For Super-Gran

This post is especially for my Gran, my Dad's Mom, who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. We call her "Super Gran" to Michaela, Alexis and Jack because she's their Great Granny :)



Obviously, she hasn't met Jack yet but she asked me to buy him an outfit, from her. I found this adorable little romper at Babies 'R Us on sale and so bought a newborn size and a 3 month size in different colors. Too cute!



The reason I put him in the flower bed full of Lily of the Valley (poor thing wasn't too charmed with having to lie there while I got just the right shot!) is because this is Gran's and my special flower. She used to take me to pick the first blooms every spring in the field near our house in Cape Town. They are just starting to bloom here in Peoria and there are masses of them around Mum and Dad's house.


So here you go Gran...thanks so much for the outfit. We miss you and can't wait for you to meet Jack one day (hopefully it'll be soon)!

P.S. the Lily of the Valley smells heavenly :)

Hanging out with Daddy

Clearly, he's not a great fan of the Baby Bjorn (first time trying it)

Mum and Dad's back garden

Happy Sunday!

Yesterday

Thought I'd document our day yesterday. Not the easiest of days with little Jack boy (colic, fussiness etc.), but I've got some cute photos from it, so here you go.

After an early morning feed, Jack and I tried to nap together (not my best photographic moment, but this is reality folks!). I say tried to nap because it was rather difficult with all the noise going on, due to these boots...

and these trucks....

belonging to a whole host of workman who are working on this project...

They are working on the outside AND the inside of Mum and Dad's house, remodeling their master bath, which also involves putting in a beautiful bay window (it's going up where the top of that scaffolding is). It just so happened that there were workmen swarming all over the house installing light fixtures, working on the radiators etc. etc. So it was a busy day around here! And now the bathroom, in it's almost finished state, looks gorgeous!

However, Jack did not have a great day, hardly napping at all (that darn pacifier keeps falling out and waking him. What does one do about that?!!) and so I resorted to getting him outside for a bit of fresh air in the stroller...

After that, the little stinker peed, pooped and puked all over me, in that order and then looked at me like this...

How could I possibly resist that grin? In fact, I laughed so hard I almost fell over...a good tonic for this tired Mummy! Another wonderful surprise cheered up my day even more, when this beautiful bouquet was delivered, just for me. It's from Nessa's best friend, Anika, who sent it to me to celebrate Jack's birth. Thank you SO MUCH Anika!


We then visited Daddy to see what he was up to and found him painting in the bathroom. By evening the workmen had installed the bay window and the bath, making it possible for Andre to start prepping and painting in there. Mum and Dad have chosen beautiful Travertine tile, brown/black granite counter-top and lovely fixtures. The walls are going to be a khaki/brown color and the cabinets are cream. It looks like a spa in there!

Here's another cool thing that happened. I had been looking at Goodwill and on Craigslist here in Peoria, to find a swing or bouncy seat for Jack, as this seems to soothe him and keep him occupied. I had found both on Craiglist and emailed the sellers. After hearing from both of them that the items were still available, I responded, saying we'd like to come and get them. Frustratingly, I never heard back from either of them after that! I was really disappointed and wondering what to do. Then today, a sweet friend of Mum's dropped by with a beautiful swing AND bouncy seat for us to borrow, as she'd heard I was in town and thought we could use them!! Praise the Lord for providing just what we needed (and at no cost)!

All in all, a good day!

Happy Birthday Mum!

Sunday was Mum's birthday and we were thrilled to be here in Peoria to celebrate with her. After church, Dad took us out for a wonderful Sunday brunch, champagne and all (!) and then we spent a lazy afternoon at home before celebrating with tea, coconut cake (her favorite) and presents outside.

Mum and Dad at brunch

Birthday tea

Little Boy

Just had to show off these photos of our little boy and what he's up to these days. At 7 weeks, he is doing well with his sleeping during the day, taking good naps. We've introduced a bedtime routine at night: bath, feed and bed by 7:30 pm. He wakes up around 1 am to eat and then sleeps again until around 6 or 7. We'll see if that continues to be a good pattern for him (and us!). He loves his bouncy seat and usually falls asleep there if I put him in it. We think he's just the cutest thing!

Firsts: air travel

This past Saturday, we headed up to Peoria, IL to spend three weeks with my parents. Andre has some remodeling projects to do here and I'm hanging out with Mum! We flew up and so this was Jack's first plane trip. He did so well, sweet little thing, sucking on his paci as we took off and enjoying his bottle several times, when we thought his ears needed some unblocking. He slept most of the way and we successfully changed his diaper on the drop down tray table! (he's still small enough for that although those extra long legs of his were hanging over the edge!) As we got off the plane, the pilot allowed us to have a photo of him in the cock-pit! Andre was so proud!

Jack in the pilot's seat (and no that's not his ear on the left, it's my thumb...poor child looks like he has bat ears!!)

Cousins

Michaela holding Jack and showing some leg!

Last week, Vanessa and Sean stopped by our house with the girls, on their way to a Braves game and we decided to try, once again, to catch a photo of the three little cousins...we were marginally successful!

Jack (6 weeks), Michaela (21 months) and Alexis (8 weeks)

Baby shower

The guest of honor, Jana, and the soon to be big sister, Mara-Kate

This past Saturday, I helped throw a shower for my sweet friend Jana. Our friend Katie very kindly opened her home to host it and we had such fun, celebrating this long-awaited baby! Little Evelyn is due to arrive in June and we can't wait to meet her!

There were three babies at the shower, all two weeks apart from each other (Alexis at 8 weeks, Jack at 6 weeks and Lily, Jana's niece, at 10 weeks)

The beautiful table Katie prepared

Chattanooga

Two weeks ago we headed up to Chattanooga and spent 10 days up there. Andre was working on some projects for Jack and Carolyn (his American "family), which included cleaning up this pool. It had been closed for 10 years and so needed some major work!

Andre and our friend Roman, working on the pool

We stayed at Jack and Carolyn's house, which is on a beautiful piece of property and made for a very relaxing and peaceful week, with lovely weather and sunshine every day.

Hanging out with Nonee and Doodan (Jack and Carolyn) :)

On our last day there, Andre ran out to the gas station, and came home with a tiny little bunny rabbit he'd discovered running in between the cars and gas tanks. We cuddled it, gave it some grass, and then released it in the garden. Too cute!

Jack and the Easter bunny

Little Jack and I spent much of the week fighting about breast feeding (!), but when we weren't disagreeing on that subject, we tried to take walks outside or hang out in the hammock and watch Daddy work.

Hanging out in the hammock, which was a favorite place of ours when we were dating!

My boys napping

Because Jack has grown so much taller and doesn't fit into most of his newborn clothes anymore, I am having a hard time dressing him. He's not quite big enough for all his 0-3 month outfits yet, so the poor little thing looks like a refugee, with all his pants and shirts too short! I went to a huge thrift store they have in Chattanooga, to see if I could find a few bargains to tide him over the next few weeks. I managed to get a couple of cute things, including this little vest (which Andre says is completely useless, but hey, it's cute!)

Big Jack spent much of the week cutting the grass on his tractor thingy (not sure what you call it). Carolyn was out of town for a lot of the time we were there, but it was great to spend time with Jack. And he took such good care of us when I got really ill with mastitis, getting us dinner and buying me all sorts of yummy foods to tempt me to eat :) Thanks Jack!

Jack on his mower

Overall, we had a good time there. I got to see several friends, although I had planned to see more, but the mastitis put on end to those plans! And one night, Andre and I took baby Jack downtown to the Walking Bridge and got ice-cream and relived our college days :)

Better late than never!

Well, apparently I'm not off to an auspicious start with this whole keeping track of my baby's milestones thing. I still haven't documented Jack's one month birthday and it was um, oh TWO WEEKS AGO...oops. There are reasons of course, but not good enough ones. Oh well. So I'm just going to stop feeling bad and put the post up here, a little late!

The biggest milestone to record, for this Mummy, was that Jack started smiling at one month! Too cute and definitely makes the hard days worthwhile. I finally managed to catch it on camera, as he LOVES his changing pad and coos and smiles when he's on there.




Here we are at his one month check up. He was in the 25% for weight at 8.15 and, of course, in the 90% for height at 22.5 inches (he'd grown 2.5 inches in four weeks). I think this will be the story of his life!


He does have reflux which we're now treating and so have a much happier baby when he eats. He's having a hard time with breastfeeding, due to being tongue tied we think, so I pump a lot and give him the bottle when he's having a rough day. Overall, however, the pediatrician was very pleased with our boy and we're so thankful he's healthy. Happy one month birthday little Jack! (even if it's a few weeks late)

Easter Pics

So I stole these photos from Easter Sunday off my sister's blog. Thanks for posting them Ness!

Our little family

Cousins: Alexis (7 weeks) and Jack (4 weeks) (yeah, they're practicing their dance moves!)

Jack slept through the entire photo shoot

Sweet little smiling sisters, Michaela and Alexis

Easter and a week away

Happy Easter to all! This weekend was momentous, in that I actually made it out the door to church! I had some repair surgery done after Jack's birth (I'll spare you the gory details) and so haven't been up to sitting or standing much the last three weeks. However, my goal was to be able to sit through the Easter services and I made it. Thank you Lord!

Good Friday service was very special and I'm glad I'll always remember Jack's first church service as being Good Friday :) Then on Easter Sunday, we made it to church again and then headed up to Vanessa and Sean's new house for Easter lunch (the lamb chops were fab, Ness!)

After taking a short nap when we got home, and then spending the evening packing (OH MY GOSH, it takes forever with a baby!!!), we eventually left home at 10 pm for our trip to Chattanooga. We figured it didn't matter what time we left, as Jack would be awake most of the evening anyway. And it turned out well, because instead of a fussy baby at home, we had a sleeping baby in the car the whole way! Good job little boy.

So yes, we're up in Chattanooga for a week. Andre is working on a remodeling project here and so I came along for the ride (there was NO WAY I was going to stay at home by myself with the little man!...I still need Andre's moral support!)

Unfortunately, we accidently left our camera charger and downloading cord, so I can't post photos this week. I'll catch up when we're home next Monday.

Nana

Mum has been here in Atlanta for the past 7 weeks (yes, that's right, 7!), ever since Vanessa's baby Alexis was born in the middle of February. Mum has been such a trooper and came to help Ness and stay on for Jack's birth to help me. We have so appreciated all her love and support and help. And thanks to Dad for letting her be gone for so long! Dad was able to come down for two weekends, one after Alexis was born, and then one after Jack arrived.

Mum left to go back to Peoria yesterday and we already miss her like crazy! Thanks for being with us Mum!


Mum with her grandbabies, Michaela, Alexis and Jack

More baby pics...

Yes, he's long and skinny like his Daddy!




Hanging out with Nana

Sling

I have always wanted to use a sling to carry the baby around in. It's just one of those things that's important to me (I'm not usually hung up on things like that, but this was one of the few things I felt strongly about). I researched a bit and found a sling that seemed like it would be comfortable and supportive for me and nice for the baby too. One of my sweet friends gave me the sling as a shower gift..thanks Ruth! It's a Baby K'tan double sling and I love it!

And Jack seems to as well: