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First day back!

It’s here!! My maternity leave has finally come to an end!! To say I’m feeling conflicted emotions is an understatement!!

It’s an end to my beautiful pregnancy-maternity honeymoon, and it makes me sad! But I am looking forward to stimulating my brain again, and getting stuck into some challenges.

I’ll come home for lunch today – to see my babies, check on the nanny, and express. But I’ll have to figure out a way to express at work – it’s a small company, with no dedicated room for such activities.
Once I’ve gathered my thoughts, I’ll post again, but for now, a commemoration of the climax of this past phase of my life:

Wish me luck!!

Happy-making pics

I posted last about Annabelle and I hanging out in the garden. Well just after I posted, Ginger, our boy cat joined us!

It was soft and comfy, you see!

What a gorgeous kitty.

Here’s Precious playing with Dominic in the sun room.

Cutie pie.

And then Dad bought the babies a super awesome play mat!! It is a huge hit!!

And finally. Annabelle has the cutest way of sucking her thumb, to self soothe. Beautiful!!

Such an angel.

This weekend Annabelle was sitting in her bouncy chair, which has a flower that plays music when you pull its little ring-pull. Rob and I left the room for a bit and suddenly heard the song playing. Annabelle had figured out how to get it to play!! Well done sweety pie!!

In the garden, with new toys!

We were seriously low on baby toys, pointed out to me by our nanny! (thanks Precious), so I marched off to the beeg Toys R Us in Belville. Wow that place is vast!!

I had to tear myself away! So many cute things! But I finally settled on nine jingly, squeaky, crunchy, rattly items.

I’m sitting outside with Annabelle, (nursing atm) while Dominic sleeps inside by Precious), and my girl and I have been getting to know our new fun play things, although I think Annabelle’s more excited about the trees and blue sky.

Hope Dominic wakes soon, so he can join us!

Dominic – ‘Gangsta’ with feet

Here’s Dominic in his “100% cute” hoodie! His dad said he looked a bit gangsta, or like a jogger, and just needed some earphones and an ipod.

I realised I don’t spend enough time touching, looking at and cuddling my babies’ feet – they’re always hidden in socks, a babygrow, or pants. So while enjoying Dominic’s toesies I grabbed the foot print card that the nurses in the ICU did for us when the twins were about a week old.

Wow those feet have grown!!! Cute!!

Speaking of growing, yesterday we went for our second paediatrician visit, and the doc was most impressed with our progress! Dominic is now 4.16 kgs, and Annabelle is 4.45 kgs!! Awesome!

He advised us regarding Annabelle’s tendancy to suddenly regurgitate while feeding ( try Dr Brown’s bottles, and also anti-regurgitation formula, and watch for signs of heartburn and reflux), and when we told the doc about Dominic’s recent dislike of going to bed, and wide-awakeness in the evenings, he suggested trying rescue remedy. Watch this space for hopeful success stories!
Anyway, we left feeling very proud of ourselves!

Well, thats it from me for now. Night night.

Three months old!!!

My mum with Annabelle

Dominic propped up in the cot

Today Dominic and Annabelle turn THREE MONTHS OLD! Yikes, that’s a quarter of a year! That’s a whole trimester in pregnancy! And they’ve come such a long way!!

Last week saw us heading to the clinic, cause the babies had been fighting upset tummies for a while, and we wanted them better, pronto! They were given zinc, and electrolites, and are on the mend now!
But the good news was in finding out their weight! Dominic now weighs 3.9kgs, and Annabelle 4.3kgs!!!! Considering they were born at 1.6 and 1.9 kgs, thats pretty good weight gain!!! Yay!!

We’ll find out their length when we go back for their vaccinations soon (not looking forward to that!)

Their progress has been amazing! We’re waiting patiently for those first giggles – since they both crack such amazing warm smiles often during the day! Their breast feeding is wonderful, and they take easily to both the bottle and breast! We’re dressing them in as many outfits as possible, as they’re rapidly outgrowing clothes, left right and centre, and we’d hate to miss seeing them in those cute ensembles! They look too cute in hats with ears on!

Congrats babies!!!! Love you!!

First rains on Easter weekend!

Happy Easter all.

We’ve been treated to our first winter rains this weekend, so yesterday we all snuggled and hung out at home together.  So lovely!
Friday we had a fabulous day at my sister and her hubbies place. The babies first ‘day visit’ out. My mum joined us, and the babies got to chill and be loved by the whole family.

Easter treats for the babies from their awesome aunt and uncle!

I have to add that Mum and Dad will dutifully eat the twins chocolates for them, since they’r not on solids yet.

Today we’re off to Rob’s folks’ house for a visit there. We’ll take the camper cot for the babies to sleep in, cause their dogs are a bit boisterous and might climb all over them if we put them on a bed to sleep.
Anyway, here don’t Annabelle and Rob look precious, cuddling this morning?

And here’s our little man wriggling in the cot:

And look how cold it is! Ginger is all rolled up to conserve heat!

Have a lovely day!

Smiles and cute outfits

Up first:  Dominic was having a smile fest – so I snapped a bunch of cute pics.

Gorgeous…

 

cute….

cutest….!

Up next… This week Annabelle and Dominic had cute outfit days!

First, two babygrows given to the twins from their aunt’s parents:

Annabelle (left) and Dominic looks like the council worker/jail bird!

And secondly – I loved Dominic in dynamic colours like red and black – he was super coordinated here (check out the matching socks); and Annabelle’s wearing the cutest crocheted booties with ribbons (her first booties), that looked gorgeous with her pink outfit!

Delightful!  We are SO lucky!

Adventures!!

The past few weeks I’ve been harping on about how I’m going to go introduce the babies to my colleagues at the office! But to be honest, the outing would be full of firsts, that I honestly was a little chicken to tackle.

Those firsts being:  using our double stroller for the first time, besides practice stints around the living room;  driving and handling the babies on my own;  packing and feeding formula on an outing (I’ve managed to breastfeed, or not need to feed on previous ventures).

These may not sound huge, but all together I was quite daunted, hence, I hadn’t actually done anything about it.

Fortunately, I got an invite for a friend at work’s babyshower that was being held at the office – which motivated me to bundle my visit, with attending the shower.

So yesterday I managed to fold up and squeeze our stroller into the back of my car,  set up the car seats, packed the baby bag, and packed the car with the present etc, and finally set off, babies safely belted in. So kindly, Rob met me at the office parking lot (just as well, cause I couldn’t for the life of me remember how to open the stroller again!)  and we headed in to the office.

And what a pleasure to see all those lovely faces again. And everyone seemed thrilled to see the little ones finally. And speaking of – the twins almost slept through the whole thing. Except for Annabelle, who got hungry, and later started crying, prompting us to leave.

But we’d spent over 1,5 hours catching up with everyone, and it certainly wasn’t as overwhelming as I’d expected.  (Thanks to Rob being there)!

I hate to say we might have stole some thunder from my friend who’s shower it was, but I hope she still had a lovely celebration!

The babies were a bit of a distraction!!

Fortunately, the drive home was uneventful too, with babies lulled to sleep!

sleeping cutiepies!

A lovely afternoon, all in all.

Honest perspectives

A couple of thoughts have occurred to me over the past two months of my new role as Mum, and I think it’s about time I shared them (with a couple of cute pics to keep you riveted)

Such sweet slumber

Mums in nature

Over the past few years, and especially while being pregnant, my conversation with many female friends/family has been about how I shouldn’t loose sight of taking care of myself when I become a new mum.  Visualise the stereotypical new mum who has no time to brush her teeth, let along colour her hair, manicure her nails, or take a break to have coffee with a friend.  This image is the antithesis of what every woman wants for herself, and it seems insane that anyone would let this happen. So with all good intentions, while being at home the past weeks,  I’ve done my best to do the simple things, like put on a lick of makeup where possible, wear a pretty skirt at home, and even just get into the garden to get some sun on my face if I have a a second.

Reality is though, I’ve found assimilating this new role in my mind, as well as simply getting used to being a milk machine, and dealing with the suicide hours in the evenings, and little sleep at night, has taken its toll on me, and I’ve found it tough to ‘remember myself’ most of the time!

The cute lady!

BUT – I’ve realised that feeling guilty about ‘neglecting’ oneself is completely unfair, and negates a huge part of beginning this new stage of our lives, that mums in the natural world experience almost ceremoniously.

The cute man!

In the waters off our Cape Town coast, Southern Right whales spend many weeks calving and teaching their young every year! They travel hundreds of kilometers to reach the calmer waters of Walker Bay, and hoards of whale watchers enjoy a view of them as they frolic close to the coast.

I love this shot - somehow they look like they're floating

The reason I mention these whales?  Well, did you know that while these mum whales are pregnant, and then calving, they don’t eat at all!  Many birds also fast while sitting on eggs, denying themself food in order to care for and warm their clutch.

So I honestly can’t help thinking that self denial, or at least minimising, and focusing solely on those little babies is an instinctive, honourable drive that deserves respect and acknowledgement.

Onesie Wonderfulness

Fortunately, the last two weeks or so I’m finding myself in a much better position to be able to take a breath – feel like a normal adult – more like the real me, so clearly this stage is transitioning to a new one.  And I’m not pretending that the tough part is over (It certainly isn’t – try sleep training TWO screaming babies!!??). But I’m glad I’m able to recognize these feelings, and would like to say I truly respect and admire all other mothers who go through these same moments!  You’ve got the most powerful instincts and hormones to deal with, and as long as you give yourself some credit, and rely on those around you that love you for help and support, you’ll get through it.

My tips: Hand those little tikes to a willing granny or aunty, and get some sleep – even just an hour!  Also – and most importantly – take a moment to take your husband/partner’s hand and quickly say “Thanks – I love you”!   Remember – the two of you had children BECAUSE you love each other and want to materialise that love! The love doesn’t disappear when baby arrives – it still needs to be nurtured and cared for in order for your babies to get the best experience in a family!

Right – better post this quickly before the next adventure of the day begins!