Our little girl

Luke made a statement tonight.  He said we dont have a baby anymore, we have a little girl.  And he is quite right.  I think the fact would have been a bit harder to accept if we didn't have such a strong breastfeeding bond.  She still feeds many times day and night.  Often during the day if she gets hurt or feels upset she will come to me asking in her sweet little voice "dink, peez mamma" and within a matter of a few sucks her tears are gone and she's like a new person.  I still 'feed' her to sleep naptime and bedtime at night and it is such a very special time for us both.  We chat a bit then lie down looking into each others eyes, me caressing her hair and her feeling the warmth, security, comfort and closeness of me and then she peacefully drifts off to sleep.  We co-sleep so if she wakes during the night I am right there next to her and she immediately falls asleep being comforted by breastfeeding.  Sometimes she doesn't even have to feed even if she can just feel my skin it settles her immediately.  I wouldn't replace this bond and experience for anything!

Although she isn't a baby anymore we are enjoying this age as much as we will enjoy her at every age... she is so adorable and does and says the cutest things. 

Finally our little girl's hair is long enough for a pony tail and to put cute clips in :)

She is 22 month and is definitely ready for potty training.  I have noticed this for a while now but wanted to make 100% sure that she was fully ready before starting.  I went through a long checklist the other day for potty training readiness and she met every requirement.  We started potty training yesterday.  We clapped hands like crazy each time she sat on the potty even if she didn't do anything in it and she is so excited about all the praise.  By the evening I had already put her nappy on for the night and while we were in the lounge she came charging out the room ripping her nappy off as she ran and went straight to the potty to make the last few drops of her wee in it.  She felt herself weeing in her nappy and immediately made the connection.  I am so proud of my little girl :)

Reading a book on the potty :)

Rosebud's First Easter Hunt

Some random moments from March/April 2012...

Playing Rummicub with Gran Gran

Spending time with Great Granny Pam

Matching cushions that I sewed for Rosebud and Brother

A new summer dress for Rosebud sewed with love by me :)

Getting ready for an Easter hunt at Gran and Duncan

Settling down for a picnic with her newly hunted stash

Watching Brother hunt

February 2012 (20 months old)

Here are some of Rosebuds adventures...

Bathed and dressed in her adorable nightgown and ready to visit Granny.

Nature Study with Andy

Having one of many daily cuddles

Early risers camp out in the lounge while Mommy has her quiet time

Looking up to her hero

Enjoying an ice lolly at Granny's place

Enjoying morning Homeschool time

A morning fruit picnic in the lounge (bad weather doesn't stop us from having a picnic)

Rosebud loves dressing up in anything she can lay her hands on

Playing Dolly

Enjoying an outing with family at Kirstenbosch Gardens

At the big tree that Mommy and Daddy played in when they were little. It recently got split by lightning in a storm.

Cuddling up with Daddy

Tea time with homemade goodies

Funny face meals

Dressing up with the boys

Time at the beach (Rosebud's favourite place) with Gran

On a Homeschool Group outing touring sumarines, playing in the sea and taking the train.

Having a giggle

More time with Gran at the beach

Some updates

It's really hard to believe that I last blogged in February!!! We moved to Pinelands in Feb and didn't have Internet for a few months. Then a week before we got Internet for our new home our home pc broke so today after having Internet fora few weeks now I just couldn't take it anymore... I HAD TO blog! So I'm blogging on the iPad which of course takes ten times longer and it's beyond my limited knowledge on how to upload photos but I just had to take the first step and BLOG!!!

Looking back on my blogs I'm once again amazed on how fast my little ones are growing and I would love to continue capturing those special moments to look back on in years to come!

I've been keeping notes on my iPhone of special dates which I'd like to record here...

First words
Mamma - 8 months (I have video proof of this :)
Dadda - 8 months
Hello - 8.5 months
Nanna - 8.5 months
Tatta - 8.5 months

Started crawling in Mommy's lounge in the morning of 16 March 2011.

Stood up from sitting position to standing position against side of couch on 22 March 2011. In our lounge while I was sitting on my couch.

Clapped hands for first time with Granny Celia in her lounge on 30 March 2011.

Stood up unsupported for the first time on 29 April 2011.

Got top right front tooth on 3 May 2011

Got bottom right second from center tooth on 11 May 2011.

Got top left front tooth on 15 May 2011.

Stood up for the first time from sitting position on the floor to standing unsupported.

Got tooth next to top right front on 2 June 2011.

Got 8th tooth on 9 July 2011.

Jane took her first step on 29 July 2011. She stood up in the middle of our lounge stepped on foot the the other then sat down and clapped hands. :)

I'm hoping to get some photos up soon!

My little Rosebud

8 months old...

Jane loves grass.  She's fascinated by it!  She's scooting on her bottom but hates being on her all fours so I just leave her in the sitting position and she'll eventually find her way into the crawling position by herself.  The above picture illustrates how she gets around.  She started off in the sitting position in the hollow of the u shaped cushion in the middle of the blanket and worked her way scooting on her bottom to the edge so she could get to the grass :-)

She's eating quite a variety of fresh fruit and steamed veggies, fish, meat and chicken.  Here is an example of how I prepare her meals...

I steam her veggies and fish, meat or chicken in a bamboo steamer (steaming locks in all the nutrients as apposed to boiling where you drain a lot of the nutrients away in the boiling water)...

Then I puree it and freeze it in an ice cube tray keeping some aside for her supper.  Once they're frozen I put them in a freezer bag and label them with what it is and the date it was made.

For breakfast and lunch she has fresh pureed fruit e.g. banana, mango, peach, etc. 

She always wants to get her hands into something gooey but I don't want her to get dirt or something on her hands that she'll put into her mouth so I set her in her highchair (of coarse forgetting to put a bib on) with a bowl of mashed banana and she HAD A BALL without me having to worry about her hands going into her mouth.

Toofie-peg #1 and 2

Tooth number one made it's appearance on the eve of 22 January 2011 at the age of 7 months old.  It is the tradition in our family to make pancakes to celebrate the occasion but since I got a fab new waffle machine for Christmas I'm going to make waffles sometime in the next few weeks (we're rather busy at the mo - more details on this later).  The only teething sign we noticed was that Jane was playing with her tongue on her lower gum a lot so when we checked there it was.

I had quite a disturbed night last night with Rosebud waking up quite often for comfort and breastfeeding and this morning we noticed tooth number 2 is out.  My little Rosebud is getting so big!



 

Rosebud's first holiday!

We went camping before this but I'll record this as her first proper holiday (cause let's face it, camping is rather uncomfortable when you're a baby... and a Mommy) :-)

We went to Paternoster on the West Coast and stayed in a cottage with Jude, Gro and Frida (Jane's Uncle, Aunt and 4 month old cousin) and Rachel and Andrea (Aunt and Uncle).

She LOVED relaxing on the sunbeds on the porch overlooking the beach...

There were two bathrooms but both only had showers so Rosebud had to 'bath' in the washbasin.  I had to bath her twice almost every day because of all the sand.  At one stage she even had sand up her nose (on a very windy day).

Rosebud on the beach for the first time...

Picking up her very first shell!  I kept it and put it in her memory box :-)

Exploring the sand...

What fun!!!