My Little Helper

Mia loves to "help" - she helps me water the plants, she helps me do shopping.  She wants to help me in the kitchen, but thus far I'm too afraid of big messes to allow it as much as she'd like...  She helps Celia "fold" laundry, and put clothes in the washing machine.  She even helps tidy up her toys, along as someone else is doing it with her too!

xx

Weight Loss Motivation & Inspiration

I have been on a weight loss mission since college.  Just never quite happy with my weight - although at that stage, during college, I was actually at a very normal, healthy weight.

After I got married, I relaxed a bit too much and gained almost 10kgs in the first year...  I realised that's not the way to go, and joined the gym.  It went well for a bit, but I needed more - so I joined Weight Watchers, and had really good success, losing 5 kilo's in about 3 months.

Then I fell pregnant!  I carried on exercising for most of my pregnancy... But I gave in to my Milo craving way too often.  I gained about 15 kilo's in pregnancy - and then proceeded to seesaw quite a bit...  Lost weight immediately after birth, breastfed for 7 months, and when I stopped breastfeeding I gained almost 5 kilo's again in a short time!

That was the shock I needed to get me back into action to try and lose the weight, and during the last few months of 2011, I managed to lose about 5 kilo's, which I felt good about.  Then December holidays happened, and I gained back 3 of those.  Aaaargh!!

This year, I joined an online community, www.myfitnesspal.com - where you keep a food diary to count calories, and track exercise to see how many calories are being burnt.  It worked well for me in the beginning, between January and April I managed to lose 5kg. But then, somehow, I just got lazy.  Or my body reached a plateau it couldn't break. Or I wasn't eating as well as I was trying to. Or I wasn't exercising as hard as I should have been.  But since April I've been fighting the same damn 2 kilo's. 

So frustrating!!!  For 4 months!  Gain a bit, lose a bit, stay the same.  Repeat.  Oh gosh, enough is enough.  I should have reached my goal weight by now!

How far am I from my goal weight?  So close yet so far.  Would love to lose another 8kg, but would be super happy, content and satisfied with another 5kg.

I recently got a Polar heart rate monitor to be able to keep track of my exercise workouts - how many calories I burn, and whether I'm exercising in a fatburning zone or in a fitness zone.  I've had it just over a week, and so far it's definitely given me a boost, it makes me challenge myself to do more.  Yet - at last week's weigh in, I didn't lose a single gram.  That means I'm not eating well enough!

My next weigh-in is Friday morning.  I've set a goal for myself, that I want to lose at least 0.5kg for this week.  I'm trying really hard to exercise lots and stay well under my calorie goal.  If I don't lose the 0.5kg...  I have to join Weight Watchers next week.  Then it just means I can't do it properly by myself, I need to attend the meetings and have someone keeping strict record of how I'm doing.

In the meantime, I find inspiration from quotes like these:

 

Picnic Time!

We spent our Sunday afternoon at Rietvlei dam - just the three of us, with lots of yummy picnic-type snacks.  It was great! Mia explored, messed in the mud, tried to feed the ducks (they were a bit scared and swam away). 

It got a bit hot after a while - all the shady areas had already been taken, so we didn't stay very long.  Next time we'll have to take a gazebo or an umbrella with.  My father-in-law likes to fish - maybe next time they visit, we can make a day out of it!

xx

Mia's Birthday Party Invitation

Mia's birthday party is coming up in 4 weeks time.  The theme is Lollos - she loves the Afrikaans Lollos DVD's, the singing and dancing is exactly her thing!  So I decided we better make a theme of it.  :-)

My sister is a 3rd year student in visual communication - she designed the invite for me.  So happy with it, it's just perfect!
xx

The "Sn-" Sound

Mia can't say "sn", for some reason.  Like "snow", she says "no".

My favourite thing in the morning when she wakes up, is to snuggle and cuddle in my bed with her.  Recently she started saying "nuggle time."  Love it!

And then in Afrikaans too, last week when she was sick, it caused her to snore, and Wyn said to her "hello snorkie" - so she said, "hello norkie!" We laughed and laughed.

Also, the other day she took my finger, brought it to her nose, telling me, "nollie!"  She had a "snollie" in her nose that she wanted me to remove!  Hahaha.

xx

23 Month Toddler Update

1.) How old today?
Mia Mooi is 23 months old today!
2.) New milestones/ talents/ achievements?

She can count to 10 in English, and til about 5 in Afrikaans. 

3.) Favourite toys & favourite things to do?
She loves pushing her dolly in the little pram.
She enjoys playing in sandpits
Loves jumping castles!
She loves books, either paging through them herself, or having me read to her
She loves our Moms&Tots class every Wednesday! 

4.) Current words?
She's putting together 3, sometimes 4 words to make sentences now.  Loving the communication! 

5.) Favourite food and snacks?
Yoghurt, viennas, cheese, flings, biltong sticks, droe wors, chocolate, sour worms, fruit

6.) How is toddler sleeping at night?
Good!  Most nights, she goes to bed at about 7h20, and wakes up around 6h30.

7.) Day naps?
Usually she naps from about 11am - 1pm, and then has a lie-down at around 4pm, drinks her tea and chills in her cot for a while.

8.) How many teeth - and how are teething issues going?
16.  Only 4 more molars to go!

9.) Weight and length?
About 13kg.  Not sure about length.

10.) Clothing size and shoe size?
Starting to wear 2-3 year size clothing, but does still fit in most of her 18-24 months, or 1-2 years clothes! Shoe size 6.

11.) Recent toddler 'highs'?
The way we snuggle every morning bed.  The way she says everything we ask her to say.  The hugs she gives, followed by "oooooh nice!"   Her interest in learning, and her glee in getting things right.

12.) Recent toddler 'lows'?
The discipline aspect... I'm way too soft on her and she knows it!

13.) What are you looking forward to in the coming months?
2nd Birthday celebration!
Potty training...  eeeek!
Enjoying summer time with my precious toddler.

14.) How are mommy and daddy doing?
Really good, no complaints!  Got our 5th wedding anniversary coming up at the end of September, will be going away for the weekend - looking forward to it so much...  Although I know we're going to miss our little body terribly!
xx

My youngest client

Mia, at 23 months old, is officially my youngest client.

This afternoon, out of the blue, she demands that I "paint nails".  I told her OK, we can paint nails later.  Off Mia goes to the frontdoor, "paint nails!" - she knows my salon is just out of the frontdoor and up the steps.

I decided to humour her... 

She very seriously chose her favourite colour.  She always chooses this same pink.  Bermuda shorts, by Essie.

And she proceeded to sit very seriously, keeping her hands flat and still while I painted each teeny tiny nail.  Bless!

So we already do massages and manicures... Next up is pedicures and mini facials!
xx

This week's piccie collage

We went on a roadtrip to the Free State for the long weekend.  We stopped for breakfast along the way.  Mia sat on a horse, and spent time with her cousin.

Mia loves going for walks - and she's not the one in the pram anymore - dolly has to come with every time.  We baked banana bread.

Wyn won an award for one of his projects.  There was a fancy dinner and everything - I felt so proud of him!  It was a nice night out for the two of us.

Yesterday Mia and I shared an iced tea and a slice of cake at Isabella's, a divine little coffee shop nearby.  And we went for a walk and spotted the first signs of spring, yippee!!!  Can't wait for the green buds that are going to be popping out all over the place!  :-)

xx

Rough Week!

This week began with a visit to the paed.  Mia had a really bad fever, peaking at around 39.9, and the medication I was giving her only brought it down to about 38.4 and then it would peak again.  So stressful!  The paed diagnosed tonsillitis, and prescribed antibiotics.  It's day 3 of the antibiotics today, and finally there's a turning point - her temperature is finally normal again, and she's her normal happy chatty self - although not eating very well yet - but her fluid intake is OK.

Today Wyn had to go for some dental procedures - under general anaesthetic!  He doesn't react well to the local anaesthetic, so the dentist decided to do everything that needed to be done in one go... This included removal of all wisdom teeth and 3 root canals.  Poor man!  He's resting lots, been very nauseous, but ate yoghurt for lunch and I made a yummy chicken soup for dinner, it was a big hit! Yay!

Mia was so sweet, when Wyn was lying down on the couch, she kept kissing him, and packed all her stuffed toys around him. A little nurse!  Nala also knew something was up, and kept trying to lick him.

I'm relieved this week is winding down towards the weekend! No big plans, just going to make sure my two precious patients recover completely.  :-)

xx