Category: baby

Wifey’s Angels

/ Renae / 2 Comments

My mothers group

I cannot begin to describe the amazing, supportive role these women and their babies play in my life. Many other mothers have said how they only really click with one or two women in their mothers group, but ours is made up of the best chicks a gal away from home could ask for. We all get along ridiculously well, and I feel a real bond with these women. There’s no judgment, no bragging, and no “one way of doing things.” It’s an opportunity that we get each week, to talk about the highs and lows, the challenges and milestones of being a mum.

In the absence of family, these women are the best stand-ins I could have ever asked for. We meet at a different mum’s house each week where we sit around in a circle with baked goods and coffee and put the kids on the floor in the middle to play with each other. We can just be ourselves. We don’t have to straighten our hair (or even wash it. Or even shower for that matter!), or put on our best clothes and pretend that motherhood is a breeze. Cos it ain’t. Some of us meet up and walk there in our trackies and caps, covering the hair we haven’t washed in a few days. Some of us have bags under our eyes from sleepless nights, others on the day are full of energy from (finally!) a good night sleep.

We ask each other and share advice about anything from nappies to introducing solids, to breastfeeding, to constipation (the babies, not us (-:) Out of the 9 babies, we have 8 beautiful boys and one gorgeous girl. We don’t claim to know everything, yet we share what we do.

I cannot tell you how much I’m going to miss our weekly sessions when we move. This is the biggest thing I’m going to miss about living in Wang. I just hope I can come back from time to time to visit, as I know I can just rock up and pick up where we left off. They’re just that type of group.

Our local

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Ever since I moved to Edinburgh for a year when I was 22 years old, I’ve wanted a local coffee shop. One where I can walk in, greet the owners by name, have them do the same in return, and ask “the usual, Wifey?” After almost a decade of wanting this, it has finally happened, and it’s everything I hoped it would be. The only difference is, I don’t have a “usual”.

Introducing, the Bead Shop (previously mentioned here.)

I first went to the bead shop not long after we arrived in Wang, when it was just a bead shop. It’s on the way in to town and I do love beads! They have some really beautiful stuff in there and it was always worth a look. And then came the coffee… Our friends introduced it to us back in October but it wasn’t until this year that we started going there regularly. After about half a dozen visits, the owner, Eric, introduced himself to us while he was clearing one of the tables outside, and asked our names. After that he would always address us by our names and give us a big welcoming smile.

Now I like to think we have even become friends. He and his wife Lauren run the place brilliantly. Lauren is the Queen Bead (see what I did there?) and also helps out in the cafe at busier times, and Eric does a bit of everything – makes coffee, cooks lunches and slices, and on Saturday mornings, he makes these:

I was going to take photos of the bagels before we ate them, and the coffees before we drank them, but they were just too delish and I forgot! The secret to their cappuccinos? Real chocolate sprinkles on top, some of which can be found at the bottom of your coffee cup at the end. (I had already eaten them before I took the photo!)

Lauren couldn’t believe how big Chanbe is getting, and brought him out a high chair so he could “have coffee” with us. It’s the little things that make the big impressions at this place.

Chance isn’t quite ready for the babycinos yet, but he was pretty taken with Dadda’s bagel!

This was the first time we went for bagels and they didn’t disappoint! Hubs and I probably have coffee there once or twice a week (at least!) and the coffee is so good. Every Time. And they’re ALL good. Whether you want a cappuccino, iced coffee, affogato, iced chocolate, hot chocolate, chai tea, chai latte….

So come on down and we’ll take you there some time!

6 months old

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The low-down

Weight: 9.5kg
Height: 72cm
Size: 0
Teeth: 2
Eating: pear & pumpkin
Sleeping: hmmm…. pass?
Moving: backwards on his tummy
Talking: gibberish
Growing: more hair
Tricks: pulling hair and pinching when excited (ouch!)
Looking: darn-tootin’ cute as ever

Toothy pegs

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Check out these little chompers!

Not nice to get your fingers (or worse!) caught in there I can tell you!
Pretty cool though hey!?
So I don’t know how it happened, but my 500th post is coming up! After putting so much thought and effort into my 400th, I don’t know that I can live up to my expectations. But you know me – I’ll give it a try 🙂

Happy Mothers Day…

/ Renae / 1 Comment

… to meeeeee!

I “suggested” to Hubs that since it was my very first (official) Mothers Day, that if he wanted to make a bit of a big deal of it, that that would be fine by me. And boy did he come to the party. I had mentioned a couple of things that I would love (stove-top espresso pot, bundt cake tin, massage) but ultimately left it up to him to buy something for Chanbe to give to me. He purchased the gift on Friday afternoon, and forbid me to go into the spare room. I do love a good surprise!

Sunday morning rolled around (after a bad night with Chanbe Saturday – teething + blocked nose does not make for a happy baby) and Hubs took Chance at about 9am so I could have more of a sleep in. Obviously I count this as present number one. At 10:45am, in came my 2 favourite men, armed with a massive present and an amazing looking breakfast! Oh, and the most beautiful card.

I was so excited as I unwrapped the beautifully wrapped prezzie:

Oh. My. GOODNESS!!!!!!! My very own Kenwood Mixmaster!! I have been wanting one of these for so long, but we haven’t been able to afford it. But Hubs got a great deal and just couldn’t resist. Woooooo!!! (Can you see the card in the bottom right corner?)

And the breakfast! Poached eggs, tomato, mushrooms, bacon and toast. It was SO delicious! Of course I had to take my new toy for a test drive immediately, and Hubs had a hankering for fancy chocolate mousse. How could I say no?!

It was deliciously decadent and we had some for dessert last night:

All in all, an absolutely amazing day. We went for a walk in the afternoon and actually ran into one of the midwives who helped deliver Chanbe! We had a little chat to her and ended the day with some leftovers (I wasn’t cooking!) and a few (7) episodes of Nurse Jackie. Hubs sure has set the bar high for Fathers Day!

Thank you Hubs and Chanbe for making my first Mothers Day so special!

Scar tissue

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Scars are funny things. Some of them you show proudly, some you try and hide. Some you’ve had for most of your life, others are brand new (pardon the pun :-).

I have a few “favourite” scars. There’s one on my forearm that I got from an extremely hot dish while I was making rusks. The dish landed on my arm while I was turning it over to get the rusks out, and it went down hard on my skin for a good few seconds before I could get it off. To my surprise, it didn’t really hurt that much, and after a while I realised it was pretty deep and must have burnt through the nerves. This scar is one I show off proudly for fun.

Then there are the scars I hide. The stretch marks from my growth spurts. I have quite a few over the usual spots, and it wasn’t that I was growing out (at the time), it was that I was growing up. In more ways than one. I have been self conscious of these scars for years and years, and cover them up as much as possible.

The scar that I’ve had for most of my life is on my chest. It’s perfect in every way. It’s perfect in shape – a beautiful diamond. It’s perfect in position – so much so that when I wear v-neck tops, I line the point up with it, as it sits right in the middle of my chest. And it’s perfect in appearance – you can hardly see it unless it’s pointed out to you (or you’re looking really hard at my chest!!) This scar was from an altercation I had with a tiny piece of hot glass that went down my pyjamas when I was 3 years old (I think?) I’ve always been pretty clumsy! 🙂

And then there’s the new scars. These scars used to also fall under the “scars I try to hide category”. They’re the stretchmarks on my tummy from carrying my beautiful son in my belly for 40 weeks + 5 days. Up until week 38, no stretch marks had appeared on my baby belly and I was so happy about this. Since I’m prone to stretchmarks, I was sure I would be covered in them while pregnant, but it wasn’t until the Monday of my 39th week, that the first one appeared. Chance had “dropped” practically overnight, and as well as the pain and pressure on my pelvis, my skin had to compensate fast. I cried. Hard. I rang Hubs at work and cried on the phone to him. He did his best to reassure me that it was no big deal and that I was beautiful, but I was inconsolable. I texted my friend and tried to put things into perspective, but as the days passed, more and more appeared and I got more and more sad about it.

2 weeks later, Chance was born and the marks were forgotten immediately, and they have since faded quite dramatically. But they are now scars I am proud of. My battle scars. My reminder that my body is able to carry babies and how lucky I am that our little boy was born safe and well. When the time comes for baby number 2, I will be looking at those scars with fondness instead of sadness.

Firsts

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First “solid” food.

I don’t know if you can call what we fed Chance “solid” (rice cereal + boob juice) but he took to it, moreso on the second day:

Next step, pumpkin!!

And guess who’s teething!!? No wonder we’ve had such bad nights lately. Chanbe bit down on my finger this afternoon and I felt it. Can’t wait to take some photos of the toothy grin!

Easy does it

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I’m so tired. I don’t think I’ve been this tired since when Chance was born and the few weeks that followed. We have had such a good run with him – he’s such a laid back, cruisey baby – but the last few nights have seen him get up every hour or two. And last night he stayed awake between 2:30-4:30am. He rolls over in his cot and then gets stuck (he can’t roll back) and so I have to get up and roll him back. This went on and on last night.

3 weeks ago, I ordered a copy of “The No-Cry Sleep Solution” as recommended by a few friends. It still hasn’t arrived. Turns out the person sending it is on holidays and it won’t be here til next week. I wish I’d known that while ordering – I would have bought it elsewhere.

I really shouldn’t complain. He really is such a happy, healthy baby, and we’re loving this time of his life. People say “this too shall pass” and even though I know that to be true, when you’re right in the middle of it, it feels like it’s going to last forever. I feel like I can’t even put a sentence together when I’m out with friends. And even though I should go to bed now, I’ll just be waiting for the next wake-up call. Okay. I’ve got the stares now. I’d better hit the sack. I’m going to start him on solids as of tomorrow, to see if that makes a difference. The time has come.

Please God, let Chance sleep better tonight.