Home Sweet Home

Hello my angel,

Well, thank you so much for talking to your brother. He listened and dr Burger discharged me today. At first he was going to keep me there until Friday, and then, to my surprise, he turned around and said I could actually go today, if I take it easy.

It is so wonderful to be back where I belong, with my boys at home. Every night we have to thank the Big Man upstairs for answering our prayers. This could've ended...well...very badly my angel, and thank goodness God decided to grant our prayers and now we have even more time before your little brother arrives.

Thank you everyone who said a prayer, offered support or even just silently sent a positive thought our way. We really appreciate it, and are very blessed to have so many caring people in our lives.

Well, that's all from me for now. I'm so glad and overwhelmed to be home, that I might just take a nap, ha-ha.

God Bless!!!

De ja vu?

Hello my angel,

Well, let's start off with why you haven't been seeing me so much lately. The reason is that I had to go to the hospital for a while. You see, like you, your little brother is also very anxious to see the world, except, about 3 weeks earlier than you wanted to. As you may know, 3 weeks make a BIG difference, so we have to make sure that he stays put for now. Please talk to your little brother when you say your prayers at night my angel. Tell him that it's not so much fun when you come early, because you don't get to go out and play immediately, and that it's much safer for him to stay inside. As for you my only. Please look after your dad at home, he needs you very much you know, as he lives for everyday with you. Please make sure he doesn't cry too much, cause he's actually a big softy (don't tell him though). And then I'll promise I'll do everything in my power to get myself and your little brother back home as soon as possible! Doctor Burger (you remember him, the guy whose face you probably saw first when you came out) is positive that we'll be able to stop these contractions this time, and, so am I. So I'll behave myself and try to get back to you as soon as possible, if you look after daddy, talk to your little brother and behave yourself when ouma looks after you!

I will give you more details about our little visit today later. For now, just know that I am missing you and dad extremely, and I cannot wait to back at home, where I belong.

Love you plenty!

Just too cute for words

Hello my only,

You are becoming the cutest little man on the planet. The past couple of days you have gone through a transformation, where all you seem to be interested in is running around and screaming, but happy screams, more like squeeling. It's so adorable. I don't know what brought this on, but dad and I are really enjoying it.

So, you've learnt some new words like belt, brood (for bread), plane, nemo, stout, apple, dude (dad's handy work), kieper (for perdjie, horse in afrikaans, not quite sure why you say kieper, it's a bit backwords, but at least we understand you), and you are now saying two words together, like "Hello Mama" and "Bye Bye Dada" or "Elmo Stout". It's very cute. I love the way you dance, as soon as we say "Boom Boom Boom" you start strutting your stuff! And if you hurt yourself and I say "Soen die eina", you kiss it better yourself, even if it is your foot. You like feeding yourself (a very messy expedition), as well as washing your hair and brushing your teeth. And I won't even get into your love of the water, especially when you go swimming with dada or ouma. When you are in your little swim tube thingy it's very entertaining for you to jump off the first step into the pool, then the squeels of delight follow shortly.

You had a couple of weekends away, the last of which we went to dada's cousin Tanya's 21st Birthday in Harrismith. It was so beautiful there and you loved the open spaces and new faces. You even tried to pick up some chicks on the dance floor!

Another plus was your report card that we got from school. You were evaluated in either "yes" or "no". You scored "yes" for everything but one...and all I can say is I feel the teachers pain. Your only "no" was "Does he help tidy up?"....hmmmm....but she did say that you loved dancing and singing. You are still al ittle bit weary of the other children, but getting the hang of the socialising thing. So well done my angel, I'm very very proud of all the things you are learning.

I have to admit, bed times are a lot easier. When you are tired, you get really whiny and keep saying "dudu". Then I tell you to go and kiss dada and wait for me in the room while I get your bottle. Off you go, kiss dada, say bye bye dada, take your blankie (which you also call dudu) to the room and wait next to the bed for me. You hold your own bottle, and when you are done you hand it to me, ask for your dummy, roll over and sleep. So easy. Oh, and before I forget, if we ask you to kiss boetie, you kiss my tummy. I can always feel your brother move after that, as if to say thank you for the love. I know the two of you are going to be great friends. We went to the doctor on Saturday and he said your brother is growing very nicely, heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, spine, all in tact. So now we are just patiently waiting for him to stay put, as he already tried to beat your record time of 27 weeks by trying to come at 19 weeks. Luckily we were already so aware of the danger signs that we quickly had it sorted out. I can't believe how your little birth "stunt" affected us my angel. I'm just waiting for every week to pass so that your brother can grow bigger. I mean, how many moms do you know who will say "If I can only get past 32 weeks". And every time I see where his development is, I can't believe how early you came. Really makes me so grateful that you were such a strong little fighter.

Anyway my love, I'll post some photos for you soon so that you can see what you've been up to! Oh, and before I go, I just have to tell you about your monkeynastix lately. An example: Yesterday I was setting the table and put the salad out. I turned around to get the condiments for the table, and upon my return I laid my eyes upon a little monkey who climbed up on the chair, lazily walked accross the dining room table and was now sitting with the bowl of salad between his legs, helping himself to some carrots....hmmm...yup, heart failure for mom!

Love you my fatty!

Update

Riding the bear-ride at Gold Reef City

So tired after a whole day of playing, you lied down on the floor of the resturaunt.

Riding the train with dad

Playing with Kelly at the playroom in the resturaunt

Eating a banana - your new favourite!

Meeting the animals.

You and dad when we went to watch dad racing motorbikes (I can see you wanting to do the same!)

Halloween 2009, at Dale's birthday, you in your wolf outfit. Thanks for an awesome party Lees!

Samm and Deqlan enjoying the party

Loren and Kai, having some "dinner"

Keaton in his adorable Barney outfit!


Hello my fatty,

So I haven't been able to tell you about all the cute things you've been up to, cause dad and I have been stupidly busy, me studying for exams and dad working extremely hard.

So first, some news about what is about to happen in your life:
- Dad got a promotion (that's why he's been working so hard) which means we are going to be moving to Johannesburg in December. Well done my weasel, we are extremely proud of you and I cannot think of anyone more desserving than you. The new place has a pool and a very big yard, so you'll have lots of space to play with....
- Your brother...yes my angel, it has been confirmed that you are going to have a little brother next year (God willing).

So what has been happening in the life of Caden?
Well, you are learning a lot of new words like "myne", "dudu baba", "elmo" (for our doggy), "sky", "copter" (for hellicopter), "toto" (for a motorbike), "nana" (for banana) as well as a whole bunch of other random words. It's very cute to see you saying them with such passion. You've also gotten use to your school, not clinging to me every morning, but actually running around and playing, which makes life (and emotional wellness) a lot easier for me! Oh, and we went to the doctor this morning because you have had terrible allergic reactions to who knows what the past couple of days, and finally it has been confirmed, you seem to have asthma. Well, seeing as your granny, your ouma grootjie and your mom has it too, it was kind of inevitable. But we got your medicine, so all should be fine. On the upside, you've finally picked up some weight, you are a ful 9.1 kg!!! Well done my angel, must be all those bananas!

Life has completely transformed for me, just being a mother. I know it's a bit late, but I've really settled into this new lifestyle. Where I use to want to go out and travel the world for my hobbies, I find myself wanting to take up baking classes or clothes-making lessons. You may not believe this, but I think this wild mother of yours has finally been domesticated, and I LOVE it. I can't wait to see what's next. I love every step that you grow into, every new thing that you learn. I might not always (actually very seldom) be the person to teach them to you, but I marvel in everything that you do, old or new.

As for being a mom and pregnant at the same time, I must admit, this pregnancy is a lot more relaxed. With you I use to stress about everything, am I eating right? do I know enough? ect. ect. But this time around, I came to realise that you can do everything right, or everything wrong, at the end of the day, it's just not up to us. The big Man upstairs has everythig in His control, so why waste time stressing about these things? Megan said the same a couple of weeks ago, when one of the little girls in your buddy Keaton's swim classes fell terribly ill with a brain virus that paralysed her. And Loren also wrote that she can't do anything else but take one day at a time. So maybe this is a symptom of 2nd pregnancies? (Oh by the way, I didn't even tell you that me, Loren and Megan are pregnant at the same time again, so don't worry, your little brother will have more than enough friends of his own so as to not "cramp your style" if you know what I mean). Maybe the second time around we all realise that the joy of having a child is so overwhelming, that you cannot waste time lulling over things that are just not in our control.

Maybe, just maybe, our children are here to teach us one of the most important lessons one has to learn....just have faith, let go and let God....

That's all for now my angel.

Love you lots and lots!

Some Pics

Grommits and an Adenoidectomy

Sleeping peacefully on my lap just before the operation.


Hello my angel,

I know it's been a while since I've written anything, but that doesn't mean you've stopped getting cuter and cuter by the day! Well, I think for now, let me just tell you about your little operation you went for yesterday.

You had to go for grommits,tiny little pipes in your eardrum to relieve the pressure building up inside. The doctor also said that while you are under anaesthetic, he'll have a look at your adenoids (soft tissue at the back of your nose) and if they're swollen he's going to take them out. Anyway, after a rough start to the morning, because you weren't allowed to eat or drink anything, ouma and I got to the hospital and booked in at around 8h00. There, ouma kept you occupied while I had to sign all the forms and get everything ready for the opp. Thank goodness ouma was there, because you were very interested in everything and I don't think I would've been able to manage your interests with all the admin!

Then you became tired, and ouma tried her best to get you to sleep, but to no avail. Then ouma left, and I tried my best to get you to sleep, but, to no avail. Finally I gave up and went to sit in your cot with you to read a book. Well, 10 minutes didn't even pass when you curled up onto my lap, said dudu baba about 3 times, and fell asleep. I was overwhelmed with love just looking at this tiny little man, who has changed my life so drastically and who I would do absolutely anything for, now lying peacefully on my lap, unaware of the trauma to come. All around us people were complaining about how long it took and bla-bla-bla, and there we were, just savouring every minute of this time together!

So eventually at eleven it was your turn. You were extremely hungry by then, so a very nice lady, whose daughter was supposed to go in before you because she was younger, said we could go in first. How nice was that hey my poopie? So off we went into the operating room. It was one of the hardest moments of my life, when I walked into the theatre with you and you saw all those machines,it was like the flood gates opened! I had to hold you down while they put the anaesthetic mask on you, look into those confused, teary eyes, and try to explain with a look why this was what is best. Thankfully you fell asleep quite quickly and I was chased out to await your recovery. Wow, not an easy moment for either of us my angel. Anyway, I went downstairs to give grampy and granny (who came through for support)a quick update and ran back upstairs to wait for you. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, but was actually only 25 minutes, the doctor called me. He said your ears were very badly infected and we would've had a lot of trouble if we didn't do the opp now. He also took your adenoids out, so maybe now you'll stop snoring so loud, lol!

After lots of tears and a ride in the trolley on mom's lap, you had a bottle and fell asleep again. We were discharged, and you basically slept for the rest of the day, just waking up with a cry now and then, but quickly relaxing once I held you.

Then, as if you knew, you woke up just as dad came home, and thankfully in a much better mood, BUT...with a fever of 39.4. Hmmm, yup, I panicked. After talking to the doctor, hospital and basically anyone who would listen, it was clear that I just had to get your fever down and watch it. So into the bath you went, and for the rest of the night that's what we did...watched a little monkey man, sleeping so peacefully, oblivious to the stresses around him, and making sure your temps went down. At around 9 we got it to 38.5, 23h00 - 38.1, 03h00 - 37.6, and finally 5h00 - 37.1. I must tell you, every time I took your temperature (which was like every 15 minutes), your dad, who I thought was fast asleep, would turn around and ask "How much is it?". And daddy treasures his sleep very much, so you can guess how much he loves you!!! Your granny also just phoned me to say that your temp is now between 36.8 - 37.4. I can live with that. Doc says he thinks it's a viral infection, so we must just watch for any other symptoms, but if the fever is coming down, then all should be ok...touch wood.

So now you are with your granny at home, being watched like a hawk,playing mechanic with grampy and being very cute, very "deurmekaar" and still the light of our lives.

Love you incredibly monkey-man!

Oh, p.s., dr. Burger says he thinks you're getting a brother, but it's still too early to confirm, so we'll have to wait until the 24th!

Organ Donor Foundation Walk

The Organ Donor Foundation is a non-profit charity, which aims to address the critical shortage of organ and tissue donors in South Africa. Currently there are over 3,500 people awaiting organ and tissue transplants. Tragically fewer than 1,500 will this year receive a transplant due to this critical shortage. Please support organ donation. Let’s ensure that South Africa remains a centre of excellence for organ and tissue transplantation. Transplants save lives.

Peanut Paul II

So I bet you've been wondering what was going on with your brother/sister's photos up there? I mean, why is the head so big? Well my poop, when babies are made, they start out really funny looking and their heads are half the size of their bodies. But can you believe that he/she already looks very human, and is only 5cm big!!! Growing steadily, all looks well for now.

Love you my angel

Happy Birthday Deqlan!

Happy Happy Birthday dearest Deqlan. Hope you have an absolute ball of a time and that your mom and dad spoils you rotten! It's wonderful seeing how much you've grown and developed, and now you are whole 3 years old!!! Congrats big boy, will party with you tomorrow!

God Bless!
Elriza, Wes, Caden and Peanut Paul II

So what's happening to peanut Paul II?

Hello my angel,

So I noticed that I haven't even told you what's happening to your little brother or sister in my belly. Well, basically it's this:

You're getting close to the end of the first trimester. Most of your baby's critical development will be behind you after the next couple of weeks, and the odds of miscarriage will soon drop considerably.

Measuring from the crown of his head to his rump, your 4.1cm baby has all his parts, from tooth buds to toenails. Your baby is busy kicking and stretching; his movements are so fluid they look like water ballet. Fingers and toes have fully separated. Now your baby’s main task during the next six months will be to grow larger and stronger until he can survive on his own outside the womb.

I know that on the photo above it says that peanut is 25mm, but that was 2 weeks ago, just shows you how quickly they grow hey?

It was so cute, the other day daddy showed you to kiss mommy's belly and without hesitation you proceeded to kiss it 3 times. Hope to post some pics of it soon!

Anyway my boobens, hope you feeling better from your cold and that the antibiotics work so that you can go back to school.

Love you plenty!