This is Harlan Stow

Hi All

The long awaited arrival of Harlan Stow has become reality today.

Mr Harlan made his appearance at 3h25 weighing 3.46kg and 53cm long. We are all happy that he is finally here and he has all his fingers and toes!

Love from P x 3 XXX

Back From Venus

Happy girl

Flying with Dad

Big smiles - see my new necklace

So, finally after a week of struggling, crying, tempers, starving, dehydrating....... Natalia has returned - not 100%, but almost. She started eating solids again on Monday, after 6 days of fighting me and not being interested, and only by Thursday did she have a healthy appetite again. She also started drinking 200ml of formula again, not always finishing it, but more often than not..... so I am a happy and relaxed Mom again!!!

I introduced her to plain yoghurt yesterday with her fruit and she loved it - pulling faces at first, but then enjoying it. So now she has pear or apple for lunch with yoghurt. For breakfast she has cereal with prunes (for her tummy), and for dinner butternut or carrots. So far this is all she's tried, but I plan to introduce more tastes soon. Only thing is when we go on holiday now, I'm going to have to buy Purity or Olli and I'm not sure what to do really. If any of you have advice for me on shop bought baby food, please assist.

Natalia and I also started Moms & Babes again on Thursday, she's in the 6-9 months category now and we are learning a whole lot of new things. We sat next to a baby boy named Matthew -it looked like love - she was licking his hand and he hers, and they couldn't get enough of each other. Natalia just loves other babies, kids and people. She's the charmer of the family!!!

I also bought her proper teething beads made from Baltic Amber that everyone swears by. Quite a pricey affair, but look when you're desperate you're desperate and you'll try anything, short of medicating her into unconsciousness - lol. She's really had a terrific week, 1000 times better than the previous one. I feel refreshed, yay!!!

Now bring on the holiday. I can't wait for our road trip to the Cape and Natal in a week and a bit. 2.5 weeks of R&R, if there is such a thing with a baby......

On a sad last note, one of my brother inlaw's friends passed away last night ......so our sympathies go out to all the people affected. Tim RIP.

Love P x 3

Abducted !!!

Okay, who's taken my child? Sometime on the night of the 11th some aliens stole Natalia and gave me another baby! Gee wizz.........since the 12th she's become a different person.

She's ratty and moany all the time, a real grumple. She doesn't want to eat solids and is not interested in her bottle and only maybe eats half of what she's supposed to. She wont even have some water, even tried fruit juice and rooibos tea. She used to love veggies and cereal and now wont have anything to do with it. She purses her lips and shakes her head. Yesterday morning and this morning she puked what we got down up, so nothing is staying down either, so now I'm worried. The last thing I want is for her to get dehydrated, that's serious.

The only thing I can think of is her teeth, she's probably teething and her gums are sore. But she wont let me put Prodol on them, wont even let me put my finger in her mouth. She purses those little lips so tight and shakes her little head, I almost have to restrain her. Luckily she still takes her dummy so I've been putting Prodol on that, but that probably numbs her tongue and not her gums. I am going to try and give her Rehydrate this afternoon.

So I'm at my wits end.......... If any of you have advice, please share.

Leigh XXX

Letter From Granny Bugs

Happy 6 Month Birthday Cudie Pie!

You are already 6 Months old. My, you are growing so quickly. Full of smiles and giggles and learning new things every day. My very personal favourite is when I quietly go into your room after you’ve woken up from your sleep. I watch you as you happily chat away to all the little toys dangling off the mobile above you. And then, best of all, after a while you notice me standing there and give me the brightest smile in the whole world! A smile that makes my heart flutter with all the love I feel for you, my Cudie Pie. And then I pick you up and hold you close savouring your special baby softness. Being your granny is a privilege and a very precious gift.

Bugs

6 Month Check-up

Natalia went for her 6 month check-up today with Dr Verster and everything looks fine. She's healthy happy and there's nothing out of the ordinary to worry about. The only thing that was looked at was her skin. She seems to have eczema all over her little chest, shoulders and back, and some areas on her elbows and behind her knees. Luckily it doesn't seem to bother her that much but I got some special stuff to bath her in, cream to put on her after the bath and in the mornings. Doc also asked me to put her on NAN HA and to wash her clothes in Sunlight powder.
So now Natalia weighs 9.3kg and is 67cm tall. Doc says that she's a big girl but not overweight.

Love P x 3

Half A Year Old Today !!!

spending the day together playing

I love my squidgy thingy

tummy-time

happy girl

playing with some Christmas pressies

me and my friend 'hippo boy'

gee, I am so strong. I can lift a hippo

sitting on my own, even if its a bit wonky

see Mom, my feet are growing

Shooo, half a year has gone by so quickly. Natalia is almost sitting on her own - she plops over now and then, but her balance is just about there. She also spends much longer on her tummy these days in order to roll over and in preparation for crawling one day. She also started eating butternut this week for dinner and loves it! Today she started eating apple with a tsp of rice cereal for lunch (which also went well) and then she still has plain corn/rice cereal for breakfast. In a week or so I'll start her on plain yoghurt with the apple. Then she also has her 4 bottles a day, which was cut down from 5 on Monday since she's having lunch now. Natalia loves to bath and got a lot of bath toys for Christmas, so now bath-time takes even longer because she has to explore them. She just doesn't want to get out. She hates being dressed and would rather be naked! She's also growing at a rate of knots and some of her 6-12 month clothes are fitting really well........ She also babbles a lot - she's going to be a real chaterbox one day.

I cant believe in just 6 more months, Natalia will be a year old........

Love P x 3