Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice

It's a girl!!!!

We are beyond excited that we're having a girl!! I couldn't believe it when the ultrasound tech told us and kept asking her if she was certain! We feel so blessed and thankful that she looks healthy and is growing at just the right pace, despite me loosing so much weight and being so sick early on. Thank you Lord!

SA Trip: The End!

Our trip to Cape Town ended with more good family time and we were sad to say goodbye. It was so good to see everyone and especially spend time with my Grandpa (Mum's dad) and stay with my Gran (Dad's mum). My cousin Simon, how now lives in Wales, sent Jack the cutest pint sized Welsh rugby shirt and Grandpa has a similar one...

Gramps with his great grandson, wearing their matching Welsh rugby shirts

Saying goodbye

We then had the 11 hour flight to Amsterdam, a 24 hour layover in that airport and a 9 hour flight back to the States. A trip I would NOT like to repeat any time soon. On the last flight my morning sickness hit badly which meant I spent a lot of time in that teeny tiny bathroom. Oh the joys!

Hopefully, the blog will now return to normal, as, after 12 weeks of severe sickness, I am now feeling more myself, THANKFULLY! Once we got home I didn't seem to fully recover and ended up in hospital twice due to hyperemesis. However, I've now reached 16 weeks preggo and am doing much better.

We are in IL visiting my parents for a little while and I'm hoping to be back to my normal energy level by the time we get back home mid-July. Thank you to my dear friends and family who have been so supportive the last three months, helping with Jack, with meals and calling and visiting. Your love and help is so appreciated!

SA Trip: Must Sees

Ok, this really is almost the last post about our trip! Here are some places we went that are "must sees" if you ever visit Cape Town :)

Simon's Town (naval base where my Grampa was stationed in WWII)

An ostrich farm

Boulders Beach and the penguin colony

Fish Hoek beach for the THE best fish and chips!

Cape Point, the southernmost tip of Africa

Klein Constantia wine farm

SA Trip: Noordhoek

After Camilla's wedding, we decided to go away for a few days and stay outside of Cape Town to do some sightseeing further along the coast. We stayed at a gorgeous cottage called Leopardstone Hill, visited the surrounding beaches and villages and ate yummy food at the various restaurants at Noordhoek Village. The cottage was so quaint I just had to post some photos!

Our cottage

The loft bedroom

Living area

Having supper at a local pub

Making a fire with Daddy

View from the cottage down to Noordhoek beach

Funnily enough, my brother and his wife are going to be staying at the same place during their visit to Cape town this month! I'm sure they'll love it as much as we did!

SA Trip: Family and Familiar Haunts

One of the highlights of the trip for me was showing Andre all over Cape Town and the beautiful places we were used to growing up.

Here we are visiting Hout Bay where we had a delicious fish and chip lunch
(Jack kept wanting to jump off the pier!)

View from my Gran's apartment

Visiting Kirstenbosch Gardens, a public botanical garden which has the largest number of indigenous plants in any botanical garden in the world apparently. This was one of my favorite places as a child.

And here's my Dad's family:
Warren, Granny, Mum, Tracy (Dad's sister) and her husband Nolen, their son David, then Wendy (Dad's sister married to Warren) and their little boy Bryn, then Lauren, Tracy's daughter holding Jack, next to her is Sophie, Wendy's daughter and then me.

SA Trip: The Wedding

One of the reasons we went to South Africa when we did, was to attend my cousin Camilla's wedding at the end of April. We had such fun being involved with all the preparations and celebrating this special occasion with them.

Milla very kindly asked me to help with the bouquets and button holes for the bridal party (flower arranging is one of my great loves so I was thrilled!). We visited a whole sale florist the week of the wedding and came back armed with masses of gorgeous blooms. And then decided that the best place to store them was the bathroom. Ha!!

Getting to the bath was somewhat challenging!

Me and my cousin Gigi working on the arrangements

Finished bridesmaids bouquets
(unfortunately I don't have a close up of Camilla's bouquet
but I think it turned out pretty well too)

The beautiful bride and groom

The whole family

Jack being entertained by his beloved Roger (my cousin)

The beautiful home where we had a family dinner later that evening

Aunty Sarah (mother of the bride), and my Mum with their Dad, my Grampa

It was such a special day...congrats Bryan and Camilla!!!