so excited On Sunday afternoon we went for a walk in the Moreleta Kloof nature reserve. It is only 5 minutes away and entrance is free. They have a paved walkway and some grass walkways so we took the pram, it was a bit bumpy in places and next time we’ll rather take the hiking carrier for Laria. We had a lovely stroll, we saw zebra, springbok, guinea fowl, blesbuck and a tortoise. It was very quiet and peaceful. We saw only 2 other families out walking. It was really lovely. There is also a restaurant, Radermeyers with jungle gyms and a trampoline which we’ll try next time. There are a few different walks varying in distance and access for prams, unfortunately from the car park they are very poorly signed and we only found the information board as we finished our walk. They have the different walks and more info on their website. We left 8am on the Saturday morning. It was a loooonnnggg drive. On Sat we stopped about 6 times. I gave B motion sickness medicine in the morning before we left and it knocked her out. She slept most of the morning. L had her nap at the usual time, for an hour, and was awake the rest of the day. We stopped when we could to refuel and stretch legs etc. That night we stayed at Coles Corner which was a lovely place to stay in Colesberg. It was clean and spacious with a tv, dstv, fridge, kettle, coffee and tea and perfect for us to stop for the night. The lady that runs the place is friendly and charges discounted rates if you book with her directly Unfortunately that night L cried every 40 minutes and I had to breastfeed her back to sleep every 40min (Her 3rd tooth cut that night) so by 4am I had had quite enough of not sleeping all night. I woke Mario and we repacked the car and left 5am. It was still dark out but the girls both decided to stay awake. We stopped 4 times on the way and finally reached Pretoria at 2pm. The girls were superstars especially B who didn't cry once. Just a bit of moaning at the end cause she had a sore bottom. Laria cried (screamed) for the last hour of Saturday's drive and the last 2 hours of Sunday's drive. My little Laria is 10 months old. She now has 3 teeth. The one in the top middle came through while we were driving up to Pretoria. She crawls everywhere and follows me around the apartment. She kneels and reaches for things on tables but does not pull up to standing yet. She is still a bit unsettled in our new home and cries if I put her in her cot. She wants to be held and snuggled. She wakes at 10pm and 5am for a feed on a good night. Much more often on a bad night. She has not had a snotty nose for almost a month now which is fabulous as her first cold started at 10 days old and never left for more than 2-3 days at a time. I definitely blame the colds on the germs from school. She eats all sorts of things now. Her favourite finger foods are raisins and cheese. She's also quite partial to bran muffins and anything I'm eating. She has a new expression where she scrunches up her face to be funny. It's very cute. See photo above. Her favourite activity is still sucking her facecloth. When we moved to Pretoria I used Classic Removals as the furniture removal company. I am sad to say that their service was horrendous. We organised to have the furniture picked up on the Friday. I was told that on the Thursday I would be informed of the pick up time. They did not contact me, after hounding them, finally at 8pm that night we were told they would only pick up Saturday which was unacceptable as we were leaving for Pretoria Sat 8am. After fighting with them they said they would come Friday between 5 and 6pm. They arrived at 8:00 pm which was incredibly disruptive for my children as it was past their bedtime and the movers were making too much noise for them to sleep. They were supposed to deliver on the Mon-Wed according to the contract we had with them. On the Tuesday we phoned to see where our furniture was and they said Wed sometime. On the Wednesday we phoned to get a time and they said in the afternoon. In the afternoon we phoned and they said only Thursday because of road delays. No one apologised for misinforming us or the furniture not being delivered on time. No one kept us informed of anything. We had to repeatedly phone to find out what was going on and often the person we phoned did not know and said they would find out and then didn't get back to us. Trying to keep two little children happy, clean and entertained with minimal toys, minimal clothes, no curtains, no pots to cook food in, no blender to puree in, was a nightmare ! On Thursday we phoned and were told that the furniture had arrived in Johannesburg and would be delivered sometime. Later we phoned and they said between 4 and 5pm. At lunch time I was informed by the removal company that my residence did not allow trucks in and I must organise a trolley at an additional R1300, I refused as this was not true and was not necessary. I asked if we could have a discount for our furniture being delivered late and they did not even answer me. At 5pm the driver phoned to say he would be there about 7pm. At 7 pm the driver said he is in Pretoria central (Hazelwood) and asked where we were. We don't live in Hazelwood but in Hazeldene and that is Pretoria East. After giving him more directions he finally arrived at 8:30 pm. Some of my furniture had water damage from their trailer and a few boxes had been damaged and things broken inside. I recommend that no one use their company ever. They didn't keep us informed, ignored requests, did not apologise for anything and have now ignored all emails regarding the damaged goods. B at age 2 getting ready for bed. I've just worked something out about Beccas sleep. It's true what they say parents never stop learning new things. So when Becca was a baby I decided 7pm was the best bedtime. I worked till after 5 or 5:30 her first year. But she refused to go down at 7pm and would only sleep at 8pm so for her first few years (and now still) she had an 8pm bedtime. She was never easy to get to sleep and it involved stages of rocking, co-sleeping, feeding etc to get her down at night. She would wake at 5am crying, I assumed since she was up at 5 she had had enough sleep. Every time she woke from naps or night sleep she would cry and I hated it. At age 2 she refused to nap in the day and after a week of battling it, I gave in, so she didn't nap anymore unless she really needed it. Now she's 4, she doesn't nap, she goes to bed at 8 and wakes between 6-7am. No crying. I always put Laria down at 6pm, or even earlier if she seems tired. She usually wakes up smiling and chatting. She wakes between 5 and 6am. Last week I read an article on one of my favourite blogs about a child that always woke up crying and a sleep expert said put her down earlier at night. And it clicked for me. For years Becca was overtired so she couldn't fall asleep. When they're overtired their bodies release adrenalin to keep them going. No one can fall asleep with adrenalin rushing around their body. Children also have an internal alarm clock so if they wake early (5am) it doesn't necessarily mean they've slept enough, it's just the time their body says," wake up it's morning." So instead of moving Beccas bedtime to 8pm, I should have moved it to 6pm. Live and Learn Please share any things you learnt with number 2 that you did wrong with number 1 in the comments. I might learn something else. I always write about Laria and I think it's time Becca gets a turn. So these are 15 of her favourite things at the moment.
When I say working mom I mean a full time job where you're out of the house for 8-9 hours a day like I am.
Pro's
L is 9 months old today. She's growing much too fast in my opinion.
She finally has two teeth and another one on the bottom under the gum but I don't think it'll come out till next month. She's eating well with those teeth and now when I make mince with pasta and baked beans she doesn't need me to puree it. She mushes it all around in her mouth mashing with her gums and teeth. Breastfeeding is still going well too. At 9 months Becca weaned herself but Laria is still getting enough milk from me and not showing signs of stopping, We breastfeed 6am, (12pm on weekends), 3pm, 6pm and usually 10pm again. She gets formula at school at 8:30 and 12. Sleeping is slightly improved from last month. While those teeth pushed through we were up every 2 hours but now she sleeps 6pm-6am. (waking usually 10pm to drink and 3am when I give her a dummy). Here's hoping she starts to sleep straight through again. She's not crawling yet, but soon. She pushes herself backwards on her tummy. She goes from sitting to tummy sometimes still falling flat on her nose and other times more successfully. She really wants to be mobile and I have really not babyproofed yet so I'm quite happy with her not getting around much. She loves clapping and shaking her head and is very ticklish now, She loves noisy toys that make a noise when you bang them, shakers and toys with buttons that make noise and light up. She also loves sucking face cloths (gross). She still loves her sister (and me) and doesn't like it when we leave a room and quite often just wants to be held. Her favourite thing in the world is swimming in the pool. I don't have any photos because I'm always holding on to her for dear life as she kicks and pulls with both arms and legsat the same time, trying to swim in the water. Definitely another water baby. |
Me
I'm 35. Married with two small girls. I'm a teacher and writing about my life here, in Cape Town. Archives
July 2016
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