25th July - Pics of the girls !!!

These were taken last night, everyone in their pj's and ready for bed but still happy as can be :-)









So Tuesday we leave for San Diego so you won't hear from me again till we are back, I think I said we were back Sunday but we are actually back Monday, hopefully it is a good trip, I have a ton of fun things planned for Jade, Amber and I to do while Dave is in conference, hopefully we will have some good beach time too, but that will have to be done after hours when Dave can help me. Also spending the day Thursday with Tania, a friend from Cape Town, that should be fun, her girls are similar in age to Jade. And Friday we are having a BBQ over at their house so the guys can chat too, I know we will have a great time with them, so can't wait !!!

It's a long way there and back and to save money we are not doing non-stop and stopping in Texas :-( I hope it's not too bad of a decision :-( Our flight out of Charlotte is at 6h40 or there about so we need to be at the airport at 5h40 so need to leave home at 4h40 so will probably wake up at 3h40, oh my gosh, that is all I can say, that and all the time changes, it's going to mess us up so much, hopefully little Amber does well.

There are security issues with taking water on the plane so I am trying to find a good way to take as many bottle of formula for Amber without running into trouble, that is a bit of a worry but hopefully we can figure something out. Gosh one would think that if I could fly to SA with a 4 week old with a 10 hour layover in London, that this would be a piece of cake but 7 years later, well that's a long time ago so I can't tell you how nervous I am about all this, thank God there is lots to look forward to and that is all I am trying to focus on.

Amber still has the runs but it is much better now, so hopefully that is almost a thing of the past, golly can you believe that after 1 week of a tummy bug she still put on half a pound, oh golly !!! Shows you how much she eats right ?

Please God let this be an easy trip with Amber, that's all I pray and for our safety there and back, flying is becoming so much more scary these days !!!

Ok so till then, bye for now.

24th July ... Can you tell she smiles more now :-)

This is another of the pretty dresses my BFF Tina gave her, this is really a frilly one, so not my thing but it looked too cute, thanks Tina for letting my second girl be more girly as a baby !!! I so wasn't that way with Jade. Thanks to Jen and Tina, Amber has more pink and purple stuff in her closet for her first year than she will probably have in a lifetime !!! You guys are awesome !!!

July 22nd ...

Today she was in such a smiley mood and I dressed her in one of the cute dresses Tina gave her so I thought I would take a few pics but they didn't come out too well, she was all scrunched up on a pillow so she looks like she has no neck ... poor kid !!! But here you go anyway ...





On the subject of neck ... golly has Amber been more of a challenge or a worry than Jade was as a baby ... first the heart murmur, then the poor thing got backed up and then from that extreme to having a tummy bug and well now we are worried about her neck !!! You will see in most pics that she has her head tilted to the left, we thought it was cute at first and didn't pay it much attention but at her 2 month doctors visit they tested her muscle strength and she really battled turning her head completely to the other way and during tummy time, she almost couldn't turn it the other way at all ... she managed it once but not again in the doctors office. So anyway the doctor gave us exercises to do with her which I have been doing every day a couple of times a day ... but then the other day I was chatting with a mom that has a baby 2 weeks older than Amber and he was holding his head up strong when Ambers head is really floppy still, that worried me so I took her back to the doctor this past Monday ...

The doctor didn't seem too concerned she said that it is not unusual for a baby to chose a side and favor that side but she could tell I was worried about it and that I didn't want Amber to be behind in development which clearly she was so she referred us to a baby physio which I am going to tomorrow morning for the first time. Now this might not mean that Amber has to have regular physio, it means for now that they will probably give me a bunch of exercises to do with her to strengthen the muscles that are weak, anyway hold thumbs that that is all that we will need and that this is not more serious than it is !!!

I wanted to get in and see someone before our trip to San Diego which is this coming Tuesday so thankfully they were able to squeeze us in on short notice, that way I can take up the exercises immediately and not wait another 2 weeks. If you look back on all the other pics you will know what I mean. So pray all is well with her ok, golly she has been such a worry to us already and she is not even 3 months old yet !!!







Ok so I think I have decided not to send Jade on the overnight camp on Friday night, I think she is going to be mad as heck at me but oh well ... I was just worried about it all, maybe next year. I know she does well at sleep overs but that is at peoples houses etc. at a campground with people that are strangers to me, I just didn't feel right about it all, she is such a big girl but I have to keep reminding myself she is only 6 or one her way to 7 !!! Mothers instinct right ?

Ok well almost ready for our trip to San Diego ... golly I am nervous and excited about that but more on that later, Dave just got home and I need to sort out the family. Bye for now.

Amber 19th July 2009

These two pics were taken yesterday, you would hardly know that she has been sick the past 7 days with a tummy bug, I think she is on the mend but I am taking here to see the doctor today just to be sure, it's been a really tough week for us all but that poor little thing is like her sister a total trooper when it comes to being sick and handling what I am sure to her must have been a lot of pain. It's not over yet as I said but hopefully soon, I pray.



Again, you can't tell she's been sick or is still not 100 percent right ?



This is a short video of her playing in the computer room while I am working on my blog.

That's all for now.

Music and Drama Camp ...

These videos are from the programme the Music and Drama camp put together last week. They were only together for 5 days 9 - 1 and they managed to put together almost 2 hours with of singing and drama skits, it was amazing and I don't know but I think they sound amazing too. I think the youngest was 6 and the oldest like maybe 11 ish ...

And all these hand signals ... let me tell you by the end of the week I think I and all the other moms out there could have participated as well considering the dvd was the only thing we played in the car for the week so she could practise, I think it paid off don't you think !!!

The older kids obviously got the solo's which upset Jade terribly (hehehe) so I think I won't have to persuade her much to attend next year or until she is old enough to do a solo, gosh I hope she gets good enough to do that. They asked her if she wanted to join the choir but I finish work so late on a Wednesday night that she would only be in bed after 10pm and with school the next day well ... I don't know. Just in case I didn't mention it, this is all done by Church At Charlotte the church I work at 4 days a week.

Then there was one other song which I didn't manage to get uploaded, I will ask Dave to sort it out tonight and upload it later so come back and look ok ... The song below Jade was not part of, it was the bigger kids group but I thought it was amazing, I was unfortunately too close to the stage to get the full effect so all you will see is the middle section, there was another section on either side of them, I just thought it was great, and that little boy in front is too cute, his mom is the choir director :-) so he is well rehearsed :-)

Ok that's me for now. I just wanted to share that with you as I thought it was so well done, actually I knew it would be great coz Jenny's shows are always great.

16th July 2009

Difficult to get pics of Amber without Jade trying to creep into the pics, I think she hates not being the center of attention but she is handling it well, other than a bit of an attitude issue but I think that is just coz it's Summer and our Summer has been crazy so far !!!

I love this one ...







Look at all that hair, even though much of it has fallen out in the front there's still a lot on her head, I remember with Jade she got a bald spot on the back from sleeping on her back all the time, so far we haven't had that issue with Amber and I hope we don't since a bald spot on her head would be much more noticeable !!!





Shame, Amber doesn't' look too bad in these pics considering we have had 4 days of a poop bug so far this week, it has taken it's toll on me so I can well imagine what the little thing is going through but I think she is just like her sister she has a very high tolerance for pain. She must have caught the bug that Dave, Louis and Jade had last week, hopefully Amber will feel better soon.

Jade has been in music and drama camp all week, it's been a tough one and I know Dave and I will be blown away tomorrow when we see their show, I have heard these shows are always good and I have heard them singing and it sounds amazing, we will try and get some video to send you although I hate loading videos they take so very long.

Next week Jade is in full day camp and I cant wait since Dave drops her off in the morning and gets her in the afternoon coz the camp is so close to his work, this way if I don't want to leave the house next week I don't have to ... did I say I can't wait, I might have to spend the week in my pj's !!! No wisdom tooth surgery till after San Diego so hopefully the pain won't be too much to handle.

Ok that's me for today.

Busy Few Weeks Coming Up ...

We are finally getting the house back to normal I think ... I moved Amber's bath from our bathroom downstairs up to the spare bathroom which now is Amber's bathroom, here I was able to give a better bath and allow her to spend more time splashing around, the lighting was not great but anyway here are two pics of her during and after her bath.









The next few weeks are going to be a little hectic for me but I am excited about them all except this week coming up :-( I had what I thought were sensitive teeth during my pregnancy with Amber, I had something similar with Jade so I pretty much just hung in there for the past few months hoping it would go away after Amber was born well it didn't so I plucked up enough courage this past week to take a trip to the dentist. The good news is I have no cavities but the bad news is that I have to have all four of my wisdom teeth taken out, oh gosh yet another surgery, when will this end, I am so tired of being poked and prodded !!!

So Wednesday I have a consultation with the specialist and either Thursday or probably Friday I will be going into hospital for apparently most of the day. My dental surgeon comes highly recommended so I feel good about that and I am actually not too scared since I will be asleep for the surgery and well it will be about 4 days of liquids or soft foods and then I will feel good as knew, gosh I hope so, I really have dealt with this pain for way too long.

So Dave will take the day off but I am not sure how we will work things at this point since Jade is in a Music and Drama camp this entire week, it's only 9 - 12 with a family presentation on Friday evening which I will be very sad to miss but Dave will have to video it for me !!! Anyway but we will have to figure things out because being surgery, I have to have someone in the waiting room which is fine, Dave could hang out there with Amber but then the drop off and collecting of Jade ... I am going to have to ask for help there, the thing is I won't know the details till Wednesday, which is a pain in the butt. Anyway so that is this week ...

Then the following week Jade has Camp Funshine again, this is a 9 - 5 camp, this is a back to nature week with an overnight camp out on the Friday night, not too sure how I feel about that but we will see come the end of the week. I know Jade will be heart broken if we don't let her go but I think I will make that decision later on, it's just a little scary for me to send my 6 year old daughter on an overnight camp out with what are strangers to me but here this stuff is normal, maybe mom must just suck it up and get with the program !!!

The the following week from he 28th till the 2nd we will be in San Diego, oh gosh a almost 5 hour plane flight ... what have I gotten myself in for, you would think with our extensive travel experience we would be ok with a short flight like that but with a baby again ... oh dear !!! Also to save money we didn't get a non stop flight which I am sure I will regret at some point but we stop over in Texas, hopefully it will all be a good experience. We are staying at a really fancy hotel so I am so looking forward to that although Amber not going through the night yet might land up being tough for all 4 of us. I am hoping by some small miracle by that point she will be going through the night, gosh I pray !!!

We have South African friends that live close by that we are excited to see, Tania has two girls that I know Jade will have a ball with. Other than visiting them, there is so much to do in San Diego, a zoo that apparently is just the best, Legoland and so much more, not to mention an awesome beach which is on the hotels doorstep ... for me this trip is all about spoiling Jade since it will be such a fun place for her, let's hope Amber plays along !!!

Well after we get back it's one more week of Camp, two more weeks of vacation and I cannot believe it, Summer will be over with, when 3 months usually drags for me, this year before I know it, it will be over with, that's so sad, I feel like I haven't gotten my dose of sun yet, I need to make a plan.

So if I am quieter over the next while please understand things are going to be hectic, I will try to update as much as I can though.

Till then, bye for now.

Can't get any computer work done this way ... 10th July !!!

9th July

4th Of July Pics

The girls in their 4th of July outfits.











This morning we went to the parade in Waxhaw which wasn't bad at all only I stood in the shade with Amber so didn't see much myself but it's all about Jade anyway and she got up front to see everything and thoroughly enjoyed it all and that is all that matters.

We came home for most the afternoon then we are hoping to go back out there this afternoon for some more festivities hopefully staying out late to experience the fireworks, wish us luck as who knows how it will go with Amber but she managed to sleep through the noise at the parade as well as the train going by sounding it's horn so, who knows :-) I will report back later but I am sure you have had enough by now with all the latest updates.

Yesterday - 3rd July 2009

These were taken yesterday - our very own Sleeping Beauty !!!



The Roly Poly baby that is eating us out of house and home !!! She always sleeps with her head to the side, weird, we wonder how she can be comfy that way but she obviously is.



At the moment I change her in our bathroom and she has recently discovered the mirror above her, now I know she can't see too well or too far at this stage but somehow looking in the mirror makes her smile, I hope that is just a baby thing (hehehe).





Another sleeping beauty shot.



Remember to scroll down to see the past months worth of pics.

Last Family Pics Before My Folks Left !!!

Ok so I took a bunch of family pics on the last day before my folks left, here are just a few, I know I said a few, but hey if I published this many and I said here are a few, then you must know how much I took. Anyway I don't think I have this many pics of my folks taken over the past 10 years so ... don't complain, mom especially !!!































Amber was cranky for so many of these pic, don't blame her but here she almost looks like she is going to smile.



Last one ...



Then I thought while I had a photographer, why not get one or two family pics of us in too :-)





Ok I cannot believe it but I am up to day with all the pics taken the past month or so :-) Hope you have enjoyed them all.

Remember I have broken this update up so you will need to scroll down to see the other updates since Amber was born, enjoy !!!