Cravings

I don't remember having one specific craving when I was pregnant with Tamsine. It was more like a constant need to be stuffing my face. If there was a food ad on TV, then thats what I wanted. I did crave Cafe Rio for about two weeks during my first trimester, and then I remember really enjoying KFC, but I didn't have any specific craving during the rest of my pregnancy. I also didn't have any serious aversions to food. My sense of smell was incredibly acute and I couldn't stand the smell of garlic, but I still pretty much ate everything and anything.

This pregnancy however has been a little different. My sense of smell is once again insanely sensitive, and I don't like the smell of garlic or any sort of hot chilli (which it seems is Mack's only source of nutrition at the moment), I can smell when people have had anything to eat with either of those in it. Awful! This time I have also developed an aversion to meat. I can eat it, but only in very small portions. It just doesn't seem appetizing to me in the slightest. I also went off sugar or anything sweet for the first and second trimester. I would gag on anything that had sugar in it. Too bad that one went away - I'm making up for it now though, sigh.

I have had very specific cravings this pregnancy. My first trimester all I wanted were big, firm tomatoes. I ate them constantly. I wanted them with lots and lots of salt and white pepper - oh my goodness they tasted SO good. Then I moved onto really juicy cantaloupes, still with salt on them though. I would slice them in half and have one half for breakfast, and the other for lunch. Yummy! But, for the last few months all I've wanted are kiwi fruit. I can't get enough of the little green nuggets of joy. I'm not sure what they have in them that my body needs, but I am loving them to the point that I want to write an ode to them. I've been remembering my days in London, where I could get a bag of about 20 kiwis for 1 pound. I would eat them ad nauseum then too. Oh kiwi, I love you so.

Another craving (and this one has been since the nausea and puking stopped) is for Milo. I drink about two BIG mugs a day, sometimes more. I have already gone through one and a half cans of the powder all by myself in the last few months. I have a mug of it next to me right now. Its a really good thing they sell it in this country or I would be up the creek.

I have to admit that I'm grateful my cravings are for healthy things and not for junk food, not that I'm not eating my fair share of cookies, ice cream etc.

Oh, and because I love the kiwi so, I'm putting in a picture.

Update

This is what we have been up to lately:

Tazling - My child has developed a vocabulary that she uses to its full extent. She talks almost non-stop which is adorable most of the time, and only annoying on occasion. She also loves to sing and will often sing through her repertoire while she is playing. It is too cute for words. she has yet to develop a vocal range though and so Incy Wincy Spider, Mary had a little lamb, ABCD, Old Mc Donald and Twinkle Twinkle are all fairly monotone. She has also developed her own sense of fashion. She gets pretty annoyed when I try to pick her outfit for the day, and will often refuse to wear something and then say, "No, dis one" and hand me some thing she would be willing to wear. She has also been know to tell me to "take it off!" and will hand me something she thinks is more appropriate from my closet. She does that often with the shoes that I'm wearing. For some reason she feels I should wear heels 24/7. Prissy! She is also quite a crafty kid and loves to draw and colour, especially in her Cares Bears colouring book. One of her favourite things to do however is to cut things out with her "squeezers" and then glue them onto another piece of paper. She'll lead me by the finger to where I keep her glue and scissors and then point to it and say, "Mommy, lets ga-loo". I also have a large plastic table cloth that I allow her to sit on and paint with water colours. When she paints though, she likes to get creative with the body art so she has to paint naked and then take a bath directly afterwards. I don't mind though - I like to encourage her creative side. She knows all of her colours, but refuses to say the word yellow - why? Who knows. She also knows most of her shapes, including heart, diamond, octagon and rhombus, thanks to her dad. And thats enough bragging for now.

Mack - My dear husband is still completely enthralled with his salt water aquarium and spends large amounts of time messing with it, and staring at it with a small torch (flashilight). Then, he'll come tearing down the passage with the hugest grin on his face and say something like, "Babe, there(s) a/are (insert random scientific name for aquarium bug) in the sump/refugium." Like I'm supposed to know what that means. He has completely corrupted the munchkin too, and she'll often grab the torch (flashlight) and yell down the passage, "Dad, daaa-ad, lets go look for ampopods." I just sigh. He is still doing well in his language course and is excited to put his Pashto to the test once the course ends in Feb. Other than that, he has shouldered most of the chores around the house while I am incapacitated with my back problems and pregnancy. He doesn't like all the extra work, but is taking it fairly well. Bless him.

Me - I spend most of my day sitting in a recliner with my swollen feet up. On a scale of 1-10, my pain levels are at a constant 7. My back has gotten to a point where I struggle to do most things, including walking, sitting and standing. I still have 10 weeks of this pregnancy however and its not going to get any easier. Its been really hard, surprisingly more so emotionally for me than physically. Because I am such in independent person I struggle to delegate, especially things like looking after my child etc. Also, I feel like a lazy bum just sitting on my butt all day. I know I have to take it easy, but there are things to be done and I have the time to do them - I just don't have the physical ability right now and its driving me crazy. I have finally gotten to the point though where I've realized I'm not doing myself or my family any favours by being stubborn and hurting myself because I need to feel useful. So, Taz is now going to a sitter in the mornings from 8-12, and I use the time to take it easy so that my back can relax a bit and I can then handle spending at least few hours in the afternoon till Mack gets home from work, playing with my daughter. My belly is getting bigger by the day (and so is my wide load bum - but we won't talk about that) and I look pregnant now, and not just like I'm getting fat. I do have to admit that I'm counting down the days till this little one arrives, and more importantly, till I can have an epidural and finally remember what its like to be pain free, if only for a few hours.

And I think thats enough news for now.

Shred Fest

We decided it was high time to do a little paper shredding at our house, so Mack dutifully shredded, while I snuck off to have a shower. He thought I was in the other room supervising the munchkin. She however was supervising herself - all over the couch. Did I mind - no. As long as she was having fun, and the mess could be cleaned up.

Blue and Sparkly

This is what happens when you don't notice that your 2yr old has found a bottle of nail varnish and sneaked it to bed with her. She has a grand old time.....I have to buy new bed sheets and pajamas.

Smells Like Puke

My house smells like puke!

Last night as we were putting the munchkin to bed, she climbed on my lap, held her hands over her mouth and said, "Mommy, I pook." I thought she just needed to burp, so I told her to go ahead, and that it was okay. The next thing I knew I was covered in vomit. I cleaned both of us up, only to be puked on again, and then again. After that we got wise and took her to the bathroom to puke in the loo.

She was so tired the poor thing that she fell asleep almost immediately when we put her down, but woke up a few hours later to throw up a little more. That is pretty much how my night went. She threw up 8 times over the course of the night. Eventually at around 5am, she asked for a glass of water. I held it for her thinking I would just let her sip it slowly, but as I held it to her lips, she grabbed the glass and chugged the water like a crazed woman. The child was so dehydrated it broke my heart. Alas, that too was spewed a few minutes later (into my lap). And for the next two hours she whimpered and sobbed about wanting water, juice, powerade, whatever she could think of. Eventually at about 7am, I gave her a few sips of pedialyte. When she held that down for 30 min , I gave her a little more, 10 min later I gave her a little more until eventually she had had enough. Finally at about 9:30am we both collapsed into bed for a well deserved rest.

Why am I telling you this? Because my house still smells like puke.

Trick or Treat

This year the munchkin was a butterfly. We've actually had her costume for a month. We went to the shops to get Mack a pair of pants and she came running up the isle with the butterfly costume in her had demanding we put it on her. Mack did, and when we tried to take it off her, she threw such a stinking tantrum that we just ended up buying it and she wore it out of the shop. She did look incredibly adorable though, so we didn't mind too much, and at least she picked a warm costume.

We first took her to the army base, where they were having a trunk or treat. When she realized that people were just kind of handing her candy for her to put in her kitty bag, she got so excited. She had this huge grin on her face and kept saying, "Mommy, I gotted de candy!" Then she started getting picky and told people she only wanted chocolate. Unfortunately it started to pour at the base, so we packed her up and drove to Mack's parents place about 20min away, hoping the weather would be a bit better so we could do some proper trick or treating with her. The weather was much better when we arrived, but we took a little too long waiting for her cousin to put his costume on, and so by the time we walked out the door, the rain had caught up with us. We persisted however, and Taz loved being out in the rain, jumping in puddles and playing in the gutters, and of course saying, "Trick or Treat" and getting candy.

Making her Pretty-er

My friend Emily called me a few weeks ago and asked me to do some make-up for her. She was getting some preggie pictures taken before her big day. I was so excited to whip out the brushes again, and I always get excited when I know the "canvas" I'll be working on is already attractive. I used silvers, grays and pinks to match her wardrobe choices. Here are a couple of the final shots, and heres the link to her photographer Every Little Moment Photography. Thanks for letting me share these Em.

Potty Success

We are officially potty trained!! Yay! Its taken a couple of weeks, but we're finally at the point where I can say that we are done!

Taz took to the potty pretty well. I started noticing that if I left her diaper off after bath time etc, she would get anxious if she needed to pee. So, we whipped out the potty one night and she had a successful wee wee in it. The next day she had a successful #1 and #2. Excitement abounded. I decided to start leaving her diaper off during the day, and made sure that her potty was in the room with us. After a few days she would just use the potty by herself, without any reminding etc. It was great, she would use it and then let me know she was done and I needed to empty it. We would put a diaper on if we were going out somewhere, but then after a while she would cry and run away from us if we tried to put a diaper on, saying, "I wee wee in potty." So, we took a few exploratory walks outside where she didn't wear a diaper, and if she showed signs of needing to go, we just ran home quickly, but we still put a diaper on her if we were going out in the car.

Yesterday she decided she was done with the potty and it was time for her to start using the toilet. She got her steppy stool, placed it by the toilet and climbed on by herself. She did her business, wiped and then flushed. Proudest moment of my life so far. So, last night we decided to take a diaperless car drive. We took her to a really cool park about a 30 min drive from our house. I packed the potty in the car and off we went. She played at the park for about 10 min, then showed signs of needing to go. We opened the trunk and she peed in her potty, played a bit more, and then peed again (on cue) when we were ready to leave. Dry bum the whole way there and the whole way home! Woohoo!!!!

I've only had one accident with her, and that was when I tried to get her to wear a little pair of knickers. She considered it a diaper and so wet herself. So, I just leave the knickers off for now and as she shows more bladder control and she understands a bit more, will slowly introduce them to her again.

I am so glad she potty trained before winter. YAY!!! No more diapers for the Tazling!

Sugar and Spice...

Looks like we're continuing the tradition of pink in the family. I had my ultrasound last night, and its another little girl. No names picked out yet. I figured I should give Mack more than one option this time. I am leaning heavily towards Bianca (Bee-ann-ca, not Bee-un-ca) though. And no, I don't want comments on that, its my child not yours and I don't care what you think about the name. :)

At least we'll already have a pink pig hat when it comes time for her to start asserting her own fashion sense this time.

Accessorize

A pig hat is the new must of the season.

African American

Its official, I became an American citizen on the September 1st. Now I am no longer a legal alien, but an African American. Yay!

Anyway, it was an interesting experience. There were 205 people from 64 different countries at the naturalization ceremony. We all had to sit separated from our families to take the oath, and would you believe that the only other South African there ended up sitting right behind me. And, I knew him growing up in Cape Town, Quintin Atkinson. Small world eh? We had a good chat waiting for the ceremony to start.

I have to admit that I became quite emotional during the oath (but I blame that on pregnancy hormones), and it was really hard to give up all loyalty and patriotism to South Africa (the words caught in my throat just a little), but at least I get to keep my SA citizenship and become a citizen of my new home, so its the best of both worlds for me.

I completely forgot to take a camera, but my amazing and dear friend Jen and her family came to the ceremony and she had her camera so at least the moment was documented - Thanks hon.

Just sitting and waiting for things to begin.

All done, and waiting for my citizenship certificate.

That ones mine.

And its official.

Thats Jen, her husband Josh, and their little boy, and the other three you should recognize.

Tiny Tots Dance

I enrolled the Tazling in a dance class and today was her first lesson. We dressed her suitably in a leotard and tights, which she was just thrilled about. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about how she would do in the class, but she was too stinking adorable for words. Let me tell you, uncoordinated two year olds are about the funniest thing to watch in a dance class. I spent the whole 45 min laughing my head off. The parents aren't allowed in the classroom, but there is a two way mirror that we can watch through.

There are three little girls in Taz's class so far, and the teacher is absolutely amazing with them. First they got to put on their tap shoes, which delighted Taz. She loved the noise they made on the wood floor. Then they got to change their shoes to ballet shoes to do a little ballet and jazz. Taz generally followed the teachers lead, but at one point was just enjoying the music a bit too much and started doing a little freestyle by twirling and twirling and then lying on the floor on her stomach with her chin on her hands and kicking her legs. Too bad, the other two thought what Taz was doing was more fun, so started to follow her lead instead of the teachers. But, where I laughed the hardest was where Taz kept trying to see herself in the mirror, but the teacher was directly in front of her, so she kept leaning to the side to try and see herself around the teacher. It just cracked me up so much.

I would have taken a few more pictures of the munchkin, but she just wouldn't pose, so these are the best I could get. Hopefully I'll get some better ones next week.

Family Photies

Mack's dear mom starts chemotherapy on wednesday for leomyosarcoma. Its a very rare sort of cancer and we were all fairly panicked when she was diagnosed, but fortunately they caught it very early and her prognosis gives us hope. She has been incredibly positive since her diagnosis and has been a source of strength to her whole family while they have been dealing with a reality that no one ever wants to face. Being a naturally whiny type of person, I tend to feel sorry for myself pretty quickly, but Linda's strength has not only surprised me, but endeared her to me in a way that I never really expected. She has also made me more pragmatic about my own health problems I'm dealing with at the moment. Although the hormones are still keeping me pretty darn crazy most of the time.

Anyway, I decided I wanted to take some family pics before the chemo and here they are:

The whole family

The Parents

The Christensens

The Ashleys - Mack's sister just younger than him.

The Gillis' - Mack's second youngest sister

Jenna - the baby sis.

The 4 Siblings

And last but not least, Mack's adorable mother.

M.I.A

I know I've been gone for longer than ever before, but I have a really good excuse, promise.

First - the big news - I'm pregnant with our second child - YAY!!! Except, that this little bundle of joy is making me sicker than I ever thought possible. They call it morning sickness, and I'm sure that there are some lucky women out there who only experience the nausea in the mornings. I however have been sick and vomiting 24/7. Everytime I walk past the bathroom, Taz runs after me and asks, "Mommy pook?" Yes thats how bad its been. I have pretty much spent the last 2 months lying on the couch trying not to hurl. Now Taz walks around the house going, "I pook." and then makes gagging noises - so darling and cute isn't she?

My inability to function on any normal level is the reason I just gave up on having any sort of life other than feeling sorry for myself. I am now into my second trimester however and am slowly starting to feel a little more human.

Unfortunately the bigger the baby gets, the more pressure it puts on the fracture in my back and so even though my head and stomach have stopped swimming, the pain in my back an legs is now taking its toll on me. I'm so independent that the inability to do anything for myself is making me crabbier by the day. Poor Mack is having to put up with a lot. Good thing he's already gone through his "torture training" for the military, so we know he can handle it. At least I'm not starving him too.

So thats the news. Hopefully I'll be better at life in general from here on out.

Bring on Feb and the new addition to the family!

Happy 2nd Birthday!!!!

My little girl is 2 and so stinking adorable. We had a low key 2nd birthday for her with cake and lunch with the grandparents. And, because she is a little too obsessed with bugs, and the movie A Bugs Life, I decided to make her a butterfly cake. She loved, loved, loved her cake and kept staring at it with the hugest, cutest smile on her face. When I finally brought it down to her level, she kept kissing it on the little candy nose. Eventually I realized that every time she kissed the nose, she sucked on it, and eventually wore the candy coating right off. It was too precious for words. Oh, and she even kept a clip in her hair for most of the morning - something she has refused to do since.

Anyway, after making Mack's aquarium cake, I became a little obsessed about what I could do with sugar glass - seriously there are so many possibilities. I decided to incorporate it into the wings of the butterfly. I made three different shades of the glass, then smashed it up a bit and "glued" the pieces together in the shape of butterfly wings, using white chocolate. I wished I had a bigger piping nozzle so the chocolate was a little smoother, but hey, considering it was my first time doing something like this - I'm still impressed with myself. I then made the body of the butterfly out of cake, and balanced each of the wings on little battery operated candle lights, so that the wings glowed. You can't really see that part too well in the pictures, but it was pretty effective.

Happy Birthday my little Munchkin!!!!!!

Souties Logo

My father has opened a little store in North Salt Lake City, where he sells British and South African speciality foods. Soon he will be adding home made traditional meat pies to his menu. I've been doing some design work for him, and this is what I did for his logo.

We have Pigtails

The Munchkins Room

I promised my friend Jen that I'd give her a tour of my house, so here goes. I'm starting with the munchkins room cause I'm going to be changing things around soon and wanted some before shots.

Here it is: I painted her walls a light yellowy green. Its such a light room - I love it!

(This is the view looking from her bed to her closet.)

(Her shelves have an assortment of gifts given to her: The elephant on the top shelf was the first thing I bought after I found out I was pregnant. I bought it at Mr. Price home store in South Africa. The African doll next to the elephant was a gift from my Aunt, and the lamb - affectionately known as Lambie (afrikaans pr. lummie) was a gift from another Aunt. Paddington was given to her by her cousin Ethan. He used to have it in his room, but outgrew it. The wire beaded sheep came from Uncle Jeremy (moo), and the Miss Dela doll doing the black power sign was from her Ouma.)

(She doesn't like the dark, so I turned this martini shaker penguin into a nighlight for her by drilling holes in the back. The fairy is mine. I have a little thing for cool looking fairies and absolutely love this one - its on loan. The little pot plant - minus the plant - was part of a flower arrangement given to me by Mack's parents after Taz's delivery. It matched the room so perfectly - now I just have to put another plant in it.)

(This is the view from her bedroom door. We bought two Moroccan lamps for her room, one stands on the window sill, the other we use as an additional nightlight. Don't mind the cord. I'm working on making that look neater etc. The red curtains are actually just fleece blankets I bought at Ikea for $3.50. They had cute scalloped edges with little holes for detailing, and so I threaded the curtain rod through the holes and voila, adorable curtains on the cheap.)

(This is a picture I made for her using an old canvas I had lying around, some poster paper and modge podge. The leaves are felt, the bugs are 3d with little wire feelers etc, and the red flowers have petals that can move in a breeze. As a baby she spent hours staring at it, and she still loves to look at it before she falls asleep. Sorry about the glare, I needed the curtains open for light.)

(This is what her bed looks like for now. The comforter is a bit heavy for her, so I'm making her a duvet cover that will compliment her room, but be more comfortable for her to sleep under. I'll post any changes I make.)

And there you have it.