This photo has to go to the Magazines for those Baby competitions - she looks soooooooooooooo cute! A little model!

I can stand - safely with my knee guards

Hmm - why dont I get cake at a party?  Totally unimpressed!

Check out my two toofies at the bottom

With my friend Bryce's walker - these things are the biz

Giving Daddy his Fathers Day gift.  It is a book about the nasty comments cricketers make each other and when Daddy opened it, he read the spine first which said "Why are you so fat?" and he thought Mommy and I got him a diet book. We couldnt understand why initially he seemed disinterested in his gift.



Crawling!!!! I can go anywhere I want, even up the stairs to the bedrooms on the second floor.  Mommy put a chiar across the passage to slow down the great escape, but I am starting to climb over it



No Kyra No

Miss K needs sleep training.  1.30 this morning she hollered for us.  And then she rolled around in the bed snuffling and talking and kicking me in the back.  I know what we are supposed to do - but doing it is a whole other story. I know we are supposed to go in, pat her gently, reassure her that we are still around, tell her encouragingly and lovingly (without losing temper) to go back to sleep and then leave the room (I have watched that Nanny woman on BBC).  I know also that we are supposed to continue to do this until she does sleep even if we have to do it 30 times in one night, but for crying in a bucket, its way to cold to be making the groot trek every 30 minutes.  Plus I need some sleep, even disturbed sleep as I have to work, so I know I may as well just fetch her.  I know also that I am just reinforcing her behavior and that she knows if she moans long enough she will get to be exactly where she wants to be – cuddling in between Mommy and Daddy.

I really thought I would be better at this type of thing. Let’s take saying “no” for example. I always said my child would have the best manners on the block.  If I just looked in her direction, she would start to shiver and immediately obey.  I think parents are too easy on their kids these days, but for goodness sake, it is so HARD to say no.  She crawls over to the CDS and starts ripping them out. Daryl says “No, Kyra!” I say, ”shame Daryl, surely she can play with a CD or 2?”  She heads off to unpack the bookcase and starts ripping pages out of books.  Daryl says “No Kyra!” Gillian says, “shame, but the Practica manual says it is good for her finger or some or other co-ordination to tear things.” The thing is, she knows  exactly what “no” means, but when I say it, she just smiles at me and carries on doing whatever it is she is doing, so I get up, pick her up and move her away from the offending item.  I feel like I am on a slippery slope to bad manners.  You have to teach your kids to listen.  What if they are about to run in front of a truck and you shout “No!” They should know to stop in their tracks.  I realize she is only 8 and something months and that she doesn’t have the concentration or memory to remember what she can and can’t do, but I really got to toughen up a bit or I am making big problems for myself down the line.

The other day I decided to show her how to climb the steps.  Daryl said, ”that doesn’t look like a good idea Gillian” and I said “Bah humbug, she will never be able to do it. I am just teaching her spatial orientation tools.” On the public holiday yesterday, every time I put her on the ground, she motored off to the stairs and started to climb.  Ooops, but thank goodness Daryl forgot what he had said.  Going up is not a problem. It’s just she forgets where she is and steps back and she also has no clue how to get down.  She kind of just slides, so this means you have to be with her the whole time.  “No, Kyra, No – away from the stairs!”  Hee hee hah hah – yip chalk another one up for Mommy!

Miss K is tooooo cute

Little Miss K is just sooooo cute. She has 2 toofies at the bottom.  We gave her a piece of dun wors to suck on, turned around for a second and turned back to find she had gnawed her way through half of it and was storing it like a little chipmunk in her cheeks.  Glad I am no longer breastfeeding. 

She has been crawling since she was 6 and a half months and now she stands up and walks along the furniture.  She has helped unpack all my cds and also helps with taking the books out of the bookshelf.  You can never do too much dusting now can you. 

She loves to eat.  At her 6 month check up she was 8.5 kgs and I shudder to think what she is weighing in at now.  She is not an oros man though - she is tall - has the makings of a supermodel I guess.  Daddy is a dish, so guess thats where she gets it from. This morning she had porridge. Mid morning snack was a boo dwah, and lunch was a mashed banana with little pieces of apple that she spat back at me. The apple is the most sinful fruit, so I understand why.  It caused all kinds of problems for Adam and the rest of the universe, so not only is my child cute, but also wise. Daddy is making mutton stew, so think we will try that for dinner.

Right now she is in her walking ring, testing Daddy's authority in the kitchen. She puts her hand in the rubbish bin, Daddy sternly says no, she takes it away, waits for Daddy to look away and then puts it back, waits for Daddy to say no, takes it out and on we go. 

When we passsed 7 months, 3 weeks and 4 days, the age Declan was when he died, I relaxed. I started to think maybe she is here to stay and its okay for me to fall madly in love her.  I was of course totally in love, but I was scared and I kept thinking something is going to happen to ruin everything. I suppose that is normal.  I wonder what happens to Moms who lose their children when they are say 10.  Do they stress for 10 years?

The older she gets, the easier I find it.  I love the fact that we can "do" things together now.  Miss K loves a good shop - groceries, shoes - it doesn't matter.  As long as we spend money, she is happy.  Daddy better have a lotto ticket up his sleeve.

In 11 days she will be 9 months. I can't believe how time is flying and I now understand why people say "enjoy every second, it goes by so fast" - even those first 6 weeks when you want to throw yourself, your baby, your husband and your dog off a short building with the sleep deprivation you are suffering from, it's true. It flies by. Her first birthday is around the corner.
So that is my news.  Love my children, Miss K, Angel Dec and Miss Pea (the only one I didnt have to physically birth, but still one of my babies).
Love you sausage.

"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life and not when I come to die, discover that I had not lived." Walt Whitman

Our Little Princess, Kyra

Back to Work

It’s 8.30 and madam is asleep. Thanks Babywise.  She was 2 months yesterday and almost sleeping through.  She wakes up once anytime between 2 and 4 and then sleeps through again until 7 or 8 most mornings.  Going to bed is a bit of a different story.  The book told me “to put baby down when she is drowsy, not asleep.” 

Yesssssssssss – Kyra probably didn’t read that part.  I tried, but no sooner have I left the room than she is calling, “Mummy, where are you? Think you better come back please” and Mummy obliges cos thats what Mummies do. Kyra only likes to go to sleep lying on my chest and then I get up and tip toe to the cot and put her down head first (another book, which Kyra also didn’t read, says that way they don’t wake) and hope for the best. This process can take anywhere up to an hour and a half, so that is how I spend my evenings these days. But it is a small price to pay for a good night’s sleep. The only problem is who is going to do this on Thursday night when I desperately want to go to book club? I love the fact that my little one feels so safe and warm on my chest, but I have created a little bit of a situation for myself.

When she wakes to feed in the early hours, I learnt a fab new trick. I put her in the bed with me and pull her close to my chest and she gets on with her feeding while I go back to sleep. I have no idea how much and for how long she drinks, but I do know she won’t hesitate in waking me if she needs something.

Sadly, I am back at work full time as from 2 weeks ago.  My situation at the office changed and I HAVE to work. I am so so so so so disapointed.  You carry a baby for nine months and then you give birth (or you lie still and get sliced up) and I reckon the least you deserve for your efforts is 3 months off with your baby to drink coffee with friends, go shopping and showing baby off and to just enjoy the special special time with this little creature.  I feel quite robbed and am finding it very hard.  She stays with Petronilla 3 days a week now and then with her Granny or Aunty Lyn for 2 and with Pet again on Saturdays if I have to go in.  Things will calm down soon when all the suppliers close and I can be back with her but right now that is just the way it is.  I miss her so much and have no idea how moms do it when their babies are 3 months old.  I am hoping in January to work half day and be with her. My plan was to have been off until Jan and then go back half day so maybe I can still pull that off.  My precious little thing – life just doesn’t go according to plan does it. Imagine if she looks at Pet one day and says “Mom”.  With Declan, I spent just about every waking moment with him so it is bizarre for me to be away, but I suppose this is the life of a normal mom with a healthy child so I should just count my blessings.

She had her vaccinations last week and weigh-in. She is 5kgs on the dot, much heavier than Declan was at this age. I was in such turmoil about these jolly vaccinations.  Lots of moms aren’t doing it and I don’t quite understand the reasoning but I just did not have the time to research all the pros and cons so I just did it. I hope I have done the right thing. When I heard the list of horrid diseases she could get without the vaccinations, I personally felt I had to do it. Some of them are deadly and I can’t take any chances. And I am not saying moms who don’t do them are being irresponsible because I didn’t research it. Maybe I am irresponsible for having done it. I just don’t know. It is so nerve wracking making these decisions and there are so many opinions on every subject and in some ways I wish we could just get on with things without feeling guilty about whether we are doing the right thing or not.  With Declan my life was all consumed with cancer and chemotherapy drugs and the day to day decisions seemed minor compared to the types of decisions we had to make with him.  It is all quite new to me now, this day to day business and looking after my baby without always having a family member present and bouncing decisions off of lots of people.

Well done and THANK YOU to everyone who cycled 94.7 for the charity. Sam Cowan interviewed Kim who was cycling in the charity gear which was great exposure.  We are still working hard at raising funds for the medical bills of children with cancer and are still looking for runners to run Two Oceans for the charity, so mail me on info@allhandsondecfriends.org if you can help in any way. I will post some pics of Kyra taking her bath on her 2 month birthday later this week.

Lots of love

Gillian

PS Happy Birthday Daryl my love for turning 40 on the 21^st – you don’t look a day over 39.

12 OCT In my vibrating musical chair - Mom thinks if she puts me in here she can make din dins - I think not

22 OCT

4 NOV - At the Botanical Gardens with my friend Caylee-Shae - She is 3 weeks older than me and already my big mate.

TWO OCEANS

Hi All

Kyra had her 6 week check up this week. She weighs 4.34 and all is going well. That’s 340 grams gained in one week alone.  The Dr was very patient with me as I hauled out a list of questions as long as a toilet roll. He was the paed who had to tell us Declan had cancer and he remembered me and was very thorough with her check up. My heart sunk to my shoes as I walked into his waiting room. Last time I went in there they sent us to hospital and we kind of never went home again.  Life was never normal again after a visit to the clinic and then Dr Tshigabe and we had Declans life threatening and life taking illness hanging over our heads so you can imagine I was not excited about the trip. I was so worried that some veins on her eyelid were tumour but they NOT. And it was like a weight lifting off my shoulders as we left his rooms. We were leaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaving!!!!!!!!!! Like a normal family. In and out.  Thats what normal families do hey!

My little monkey has a bit of colic but nothing so serious that I can’t handle it. She cries a hang of a lot more than Declan did which I find very disconcerting.  I don’t know what to do and what is troubling her and how to help her and I find it very hard when a healthy child is crying.  When Dec cried, we would know why. He had cancer and he had chemo and he had radiation.  Kyra doesn’t, so now you have to use all your Mommy skills to figure out what is wrong.  I feel like I am finally getting the hang of it. Claudine is going to bring me that DVD that was Oprah that explains what the different cries mean. Should be fun.

And now onto some more fun. Who is in the mood for GETTING FIT FOR CHARITY?  I, Gillian Nicole Meiring in all my fat post pregnancy glory, do hereby undertake to join you in training for the 2 Oceans Half Marathon being held over Easter (23-24 April) next year. Come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do it with me.  We start training THIS WEEK. The program is below compliments of Shape Magazine.  We will get people to sponsor us running and use the event to raise funds. We obviously have got to cover our own costs to get to CT and back and the accommodation. We can make it such a cool team effort.  We can write to each other and encourage each other.  We have about 8 people so far. Some rather athletic and others like me who will be plodding my way through.  There is more than enough time to get fit.  Sign up to do this with me.  Mail me on aurasa@metroweb.co.za for more information but in the mean time here is this weeks program. It doesn’t matter if you only start next week or the week thereafter. There is plenty of time. Get people to do it with you and we can do the Valentine’s Night Race together next year as our first 10 km race.

WHOS IN????????????????

WEEK ONE - train on 3 days
Day 1
10 min walk
1 min jog / 3 min walk x 5

Day 2
10 min walk
1 min jog / 3 min walk x 6

Day 3
10 min walk
2 min jog / 3 min walk x 4

How easy is that????????????????????