Tuesday, November 28, 2006

travels and teeth !

We have been away for ten days down to the coast. It has been excellent. We spent a week in the Wilderness (near to George and Knysna) with keith's family - his mum and dad, and his sister Sally, her husband Adrian (with the dreadlocks) and their two little people - Cole and Sienna. The weather was gorgeous and it's such a beautiful part of the country. Keith spotted a school of dolphin and called us to see - amazing.


zack, sienna and cole (sally and adrian's two children) - zack was wrestling his 3 year old cousin for the frizbee.

We left George on Thursday night and flew down to Cape Town for 4 days of holiday, just us three. Zack managed to sleep really well most nights (despite the teething) and we were even able to lie in for 3 mornings until 8am ! We were out for lunch yesterday with Keith's mum and dad (who had driven down to Cape Town see some friends), and discovered that Zack had two tiny teeth peeping through is gums : Everything they say about the temperatures, the noxious poos, and mizzy babes is true - we just hadn't put it all together in an equation that equalled TEETH.



Zack with mum and dad on Chapman's Peak and views over Hout Bay - it was very windy !

Zack and David at the family get together in Cape Town on Sunday.

Steve gets down to Zack's level at the party.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

sleep skebenga

Well, our nights continue to be disturbed by the nasty sleep skebenga (thief, bandit - Zulu orig.) and what is a girl to do ? Other than guessing, guessing, guessing and trying plans A, B and C to try and correct things, there ain't much. Talking to the mates, it sounds like all our little 'uns are doing the same thing at the moment. My friend Amy is trying the 'controlled crying' method, because it worked for Trish & Caitlin. I did that one morning, and Zack DID eventually pop off, once he'd realised I wasn't going to come and pick him up. It's an emotionally taxing exercise though - I cannot lie. And it seems so much easier to go and pick them up, but at what cost ? They have to learn to sleep, and yes, the magic phrase "self console". How nasty is that ! ? !

Be that as it may, once we're up in the mornings, we are full of beans and the sunshine is keeping us upbeat. Today my aunt popped in for a visit, and brought Zack his first ball. Here are the two of them together.


Roll on Saturday when Keith arrives. We can't wait !

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

More bubs into the world

It certainly has been a busy year in the reproduction department, and we're not talking photocopiers...


Congratulations to Jerome and Stephanie on the birth of their gorgeous baby boy - Daniel



Congratulations to Roelof and Sonel on the birth of the cutest little girl - Moné, born on November 3rd

Monday, November 06, 2006

sleep and feeding : the eternal issues

Zack slept like a log last night and I felt like a million bucks this morning as a consequence. The previous night he'd been up having a cry at 2AM, 3:15AM and 4AM and i finally took him to my mum at 5:20AM as she was awake. I was shattered. I've been reading Gina Ford's guidance notes on eating, and it seems to indicate that if he eats well during the day, ie. his calorie intake is good, he's likely to sleep better at night and not wake from hunger. Who's to say that he's waking from hunger each time though... some nights I just don't know ! ? ! I think his 3:30AM waking is a bad habit, that's all. For the rest... who knows ?

A good friend Katey has lent me another book on babies and sleeping (it's american, I'll find the title and post it here soon) and it says "Sleep begets Sleep", which means that he should have enought sleep during the day, so that he'll sleep well at night. I dipped into Gina Ford's parenting tips book and she seems to say the same thing (but with a few extra inclusions eg. quiet, regular sleeping space, etc).

My only anxiety at the moment is his lack of eating at 6PM. He is behaving very badly at dinner time. Last night he wouldn't take anything from me : I'd carefully made up freshly cooked & pureed carrots and potato. He would eat pear wedges, but none of the mush. I then left it to my mum to feed him a bowl of cereal. He is such a boy - he is on a cereal phase at the moment : it's all he'll eat that's mushy. He doesn't like butternut anymore. At all. If he doesn't like food, he just sprays it out all over whatevers in front of him. I think it's naughty behaviour. What does one do ?

He has moved to Gina Ford's schedule though, which is something. We are now into regularly waking and sleeping routines. He USUALLY wakes up between 5 and 6AM when he goes and plays with his Nana. This is going to be a problem when we're in London, as neither Keith nor I are going to be prepared to get up at that time. Thankfully it's still dark, so maybe that'll help. He's sleeping now everyday between 9 and 10AM and 1 and 2PM. It's like clockwork, which makes things much more predictable.

I am now keeping an eating and sleeping diary so that I can see if there's a pattern - hence my knowing that he's definitely sleeping at those times. It's useful, but I don't think it solves all your problems.



We bought a baby backpack today - it'll be great for our holiday in 2 weeks time, as we can abandon the pram and carry Zack like this wherever we decide to walk.

I look forward to keith's arrival on Saturday morning. We miss him so very much !