Boxing Day 2010

We went to the Walter Sisulu Bontanical Gardens for breakfast early early. Having a child means that you dont get to sleep late, ever!
Natalia had a ball running around. It was a great day out......... the pics tell all



Running away with Mommy's purse



  



Helping Daddy fix the pram tire




Playing with Daddy's wallet





Jumping in



Putting the key in the house door



Time to get in the bath









Christmas 2010

 

All the pressies



Santa's Helper





Look here





Our prodigy




   

Ice-cream is supposed to be fun



My Mommy and Me



Ah, The Year Draws To A Close

After Dolly left to go home for Christmas, Natalia's routine changed and she was not at all happy.  She became very clingy and wouldnt let me move. I had to literally hold her the whole time otherwise she screamed like a banshee. For almost a week I couldnt do any cleaning or tidying up.... it was very trying.  Loren advised that I do some pressure point work on her and it seems to have worked a bit.....

Natalia is also talking much more.  She says Ca for Ta and Bis for Biscuit.  She still doesnt call me Mommy, but Daddy instead. She says Up, Car, Home, Go, Come, Juice, Cheese, Bubbles. She is just so damned cute! 

So tonight is Christmas Eve and I am fetching my Mother from the airport soon, yay!!
Tomorrow morning will be an early exiting one.  Natalia will be more aware of what's happing. Last year she was only 5.5 months old.  Cant wait.....  

Natalia's favourite place - at the basin playing with water



Early morning walking around the house with her blankie and croc handbag



Not Again !!!

Natalia has Tonsilitis again!!!  She started getting a temperature yesterday again and was in a foul mood. Then today she went down for her nap at 11h15 and at 12h00 she woke up screaming. Dolly went to fetch her and as she picked her up, Natalia puked all over herself, Dolly and her bedroom floor....not good.  Today happens to be one of my busiest days at work so I phoned Kim to come home fast to take her to the doctor. He found a fantastic lady doctor at the NHC and now she's on more antibiotics.... twice in 2 weeks!  This time it better bladdy work and kill this virus.... I dont think I can take anymore sick baby for now!


Sitting on my home office chair - an executive in the making



Cousins playing so nicely together






















Look at this flower



Passed out on Daddy's shoulders :)



Ring A Rosies

Tonsilitis & Bronchitis

Natalia's night coughing started on Wednesday night again.  Oh no, my heart sank, not again!!!  I made a Paed appointment as soon as I could that morning, but he could only see us the following Monday. Then her night cough turned into a day cough, her nose started running, so I thought we might be dealing with something else here.  Friday night she got a fever of 39deg and then again Saturday afternoon and night again.  She had been in a fowl mood from the Wednesday and was obviously feeling horrible, so on Sunday morning we took her to the casualty at Wilgeheuwel Hospital.  Her temperature was normal, but I explained to the doctor what had been happening.  He quickly picked up that she had Tonsilitis and Bronchitis - the 2 culprits of Natalia being so unhappy, shame.  So now we have anitbiotics for her to sort this out..... The joys of having children - your life is never dull.  And we are loving it, might I add !!!

Natalia at a play area recently

She loves cars, maybe she'll be a racing driver one day like her great grandpa 

Moms & Tots Christmas Party

The Tree is Up

So we put our tree up today..... Rather than put it up 2 weeks before and take it down almost immediately, we decided it would be nice to have it up for a while.  Natalia still doesnt know what is going on really, but she had fun with all the brightly coloured decorations.  She had a lot of fun and that's what matters....  Today is also our anniversary - married for 2 years today!

Stuff

The cough that Natalia had is gone. The medication worked and she is sleeping through - almost every night this week. The coughing used to wake her up, so this is a good thing.

She is also sleeping a lot lately. She cant even wait for 12h00 anymore. She now goes down just after 11h00, so we give her half a sarmie before 11 and then she gets the rest when she wakes up around 14h00. She never used to sleep this much in the day, but I think its because she's so busy walking and exploring all over.

Her 10th tooth is still playing games with us. Its coming then it disappears, then its back, then its gone. Man, I think teething is the cruelest thing for little people. I have also seemed to get the nappy rash under control. We are already changing her nappy frequently, so I needed to look for another solution. Loren, my sister, suggested I give her probiotics. I put it in her milk at night and it took 3 days and it sorted out her stools. They are less acidic and her poor bum doesn't get burnt anymore. Now, if a see a smidgeon of redness no her bum, I give her probiotics and it's sorted - thanks Loren!!!

Natalia is saying more new words - I notice them weekly. She now says Please, Cheese when she stands in front of the fridge, Go when she's had enough or if we are leaving to go out, and Gone when she cant find something.

Kim has been working hard lately, with us hardly seeing him this past week and weekend. Cashbuild has moved to a new building and he is responsible for everything - and I mean everything. From the actual building to the pc's. He as to make sure that there is not damage to anything. He has to make sure every one's pc's are working. He has to make sure that all the boxes that all the employees packed have been moved over and put in the right place so when they come to work tomorrow morning its there for them. So..... this is why I have been a single parent for the last week or so! Cant say that I'm happy about it.....

At least Kim got toe spend a little time with Natalia this morning before he was off again. He caught her red-handed with the rusks and had to takes these pics for me.

Then at about 9h00 we went to visit Gregory, a friend from Moms & Tots. Greggie is a little more rough and fearless. Natalia is not used to sharing, so we had a couple of tears. But we got them together in the hammock for a while.....

Serendipity Again

Natalia and I went to Serendipity in Rosebank again today. As I've said before, this is a fantastic place. She can run around and play and she is followed by a dedicated minder, today it was Loveness ...... what more could you ask for.

As well as there being lots to do outdoors there is also a play area indoors. Natalia got dressed up in the fancy dress area. Then of all toys she could pick, she chose to play with a red sports car. We don't have cars for her at home.... so this was a new experience for me. Maybe we should get her some cars - I never thought of it before.

She also loves playing with balls. She's good at throwing and kicking.....

Not long after we left, she passed out in the car on the way home. She slept for 2.5 hours..... All that activity !!!

In the afternoon we popped over to my aunt Doreen whom I haven't seen for ages. Jack and Lucy were there too. When Natalia and Jack sat so lovingly next to each other, I couldn't resist taking this pic. He is such a gentle boy and so loving. They played to sell together, even though he's about 2 years older.

Paed Visit and Nappy Rash

After months and months of of having coughing fits at night, I finally took Natalia to the Paed yesterday. Natalia got sick at the beginning of August and since then she's been coughing in the middle of the night and in the wee hours of the morning without default. She has coughing fits or attacks which sound like whooping cough, go on for a long time, sometimes hours, and it obviously wakes her up and disturbs all our sleep, as if teething wasn't enough!

The reason it took me so long to take her to the Paed was because she had been on 2 courses of antibiotics and 3 kinds of cough mixtures which just didn't work. I had taken her to a GP back in August and didn't get any joy! Finally on Sunday night after Natalia was coughing up her lung for the millionth time in the middle of the night, I made the decision to get this seen to for good.

The Paed sent her for x-rays, which she hated. They ruled out pneumonia, but they revealed a lot of mucus on her lungs. He has put her on an antibiotic that is especially for this kind of thing and a couple of other medications which are for asthma and aimed at getting this persistent cough eradicated. If after 2 weeks there's no improvement, I need to take her back. But I am happy to report that she has only been taking the meds since yesterday and she did not cough last night! So we might be on the right track!!

Other than the coughing, Natalia has a horrible nappy rash. Since last Thursday she has been really sore and uncomfortable, shame. She pulls at her nappy and even took it off the other day - if that isn't a sign! We have been taking her nappy off every afternoon and putting Maizena on her bum to air her out for a couple of hours. She loves it, running around outside and playing with water. There seems to be some improvement today luckily.

Natalia is also getting her 10th tooth, 2nd molar. She is producing many smelly nappies, sometimes 3 a day. This is probably what started the nappy rash off! I wish I knew what I could do to relieve the pain..... Prodol just doesn't help long enough and she wont let me put my finger in her mouth.

On another side, Natalia is doing more signs now. She now signs Dog, Bird and Hat and when she sees a picture of a flower she smells the page. She loving being able to run around now and hardly keeps still. She has such a cute personality, but she's not shy to tell us when she's unhappy. My baby is changing and developing so quickly and the next couple of months she's going to learn so much!