The last week of my 30s

So, that little burst of blogging didn't really go anywhere, did it? Sorry about that, but you know, life happens. It happened a lot. I got busy and I couldn't find the time or inspiration to blog again. And then, well The Trucker had his spinal fusion and things got even busier, juggling trips to the hospital, single-momming, dog walking etc. And then he came home and we'd both basically stopped working while he was in hospital, so now I was working from home, playing catch-up. And then well, as he was just starting to get mobile and manage a trip in the car, COVID-19 happened and basically body-slammed our lives.

We started out with social distancing, the Babe Girl last went to school on the 13th of March. That is a million years ago in home-school time. And then after a fairly enjoyable 2 weeks of social distancing, where we were going for a morning bike ride before breakfast, still taking the dog for a walk, going for car-picnics in places with gorgeous views, they put the whole country into Lockdown from the 27 March.

And now, I have pretty much left the house once a week to go grocery shopping and The Babe Girl hasn't left our property at all.

And we sit here now in the Lockdown-Extension, waiting to hear what our future holds in May.

We have already had to cancel her 5th birthday party and enjoy her actual birthday over video call with the grandparents (and a lot of awesome birthday video messages from friends!). We have missed an awesome weekend we had planned up in Joburg to catch-up with friends, most of whom I haven't seen in the 5 years since we moved, and the Mauritius family holiday for my 40th. Okay, I know, it has been postponed to April 2021 (we didn't want to reckon on later this year because who actually even knows what the situation will be like then?). But still, for a holiday we booked 6 months in advance, to now be waiting a year on. Well it feels heavy. I know, First World Problems, as people are starving because they have lost their jobs and/or worrying about how to pay school fees or their bond, I'm sad because my overseas holiday got postponed. But, you know, I was really looking forward to it. And being stuck in our house, unable to get any downtime or space from one another (a 5yr old does NOT understand that a person might need space to recharge), I coulda really used that holiday.

And today we had our flights for our trip to USA in June put "on hold" - basically cancelled and they need to be rescheduled at some point within 12 months of our original departure date. And unfortunately non-refundable. Dammit. And it sounds like the wedding we were travelling over there specifically for is not going to fall within those dates when it is eventually rescheduled. And (again, so sad, first world problems), we'll have to use the credit to go somewhere, but at this point, I would have much rather got a refund and booked a trip to the Kruger Park (fingers crossed for later this year since we were sposed to go next year, but now Mauritius has moved to next year and this year has, well, nothing).

Anyhoo. So my Lockdown State of Mind? I'm mostly okay. I have had one breakdown since it all started which mostly involved a shopping experience. The leaving-your-house-to-go-shopping actually becomes quite a stressful experience. And when you can't find what you need and you are aimlessly wandering up & down aisles because you went to a different shop than you're used to because you figured the stock would be better and the queues shorter ... well it wears you down.

The home schooling feels like it is going pretty well. The Babe Girl is definitely getting a helluva lot more screen time than before, because with only 1 kid we were lucky to still be able to limit that a lot more than I think most people can. But now our routine is to wake up and watch the Wild Earth / SafariLIVE Kruger Park Game Drives, under a blanket with our coffee/tea (and rusks if it is the weekend). And she is loving it, and she is learning so much from it actually, it is amazing. And she has been following YouTube videos for Kid's Yoga (Cosmic Kids) and Ballet (Daniella Ballerina). And we've downloaded the Reading Eggs App that she has started on as well because she is at the learning to read & write stage.

But, it isn't just rubbish kids TV, you know. That's what I'm consoling myself with anyway.

And, The Trucker & I are still working in between all that. Luckily we are both working for his company so we've been able to be pretty flexible. We're probably each getting about half a day in between tag-teaming with The Babe Girl. One of us will take mornings and then we'll switch after lunch for the afternoon slot. So we are lucky that we are both still a) able to work b) able to work from home (thank goodness for fibre!) and c) still earning full salaries. But it's hard to know what the future holds. Another reason that USA flight would've been better as a refund!

I was hoping to do a "All the things I did this decade" post for my 40th but I just don't actually have the time right now. I am either entertaining a 5yr old or working with a guilty feeling of not getting enough done for the day (some sometimes end up working till 10pm to get something finished, like yesterday).

Ah, you know, maybe one day when there is free time again. I know some people have loads of free time during lockdown (apparently because they're all learning new skills or reading a million books or watching all the series, or something, apparently), but I am not one of them. I joked that I wondered if I could rent a spot at one of Discovery's Isolation Hotels just for 24hrs as a treat for my birthday cause I would've liked to take Monday off, but if I'm not working, I'm trying to keep up with a 5yr old HAHA.

I hope you are all keeping safe and healthy somewhere out there.

Let's Talk About Sugaring

Even if you don't blog, you might relate to the feeling where there is this thing you would love to be telling everyone about, but really it just never comes up naturally in conversation. Sugaring falls exactly into this category for me.

Okay, so a little background if you've never even heard about Sugaring (like me about a year ago!). I discovered Sugaring after hitting up my trusty friend Google looking for alternatives to waxing, specifically bikini waxing!

I tried laser many many years ago, back when I was still dating Varen! It was expensive, but it worked and after I don't remember how many sessions I pretty much never really needed to go back. But like with all these sorts of things, eventually the effects wear off. And I don't know if it was that or the hormone fluctuations during pregnancy, but basically, I needed to go back to some sort of hair removal in order to feel comfortable in a swimming costume.

I tried laser again, but because of the changes in the hair (after laser treatment, when the hairs do grow back, they’ll be lighter, finer, and fewer in number), it wasn't as effective as it had been previously. So, sadly, it was back to waxing. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I HATE it.

And so, for a couple of years, I went back. Albeit very irregularly since I despised it so. But then in 2018, we were headed for Umhlanga for a little family trip (and my daughter's first proper experience of a flight - since she didn't remember the one when we moved to Cape Town when she was 3.5 months old), so naturally I needed to get swimsuit ready.

It was the WORST waxing experience of my life. Usually there are some raised red areas where the poor hair follicles have been yanked out, but this generally disappears by the following day. This time it lasted for absolute ages (I don't remember exactly, but I want to say a week?). My skin was so sensitive I had to go out and buy shorts to swim in!

So, when I had recovered, I decided that I would not be waxing again. So I did some searching online and found Sugaring.

Lucky for me there are a couple of places in Cape Town that offer it and since I tried it, I haven't looked back!

There is none of the heat of waxing. The pain is fairly similar in the immediate moment, but over pretty much instantly. And there is no skin flare up (for me). And it is all totally natural.

Anyway, now you know. And if you don't like waxing as much as me, I hope you'll do a little research into sugaring as well because you are not stuck with only one option and isn't that the best news!

2018, The Year of Hospital Admissions

So, let's be clear upfront, I do not have a lot of hospital experience. My time spent there literally includes a single night in primary school, that time back in 2013 and then The Babe Girl's birth. Yup, up until 2018 that was my entire hospital surgery / stay experience.

2018 was going pretty smoothly up until October. I had my annual gynae appointment in the first week and had choosen to get a Mirena put in (We've decided to only stick with one child, probably almost definitely another blog post). I wasn't nervous or anything although I have heard of other online friends who've had to be admitted to have it inserted, I wasn't really expecting to end up as one of them.

But the experience was awful and the doc decided to book me in the following week to rather get it inserted under general anaesthetic. And instead of the Mirena, this time he recommended the Kyleena.

So, that was hospital stay Number 1.

Fast forward nearly 2.5wks and I woke up in excrutiating pain. I had been waking every so often in the middle of the night feeling like I had a sore/stiff neck, but it always went away after my morning shower or during the day. I had woken up around 2am on the morning of the last Tuesday of October and it was so bad I'd gone to find something to take for the pain.

It didn't go away and I had some tingling in my fingers (should've paid attention then and there but, you know). Took some more pain killers to the office for a bit later after breakfast. The drive was tough, I considered pulling over to vomit from pain. I know, another clue I should not even have been going to work.

But I was dealing with a very time sensitive HR issue in my department and being 2 days before the end of the month, things had to be dealt with. These were not things you could do remotely, from home.

I made it to work and muddled thru the first half of my day. I couldn't settle my right arm, you know, the one you need for pretty much all work-related stuff using a mouse (#right-handed). I was also struggling to concentrate due to the pain. So eventually around lunch time I headed home and called a Physio for an appointment.

I'd been to a Physio earlier in the year when I'd hurt my neck (actually that was another hospital visit, to the ER on a Sunday for muscle relaxants and pain killers after I fell and hurt my neck after a wedding in March) but I couldn't get an appointment with her. So I found another, closer to home and booked an appointment. I spent most of the rest of the day lying on my floor trying to make it till appointment time.

I went for the appointment but it was with a young, new physio ... and as soon as she saw me she went to call the head of the practice who assisted for the rest of the appointment. She recommended I go to a GP to get proper pain killers and anti inflamatories and then if it hadn't gone away by the next day to come the day after for another physio appointment.

I went to our local Medicross because it was now around 5pm (The Trucker had to fetch The Babe Girl from school) and just waited for a doctor to have a gap. I saw an old doctor who didn't impress me at all. In fact, it turns out he just gave me a voltaren shot and when I asked what to do if that didn't end up working, he prescribed me a sleeping pill! I was too distracted by the pain at this stage to really argue with this.

Anyway, the next day was not much better and my mom very kindly came to spend the day with me because I was stuck, horizontal in bed. She had a diskectomy a few years ago and recommended her physio instead. So we booked an appointment for the next day (Thursday, and the first of November).

I missed The Babe Girl's second Halloween trick or treating :(

On Thursday, I needed The Trucker to help shower me. My Mom drove me to the appointment and the only way I could get remotely comfortable was by putting my right arm up over the back of the headrest. When I arrived at the appointment, the physio took one look at how I was standing (with my arm up over my head) and said "I know what is wrong". She didn't tell me yet, she needed to confirm her thought and see how bad it was, but basically literally a pinched nerve in my neck and based on the fingers that were numb at the tips (index & middle), the nerve running from my spinal cord out between C6 & C7 vertabrae down my arm.

She called ahead to a specialist Orthopedic Surgeon and got them to admit me to hospital for an MRI. I went home to pack a bag and was admitted around 1pm.

Little did I realise that I would spend 9 nights in hospital and have a 6 week recovery period following this.

I found out after the MRI that a piece of the disk between my C6 & C7 had broken off and was pressing against the nerve. I had to make a choice, wait and see if it recovered on it's own (sometimes, they can be reabsorbed by the body or something) over the next 6 weeks or schedule the surgery for Monday and remove the entire disk (because the rest of the perfectly okay disk was blocking access to the broken bit as they go thru the front of your neck for C-spine, whereas you can get a simpler diskectomy for similar issues in the Lumbar spine, like my Mom had) and get a fusion.

Well, I had a 3.5yr old and was right handed and as regular as I felt now that I was dosed on painkillers when I was lying horizontal, every trip to the loo reminded me that all was not well and it would take me about 15mins to recover from the pain from the trip. We discussed it, we got 2nd opinions, but in the end I opted for the surgery.

I had the surgery late on Monday. I made sure I signed an up to date will before I went in. Can never be too careful. I spent the night in High Care and then headed back to the Ward later on Tuesday. I eventually got to go home on Friday the 9th of November.

Recovery was slow, but it was my neck so I made sure to be careful. I was literally horizontal for the first 2 weeks. I was reading a book a day - thank goodness for Kindle and my very long list of books to read!

When I was healed enough to sit at a computer again, I was lucky enough that I was able to work from home for the remainder of the year and slowly progressed from just 2 hours a day (only half an hour at a time with an hour break in between) to my regular hours. I was only able to drive again sometime in December.

Shew. It was a hectic experience. But the good news is that I am completely healed, back to normal and barely remember it ever happened.

And then, The Babe Girl wasn't feeling well on my last day of work for the year. Luckily my Mom came to fetch her for a bit because although I had made a little bed next to my desk, she was pretty distrating and I had been off work enough already for the year!

She didn't seem to recover so we managed to get a doc appointment for around 5pm. We got some meds and nappies. She'd been thru all her underwear in the day! Do you know how hard it is to get a kiddo who has already potty trained back into a nappy? But she was so ill she couldn't put up much of a fight really. Shew it is so hard when they are not well.

So I can't remember exactly how it happened but basically she woke up around 10pm for the loo and we checked the nappy and saw what I thought was blood. So we all got dressed and headed for the ER. My poor sossage got a drip with antibiotics and was so weak after a day of this terrible diarrhea, disentry and a fever. They took samples and eventually admitted us around 2am (if they do it before midnight, medical aid charges you for an extra day). I stayed that night with her and she screamed and cried every time she needed the loo.

We ended up there for 3 nights with her (The Trucker & I alternated nights but one of us was with her the entire time). Her CRP levels were 84 (should be at 5) when she was admitted so they needed to make sure they had come down and to get as many antibiotics via the IV as possible. Before we left they got the results from her stool sample and diagnosed Giardia and gave us specifically suited antibiotics.

She hated the antibiotics, but she recovered in time for Xmas. What a year.

Oh, and just after I finished typing up this marathon account of our health woes, The Trucker got back from an MRI and an appointment with the same Orthopedic Surgeon who fixed my neck. Turns out he has a ruptured disk at L5-S1. He isn't in acute pain generally (but has a few flare ups each year since we moved to Cape Town, which have been getting worse, which triggered the MRI booking), but this year he'll have to go for surgery as well. Sad face.

Back to Real Life

Righto, so it is back to gym and work for me today. So perhaps now I really will manage to find some time to work on all those blog posts I have brewing in my head. But for now, let me just say, it is hard to find the time in front of a laptop to write and it just doesn't work on my mobile phone - also can't add pictures easily etc. So these posts probably really will be few and far between. But hey, even if I just manage to put something up once a month, it'll be more than I've managed in the past 5 years!!

Hope you all had an awesome December/January break and cheers to 2020.

2019, the year of getting my own Personal Shopper/Stylist

Mkay, so high up on my list of things to post about is raving about some of the stuff I've bought and received, for both myself & my daughter. Which will, obviously, be spread across multiple posts.

I'll start by telling you about a combo Xmas 2018-Birthday 2019 gift that I asked my Mom for: a stylist!

Okay, so I am sure that sounds crazy to many of you. But the way I figure it, I'm nearly 40 and gifts should really be about the big ticket items I'd love to have but would probably not buy for myself (in case anyone is curious, I'm angling for DNA testing for my 40th next year!).

So, wa-ay back in 2018 I was listening to Pippa Hudson on my way home from work one afternoon (nearing 40, I can finally be honest that Cape Talk is definitely my station of choice - altho honestly it has been probably since my 30s back in JHB starting with 702) and heard her chatting to Candice from With Style. My interest was piqued! She sounded just like what I'd always wanted: she comes to your house, goes thru your closet with you and tells you what to get rid of and what to keep. Then takes you for a shopping session to refill your closet with better suited items. And then does a follow up to show you how everything pairs together really well.

This is what I have been dreaming of for years! My 20s were easy, I wore what I wanted. And honestly, the rule was probably the tinier the better, looking back at the photos. But as I've mentioned a few times, I'm now heading for 40 and still struggling to lose the extra 15 kilos I've been carrying since my daughter was born (and she'll be 5 in a few months, so I may have to admit they might not be going anywhere and find another way to be comfortable with myself and my new normal).

So mostly I have no idea what to wear anymore. I have so little time to go shopping and browse to find the exactly right thing for myself and usually it is pretty damn soul destroying anyway. So I just chucked on a uniform of blue jeans and a t-shirt, a hoodie if it was cold. Done and dusted. And so boring. But luckily totally acceptable in my work environment, so I became stale in my outfit choices. And I knew it and felt it.

So this was what I requested and received for my gift! I know my Mom mostly got it so I could be the guinea pig because if we're honest, both her and my sister were also super keen for the same kind of service, but couldn't justify the expense and really were not sure if it would be worth it.

Skip ahead to now and let me just say, it has changed my life. My Mom and my sister have also both had sessions and I've even had a seasonal follow-up!

I am still working on losing the weight (more on that in another post), but in the weeks after my first shop with Candice, I got so many compliments from people telling me that I look like I'd lost weight. Nope, I was finally just wearing better fitting and better suited clothing.

I was definitely nervous about it up front, not seeing myself as a boutique-y or even Waterfront clothing shopper (more a pnp or woolies due to convenience kinda girl), but doing the shop with Candice was incredible. I didn't look at prices (I gave her a budget to work with upfront) and I didn't look at sizes. I didn't give up and feel awful when something didn't fit because I knew she had loads more options to try. It was thoroughly refreshing and I'd highly recommend it.

I'm not quite ready for stand-alone shopping again just yet, but I definitely have a better sense of the basics. Doing the follow-ups are easier and cheaper because you skip the closet clear out and she already knows your style and sizing. So I'd probably do it again a time or two more. But for now my cupboard is pretty well stocked again and I should likely get rid of a few more older items (I still have stuff from before my kiddo was born!) that I couldn't let go of in the first clear out, but now I can see that I'll likely never need or make use of again.

So refreshing!

Surprise, I think I'm back!

Hi, hello. I know, you've all probably forgotten me. I had definitely forgotten you! But suddenly I felt the need to share again and Facebook and Instagram just didn't feel like the right platforms. I try to keep that to the people I really know because there is a lot of daughter-related content there and, a large part of why I stopped blogging when I did was because of her.

Not least because of the lack of time one has with a newborn, but also because I never really felt comfortable with putting stuff about her on a wide open online space like this. I know, I know, Facebook & Instagram probably aren't THAT much better, but I like to think they are somewhat private and I am in control of who can see stuff. Generally and mostly. It's not an exact science.

It is really weird to me what some people are willing to share about their kids online and I've passed children (and adults) in the mall, recognizing them from blogs I have read, knowing all about them! That creeps me out cause they know nothing about me at all. So yeah, I am trying my best to avoid that as much as I can.

Also, when I went back to work after my maternity leave, I was working reduced hours #winning and those reduced hours were jam packed so it definitely didn't leave me much time to knock out a blog post. And I wasn't getting out much so there wasn't much non-daughter related content to write about.

Anyhoo. A lot has happened in these 4 and a half years. And it is the change of a decade. And in a few short months I am turning 40. And suddenly I woke up wanting to share things again. I mean I've had stuff I've thought about sharing before, weekend destinations,excursions, amazing restaurants (we get out a bit again now and then haha) but I've just never felt the push to actually put it into a post and been quite happy with that. So probably, if my mojo really does turn out to have returned, there is some backlog I could work thru from the past few years!

Righto, and that's where I'll leave it for my welcome back explanation :) Hope you've all been keeping well!

A Mom's List of Product Reviews

Righto, so now I'm a mom, I'm *obviously* qualified to tell all soon-to-be (and other new) moms the dos and don'ts. Hahahahaha.

Not really. I hope no one believes that. But, what I did want to do is write a post on what we found most useful and what we wish we hadn't spent any money on ... and as a new mom (she's 9 months old already, do I still qualify as a "new" mom?) I'll definitely be refining my list of gifts for baby showers. Before I was definitely the books-or-clothes buyer. That was because that was the most fun for me. Now I reckon I'll be a lot more practical about it.

Things we recommend:

1. Huggies New Baby Nappies
I loved that these had the umbilical cut-out and the wetness indicator (till Stage 3 ... I couldn't believe one might ever not need it, but you get the hang of it! Haha). We made sure we had a pack of Huggies & Pampers to try to see which we preferred. We've stuck with Huggies and have been very happy with them.
Pack of 42 (Stage 1): R84.99 from BabyCity or R89.99 from Clicks and Dischem

2. Muslin Cloths
We received a pack of 4 of these amazing Aden + Anais ones as a gift before the Babe Girl was born. OMG we use them for EVERYTHING (still). 4 is probably unnecessary, but I couldn't live with less than 2. (Also, these are what we ended up using along with simple cotton blankets to swaddle her in because they were bigger and stretchier than the swaddling blankets we'd bought).
R160 for one from BabySense
R549 for two or R899 for four from BabyGroup

3. Snuggletime Newborn Sleep Therapy 
This was a spur of the moment purchase before the Babe Girl was born and after our First Aid Course. But we used it till she was unswaddled and would definitely use it again if we had another. I can't say if it helps with colic or reflux because the Babe Girl never suffered from either.
R429.99 from BabyCity

4. Love to Dream Swaddle Up 50/50 & BabySense Weighted Sleep Sack
We didn't start out swaddling the Babe Girl, but when we first ran into a sleep issue (around 10wks), we started to (as well as adding a dummy). She is a very active little girl and would wave her arms and legs and seemed to work herself up instead of calming down to sleep. She was quite the little houdini and master of the escaping arms, so before long we were using a 2 blanket variation on the Burrito style. When she hit her 4 month sleep regression, we tried freeing one arm, hoping she'd be ready but no luck. Around 6 months, we knew we had to find a way out of the swaddle. And these were the 2 sleep sacks I used. It was winter, so we were lucky and for a while I actually used the Swaddle Up 50/50 inside the Weighted Sleep Sack (because it allowed "free" arms so we weren't quite ready for it yet, but she seemed to need the weight). If I did it again, I'd just start my baby in the Love to Dream Swaddle Up 50/50 from birth. Honestly, at some point she just "got it" cause she wasn't sleeping swaddled at daycare and we didn't really have to do any phasing of one arm at a time.
Love to Dream Swaddle Up 50/50: R519 from BabyGroup or R530 from Kids Emporium
Weighted Sleep Sack: R220 from BabySense (currently on an end-of-range special)

5. Nose Frida
I got 2 of these in my baby showers and it seems ridiculous at the time. But literally we used this every single day in Joburg. We use it a lot less now, obviously. But along with the FloBaby Saline spray, this was a lifesaver. It may sound gross and, honestly having 2 of them I never tried an alternative, but it freaks me out less than a vacuum attachment!
NoseFrida: R119.95 from Dischem
Flo Baby Saline Spray: R149.99 from BabyCity or R134.99 from Dischem

6. Snuggletime Baby Bather (Quick Dry)
We were all set to get one of those plastic, shaped baby holders for the bath till we saw this used in our Antenatal class and immediately switched our thinking. This was a far better choice for us because it was much cheaper and we didn't end up using it for too long. Bath-wise we started with a cheap rectangular plastic basin from Pick n Pay that was easy to move and bathed her on the chest of drawers in her nursery (honestly, the only thing we used her nursery for in the first 3 months!) and then as she got older and preferred to sit up (although supported) we got one of the small plastic baths with the moulded seat and just put a non-slip mat in there. We're still using that for her now. It wastes too much water to run a full bath for her. Our dream bath buy would've been the Baby Dam!
R99.99 from BabyCity

7. Ingenuity Baby Base 2-in-1 Seat
We chose this over the usual Bumbo seat because, although it was more expensive, it had 2 built in sizes (because the colourful inner seat can be removed as your baby gets bigger) and has the tray built in (afaik this is an additional purchase for the Bumbo seats). It has straps to keep the baby seated and also includes straps so that it can be "mounted" securely on a dining room chair or barstool. We use this whenever we feed the Babe Girl (and she is still in the smaller seat). She is starting to be able to rock herself forward in it, so we tried it strapped to one of our barstools the other day. Which was great, aside from her swiping all her food onto the wooden floor (usually that'd be the granite counter, where she is seated). Haha. Fun times.
R669.99 from BabyCity

8. Feeding Apron
When we started feeding solids, I found it crazy that we basically had to change her outfit and bib after every feeding. Eventually I found her an "art" apron that had full sleeves with elastic wrists at Clicks (I say "art" apron because when another Mom friend of mine saw me feeding with the Babe Girl wearing it she was so surprised because she had a few of them but had never thought to use it for that ... I asked her what on earth she used it for then. Art, apparently. Haha).
Baby PVA Coverall: R55.95 from Clicks

9. Annabel Karmel
If you are planning on making any of your own food to feed your baby when starting solids, this is the author that was recommended to us and the one I'd recommend to you. We (mostly The Trucker) have made loads of things from this book. She has an app as well, if that is your thing.
R363 from Loot

10. Zoku Pops
I already had these, and one day I gave the Babe Girl a fruit juice one. She loved it! So I used some of my extra sticks to make fruit pops (basically just frozen watermelon, banana, pear on the zoku sticks). She enjoys some more than others (I've now made layered ones with yogurt and fruit puree). I would love to add the Mini Freezer Mould to our collection for her :)
Range from R119 to R329 on YuppieChef

11. Munchkin Miracle 360 Trainer Cup
The Babe Girl never took to sippy cups ... I tried 2 different ones with different shaped spouts and she was having none of it! She was only interested in her Pigeon Bottles or a glass like Mom & Dad! We started out with giving her water from tumblers and bought plastic cups for her while we figured out what to do. A friend suggested we try a straw-cup. I bought one and although it didn't work then, she has started using it now at 9 months (which her daycare told me they'd never seen a 9 month old do successfully before! #proudmama). And then we found these no-spill cups that felt like a glass to her ... there was no spout to drink from and she could pick it up and drink from anywhere around the edges. Personally, I think this is the way to go because, lets face it, aside from drinking thru a straw, all future drinking will pretty much be from an open container, not a spout.
Munchkin Miracle 360 Trainer Cup: R134.99 from BabyCity
Tommee Tippee Training Straw Cup: R104.99 from BabyCity

12. Photographs
I have a lot of Sticky9 magnets on our fridge of The Trucker & I and now of the Babe Girl too. I also have our monthly family photos printed and stuck on her bedroom wall at her level. She adores them and I am quite sure she recognises us (although probably not herself)
Photo Magnets: $15.99 from Sticky9, so really depends on the current exchange rate, or R250 from Macaroon

13. Book with Textures
The Babe Girl is (understandably) not very interested in the books I read to her yet. But she adores her texture ABC book. It is a thick board book and she can turn the pages (with a little help) and knows where to feel everything. And her favourite is definitely the mirror on the Y for You! Haha. That is about the only book she is personally interested in ... aside from magazines / paper for ripping at the moment.
R65 from Book Dealers

14. Her own set of keys
They all seem to reach a certain age and then all they want to do is grab your keys and slobber all over them :) We decided to make the Babe Girl her own set of uncut keys. This goes along with similar ideas of the "Busy Board" or toys around the house. Colourful measuring spoons, funnels, cardboard boxes (her current absolute favourite toy in the world is a blue Bicarbonate of Soda box! #sigh) and, of course, plastic containers in all sorts of sizes and shapes.

15. Cat Toys
As mentioned above, never under estimate the simple toys ... and cat toys seem to be a favourite. Ball toys of all sorts are brilliant for babies. The variety is awesome: big and small and ones with bells in and ones with holes. And then there are the cool wand-style cat toys too.



16. Fridge magnets
My sister bought the Babe Girl a set of dinosaur fridge magnets for my baby shower. I thought she was mad. But as she has gotten older, she has loved playing with them. It started when we held her up to show her the shapes & colours on the fridge when she was younger till she could sit up by herself and we moved them all to the bottom section so she could sit on the floor and "swipe" them around herself. Don't underestimate the few minutes this can give you to clean up or prepare something in the kitchen :)



Things we should not have spent a cent on:

1. Swaddling blankets
We bought ourselves 2 BabySense swaddling blankets (even before she was born) - the Cuddlewrap and Cuddlegrow. And because (as mentioned above) she was such a little houdini, they never ever worked and we barely used them because they couldn't even be used as regular blankets because of their custom shape.

2. Gripe Water
I am still not exactly sure what this is for, but we've never used it ...

3. Baby Medicine Dropper
We had one of these. We used it a few times. But since we got our hands on the Neurofen for Children (which apparently now they are saying you should only use if your child is over a year, but previously was from 3 months. My Paediatric GP says it's fine so we've used it, only occasionally, since she was about 7 months), we have used the "syringe" that came in that for everything. It is fantastic!

4. Baby Thermometer
We bought a "proper" one of these. The AngelCare one. The one that can measure across the forehead or in the ear. We've never had a reading we trust on it. Apparently the forehead is a terrible way to measure temperature. And you need to pretty much be a nurse to figure out how to "pull" the ear to get a proper reading too! I've had it demonstrated almost every time we go to a vaccination ... you know, just in case. Luckily tho, the Babe Girl has never had a fever. I wouldn't recommend not buying one at all. You're an expectant mom, there is no way you won't want to feel like you're prepared for every eventuality. But you may want to ask around amongst your parent-friends to find someone who has successfully used one and what brand that was and go round and test it out and make sure you have the hang of it to make sure you're spending your money on something you can actually use.

5. Baby Car Mirror
I was so certain I needed this. I hated not being able to see her in her backward facing car seat, behind my chair. When she was wailing the entire drive it was torture ... but when she went quiet, I would freak out too. There was no happy middle ground, so the mirror seemed the ideal solution. It was useless. We couldn't get it to stick properly to the rear windscreen. It was TINY so you couldn't see nearly as well as the packaging implied. And honestly it was too dark in the back of my car to actually be able to make out any detail in the mirror either. This one has sat in the cupboard after spending about a week in my boot after the second time it fell off the rear windscreen.

6. Tommee Tippee Stage 1 Easy Reach Teether
I was terrified of teething (needlessly so, so far, as we discovered the Babe Girl's first tooth on 20th December because I felt it while feeding her) and so, to be prepared, bought her a pack of these. Dummies seemed like such a smart and easy solution to help sooth sore gums while teething, right? Well we could never get these dummies to actually fit into her mouth! And if we did she spat them right out. Now they're in her toy box and sometimes she finds them and chews on the one end of the inner part ... but most on the outward facing bit. Haha. Typical. We found the Pigeon teethers a much better solution (we have step 1 & step 2).
Pigeon Step 1 Teether: R69.99 from Dischem or R76.99 from BabyCity
Pigeon Step 2 Teether: R74.99 from BabyCity

7. Pop-Up Playmat
The Babe Girl hated tummy time ... she wanted to be sitting, always. So I thought a Pop-Up Paymat might be the answer when I saw The Hungry Caterpillar one at Exclusive Books. It was a total waste. It didn't encourage her to spend time on her tummy at all and just sat on the floor in her room gathering dust.

8. Knee-Socks
The minute my baby started to crawl for reals (26 December, in case you were wondering), I began to worry about her sensitive little knees on the carpet. And make no mistake, those first few days will likely lead to reddish skin. I rushed off an bought some Plod Ons for her. If I was smarter (and had known then that I could), I would've returned them immediately. They were far to tight for her pudgy thighs and she never got the hang of them and I never made her wear them much. It really wasn't something she needed at all!

2015 Review

1. What did you do in 2015 that you'd never done before?
Give birth. Be a Mom. Stopped blogging.

2. Did anyone close to you give birth?
ME! Actually a lot of people I know, obviously you meet people with kiddies the same age as yours and going thru the same things as you. So this list was too big to remember this year.

3. Did anyone close to you die?
Not that I can think of.

4. Did anyone close to you get married?
Sheesh, I can't even remember.

5. What countries did you visit?
None ... babies are a bit of a hinderance to travel ;)

6. What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?
Nothing. 2015 has been pretty damn perfect :D

7. What date, from 2015, will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
2nd April, the day my daughter was born ♡ And 7th July, the day we moved to Cape Town.



8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Well, I think becoming parents and moving provinces (with a 3-month old) were pretty impressive ;)

9. What was your biggest failure?
Well, being a Mom didn't quite go as I imagined and it took about the first 5 months to really setlle into it. Since then tho, there hasn't been a single complaint. Before then, really, it was just learning how to manage and getting very little sleep and figuring out what our gorgeous little girl needed from us. Not complaints, really ... just life adjusting ;) But at times I definitely felt like a failure.



10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
You mean aside from being cut open for a caesar?

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Another new house? This time in Cape Town ;)

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Without question, The Trucker. I couldn't do this parenting thing without him. Seriously, he picks up all the pieces and gets everything I can't find time for done. And my folks. I definitely couldn't have made it thru this year without their support and assistance and time and baby-sitting. And the Babe Girl. Wow, she is one amazing little thing, watching her learn and grow is The. Best. I'm a lucky lucky girl.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Some of my friends, honestly. Although not appalled or depressed, just sad and sorry. Lives change, people move on, out of sight and out of mind, I guess.

14. Where did most of your money go?
On Baby things and a new house and the move and now "tweaks" (nothing as dramatic as renovations) on the new house.

Oh, and just recently on Gypsy who had quite an awful experience in early December ... she went for an abdominal scan and we found out she had Bladder Stones. So we scheduled the operation to remove them for 2 days later. Unfortunately they couldn't even start the operation because her heart rate slowed so much she needed CPR under the anaesthetic. So they wouldn't operate again until she'd had a cardiac scan to rule out any underlying issues ... which thankfully showed up clear. So then she had the actual surgery. She is healing well and is back to being our fabulous forest cat :)

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My Babe Girl

16. What song will always remind you of 2015?
Erm ... not sure really. "Kung-Fu Fighting" HAHAHAHA The Trucker sang it repeatedly to The Babe Girl when she started to kick her legs and since then whenever you sing it to her she gets this massive grin on her face. It even works when she is crying. I think it's hysterical.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
Happier or sadder? Happier, so so much happier. How many people can honestly say that they have achieved everything they wanted to by 35 (not everything for my whole life, am just exactly where I wanted to be at this age).
Thinner or fatter? Probably thinner, but only because I was 5 months pregnant.
Richer or poorer? Poorer, 6 months of maternity leave will do that to a gal.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? and 19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
More appreciating every minute of my tiny baby (which I did try to be mindful of, but already at 8 months I can't remember he being properly tiny anymore). And I wish I'd stressed less about everything I did as a Mom, but I think that comes with time and learning and finding your feet.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With my family. I am so excited for The Babe Girl's first Christmas, I've had a tree up since the 1st December (I've never put up my own tree before because we've always gone to family for Xmas) and the pressies are almost all wrapped and under there already! I have no idea how I became so organised this year HAHA.

21. How will you be spending New Year?
With friends at a relaxed braai ... they also have babies around The Babe Girl's age and other older kiddies.

22. Did you fall in love in 2015?
Yes, with my daughter ♡

23. How many one-night stands?
Zero.

24. What was your favourite TV programme?
I don't get to watch too much any more. I loved UnReal tho.

25. What did you want and get?
My precious daughter. To move home to Cape Town. 6 months of maternity leave. A fantastic work-life balance (I reduced my hours and get to leave the office at 13h30 each day to spend the afternoon with my Babe. It is the best decision ever!)

26. What did you want and not get?
I don't think there is a single thing on this list.

27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 35 and did not have a very good day ... The Babe Girl was a bit of a nightmare, I got very little sleep :( But it all came together in the afternoon when we had a family nap and The Trucker got us sushi for dinner (you can eat it cold HAHA). And then he surprised me with an amazing gift a while later, a bag from Desigual!



28. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Nope.

29. Who did you miss?
My Joburg friends :(

Yo Momma!

So, hello there little blog of mine ...

Haha, yep it sure has been a while. But I'm back at work (Day 3) and things here are still pretty slow so I thought I'd take the opportunity to write a little update on my last 6 months. Hey, if you're really lucky I may even get around to writing up the last 2 Turkey 2014 posts!

Yoh, so I'm a mamma. Life sure is different since March! I had my gorgeous little baby girl on the 2nd April. She arrived at a tiny 2.64kg, 44.5cm. In fact I think "Oh my word she is tiny!" was my first sentence when I saw her. What you don't realise till you give birth is how rarely you actually see or hold a newborn ... usually by the time friends are up for visitors, it is weeks after the birth and their babies have grown.

And she did have some hair :) That was the thing I most wanted to know on her arrival - since these days her 10 fingers and 10 toes had all already been counted in many scans.

Fast forward to last week and my baby had her half-birthday! Yep, she is now 6 months old and still pretty tiny (well, to everyone except us because we can see how she has grown!). She is finally starting to wear 3-6mnth outfits and weighed in at 6.3kg and 60.5cm long.


It hasn't been an easy 6 months of mothering.

I struggled with breast feeding, which is not nearly as natural as you might've been led to believe. But we found a lactation consultant when the Babe Girl was 6 days old. We weaned her off her formula top-ups (encourage during our 3 days in hospital) and got her exclusively onto breast milk. But then we moved to Cape Town and my milk dried up (apparently the stress can do that) and by the time I got it back with the help of Eglonyl (and Castle Milk Stout), she was only interested in drinking from a bottle! Cue more time spent expressing. Which, let's face it was bound to get tedious eventually. So around 4 months, we switched over to 100% formula. It wasn't the plan in the beginning, but that is how life happens and everyone is fine for it. So, no mommy guilt here :)

We struggled with sleeping. Everyone said it'd get easier after 6-8 weeks ... I thought week 8 - 10 were 2 of the hardest! But we got a bedtime routine down and life got much easier :) Till we hit her 4 month sleep regression and ended up getting a sleep consultant in. Around that time, I also ended up starting cipralex because the lack of sleep and motherhood suddenly combined to give me severe anxiety. And it is no fun feeling permanently on the verge of a panic attack.

There are many perks of being an "older" mother, I had the financial flexibility to take a full 6 months of maternity leave (no idea how people manage with less!) and to adjust my working hours (leaving the office at 13h30 to collect the Babe Girl from daycare makes such a difference!). But, a serious downside, I discovered, was that at this stage of my life, I was used to being good at what I did every day. Being a mom definitely didn't come as naturally to me as I expected. I thought I'd be better at it. I took my confidence down a notch because most of the time I don't know what I'm doing. And I've been banned from Google because that didn't help make me feel any better about things either! Nothing like 50+ conflicting views on what is wrong or right to muddle you more!

Seriously, one of my most terrifying realisations was that 3 days after your baby is born, they send you home from hospital and say "Bye, see you in 6 weeks" (well, you'll see your paed & gynae). Like, really? How on earth can I be trusted to know what to do with this tiny little thing? (Clearly we figured it out tho ;) )

All that said, life is wonderful. The Babe Girl is quite amazing and far more easy going than I am about all this - haha. She is a complete delight and I adore spending time just hanging out with her, watching her get better and better at everything she does!

She's been sleeping in her own room since about 4.5 months and been sitting well on her own for ages already! She is a chatty little thing (wonder where she got that, haha!). And even tho she is a distracted bottle-drinker, she is a very enthusiastic eater (we start solids just before 5months because of this). Seriously, we call her The Hoover! It's like feeding a shark, haha. Her latest thing is to take the spoon from me and feed herself. She is pretty amazing, I'm more than just a little bit in love with everything about her!

Oh yes, and we moved to Cape Town. Because, you know, having a baby wasn't enough for us, we decided to move provinces when she was 3 months old too! That was smoother than one might expect and we're very happy here. We got extremely lucky and have bought a house that is 5-10 minutes from both my folks houses, has easy access onto the M3 and in walking distance to the shops (I barely used my car during my leave, would just pop the Babe Girl into her pram and go shopping!). It is also in a very family orientated neighbourhood, with lots of parks nearby so our afternoon Baby & Dog walks are great fun and varied!

Madam has been going to a nearby daycare for a few weeks now. We decided that since we had the time, we would phase her in slowly, starting with just 2hrs a day for the first week, building up to her full time there this week.

Righto, that's enough of an update for now. You're mostly all caught up ;)

21 October: Istanbul

We woke up late-ish and had a slow morning ... we had a free day in Istanbul!

Showers were lukewarm, but I spose that's cause we were late. We had a quick breakfast and then The Trucker had to quickly login and sort some work stuff out. This is what he's been lugging our cute new slim little laptop around Turkey for!

After that we headed out. We borrowed a Metro card from the hotel and walked up a long hill to get to the station to load it with credits. 2.25Tl a trip. First we headed to Eminonu, the harbour stop to find out about Bosphorus Cruises. The ones the hotel was offering were 40EU, including a meal etc. I'd found one online for 12Tl. Unfortunately when we arrived they were closed. Ticket sales for their 14h30 trip would only open at 1pm!

So we decided to kill some time with one of my Istanbul picks, the Archaeology Museum. Unfortunately a large part of it (and many other things around town) was under renovation / construction. Not sure how much of a difference that made but, it certainly wasn't as impressive as I was expecting. And The Trucker was terribly bored.

I'd hoped for more (anything) about the Giant Heads at Mount Nemrut that were too far off our tour path for me to include ... and something on Gobekli Tepe! Didn't see a thing!

Just after 1pm we headed back to the harbour and bought our tickets for the 2hr cruise. Then we had to wait till 2pm before the gates opened for boarding. Luckily The Trucker and I split up so I got us great seats upstairs on the balcony and he got us the 10Tl Audio Guide.



I'm not exactly sure why everyone recommend a cruise up the Bosphorus. I didn't find it any more interesting than the museum. And my ears got tired of the Audio Guide around all the "Summer Residences"!

After that we wandered the Spice Bazaar and then walked back to our area. We ended up stopping at the Best Western for a drink on their terrace to watch the sunset (and play with our new selfie stick). And ended up having a little dinner there too. Biggest starter plate of chips I've ever seen!

20 October: Kusadasi to Istanbul

We got collected by our next tour guide at 9am. I think this lady was my least favourite. Wish we'd had the guy from yesterday again!



She first took us to Mary's Church (or House). I didn't really follow it all. It sounds like somewhere along the way Mary swapped Joseph for John the Baptist (or did Joseph die?) and ran off to Turkey to hide (and apparently died here).

I will say it is surreal and a little hard to follow the history which overlaps with names we're very familiar with (Cleopatra, people from the Bible etc.).

We whirled thru the 2 room house that was clearly a religious experience for others (Catholics I presume ... apparently all the Popes have been to visit too). I quite liked the jam-packed wishing wall. Did consider wishing for a girl - haha.

From there it was off to Ephesus for a long day. Shewee. It was pretty cool but, I could've done with more unguided wandering on my own. The problem is, as fascinating as all the history is (and parts of it really are!), t is all very overwhelming to absorb or contextualise there and then. Impossible, even. It's amazing to see that so long ago, the Romans were so advanced ... central heating, saunas, plumbing in the communal latrines.

We walked thru a special section of terraced housing which had incredible mosaics. It was truly amazing. As much as we know tho, it's still hard to picture or imagine living then!



We saw the ancient library, which was very cool. And the much larger theatre, which although it seats far more than the one at Heirapolis, wasn't nearly as impressive (I didn't think).

From Ephesus, we went for lunch. Seriously, THE BEST lunch we've had on this whole trip! Finally, no touristy buffet but a selection of local dishes. Manti and Gozleme were my faves.

From lunch we stopped briefly at the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - probably the only thing impressive about it).

And then The Trucker and I decided to skip the leather & carpet sales-y portion of the day and got to spend an hour wandering the Kusadasi coast with a Starbucks caramel frappachino in hand instead. Yip, we totally scored on that one!

And then, at 5pm we left for the Izmir Airport to catch our flight back to Istanbul. We arrived back at the same hotel, checked in, got a different room and pretty much went to bed.

19 October: Pamukkale to Kusadasi

Our experience with the hotel (Hotel Koray) just deteriorated. And after we looked it up on Trip Advisor, we were amazed at how many of our complaints were the same as people had listed there!

The wifi signal was rubbish. After I was already in the shower, The Trucker had to go and find clean towels! The breakfast was the least impressive we've seen so far (except there was watermelon :) ). The owners (or managers ?) were also not very helpful.

We're actually a little confused right now as they seem to have us registered as Graziela Someone-or-other?! Our itinerary says we're where we should be. Perhaps Graziela booked for us, but none of it left us feeling overly confident about this place.

We're being collected for Heirapolis and Pamukkale tour at 11h30. And at some point after the tour we have another "approx 3hr" bus ride ... let's hope it's better than the last one!

While we were waiting, we took a stroll around the area surrounding the hotel. The town seems in terrible disrepair. I would not advise staying here.

Needless to say, everything worked out and improved exponentially as soon as our tour arrived to collect us.

Our guide for Pamukkale was great! And again, we met some interesting people, for the day. We headed to the top entrance of Heirapolis and took a wander thru the unexcavated town up to the theatre. Which took our breath away!

Wow. Seriously, wow. It was amazing. I was completely in awe. I do think it helped that we watched Spartacus earlier this year. It really made the experience more real, imagining the people who lived here and attended the theatre (which was used for gladiators and animal fights as well as plays and other things).

On our way down the hill, we saw the tomb of St Peter being excavated in the distance. And then we wandered down to Cleopatra's Pool. Which wasn't at all what I expected. We decided not to pay the 32Tl to swim there but, rather visited the museum in the old bath house and then went down to the actual pools and "swam" there.

It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was pretty cool. The calcium deposit is just a large clump in the middle of perfectly normal mountains. Reminded me a bit of the stretch of fake snow in Lesotho at Afriski! Haha.

They divert the water regularly to different pools to allow others to dry out and kill the algae. But the pools we could go to were quite shallow so the water had lost it's warmth. The real fun was sitting in the canal with the warm water rushing past you!



After that our tour drove us to Kusadasi, our next overnight stop. The hotel here, Hotel Sozer, is awesome, with a sea view! Which definitely makes up for the last one. Reminds me a little of our experience in Nah Trang.

We checked in and immediately headed to the stretch of restaurants along the coastal road. We (oddly) settled on a Chinese spot and had a very nice dinner. I had Chicken with Satay sauce and The Trucker had Sweet & Sour Beef.

After dinner we headed to the Doubletree where the people we'd met on the tour had promised to leave some of their famous chocolate chip cookies for us. The Trucker is such a sneak! Delish :)

18 October: Fethiye to Pamukkale

We were up before 8am, showered and had breakfast at the hotel before checking out. We left our luggage at reception and hopped on the scooter. Lots of exploring today!

By chance we passed the Lycian Tombs carved into the side of the mountain (in 350BC apparently!) (we had planned to find our way to them later in the day) and then continued on our way to Kaya Koy, the nearby ghost town.

What a gorgeous ride over the mountain thru pine forests (looked like Tokai forest!) ... although we were a little nervous about our scooter's ability on the steep uphills, we managed just fine.

Kaya Koy was pretty cool. Although, again, it's all Greek houses that were abandoned after the "swap" in the 1920s. What was amazing was going into one that had been preserved. Wow!

Read a little online about the whole swap. Sounds like it was all religious #sigh. People do dumb things in the name of religion. I mean who cares what someone else believes? Why do countries even have religions anyway? Should be down to personal choice. Also weird is to think that less than 100 years ago ... how few people were probably openly atheist? Frowned upon, I imagine. I find the whole religion thing quite surreal.



Then we headed back to Fethiye. Took a bit of a ride thru more suburban bits before taking the coastal road back to the city centre.

Stopped for BK for lunch haha. And then took a stroll along the harbour side. Such a nice walk. Although I did expect more in the way of beaches.

The Trucker decided he needed a beard trim at one of the many barber shops. It is quite amazing to watch these men, such a craft really. And you can't rush them!

And then we returned our scooter and collected our bus ticket and our laundry and returned to our hotel to wait for our transfer to the bus station at 4pm.

Our bus to Denizli left at 16h30 and our itinerary said it'd be an approx 3 hour trip. But I doubt it ever is ... ours took 4.5hrs. So instead of arriving at 19h30, in time to get some dinner, we arrived at 9pm.

And then struggled to find our hotel transfer. They said sorry, no one had phoned to confirm what time :/ Urgh, so we grabbed a quick toasted sarmie at the big Denizli Bus Station and then grabbed a local bus to Pamukkale.

We arrived at our hotel around 10pm.