The Meiring Meanderings

Wow, time does fly!!

2011-12-02T16:41:00.002+02:00

Look at me, saying I'm going to post more regularly and then nothing! Zip! Nada!!

Oi, maybe one day I'll get my a into g and blog regularly. I am quite busy at the moment with commitments to Kidz shoebox project (finished now) and Santa for Seniors (finished tomorrow) plus I need to get gifts for all and sundry. Then Tiny Toes organises a Secret Santa and of course I can't resist!! I have a very good idea of what I want to get my secret santa but just need to find some time to get it and then send it. I have to do it this weekend so that she gets it before Christmas! Besides delivering for Santa for Seniors tomorrow, we have 2 weekends to get ourselves organised for our camping trip! We are going up to Magaliesberg to visit my boet and his family and are going to camp along the way, else it is way too far to drive with a toddler. Anyone know any good camping spots between Cape Town and Jhb or nice 4x4 trails?

On the kids front, Branston has finished school for the year and forever at CBC. He is starting a new school next year and I can't wait. I really hope they live up to our expectations! We were very disappointed with CBC and we were not the only ones. The spider bite which Branston got in September still has not healed properly, the doc thinks we should cut it open again but we are not too keen to go that route right before we go away for the holidays! He says it could be infected but it might just be hectic scar tissue so I think I would rather not put him under the knife again based on uncertainty.

Mitchell is being really cute at the moment, he is like a little parrot, repeating everything he hears. We have to be really careful what we say around him or are likely to find it repeated endlessly and very loudly. But the temper! Lordy me! Takes after his father! And very stubborn. If he doesn't want to eat or sleep (which he generally doesn't) then you can stand on your head but he will not do it! Even now that he is not napping during the day it can still be a battle to get him to sleep at night. But just one kiss and hug and a look into those baby blues and all is forgiven! More to follow(hopefully soon!) on him getting his own room - yes, skande, he is still in our room!

Stitches and more...

2011-10-21T12:28:00.006+02:00

Well, so much for a post every day!! But I went to the bloggers meet-up and it was great to meet in person some of the bloggers whose blogs I read regularly, and to find some new ones to read. I still need to go through the list of bloggers that were there and check out some of their blogs. See here and here for some pics etc

So, my kids have really been in the wars lately. First Branston gets bitten by a spider and has to go into theatre to have the resulting abscess drained, then Mitchell trips up the stairs and has to have stitches in his bottom lip!!! And we all know what 'fond' memories I have of hospitals...

The pics are of the spider-bite before and after draining. Yuk!! Plus we had to cancel Gathry's kite-surfing lesson which he was supposed to do on Saturday 24 Sep but instead Branston was in the hospital being operated on. We still don't know if they'll allow him to do the kite-surfing lesson since the voucher was only valid till end September! But Branston was a real trooper and I think he kind of enjoyed the experience! It is just up his alley to be allowed to stay in bed and watch tv or play minecraft on the computer with nobody telling him to feed the dogs or get outside and do something active!! He did not even mind the drip. It is taking its time to heal though, he is going to have quite a scar.

Then young master Mitchell falls on Wednesday and cuts his lip open. His poor daddy was alone at home with him and had to deal with all the blood and drama till Annette (nursie) and I got there. Then we took him to the hospital where he had to be knocked out for stitches - 3 inside the mouth and 2 outside. Then I still had to wait at the hospital until he woke up again, which he took his sweet time doing. Poor kid gets home and keeps trying to spit out the stitches and was getting very upset that they stayed put! He still has a fat lip but at least is eating and drinking.

When this kind of thing happens it does tend to stress one out quite a bit but I try and step back and look at the bigger picture. I think of people with kids in hospital for so much worse. I think of the moms in my support group and what some of them have been through. Just puts it into perspective a bit. Still hard to be in the hospital with your child and feel so helpless to help them after having been through that with Kendra. My friend Tammy's little boy Connor passed away the week before Branston had to go into hospital so all those memories were fresh in my mind and he had been in the same hospital as Branston. Lucky it was not the one where Kendra died but a hospital is a hospital...

Blogger get-together

2011-09-30T13:26:00.003+02:00

Well, I have not been very good at updating this blog so don't know if I really deserve to go to this, but I have been reading some of the blogs written by people going for a while so it will be really cool(giving away my age here!) to meet up with them. Perhaps if I do a post every day I will feel as I am justified in going!! But they did say stalkers could attend........

More holiday updates

2011-05-10T13:07:00.002+02:00

So the time we spent in EL was over far too quickly and we had to drive up to Kokstad and then through to the farm. Well, let me tell you, the little towns in the Transkei/Natal/Eastern Cape that we either lived in or drove through in my youth have seriously deteriorated. Our old house in Umtata now looks absolutely dreadful, the once green street is now a churned up mess of dirt. The Transkei is a nightmare to drive through, will think long and hard before doing that again. Just getting through Umtata and Mt Frere added an hour to our journey. And so much for thinking master Mitchell would sleep through the trip! He nicely fell asleep when we were 1/2 an hour from our destination! And then woke up cos the road out to the farm was so bumpy, esp in my low profile tyred car!

But it was nice to see the family again, some have changed a lot, some not so much. But seriously, that place is COLD, bloody freezing! And winter hasn't even started yet. We were I think in the coldest room in the house. Mitchell stayed in bed with us as I didn't have the heart to put him on the floor all by himself. Branston slept in the lounge where it was warmer. Then we left the next day for the party place, after Gathry had to drive into town to put new tyres on the car after noticing that our front tyres were smooth.

Once again it was freezing! And the party was in a big shed next door to the house so it was in and out of the cold all night. I believe half the family was sick last week. Branston's throat was really sore and he was not feeling well at all. So I was running back and forth between him and the party and running around after Mitchell all evening. I wanted to take him in to the hospital but was convinced not to. Should have just followed my instinct as I ended up with a very sick, dehydrated boy. Had maximum 1 hour's sleep that night. Spent half the night cleaning up after a puky, runny-tummed, coughing boy. We took him to the private hospital in the morning and waited there for about 2 hours to get some meds, then left for PE. Anyway, it was nice to see the family and to meet some new family members. The house we stayed in was really nice and Diane and hubby were great hosts.

Sooo, back to PE, through the Eastern Cape. We went inland in the hopes of getting there sooner. Well, the roads were VERY potholed through most of the trip. I'm not sure if we took the best route but we got there very late on Sunday all extremely tired and miserable. Well, Mitchell was VERY miz for the last hour or so of the journey and once we got there he was full of beans. We left the next morning for Cape Town and got as far as Knysna.

Valentin and Mirjana twisted our rubber arms to stay over and with both kids (and us) not feeling so great, we decided to stay and visit with old friends. Even though the weather was miserable we had a great visit and great accomodation.

Next day was the long trek to Cape Town. We decided against stopping in Hermanus to visit other old friends St. John and Eleanore as by now we just wanted to get home and could not handle any more time on the road. Got home to find a clean house, well looked after - thanks Matthew! Soo happy to be home again!!

Holiday update

2011-05-09T16:41:00.003+02:00

As you can see from the pics below, we went away for about 10 days over Easter. Driving!! In my small car!! Never again - next time we fly or we go in a bigger vehicle, preferably the Toyota Hilux we hope to buy sometime soon.

However I am happy to say that we travelled over 3000km and kept the kids strapped in the entire trip. Quite an achievement with a 21month old, I must say!

We first drove up to PE, stopping in Knysna to see our old friends from Jhb, Mirjana and Valentin. Well, just Mirjana on the trip up, Valentin was gallivanting all over the countryside with friends. Why did I not take any photos, silly me!! Last time we saw their youngest 2, they were barely knee-high to a grasshopper, now one is a teenager and the other looking exactly like her oldest sister did at 9 years of age. Had a lovely lunch, Mirjana has not changed one bit, still cooks up a storm.

In PE there was the usual family drama, but we had a good time esp the kids on Easter day. The weather was amazing and the kids spent a lot of time running around and tiring themselves out totally. Mitchell fell asleep at 8pm on the way back to the folks house and slept through! Leads me to thinking I must renew my efforts to put him into a creche! He really enjoyed spending time with other kids. Gathry had a fairly quiet birthday on the 26th and unfortunately had to drive up to EL on his birthday. We were thinking of going out for his birthday but were so tired that it never happened. We took the kids with shopping the next day which was also exhausting and there is no decent baby change room at the biggest shopping mall in the Eastern Cape! Poor granny was also feeling rather miserable due to a bout of shingles but felt brave enough to look after the kids the next day so that we could go and do a bit of gambling ie throw our money away. Rather depressing watching some guy throw R10000 onto the table and gamble it away in less time than it took to count it while we put down our miserable little R100 note!!

To be continued tomorrow - running out of time....

More holiday pics

2011-05-09T16:33:00.003+02:00

Having fun with Grandpa

More fun with the cousins in PE

Fun with Mommy's cousin's kids - what does that make them??

Cousins once removed? Second cousins?

Lots of tiring travelling - poor sick boy!

Stopping to enjoy the view in the Eastern Cape

Holiday fun

2011-05-09T15:56:00.007+02:00

Keeping ourselves amused on the long journey...

Cousins ....

Easter chocolate - yummy!!

Eating choccies in the tent

Cousins connecting

Brothers

2011-04-20T16:33:00.002+02:00

Aren't they gorgeous? I kinda messed up the red-eye reduction on my phone so will have to download it again and do it properly on the computer at home but this will do for now.

WW

2011-04-13T13:46:00.005+02:00

'Wink wink'

'Trust my brother to take such an unflattering shot!!'

Poor sick baby...

More K-day pics

Wordless Wednesday(again)

2011-03-30T14:03:00.003+02:00

Sunset walk.

Mitchell discovers Teletubbies - uh oh!!

Branston buries himself.

Wordless Wednesday (almost)

2011-03-23T14:30:00.004+02:00

This IS a big wheel!

Very hot and bothered at K day concert in Paarl - 44 deg Celcius!!

Time for a haircut?

My gorgeous boys - pics taken last year.

Quick update

2011-02-15T08:06:00.002+02:00

I have decided to rather do more quick and short updates than longer posts. At least this way I will get something onto the blog rather than wait till I have time for a better post.

Mitchell update: This young man is getting so clever! He is walking beautifully now and only crawls now and then if he gets a fright and needs to move extra fast! His understanding of what you say is really progressing though the talking not so much. Yesterday in the bath I asked him to sit flat and let me wash his feet, so he sits and lifts his foot out of the water! Then the other one. Last night we (myself and Gathry) were lying watching TV and Mitchell was wondering around. Gathry had the remote and fell asleep so I asked Mitchell to get the remote from Daddy nad he did! He went straight to him, took the remote and brought it to me!

Branston update: Branston is doing really well in learning to play the guitar. He has mastered a few simple tunes and is not bored with doing chords yet. I really hope he can maintain his interest and keeps playing for longer than a year(which is his normal attention span on a new hobby/sport). I think he will, though, he is really keen.

Updates

2011-01-21T16:18:00.002+02:00

Well now, look how dreadful I have been about updating the blog. I tend to put all my family updates on Facebook these days as at least there one gets more feedback plus it is easier to put up photos. But of course one cannot write lovely long essays there either. So I need to make a point of updating more often this year - new years resolution number 999!!

So just a quick one for now. I have entered Mitchell in this baby competition where I know he would stand a good chance of winning if it was up to an independent panel of judges but life is never so easy! It relies on votes to get into the top 10 and, knowing how some mommies are able to rally votes, I am pretty sure we don't stand a chance. But anyway I am trying. I should have posted this here long ago as there is only 10 days left of the competition. Anyway this is what you do:

Go HERE and vote for Mitchell. It won't tell you that you have voted but it does take your vote into account. You can only vote once a day but you can vote every day until the end of January. And if you have more than 1 PC/laptop/phone to vote from then you can use each of them.

Please please please PLEASE vote everyday till end Jan. We would SO love to win the competition!! Branston would especially love us to win as the prize includes a trip to Sun City for the family!

In other news, Mitchell is walking beautifully now but is not so big on talking. I will put some pics up next time.

Camping etc.

2010-05-17T14:11:00.009+02:00

We went 'camping' the other weekend. It was really great. Wonderful company, good food, beautiful days, pity the nights were so cold esp the first night we got there!

By camping I don't mean staying in tents, we were in an old farmhouse. The kids had a ball and Mitchell and Peyton 'bonded'. Well, he is actually trying to get away from her in the pic above! 'Help, mommy, save me!!'

In other news, I figured Mitchell did not stand a chance in the competition we entered him in as there are so many gorgeous babies, but then he got into the top 30 and my competitive spirit was awakened! Now they have done the latest top 30 and then top 10 and he did not make it but I think he was close. So now I have decided to go all out and try and get him into the top 10 and have been pestering friends, colleagues and family to vote.

So let me pester you too, internet friends. You only have until the 20th May to vote so it is not long. Here is how to vote:
1. Go to the Face of Baby Room page on Facebook and click on LIKE. Obviously you can only do this one if you are on Facebook. Then go to Mitchell's photo and leave a comment just saying VOTE.
2. You can also send an email to vote@babyroom.co.za with just Mitchell Meiring in the subject line (nothing else or it doesn't count)
3. You can also go to Yolanda Meyer's site and click on Vote for me under Mitchell's photo.

Poor little bear was sick this weekend with a touch of gastro. He is the only baby I know who is easier when he is sick! Not so 'woelig'. Seems to be a bit better now.

Branston is studying hard for exams this week and next week. With a lot of help from his mom, I might add! Never thought I'd be going back to school again! Stress!!!

Vote for Mitchell

2010-04-22T14:15:00.002+02:00

I have entered young master Mitchell in a baby competition ( a few actually) which needs your vote. But you have to be on Facebook to vote, so what are you waiting for if you are not yet on FB. Now is your chance! Go here and vote for Mitchell. And while you're at it, you can become my friend if you are not already!

In other news, Mitchell is crawling! He has discovered that he can get around on his own and boy, does he want to explore! Wherever he is, you just put him down and he heads straight for the first open door. Now we really have to babyproof the house! He is keeping us all on our toes.

He is such a funny boy. He has learned to wave goodbye and is always pulling funny faces. He has this gruff little voice that he puts on and growls at us all the time. Really cute!

Branston is shooting up, I have just had to buy a whole new school wardrobe as he has grown out of everything. It is so nice to see the interaction between the 2 boys. Branston is so good with him though he doesn't like to carry him around much lately as Mitchell is getting a bit heavy.
I will post some more pics soon, meanwhile get onto Facebook and get voting!

For mom

2010-03-29T18:36:00.002+02:00

Mitchellin Man

2010-02-24T13:41:00.006+02:00

A few Christmas photos, I know a bit late, but better late than never...

Well, almost 7 months old and thriving. Mitchell is very big for his age and is learning so fast (as most babies do, I suppose). He is sitting albeit still very wobbly and rolls around a lot. We have to put the sides of the cot up now as he is pulling himself up on the side railing when it is down. He is very curious about the world around him and likes to look at everything. He also likes to study his hands and suck his toes.

He is absolutely adorable, such a good-natured baby in general, though he does like to make himself heard if he is not getting his own way! We have started on solids. He has been having porridge since 5 months and now has purity fruit or veg in the evenings too. I am still breast-feeding twice a day though when those teeth arrive I may have to reconsider! It has been looking like they will come out for a while now but they are just teasing us and are really taking their time.

His big brother absolutely adores him and likes to look after him while I have to do things around the house. But just for short bursts, he can't hold Mitchell for very long as he is very heavy.

I have some more photos but I will put them into a separate post.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-26T18:12:00.005+02:00

How do you like the new Santa? Cute, hey??

We travelled up to East London to spend Christmas with my folks. We decided to surprise them and not let them know we were coming. Luckily I knew my mom was babysitting so we could be pretty sure they were at home. They were very happily surprised.

Young master Mitchell has been progressing in leaps and bounds (and kilograms too!). He realised he could roll over while we were here and now changing his bum is rather difficult especially a poo bum! He has charmed everyone with his ready smile, especially his grandparents. Granny has very sore arms now after babysitting little Isabella, who is a bit colicky and cries a lot, and then lugging around this fat lump too.

We also met Mitchell and Branston's new cousin, Caston, in PE. He is also very cute.

I hope everyone had a super Christmas and will have a great new year too.

Well then...

2009-12-07T16:42:00.002+02:00

Looks like I am no better at updating this blog than the last one. Since going back to work, every second on the computer is devoted to work as I don't have that much time to spare and I have been hectically busy. I have not even read a book in the last month and if you know how much reading I was doing before you know that is hectic.

We decided to get an au pair to look after young master Mitchell initially as when I was ready to go back to work he was not ready to go onto the bottle so we started off with me working from home and stopping to feed him, then going back to work. I found an au pair who is not too expensive to work from 8:30 to 4. Unfortunately she is leaving me now as she has just discovered that she is pregnant and has to organise a quick wedding so she is going home to her mom to organise it. So in a week I will be stuck again! We are now pondering whether to stick with an au pair or try and find a day mother. Mitchell is doing fine on the bottle now so should be ok away from home. But then there will be no-one at home for Branston in the afternoons. And he has been doing really well coming home in the afternoon instead of going to aftercare. Well, we will make a plan.

Anyway, so how is Mitchell doing, you ask? He is getting nice and fat with these little fat bracelets round his wrists and ankles. Four months old now and a very solid baby. Last weight measurement was about a month ago and he weighed 7.1kg then (15.6 pounds) so I reckon he is over 8 kg now. He is quite a happy baby, does not cry a lot. He likes to be held a lot and to have people talking to him. He is developing quite the little personality now and shouts rather than cries when he is hungry or angry. He is totally adorable and I love him to bits. I have photos on the other pc so I will try and put some up for all to see as soon as I can.

It is quite amazing how much like Kendra he looks now. He is at pretty much the same stages of development she was at when she died. One can see now how far behind she really was. Pretty soon he will be overtaking her. It is also so nice to have a baby whose face lights up when he sees you. That is one thing that Kendra never really did. She would laugh at anyone who made faces at her but I never really felt that recognition for her mother that should have been there and with Mitchell I definitely feel it. We took him out to visit her at the memorial park yesterday but it was a bit of a rushed visit as it was so hot (32 degrees!). The way Mitchell shouts also reminds me a lot of Kendra. He makes me think of Branston too when he was a baby. A bit of a combination of both of them. Except for the blue eyes, those are his daddys. It does not look like they are going to change now, I think they are supposed to be settled at about 4 months.

Colic etc...

2009-08-24T13:58:00.003+02:00

Well, today was our last (hopefully) session at the chiropractor for Mitchell's colic. It does seem to have helped a bit though he still has his moments. It has been nice to have him awake and not too miserable, though I find myself a bit lost, not really knowing what to do with him when he is awake. I can put him down and do things, like make myself a cup of tea or make supper (not that I consider that an advantage - it is quite nice having Gathry do most of the cooking while I am busy with baby!). On that note, I am extremely blessed I think to have a husband who willingly does the cooking and helps out with baby wherever he can. Not all husbands do that.

I have been to the local clinic's mother's support group meetings twice now. It is nice to meet other moms, though it makes me realise how much easier it is the third time around and how much less anxious one is. Most of the moms there are first timers and sometimes come up with the oddest things. We had a talk by an audiologist and the one mom thought grommets was a condition the baby gets eg my baby has a cold/grommets...

Mitchell has gained 450g since the last visit to the clinic and now weighs over 4kg. He has also grown in length by 5cm since birth! So he is a growing boy and my sweet, tiny little newborn is fast disappearing and being replaced by a chubby baby! Obviously my milk is doing it's job, no matter how painful the process is. Apparently I have a bit of thrush which is making feeding him rather painful. If not for that I would be totally enjoying the breastfeeding process. As it is, at least once a day I am tempted to give up. Oh, well, the joys of starting over!

Welcome to the world little Mitchell

2009-08-17T14:03:00.004+02:00

Well, baby Mitchell is almost 3 weeks old already. I do apologise for not posting earlier but I knd of had my hands full! Mitchell Meiring was born on 29 July 2009 at 15:39 weighing 3.7kg (about 8 pounds) and 49cm tall. He is a bit colicky so takes up quite a bit of time hence no updates. I will do a birth and hospital experience post soon(ish) but in the meantime here are some pics. We are going to the chiropractor to try and do something about the colic this afternoon. Hopefully it will help, can't stand to see the little face all scrunched up in pain:(

Hanging in there...

2009-07-24T13:50:00.000+02:00

Well, after making us all think that he was going to be coming out early, this baby has decided to just hang in there a bit longer. We had a doctor's appointment today, which neither we nor the doctor thought we would make as we figured he would be out by now. With every doctor's appointment now they attach these monitors to my belly and one measures the baby's heartrate and the other measures foetal movement. I had a Braxton-Hicks contraction while they were busy today and the sister thought I was in labour but then the doctor checked and said everything was still closed up tight! Cervix still long and no signs of dilation. So we made an appointment for next week and I am back home again. Baby had a bit of a growth spurt in the last 2 weeks and now weighs about 3.2kg.

I suppose I should really be enjoying this enforced rest. I can read to my heart's delight and eat what I like and get Gathry to do all the shopping, fetching to and from school, cooking etc. It would be so much better if I weren't so darn uncomfortable. But this is never going to happen again so I suppose I should really make the most of it and stop wishing the little fella would arrive.

Moving on

2009-07-16T10:24:00.000+02:00

Well, it has taken me long enough to get my new blog going. As with Kendra's World I cannot promise regular updates but I will try my best. As mentioned there, I have decided that Kendra's World was just that, her world. I have said all I can say on the topic of grieving for a lost child, well no, there is still a lot more, but that chapter of my life, although it will never be over or closed, is suspended. It is time to move on and celebrate new and existing life. I never really felt comfortable talking about the rest of the family on a blog that was created to keep people up to date with Kendra's progress. I will still update that blog now and again but for the most part, I will be using this one.

So, on to current happenings. Branston is in PE visiting his grandparents and cousins and is very reluctant to return home. He is having a lot of fun over there and, although he is probably missing pizza and takeaways, is enjoying being able to play with his cousins and on his Wii and lots of late nights.

When we sent him, we really thought that he would be coming home to his new baby brother but this baby is really hanging in there, despite what we all thought a couple of weeks ago. At the doctor's appointment on 1 July she informed us that the placenta was showing signs of calcifying, which usually means that the baby is getting ready for delivery. Because of that and the fact that the amniotic fluid had reduced and my history of early delivery, she decided to give me steroid shots to get baby's lungs ready just in case. Well, those steroids gave me a few sleepless nights and seem to have made baby's kicks really powerful but he has decided to stay where he is for now. I spent a frantic week trying to get my work up to date so that everything could continue smoothly once I go off.

Well, I had another appointment on Tuesday, which we did not think we would make, thinking baby would be out already. And everything is looking good. Baby's heartrate was a little bit fast, but when I went back yesterday to check again it was all fine. His weight has stabilised which is another indication that he is getting ready to come out. He now weighs about 2.8kg(6 pounds). I am 35 1/2 weeks along and this weight is about right for where I am now.

I think I am ready, we have the pram and carseat as well as loads of wonderful things which I received at my babyshower and since then. I consider myself really lucky to have so many friends who could help me set up again. The prices of baby things nowadays is really scary. Mentally, of course, I am terrified, mainly because I know what is waiting for me. There is a part of me that really wants this baby out now - the part that is uncomfortable and aching all over - but another part that says he must stay where he is for a bit longer.

So, here I am, sitting at home, waiting it out, resting as ordered. Anybody want to pop around for a cuppa? The hospital is only 5 minutes away, so I promise you won't have to deliver the baby!!