My hubby ♥

I feel like doing a post about my husband. ♥

Wyn is truly my best friend, my rock, my voice of reason and logic, my funny bunny who can always make me laugh.  He's such a good daddy.  He looks after us so nicely, works so hard to provide for us.  I miss him so much during the day and can't wait for 6pm so he can get home, and I cherish weekends that we have to ourselves.

This September we'll be married for 7 years - and next month we'll have been together for 12 years!

Oh he can drive me insane too, when he snores at night, or the way he teaches Mia to say "fart-face" and other unsavoury expressions, or the way he wants our grocery list to be on an Excel spreadsheet, and the way he leaves his clothes on the bathroom counter...

But then he does other awesome things, like the way he cooks supper when I'm just not feeling up to it, the way he cuddles Mia on the couch when they watch tv together, the way he likes to hold me when we sleep, the way he can surprise me with a funny comment and make me laugh and laugh.

I love this man with my whole heart.
xx

30 Weeks Pregnant!

1.  How far along are you now? 30 weeks today!

2.  When is your due date? 29 April 2014

3.  What has been your preggy high this week? Thursday's scan was wonderful.  She's a petite lil thing! Bless! 
Been making some progress with preparation in her room - sorted through all Mia's old baby clothes, have given away the things I don't want to re-use, and washed all the things that can be used - clothes, blankets, cot linen.

4.  What has been your preggy low this week? Very sore round ligament pain in my sides, like a tight spasm.  Helps if I massage the area, but often causes me to double over in pain!

5.  What is your current over-riding emotion? Less anxious about my to-do list, feeling more in control of that.  Now starting to feel impatient, I want to meet this little person!

6.  What is on your list of things to do in the next month regarding preparation for baby?  Getting curtains from mom-in-law this weekend, yay! Need to paint the canvas I've planned.  Wash pram and car seat.  Wash and sterilise all baby toys.

7.  What is your current craving? Watermelon. Chocolate. Baby marrows.

8.  How are you feeling physically? Hmm, getting quite uncomfortable at this stage, I must admit.

9.  How are you feeling emotionally? Content.

10.  How is your partner dealing with the pregnancy at this stage? Great. My rock, realist and voice of logic!

11.  How are you feeling about the pregnancy at this point? It's going by so fast, yet at the same time I can't wait for her to arrive!

12.  How much does baby weigh/measure at the moment? 1.2kg at 29 weeks, as opposed to Mia weighing 1.7 at 30 weeks! Little precious.

13.  How much weight have you gained to date?  I've put the scale away!!!

14.  What is the nursery room theme and what have you done for the nursery recently?  Grey and pink.  Will share pics as soon as curtains are up!

15.  What are the latest baby-related items you have bought or got given? Special clothes from some friends, can't wait to dress her up in them!  I've been buying some essentials like Telament drops, bum cream, nappy bin liners, etc.

16.  What are you looking forward to? With just two months to go, I want to savour this me-time that I have in the mornings while Mia's at school...  Looking forward to my babyshower that my sis, mom and mom-in-law are planning for middle March. Lucky girls, Ella and I!

Bump piccie:

Fun Sun City Weekend

My folks invited us to join them at Sun City this weekend.  I was so happy - I really love Sun City getaways - we started going there when I was 16, so that's a whole lot of holiday memories already - and love making new ones there with my hubby and kids!

We spent most of the time swimming.  Mia adores being in the water - and I enjoyed it too, because floating in water takes all the pressure off my ever-growing preggy bump, so it was super comfy.  Especially at the Valley of Waves, floating in the waves, without the disadvantage of sea sand, hehe!

I discovered Bubble Tea for the first time, and it's totally delicious!

Wyn, Mia and I spent special time together swimming, having afternoon naps, and the first night Mia slept on the floor on a mattress, and the second night in bed with Wyn and me, she's such a lil snugglebug! 

Special memories indeed. ♥

My Valentine's Princess

Mia makes my day, every day!

 

For Valentine's Day, we made cards for the grandparents and godparents:

 

 

 

I woke her up this morning with a heart choccie, and singing "I wish you a happy Valentine's Day" to which she sang back, "I wish you a merry Christmas!" ;-)

 

Her school requested that all the kids dress in, pink, red, and/or white, so she was super pleased that she could wear a beautiful party dress to school today.

 

 

She insisted on making two cards for her two teachers too. ♥

 

 

Beautiful person of mine ♥

 

 

When we got to school, her teacher gave her a card and present that she had made this week for mommy and pappa.  She never said a word, lil secret keeper!  So special.

(Giggled at my preggy bump photo-bombing this pic!!)

 

 

Inside the card she drew a picture, and the teacher wrote what's what.  This brought a tear to my eye!

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

xx

Discovery Baby Bag!

I phoned our Discovery medical aid last week, to get my pre-authorisation number, so that I can book my hospital bed.  We're on their Vitality benefit, which has a whole lot of value-added lifestyle benefits, like the fact that I gym for free (as long as I go 3 times a month) - and they have a Discovery Baby benefit too, where we get a bag of free goodies from ToysR'us!

I went to collect it yesterday - what fun to unpack the bag of goodies!

It included:
 - A fleece receiving blanket
 - BabySense taglet
 - Pregnancy and Baby Book
 - Picture book for baby
 - Car window shade net
 - Nuk dummy
 - R100 ToysR'us voucher
 - Discount voucher for Huggies nappies
 - Samples of breast pads and maternity panties and Bennett's Cream.
 - All in a cute bag!

I bought Mia a little sticker album and stickers, and put them in the bag too, so that she could help me unpack the bag and find something for herself too. ;-)

xx

No more nappies!

Mia is officially fully potty trained.  I have a two-month break from nappies and then the whole cycle starts all over again!

I have kept putting off this post about potty training, because I wanted to write it when we were all done.  In Mia's words, "no more nappies, woohoo!"

I took a very relaxed approach to potty training.  I know kids that go to school do get toilet trained faster and at a younger age - but with Mia being at home with me until a few weeks ago, I didn't want to push her, force her, or put any stress on either her or me.  I wanted it to just fall into place for her.

The process of potty training started early on, probably when she was about 18 months, we would start putting her on the potty just before bath time, so that she could get used to that.  Once or twice she did make a wee in the potty and was super surprised, but mostly she would sit on the potty for a few minutes, then we put her in the bath, and then she gleefully tells us she's making a wee. ;-)

I didn't want to start potty training during the winter months, so although we tried between ages 2 and 2.5 to encourage going to the toilet more, she really wasn't interested or keen.  So we left it for a while, and then officially started potty training her in August last year - a month before her third birthday.

I made a reward chart for her, where we could stick stars for each wee or poo in the toilet, and then for every couple of stars she could get a small gift. (Stickers, bracelets, choccie, etc.)  This worked well for the wee-wee's, and within a month she was wearing panties all the time, with the exception of afternoon nap and night sleep, as well as when she wanted to make a poo, she would ask for a nappy.

She had the minimum accidents - sometimes when she was busy playing she would forget to ask to go to the toilet, but for the most part I was very attentive and made sure that either me, Wyn or the nanny took her to the toilet often.  Our first few town-outings went well, but she has a habit (even now, still) of really liking to check out bathrooms wherever we are, so we would arrive in Pick 'n Pay and then she'd tell me she needs the toilet, even though she did wee just before we left - then we'd rush to the toilet, only to have her sit and sit and not do anything. Oh well! Part of the process. ;-)

By November, we stopped putting a nappy on her for day naps, and I told her she will only wear a nappy for sleep time, hoping this would encourage her to use the toilet for a number two as well...  This set off a few weeks of horrible constipation.  Who knew the mind was so strong that she got her body to a point where she would only poo once a week!!  I was very stressed out about this, especially as she had always been very regular.  After getting some advice from friends, I started giving her Movicol sachets in the morning, which would help soften her stools and promote a bowel movement.  It helped, but she really didn't enjoy having to drink this medicine, and she was quite unhappy about it all.

In December I decided to stop fighting the number two's, and told her that she can poo in a nappy again.  Within days she was back to regular bowel movements and would then always ask for a nappy, do her business within minutes and ask for it to be taken off.  We decided we would just go with it for now and not force the issue.

Also in December, one night she kept moaning and saying "eina, eina" - she said her nappy is pinching her, I must take it off.  And from there she didn't need any night-time nappies anymore.  There have been a few bed-wetting accidents, but not a lot.  We limit her fluid intake from about 5pm, and make sure she has a wee at bedtime.

Wyn had a good idea, that when she asks for a nappy to make a poo, we put her on the toilet, with the nappy on, just so that she could get used to the way of going to the toilet and sitting there while doing her business.  This worked really well, and when she started school, I also asked them to continue doing it that way.

Then, two weeks ago, Wyn had another brainwave.  He cut a hole in a nappy, and so when Mia asked for a nappy, he put this nappy on her, put her on the toilet - and she made a poo right through it into the toilet.  She was amazed at this "magic nappy" and very pleased with herself.  The following day, instead of asking me when she needed to poo, she went to pappa, and asked him for the magic nappy again. She didn't see the hole in the nappy, to her it really was a "magic nappy"!

On Thursday last week, when she asked for the magic nappy, I told her we must go wee on the toilet first, as I needed Wyn to first cut a hole in a nappy again.  While she was on the toilet, I told her, "Oooh quickly make a poo, then when pappa comes with the nappy, we can tell him you don't need it anymore!"  This idea appealed to her, and ta-daa, she made a poo.  Oh joy!!  I did a happy dance and Mia looked on gleefully, until she told me to, "Stop being so excited." Hehehe.

During this past weekend, she used the toilet each time - on Saturday even had a little bit of an upset tummy and needed the loo a couple of times - what a relief that she didn't want any nappies!

This morning at school I told the teacher that they don't have to give her a nappy anymore, they must please put her on the toilet, and Mia also joyfully declared, "No more nappies!"

So, quite an adventure, this journey of potty training - but we've come out on the other end, nappy-less!  I think factors like being two-and-a-half in winter time, and being at home and not at school made it take a bit longer, and then the need of a nappy for a sense of security while doing a poo also extended the journey.

"Just ride it out" is advice I've often been given, for different circumstances, and that's pretty much what we did.  Patience, encouragement, tolerance and perseverance!

Well done Mia Mooi.  Mommy is super proud of you, my big girl!

xx

"Bak & Brou" at school today

Mia was super chuffed with her creation today.  Proudly showed it off, explained which is jelly tots, smarties and a jelly baby - and then proceeded to chomp it all.

She's really enjoying school.  My heart is so happy!
xx

Hello, 3rd Trimester!

Today I'm 28 weeks pregnant, which officially puts me into the third trimester.  What?! How did that happen?!  This pregnancy is going by so, so fast.

I feel quite okay mostly.  Heartburn starting to get really bad, even with the Topzole meds the doc prescribed.  Also get a dizzy, lightheaded, nauseous kind of feeling sometimes, but it's definitely blood-sugar related, as I feel better as soon as I eat something.

Our next scan is next week Thursday, really can't wait to see little Ella and hear how she's growing.

My current preggy to-do list:

• Order mattress from TreeHouse
• Sort out all of Mia's old baby clothes
• Order name vinyl stickers
• Get curtains and cot linen from mom-in-law
• Get carpets professionally cleaned
• Wash pram, car seat and camping cot
• Phone medical aid for pre-authorisation number
• Fill in hospital form for pre-admission and to book bed
• Start stocking up on nappies, wipes, toiletries
• Book maternity photo shoot

Hmm, not too bad a list, but I must get cracking on it!

I find myself going back to my old blog quite often to see how my pregnancy with Mia went compared to this one, and it's lots the same.  Here's my Hello 3rd Trimester post that I made in July 2010.

And two most recent bump piccies:

Enjoying the boepie.  Avoiding the scale. ;-)
xx