect of the birth, I also made sure that I sorted myself out in the physical. I prepped and planned where I could, to make sure that it would be an easy transition for me and my family.
My hospital bag was packed to the T, up to an extra charger for my phone and my Journey Journal, to document my first few hours with Curly. I made sure to pack my “special nightie” (yes, I have one of those) – the same one that had belonged to my grandmother. I wore it when my son was born too.
Total live savers that I am glad I packed in were:
– Maternity undies. They are a dream, after giving natural birth!
– Soft feeding bras, pads and lanolin nipple cream.
– Lots of change of sleepwear that are easy to get out of and easy to feed baby in.I also had a labor room bag, since my hospital bag was too bulky to take into the labor room. My labor room necessities were:
– My slippers. I knew I would be walking into the labor room, fully dressed and would probably change into hospital clothes while I was there. So I did not want to be barefoot.
– Documents for admission.
– A laundry bag for the clothes I wore to labor room.
– Something to tie my hair up with to avoid hair in my face.
– Some lip ice, just in case.
– An energy bar.
– A pack of tissues
– A CD with all of our favorite, soothing, worship tracks on it.
I also made a note of what must go where, and slipped it in, in case Hubstopher was unsure.
I made sure to bring along certified copies of our identity documents so that we could get baby registered at the hospital – which would save us a trip to home affairs. I think that the fact that everything was organized really helped me to relax and enjoy the birth experience because my spreadsheet brain never ever switches off!
The funny thing is that no matter how you prepare yourself, when that bundle of joy finally makes his/her appearance, your life will never be the same again! Everything changes.. YOU change and what you thought to be important suddenly pales in comparison to your baby. This is the biggest lesson that my curly girly has taught me, and my spreadsheet brain, so far. But lessons aside, all the baby prep really helped to get Hubstopher and I into the “baby zone”. We had an incredible time in the labor room (with hilarious photos to show for it). But that’s another blog post for another day 🙂
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3 perfect babyshowers, 2 blessed parents, 1 loved baby girl… {1st Year Birthday Celebrations}
Our curly girly turns 1 on the 31st October, and we’re spinning around in circles, like “huh?! did that just happen?!” For the next few days, sometimes in my blog, but mostly in my head, I will be reminiscing on my glorious pregnant days and all the prep that went into making sure the transition from womb to world was an amazing one.
Looking back to when I found out I was pregnant, my pregnancy and even the other little things we got to experience, like the 4D Scan, it’s evident that God’s hand is on our lives and that of our baby girl. This girl has been BLESSED (and no, I’m not throwing that word around loosely like a rap song). God has provided for her supernaturally and abundantly and we can boast in His goodness! We also have amazing friends and family who should be given an award or something 🙂 It’s true what the Bible says… Seek God first, put Him first, and He will see to everything else in your life.
We were blessed to have 3 babyshowers. Yep, not 1. Not 2. THREE. I don’t even know how I made it through 3 sets of “guess whats in the gift bag” 🙂 Each party was perfectly planned – the various party planners had taken me and all my hopes and dreams for Curly, into consideration and incorporated it into their decor and theme. I appreciated that so much!
Baby shower 1:
I am blessed with an amazing support structure – family by choice! My church family at Word of Faith Christian Centre, in Port Elizabeth, hosted a Princess Babyshower for my little princess! They knew that my curly was to be my special princess and that I have a thing for tiaras (I really, really do! Does that make me weird?)Complete with a princess cake, a hand made name board, and a journal for everyone to write their blessings to Curly, this baby shower was perfect! The amazing team of friends who helped to pull it together did a fantastic job! I was blessed out of my socks!
Baby shower 2:
Hubstopher and I were blessed with another fun baby shower, this time thrown by our awesome families! They somehow got him involved too and he spilled the beans a bit about me calling our girl a ballerina princess. So this shower had all sorts of ballerina in it, including games where I had to dance! I mean, I don’t look particularly amazing when I’m dancing, so picture me doing it with a big tummy too!I loved the pretty nappy cake (good enough to eat) and the themed cupcakes and all the ballerina decor! Oh and I got to wear a tiara again. Score!
Wish I had more pics to brag with! Everything was so pretty and I felt so special!
Baby shower 3:
Look, at this point I was just about to pop! We had almost everything that we needed and it was FINALLY my last day at work when lo and behold, I walk into our bistro to find all kinds of pink going on! My amazing colleagues totally spoilt me with a baby shower during our tea break and then told me to go home early. Double, triple, score to the 100th degree!My then manager was the kindest soul (she’s still very much alive, but not with the company anymore) and she had really gone ALL OUT to bless us and our baby. The gifts were amazing and I felt so appreciated.
After all 3 baby showers, I remember laying there looking at our overloaded cot that had been filled with all the loot from the parties. Everything needed to be unpacked and washed and packed away. Her cot and chest of drawers needed to be moved into place. In fact I suddenly had the urge to rearrange my entire house! Yes, the urge to “nest” is real! I realized that I still had a ton to do before Curly arrived.
Eventually it all came together.The deep realization of how loved and blessed we are just struck us hard and made us even more excited for our future with our family of 5! We love how God looks after us!
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4D Scan: There’s a ballerina in my tummy! {1st Year Birthday Celebrations}
Our curly girly turns 1 on the 31st October, and we’re spinning around in circles, like “huh?! did that just happen?!” For the next few days, sometimes in my blog, but mostly in my head, I will be reminiscing on my glorious pregnant days and all the prep that went into making sure the transition from womb to world was an amazing one.
Thinking back to when I found out I was pregnant and how much I enjoyed my pregnancy made me so nostalgic for that feeling of expectancy and excitement!One thing I knew I wanted to do (even before I fell pregnant) is a 4D “photo shoot” (aka ultrasound).
At 4 months preggers, my Curly refused to give the ultrasound tech a good flash, so that we could see if she is a boy or a girl. My heart was hoping for a girl but I was okay with a boy too. Although, between you and me, I knew she would be a girl because God showed me a picture of a ballerina one morning while I was praying over her (not knowing the gender yet).A beautiful ballerina princess! I was convinced, but kept it to myself.
I found it quite amusing that God had chosen to show me a picture of a dancer. If you know anything about us, you’d know that we are a musical family. We love music – we sing, play instruments etc. But I would not exactly call us dancers. In fact, I am probably the opposite of a dancer. I don’t do “dance” well. So how amazing that God completed this musical circle by adding a dancer to the mix!
Anyways, so ultrasounds were like precious commodities while I was pregnant. I planned my weeks around them! I loved seeing my baby and hearing it’s heartbeat. Dude, I even dreamt about buying an ultrasound machine and keeping it my living room! Yep – all kindsa crazy, this one 🙂
Curly was quite feisty in womb – she just could not lie still! But with all the movement going on, she still refused to open her legs. My wonderful gynecologist happened to be the same doctor that “caught” my first born many moons ago. So I had the privilege of taking my boy to meet him and sit in the room while we did an ultrasound. He was a bit more impressed with the equipment than the tiny picture of his sister on the screen though. But none the less, it was a moment for me! (Que the emotional tears)
We booked the 4D ultrasound at a place that offered what they call ‘gender ultrasounds’ – which means that they would do the 4D and look specifically to see what the gender of baby is. And if baby is too shy to show then you can go back another time. Sounded legit to me!
I did my part in making sure Curly was active by (gasp!) having a chocolate a half an hour before the ultrasound. I also made sure my bladder was full – but I cant now remember if it was needed or not. But I do remember that I needed to pee quite badly. (Heck, who am I kidding, I needed to pee quite badly all the time when I was pregnant.)
The moment arrived… I lay there, excitedly searching the screen, trying to figure out if I am looking at an elbow or a leg… and then I saw her face! (Que: Bruno Mars) Her beautiful little face, perfectly formed! I could feel tears coming! But I was like, “No, Luchae, keep it together!” And instead, I squealed in delight and said “Awww she looks like MEEEE!” heehehee 🙂
She was there… beautiful and dancing! Arms up, lips pouting, and yep, with little girly parts 😉 our baby was definitely the ballerina princess that God had showed me weeks before! We were over the moon!
We were given about 6 different shots of her 4D scan – all perfect, all beautiful!
My favorite is this one, that shows off her pout, with arms up in the sky, pirouetting for mommy and daddy.
This was one of the most special things that I did during my pregnancy. It made everything just so REAL.
We were going to have a real life baby! A real one!
Woah! My mind was officially blown!Check out how detailed the 4D scan was compared to real life.
Proof that we did actually get the baby as was advertised on the screen 🙂
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How to give your kids a gift that isn’t theirs
We love our children, as is expected. We want to give them the best that we can and never want them to experience lack or limitation. But I’m often faced with the “it’s not all about you!” challenge, when I find them taking things for granted, and find myself bringing out my inner beast parent, to show them that the world certainly does not revolve around them and their latest game or fad.
It is with this in mind that we diligently and joyfully partake in the Santa Shoebox initiative each year. It is a great initiative where you sign up, choose a child (or children) in your area, who live in poverty stricken homes or at institutions where they may not have as much as we do. You then put together a Christmas box of sorts, that will contain a variety of essentials. The box is prettily decorated for reuse (which is a big deal for these kids already) and you are always welcome to add more than what the list stipulates – special items that you feel would mean a lot to your sponsored child.
We Santa Shoebox every single year. I have made it a habit for us to choose 1 boy who is close in age to our boys and for the past few years, we have been quite fortunate to be able to choose the same boy every single year. The boys know his name already and they’ve written him letters before, so I am sure he might feel as if he knows them too. Last year, with the loom bands craze going on, the boys added tons of loom bands and loom makers for him to use. The year before that we added some books that they loved.Every year we try to make the box special, because he is special and he should feel loved and not as if we threw things in a box because we feel sorry for him. I have found that since the boys are able to relate to our pledge (because he is a boy too and close in age), it has made the packing and deciding of what goes in the box so much more special and important to them.
I’ve also decided to sponsor a little girl, who is close in age to our Curly. I would love to apply the same concept to this little girls box and hopefully would have the honor of being her sponsor until Curly is able to understand it all.
Not only is it our responsibility to look after orphans and those who are unable to fend and provide for themselves (that’s what the Bible says yo), but it is a huge privilege to be able to speak into the lives of children – even if it’s through a simple Christmas gift box.I appeal to you: Please check out the Santa Shoebox website and consider pledging a child. The closing date is looming and there are hundreds of children who are still not sponsored and your box would mean the world to them. If you are unable to physically pack a box and get it to the drop off centers in time, there are easy peasy virtual boxes available for you to purchase. You are blessed to be a blessing!
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How to be pregnant like a boss… {1st Year Birthday Celebrations}
Our curly girly turns 1 on the 31st October, and we’re spinning around in circles, like “huh?! did that just happen?!” For the next few days, sometimes in my blog, but mostly in my head, I will be reminiscing on my glorious pregnant days and all the prep that went into making sure the transition from womb to world was an amazing one.
So, if you recall my post last week, as a build up to her first birthday, I am taking the time to remember the little things that made being pregnant with my Curlysue so sweet and precious to me.I loved being pregnant with her! There is just that something about knowing that there is life inside your belly. It gives you this sense of wonderment and excitement: Who will baby look like? What will her cry sound like? Will she love peanut butter the way her daddy does? Will she have my moms green eyes? Will she share our love of music? The prospect of a brand new life, with new possibilities, growing inside of YOU, makes you gawk at the beauty of God and the perfect way his grand design falls into place.
I did have the swollen feet syndrome and my hip joints ached on the regular, because of the weight. But other than that, it was a lovely pregnancy. I love that when you’re pregnant you can wear just about any kind of maternity clothes, because no one is looking at you thinking “does she know that top makes her stomach look big?” I also love that I got to take my slippers to work with me, for those moments when my shoes cut off my blood circulation. See exhibit A:
I had vowed to make this experience the best that I could, knowing that it would probably be my last!
Yep, this factory is closed for business, Mister!Here’s a bunch of things I did that really made my pregnancy special:
1. Took a lot of selfies and pics of my ever growing belly. Bathroom selfies were a must. They say if you’re pregnant with a girl, then you will see her beauty on your face – well I don’t know how true that is but I felt SO beautiful when I was pregnant with my girl. My hair was longer and thicker, my skin was clear and I just felt like something special. I was host to precious cargo! It felt amazing.
2. I began to journal about all the little things that I was feeling or thinking (Or doing!) and added photos and special dates and appointments to the scrap book. I wanted my baby to know that she was loved before we even met her! I wrote more about it here.
3. I did a full on preggy photoshoot. Check out some of the pics here.
4. I continued to do the things I loved doing! At 8 months pregnant, I was on stage at our church’s annual Arise Womens Conference. I sang a song called “You know me” by the Bethel Music collective and the lyric fits so perfectly with what I was experiencing. God knew me before I was in my moms womb and He knew my Curly too! It was a wow moment for me.
5. I surrounded myself with girly things all the time! Because we have 2 sons, I knew I had to wrap my brain around PINK. Not that it was very hard for me 🙂 Im a pink girl at heart. I produced a little princess skit for the womens conference, that was totally inspired by the fact that we are our Daddy’s Girls… Princesses of the King.
6. I watched Frozen. Yep. I did. “Do you wana build a snooowmaaaaaaaan?”
I figured that girls are watching it and I’m about to pop one out, so I need to get with the programme.
7. For my birthday, I hosted a Pink Picnic In the Park – just to get my pink on and also because it was my birthday and I wanted to do something that featured my baby on board.
8. I helped to plan baby showers for my best friend and my baby sister (and yes, all 3 of us gave birth in the same month!) Celebrating with them made me so much more excited about mine!
9. I attended expos and seminars and did everything and took every photo and filled in every competition and listened to every speaker! I just wanted to experience it all!
But more than all of that, I constantly reminded myself to take it all in. Every moment, every ache, every doctor’s appointment. Just like your wedding day, it all passes so quickly, and soon it’s just a sweet memory!
Ahhhhh if I could do it all over again…
xxxL -
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
