The South African in me......

Hubbie travels occassionally for work. I know we live in a safe area. We lived in a very safe area in the U.K too. But...the South African in me has a sad ,yet distinct need for an alarm.

So this is what happened today.....

Hubbie decides to decipher the alarm manual. (Oy!)

Baba is eating dinner and watching Zingzillas on the telly (only way I can get her to eat sometimes).

Alarm blares, pierces and screams. I have never heard such a loud alarm in my life. Each section of the property has a unique siren. About four sirens are screaming their heads off.

Baba starts to scream. Her scream can't be heard because the alarm is just way too deafening.

I start to freak out that Baba may go G-d forbid go deaf. I panic and in a manic rush for the door grab Baba out of her hi-chair and run for the wet grass outside! I am in tights. No shoes. Brilliant!

All this time hubbie is fiddling and punching in the alarm code. It doesn't work.
Hubbie calls the alarm company but apparantly we were given the wrong code.

Great!!

I land up breastfeeding baba on the wet grass outside until hubbie drives the car round the house so that Baba and I can escape the insane noise that is blaring through our heads.

Eventually the alarm company believes that we are not trying to rob our own home. They explain how to override the alarm.


Wish me luck for the rest of my week. Baba has her MMR injections tomorrow :( (3 painful owws)

Then we have nursery again on Tuesday where baba faces the big wide world of daycare on her own (for a few hours to start).

Fingers, toes and arms crossed for only good news for everyone from now on. Amen.

C x

Who's the baby here?

I just got back from Chloe's Nursery Orientation and cannot help but feel emotional.

A few years ago, when my career was my first priority, I would pity people who were stay at home moms. I would think that their lives must be so boring and so unfulfilling. Who would want to spend their days running after babies and toddlers? Who would want to have their lives ruled by tint tots? Definitely not for me! I knew that I was selfish and not selfless at that stage of my life.


Who would have ever thought that I would be a stay at home mom for over a year! Not ME!
Who would have ever guessed that although many days were challenging to say the least, I really loved my new role as a full time mom!

I have had the amazing opportunity of staying home with baba for her first year. I have seen her every first! I know that some mothers go back to work pretty much straight away (I know many people have no choice) and I know that I am very lucky, however, I still feel sad in some ways that my stay at home mom lifestyle will be coming to an abrubt end.

Don't get me wrong! I am excited to get back into the world of work...... to get dressed up in the morning ....to feel like I have a purpose other than being a mom and a wife......to actually wear clothes that are not covered in food, snot or other baby excretions for longer than half an hour.

But....I found this morning hard and I expect to find next week hard too. I know that baba is going to a fab daycare centre and that the staff are amazing but I am the one struggling to let go.

When she cries and looks at me saying 'Mama' inbetween sputters, it breaks my heart and I just want to kidnap her and run far away from the nursery.

I find it hard to entrust her routine into someone elses hands. Call me a control freak but I need to know everything about her day.

I guess I will have to get over myself sooner or later.

Maybe baba is not the one who is the baby. Maybe it's me?

Wish both babies the best of luck please!

C x

Living the Aussie Dream!

We arrived at a fab time because two weeks after hubbie started work, he was on holiday again!

Friday proved to be a beautiful, sunny day with Autumn temperatures peaking at 25 degrees.

We decided to go to the park so that Baba could enjoy playing outdoors. She loved the playground equipment. Not sure who really loved the sea-saw more- Baba or Dada!

After having a quick lunch at home we headed for the coast- a simple and pleasurable 15 minute drive up one main road. Easy peasy!

We stopped at Newport Beach which was suprisingly empty!

We strolled along the white sand and marvelled at just how lucky we are to live in a place that offers so much beauty.

We placed Baba's tiny feet in the breaking waves but she didn't like the cold salt water.

I honestly still cannot believe that we live in a place where I love most things- the parks, the people, the gorgeous beaches.........

May it only get better! Amen.

That brings me to another thing that I love about Oz so far.... the fresh produce!
Wow this may sound so sad but the fruit and veg are huge and so tasty. We often cannot believe the size of fruit and veg compared to the U.K.

Ok so I won't annoy you by saying I love this and I love that. I know you want me to tell you that I miss England and South Africa (which I do). So here is what I don't like about this country. .....

I have a great respect for nature but I am squemish and even though I love the sunshine and outdoors....I really do not like the bush. I know that many people would be so angry that I don't love the very natural Australia as per se, but I just have never been a hiker or camper. Its just not who I am. I am much too much of a 'kugel' for that!

So yes I am so scared that one day I will have a close encouter with a creepy crawly creature. I have seen loads of fat, white caterpillars, bees buzzing around the place, a few enourmous spider webs stretched across from tree to tree and even a few bats at night!!

BUT as long as it's not a snake..... :)

Sssssssssssssssssssssss

C x

Is that a snake?

In London we attended Gymboree twice a week, the library's rhyme time and a few other baby groups or coffee with other yummy mummys.

Here we know no one.

My lovely Aunt kindly gave me the numbers of some of the yummy mummys living here. I was honestly shy to pick up the phone and just call them. So I used Facebook instead.

All the mothers so far have been so friendly and warm. I am really looking forward to meeting up with them.

I was looking for baba's meat at the meat counter in a local grocery store, when I met a local Mom. She was so friendly and took our contact details. We have since seen her twice. We attended a local play with her and have been to her family for dinner. Readers- please don't be shy if you don't know many mothers in your area. Please make small talk wherever you may be. It is no fun being on your own with your baby- day in and day out.

Baba and I attended the play in the morning. It was a gorgeous day and I could not wait to get out the house. I typed the address into our GPS but somehow still proceeded to get hopelessly lost. Great news about getting lost is that I had no choice but to learn where I was going!

We arrived at the shopping centre where Alice in Wonderland was showing for free and guess what- in huge Australia- there was no parking!!! I was shocked. I circled for what seemed like hours and Baba even fell asleep from the many laps. Eventually after trying parking entrance number three, I found a parking.

After a fun session with Alice and the Easter Bunny, Baba and I headed to our local park for a picnic lunch. I am living the dream!

It was there that I saw it. Oh My G-d. I can see a snake in the park. I hate snakes. I am terrified of them. It was brown. Coiled up. Its head was standing up.

Welcome to Australia!

I scurried out of the park as quickly as I could. Guess we will be having a picnic in the garden instead.

Later that day, one of my closest friends and her husband popped in for tea. They walked with me to check to see if the snake was really a snake.

It turned out to be...................................................................................................................................

A large brown mushroom.

* Blushing*


C x

Disaster!

We were out and about visiting local softplay centres and the local library (we soon left because baba crawled around and pulled all of the books off of the shelves- not fun because she was pulling them off quicker than I could place them back).

I suppose it does not come as a suprose but a few days after our outings, baba was hit with her first bout of gastro.

It started off with a few runny poos, a cold and then soon progressed to a high fever. Baba usually has a wonderful, healthy appetite, yet she refused to eat or drink. On the second night she was so listless and again refused food or drink. We saw a after hours Dr who referred us to the local hospital because baba was dehydrated.
We were seen quickly but the wait for a place in paediatrics was a couple of hours. Baba refused all hydrate solution and panadol. We had to give her hydrate every 15 minutes. She spat it all over us. The only thing that she would take and keep down was breastmilk. Thank G-d I am still breastfeeding at 12 months because baba would have definitely been admitted and dripped.

We stayed at the hospital until 3am and were discharged after baba kept milk down.

The yucky gastro bug lasted for the whole week. Baba was so miserable. She refused food and only started eating solids after a week.

Luckily baba was well enough for her birthday. She recovered well after a week. I could not wait to get out of the house. I honestly felt like a hermit because I had been home with her all week while hubbie was at work.

I think I forgot to mention that we had to move the day after the hospital ordeal.
It was a tough week but ended in baba turning 1. A huge celebration for us all.

C x