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R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> mireille & zach stefan-


WHAT’S INSIDE. . .<br />

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<br />

• ultrasounds - first & 22 weeks<br />

• how the story started<br />

• how the story was shared<br />

• bébé babyshower - 19 february 2011<br />

• the story - <strong>ella</strong>’s arrival - 9 march 2011<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> - 3 months<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> - 5 months<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> - 8 months<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> - 9 - 11 months<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> - ONE - birthday edition<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> - 12 -14 months<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> - 15 - 21 months<br />

• brother’s babyshower - 21 December 2012<br />

• the story - zach’s arrival - 16 January 2013<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> - turning TWO - birthday edition<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> - turning TWO - party<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> & zach - January - August 2013 | 21 - 29 months | 0 - 7 months<br />

• zach - 12 months - birthday edition<br />

• zach - ONE - party<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> - turning THREE - birthday edition and party<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> - turning THREE - the update


R A B E<br />

-ultrasounds - first ones & 22 weeks-


| zach stefan rabe<br />

<strong>ella</strong> – 9 weeks<br />

<strong>ella</strong> – 22 weeks<br />

zach – 6 weeks<br />

zach – 22 weeks


R A B E<br />

-how the story started-


Goeiemore, Bonjour, Howzit -<br />

We went for another scan on Friday, 17 September 2010 and thought we'd send you another update!<br />

Again, apologies if your first language is French or Afrikaans - but we'd have to rely on English now to avoid typing the same message three<br />

times...maybe next edition should be in French only and then Afrikaans only :)<br />

Because most of you are spread across the globe - we can't have a teetjie with all of you and tell you in person - so email is our best bet!<br />

Maybe those of you who live outside Cape Town could start planning your little visit during March 2011...round about 22 March<br />

2011...hint-hint ....and come and meet the little rabe-bebe in person!! [svp les belges...en vous attend!!]<br />

Our scan on Friday was really, really exciting!<br />

Our kleine bebe is SO ACTIVE!!<br />

Moving around the entire time...waving to us... yes...it looked like a WAVE :) and bouncing around happily!<br />

It was a-m-a-z-i-n-g to see!<br />

Dr Zinn was very happy with the progress and was just snapping away, taking so many pics for us!!<br />

We were amazed to see how much bebe has grown since our 9 week scan on 20 August 2010.<br />

The tiny little hands and feet were more visible, the profile too and ... we even got a 'thumbs-up'! - you will see on the pic.<br />

So, oulik!!<br />

Dr Zinn then tried all sorts of tricks to see if we couldn't tell the bebe's gender...BUT... bebe had other plans and had fun not revealing...<br />

The little legs were crossed when Dr tried to look and no matter how many different angles were tried....we just couldn't tell!<br />

Have to wait another 4 weeks, BUT - Dr Zinn said, if he was asked to make a call (and acknowleging that it is REALLY unclear) - then he<br />

would guess that it was a little.... girl :)<br />

But...we'll have to wait and see! :)<br />

Excited for either a little girl or a boy. And you all know the dilemma...we don't have boy names!!!<br />

Ewald kindly offered some name options....and sadly, we had to decline ALL of those. :)<br />

To mention a few, his very creative list included names like Sparrow...Melon.. Froofroo...Hogarth... uhhh.... thanks, but no thanks :)<br />

Dr is happy - all seems fine and parents are very happy too!<br />

This week is the start of my SECOND TRIMESTER (already!!) - and the start of Week 14.<br />

Pamster subscribed me to very, very helpful newsletters and this week's intro says:<br />

__________________________<br />

Second trimester is typically an easier time — your first trimester worries are waning and morning sickness is finally letting up.<br />

Your uterus is expanding and you may even start showing!<br />

Also:<br />

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his<br />

facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he<br />

releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound<br />

now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.<br />

__________________________<br />

Luckily I didn't have the morning sickness problem and the worst I've had were regular headaches.<br />

So, thus far, no mess, no fuss :)<br />

Can't tell you how much we loved the ultrasound on Friday...it was really, really incredible seeing little bebe move like that!!<br />

That's our update! Hope you make sense of the pics attached!<br />

Gros bisouxxxxxxxxx, much love, baie liefde!<br />

Tot straks!<br />

-rich,meryl&bebe-


[In english...so that all can understand it...]<br />

Meryl and Rich chatting and then...<br />

Rich: ‘um…meryl…when was your last cycle…”<br />

Meryl: ‘good question…um…have to check”<br />

[Detail: meryl has to check because meryl has NO 'regular' cycle…then its 32 days apart…then 44 days…then 39 days… so who knows!!]<br />

Meryl and Rich, sitting at the dining room table…counting….58, 59, 60, 61, 62!!<br />

Rich: (very calm) ‘hhmmm… looks like we’ve got to do a test...’<br />

Meryl: *sigh* ‘ooh my jinne…okay – tomorrow morning first thing then. Ooh…but I don’t want to be home alone when I do the test – so<br />

we need to do it before you go to work, okay?’<br />

Rich: ‘sure – we’ll do it then’<br />

Rest of day continues, we’re pretty chilled about it all and the plan was that on Wednesday, 18 August, the morning first thing, I would do a<br />

home pregnancy test.<br />

However...on the morning, Rich greets me and goes off to work at 06h10. At 06h20 I jumped out of bed..remebering that 'flip...we said<br />

we're going to do the test together!' Then I thought 'oh well, let me check'<br />

Within S-E-C-O-N-D-S of doing the test...TWO LINES appear!! Super excited but mega confuzzled...I then grabbed the little leaflet and read<br />

the line over and over and over confirming that TWO lines means, jip, there's a bebe in your belly!!!!<br />

I was so overjoyed! Ran to the kitchen...stood in the lounge.. and did not know what to do!!!<br />

I then called Rich... (who by this time, had arrived at the office already)<br />

Meryl: Rich... the test was POSITIVE!!!!<br />

Rich: few words and many laughs and a smile that I could see from our flat : 'are you serious!' :)<br />

Next Rich response was... 'Meryl...call Dr Zinn! (gynae)...'<br />

So, we were very fortunate to get an appointment on Friday, 20 August, 12h30 with Dr Zinn at Kingsbury.<br />

Got there chatted, etc and then I said 'Dr...I did the pregnancy test, and it showed positive!'<br />

Dr Zinn: (with a big smile) 'Well...if it's positive, its' positive! :)' [he was SO friendly and nice about it!!]<br />

Next he examined me and then called Rich in for the SCAN!<br />

Me, being a bit clueless, really did not know WHAT to expect and then...there...on the screen was a little bebe!!!! tiny, tiny, tiny with a<br />

strong heartbeat that seemed to me it was going to 'hop' out of the screen!! :)<br />

And then we saw the little arms...the mini feet.... u-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e !!!<br />

It felt so, so unreal.<br />

I recall saying 'no...w-a-y-s...' [as I thought there would only be like a dot...or ...actually, I don't know WHAT I thought!!] - so then Dr Zinn<br />

replies: 'oh...it's all very reallllll...' :)<br />

Rich and I could not stop smiling!!! It was incredible!!<br />

Then Dr Zinn said '...so...judging from the diametre/size...the baby is about.... 9 weeks!'<br />

Meryl: n-i-n-e w-e-e-e-e-e-e-k-s-s-s-s!!!!!


Maths was never my forte..but in this case, there was no doubt that I realised that NINE WEEKS was already TWO MONTHS into the<br />

pregnancy!!!! ....oooohhhh my jinnne!!<br />

We received our little photograph of the scan - ssssooo special!!! and Dr Zinn happily announced that at the moment, all looks fine, and<br />

that the estimated Due Date is on 22 March 2011!<br />

My instant thought was: 'that is like...NOW-NOW'.... but then I calmed down and realised that there are still seven months left! Sjoe!! :)<br />

We left there totally overjoyed, beyond surprised of course (!!) but SUPER THRILLED!!!! and as Rich said ' it is g-o-o-d news!' :)<br />

So there: The Rabe-Bebe is growing in my belly!!!! :)<br />

We then shared the news with the parents, the Myrtles and the Tubmans instantly - as we just could NOT keep this news to ourselves!<br />

We were both SO SO thankful and grateful to God for this little bebe, as it came as such a surprise but such a welcome little surprise!! God<br />

created this little bebe and we are beyond excited and blessed!<br />

I then started reflecting as to how I was feeling during our little holiday! Rich and I had a ten day break over the 9 August long weekend as<br />

we celerated our FIVE year wedding anniversary - and during that time I felt a little poefster...not really nausious...a bit...but not much.<br />

More flu - and I took about 8 corenza c...not knowing!<br />

Just before our leave on 6 August, I felt a 'different' kind of tired in the morning at the office, but I just thought that, it's been a long, hard<br />

year - with the World Cup and all - so I just reckoned that I was just tired! Did not think ANYTHING of it!<br />

Also, during July, I even did BOOTCAMP with Hayley...so the poor bebe had to endure some serious sit-up crunches! :)<br />

So...it's been 9 weeks!!<br />

*sigh* what joy!! :)<br />

Attached is a little pic of the growing rabe-bebe!<br />

Keep is in your prayers please!!! and we'll keep in touch!<br />

Next appointment, 10 September 2010.<br />

Baie liefde!!!<br />

-rich&meryl-<br />

PS: kan jy glo!!! :)<br />

PSS: verskoon die engels julle!! Maar die Belgiers moes ook maar met die Engels klaarkom! :)


R A B E<br />

-how the story was shared-


18 August 2010<br />

Past six in the morning – TEST positive! I was still on leave – Rich was on his way to the office<br />

already. It was SO surreal – but so flippen exciting!! Checked the pamphlet a few times to make<br />

sure that two lines means two lines!! Walked around in circles in the kitchen, lounge...not know<br />

what to do with myself – was so excited and at the same time – SO surprised!! Then called Rich –<br />

and had a brief chat and then said ‘Rich...die toets was positief’ – Rich with an instant smile, that I<br />

could hear throught the phone, did a ‘happy-nervous-yeah-gentle-laggie’ And then said ‘ is jy<br />

ernstig’ ‘dis cool’ En toe ‘Maak nou ‘n afspraak by Dr Zinn, dan hoor ons ook wat hy se’ <br />

It was really, really exciting... the afternoon when I saw Rich it was also special to share the news<br />

face to face and show him the test results! Rich even said...so, bel vir Hayley en se haar !! But I<br />

wanted to wait for the Dr Zinn visit first <br />

19 August 2010<br />

I was off sick this day – really had bad flu... and then realised that I couldn’t take any medication.<br />

20 August 2010<br />

Went to work after leave. At the printer I was faxing off some Discovery Health claims when my<br />

colleagues started a conversation about pregnancy. Then, the one heard incorrectly and asked ‘Wat,<br />

Jo, Meryl??’ – then Jo, with confidence, said ‘Ja! Weet djy nie? Sy is ‘n maand en ‘n aand!’ – and we<br />

burst out laughing as Bjorn realised she wasn’t being serious.<br />

But the irony – Jo joking about this, when in fact - it was true.<br />

Saw Dr Zinn at 12h30. It was incredible. Very emotional too when we saw the scan – and as Dr Zinn<br />

said ‘if it’s positive, it’s positive’...responding to my news that the the home pregnancy test was<br />

positive. And during the scan he said ‘oh...it’s very real’... <br />

Straight after that, Rich said to me ‘this is good news, this is very good news’ - it was SO great to<br />

see his excitement! And then the next thing was – sharing the news with Scott & Hayley and Chris<br />

& Lara.


Our plan was to tell them first –then the parents.<br />

We then decided that we would make copies of the ultrasound pics and give little envelopes to share<br />

the news – but only envelopes for Tubmans, Husteds, Myrtles, Parents and Gar.<br />

I went back to work – so super excited –but didn’t share with anyone.<br />

After work, we popped by the Tubman house. I gave Hayley a hug and her words to me was ‘what?<br />

are you here to tell us you’re pregnant! ’ I laughed and said, no Hayley (!) – but we did bring you a<br />

little invitation.<br />

They both opened the envelope and it was smiles and excitement all round! Hayley even shed a<br />

little tear! Sadly Scott had to run off to Cutting Edge – but later that night he sms’d to say that all<br />

he could think about was our news <br />

Then we called the Husteds. Wanted to go to their flat to tell them – but they were on their way to<br />

the Airport with Andrew. We were so bummed – so we went and had Thai at Thai World and talked<br />

about man...what now...they can’t see us!! We want to share this with them ASAP...<br />

So, they couldn’t see us and then we talked about telling the Myrtles and the parents that night still<br />

and our plan was to meet the Husteds the Saturday.<br />

Called Tannie Myrtle to ask if we could come over – she said sure, but they were at Pizza World to<br />

pick up dinner. So, Rich and I decided to go to them, via Pizza World.<br />

When we got there, Tannie Myrtle anxiously asked ‘ wat is dit nou??!!’ – I said, niks, hoekom? Then<br />

she said ‘want hoekom sal julle nou sommer op ‘n Vrydag aand hier omkom!’ - I then said ‘okay<br />

tannie, ons gaan trek...’ She looked at me all puzzled and said ‘?? Wat??? Waantoe?? Hoekom??’ – I<br />

then laughed and said ‘nee tannie – ons het net gou vir julle die uitnodigings gebring.<br />

I then handed her and Anique each an envelope with the scan pics in. Ana opened hers first. And<br />

looked up and said ‘yeah!’ and Tannie Myrle looked at it...paused... looked around and said.... ‘so<br />

hoekom vertel julle vir my H-I-E-R!!!’ – ‘tussen die lelike decor en al die world cup vlae?!!!’ And then<br />

smiled and was SO thrilled!! It was really so special to see their reaction.<br />

Incidentally, Pizza World is also the venue where Ana and I had lunch the first time after I got<br />

engaged, so it’s not a stylish plekkie, but a special plekkie.<br />

Next, we all went to 4 le Roux lane to share the news with Oom Jacques. He was SO happy and ‘baie<br />

geluk!’ came with much enthusiasm. He did later share with us ‘onthou net, ek kan nou vir julle se,<br />

maar – baba’s is nie mooi nie...’ Quite sweet.<br />

They then wanted us to stay, but we had to press on. Still had to tell mother and the Rabe-parents.<br />

So, we sms’d the Rabe-parents to say ‘we are on our way back from a restaurant in the area – would<br />

they mind if we popped over for coffee’ – we arrived, had a lekker teetjie and then Rich gave them<br />

the envelope. It was so funny. Ma didn’t know WHAT she was looking at! She said, ‘is dit twee<br />

torings?’ – don’t know WHERE she saw that (!) – then Pa looked at it and said ‘huh...is dit ‘n sonar?’<br />

– and we said ‘JA!’ they looked up...paused and then Ma leaped up from her chair and hugged us


She also shared that earlier that day there was talk at her school about when who was going to be<br />

grannies and her reply was ‘nee, wat...ek dink ek gaan nog llllaaannnkkk wag’ <br />

Next-up, same night – we checked if mom was at Gar’s flat or in Melkbos. Then we went through to<br />

Gar’s flat. It was already almost 23h00. We gave her the envelope and she said ‘is dit JOU baba?’ <br />

and then looked up and said ‘ooh, moet net nie voor die tyd uitvind wat dit is nie!!’ – and then<br />

straight after ‘maar ek weet dit gaan ‘n dogtertjie wees’!<br />

Then after a few moments her shock turned into verbal diarea and she couldn’t stop talking.<br />

Proposing names, checking the calendar when she would be here for the March holidays and also<br />

asked ‘wanneer gaan julle die kind laat doop?!’ – so funny – I mean hello mother...that thought has<br />

NOT YET crossed our minds <br />

She then wanted to tell C – but we said PLEASE don’t tell ANYONE – we want to tell them<br />

OURSELVES. It was torture for her to not talk about this. I then told her that we were going to tell<br />

Gareth after this, so she could talk to him about it.<br />

We also asked the Rabe-parents to please NOT share the news yet...<br />

Then, called Gar and asked him to pass by our flat on his way home from Lana. Gave him the<br />

envelope. He looked up and said with big happy eyes: ‘are you pregnant!’ and before I could<br />

answer he hugged me. Was sweet.<br />

So that was the Friday. Tubmans, Myrtles, Parents and Gar knew. We were so bummed that<br />

Husteds didn’t know yet and was anxious to see them!<br />

On Satruday, tried to see Husteds again, but they had mark’s rugby on. Then we went to the market<br />

with Hayley, Ben and Jem. Scott was somewhere. We were still so excited and as we were pushing<br />

Ben and Jem on the swings, Hayley said ‘why don’t you tell them (the kids) now?’ – I smiled and said<br />

something like, no, they will tell (!) – but she said no, we will tell them not to tell.<br />

Anyway – then I took Ben aside and said hey ben...do you know that ...bla-bla, re going to have a<br />

baby. He looked up with an instant smile – and then with a sadder face, he turned around and<br />

started drawing in the sand... Hayley said – well, that’s not the reaction that we were hoping for... <br />

Jemma didn’t really understand, but smiled. Then Ben got all akward and quiet – and we then said<br />

okay, let’s get breakfast rolls and eat.<br />

Then at the table, Ben came to me and asked ‘Meryl, does this mean that you won’t love me<br />

anymore???’ – all sad... I said ‘NO!!! Ben!!!!’ and then he said ‘Does this mean that you won’t<br />

come and visit us anymore??’ . . . . shame, arme Ben!!<br />

I then explained to him HOW MUCH we love him and that doesn’t matter WHAT he tries, he will<br />

never get rid of us! He then gave me a big, big hug and then was more okay after that...how<br />

sweet...<br />

Anique then came and joined us at the market and after that we went to the Edwards home. Plan<br />

was to share the news with John and Charl. Was a nice teetjie-tyd with them and the afternoon I<br />

told John – who was delighted and later when Charl arrived, we told him too!


The evening the Husteds still couldn’t see us, so we had a chilled eve at home.<br />

Sunday’s plan was to tell them – but they couldn’t see us. We invited them for a bite to eat before<br />

evening church – as Chris was due to give the ‘Egg on Toast’ talk. They declined, saying they had Loo<br />

and the aussie friends with them – but then said that all of them were going to come over before<br />

church. We were cool with that, except that we wanted to TELL them... so we talked about it over<br />

and over and over as to come up with the ‘best’ way to tell them.<br />

They arrived, we all had coffee and chats and then I told Rich that we should call them to the room<br />

and tell them there. Rich didn’t think it was a great idea and thought it would look rude. Long story<br />

short, we were anxious to tell them and then Rich decided that we should just tell them there, in the<br />

lounge, and give them their envelope with the scanned pic in...<br />

Chris took the envelope, and said ‘what is this?!..’ - and then when they opened it – Lara looked up<br />

at me, was red in the face and with a surprised look said something like ‘are you pregnant!!’ – the<br />

next few moments they were full of smiles and said congratulations, but then their ‘excitement’ was<br />

reserved. More shock too. The others and Loo obviously saw all of this happening and<br />

congratulated us. On the way down to the car park, Loo told me again, congrats, which was nice.<br />

And the rest of the time, Chris and Lara were a bit quiet... I noticed it, but didn’t think much of it at<br />

the time.<br />

Eventually, we learned that they were really, really, really upset by the WAY in which we had told<br />

them. Thought we weren’t sensitive enough, thought we weren’t taking their situation into account<br />

– trying to fall pregnant for 2 years already, etc. They started avoiding us, kept their distance and<br />

from when we told them to October there was almost no contact. Then we drafted an email to ask<br />

them what’s up – but they then sent us an email the Sunday and said that this was the reason. We<br />

apologised and apologised and apologised – but doesn’t look like there’s a shift in them feeling very<br />

hurt and disappointed. We feel beyond, beyond terrible and especially since this friendship means<br />

so much to us. To date (Dec 2010) not much change in our relationship which is very, very, very<br />

heart-breaking...<br />

Back to sharing the story: At Church – I then told the first Small Group member – Dani Turner, then<br />

after church told Leights and Kitty – was so exciting to share this with them (who at that stage was 7<br />

months pregnant), told Cheryl, told Ingrid. At home, phoned Andrea, then Mich and C, then Luce,<br />

then Erna, then Geraldine. Andrea was all emotional about the news <br />

Rich then called Willie and shared the news – he was watching wall-e at the time... then called Tiaan<br />

and told him too. Richardt also eventually spoke to Honnie and told her.<br />

Smesed the Belgian fam then and then called Pamster. What a happy receiver of news! Pam<br />

shouted so loudly that everyone could hear her. She asked me how my health was etc, etc then said<br />

something like, so, now that you are better, will you start trying for a little one? Upon which I said<br />

‘well, actually, this is what I need to tell you’ – and her joy took over and she was delighted! Said<br />

she’d send me the ‘what to expect’ book, etc etc – was SO nice to chat to her about this! So nice! <br />

Sent Kerry and Craig a mail too and smessed Gillian and Rianne.


Monday morning, on my way to the office, I called Karelien and told her, then called Kim Herzfeld –<br />

was nice to hear her voice, then at the office, I called Ster – what another exciting chat! Then told Jo<br />

at the office – wanted to tell her first – then told Itumeleng who responded ‘I knew it!’ – and I said<br />

‘oh, so you knew before I knew!’ - Then told Marlotte and Marlena and Marlotte assured me that<br />

this was the BEST thing that would ever happen to me. Then called Sune – she was beside herself<br />

and said that this was the best news that she’d heard! Was also another very, very nice chat. Then<br />

took Riana to the boardroom, showed her the pic and she couldn’t believe it! Later in the day,<br />

called Tash – she wanted to know if I knew already, when we saw them just after our anniversary –<br />

but I didn’t ; shared it with Nina, Amanda over the phone (she was on leave) – Debbie, Lennox,<br />

Nolene, Felicity and Nomonde in Felice’s office and from there, the news spread.<br />

Then sent a mail to the rest: Tredeaux, Shelley, rest of the Belgians, Sophster. All received the news<br />

with such happiness. It was really nice to read their replies. Sent to the HT crowd and Jo&Franci<br />

too.<br />

We went to our Oudtshoorn trip, and there smessed the rest whilst the others went to the cango<br />

caves. Ewald, Chad, Melissa&Gareth, Kirsten&Stephen, Dave&Tiff, etc – church people mainly.<br />

When we told Corrie after our Oudtshoorn trip, she too was SO emotional about it and so NICE<br />

about it and wanted to keep the little scanned pic. Was so nice to see!<br />

Dr Gordon heard via Dr Zinn and left me the nicest voice-message about HOW happy they all are!<br />

What a phase in our lives...Dr Gordon...Dr Dennis... so greatful that God brought me through most of<br />

that pain...<br />

Sharing the news was really, really exciting. But seeing the Husteds response was really, really<br />

upsetting and still, if we could do it differently, i.e. in how we told them, then we would. Last thing<br />

we wanted was to hurt them.<br />

Then decided, that I would send group mails to update all as the pregnancy progresses, especially<br />

since Mom, Pamster, Belgians, etc live so far away. Want to keep them in the loop and want them<br />

to share in this experience.<br />

Again, so greatful to God – because ALL of this was HIS planning – it was unexpected for us, a happy<br />

unexpected, but definitely God’s work – and we are so thankful to Him for our little rabe-bébé!<br />

__________________________________________


R A B E<br />

-bébé babyshower-


THANK YOU VERY,very MUCH<br />

FOR such A SPECIAL BABY SHOWER!<br />

Howzit!<br />

I just wanted to<br />

share my<br />

appreciation<br />

with you!<br />

...the<br />

BabyShower<br />

was truly so, so<br />

special !<br />

I felt very loved and<br />

cared for!<br />

I felt equally grateful<br />

to Our King for YOU<br />

and for the friendship<br />

and the fellowship<br />

that we enjoyed &<br />

shared . . .<br />

...and I LOVED<br />

spending time<br />

with you!


aie dankie<br />

The whole day was<br />

perfect!<br />

The setting, (loved being in<br />

Anique’s garden!),<br />

the weather,<br />

the company...<br />

Although, the ‘scary-est’ part of the day was when<br />

you asked me to pretend to bath and settle the<br />

little baby doll!! Oh my goodness...with all those<br />

distractions added to the mix, I have to confess that<br />

that was a real challenge.... your prayers in this<br />

regard would be MOST welcome!! <br />

Thanks for being so<br />

creative with<br />

‘naming’ bébé!<br />

It was funny to see<br />

you match<br />

‘characteristics’ to<br />

get to the options!<br />

Here are some of<br />

the suggestions<br />

again <br />

• Joy’tjie’ Rabe,<br />

• Serenity’tjie’ Rabe<br />

• Petite Rabe<br />

• Grace’ster’ Rabe<br />

• Belle Rabe<br />

• Friend-lina Rabe<br />

• Lovemore Rabe . . .


thank you for encouraging me with words of<br />

wisdom and kindness,<br />

thank you Hayley especially,<br />

for the great Words from Scripture.<br />

Report<br />

November 2010<br />

thank you for all your prayers and for really<br />

celebrating the arrival of our rabe-bébé with me!<br />

• Email-ia Rabe<br />

• Lipton Rabe<br />

• Maka Rabe<br />

• Teetjie Rabe<br />

• Blankie Rabe<br />

• Soya Rabe<br />

• Chilli-girl Rabe<br />

you guys really went ALL OUT with these names <br />

• Mila-Carey Rabe<br />

• Mêllapot Rabe<br />

• Lily Rabe<br />

• Gifty Rabe, Charis Rabe, Bubbly Rabe, Precious Rabe<br />

• Kerrie Rabe, Kiera (dark hair) Rabe, Effi Rabe<br />

• Gia (G from Gerrie and ia from Sylvia)<br />

You have been very kind and SO generous with<br />

your wishes, cards and the MANY gifts!<br />

I really felt very spoilt!<br />

thank you


God has been,<br />

and continues to be<br />

so good to us!<br />

For the journey that<br />

lies ahead; we<br />

cannot thank Him<br />

enough for allowing<br />

us to receive this gift<br />

of our rabe-bébé and<br />

for His Sovereignty<br />

and grace in our<br />

lives!<br />

Report<br />

November 2010<br />

19<br />

February<br />

2011<br />

the ‘decor’ was so lovely!<br />

Thanks for the Bible Verses (dankie Ana!) that were<br />

hand-written on the hearts, hanging from the tree –<br />

one of them read:<br />

‘God is the strength of my heart and<br />

my portion forever’ – Psalm 73:26 [very true!]<br />

I also LOVED the<br />

playmat/cloth/blanket idea,<br />

where you all made<br />

handprints!<br />

Can’t wait to see the final<br />

product!<br />

ii


Wednesday, 9 March 2011,<br />

is when bébé is expected to<br />

open her eyes in<br />

beautiful Cape Town. . .<br />

Rich & I are SO<br />

excited about our<br />

bébé’s arrival and<br />

it gives us much<br />

comfort to know<br />

that we will share<br />

this new phase of<br />

our lives with all<br />

of you too!<br />

Please continue to pray<br />

for the 3 of us and<br />

know that we<br />

appreciate you loads!<br />

I missed all of you who<br />

could not make it!!!<br />

Will be in touch,<br />

Baie liefde,<br />

-rich,meryl&bébé -


R A B E<br />

-the story: <strong>ella</strong> mireille’s arrival-


Sunday, 20 March 2011<br />

- é é<br />

now also known as...<br />

mooiste, liefste, cute-ste...<br />

Howzit, Bonjour, Hello liefste friends & fam!<br />

So, I thought that this update would reach you earlier... tried to write it every day since returning<br />

from hospital – but FINALLY – here it is! <br />

It’s Sunday, 20 March 2011 – and Day 12 in the life of <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe.<br />

We’ve again had a good night – she gave us a five-hour and a three-hour sleep slot during the night –<br />

so our batteries are charged again...just a bit though! ... <br />

We cannot tell you HOW much joy she is giving us, although, 12 days out of belly – it still feels unreal<br />

to think that she has arrived.<br />

Below, the story of 9 March 2011 and a quick update on how we’re doing.<br />

Baie liefde!<br />

-rich,meryl&<strong>ella</strong>-


the s t o r y . . .<br />

So, we heard that our slot in theatre was for 08h00 – and that meant, we had to check-in (is that the<br />

word? Do you check-in at a hospital?! ) – anyway, we had to check-in at 06h00 – Kingsbury<br />

Hospital, Claremont, Cape Town.<br />

That evening I hardly slept – had such excitement coupled with anxiety keeping me awake – but at<br />

the same time, I was ‘rustig’ too.<br />

The alarm went off and following a shower, breakfast for Rich (cause they warn you at antenatal that<br />

Dads SHOULD have breakfast ) and checking that we have everything on our list that should be in<br />

our hospital bag – we took a final pic of her ‘in belly’ – and then walked out of 601 Charnwood as the<br />

two of us... <br />

self-take...bending to fit into the pic! <br />

One of the most IMPORTANT items that accompanied me to the hospital was a tube of Emla cream.<br />

My friend Tash ‘saved my life’ with this advice. It’s a cream that you apply to the area where the<br />

drip will potentially be inserted (and for those who know, needles are just NOT my thing and leading<br />

up to the birth the needle thought freaked me out the most – especially the drip!) – so Tash told me<br />

about my new best friend: Emla Cream – and I double, triple checked that it was packed! <br />

We also made sure that we had our PLAYLIST sorted the night before and burned a CD with tunes,<br />

that they played in theatre. Our latest favourite, Derek Leisegang (friend from church, check his<br />

tunes out here: http://www.myspace.com/derekleisegang ) featured quite a bit, so too did<br />

Afri-Frans, a bit of Norah Jones, etc.


Check out our playlist!<br />

[which received many compliments during theatre and Dr Zinn said that often some of the music<br />

they have to endure is very ‘cheesy’ – but he liked our mix and wanted a copy of our playlist!] <br />

Note: where it says AC/DC – it is actually Afri-Spaans CD – NOT sure why it picked up as that! <br />

So, upon arrival at Kingsbury Hospital, we gave them our pre-auth number from our medical aid and<br />

filled in some paper work...can honestly NOT remember what – - then we went up to the<br />

Maternity Ward where Nellie (Neliswa) greeted us so nicely: ‘Good Morning and welcome to<br />

Kingsbury’ – so kind and so calming; she then took me to the Recovery Room – where I would return<br />

post-op – and hooked-up the monitor to my belly. This measures baby’s heart-rate (and you hear it<br />

while you lie there – so, so special) – and also monitors your heart rate. She checked my Blood<br />

Pressure and gave me the dreaded finger-prick too. Then she said I should weigh myself on the scale<br />

behind the door – it was so funny, as the scale indicated SIX kilos LESS than what I weighed the<br />

previous Monday at Dr Zinn’s rooms – so I had quite a laugh and told her ‘no Nellie...this can’t be<br />

right On Monday I was 70.9kg [yip – broke the 70 barrier!!] – and this scale now said I was 65kg ‘<br />

She then smiled and said, ‘well, what would you LIKE to be ’ – and we laughed and she said she will<br />

put 65kg on my chart - hehe... so that was a ‘feel good moment’...but more realistically, I<br />

probably weighed like 72/73kgs!!!! Making my total weight gain a whopping...wait for it...18kgs!!!


Sister Neliswa (Nellie) Machine monitoring our heart rates ID tag – bébé’s # was 14075<br />

bébé chilling in belly<br />

parents...well, almost... <br />

Then, Veronica Wells popped in. She is the nurse that runs the Antenatal classes and it was SO great<br />

to see her familiar and reassuring face moments before theatre! I ran to the loo about 3 times<br />

and then Veronica said: okay, it’s time to go and meet your little one... how strange to hear<br />

that...but flip, now we were really excited! <br />

So, we urgently applied the Emla Cream....I put a whole wad on (!) – and Cadwell then gently pushed<br />

my bed all the way to theatre, with Veronica and Rich by my side.<br />

They then put you in the ‘waiting zone’ – next to all those who are due to have ops that day – so<br />

there was a lady to my right and later and elderly gentleman to my left. Only thing I was thinking is<br />

‘man..this is NOT a cool place to be waiting if you are NOT having a little bébé... ‘ a bit scary!<br />

So, then sister Odette and later sister Alexis came and attended to me while Veronica took Rich to<br />

change into his theatre clothes – he looked like a real Dr! Then, I had to ask to go to the<br />

loo...AGAIN... flip – felt a bit nervous, cause the op was minutes away – but, took a quick walk to the<br />

loo – accompanied by the nurse – and then back, deep breath and felt ‘ready’.<br />

Next, Dr genius-Gardner came to meet us. She is the anaesthetist. Not sommer ANY<br />

anaesthetist...but the best (according to Meryl) – cause man...she just made me feel at ease,<br />

explained that we will be going into theatre, she will insert the drip, then the spinal block, bla-bla –<br />

but all explained so calmly – I was feeling very okay.<br />

[And, added to this, was blessed to have so many people pray for us at this time too!]<br />

Dr Zinn then came by, very chirpy, looking very excited and asked us for our music CD and said that<br />

he’ll see us inside.<br />

Next – Cadwell took me from the waiting zone – to the theatre.<br />

It was much ‘smaller’ than I’d imagined.


We met Dr Bailey, the paediatrician, Dr Shanahan, another gynae who assisted Dr Zinn, and the staff<br />

that helped with the procedure.<br />

Dr Gardner continued to insert the drip – the Emla worked!!!! And she only had to try ‘once’ – i.e.<br />

not poke several times – which was SUCH a relief! Next, she explained to me how to sit for the<br />

spinal block injection – ‘the cat stretch’ is what was required. By this time, I was ok, but a bit cold<br />

and started shivering a bit. All I prayed was, Lord, please let me keep STILL!!!<br />

And, God answered my prayer!<br />

getting ready for the spinal block injection<br />

Dr Sue Gardner – anaesthetist and Cathy, her assistant<br />

Felt the cold scrubbing on my back, to sterilise the area, then a tiny needle and then nothing else.<br />

Next, my legs became tingly and warm and after that – done – they then moved me to the bed next<br />

to me and then put the ‘screen’ up - to where my knees were – so that I could only see ‘that far’.<br />

At this stage, the tunes were jamming and everything was calm and okay <br />

Holding Rich’s hand was also key to the moment and this whole experience!


Dr Bailey (the paed) then kept on asking us, so, does she have a name – and I kept on saying, no Dr,<br />

can’t tell you before she’s born!! – then they started.<br />

The time I think they ‘started’ – pic taken by Dr Bailey<br />

Part of the conversations that were going on were about asking whether this was Dr Zinn’s CD –<br />

because the nursing assistant said – ‘yes, this is JUST like Dr Zinn’s music – it must be his CD’ and<br />

later Dr Zinn asked whether the version of Lisa se Klavier that was on our CD was from Dozi,<br />

(an Afrikaans artist) – upon which I promptly replied DOZI...nee (!!) – nie DOZI nie! [who owns<br />

Dozi?!...] – but it turns out that Dr Zinn’s wife teaches Afrikaans and uses a version of this song by<br />

Dozi for one of her lessons <br />

Other conversations were about how there’s a teacher that uses the contents of the lunch boxes to<br />

educate her kiddies about the nutritional values and encourage them to eat healthy...so random!! <br />

[thanks Dr Bailey]<br />

I can also remember Dr Gardner talking to me all the time and telling me when she was adding<br />

antibiotics and saying all the time, ‘I’m here for you meryl, it will all be okay’ – so I was totally chilled.<br />

Next, Dr Bailey – who was now also our photographer – stood at my head and said ‘oh...just a few<br />

minutes now and she’ll be at the door...’ - I did not ‘get’ what he meant and the next moment,<br />

sommer net so... I just saw Dr Zinn lift little bébé above the screen – I only saw back and bum - it all<br />

happened so quickly!!<br />

Dr Zinn and <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe<br />

There was a gentle ‘mist/sprinkle’ of blood that followed and Dr Zinn said ‘ aah, look at this nice<br />

anointing’ ! I just remember feeling that this is soooo cool...


And then all I heard were happy laughs and congratulations and ‘hello and welcome <strong>ella</strong>!!’<br />

yes.. those vocal cords work... we promise you!!<br />

there she is... <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe<br />

healthy 3.210kgs<br />

And next, they placed her, wrapped in a towel, on my chest.<br />

kyk hoe cute is sy! <br />

ALL of this happened so quickly. It still feels unreal. But oh my goodness – it was sssoooooooooooo<br />

wonderful!!!!!! Ssssssooooooooooooooooo amazing!!!! - sssssooooooo super cool!!!!!! yeah,<br />

yeah, yeah.


I remember that Claire de Lune, by Debussy, played when they lifted her into the world <br />

Dr Zinn then told us that the cord around her neck was very tight, so much so, that there wasn’t time<br />

to give Rich the opportunity to cut it – as Dr Zinn had to do this quickly. He said that, just so that we<br />

know, if we went vaginal/natural-option, once they saw this, they would have to rush me to theatre<br />

for emergency caesar in any case. . .<br />

We were then in our little bubble of joy... best husband and best little one...in our little bubble of<br />

joy... julle kon met ons getoor het!<br />

... she has arrived... out of belly, into world...<br />

Ella Mireille Rabe – born at 08h32, on Wednesday, 9 March 2011, weighing 3.210 kilos,49cm,<br />

perfectly designed by God, and born at Kingsbury Hospital, Claremont, in the most beautiful city on<br />

this planet... Cape Town!


We were in such awe... checking out every little spot... taking in every bit of this indescribably<br />

awesome moment. It was as if time had stopped. Yes, it sounds corny...but it’s true!!!<br />

I noticed a light little brown spot under her right eye – looked like a mini-freckle, very cute – but it<br />

disappeared later the day.<br />

Then, they pushed my bed out of theatre, with ‘at my most beautiful, REM’ playing – and took me to<br />

a spot to monitor my blood pressure.<br />

after op, still theatre section of the hospital – having Blood Pressure, etc monitored<br />

...and then, to the Recovery Room – where Dad had some cuddle time with her! Rich was in<br />

another world!!! He could NOT stop smiling – it was so, so, so beautiful to see! Rich was in such a


happy zone that he kept the theatre clothes on for VERY LONG – just before 11h00 Veronica (nurse)<br />

said to him...um, I can see you love those clothes...but it’s okay for you to take them off now <br />

I think here she was about 1 HOUR old... check Rich’s watch..it says 09h30... this is in the Recovery Room<br />

By this time, I had my morphine connected to the drip and I had to ‘self-medicate’ – so, every time<br />

you press the little lever, it releases a dose of morphine. Then it ‘locks’ so that you can only re-do<br />

this after 7 minutes – to prevent ‘overdosing’. The idea is to keep releasing a dose every 7 minutes<br />

to build up a good dose in your system – this prevents the pain.<br />

The morphine medication, press green lever at top... and. . .<br />

the drip system – meant no more needles, they just added whatever I needed to the drip – what a joy!


The interesting thing though is that, you forget to press the next 7 minutes! Either cause you’re still<br />

on your happy cloud, or because the drowsiness sets in. I had both Even Rich didn’t always<br />

‘remind’ me to hit the button – as we were just in ‘stare-at-<strong>ella</strong>-mode’! <br />

This too is the reason for our delay in sending out the sms to let everyone know about Ella’s arrival –<br />

cause when we reached the Recovery Room – it was as if time stood still – again. So, sorry for<br />

keeping you waiting and sorry to those who told us that they had worried a bit about why we took<br />

so long... If you did not get the sms (which all on this mailing list ‘should have received’) – then this<br />

is what it said:<br />

She has arrived!! Our beautiful little Ella Mireille Rabe, weighing 3.21kg, with hair on her little head and good vocal chords!<br />

she’s having her first snooze outside the womb en sy’s net pragtig! Love, proud –rich,meryl&<strong>ella</strong>-<br />

Shortly after we got to the Recovery Room – Sister Lynn helped us with breastfeeding and then<br />

Pauleen, the hospital’s breastfeeding consultant also spent good time with us to explain and assist.<br />

They were great!<br />

Then, before we knew it, it was 11h00, which meant that it was ‘Grandparents Visiting Hours’ at<br />

Kingsbury. And <strong>ella</strong>’s first visitor was...Oupa!<br />

Ouma Gerrie was still at school, and Granny Sylvia was in the UAE – coming to visit 24 March 2011<br />

only.<br />

Next, she had the privilege of meeting her uncle Gareth – who looks like the size of a giant next to<br />

her!


...and tannie Anique was there too – her personal Occupational Therapist <br />

After visiting hours, I dozed off, Rich accompanied the nurse and they took <strong>ella</strong> to have her head<br />

measured – 34cm. Oh, and her length is 49cm...longer than a ruler!


They then moved me to the semi-private room and Rich got to spend such a long time with <strong>ella</strong> –<br />

cuddling and then skin:skin. It was so, so adorable to see! Rich just LOVES her.<br />

After this, I felt really, really drowsy and tired. I also struggled to focus properly. So when the<br />

Tubmans visited, (Scott, Hayley, Ben and Jemma), I remember being especially drowsy. Ben’s first<br />

question to me though was, ‘meryl, why didn’t you call her Rosy?’ .... I think I said something like<br />

‘No Ben, that’s what you should call your daughter’ - he laughed at me as to say that it was the<br />

most ridiculous thing to suggest to a 5 year old! <br />

I also recall not being able to ‘focus’ properly – couldn’t read nurse name badges – was really, really<br />

zonked! But loved having Scott & Hayley there! Hayley was the first one to hold her.<br />

That day, Ella also got to meet Ouma Gerrie, Tannie Honnie (Rich’s sister), Aunty Andrea (my cousin)<br />

and Oom Wilhelm (Rich’s brother). Tannie Jeltje and Tannie Anneka (Rich’s aunt & cousin), John&<br />

Charel popped in too and Gareth, Anique & Tannie Myrtle visited again the evening. Thinking back<br />

now – the entire evening visit seems like such a blur – I was super drugged!<br />

Oom Wilhelm – Rich’s twin brother, meeting little <strong>ella</strong><br />

Aunty Andrea


Sadly, dads have to leave at 20h00, after the 19h00 – 20h00 visiting slot. So that was bye-bye to<br />

Rich. The night staff then suggested that they take <strong>ella</strong> to the nursery – as I was so drowsy and<br />

needed the rest. Then what they do, is they bring her to you every 2 hours or so – so that you can<br />

feed.<br />

I started to get a bit more pain and asked for something more than just the morphine – Sister<br />

Desiree then gave me an injection (we used the Emla cream!) and that seemed to help.<br />

The entire day I did not have an appetite – was only thirsty. But, by 3am, I had the sandwich that<br />

had been standing on my tray the entire day! And man...was it a tasty sandwich! <br />

I had a ‘noisy neighbour’ for the first night– whose cell phone just kept on going off the entire time!!<br />

I don’t think her phone has a ‘silent’ function! [The second night, my friend Tracy Visser (now Brink)<br />

shared a room with me – loved it!]<br />

Other than that, this day, we were showered with messages, prayer and love and at one stage I had<br />

72 unread sms messages! In the attempt to reply - I would fall asleep! And in the end realised that I<br />

could not ‘fight’ the morphine, it was doing its job and I needed to rest! <br />

The feeding went fine and before I knew, it was morning time!<br />

And that was Day ONE in the life of liefste, mooiste, cute-ste <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe!<br />

If you still have energy to read on...see the Update below


the u p d a t e . . .<br />

In ‘brief’, the days in hospital went okay – towards the end of my stay I started cramping and had too<br />

much bloating, which became a problem and caused me to be discharged later than I was scheduled<br />

to. Nights 2 and 3 were not great in terms of feeding – as they would pass her to you and latch her<br />

on your behalf – before you were properly alert or even comfortable – that caused some damage<br />

and I needed laser treatment subsequently. I was so upset – because I was beyond drugged – and<br />

by the time I realised that she had latched incorrectly, it was already too sore! Upon coming home<br />

the Saturday – it was nice to have Anique here to help with tea and sorting out the food – Anique<br />

organised that for the rest of the month, every evening – someone was scheduled to bring us a<br />

meal! How amazing is that! And how privileged are we!! So, our first meal was courtesy of<br />

Stephster! See cool meal plan: We REALLY don’t want this treat to come to an end!!!! <br />

Then, also, what really, really, REALLY helped, was a very thoughtful gift from Leights & Kitty – they<br />

organised for a Breastfeeding/Nursing Sister to do a home visit for us, as a gift. We then sorted the<br />

time with her for 16h30 – to meet me at home and be present for the first feed. Because I had quite<br />

a mission on the last day of hospital – it was EXACTLY what I needed – the help, the reassurance and<br />

guidance! St<strong>ella</strong> confirmed that I was on the right track and that made us ‘rustig’ in terms of the<br />

feeds ahead!<br />

Saturday night – <strong>ella</strong> had ‘the perfect night’ – fed well, slept through till next feed, etc.<br />

All ‘perfect’! <br />

Sunday, was a bad, bad day for me. I started getting hot/cold and bad shivers, my feet started<br />

swelling badly – as in very, very VERY badly, my face was swollen, I was bloated, had a headache that<br />

did not subside, etc. I was in a bad shape! So much so, that we called the hospital – I had to go<br />

back there for observation and again, I had a disappointing day – because our ‘free time slot’<br />

became our hospital visit! Got home and then that evening <strong>ella</strong> had a bad 3am feed – did not settle<br />

till past 5am – we were tired – I was still sick – man...trying times!


But – at this point – let me just mention the hero throughout this ENTIRE process. And now I am not<br />

being bias – I am being factual.<br />

Richardt is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I don’t think I could explain this properly. For EVERY step of the way – he<br />

is there and not as a spectator – but HELPING. He changes ALL <strong>ella</strong>’s nappies, he sorts EVERYTHING<br />

– and looks after the two of us SO SO well! I don’t know how single moms survive...or mom’s with<br />

dad’s who prefer to chill on the couch and not be involved. He has been my saving grace! So, so,<br />

SO loving – and SO caring and he is WONDERFUL with <strong>ella</strong>! You should see them together!<br />

For someone who is not much of a cry-er... when I see them together I get so emotional! [and<br />

no...not baby-blues emotional – although I have LOADS of that!! Huil sommer net vir niks en vir<br />

alles! – but also cause I physically felt a bit sick!]<br />

The rest of the update is that we take every day as it comes. Had a physio great physio, Angie Buck,<br />

do home-visit for this week – ultrasound for swelling under my arm and laser – and this was such a<br />

help too!<br />

On Tuesday, 15 March 2011 – we saw Dr Zinn for my one week check-up and all good! Ella slept<br />

through the entire visit there and back – she’s such ‘n klein engeltjie!<br />

On Wednesday, 16 March 2011 – it was <strong>ella</strong>’s ONE WEEK birthday - so we decided to dress her in<br />

her funky babygrow! (courtesy of tannie dani turner – this was also the first item of clothing she<br />

received as a gift, upon hearing that we were pregnant) . . .<br />

Thursday, 17 March 2011, she was due to be weighed. When she was born, she weighed 3.21kg.<br />

Upon leaving the hospital, her weight dropped to 3.00kg. The idea is that they regain their birth


weight within two weeks. [I think!]<br />

So, our excitement was all about guessing how much she would have gained.<br />

This little one, who LOVES her meals – gained a whopping 220grams since she left hospital on<br />

Saturday! This is good news - meaning, she regained her birth weight PLUS an additional 10<br />

grams in 5 days! Sjoe! Relief and Joy! This means...the feeding is working and she is growing! <br />

So, on Thursday, 17 March 2011, she was 3.220kg. [geluk <strong>ella</strong>-tjie!!] <br />

Thursday night was also the night where she slept for FIVE HOURS after the 10h30 feed –<br />

hallelujah (!) – just what we needed and Friday and today was Rich and my zzzzZZZZZzzzz day.<br />

When <strong>ella</strong> slept – we slept. We are really tired – as is to be expected, but I also think we are extra<br />

tired as we are just so relieved that so far...all is okay. We’ve had not-so-great-days and better ones.<br />

So taking it day by day...<br />

Oh, her first bath – she loved it! Gareth was here to witness it. We put on calming music and end<br />

the bath with a massage – who would NOT love this?! <br />

She is 11 days old today – Saturday, 19 March 2011. She lives in her little room as if she’s always<br />

been there – we still can’t stop staring at her – we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her beyond words and all our<br />

thanks goes to God for designing this little gem and for keeping us all going!<br />

We are blessed beyond what we deserve!<br />

Yes, we’re tired – but LOVING this experience. I am especially thankful that Rich is on leave till<br />

30 March 2011.<br />

Apologies for not ‘being ready’ to receive visitors yet – every day has been so unpredictable –<br />

especially the first few with me not being well – but, slowly but surely, we getting back on track.<br />

Please continue to pray for us. THANK YOU, thank you THANK YOU for the many, many kind wishes,<br />

sms messages and voice mails. We keep missing calls! But – get all the messages and feel SO loved<br />

and cared for. Thanks so much!<br />

Finally – a few pics of her first few days.<br />

Yeah... <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe has arrived!<br />

Love,<br />

-rich&meryl-<br />

below – some PICS of her first few days out of belly....into world


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<br />

DAY ONE<br />

DAY TWO


DAY THREE<br />

DAY FOUR


DAY FIVE<br />

DAY SIX<br />

DAY SEVEN


DAY EIGHT – one WEEK old...


DAY NINE


DAY TEN<br />

DAY ELEVEN<br />

...and counting! ....did I mention just HOW amazing God’s design is!! We are so thankful for our little <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe . . .


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> 3 months-


9 June 2011<br />

...it’s been three months!<br />

Wednesday, 9 March 2011 feels like so long ago – yet, at the same time, it feels like yesterday!<br />

What a great day that was! <br />

Rich and I are still amazed at the fact that there’s actually a little <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe that sleeps in the room next<br />

door to us! It’s real. And oh how ‘real’ it is at 3 or 4am, when she cries for her next feed <br />

From 3.20kg at birth to a whopping 5.54 kgs now, at three months, <strong>ella</strong> is truly our liefste, mooiste! <br />

So much has happened during these past 13 weeks, we continue to be grateful to God for blessing us with a<br />

delightful, healthy bébé and here’s a brief summary of what has kept us busy.<br />

MARCH – WEEKS 1 - 3<br />

First few days at home<br />

Ella’s first night in her own cot was awesome! Woke up when she needed to, gave us great stretches of sleep<br />

and we woke up happy and impressed by her ‘obeying’ at such an early age. (hehe) <br />

I have come to realise that although I was so super nervous about the ‘newborn’ days, I actually really LOVED<br />

those first few days. There’s just something about her being so tiny! Totally loved it.<br />

Sure, the getting up to feed her every two hours was something quite...special - but I was amazed at how<br />

you just ‘do it’. The alarm goes off and up you get. No mess no fuss really. Although, come to think of it, the<br />

thing that made it ‘much easier’ to miss out on sleep, was the fact that Rich did it with me. He got up with me<br />

for every single feed during the t-h-r-e-e w-e-e-k-s that he was on leave. It was such amazing support and<br />

having Rich help with nappies and swaddling and burping and encouragement to keep going when at times I<br />

was really exhausted, was a great privilege for me.<br />

In the first few days I also had the help of a physio who came to our flat and helped me with laser and ultra<br />

sound treatment. Without that, I don’t think I would have been brave enough to persist with breastfeeding!<br />

Ella then decided to give Rich and I a proper run for our money with her... crying. We established that<br />

apparently she did not have colic, but man...did she cry at times! The cries were brief though – but to our<br />

new-parent-ears, any cry was a bit unsettling!<br />

We were then introduced to Telament Colic and Cramp drops via our antenatal class, who had group mails<br />

flying around with all sorts of advice, the telament, 2.5ml water plus 2.5ml gripe water recipe being one of the<br />

tips! After a while, it didn’t ‘seem to work’ – and then we tried Eva’s tip of introducing 5 drops of Reuteri<br />

drops in the morning. And I have to say – I think that made the difference! Sjoe! <br />

Fun ‘routine’<br />

So, to Gina Ford we turned for our ‘routine’ advice, but because at times it suggested ‘awake time’ that really<br />

was impossible for <strong>ella</strong> to follow, we heard the Kerry Newill and Hayley Tubman voices in our heads saying,<br />

relax about Gina in the first few days...they don’t stay awake for that long and it is o-k-a-y! So, the<br />

BabySense book with their ‘awake time’ of max 45mins in the early days was more what we went with. We<br />

then tried to feed her every 3 hours and if she was asleep, we would wake her. [To the shock of many who<br />

told us ‘never’ to wake a sleeping baby! ...sorry, but we did ]


9 June 2011<br />

Ella sleeps very well and feeds well too. Only feeds from one side, max 10 minutes at a time, which makes my<br />

life much easier!<br />

First weigh-in<br />

Leights and Kitty introduced us to Sister St<strong>ella</strong> and that’s where we go to have <strong>ella</strong> weighed. Her first weigh-in<br />

was when she was 8 days old, on Thursday, 17 March 2011.<br />

Usually, babies lose some of their birth weight by the time they leave hospital. In <strong>ella</strong>’s case, she was born at<br />

3.210kgs and when we left the hospital on Saturday, 12 March 2011, she weighed 3.000kg.<br />

At 8 days old, she had gained her birth weight, plus 20 grams which totalled 3.220kg – that meant that she had<br />

gained 220grams in just 5 days. St<strong>ella</strong> was happy and so were we!<br />

The aim is for them to gain between 180 and 240grams a week – so she was doing fine! <br />

Other happenings<br />

We were so, so fortunate and spoilt with t-w-e-n-t-y s-i-x delicious meals! Twenty six meals...think about<br />

it...that means that for 26 consecutive days we did NOT have to think about ‘what we would be having for<br />

dinner!’ Man...we LOVED this privilege and thanks again to all those who filled our bellies and to Anique for<br />

organising!<br />

On Friday, 25 March 2011 mom arrived from the UAE – by this time, <strong>ella</strong> was 2 weeks and 2 days old. Granny<br />

was a great help to us here, fed us well, joined us for coffee dates at Caffeen and was a pro at getting <strong>ella</strong>’s<br />

winds out! Winding...that’s a whole other skill that I battled to master!! <strong>ella</strong> loved having Granny here and<br />

looks forward to her next visit at the end of July 2011.<br />

APRIL – WEEKS 4 - 7<br />

Belgians visiting<br />

Just over a week after Granny left, <strong>ella</strong> was fortunate to meet her next lot of overseas visitors. This time, from<br />

Belgique and we couldn’t wait to welcome Luc, Lise, Saskia and Victoria Sergeant! What fun lied ahead as by<br />

this time, <strong>ella</strong> was ‘older’, I was feeling as if I am slowly but surely figuring out how life with a newborn works<br />

and having Lise, who is a mother of four daughters here, was a massive blessing! As she put it ‘I will show you<br />

meryl, you will be comfortable to feed where you will, when you will, it’s really easy!’... of course by this time,<br />

we’ve only always stayed home for <strong>ella</strong>’s feeds and naps, but with Luc and Lise here, they got us out and<br />

about, visiting and exploring the city with them and figuring out feeding-outside-of-our-flat! Our favourite<br />

spot was a bench in Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, next to a water stream, under a huge tree, very private,<br />

very calm, very cool We also now know to look out for the ‘baby changing station’ signs in shopping malls<br />

and were impressed that Cavendish even has a chair there for you! With the Sergeants here, we were very<br />

mobile, they spoiled us with dinner every evening and <strong>ella</strong> came along, sleeping happily in her car seat, where<br />

ever we went, Saskia and Vicky manoeuvred the pram (even up escalators!) and after ten days, it was a very<br />

sad goodbye as we were just getting use to daily advise and input and mastered the ‘Luc-way’ of holding her,<br />

which is now, to date, her favourite position! To think, Victoria was only 3 years old when I met them for<br />

the first time and this time round, she’s a teenager! Loved every moment of them being here!<br />

First visit to the paed<br />

Dr Bailey is our paediatrician. He was also present at <strong>ella</strong>’s birth and was the one who kindly volunteered to<br />

take pics for us! Our first visit, at 6 weeks, went well. No major issues and we were pleased that her injections<br />

were postponed to 8weeks – so I had two more weeks to mentally prepare!


9 June 2011<br />

Easter & Church<br />

The tricky thing about having an additional member of our rich-meryl-fam, is the fact that we now have to<br />

figure out how we will be going to church with <strong>ella</strong>! The morning services are tricky, because it starts at 10h00,<br />

which is her feeding time; and the evening services, which starts at 19h00, and the service that we go to, does<br />

not have a crèche facility anymore.<br />

But, Friday 22 April was Good Friday and by this time <strong>ella</strong> was 6 weeks and 2 days – so we were keen to give<br />

the 10h00 service a shot. It was FREEZING cold, as in probably the coldest day Cape Town has experienced<br />

thus far, but, off to the ‘over-flow-baby-section’ of the church we headed and <strong>ella</strong> behaved so nicely! Just<br />

10mins before the end, she decided to let us know that she was still there, but we promptly dipped the<br />

dummy into Gripewater and gave it to her before her mini-sounds could develop into a cry It was really,<br />

really great to be at church again and also lovely to see other ‘new-parents’ there too <br />

So, as we were still trying to figure out what to do about getting back to the evening services, the Tubmans<br />

told us that Nanny Irma (Ben and Jemma’s grandmother), who babysits them every Sunday evening, said that<br />

we should bring <strong>ella</strong> there too! We were really overwhelmed by this generous offer and beyond grateful to<br />

Nanny Irma and the Tubmans for allowing <strong>ella</strong> to snooze on the Tubman bed on Sunday evenings, whilst we<br />

get to enjoy the evening service!!!!<br />

On two occasions, we had Ouma and Oupa babysit <strong>ella</strong> on a Sunday night as well and again – we are so<br />

thankful for this privilege!<br />

So, we are super happy that we get to go to Sunday evening services again! <br />

MAY – WEEKS 8 - 11<br />

Teddy Bear Fair<br />

Ella’s first ‘event’ was the annual Teddy Bear Fair at Buitenverwachting which took place on Anique’s birthday<br />

this year, so our outing combined celebrating with her too. Ella of course, had visited Buitenverwachting<br />

before, when we had a picnic with Gareth and the Belgians 3 weeks prior, and despite the very cold weather,<br />

we had a fun afternoon!<br />

Mother’s Day<br />

So, for the first time, Mother’s Day ‘applied’ to me too – which was a really strange feeling and we celebrated<br />

a chilled day starting off at Jaco&Christie’s babyshower breakfast picnic. It was a lovely day and the great<br />

weather made it even better!<br />

The Flu<br />

So, at the end of 12 weeks, the Flu decided to hit me big time and of course I cannot take medication – so I had<br />

to battle through it and finally my throat is beginning to clear! But it was not much fun and I felt super weak.<br />

To add to this, my milk was ‘less’, which had me stressed for a bit, but now that I am feeling better, all seem to<br />

be back on track! It turned out to be tonsillitis, but Dr Baron sorted me out!


9 June 2011<br />

JUNE – WEEKS 12, 13 AND COUNTING!<br />

Vaccinations<br />

At 12 weeks, <strong>ella</strong> had her second set of injections. The first she had at 8 weeks – one oral, 2 jabs and this time,<br />

only 1 jab. First time round, she only screamed when the jab happened, but was quiet afterwards. She also<br />

did not have a temperature, although a few days after, she wanted to be ‘held’ much more and was a bit<br />

crabby. This time round, she screamed and cried so much afterwards!! Shame...I really hope this was a onceoff<br />

reaction and that she has more of Rich’s genes than mine when it comes to facing the dreaded needle!<br />

Celebrate<br />

And so, just 2 days before it’s a YEAR since the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup event – <strong>ella</strong> mireille<br />

rabe celebrates three months – and I guess, we can say, three happy months – as the happy days far outweigh<br />

the tricky, we-don’t-know-why-you-are-crying days!<br />

SOME ‘STATS’<br />

Ella’s weight<br />

age date weight comment<br />

1 Birth Wed, 9 March 2011 3.210kg Yeah, healthy and beautiful! <br />

2 3 days old Sat, 12 March 2011 3.000kg Out of hospital weight<br />

3 1 week, 1 day Thurs, 17 March 2011 3.220kg Gained 220grams in 5 days<br />

4 2 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 24 March 2011 3.460kg Gained 240grams in 7 days<br />

5 3 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 31 March 2011 3.680kg Gained 220grams in 7 days<br />

6 4 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 7 April 2011 2.940kg Gained 260grams in 7 days<br />

7 6 weeks Wed, 20 April 2011 4.300kg Gained 193grams per week<br />

8 8 weeks Wed, 4 May 2011 4.710kg Gained 205grams per week<br />

9 10 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 19 May 2011 5.020kg Broke the 5kg mark! <br />

10 12 weeks, 5 days Monday, 6 June 2011 5.554kg and counting!<br />

• 15 days - umbilical cord fell off<br />

• 2 weeks - started dummy! (on official due date, 22 march 2011)<br />

• 4 weeks - dreaded baby acne starts!<br />

• 7.5 weeks - first ‘official’ smile<br />

• 8 weeks - dropped the 10h30 feed<br />

• 9.5 weeks - chewing, smacking sounds started | coo-ing and chats | sleep 7pm – 4am!<br />

• 10 weeks - broke 5kg mark (5.020kg)<br />

• 10.5 weeks - starting to lose a lot of hair – ‘bald patches’ <br />

• 11 weeks - blowing bubbles with her spit<br />

• 13 weeks - ‘loud’ laughs and chuckling with delight!<br />

OTHER<br />

All goes well and we’re working of getting her ‘lunch-time-nap’ right so that she sleeps for two hours without<br />

waking, instead of an hour and other than that, we’ll be moving from the baby-bath to the ‘big bath’ soon,<br />

as she is starting to grow taller by the day, making the baby-bath a bit small! Talking about bath time – <strong>ella</strong><br />

LOVES her bath! With soothing music playing in the background and a massage that follows every bath, once<br />

in the water, she goes into super-chill mode! Here’s to thinking about early swimming lessons soon!<br />

Love, -rich, meryl and <strong>ella</strong>-


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> 5 months-


26 August 2011<br />

Week 24 in the life of <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe, which would make her five months and three weeks old! <br />

Every day with her is exciting and an adventure. We love her, we love her, we love her – and it amazes us that<br />

every day, we love her more! She is such a friendly bébé, when she smiles she melts our hearts and the sound<br />

of her little chats and giggles are beyond special!<br />

To think, it is almost exactly a year ago when we found out that I was 9 weeks pregnant!<br />

This week, especially, has been a big week for us with so many highlights and it ended with great news of the<br />

arrival of milla marie Langhoff – pam and randy’s little girl, on Thursday, 25 August 2011. So happy for them!<br />

Weighing 6.740kg at her last check-up on Thursday, 18 August 2011, her weight gain has been ‘slower’ than<br />

the average bébé her age, but the Paed and sister both confirmed that they are happy with her progress.<br />

Ella has great days and good nights – but the odd moer-ball-moments are definitely thrown into the mix too!<br />

Other than that, below is what we’ve been up to since the last update:<br />

MAY 2011 - Weeks 10 – Week 11<br />

VOTING DAY<br />

It was time to vote in our municipal elections and this time round, <strong>ella</strong> joined! We arrived super early and<br />

were second in the queue! Andrea and Lester, our voting-buddies, joined us and we were in and out in 20<br />

minutes! <strong>ella</strong> slept through the entire experience! Well done bébé! <br />

ASCENSION DAY<br />

The good thing about being on maternity leave when it is ascension day, is that I get to go to the 12h00<br />

service. I was a bit nervous about her waking before the end of the sermon, but she did well and decided to<br />

wake and make herself heard ten mins before the end of Scott’s sermon <br />

JUNE 2011 - Weeks 12 – Week 16<br />

Father’s Day<br />

Benjamin James helped me trace <strong>ella</strong>’s hand on cardboard, for Rich’s first Father’s Day card. Rich, Jemma and<br />

the Tubmans were having tea in their garden, whilst Ben very excitedly helped me sort the card! Father’s day<br />

was special and we had breakfast with Oupa in Hout Bay and then took a lovely drive through Chapmans Peak<br />

before chilling at home. Ella was super cute when she helped me ‘hand over’ Rich’s gifts the morning.


Breaking the 6 kg mark<br />

Before, we weighed her every Thursday, with Sister St<strong>ella</strong>, but now that she is ‘older, we go every 3 weeks or<br />

so and on 29 June 2011, 16 weeks old, she broke the 6kg mark .<br />

Moving to the big bath<br />

Ella LOVES bathtime. So we set everything out on our dining room table, get the ‘bath music’ going, dim the<br />

lights and heat the room! It’s a peaceful time and once she hits the water, she is in happy-land!! She has<br />

however started her splashes and because she’s grown so much, she was getting too tall for the babybath. So,<br />

we took the next big step and moved her to the big bath! It was VERY new and so cute to see her tiny body<br />

in this very big space, but boy did she love this too! We bought a Kango bath seat and it seemed to work really<br />

well. Only until, she splashes and moves so much, that she almost hops out of the seat!! It became a bit<br />

‘dangerous’ – so we decided to remove all her bath toys – to try and keep her stimulation to a minimum! It<br />

helped...just a bit! She is just waaayyyyyyy to excited in the water! Lately though, it has returned to being a<br />

calm experience! Sjoe! <br />

First time bottle<br />

So <strong>ella</strong> turned 4 months old on Saturday 9 July 2011. It was time to dress her in jeans - after old, she was<br />

now ‘old enough for jeans’ and we also decided to try the bottle! The AVENT bottle was the bottle of choice<br />

and she did so well! No issues what so ever! And very cute to see dad give her her first bottle! We tried this,<br />

just to be sure that should we have to give her expressed milk in the future, she’ll be okay with the bottle –<br />

and she was .


Sleep sounds<br />

At 15.5 weeks, <strong>ella</strong> started to ‘sing’ just before she would fall asleep. These gentle humming sounds turned<br />

out to be her own lullaby and the cue for us to know that once it starts...she’ll be lights out in a few minutes!<br />

At times though, her lullaby has more than three verses (!) and goes on forever...well, only until she passes<br />

out! We LOVE it!<br />

. . .more at this stage<br />

14 Weeks<br />

Too big for baby baths, time to move to the real deal!<br />

15 Weeks<br />

This is when she started her first ‘audible’ laughs. The best way to get them going is to kiss from toes to the<br />

top of her head and under her chin! She also has this ‘very happy laugh/shout/scream’ and her whole<br />

tongue vibrates when she does this!<br />

15.5 Weeks<br />

The sleep sounds started and this was also when she moved from a size #2 nappy, to the #3s!<br />

16 Weeks<br />

By now, she had the chatting all sorted out! It would be continuous cooing and ‘responding’ to our chats with<br />

her! Rich reckons her first word was ‘hello’ – because he had fat chats with her and claims that she responded<br />

three times with ‘hh—ee-llll-ooooo’, in the most adorable <strong>ella</strong> voice! <br />

JULY 2011 – Week 17 – Week20<br />

Granny’s visit<br />

Granny Sylvia arrived on 14 July 2011 for her long school holidays. The last time Granny saw <strong>ella</strong>, she was only<br />

three weeks old. We attempted Skype with Granny, so that she could keep in touch with how <strong>ella</strong> was<br />

growing, but nothing quite like being at the airport to greet Granny in person! Needless to say that Gareth and<br />

I hardly received an acknowledgement; it was just Granny and <strong>ella</strong> in their happy world.


Marriage proposal<br />

Who says arranged marriages are not the way to go?! We often talk to the Tubmans about hooking up <strong>ella</strong><br />

and Ben, but looks like we, the parentals, would not have to do much arranging as Benjamin James Tubman<br />

already asked me on Monday, 4 July 2011, when <strong>ella</strong> was just 16.5 weeks old – ‘meryl...can I marry <strong>ella</strong>?’! So,<br />

it’s a done deal – she will be <strong>ella</strong> tubman in years to come! And let it be known...this question was posed<br />

weeks later again...so we take it to be for real! hehe...imagine!<br />

Friends’ baptism<br />

<strong>ella</strong>’s friend, Sadie-Mia Ronne was baptised on 17 July 2011, so we went to the morning service for this happy<br />

occasion. It turned out to be quite fun as after the baptism, during the sermon, we had sadie-mia, <strong>ella</strong> and<br />

leah kooyman having their own little ‘playdate’ in the cry-room, whilst the service was still on <br />

Jumpstart<br />

<strong>ella</strong> started Jumpstart! These are fun, relaxed sessions where you play and move with your little one in a<br />

focused and stimulating way. Most of the activities are done to music and they integrate focus, cognitive skills,<br />

social interaction and language development. Even though it’s during her ‘doedoe-time’ – she manages to<br />

stay awake and really enjoys these classes! They are every Wednesday from 11h45 – 12h30 and our friend<br />

sadie-mia is in the ‘movers’ class, but <strong>ella</strong> is still with the pre-crawlers.<br />

(It’s thanks to the Tubmans for introducing us to Jumpstart many years ago )


. . .more at this stage<br />

16.5 weeks<br />

So, babysitting Ben and watching Bambi II whilst Jemmatjie was in hospital, was when the ‘meryl, can I marry<br />

<strong>ella</strong>’ question popped out! <br />

17 weeks<br />

• Playing the piano for the first time...on ouma’s lap <br />

• Touching toes<br />

• Started to really suck her thumb – and the left thumb especially – it seems as if though she prefers her left<br />

hand<br />

• Drools started! We thought that it would be teeth, because there are litres of drool that exits her mouth<br />

daily, but...nothing yet! <br />

9 July 2011 – four months old<br />

Tried her bottle for the first time and did very, very well<br />

18 weeks<br />

Ella is a tall bébé and at 18 weeks, her feet are already hanging out of her car seat!<br />

20 weeks<br />

• Started Jumpstart, Wednesdays, 11h45 – 12h30<br />

• Self-sooths with her thumb<br />

AUGUST 2011 – Week 21 – Week 25<br />

My first wedding ceremony<br />

Cousin Anne-Louise got married on Saturday, 6 August 2011 and <strong>ella</strong> received an invite too! So, in her little<br />

skirt and fancy leggings (from tannie pam), we tried to ‘dress her for the occasion’ It was a lovely day, out in<br />

the Breede River Valley and <strong>ella</strong> was so well behaved! It was also a fun time for her to meet all the aunts and<br />

uncles and she was a sweet social butterfly.


My first family holiday<br />

Our wedding anniversary is on 9 August and in South Africa, this is a public holiday – so we usually arrange our<br />

annual leave around this time. This year we celebrated six years and <strong>ella</strong> joined us, of course, in what turned<br />

out to be her first family holiday. Destination: Tulbagh in the Cape Winelands<br />

It was also <strong>ella</strong>’s 5 month old birthday on 9 August.<br />

The major ‘newness’ about having a five month old join us on holiday, was the packing!! And with this, we<br />

seriously have to think about getting a car with a bigger boot!!! (Let the saving begin!)


My first passport<br />

Yes, applied and received her little passport within two weeks. So, she’s ready to travel abroad...tiny problem<br />

of cash and leave...but hey, at least she’s ready! <br />

Brushing my teeth<br />

So we were told that you need to ‘brush their teeth’ before the real teeth arrive and we thought that at the<br />

rate of us administering the Gripe Water, we’d better get starting! So, we introduced her to her ‘toothpaste’<br />

aka xylitol and she loves it! Absolutely loves her ‘gum massage’. Apparently this needs to be done three times<br />

a day, but at this stage, one, max twice a day is what we’ve managed to do!<br />

My baptism<br />

On Sunday, 21 August 2011, <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe was baptised by Scott Tubman at St James Church, Kenilworth.<br />

It was SUCH a cold and rainy morning and our plans to have a tea afterwards in the Tubman garden, had to<br />

move to an indoor venue.<br />

There were lots to ‘prep’ in terms of the venue and the catering, but we had so many to help us out.<br />

Bible Study took care of the venue set-up and put up some <strong>ella</strong> pics too, which was special. And my aunt<br />

Cecilia, sorted a-l-l the catering. She baked it all in George and they drove through early Saturday morning! <br />

(Thanks C!!)<br />

<strong>ella</strong> was so well behaved and very chilled as Scott ensured that there was sufficient ‘pouring’ happening on her<br />

little head! I wondered if I should’ve offered him some shampoo! <br />

It was very special to share this moment with so many friends and family as we promised to keep praying that<br />

she will grow to know Jesus, to set a godly example for her and to instruct her in the word of God. Scott read<br />

Proverbs 14:26 for us too: ‘He who fears the LORD has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge’<br />

The other exciting thing is that <strong>ella</strong>’s godparents are Scott and Hayley Tubman!<br />

The only downside to the day, besides the freezing cold, was that Ouma Gerrie couldn’t be there. She had very<br />

bad flu and had to stay in bed


My first...S-O-L-I-D-S<br />

So it took quite some time and lots of thinking before we got everything sorted to start <strong>ella</strong> on solids. The<br />

confusion came with me having low milk supply – or so we thought – and my worry about storing enough<br />

expressed milk in preparation for my return to work on 1 September 2011. The paed suggested that we start<br />

with formula, to erase the ‘will I have enough expressed milk in stock’-panic and suggested we start with a<br />

week of formula and then introduce solids. BUT – I was very hesitant about starting formula, so tried to keep<br />

that as our very last option. Another ‘next step’ was then to start her on rice cereal and then move to first<br />

veggies. After attending the BabySense seminar and learning lots from the ‘weaning your baby’ talk, and after<br />

some comments by Sister St<strong>ella</strong>, we decided not to start <strong>ella</strong> on rice cereal, but veggies instead.<br />

So, Gina Ford to the rescue again with her ‘The Contented Little Baby Book of Weaning.<br />

And with very snazzy weaning equipment from Tash (thanks Tash!), a hand blender and a variety of veggies –<br />

according to BabySense and Gina’s suggestions – mom and I started the steaming, mushing and freezing<br />

process! It was quite fun. We prepared the following: Sweet Potato, Pear, Baby Marrow, Carrot and<br />

Butternut, ready to give her her first tastes on Wednesday, 24 August 2011.<br />

Gina’s schedule carefully explained the ‘how’ and Hayley helped me with this too.<br />

The first step was to introduce 1 tsp after the 11am feed for Days 1 – 3, then on Day 4, Pear enters her diet at<br />

this slot and then the 5pm slot starts.<br />

Her first taste of non-milk nutrition was Sweet Potato.


She did ssssoooo well, but made us laugh SO SO much! The way she pulled her little face and frowned as she<br />

came to grips with this funny new taste and texture was SO adorable!! LOVED watching her! She did not spit<br />

out any of it!! So proud of her! Subsequent to that (Days 3-5)...the tongue reflex kicked in and we had lots of<br />

food on the bib instead of in the mouth! <br />

The funniest moment with the first taste of Sweet Potato was the awesome ‘gril’ that happened several times!<br />

We laughed so hard!! <br />

We also tried to give her some water through a sippy cup – but for the moment, it is more fun to chew the teet<br />

than for her to try and drink some water!<br />

From Day 1 – she also wanted to hold the spoon herself, same with the sippy cup and it was interesting to see<br />

that she takes the spoon straight to the mouth and holds the sippy cup ‘properly’ too <br />

She is already on Day 5 of solids and today’s menu includes Pear and Baby Marrow.<br />

Both Ouma and Granny helped with these meals too; Ouma fed her some Baby Marrow and Granny gave her<br />

some Pear.<br />

So far so good. After the first day of solids she slept from 18h30 till 06h50 the next morning, day two the same<br />

happened. Day 3 she woke briefly at 4am, but we just re-wedged her, and she continued to sleep soundly. So,<br />

it seems as if we are moving towards ‘sleeping through’ .


BLISTERS FOR BREAD EVENT<br />

Uncle Gareth ensured that <strong>ella</strong> received a entry-number as well as we all participated in the Blisters for Bread<br />

event on Sunday, 28 August 2011. It co-insided with her 09h00 morning nap and we therefore enjoyed lovely<br />

stroll along the Sea Point promenade. The weather was fantastic and we made her wear her little adidas<br />

tracksuit that Gareth bought her.<br />

. . .more at this stage<br />

22 weeks (5 months and 1 week)<br />

• She reaches for her toys from all angles and picks them all up!<br />

• Started brushing her ‘teeth’<br />

23 weeks (5 months and 2 weeks)<br />

• <strong>ella</strong> has this little ‘pretend cough’ going – which makes her sound like an old little granny! She does it and<br />

then looks up and smiles as if to ask ‘did you guys hear that?! ‘ - such a little attention-seeker <br />

• when on her tummy, she balances on one elbow and then reaches for her toys hanging from the playgym<br />

• she takes her dummy out of her mouth and puts it back in again – and this is now turning into a little<br />

game!<br />

• She also started her ‘tantrums’ – when she drops a toy and cannot reach it, she gives this annoyed and<br />

frustrated little moan-cry (!) – until you give it back to her! Hmmm...guess we’ve got to step-in and stop<br />

these tantrums early!


24 weeks (5 months and 3 weeks)<br />

• Started solids – first food: Sweet Potato<br />

• Started a few mils of water<br />

• When on her bum, she is starting to lift her bum in the air, ready for the crawl...but the upper body is not<br />

strong enough yet...<br />

• Blowing sounds! Brrr-blow-blow<br />

• Quick, shallow breathing followed by big smiles <br />

• Funny nose-breathing sounds, followed by smiles<br />

THINGS SHE LOVES<br />

• Bath time<br />

When she’s in the water, she’s calm and quiet and very happy! Dad baths her and this is a very precious<br />

time for them!<br />

• The worm<br />

Gareth bought <strong>ella</strong> a worm-teddy and without fail, this worm makes her giggle with delight!<br />

• Heff<br />

At my babyshower, Jaco & Christie gave her a heffalump teddy. Heff is very important to us. He is in <strong>ella</strong>’s<br />

cot every evening and we move him from the left to the right side of the cot where she will be ‘facing’.<br />

(She sleeps on her side). Well, another important role that heff plays, is that he ‘sooths’ her. Whenever<br />

she cries or moans or need to be distracted...we call on Heff – and he’s our champ! Does the job, every<br />

time! Heff even joins us for Bible Stories!


• Bible Stories<br />

Every morning we read a Bible Story. We started with ‘The Big Picture Bible’ by David Helm that Anique<br />

gave us and already finished it! So, now we’re on to the next one Ella sits all cosy on the chair in her<br />

room and enjoys these!<br />

• Singing<br />

She enjoys ‘singing’ and her cute little humming sounds varies in tune <br />

• Smiling<br />

She loves to smile! Smiling at strangers, smiling at familiar faces, but her favourite smile of the day is<br />

when she sees Rich approaching after he’s been at work for the whole day! She just loves her dad sssooo<br />

much!<br />

• Cuddles and kisses<br />

She laughs out loud when you cuddle her tightly and kiss her belly and under her neck<br />

• Flying with dad<br />

She smiles from ear to ear when dad ‘flies’ her through the air and then drops her suddenly<br />

• Jumps on the bed<br />

She loves it when she’s on her back on our bed and we bounce her around<br />

• Assisted rolling<br />

Another way to get an instant smile is to keep her on her back and we twist her little legs from side to side<br />

• No clothes!<br />

She is happiest without her nappy<br />

• Chewing her blankies<br />

No matter which one…she just loves chewing them all!


THINGS SHE...WELL, DOES NOT LOVE THAT MUCH!<br />

• Post 18h15 feed<br />

Settling after her 18h15 feed is a mission. It’s the guaranteed cry of the day... Yes, it lasts only a few<br />

minutes, but man..a few minutes too long!<br />

• The dark<br />

From about 20 weeks, she started to get a bit ‘anxious’ and moaning when we took her into her dark room<br />

or if we drove into an underground parking lot – her eyes would get very big as she would try to adjust her<br />

focus, but if we were there for too long...she would start mini cries!<br />

• Getting dressed<br />

She doesn’t like this...despite rolling up the sleeves to get her arm in quicker, as soon as it goes over the<br />

head...she cries... but then thankfully...Heff comes to the rescue!<br />

• Praying<br />

Whenever we pray...she gets restless!<br />

• Tummy time<br />

Not her favourite, but lately, she seems to enjoy this much more! Her latest move is to stick her bum in<br />

the air and attempt to go forward, but, the upper body is not too strong, so she then slides her hands to<br />

the side and ‘swims’ instead!<br />

• Cleaning her nose<br />

Nope...don’t try it...there are often tears – but...sorry <strong>ella</strong>, the snotties have to leave that pretty face of<br />

yours, so clean ,we will clean!


ELLA AT THE MOMENT<br />

No...she does not sleep through! By sleeping through, we mean from 19h00 – 07h00. Although, last night<br />

was a first for us! She went to bed just before 18h30, and woke...06h52 yeah! So that was 12 hours and 22<br />

minutes <br />

Her ‘normal’ pattern includes waking up once in the night. Usually at 02h00 or 03h00, then settling again till<br />

07h15/07h30.<br />

This is an example of a typical day for us:<br />

07h15/30 – <strong>ella</strong> wakes, chats in cot, stretches<br />

07h45<br />

- feed, then she ‘chooses’ what to wear for the day, we change and dress her<br />

08h15/20 - Bible Stories in her room<br />

08h45 - get her ready for her morning nap of 45 minutes<br />

09h00 – 09h45 – she has her favourite nap of the day<br />

The next slot we normally have playtime of the play mat, tummy time...or attempted tummy time – she does<br />

not enjoy this, but is getting much better, or we’ll do songs or stories, etc.<br />

11h00 – feed, then chilled chats and then prepare her for her next nap<br />

12h00 – 14h00 – proud to say that she is starting to master this nap! Yeah – wakes at 13h00 briefly...then the<br />

dummy is our friend and she then continues her nap till about 14h00<br />

14h15 is our next feed and then we’ll go out or if we stay home, we will have play time again till it’s time for<br />

her next little nap.<br />

16h00 – 16h30/45 she has an added doedoe... then has quality time with dad<br />

17h45 – bath time<br />

18h15 – feed and then it’s the end of another lovely day! <br />

So that’s more or less our day. Depending on the day of the week, there are different to do’s as well, but this<br />

is basically our ‘routine’.<br />

And food-wise, to date, she’s already tasted sweet potato, pear, baby marrow and carrot. Let’s just say that<br />

we think carrot is not her favourite... <br />

She eats her SOLIDS after the 11am feed and at 17h00.<br />

___________________________


OTHER NEWS<br />

My maternity leave of six month is no more.... in a few days time, I return to work and 1 September 2011, that<br />

seemed ssssoooo far away, is only a few days away now! Mom goes back to the UAE on Friday, 2 September<br />

2011 and <strong>ella</strong> gets to go on her first weekend away with our Bible Study group in September!<br />

Life with a <strong>ella</strong> is great and every day is precious. Our God has truly blessed us so so much! We remain<br />

thankful!<br />

Love,<br />

-rich,meryl&<strong>ella</strong>-<br />

SOME ‘STATS’<br />

Ella’s weight<br />

age date weight comment<br />

1 Birth Wed, 9 March 2011 3.210kg Yeah, healthy and beautiful! <br />

2 3 days old Sat, 12 March 2011 3.000kg Out of hospital weight<br />

3 1 week, 1 day Thurs, 17 March 2011 3.220kg Gained 220grams in 5 days<br />

4 2 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 24 March 2011 3.460kg Gained 240grams in 7 days<br />

5 3 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 31 March 2011 3.680kg Gained 220grams in 7 days<br />

6 4 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 7 April 2011 2.940kg Gained 260grams in 7 days<br />

7 6 weeks Wed, 20 April 2011 4.300kg Gained 193grams per week<br />

8 8 weeks Wed, 4 May 2011 4.710kg Gained 205grams per week<br />

9 10 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 19 May 2011 5.020kg Broke the 5kg mark! <br />

10 12 weeks, 5 days Monday, 6 June 2011 5.540kg and counting!<br />

1 13 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 9 June 2011 5.60kg<br />

2 15 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 23 June 2011 5.960kg<br />

3 18 weeks, 2 days Friday, 15 July 2011 6.280kg Gained 320 grams in 3 weeks...not much...<br />

4 20 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 28 July 2011 6.540kg 62 cm length and 38cm head<br />

At birth: 49cm and 32cm head<br />

5 23 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 18 July 2011 6.740kg Gained 200grams in 3 weeks<br />

3-month update<br />

• 15 days - umbilical cord fell off<br />

• 2 weeks - started dummy! (on official due date, 22 march 2011)<br />

• 4 weeks - dreaded baby acne starts!<br />

• 7.5 weeks - first ‘official’ smile<br />

• 8 weeks - dropped the 10h30 feed<br />

• 9.5 weeks - chewing, smacking sounds started | coo-ing and chats | sleep 7pm – 4am!<br />

• 10 weeks - broke 5kg mark (5.020kg)<br />

• 10.5 weeks - starting to lose a lot of hair – ‘bald patches’ <br />

• 11 weeks - blowing bubbles with her spit<br />

• 13 weeks - ‘loud’ laughs<br />

_________________


5-month update<br />

• 14 weeks - moved to the big bath<br />

• 15 Weeks - audible laughs, shout/scream/vibrating-tongue laugh<br />

• 15.5 weeks - pre-sleep-singing-sounds<br />

• 15.5 weeks - moved to nappy size #3<br />

• 16 weeks - continuous chats and ‘responding-chats’ with ‘hello’ sounds<br />

• 16.5 weeks - marriage proposal from Benjamin James Tubman<br />

• 17 weeks - first time ‘playing’ the piano’<br />

• 17 weeks - touching her toes, sucking her left thumb, mega drooling started<br />

• 17 weeks - first time Avent bottle – went very well (4 month birthday, 9 July 2011)<br />

• 18 weeks - feet hanging out of her car seat<br />

• 20 weeks - started Jumpstart and masters self-sooth with her own thumb<br />

• 22 weeks - stretches for toys from all angles and picks them up herself<br />

• 22 weeks - when we cover her face with a cloth, she can take it off by herself<br />

• 23 weeks - first passport arrived<br />

• 23 weeks - ‘pretend’-old-lady-cough, reaches for playgym objects with one hand whilst<br />

balancing on her elbow, ‘tantrums’ when she drops her toy and can’t see it<br />

• 23 weeks - puts dummy back by herself, takes it in and out by herself<br />

• 24 weeks - started solids! First food: sweet potato, first sips of water too<br />

• 24 weeks - bum in the air when on tummy, ready to move forward<br />

• 24 weeks - blowing sounds, quick, shallow breathing plus smiles, funny nose-breathing sounds,<br />

followed by smiles<br />

_________________________


FOUR MONTHS OLD


FIVE MONTHS OLD


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> 8 months-


Sunday, 4 Decembe 2011<br />

<strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe<br />

<strong>ella</strong> is 38 weeks old! That’s also how long she’s been INSIDE my belly for! Time has gone by so so<br />

quickly, but what great weeks we’ve had! 38 weeks is almost 9 months!<br />

On 9 December 2011, she’ll be 9 months old!<br />

Every day she makes us laugh more and our love for her deepens. She’s our cutest bebblee-boo and<br />

waking her up every morning (or listening to her cheerful chats in her cot as she wakes) and seeing her<br />

excited smile, remains very special!<br />

Three months have passed since the last update. Yes, she sits. Yes, she stands..sort of. Yes, she chats<br />

alot, but no, no, no...she does not crawl...yet. She is just not interested! She rolls like crazy and even<br />

chills on her tummy for long. But that’s it. More than that she doesn’t do. She ‘swims’ on her tummy –<br />

legs and arms in the air and when she’s had enough, she puts her head in her arms and pretends to cry<br />

as if her world has ended! And then, she looks up, and rolls over and smiles. I take it she’s trying to say,<br />

‘chill parents...this crawling-thing is not for me...yet!’<br />

Other than that, here’s what’s been happening in the life of our mooiste, liefste, cuteste, beste <strong>ella</strong><br />

mireille rabe!<br />

SEPTEMBER 2011 – Weeks 25 – 29<br />

Back to Work...but not for long...<br />

Six months maternity leave has come and gone! Soooo quickly though!! In my head, September always<br />

seemed ffffaaaaarrrrrr away, and being home with <strong>ella</strong> was just so special. New, different kind of<br />

exciting, but oh so special.<br />

So, here we were finding ourselves working out what we will be doing with <strong>ella</strong> when I get back to the<br />

office. The main thing was not so much ‘who’ to leave her with, but more ‘how will I work out all her<br />

feeds!’ She’s been great with the bottle, when we tried it at four months – just to see if she’ll take it –<br />

and so, we were hoping this time round, she’ll have no issues either. And, she was fine. It was working<br />

out when and how much to express that was the stressful bit. At times, after expressing for so long, I<br />

would only get a whopping...60ml... and that was a good day! So, I was very worried about whether I<br />

would have enough milk expressed for her, to avoid the formula route; which in my head was even<br />

more complicated!! But, God was gracious and it all worked out fine! The two weeks before returning I<br />

expressed whenever I could and when I was back at the office, whenever it was her feeding time, I<br />

would express then! So it all worked out okay! But what a mission!!


Mom was still in South Africa on 1 September 2011 – so she looked after <strong>ella</strong> for the first day. Rich had<br />

one of his fantastic ‘off-Fridays’, meaning that he was off from work, so he looked after her on Friday, 2<br />

September 2011, took 3 leave days the next week and the following Thursday and Friday, <strong>ella</strong> was in the<br />

competent care of her godparents, Scott and Hayley! Even Ben helped with the feeds! And upon<br />

reading her a story, apparently he said excitedly ‘look dad, <strong>ella</strong> can page by herself...I am impressed!’ <br />

- so cute!<br />

Granny feeding <strong>ella</strong><br />

Ella with the Tubmans: Scott, Jem & Ben<br />

Day 1 at the office was lovely and seeing my colleagues again was just as nice! They put Welcome back<br />

posters up in the reception and printed <strong>ella</strong> pics for my desk. Loved my barberton daisies too! <br />

However, during my maternity leave months, Rich and I were more and more convinced that me, being<br />

home with <strong>ella</strong>, is what we want for our family and even though financially it is tricky, we were willing to<br />

make certain sacrifices in order for us to go this route.


My UIF payments has been a great help for the first four months, my company paid 75% of my salary for<br />

months 1 – 3 and as of month 5, it was one salary for the Rabes! <br />

So, at the end of the day, I handed in my resignation letter, and after 6 years and 4 months at Cape<br />

Town Routes Unlimited, I resigned. I had stacks of leave due to me though and accumulated annual<br />

leave during my maternity leave months too. Our company ‘policy’ is that when you resign, you leave<br />

‘earlier’ if you have leave due to you, instead of being paid out for your leave. So, that meant that<br />

Friday, 9 September 2011, would be my last working day. This was also the date of Gareth’s 26th<br />

birthday and <strong>ella</strong>’s 6 month birthday! And that in turn meant that I only had 7 working days! Loved it!!<br />

Bible Study Group Weekend Away<br />

Our Bible Study group meets at our place every Wednesday evening. We love Wednesday evenings and<br />

Rich works so hard at preparing the Bible Studies for us! They love <strong>ella</strong> so much too – but the down side<br />

of meeting on a Wednesday evening – is that, by the time they arrive here at 19h15, she is asleep! What<br />

they do though, without fail, and led by Leroy – is go into her room and watch her, asleep and<br />

peaceful...well, until some of them can’t resist the temptation and touch her hand or foot... but, she<br />

continues to sleep though!...fortunately! They often say ‘We never see <strong>ella</strong> awake!’, so a ‘weekend<br />

away’, with them and <strong>ella</strong>, was a real treat for all of us, because they could ‘see <strong>ella</strong> awake’ and she<br />

could meet these wonderful people who have been praying for her since she’s been in the womb! We<br />

stayed at a lovely place in Riebeek-Wes, just outside Cape Town and it was also the first time that <strong>ella</strong><br />

shared a room with us - in a cot though, but still, sleeping in the same room as her, was lovely, but<br />

weird .


First non-family babysitters<br />

We treated ourselves to a night at the theatre and watched Fiddler-on-the-roof with the parents, so for<br />

the first time, we needed non-family babysitters to hang at our place, and be around, in case <strong>ella</strong> woke<br />

up . [On Sunday nights, nanny Irma looks after her at Scott&Hayley’s house, but to us, that counts as<br />

family]<br />

So, <strong>ella</strong> was lucky to have Danni and Leroy volunteer! We, the parents were a tad nervous when Leroy<br />

told us that he might be the baby-waker, and not the babysitter...and I wondered if we would return<br />

home and find Leroy having fat chats with <strong>ella</strong> instead of letting her sleep! <br />

But, we had NOTHING to worry about and it was so nice to know that they we more than happy to look<br />

after <strong>ella</strong>! (Wait for our next call, dudes!)<br />

Callum Lester Timothy<br />

We had a very, very sad time at the end of September. On Saturday, 24 September 2011, I got a call to<br />

go over to Kingsbury Hospital right away, as my cousin, Andrea, was apparently in labour. Her husband<br />

Lester was on a team build in Tulbagh at the time and after hearing the news of Annie in Hospital, he<br />

rushed back to Cape Town. Despite being due in January 2012 only, Andrea went into active labour at<br />

24 weeks. They managed to ‘stop’ active labour and transfered her to Constantiaberg later that<br />

evening, as Kingsbury was full. It was with great, great sadness that we learned that the next morning,<br />

little Callum Lester Timothy’s heart had stopped beating. We were all devastated. These are some of<br />

the things that keep on reminding us that we live ‘this side of heaven’, in a fallen world and that there<br />

are so many things that we just don’t understand. We know though that God remains Sovereign and we<br />

know that we can trust Him fully. It was super sad. Andrea and Lester were amazingly strong and we<br />

continue to pray for them.<br />

When C and uncle Calvin were down for the funeral, they were kind enough to babysit <strong>ella</strong> for an<br />

afternoon, at Gar’s flat. They were also brave enough to feed her her solids


Antenatal Reunion<br />

We really enjoyed our antenatal classes and since the births of our little ones, we’ve been in regular<br />

contact with one another through group-emails and exchanged many, many tips and worries! We met<br />

up when all the bebes were around 6 weeks and at the end of September, we got together again. It was<br />

so lovely to see that by now of course everyone was six months old already. Some crawling already, the<br />

rest just-just starting to figure out the sitting thing, whilst others were waxed on solids by this stage!<br />

Marcin, Marek’s dad, is ‘our photographer’ – he captures these gettogethers for us and generously<br />

sends us the links. Look at some of these great shots, by Marcin!


Fat chats and very happy sounds<br />

Ella has so many ‘happy chats’ – but the more she is discovering her little voice, the louder, more<br />

frequent and more delightful these chats become! Her little tongue vibrates, she kicks her feet and<br />

shakes her arms as the sound screeches from her tiny body!<br />

more at this stage:<br />

Week 25<br />

• Back to the bottle, whilst mamma goes back to work<br />

• First time that <strong>ella</strong> shared a room with us, for one night<br />

Week 26<br />

• Dr Bailey visit, weighing 7.63kg and 68 cm. [At birth, she was 3.210 kg and 32cm]<br />

Week 27 [6 months, week 1]<br />

• She tossed the dummy. Not interested in having it anymore. Her thumb is now her soother and<br />

we’re very happy about this! No more...oops, we didn’t sterilize the dummy-moments! And about<br />

sterilizing...at 6 months, we packed the sterilizer away!<br />

Week 28 [6 months, week 2]<br />

• She can finally sit by herself for long periods of time! Inspired by ‘sitting with’ Cameron Parker,<br />

she’s got this sitting thing waxed now! This also now means that she can sit up in her cot ‘on her<br />

own’<br />

• She also claps her hands against your hand, if you hold it up in front of her – or claps it on her lap.<br />

Clapping hands by herself, she has not yet mastered!


Week 29 [6 months, week 3]<br />

• Finds the labels on toys, blankies and sucks them<br />

• She discovered her wrists and that they can ‘twist’ – so, you’ll find her sitting quietly and twisting<br />

her little wrists<br />

• She also has this thing where, just before she falls asleep, with a fat smile, she will move her head<br />

from side to side, quite quickly – a few times, and then settle...<br />

• When you show her her little green blanky, with the colourful characters, her little face lights up.<br />

Same goes for the big teddy bear, of which she has two, in fact. One from tannie Helena and one<br />

from Dani T.<br />

• She does this funny thing with her nose and breaths in and out quite quickly. It is hilarious. As if<br />

she’s sniffing!<br />

OCTOBER 2011 – Weeks 30 - 33<br />

Coldplay<br />

Finally, it was 5 October 2011 and after seeing Coldplay LIVE at Werchter, Belgium in 2003, they were<br />

finally visiting our city! The Tubman’a Avanza transported 7 of us to the concert and despite having<br />

average seats at an expensive price (!), we loved the concert! Oupa and Ouma Rabe were super kind to<br />

babysit, despite knowing that we would get back at 1am only (!). baie dankie!!


First Protein<br />

So this whole feeding chapter is more tricky than I imagined, just because I have certain irrational things<br />

that I don’t want to budge on too early. No ‘scientific’ reasons, just a ‘thing’. One of it is the fact that I<br />

don’t want to introduce animal protein too early and another is that I want to keep her off dairy<br />

forever...(note: my ‘issues’ – Rich is all for dairy!) Anyway, so, to start the protein journey, we<br />

introduced Lentils on 12 October 2011, when she turned 31 weeks.<br />

Oh how funny when she tasted it for the first time! But, as with all the foods she’s had thus far, she<br />

finished the entire portion, so we were chuffed!<br />

So, the next few protein items will include chickpeas and quinoa. And after chatting to a friend, we’re<br />

going to brave the animal protein once she has her first tooth, cause apparently they then have the right<br />

enzymes to help with digestion, bla-bla... whether it is true or not, that’s now our plan.<br />

Other solids update<br />

So, to date, <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe has had: sweet potato, butternut, pumpkin, carrot, baby marrow, gem<br />

squash, lentils, apple, pear and papaya.<br />

The food that she is not particularly crazy about, is the papaya...it is sssssssoooooooooo funny to see her<br />

pull her little face as soon as the tastebuds register that ‘oh boy...it’s that fruit again!’ <br />

Breakfast.... um... she hasn’t had solids for breakfast yet. Partly because she doesn’t moan before her<br />

11h00 feed and another reason is realising that man...when will there be ‘time’ between her milk feed<br />

at 07h30 and her 09h00 nap to still fit in a breakfast meal! But... we’ll try this out during her 8th month.<br />

Breakfast ideas are also a thing that I am unsure about, but I am going to go with Jo du Plessis’ idea of<br />

brown rice and pear for breakfast. Excited to try this! Don’t want to do cereals...another unexplainable<br />

‘thing’...


Art Jamming<br />

I love ArtJamming! We had such fun with Ben and Jemma there before and we were very keen to get<br />

<strong>ella</strong>’s handprint on canvas. So, we missioned through to Cape Quarter (this time checking when they are<br />

open and when they close, as Gareth, <strong>ella</strong> and I made a trip there before, only to find that they were not<br />

open!) We laughed so much, because our little seven month old has an automatic hand to mouth<br />

action! And with red paint on her hand, this was something we wanted to avoid big time. Therefore,<br />

we needed extra hands and uncle Gareth was key to our success of getting her little hand onto the<br />

canvas She just wanted to ‘close’ her hand once she touched the canvas...so we had to re-do the<br />

smudged print several times! By the time she made a handprint on Gareth’s canvas, she was a pro


dad, <strong>ella</strong>, mamma<br />

uncle gareth & <strong>ella</strong><br />

First Swimming Lesson<br />

So Kitty was instrumental in helping us out with swimming lesson options in the Southern Suburbs and<br />

our first lesson was on Monday, 24 October 2011. Andrea got held up at work and couldn’t join us for<br />

this momentous occasion , but uncle Gareth managed to sort out his plans and pop in!<br />

It’s an indoor pool and heated to 30’C and the class has max 6 babies per lesson. Our instructor is<br />

Laurelle and the way the class is presented is very relaxed, with singing as we get into things.<br />

Ella l-o-v-e-d it...as in totally! As soon as we hit the water, after her perplexed look at this enourmous<br />

‘bath’ – she started splashing her hands, making little happy sounds and when it came to kicking, she<br />

was a pro. She kicked beautifully! So, all the kicking at home – whether it is on her change mat or<br />

playmat or on stage before her baptism or in her car seat or, in fact anywhere – kicking is her thing, so<br />

now that she entered the swimming pool, her legs are very happy indeed!


The lesson is 30 minutes long and man...those last ten minutes take quite a toll on my very unfit body,<br />

but it is great! Having sore thighs the next day is totally worth it. So, Mondays, 10h15 – 10h45, at<br />

Tugboats Swimming School, Kenilworth, is where we hang out! <br />

Being sick....for real<br />

So it started with a runny nose and a wheezy chest. Then the runny nose became a very runny nose and<br />

by this time, both nostrils were involved Wednesday turned into Thursday and by now, <strong>ella</strong> started<br />

being a bit lethargic, her big, round...not fat – cheeks were r-e-a-l-l-y saggy and she was less bubbly. By<br />

Friday she was hot – but not so that we bothered with taking her temperature. [New lesson, right<br />

there!] We had supper with the parents on Friday and she wasn’t very friendly and wasn’t interest in<br />

eating solids either. We had more night wakings, with anxious screams and hystrics, we realised that<br />

she was just not well. After coming home from her friend Sadie-Mia’s birthday party on Saturday, we<br />

decided to take her temperature. 39.8’C. We then happily dosed her with panado to try and get<br />

temperature down, and Saturday night, <strong>ella</strong> woke so many times! After seeing the GP on Monday, he<br />

said, it seems we’re over the worst and did not really diagnose it. But when we saw more of fine rash<br />

appear on the back and tummy, we made an appointment to see our paediatrician. In the end, it was<br />

roseola – baby measles! By the time the rash appears, then they’re on the mend. But shame...she was<br />

so so sick and lethargic and we only saw a few smiles in those 5 days. She was really ‘clingy’ and we<br />

could not wait for this to pass quickly! But, she survived it and that’s one baby-illness ticked off our list!


Week 30 [6 months, week 4]<br />

• Brrrr-sounds, with mega, giga amounts of spit – is a firm favourite at this stage.<br />

• She also says ‘hello’ – well, she doesn’t SAY it – but when you say ‘hello’ she immitates with the<br />

same tone and ‘hello-sound’. This is also the first time I heard her ‘try’ ‘mamma’ – but this was<br />

during a cry, so not sure...<br />

• When I tickle her legs with my ponytail, she cracks herself! So cute to see!<br />

Week 31 [7 months, week 1]<br />

• Started rolling on the changemat<br />

• First protein introduced. Lentils. Not animal protein. To date, not yet introduced that!<br />

• Discovered that she could say pppprrrrr in a very high pitched tone...and love the sound of her own<br />

voice!<br />

Week 32 [7 months, week 2]<br />

• Introduced steamed carrots as finger food. She was sssooo good with this. Gripped the carrots<br />

between he little fingers, despite it being quite slippery on her bumbo tray, and then lifting it to her<br />

mouth by herself and eating it! Like she’s always done this! <br />

• Started saying da-da-da-da, in a gentle whisper.<br />

• Bad habit number one: spitting... well, more like brrr so much that the spit drips from her lips. Now<br />

combine that with some food in her mouth and you get a total mess! She spits it out e-v-e-r-y-w-he-r-e!<br />

Had her first little ‘talking to’ about this!<br />

• Finally intoduced a ‘doedoe-thing’. We’ve up to this point, not given her anything to go ‘to bed with<br />

her’, but now that the dummy is no longer in the picture, we’ve given her her taglet, that Anique<br />

gave her, and now, it goes to bed with her for every nap. When you give it to her, she automatically<br />

sucks her thumb and knows that it is doedoe time.


• She’s a real little lady. And lately, she looks even cuter when she sits quitely and folds her arms, like<br />

a real little lady!<br />

• This is also the week where we realised that she throws little tantrums or bursts out crying when<br />

you sometimes take something away from her. Eg, on the change table, when she’d reach for the<br />

bum creme jar, and I would take it away, she’d often throw a little tantrum! [is this not too early for<br />

these?!!]<br />

Week 33 [7 months, week 3]<br />

• She started to give spontaneous, open-mouth, VERY wet kisses!! Love it!! She ‘pulls’ you towards<br />

herself and goes for it! When she pulls my hair to get my head closer, it’s less fun, but love these<br />

nonetheless!<br />

• She ‘shakes’ on command. When you say ‘shake, shake, shake’ – then, she shakes her rattle <br />

• First swimming lesson


NOVEMBER 2011 – Weeks 34 - 38<br />

Bubbles<br />

Ella was really perplexed when I introduced her to ‘bubbles’. She just sat there, confused and fascinated<br />

at the same time and only after like the 50th bubble had floated above her head, did she reach out for<br />

it! And thereafter, the fun started and the smiles kicked in. The thing that made it more cool, was that<br />

we did it...in the lounge and not outside [sorry dad!] <br />

360 sippy cup<br />

At the Toddler Sense workshop, I saw this 360 sippy cup. It has no spout and you can drink from<br />

anywhere along the rim of the cup. Although it is recommened from 9 months only, we tried it early, as<br />

the sippy cup with teet, was more of a chewy-toy than an effective way of getting water down her<br />

throat! So, day by day, she’s getting better at mastering her 360 sippy cup!


Little Big Walk<br />

Although I was asleep in my pram for most of it...it was fun and I loved the medal at the end. Not<br />

because of the fact that I finished, but because it was a great teething tool! Thanks uncle Gareth for my<br />

entry!<br />

The way I wake up<br />

Man...since hitting 8 months, <strong>ella</strong> wakes up in all sorts of positions in the morning! Her head will be<br />

where her feet is supposed to be, or she will have her feet in the top corner of the cot or she would<br />

wake up horizontally! She also reaches for the side of the cot and flicks her little legs onto the side as<br />

well. We then realised...it is time to lower the cot. So, at 35weeks, that’s what we did! The ‘sad part’<br />

is that now, when she sits up in her cot, she can’t ‘see over the top end’ anymore and smile at herself in<br />

the mirror in her room!


My first...wait for it...tooth!<br />

So, we brush her teeth every morning, but I did not feel a thing! It was only after her having opened her<br />

mouth SUPER WIDE, in anticipation of devouring the gem squash on the spoon that was heading for her<br />

mouth, that I spotted it! A tiny, white tooth It was ssssoooo exciting!!! She just turned 8 months the<br />

day before and here, to celebrate it, the little tooth appeared! Too cute! And, tooth number two will be<br />

visible any day now...<br />

Jumpstart & Standing!<br />

We love Jumpstart! This term, her class was no longer called the ‘pre-crawlers’, but they were now the<br />

‘movers’ Too cute! Although, she is the youngest in her class and still NOT keen on the crawling<br />

thing! But, she ‘moves’ in terms of bouncing on the spot, flapping her arms and rolling big time It’s<br />

just the crawling that she is not keen on. She loves to stand and the other day we put her up against the<br />

couch to check out this desire to stand and voila...she did it...for a good few seconds!


So, Jumpstart is really a fun little class and we end each class with a lovely story. Ella concentates so<br />

beautifully for the story, every week, despite Jumpstart being slap bang in the middle of her aftenoon<br />

doedoe time! Once a Term, they have Dad’s day and <strong>ella</strong> was very, very happy to have her dad do the<br />

class with her! So precious to see the two of them together! <br />

More friends...Luke Liam Lindenberg & Playdates<br />

We were delighted to meet Mark & Cathy’s handsome Luke Liam Lindenberg! He is SO adorable and we<br />

can’t wait for many more playdates! We are also excited about the mini-Husted that is due to arrive in<br />

the next few weeks!<br />

We’ve also always enjoyed our playdates with beautiful Sadie-Mia and thanks to fun times with Marek<br />

Kowalski, <strong>ella</strong> was introduced to a sandpit and some mudcakes! <br />

She’s also had some great playdates with Emje, Misha, Callum, Oscar and Milea.<br />

Turning 31 & ‘words’<br />

I had such a lovely birthday! And it was really, really special to celebrate it with <strong>ella</strong> too Our initial<br />

plan was to go up Table Mountain, as it is free on your birthday and it would be <strong>ella</strong>’s first time, of<br />

course – but the weather was horrible and the cable car was closed for the day. Instead, we had a lovely<br />

picnic the day before, when it was 31’C – at a market in Rondebosch, very chilled, with lovely teetjies<br />

and on my birthday we went for breakfast, tea and more tea with the cousins at the Vineyard before<br />

heading off to church that evening. LOVED it!


At the market, Anique ‘taught’ her how to string together all the ‘ba’ sounds and make a ‘continuous<br />

sentence’ – so ever since then, she manages to say ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba continuously! She has the<br />

most beautiful, gentle little voice! She also managed to say ‘p’s’ – so she’ll go p-p-p-p, almost in like a<br />

whispery-voice and now and then pappa – pops out! She can do da-da-da-da – and Rich claimed it as<br />

her saying dad <br />

On Sunday night though – we were having Thai with the Tubmans after church and <strong>ella</strong> suddenly cried<br />

quite anxiously. When I went into the room and picked her up, I am very sure she said ‘mamma’ – it was<br />

super special! And on my birthday nogals! <br />

Week 34 [7 months, week 4]<br />

• We showed her how to make a sound with our index fingers on her lip. Too cute! She then also<br />

started doing it herself, and does it on command!<br />

• Dr Bailey visit: 7.63kg and 68cm. This is when she had her baby measles...poor bebe <br />

• Tried 360 sippy cup for the first time


Week 35 [7 months, week 5]<br />

Lowered her cot!<br />

8 months, week 1<br />

• 11/11/11 – removed her sleeping wedges – and just put her down on her side, without the<br />

wedges...<br />

• Reaches for the butterflies from her change mat<br />

• Loves it when we make a ‘tent’ with the blankies


• Book with ‘lift-the-flaps’ – she is such a pro!<br />

Week 36 [8 months, week 2]<br />

• All sorts of sounds are coming out of her little mouth. The hit this week: squeek, squeek sounds!<br />

Like a little mouse!<br />

• Also discovered that she can open and shut her eyes real fast and squeeze her eyes closed. Very<br />

funny to see!<br />

• She can stand! Well...assisted by the couch!<br />

• p-p-p-p- and pappa sounds and continuous sentence of ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. Also, a brief<br />

‘mamma’ on 20 November <br />

• Loves to roll and turn on tummy in cot


Week 37 [8 months, week 2]<br />

• My first encouter with sand...fun in the Kowalski-sandpit!<br />

Week 38 [8 months, week 3]<br />

First time up Table Mountain!! [pics to come in next update!]


Lately. . .<br />

Finally...my hair is starting to grow – hooorrraaayyyy!! I love pulling on my hair when I have my last<br />

feed just before bedtime, I love drooling all over my bath-books and then smeering the drool into my<br />

hair and I love the funky curl at the back of my head that’s there whenever I wake up <br />

Books, books, books. Any book. But oh...the book with the flaps!!! My ultimate favourite!<br />

She is really good with the peeka-boo lift-the-flap books. She reaches for the flaps by herself and knows<br />

exactly where they are on each page! She LOVES these! And we love seeing her reaction as she<br />

discovers the pic behind the flap So super cute!!<br />

On command....<br />

• When I say ‘where are your butterflies’ – then she looks up at her butterfly mobile and even does b-<br />

b-b-b<br />

• When I say ‘shake, shake, shake’ – she shakes her little maraka(?)/rattle or little cat ball with bell in<br />

the middle<br />

• When I say ‘look at me’ – she turns her head and looks Same with ‘look up, up, up’ Thinks she<br />

even tries to say ‘up’!<br />

• When I touch her little lip with my finger and go b-b-b-b – she plays along and goes b-b-b-b-b –<br />

AND, she can do it on her own too! <br />

She likes<br />

• Milla, her donkey/giraffe/soft-toy that Pam gave her, always travels in her car seat with her.<br />

• Kicking! This is her favourite thing. Kicking. She’s a champion ‘kicker’. And, bathtime is a very wet<br />

and splashy affair lately!


• Turning onto her tummy whilst on the changemat!<br />

• When I tickle her legs with my hair – she loves it and laughs everytime!<br />

• On the bed, nappy off, on a fleesy blanky, just before bathtime – she goes wild! Rolling, kicking,<br />

laughing out loud, smiling from ear to ear...this is one of her favourite times of the day!<br />

• Her green blanky with the colourful prints and when we make a little tent for her she squeels with<br />

delight!<br />

• The warm water bottle with the hearts-print: makes her smile and gets excited, every time!<br />

• Mr Penguin – that’s the pic on her toothpaste tube. In the mornings, after her feed, we ‘call’ Mr<br />

Penguin...and then he ‘appears’ and we then brush her teeth. When she sees ‘him’ – she kicks her<br />

legs and smiles ever so broadly! She loves having her teeth brushed.<br />

• Dancing with dad...to the blues...<br />

• When dad throws her up in the air


• Labels, labels, labels...and buttons! Whatever the toy, if it has a label, she will find it and suck it!<br />

Whether it is her blanky or a bib or any toy...if there’s a label, she will turn the toy till she finds it and<br />

then suck on it And when she spots a button, she will gently touch it with her index finger <br />

Not a fan. . .<br />

• At swimming, there’s one activity where you put them on the side of the pool and sing Humpty<br />

Dumpty before counting 1-2-3 and then you lift them back into the water. She does not like this!!<br />

She cries every time! But, as soon as she is back in the water, she is happy again...weird!<br />

• Paw-Paw...can’t say that she’s a fan...we’ve tried to perservere, but she just does not enjoy it <br />

• Cleaning her nose...this seemed to go well for a while, but lately again...it’s a mission to clean her<br />

nose!<br />

SOME ‘STATS’<br />

<strong>ella</strong>’s weight<br />

age date weight comment<br />

1 Birth Wed, 9 March 2011 3.210kg Yeah, healthy and beautiful! <br />

2 3 days old Sat, 12 March 2011 3.000kg Out of hospital weight<br />

3 1 week, 1 day Thurs, 17 March 2011 3.220kg Gained 220grams in 5 days<br />

4 2 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 24 March 2011 3.460kg Gained 240grams in 7 days<br />

5 3 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 31 March 2011 3.680kg Gained 220grams in 7 days<br />

6 4 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 7 April 2011 2.940kg Gained 260grams in 7 days<br />

7 6 weeks Wed, 20 April 2011 4.300kg Gained 193grams per week<br />

8 8 weeks Wed, 4 May 2011 4.710kg Gained 205grams per week<br />

9 10 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 19 May 2011 5.020kg Broke the 5kg mark! <br />

10 12 weeks, 5 days Monday, 6 June 2011 5.540kg and counting!<br />

1 13 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 9 June 2011 5.60kg<br />

2 15 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 23 June 2011 5.960kg<br />

3 18 weeks, 2 days Friday, 15 July 2011 6.280kg Gained 320 grams in 3 weeks...not much...<br />

4 20 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 28 July 2011 6.540kg 62 cm length and 38cm head<br />

At birth: 49cm and 32cm head<br />

5 23 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 18 August 2011 6.740kg Gained 200grams in 3 weeks<br />

1 28 weeks, 1 day [6 mths, week 3] Thurs, 22 September 2011 7.220kg<br />

2 30 weeks, 1 day [6 mths, week 5] Thurs, 6 October 2011 7.380kg<br />

3 34 weeks [7 mths, week 4] Tuesday, 2 November 2011 7.630kg 68cm


six months


seven months


eight months


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> 9, 10, 11 months-


Thursday, 16 February 20102<br />

We’re weeks (and by the time this reaches you, HOURS) away from <strong>ella</strong>’s FIRST birthday.<br />

It’s just UNbelievable!! Last year this time we were still planning our<br />

Bible Study group’s last weekend away before <strong>ella</strong>’s arrival and I<br />

couldn’t wait for my maternity leave to start . And now…now, we’re<br />

talking about whether or not we should allow her to eat some of her<br />

birthday cake! <br />

The past three months have been great and <strong>ella</strong> has grown very TALL. She still only weighs just over 8kg,<br />

but those adorable feet are hanging out the car seat and she is too tall for some of her doedoe-baggies<br />

too!<br />

She’s on the move…well…in her own <strong>ella</strong>-way, so hopefully the end of February will see her crawl<br />

‘properly’.<br />

Here’s what’s been happening since our last update went out at the end of November 2011:<br />

DECEMBER 2011 – Weeks 38 - 42<br />

Playdates, Playdates, Playdates<br />

We love playdates! Well, they don’t really ‘interact ‘ with one another, but they chill side by side and<br />

share toys We’ve spent time with Marek Kowalski, Ella-from-the-North, who is Birgit and Ntseke’s<br />

litte one who was still in Birgit’s belly at the time of chilling with uncle Ntseke, Oscar,Milea, Callum,<br />

McKenzie, Leah, Mischa, Tannie Gillian, Tannie Kim and of course, the friend we hang with every week,<br />

the beautiful Sadie-Mia who says ‘hello <strong>ella</strong>’ in her cute little voice!


Ella also often has coffee dates with tannie Itumeleng en tannie Riana and was spoiled with a full day<br />

visit from Jo!<br />

But, our ‘biggest playdate’ since the last update, was time with. . .


The NEWILLS!!!<br />

Craig & Kerry visited (uiteindelik) after being in Perth for the past two years and it was<br />

ssssssssoooooooooooooooooooooo great to see them and to spend time with them. SO great! We<br />

miss having them around, but when they visited, it actually felt as if they had never left. They just ‘fitted<br />

right back in’, so much so, that when we saw them in church, and felt like they were there every Sunday!<br />

<br />

We had a lovely lunch with the Newills and the Tubmans and also squeezed in a dinner date with Craig<br />

and Kerry and like always, ended up on the couch talking and talking and talking and talking and wishing<br />

we had days to just keep on talking! LOVED time with them.<br />

Of course Jesse is all grown-up now and the fact that Emma-Kate, who was about a four-month old baby<br />

when they left, is now a little girl is just incredible. And Becky is more gorgeous than ever!<br />

Hopefully, Cape Town will now be their annual holiday destination (hehe).<br />

They also gave Ella this awesome book called<br />

‘Fool Moon Rising’ about how the moon boasts<br />

because of all that he can do – controlling the<br />

tides, etc – until he realises that his light comes<br />

from the Sun – beautiful story and we read it<br />

for about 9 weeks every morning. As soon as I<br />

show her the cover, she smiles and as we read,<br />

she is so so happy and stares at each page with<br />

huge smiles!!<br />

Table Mountain…<br />

So, we chose the hottest day of 2011 to go up Table Mountain! Initially, we planned to take <strong>ella</strong> up<br />

on my birthday, because one gets a free ride up the Mountain on your birthday, but the weather was<br />

horrible and the Mountain was closed for the day. Hence, our trip in December.<br />

So, with our sunhats and lots of water, we made the trip with uncle Gareth, Ilse, Annie and Lester.<br />

Ella LOVED it. She was pouched in the Kango Pouch and from the moment the cable car moved, her<br />

little legs went kicking away from excitement. She looked arounds, smiled loads and just carried on<br />

kicking those dangling legs! <br />

When we got to the top, there was NO SHADE… so we went to the kiosk first, to get more beverages and<br />

some ice. Eventually we found a tiny patch of shade and that’s where we plonked


After going up Table Mountain and soaking up the beauty, I think it is official . . . <strong>ella</strong>’s favourite city in<br />

the world is definitely, Cape Town!


Stacking Cups<br />

Anique gave <strong>ella</strong> some stacking cups and it was a hit! Loved watching her sit quitely and un-stack them,<br />

one by one! <br />

Tantrums<br />

So, why on earth do we have Tantrums at such an early age and how on earth can such a cute little girl<br />

throw such a horrible tantrum!! [that sinful little heart…hehe] We first noticed it when she reached for<br />

bum crème on her change table and we took it away. One would swear the world ended. She<br />

screamed! Same happened to us taking the keys away or whatever it was. And, these often always<br />

occur on her change table! Happy to say, that I think it was ‘just a phase’ – cause we haven’t had those<br />

in a while, but the few times it happened, it was annoying! Needless to say, the firm word of ‘don’t you<br />

do that’ was shared with her. Of course she understood it all… <br />

Was just surprising that such behaviour occurred ‘so early’ in her life. It brought up the conversation<br />

with friends about ‘how do you discipline’ children and the more we talked about it the more one<br />

realises that there’s just sssssssssooooooooooooooo much to learn on this interesting journey called<br />

parenthood!


Advent<br />

Never too young to hear the story about Jesus’ birth! And so an advent calendar was added to our<br />

morning ‘routine’, just before we did our Bible Story. <br />

Weddings<br />

We had two weddings, on the same day, an hour apart…so that meant that Rich went to Lafras&Carien’s<br />

ceremony, whilst I attended Gareth & Melissa’s. Anique joined me at the Heuer wedding and looked<br />

after <strong>ella</strong> during the ceremony. The main reason it became so complicated was that because I was still<br />

breastfeeding, it meant that I needed to be with <strong>ella</strong> for the 18h15 feed – and that just complicated<br />

matters – because expressing just did not work out! Anyway, we survived the hectic day and <strong>ella</strong><br />

unofficially attended her second wedding <br />

On top of the world<br />

We went out for soya-smoothies and cappuchino’s with Kim at Cafeen and on our way back, Rich<br />

popped <strong>ella</strong> onto his shoulders. It was the sweetest thing. She was SO happy ‘up there’ and held onto<br />

his hair tightly, whilst smiling away! !


My first mail!<br />

So, there it was. A letter addressed to Ella Rabe, in our postbox. I LOVE getting letters and postcards<br />

and mail (!) – and so, on <strong>ella</strong>’s behalf, I was overjoyed! It was from her friend who we dubbed, ‘<strong>ella</strong>from-the-north’<br />

to say thank you for a gift Ella gave her. [Thanks Birgit and Ntseke!]<br />

It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old woman is snoring . . .<br />

I never thought I’d sing this to her after hearing it over and over from my dad when I was little But<br />

here I was, on a very, stormy Cape Town morning – in December, nogals! Telling <strong>ella</strong> the ‘old woman is<br />

snoring’ rhyme! Ella was fascinated by the sound of the heavy rain against the window and stared out<br />

the window for so long! Loved watching her!


End of the Swimming Term<br />

Rich has never seen <strong>ella</strong> swim before, because our lessons are on a Monday and that’s when he is at the<br />

office. So, we arranged for him to take leave and hang with us for the last swimming lesson of 2011.<br />

Finally he could witness all our songs, in action: ‘The more we are together, the better we’ll swim’ and<br />

‘The wheels on the bus’ and ‘This is the way we kick away, on a summer’s day!’<br />

Ella LOVED having Rich there and would look to the side of the pool often, just to check if Dad in fact<br />

watching her!<br />

And we were excited that Rich could see <strong>ella</strong> ‘swim’ under water! Such fun!!<br />

First official ‘injury’<br />

Granny posted a box with Christmas gifts and we collected it from the Post Office Depot. It was a huge<br />

box and looked like just the kind of box you’d want to sit in and be dragged in. Well, that’s what we<br />

thought, until the tears started to flow. We couldn’t figure out why she would not be loving the ‘sitting<br />

in a box’ game - until, I spotted it…her first ‘injury’…a massive paper cut on her little ankle <br />

Shame-pies


Granny Sylvia’s visit & Christmas<br />

Granny got to come to Cape Town for CHRISTmas and it was special to have her celebrate <strong>ella</strong>’s first<br />

Christmas with us as well.<br />

She arrived on 16 December and <strong>ella</strong> was all too happy to see Granny!<br />

Our Christmas celebrations started on 24 December with Christmas Tea at Anique’s home. To date,<br />

<strong>ella</strong>’s happiest day ever, was 24 December 2011. She was such a happy camper. Could it be the cute<br />

Christmas outfit that Granny bought her?! No clue, but she was giggling away, having happy chats,<br />

smiling, laughing, sleeping beautifully the afternoon and then continuing her happiness!


Oh, and her birthday gift: a swing! Well, one that stays in their garden permantly, but ‘organised’<br />

specially for her with an ‘access anytime’ tag! First time in a swing and it’s her happy place! <br />

From there, we spent a lovely Christmas eve with Oupa & Ouma and <strong>ella</strong> received her first doll ever!<br />

Dad read her the Christmas Story from Ouma’s fancy pop-out-Christmas-Storybook, we played a line<br />

from ‘Silent Night’ on the Keyboard for her and when it came to opening the rest of the presents, she<br />

was very fascinated by the wrapping paper!


Talking about Silent Night – the weeks leading up to Christmas, everytime we were in the car, we’d play<br />

a Christmas CD and <strong>ella</strong> sang along!! As soon as Silent Night or Oh Holy Night started, she would hum<br />

along! For real! It was the cutest thing! And of course no Christmas is complete without some Boney M<br />

too and ‘our song’ was the one that Ben did a SOLO performance for, at his school play, when he was<br />

Joseph: ‘Long time ago in Bethlehem, so th e Holy Bible Says, Mary’s boy child, Jesus Christ, was born on<br />

Christmas Day’. She would rock back and forth if we played it at home or bounce her hands up and<br />

down in the car, jiving to the Carols! Super cute! [Rich of course wasn’t too excited about having<br />

Mariah Carey and Boney M Christmas Carols, so he introduced <strong>ella</strong> to ‘God rest you merry, gentlemen’<br />

by The choir of Canterbury Catherdral…. I think she enjoyed Boney M better! <br />

On Christmas Day, we read the Christmas story together and opened presents on our bed, then we went<br />

to church in the morning and then mom, Gar, Geraldine and Roscoe came over for a yummy Christmas<br />

Lunch. It was still SO super hot! Again, when it came to presents, the wrapping paper was at times<br />

more interesting than the gift!


This was also the first day she put her hands ‘up’ in the air when we sang the ‘These hands go up’-<br />

jumpstart song and then she’d do the rest of the actions too!! She entertained us! It was beyond cute!!<br />

She also perfected waving good-bye on Christmas Day and Granny was there to witness <br />

Finger Puppets<br />

We have fun with these and I am just glad <strong>ella</strong> doesn’t really<br />

know all the names of all the animals cause half the time I can’t<br />

tell if it’s a giraffe or a leopard! So, I just make it all up!<br />

Nevertheless, she concentrates so beautifully! <br />

Riley Husted<br />

On 26 December 2011, little Riley Husted was born!!!<br />

New food, new food, new food<br />

So we visited her when she was a day old and man, she’s so precious!<br />

Most beautiful blue eyes and just adorable! The Cape Town MediClinic doesn’t<br />

allow babies to go into the Maternity Ward, so when we arrived and the nurses<br />

told us, they also said, ‘leave her here with us’ – I was keen, keen, Rich was very<br />

hesitant - but then we did. After chatting to Lara and hearing all about Riley’s<br />

arrival, we heard a distinct cry come closer and closer….it was the nurse who<br />

brought <strong>ella</strong> to us – and it was NOT a happy <strong>ella</strong> either! So much for trying to<br />

‘leave’ her with strangers! Well…she did last 20 minutes with them So, our<br />

visit with Lara was cut short, but at least we got to see little Riley!<br />

So we read in Food Sense that by the time they reach 9 months, they should have had at least 24<br />

different foods before. We did the count at 9 monts and four weeks and ta-ra… twenty-eight! <br />

By now, she’s had cherries, rice, green beans, grapes, blackberries, beetroot, cucumber and watermelon<br />

– all added to her list of foods. Still – no breakfast and still, no meat.<br />

At our 9 month check-up, Dr Bailey enquired about that…and politely told me I should get a move on<br />

and introduce meat to her diet! So, I had no proper reasons why I wasn’t keen and therefore took a<br />

deep breath and said…ok, ok, OK…. I will…in January! <br />

She weighed 7.91 kgs and was 72cm.


New tooth…<br />

So tooth number one (bottom right) made it’s appearance in<br />

November and by 12 December, the white of tooth number two<br />

was visible! To get a pic of her teeth is almost impossible! Will<br />

keep on trying!<br />

New Year’s<br />

For New Year’s we spent the afternoon and evening with Leighton, Kitty, Sadie-Mia and about 14 others.<br />

It was super rustig, <strong>ella</strong> had a swim with Kayla-Rae in the Ronne pool (it was way to cold for me to get<br />

in!) and she also had a bath with Sadie-Mia. Think she was confused about having another person in the<br />

bath with her! She slept soundly whilst the rest of us devoured the delicious potjiekos and kuiered<br />

around the fire.


Week 38 [8 months, week 5]<br />

• First grapes, peeled – what a schlepp to peal them, but otherwise she battles to swallow it!<br />

• Introduced her to this ‘crawling doll’ that Granny gave her, works with batteries…she was scared of<br />

it!<br />

• Unpacks the stacking cups, one by one like a pro! <br />

• ‘tantrums’ started<br />

• Started to bend knees under body for ‘crawling’ action<br />

with dad’s help<br />

• First time on Table Mountain<br />

• Opens and closes her hand on command<br />

• Pro at turning pages! And reading ‘on her own’<br />

Week 39 [9 months, week 1]<br />

• Introduced to the Fan in our room – totally fascinated and brings smile to face everytime!<br />

• Nappy change with ‘kwaak-kwaak’ duckling book by her side was the answer to stopping her<br />

unexplainable cries – no idea why she started moaning and crying for nappy changes! But that<br />

book was a winner! You press a button, and the duck goes ‘quack-quack’<br />

• Laughs everytime you splash water in her face, she loves it!<br />

Week 40 [ 9 months, week 1& 2]<br />

• ‘Fake’ audible laugh started<br />

• Waving good-bye on command and intentionally started<br />

• 1 st Rasberry and first awesome rasberry on finger to mouth action and ‘party-trick’!


Week 41 [ 9 months, week 3]<br />

• Clapping hands on command<br />

• Plays with a strand of hair for ‘hours’ – very fascinated<br />

Week 42 [ 9 months, week 4]<br />

• Seeing herself in the mirror creates more reaction now, than ever before! Instant smiles and giggles<br />

• First time swimming in another pool other than the one for her swimming lessons – with Kayla-Rae<br />

at Sadie-Mia’s pool<br />

• Does the ‘these little hands’ actions<br />

• First ANIMAL PROTEIN…chicken introduced on 31 December 2011<br />

JANUARY 2012<br />

Bad nights and first ANIMAL PROTEIN, first breakfast, first starch.<br />

Ella is a good sleeper. When she goes down at 18h30, she wakes up the next morning at or after 07h00.<br />

This has been her pattern since we introduced solids.<br />

Not the first week of Jan 2012 though. I reckon she figured, new year…new sleeping pattern and with<br />

that came night wakings and hysteria.<br />

She would go down peacefully, but then, two hours later, she would wake up with hectic screaming!<br />

This went on for a good couple of days. On one occasion, we gave her 5ml of panado. This did zippo!<br />

And the crying continued.<br />

We then tried to figure out what on earth this could be.<br />

Of course, I blamed the CHICKEN. She started chicken on 31 December 2011 and I was convinced it was<br />

that…(I still am!) – then we skipped chicken for a day – and she didn’t freak out! Re-introduced it, and<br />

crying started again. But, perservered with it and eventually, she got better.<br />

We also introduced rice to her diet and finally…breakfast x2 Table Spoons of OATS and x1 Table<br />

Spoon of apple. She pulled her face for a bit, but ate all of it


It’s adorable to see her ‘smell’ the cinnamon before I sprinkle it over her oats. At first, she would open<br />

her mouth, but then I’d tell her not to taste, but to smell – and then she’d do these little ‘sniffs’ and then<br />

if I brought the bottle closer, she’s ‘smell’ it, with her mouth closed! <br />

She is good with associating her nose and smell – thanks to the Jumpstart rhyme. It goes:<br />

‘two little hands go clap-clap-clap’ [– and then, when she hears ‘two little hands’ – then she already claps her hands]<br />

‘two little feet go stamp-stamp-stamp’ [and here she would move her feet – all by herself ]<br />

‘two little eyes to look around and two little ears to hear each sound’<br />

‘one little nose to smell what’s nice’ – and this is where she goes ‘sniff, sniff’ with her nose, everytime!!<br />

LOVE IT!! – She started ‘responding’ to this song on Christmas day infact, when she also started doing<br />

the actions of ‘these hands go up’, ‘these hands go down, then together clap and rolly-poly around and<br />

round’ – by herself, and starts clapping before I say ‘then together clap’! Too cute!! <br />

Chilling (and working on my crawling!) with my Tannie Helena and her Gary, Ouma & Oupa<br />

We LOVE the grass at Oupa&Ouma’s place; not to mention their beautiful garden. The grass is basically<br />

like a carpet and greener than a photoshopped pic! So, that is an ideal place to practice my crawling….<br />

and…let it be known…I tried really hard, despite it being the second day of January! I mean really… I was<br />

still tired from New Years!


Dropping feeds<br />

Gradually I reduced the amount of milk she drank at the 11h00 feed and on 5 January (9 months, 4<br />

weeks) just decided, okay, that’s it, we’re done with the 11h00 feed. No real reason other than ‘when<br />

does one drop the 11am feed’ – and then just did. <br />

Continued with the 14h15/30 feed until 2 February (10 months, 4 weeks) – after two days of her not<br />

really being interested and attempting to bite!<br />

So, at the moment, she breastfeeds in the morning and evening only and at 14h30, I give her some<br />

Rooibos.<br />

The beach!<br />

So, before Granny went back to the UAE, we went to the beach…for the very first time. It was a<br />

veeerrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyy WINDY day. In fact, when we arrived at Hout Bay beach, it was so<br />

unpleasant, we wanted to get back into the car and drive home! BUT…how could we, after telling her<br />

that we’ll be introducing her to the waves And that’s exactly what we did.<br />

She loves water and when her little feet were playing in the waves, she made the stranges, delightful<br />

‘klankies’ – loved it! <br />

Next time, we’ll check the windforecast too!


Placemat peek-a-boo<br />

Ella still eats her meals in the Bumbo chair that Ster sent us, despite us having a Enzi Chair in the garage.<br />

Enzi just needs to be assembled. But for now, she’s still happy in the Bumbo. So, after meals and after<br />

praying to say ‘Thank you for my meal God’ – we play all sorts of games. Her latest favourite is ‘peek-aboo’<br />

with the placemat because she lifts it ‘up’ from bottom to top and stretches her little arms above<br />

her head! She lloovvveees it and smiles every time! Love that she can tell ‘up’ from ‘down’ Same<br />

when we do her flappie books – the ones where she’s just the flappy-queen (!) - I tell her the ‘direction’<br />

to lift the flap and when I say ‘this one goes up’ – she lifts it ‘up’ ….so clever! Hehe<br />

Crawling…well sort of<br />

So, everyone is crawling. EVERYONE…except <strong>ella</strong>. Yes it bothers us, but not that much. She can at least<br />

say words already So on 6 January, she made ‘the move’ – from lying on her belly, distressed about<br />

why we are doing tummy time YET again… she made a move! She went ‘forward’ a bit. With much<br />

vocal effort ‘uh-uh…uuuhhhh’ – but, she did it! It was really exciting!<br />

Must be the practice on Sadie-Mia’s lounge floor. They’ve got a wooden floor – much ‘warmer’ than our<br />

tiles and a lovely ‘grip’.<br />

So, since that move, she’s improved loads and is now speedy-gonzalis – albeit on her belly like a leopard!<br />

And not on all-fours…YET!! <br />

Dad’s birthday<br />

8 Jan was Rich’s 32 nd birthday and with <strong>ella</strong> here to help me ‘sing’ happy<br />

birthday – it was special. Rich never wants to do anything for his<br />

birthday, so this year, we gave him his wish….exept at 23h00 the night<br />

before I asked him, I know you’re not wanting to do anything but can<br />

we at least go for breakfast?! And so, we did. Ella sat in her ‘clip-on’<br />

chair at the re-vamped Alphen hotel and we had<br />

a lekker breakfast celebrating Rich’s birthday


G’s visit to Cape Town…after TEN YEARS<br />

G and I were both exchangees in Belgium in 1999. Her name is Gomolemo, but because no one could<br />

pronounce that, everyone just called her ‘G’. She visited me in the koshuis in 2002 and when she<br />

smessed to say she’s coming to Cape Town, it was such welcome news. So, we got to meet her Kgosi<br />

and she got to to meet <strong>ella</strong>! Ella loved her and we had a great evening together, browsing through our<br />

exchange-pics of 12 years ago and cherishing our short evening together <br />

Jogging<br />

That’s right. Jogging. Rich is back on track with his jogging and Kitty persuaded me to join her. She jogs<br />

with the jogger pram and has the Tubman-jogger in their garage too, so I agreed and joined her. It was<br />

the first time since…I can’t even recall since when….years since I’ve done cardio exercise! So, I died! But<br />

was SO grateful that we started! Now, every Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, since 17 January, we hit<br />

the road…walk a bit….run a bit…can’t say I enjoy it whilst we are doing it, but glad to be exercising again<br />

– FINALLY! (Thanks Kitty!!)


Ouma’s school<br />

We took a drive to Fish Hoek and popped into Paul Greyling school where Ouma Gerrie teaches. It was<br />

so nice to visit her there and all the board books in her cute little class was <strong>ella</strong>’s favourite! Ella really<br />

LOVES BOOKS!! She can page beautifully and reads very attentively. Being in Ouma’s class with a shelf<br />

full of board and flappie-books just made her day! <br />

Top Teeth!<br />

At 10 months and four weeks, the white of the second top tooth was visible! <br />

More First Foods<br />

They just keep on coming. This month she added Strawberries, Watermelon, Millet and Hake to her<br />

‘adventurous’ diet [not all together! ] And the funny thing with the Strawberries was that she<br />

attempted the first one with her pincer grip…thereafter, she just plonked her head onto her tray and ate<br />

them ‘with no hands’ It was very funny!


A semi-fright<br />

Once <strong>ella</strong> goes down for the evening, we rarely check on her, unless she cries loads, which doesn’t really<br />

happen. But, on this particular evening, Rich said that he wants to check on her. [So, the monitor didn’t<br />

go off or anything] And how great that he did! Because, this is how we found her:<br />

Somehow the pin popped out and the board tipped over. She was in such a deep sleep, that me picking<br />

her up, having the light on, fixing the cot, none of that woke her! And when we put her back into the<br />

fixed cot…she just carried on with her sleep. One smiles afterwards, but Rich hit a little panic there <br />

Scooping up my toys<br />

If she’s on her back, on in her bath seat, and her toys or balls are out of reach, then she just scoops them<br />

up with her feet and brings them to her hands! No mess no fuss <br />

Giggles and ‘fake laughs’<br />

I don’t know what prompted it, I think she heard people laugh on the radio, but we were in the car when<br />

she just started to ‘copy’ the laughs and gently did a little ‘a-ha-ha-ha’…and then she’d wait for me to do<br />

it, and then she’d go again. So cute. Now, when she hears people laugh, she ‘copies them’ with her<br />

little laugh Very sweet!<br />

Responds to instructions<br />

I love it when she ‘responds’. Another precious moment is when I ask her, when I am hugging her, to<br />

give me a gentle tap on the shoulder. Too precious! [Inspired by Kerry Newill, hehe] or when I wake<br />

her in the morning, because her cot is on the lowest level, I sit on the floor next to the cot and chat to<br />

her and then ask her to roll over and give me a little bisous – and she does! <br />

Since November, I tried to show her how to ‘say thank you’ by patting her little hand against her chest.<br />

She now does it everytime I ask her to ‘say thank you mamma’ – or ‘say thank you….to whoever’. It was


such a special moment when she started doing it out of her own!! Now sometimes when we have<br />

lunch, just before the end, she’ll already start to tap her chest to say ‘thank you’ – xxxxxx <br />

What is also sweet is that she knows exactly what we are talking about or saying and when you ask her<br />

to ‘find mr cow’ or ‘where’s the ball’ or ‘where’s froggie’ – then she reaches for those toys in response.<br />

So much fun to ‘play these’ – or if we say ‘ brush your hair’ – then she does it, same with ‘put your hand<br />

on your head’ or ‘tickle your toes’ or ‘sing’ replies when you ask her to say a word. Or, if I show her the<br />

wet wipes packet with a pic of a baby on it, and I ask her ‘<strong>ella</strong>, who’s on the picture?’ – then she says<br />

‘babeeeee’ Same when she sees the baby pic on the pampers packet…or a baby poster in Woolies!<br />

January<br />

Week 43 [ 9 months, week 4]<br />

• First BREAKFAST – Oats x1 table spoon, with apple<br />

• First time at the beach – Hout Bay Beach<br />

• DROPPED 11am feed (gradually reduced how long she fed at this slot, and then just stopped)<br />

• Showed some crawling ‘intentions’<br />

• Scoops toys up with feet to hands when lying on her back<br />

Week 44 [ 10 months, week 1]<br />

• Started clicking sounds<br />

• Pincer grip pro <br />

• First trip in the jogger pram for runs with Kitty & Sadie-Mia [The Tubmans’ pram ]<br />

• Finds her ‘in crawling position’ when I go into her room after naps <br />

Week 45 [ 10 months, week 2&3]<br />

• Top left tooth, the white is visible<br />

• Immitates sounds: r-r-r-r, g-g-g-g, clicking sounds – struggles with s-s-s, but tries!<br />

• First nap without a doedoe baggie since September! It was just tttttttooooooo hot for doedoe<br />

baggie!<br />

• Lower the cot level, after she kicks her legs onto the side bar and rests them there…<br />

• First ‘leopard-crawl’, bum in the air, sliding on hands, crawl-move with ‘distance’ achieved!


• Climbed up against the couch!<br />

• First FISH for lunch – loved it, ate it with no issues whatsoever (baked it with olive oil, parsley,<br />

springonion, garlic)<br />

• First la-la-la-la singing and rolls her tongue over her new top tooth and says la-la during this ‘game’<br />

FEBRUARY<br />

Grinding her teeth<br />

She grinds her teeth….weird, since only one top tooth is ‘fully out’ but since the beginning of Feb, she<br />

has these moments where she just grinds them…mostly first thing in the morning or at night…<br />

‘Bear!’, other words and ‘where is’<br />

Her vocab is improving After one of our jogs, we collapsed on the floor in Kitty’s lounge and <strong>ella</strong><br />

played with Sadie-Mia’s bear. I asked her to say ‘bear’…’bear’…and then…whoops – she did. She said<br />

‘bear’. Now, okay…. The ‘b’ sound is the ‘easiest’ I guess, but she said it 3 times and at home, she did<br />

the same. So it’s official. She can say ‘bear’ <br />

Her list of words, at 10 months, now include – besides ‘Pappa’ and ‘Da-Da-Da-Da-Da, ‘dad’’ and ‘ba-baba’<br />

and ‘p-p-p-p-p’ and ‘g-g-g-g-‘, she can ‘say’:<br />

- up<br />

- Moo<br />

- Blue (boo)<br />

- The ‘sounds’ of ‘hello’<br />

- Bye-bye – this she says even when she hears me say ‘bye’ on the phone, then she responds with<br />

a very gentle ‘bye-bye’ – and a wave accompanies this! <br />

- Books (bks, bks,)


- Taglitt (for taglet)<br />

- Puh-ppuh (purple)<br />

And, we practice ‘r-r-r-r-r’ and she tries! ’<br />

She only really says ‘mamma’ when she cries. Other than that, the past few days in the car she’ll do<br />

random mmmmmm-ma! On and on and on and on <br />

What’s also cute is that after I feed her in the morning, I sit her on my lap and then we have ‘chats’<br />

before we proceed to give her her breakfast. Part of chats include ‘where is/where are’ – so I’ll ask her<br />

(and she concentrates so beautifully!) – I’ll say – <strong>ella</strong>, where are your butterflies? And then she’ll<br />

immediately look to the top right and say something that sounds like ‘there!’ – or just stare in the<br />

direction and smile. We’ll also do, ‘where’s <strong>ella</strong>’s tree?’ – referring to the Wall Art sticker on her wall,<br />

we’ll do ‘where’s lady’ – the ‘lady sticker’ on her wall and ‘where’s your Bible’ – and she’ll look instantly<br />

to acknowlege where these are <br />

Also where is your cupboard, your door, your window, your fan, your teddybin.<br />

And, the cutest is, when I ask her what the Bible is about, she says ‘Jeeee-ssssiiissssssssshhhhhhh’ in a<br />

whispered voice. ‘<strong>ella</strong>, the Bible is about?’ and she’ll say very gently: ‘‘Jeeee-ssssiiissssssssshhhhhhh’<br />

When I ask her, <strong>ella</strong>, who sleeps in your cot with you? Then she smiles, face lights up and she says ‘ttt-aggget(lots<br />

of spit on the gggg sounds)! Meaning, taglet <br />

that’s taglet…<br />

Since a few days ago, she makes these roaring sounds and now when you ask her, ‘<strong>ella</strong>, mr lion goes…’<br />

then she ‘roars’ And of course, this is added to ‘mr cow goes….’ And she replies quietly, gently ‘moo’<br />

And now, whenever she SEES a pic of a lion/tiger/leopard…even a pig – then she roars. So she can be<br />

reading all quitely ‘by herself’ and then when she flips the page, and the pic appears, then she’ll make<br />

the roar-sound. The other day she paged through (and YES, by this I mean p-a-g-e-d through, cause she<br />

pages beautifully and skillfully, with her little fingers separating the pages if they stick together - so<br />

sweet – and she LOVES to page through anything!) – anyway, she was paging through the Nuwe<br />

Kinderverseboek, then she’d lean forward on her hands, stare at the picture and then respond<br />

appropriately, either she’ll say ‘baby’ for a baby or little girl/boy illustration – or whisper ‘whiff’ (woofwoof)<br />

when the door appears or ‘roar’ when there’s another animal It was hilarious!


And earlier this week, she was paging through her Colours book and opened up on the ‘blue page’ and<br />

then quietly sat and said ‘boo, boo’ – same happened when she got to purple and I asked, ‘<strong>ella</strong>, what<br />

colour is this? – and she responds ‘puh-pppuh’ Now, I think it is ‘too early’ for them to recognise<br />

colours, but we’ve done this a few times and she gets this right often! So, we’re claiming it [might not<br />

be crawling proply, but so knows her colours!] hehe <br />

More words include ‘Ag!’ – very VERY cute – and baby and light (more like..ighttt), ba-oon (balloon).<br />

Mammas & Munchkins<br />

My friend Kitty had the idea to start a get together at church with all the new moms, who we hardly<br />

know, although we sit with them week after week in the Cry Room or Creche. It was also about<br />

recognising that we are all in a similar phase of life, yet not everyone has the support of friends and<br />

family so to encourage one another and talk and share about this blessed journey, Kitty got some of us<br />

together and Mammas & Munchkins was born Jean at church designed a fun logo for us, Cindy got a<br />

Facebook group going and we kicked off the very first one in November. Then we had a break and our<br />

first one for 2012 was on Saturday, 4 February 2012. We’ve now got the planning sorted out and we’ll<br />

get together every first Saturday of the month.<br />

We chill, drink tea, the Munckins play and then we either have a craft (like making Christmas wrapping<br />

paper in November) or we chat about a topic or host a speaker. For Feb, we hosted Renee Lighton who<br />

shared Creative Play Ideas and inspired us to use what we have at home to play up a storm. After the<br />

workshop, Karelien emailed me and said that she had already made nine of the little ‘books’ Renee told<br />

us about! [Such an efficient teacher, Karelien!] <br />

At the March Mammas&Munchkins, they ‘painted’ with edible paint – very cute.


Clingy & Creche<br />

Ella went through a ‘clingy’ phase – where she wouldn’t want me to ‘put her down’ – even to play with<br />

her toys or stacking cups, or moaned and cried and cried who I did not hold her. It was quite strange<br />

that even with Rich around, she would cry and say ‘mmmmammmma’ – and then reach her little arms<br />

out to me. This lasted for about a week or so, and unfortunately, during her moaning, crying phase, it<br />

was also the time that we tried to leave her at Creche during the morning church service. Not the<br />

greatest of ideas… 20 minutes into the service, or not even, I got a ‘sms’ reading ‘<strong>ella</strong> not happy, please<br />

come to the creche’ – shame, when I got there, she was crying and did proper ‘snik’ motions . She<br />

refused to let go of my arm and was unsettled for quite a while after that. I ended up staying with her in<br />

the creche and Sadie-Mia joined us as well. The thing with creche is that there are at times too many<br />

little ones for hands available. As in, when one cries, it’s like a choir – they all start – and then you have<br />

some of the ladies comforting those who are crying, whilst the others start to cry and oh man…it’s a<br />

crying choir! So, we’ll see how the Creche thing is going to work out, but for now, we’ll go back to the<br />

Cry Room (where parents with little ones, and then there’s a video screen of the main service, so we<br />

have ‘church’ in a room separate from the main church auditorium) – here kiddies are free to run<br />

around and have a little cry too <br />

Runny Nose Day<br />

Ella hardly gets sick. In fact, we’ve only had the Roseola (baby measles) time in October when she was<br />

officially sick with temp and all. Other than that, she’s never sick. But, she often, very often has a<br />

blocked nose. [Like her parents] But, on this one particular day, she had a runny nose day. As in,<br />

flowing like an open tap! It was the cutest thing to see her sitting quitely with her toys and then have<br />

clear, watery snot run out her nose…over her lips…. yuck, yes – but it was so cute! And then, she<br />

sneezed ALL THE TIME – and with every sneeze, both nostrils would shoot out mega snot! (clear<br />

though). Shame, it was the strangest thing to have an entire day of non-stop runny nose! <br />

Self-Feed – 6 February<br />

Since the very first day we tried to feed her solids, <strong>ella</strong> was keen to hold her own spoon and did the<br />

spoon to mouth action with no problems. We never encouraged it though. But lately, she reaches out<br />

for the spoon so often, that I feed her a spoon, then I load the spoon and give it to her and she directs it<br />

straight to her mouth like a pro!<br />

She is also the ‘pincer grip queen’ Feeding her blackberries was a firm favourite during December and<br />

then I realised that I don’t have to put it on the spoon to feed her, afterall, she does ‘finger food’ like<br />

steamed carrots or butternut blocks, etc on her own anyway. Picks it up and goes straight into the<br />

mouth. So, I did the same with the blackberries. Put it onto her tray, she would grip it nicely and eat it<br />

with no moushing or messing <br />

So, when she tasted Rasberries for the first time at nine months in December, I thought I’d see what<br />

she’d do if I put the rasberry on her index finger and see if she’d click that that too has to go into her<br />

mouth, because the rasberry obviously has a little ‘whole’ which is the perfect size for her little finger.


And ta-ra – our new game began! Putting rasberries on her pointy finger and her then directing it to the<br />

mouth, loving the game and clapping for herself with a fat smile! It was super cute!<br />

Lately, when she sees the rasberry as I approach the lunch table, then her little finger points at me<br />

already, ready for the party-trick! Love it!! <br />

In it goes…<br />

oh yeah! <br />

Crawling<br />

So, she’s almost 12 months old…and she’s not crawling. We’re not really worried, but at the same time<br />

owe are! As in…um…it would be nice if you started to show us that you c-a-n crawl, even though you<br />

‘pretend’ that you don’t want to!! <br />

I am mainly to blame I reckon, because I wasn’t ‘too big’ on tummy time. Not that I didn’t do it, but it’s<br />

just that our lounge has tiles and sitting on the tiles during winter…and even during summer – is so cold!<br />

And the rug we have is not ‘warm’ – so we spent less time on the floor than we should’ve! [big oops!!,<br />

despite Rich encouraging it all the time! ]<br />

So, enduring her ‘drama-queen-moments’ when she’d put her head onto her arms, when on her tummy’<br />

and cry as if it was the end of the world, she eventually figured out that tears or no tears…we’ve got to<br />

practise this thing! So ‘first signs’ of some moves was in the presense of granny, C and uncle Calvin –<br />

very mini-intentions..but an exciting start and then at Kitty, Leighton and Sadie-Mia’s place – on their<br />

wooden lounge floor, which was a nice grip, she made some moves in pursuit of getting to Sadie-Mia’s<br />

ladybug teddy! It was VERY EXCITING! Although it was brief! It then took her a coupld of days before<br />

‘properly moving forward’ – although it was only ‘leopard crawl’ – bum in the air, pulling herself forward<br />

from about 9 months, four weeks.<br />

And that’s as far as she’s got. When we ‘lift her’ under her chest, she does the proper crawling moves,<br />

but when you let go, her arms collapse too.<br />

Not being able to crawl ‘properly’ doesn’t stop her from attempting to climb up things though! She tried<br />

the couches, she tries the coffee table all the time and then we dash in her direction because she<br />

actually gets into the standing position and we have to rescue her from hitting her head as she


eventually falls over. And, she pulled herself up into the almost standing position in her cot – and<br />

that’s when we instantly lowered her cot!!<br />

What I loved was going to her room after her nap and finding her ‘in the crawling position’, smiling<br />

away. I really think she secretly crawls in her cot but when we’re around she holds back on revealing<br />

this talent <br />

When I started typing this updat…it was mid-Feb and we had no<br />

crawling news to report….well, well, well, 20 Feb arrived and wait, what,<br />

for real? YES – we saw the first official crawl move, down in the<br />

Charnwood Garden, whilst Gareth and I chilled with <strong>ella</strong>.<br />

And then, 21 February, in the Claremont LIBRARY of all places, on the carpet, she just went for<br />

it…consecutive CRAWLS!!!!! Yeah, yipeee, oh finnallllyyyy!!!


The next day of course, she was back to leopard crawling….but now, crawling is the way she moves <br />

So cute to see! And rather late than never…. <br />

Swimming: Pack in the basket!<br />

Ella is the youngest in her swimming class by about 6 months, so the other two are ‘more mature’ and<br />

can do the ‘put the ball in the basket’ move like pros! So, we decided to ‘practice’ this. Giving her a ball<br />

or toy and asking her to ‘put it into the bowl’ – and, no problem mamma – she just did it! So, now<br />

we’re sorted. She is the lead kicker in her swimming class though. Those little legs work it in the water!<br />

And she loves to float and the fun activity of the lesson is when we make them go under water! <br />

And of course, UNpacking…is no problem at all – and loads of fun AND keeps her occupied for hours too!<br />

Dance and Sings and Repeats on command<br />

Every afternoon, when Rich gets home, he puts on his Blues tunes and has a dance with <strong>ella</strong>. As soon as<br />

the intro starts, and he has her in his arms, those little legs starts to kick and the hands wave up and<br />

down as she goois her dance moves! She LOVEEEESSS dancing with dad! They have their favourite<br />

songs too and dad spinning her around is part of the dance routine.<br />

She’s great with ‘music though’ – as soon as music starts, she looks at the CD Player, stretches her hands<br />

out in front of her and moves her little body! so cute!!<br />

She also responds to me asking her to sing – she puts her arms out in front of her, bounces them up and<br />

down and then sings ‘ah-ah-ah-ah-ah- or ‘la-la-la’.


She’s really good with imitating. If I say la-la twice, she’ll do it twice, if I say it three times, she’ll say it<br />

three times! And of course, singing in the car, humming, is a regular occurance! Love it!<br />

She also does ‘clicking’ sounds – too precious and lately, when she hears ‘hickery dickery dock’ on the<br />

cd, she clicks or when she hears the B-I-N-G-O song, as they leave out a letter, they clap, but she clicks!<br />

And she claps her hands to the ‘if you’re happy and you know it song!’ <br />

And telling her to ‘close her eyes’ – creates the most adorable facial expressions! Followed by a very<br />

impressed little giggle, for getting it ‘right’! <br />

Photo book pages<br />

I’ve been wanting to make this for ages now, but just didn’t get round to it! I printed a few photos (well,<br />

Rich printed them!) of those she gets to see regularly and put them into a little A5 flip file book. I then<br />

show her each page and say the name of the face. So the book has Sadie-Mia, Ouma, Oupa, Granny,<br />

Ben, etc. It is amazing to see her register who it is and the smile usually indicates it. When we get to<br />

Ben’s photo, she reaches out and touches it, when we get to Rich’s photo, she says ‘pappa’, when we<br />

get to Anique’s photo – she says ‘ba-ba-ba-ba-ba’. And when she sees Anique ‘in real life’ she greets her<br />

with ‘ba-ba-ba-ba-ba’ too! We thinks it’s because Anique was the ‘first one’ to help her string this<br />

‘sentence’ together at my bday picnic last year. Cause whenever she sees her, she starts So we have<br />

fun with of Photo book in the mornings.<br />

Why we (I) keep stuff<br />

Rich is often on my case about ‘keeping everything’ – and yes, I shouldn’t hoard as much…but oh man,<br />

it’s such fun to go down memory-lane as you unpack the memory box of stuff! Had fun doing just<br />

that as I put a book together, with Leighton’s help, about Scott’s ten years of Junior Youth – old camp<br />

booklets, running sheets, letters, photos, so many happy times! And so glad I kept most of that stuff!<br />

And so, hopefully, I will learn to ‘keep what is necessary’ and not to ‘keep everything’ as I tend to be<br />

doing! But when I saw Rich’s Baby Book that is now 32 years old, I thought, now that’s the type of thing<br />

to keep


My mom-in-law gave him his Baby Book the other day and it had all sorts of interesting bits of<br />

information. Here’s some of it:<br />

• Born on Tuesday, 8 January 1980 at 17h27 at Mowbray Maternity Ward, Dr P J Dannhauser<br />

• Weighing 2.900 kg’s, 46cm and at 2 weeks 2.880. Thereafter, he gained quite quickly:<br />

5 weeks – 3.600<br />

2 months – 4.400<br />

4 months – 7.00<br />

6 months – 8.100 [<strong>ella</strong> weighed 7.910 at 9 months! ]<br />

8 months – 9.500<br />

• Baptised by Ds C Roberts on 13 April 1980<br />

• It has some of his hair at one year, hehe Cute curl!<br />

• He only got his BCG at 1 month, whereas <strong>ella</strong> got hers on Day 3 and at 20 months he had tonsilitis!<br />

• His first tooth popped out at 7 months with the second bottom one coming out at 7.5 months.<br />

[<strong>ella</strong>’s first tooth was at 8 months] His top tooth followed shortly at 7 ¾ months and the next one at<br />

8 ½ months. <br />

• Some of his toys included a yellow rabbit – and <strong>ella</strong> now has it! <br />

• Then, there are some stories recorded and noted that it was at about 2.5 years:<br />

Pa gaan een oggend werk toe en die manne staan by die venster om te waai. Richardt: ‘Da gaan my<br />

Pappa Beertjie’ <br />

As Richardt pak kry is hy altyd baie gou om te se: ‘Riekat lief vir jou. Sal nie weer nie!’<br />

Richardt moet aan tafel koejawels eet, maar dit gaan marr langtand. Se later ‘…net hoenders eet<br />

pitte!’<br />

• Also noted that he loves, loves, loves any storybook or song or rhyme and is ‘boek verskrik’ – like<br />

Father, like daugter here! Ella can sit paging through a book, all quietly and fascinated for so<br />

long! Her current favourite to page through ‘My first 100 words’ from Anique – but her all time<br />

favourite book (except her bible of course!...hehehe) – is Chocolate Mouse for Greedy Goose by Julia<br />

Donaldson, that Lara gave her!


BabySitters<br />

We’re so thankful for baby sitters! And moreover, for great babysitters! During these three months,<br />

besides awesome Oupa & Ouma and Nanny Irma, <strong>ella</strong> was babysat by Kitty, Dani & Randall.<br />

[Shame…poor Dani & Randall always gets the slots where we get home super late!!!!Thanks dudes! ]<br />

Food Issues<br />

So…in December, we were told by several onlookers that they’ve never seen a baby eat so well and<br />

open her mouth so widely for every spoon and chew with her mouth closed so ‘properly’ and lady-like!<br />

Well ladies and gentlemen….February happened. Don’t ask us HOW it happened, but, the days of<br />

the keen eater has come and gone. She started to spit out animal protein, then following that, she<br />

started spitting out veggies and then… it got worse. Just refused to open her mouth and shook her head<br />

and gently put her hand out to steer the spoon away from her mouth! So, at first, we thought, okay, it’s<br />

a bad day…the bad day turned into bad day-ssssssssssss and the bad days into 11 days straight, where<br />

she hardly got any solids into her body. Despite that, she has been poohing her insides out. Big (megastinky-mushy-soft-light-brown-yellow-ish-poohs!).<br />

Easily 3 in a row on some days! So after this<br />

‘confusing stint’, and comments by Rich about how super skinny she looks – I took her to Sister St<strong>ella</strong> for<br />

a check-up and to check her weight.<br />

In December, she weighed 7.91kgs – that was at the start of 9 months…NOW…at 11 months plus…a<br />

whopping…7.56kgs…. she DROPPED in 3 months and her growth curve took a massive dip.<br />

This lead to several recommendations and one of them being that we put her on PediaSure – for her to<br />

gain weight. I wasn’t keen at all – but realised that something needed to be done. So later that week<br />

we secured an appointment with my dietician and straight after with our Paed. Tested for urine<br />

infection, etc etc and concluded that she had a tummy bug. Suggested we go back ‘one step’ and puree<br />

her food again, and in that way see if we can get some protein into her …and IT WORKED!!!! We pureed<br />

the food – and introduced Healthybabe.com’s foods to her and ….she started to eat again…So, today is<br />

Day 5 of her appetite returning, but we are continuing with the more mushed food for now! On<br />

Monday, we see the Paed again and really hope that she had in fact gained since last week!<br />

What a confusing stage this was, because it raised all sorts of questions like the fact that I am not giving<br />

her dairy or wheat yet – and that I am not too keen to start dairy any time soon. Dermotologist also<br />

recommended that we keep her off dairy, given her early signs of ecsema spots here and there. So, I<br />

was worried that we would have too give her dairy…but thankfully, dietician also said, no need. We are<br />

seeing Kath Megaw tomorrow though – she is the co-author of Feeding Sense and a kiddie dietician – so<br />

want to just get her take on this whole ‘no dairy’ thing…<br />

For now, we are SO thankful that God answered our prayer and that we did not have to introduce the<br />

pediasure for now…


Week 46 [ 10 months, week 3&4]<br />

• Yawns everytime I draw the curtains, ready for her little nap. Our ‘routine’ is, put her into doedoe<br />

baggie, then we say ‘bye-bye world’ as we draw the blind close, then we walk to the door and she<br />

‘pushes the door closed’ and then I put her into her cot, on her back, and she then grabs hold of<br />

taglet, puts her thumb in her mouth, and that’s it. Ready for a nap But lately, when the curtains<br />

are drawn, she gives a little yawn, as to say, I’m ready for this!<br />

• First BEEF (we made it with springonion and garlic)<br />

• Moving much faster and all over the floor as she ‘leopard crawls’<br />

• Drop cot to LOWEST LEVEL, as she tried to pull herself up in the standing position!<br />

• Said ‘kick’ after Gareth said, kick-kick-kick <br />

• First Creche experience at church…not a fan<br />

• Second top tooth’s white visible<br />

Week 47 [ 10 months, week 4]<br />

• Hysterical cries at the Tubman home, refused to feed the evening, biting and went to bed with no<br />

milk feed – too hysterical – took forever to calm her, had to bring her home! Terrible experience!<br />

• Dropped the 14h30 feed (for a few days leading up, she would ‘attempt to bite’ at this feed, so after<br />

the previous night’s yelling and biting incident, decided to drop this feed) – gave her Rooibos at<br />

14h30 since – she only takes a few sips<br />

• Said ‘bear’ at kitty’s house<br />

• Often find ‘stuck’ in the top right corner of the cot, pushing her head up against – she wants to<br />

‘move’ but doesn’t realise that she’s ‘stuck’ – so we just go in and move her, then she continues her<br />

sleeping. Or, she sleeps horizontally!<br />

• Has Millet for breakfast as well<br />

• Went through her ‘clingy-phase’ this week and says ‘mamma’ when she cries<br />

• Loves feeding herself – I load the spoon, she directs it to her mouth by herself<br />

• Sees the black and white wedding photo on the bookshelf during meals, points and says ‘pappa’


Week 48 [ 10 months, week 5 and 11 months, week 1]<br />

• Says ‘thank you’ often now – by patting her hand onto her chest<br />

• Blows the whistle! We do this while she lies on the change mat, when the sound comes, she<br />

surprises herself everytime! <br />

• Runny nose day<br />

• Growls when you ask her to immitate a lion or tiger - too cute!<br />

• Says ‘taglet!’<br />

• Has ‘pellet poohs’….<br />

• Afternoon naps without white noise CD or fan<br />

• The Bible is about, she says ‘Jeeee-ssssiiissssssssshhhhhhh’<br />

• Eating issues started…<br />

• Loves throwing her hands ‘up and then down’ when you say, <strong>ella</strong>, go ‘up, down!’<br />

• At Jumpstart, we sing row-row-row your boat while we ‘row’ together. Now, when we sing that<br />

song, she instantly does the Jumpstart actions. Whether we are in the car..in the shop…whether<br />

she’s pouched…she instantly responds to this. So sweet!<br />

• Identifies all her toys so brilliantly! ‘where’s….’ then she reaches for them – so I put a few of them<br />

out in front of her and ask her ‘where’s skaap’ and she’ll pick him up! Been playing this game for<br />

a few weeks now already.<br />

Week 49 [ 11 months, week 1&2]<br />

• Lately, when we give her chicken or fish or beef, she opens her mouth, puts out her tongue and<br />

starts to cry…<br />

• Says ‘ag!’ - <br />

• Pages books with ‘normal pages’ gently and beautifully<br />

• Crawls to the bookshelf and manages to get some heavy books out! Favourite ones: allergy free<br />

cookbook and God’s big picture …she goes for the same ones everytime!<br />

• FINALLY made some proper ‘crawl moves’ – 20 Feb in the garden and full on 21 Feb in the library!


• First visit to the Library<br />

• Suspected Tummy Bug<br />

• Ella, can you hide? Then she puts her hand over her eyes and ‘hides’ – this she’s been playing for<br />

several weeks in her cot with taglet – and holds it over her face for a good few seconds, before<br />

removing it herself, but now, without taglet, the game continues


Magical Moments in Time Photography – Katie Mayhew<br />

Jaco, Christie & Milea gave us a photoshoot voucher for Christmas. When we got it, we were in two<br />

minds as to whether we had the guts to go for a ‘photoshoot’ – however, we made <strong>ella</strong> the focus of the<br />

shoot and survived it! Here are some of Katie’s shots


Week 50 [ 11 months, week 3]<br />

• First rice cake and LOVED it…now, after her lunchtime nap, she cannot wait to devour the rice cake!<br />

• Shares her rice cakes! Takes a bite and then kindly offers <br />

• Enjoy playing ‘put your hand on your head…put your hand on your nose’<br />

Week 51 [ 11 months, week 4]<br />

• We encouraged her to say ‘ah’ after taking a sip of water – too cute to hear her do this<br />

• We had her weighed and her weight dropped! 7.56kgs…later the week, 7.75kgs and 74cm<br />

• For the FIRST TIME – had a meal that was not prepared by her parents! Tana told us about this great<br />

website healthybabe.com where you order homemade, healthy, free-range meals! We tried it and<br />

she LOVES it!<br />

• Appetite finally returned after alleged tummy bug<br />

• First FACE-PLANT! From crawling, fell ‘face-first’ , no hands – onto her cheekbone…instant blue<br />

bruise! The next day…fell on the other cheek bone!! <br />

• Tried giving her a straw to see if she’ll sip …and yip…she knows how to sip from a straw <br />

Lately. . .<br />

She is so tall!! She sits with her feet in the ‘split position’ in the back of the car, cause it touches the<br />

back seat!<br />

Her hair is growing more and more and Rich was asking, these strands that grows over her ears, does<br />

one comb it to the front of the ear or tuck it behind the ear <br />

She LOVES the ‘wheels on the bus’ song. It’s a song she sings at swimming and I got her the CD, so now,<br />

if the intro starts, she starts with her little waving hands, to approve as she enjoys her favourite track <br />

Milla doesn’t travel in her car seat with her anymore, instead, she plays with a mirror (not a glass one!)<br />

and with donkey and a ladybug pillow, just like the one she saw and loves at Sadie-Mia’s home.


Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, we go ‘jogging’ with Kitty and Sadie-Mia and seeing Sadie-Mia<br />

so often, makes <strong>ella</strong> very happy! They ‘hold hands’ and shake-shake-shake their hands and gives each<br />

other hello kisses…. So adorable! <br />

360’ turn on her bum is what she perfected at this stage.<br />

She wees after a bath almost every night on the change table! And on two or so occasions, after a bath,<br />

Rich was privileged to witness a pooh popping out of her bottom! Does bath relax you that much?!<br />

She loves Gareth. When he is in the room, she stares at him and follows him with her eyes wherever he<br />

moves to. She also dropped some drewl right into his mouth when he made her ‘fly in the air’ whilst<br />

lying on his back! <br />

At the moment, we’re reading ‘Bible Stories for Toddlers – stories that rhyme’ – a gift from Carla and<br />

Jeremy for her baptism. We’re working our way through these Bibles at a serious pace! :)<br />

At the moment, her ‘weekly schedule’ is:<br />

Mondays, 10h15 – 10h45<br />

Tuesdays, 15h15<br />

Wednesdays, 11h45 – 12h30<br />

Thursdays, 15h15<br />

- Swimming at Tugboat swimming with teacher Laurelle<br />

- Jogging with Kitty and Sadi-Mia in the jogger pram<br />

- Jump Start Studio with teacher Theresa in Wynberg<br />

- Jogging with Kitty & Sadie Mia in the jogger pram<br />

Fridays, chill and every second Friday… Dad is home with us!!!<br />

She likes . . .<br />

• She likes to hold Sadie-Mia’s hand and shake-shake-shake – this is how they greet each other<br />

• She likes music. When the song starts, her bouncing dances start. Favourite tunes: Dad’s John Lee<br />

Hooker music. Favourite ‘nursery rhyme’ – the wheels on the bus. Favourite Jumpstart Song –<br />

you’ve got the bouncies in your belly. Favourite ‘rhyme’ – this little toe went to market, this little<br />

toe stayed at home (our version) <br />

• She likes… LOVES rasberries – also her oats, pear and cinnamon breakfast combo and her rice cakes<br />

• She likes her Fool Moon Rising Bible Story<br />

• She loves beads, bracelets, necklaces, earings and will smile at someone to pick her up, just so she<br />

can touch their bling! <br />

• She loves her 100 first words book at the moment and paging through Nuwe Kinderverseboek<br />

• To slide on her back, on the tiles…gets her to her destination ‘quicker’


• She loves to ‘dance’ and stand up against the Winnie-The-Pooh walker-type toy Gareth and Ilse got<br />

her for Christmas<br />

• LOVES keys! And even says ‘k-ie-sss’<br />

• She likes to click her tongue when she hears my indicator<br />

• LOVES swimming and when we sing ‘the children on the boat go spinning around’ – then she adds a<br />

head-bang to that move and entertains her swimming class<br />

• The remote control… look at the result, when we were NOT paying attention!<br />

White scratches=tooth marks!<br />

• Likes to make her way to the legs of the table…and enjoy the nibbling<br />

• Pasta, pasta, pasta! ….gluten-free, of course!<br />

I still love books, books, books and can entertain myself with stacking cups for ever or with empty<br />

plastick bottles with pasta pieces in – I love, love, love to ‘shake-shake-shake’ - especially when I am<br />

asked to ‘shake’.


Not a fan. . .<br />

• She still often moans when we have to put her on her back on the changemat, to change her nappy!<br />

• She does not like avo…like father, like daughter…<br />

• She started ‘seperation anxiety’ at about 10.5 months…<br />

SOME ‘STATS’<br />

<strong>ella</strong>’s weight<br />

age date weight comment<br />

1 Birth Wed, 9 March 2011 3.210kg Yeah, healthy and beautiful! <br />

2 3 days old Sat, 12 March 2011 3.000kg Out of hospital weight<br />

3 1 week, 1 day Thurs, 17 March 2011 3.220kg Gained 220grams in 5 days<br />

4 2 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 24 March 2011 3.460kg Gained 240grams in 7 days<br />

5 3 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 31 March 2011 3.680kg Gained 220grams in 7 days<br />

6 4 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 7 April 2011 2.940kg Gained 260grams in 7 days<br />

7 6 weeks Wed, 20 April 2011 4.300kg Gained 193grams per week<br />

8 8 weeks Wed, 4 May 2011 4.710kg Gained 205grams per week<br />

9 10 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 19 May 2011 5.020kg Broke the 5kg mark! <br />

10 12 weeks, 5 days Monday, 6 June 2011 5.540kg and counting!<br />

1 13 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 9 June 2011 5.60kg<br />

2 15 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 23 June 2011 5.960kg<br />

3 18 weeks, 2 days Friday, 15 July 2011 6.280kg Gained 320 grams in 3 weeks...not much...<br />

4 20 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 28 July 2011 6.540kg 62 cm length and 38cm head<br />

At birth: 49cm and 32cm head<br />

5 23 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 18 August 2011 6.740kg Gained 200grams in 3 weeks<br />

1 28 weeks, 1 day [6 mths, week 3] Thurs, 22 September 2011 7.220kg<br />

2 30 weeks, 1 day [6 mths, week 5] Thurs, 6 October 2011 7.380kg<br />

3 34 weeks [7 mths, week 4] Tuesday, 2 November 2011 7.630kg 68cm<br />

1 39 weeks, 5 days [9 months, week 1] Monday, 12 December 2012 7.91kg 72cm<br />

2 50 weeks, 6 days [11 mths, week 3] Tuesday, 28 February 2012 7.56kg 73cm dropped for the first time<br />

3 51 weeks, 2 days [11 mths, week 4] Friday, 2 March 2012 7.75kg 74cm


nine months


nine months


nine months


ten months


ten months


ten months


eleven months


eleven months


eleven months


eleven months


eleven months


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> ONE birthday edition-


Thursday, 15 March 2012<br />

- -<br />

Last week this time, I was still a ‘baby’. Let it be known…I am now officially a little lady! Yip, my birthday<br />

has come and gone and it was such (!) fun!! Pity these only come round once a year! Having said that, I<br />

think my parents…especially my dad…is all to glad that these only come round once a year! Hehe!<br />

Ella’s birthday was celebrated the entire weekend – from the Friday to the Sunday. We did this for a<br />

few reasons. Partly because her birthday ‘day’ was hijacked by a visit to the dietician, and partly<br />

because we wanted to have a day with ‘her friends’ only – so that they can play and hang, and then we<br />

wanted to have an afternoon with others who are special to her – so that they can have a relaxed time<br />

with her too.<br />

So, that was the plan.<br />

FRIDAY 9 MARCH 2012<br />

Ella usually starts chatting from 06h50 in the morning, so we knew we had to get up slightly earlier than<br />

that, in order to get her ‘birthday tray’ ready. The ‘birthday tray’ is what we have for our birthdays – it<br />

has your card, your candle, your breakfast and in this case, a balloon! You get woken up with singing<br />

of happy birthday and handed ‘your tray’ So, up early and (very sleepy) we got everything ready.<br />

We heard her little chats and they were more chirpy than usual. She must surely have known that it was<br />

her birthday. When we walked into her dark room, with a tray of candles and starlights, singing happy<br />

birthday, we found a very happy and excited little lady on all-fours, in her cot, nodding her head with joy<br />

to the happy birthday song! It was sssooo sweet!


We had cuddles and chats and then after I fed her, we all snuggled on our bed and read her her little<br />

card and gave her her little prezzies. On that note – Rich and I didn’t really get her anything ‘big’ –<br />

instead, we just got her a little summer hat, cd and re-wrapped some of the recent books we bought her<br />

Think about it…it is so much more exciting opening a book and discovering that it is one of your<br />

favourites that you recognise hehe!<br />

We then had breakfast together and gave her some rasberries after her oats as a little ‘treat’. It was<br />

really a trip down memory lane for us, thinking back to this time last year – and with the playlist we<br />

compiled for the theatre, playing in the background of her birthday morning – it all felt like just the<br />

other day we were handed this little gift from God.<br />

We watched some pics of her first few hours with us together and some video clips and can’t believe she<br />

was that tiny! <br />

Our initial plan was to head to Kirstenbosch, but we had an appointment with Kath Megaw – dietician<br />

and co-author of the Feeding Sense book. The reason we decided to see Kath, was to share with her the<br />

change in <strong>ella</strong>’s appetite and textures and wanted to get her advice re cutting out dairy. We’ve heard<br />

talks by her at BabySense Conference before, so we were keen to get her take on this. It was a good<br />

meeting and we left there happy and relieved that the dairy-agenda was not pushed.


So, it was lunch time and we were outside Vincent Palotti Hospital, where we saw Kath, so we just<br />

decided to have a picnic there!<br />

After her lunch time nap, we went via Alison – who is a lady I met at a market – and who bakes dairyfree,<br />

gluten-free, egg-free goodies. We asked Alison to bake <strong>ella</strong>’s birthday cake, as we ordered a dairy,<br />

gluten and egg-free one! She gave us a little ‘taster’ – and of the topping too – rice flour, veg butterbased<br />

sort of icing. Delicious!<br />

From there we headed to Ouma & Oupa for more birthday celebrations! Tannie Helena and Uncle Gary<br />

came too and Anique popped in as well. We gave her her first taste of…wait for it…yes, cake! [A sample<br />

piece from the cake that Alison was baking for her party!] <br />

Ouma, Oupa and tannie Helena spoiled her with a very snazzy winnie-the-pooh ride-on car – that she<br />

can sit on and one can push her all over! It has a ‘key’ to start it up, but wait…there’s more…it has<br />

gears! A real Rabe this little <strong>ella</strong>, loving every moment of her car and when we point to it, she says<br />

‘brrm-brrm’! <br />

<strong>ella</strong> was fascinated by Ouma’s bangle and entertained us with her rolling, crawling and happy sounds!<br />

After we bathed her at Oupa&Ouma’s we headed home, not believing that the little bebe we are putting<br />

down into her cot, is now a little one year old lady!


Saturday, 10 March 2012<br />

So, the weeks leading up to <strong>ella</strong>’s birthday we prayed that it would not rain, because we used the flat<br />

complex’s garden for her little birthday picnic. So rain would just disrupt everything – hence our prayer<br />

for no rain. We woke up on Saturday morning and there was NO RAIN. However…there was WIND and<br />

not sommer just a breeze…the real deal – a very, very strong South Easter! We couldn’t even open the<br />

door of the flat without a wind tunnel entering and blowing over everthing in the lounge! So, our prayer<br />

then was that come 15h00, when the party starts, we’ll have less wind. And again, God was beyond<br />

gracious. When 15h00 came – it was hot and the area of the garden we had the picnic only had a little<br />

breeze!! You can imagine our appreciation at having this prayer answered too!!!<br />

<strong>ella</strong> had an ‘unofficial theme’ for her birthday party. It was ‘Fruit!’ – we figured, the thing she can eat<br />

freely and loves, is fruit – so why not make sure all the foodie-goodies are exactly that! So, we planned<br />

to have fruit sticks, watermelon, smoothies, grapes, etc.<br />

To prepare everything, we called in a ‘team of helpers’ and so early Saturday morning Karelien and Kim<br />

arrived, ready to help And oh my goodness…did they H-E-L-P! !!<br />

The help involved making the fruit sticks…using a star-cookie-cutter to makes shapes out of the<br />

watermelon, sorting out the ‘berry-cupcakes’ and Rich was in charge of the smoothies!<br />

They did a fantastic job!<br />

By the time <strong>ella</strong> woke from her lunchtime nap, Anique was here to ‘occupy’ her while we finished up and<br />

then we all went down stairs to ‘decorate’ the garden where the picnic would be.<br />

Thus far, all was going ‘according to plan’ – except…we didn’t have a very happy party-lady.


<strong>ella</strong> was in the strangest mood, since waking up from her nap.<br />

Moans galore, cries, cries, cries and she did not want to leave<br />

my sight. When the friends arrived, nothing changed – she was<br />

still in a very sad mood and as Nichy reminded us, she’s just<br />

embracing ‘it’s my party and I’ll CRY if I want to’! <br />

So, cries and moans there were – but as long as she was in our<br />

arms, she was fine. And that’s how we made it through. <br />

Her friends all came and we had them all make a footprint on a canvas. It was fun. Her oldest friend<br />

was Ben Tubman and her youngest friend was Riley Husted. Other friends that came, were, Cameron<br />

Parker (Chris&Cheryl), Jack du Plessis (Nichy&Marcel), Marek Kowalski (Catherine&Marcin), Luke<br />

Lindenberg (Mark&Cathy), Jemma Tubman (Scott&Hayley), Oscar&Hugo Kallis (Tash), Noah McGill<br />

(Ross&Eva), Emje Kriel (Karelien), Ben Wentzel Zandberg (Ster&Soutie), Mischa Miller (Tana&Ralph),<br />

Milea Cronje (Jaco&Christie). On Sunday, Josh Cochrane (Richard&Terri-Ann) and Lihle Quickfall<br />

(Julia&Kim) also added their prints to the canvas .


Uncle Gareth helped us out with beverages from the Ceres Juice Company and<br />

Ouma and Tannie Lindie baked some cupcakes for the occasion. Tannie<br />

Andrea and Tannie Riana were kind with their camera skills (we can’t wait to<br />

see all the pics) and we appreciate that so much! Rich snapped away too!<br />

It was a lovely picnic, rustig, with very little wind as oppose to earlier that day - and towards the end,<br />

we brought out her Number 1 berry, birthday cake! Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free – but oh so YUM!<br />

Even though uncle Chris called it a ‘cake-free-cake’ - it was delicious! Everyone sang happy birthday<br />

and then ‘veels geluk liewe maatjie’ and she ‘blew out’ her candle. Uncle Scott prayed for us and<br />

thanked God for the privilege of us having to take care of <strong>ella</strong> and thereafter, the temptation was too big<br />

to resist…she leaned forward and moushed her hands into the icing


We then cut the cake, shared it with the friends and then everyone eventually headed home…except of<br />

course, the cleaning up crew… Gareth, Annie, Lester, Kim, Wilhelm and Roscoe all helped Rich like<br />

real after-party-clean-up-professionals!<br />

Here are some more pics :<br />

v


It was really such a lovely celebration with her little friends and we had a great time!<br />

Only to ‘re-do’ it all the next day!<br />

Sunday, 11 March 2012<br />

The Bible Study friends and some of our friends (non-little-people) came round on Sunday afternoon for<br />

a birthday picnic. We decorated the garden again with colourful hearts, pics of <strong>ella</strong> and had a great time<br />

- this time, her birthday ‘cake’ was a little nectarine, with a candle in it…she can’t have cake three days<br />

in a row now, really! It was so SUPER HOT (!) – not a breath of wind…just the heat! We survived it,<br />

loved it and it was fun opening the gifts with the Bible Study guys afterwards.<br />

Ella was truly loved and spoiled by everyone who came and those who remembered her birthday and<br />

sent her birthday wishes!<br />

We are sooo grateful to God for a lovely weekend, amazing 12 months and our precious mooiste, liefste<br />

<strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe!


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> 12, 13, 14 months-


Monday, 28 May 2012 / 15 June 2012 / 4 July 2011<br />

And so…we’ve moved from having a little bebe to having a little toddler! And in these past three<br />

months, it is as if life accelerated at a pace that we could not have anticipated! From one day to the<br />

next, our mooiste, liefste, beste <strong>ella</strong> mireille has grown so, so, so quickly!<br />

Finding time to write this (long overdue) update, of her last three months, has been a real challenge!<br />

Looking back, we’ve gone from no crawling to proper-crawling, we’ve celebrate a birthday, we’ve had<br />

the joy of hearing her many, many, many words and we’ve had more visits to the Paediatrician than we<br />

would have liked to!<br />

Since last week, it’s been confirmed that our family is expanding! Yip, God has worked another a-m-a-zi-n-g<br />

miracle and our little <strong>ella</strong> will be receiving a little brother or sister, due 29 January 2013.<br />

So, here goes… an update of what’s been happening in months twelve, thirteen and fourteen of our<br />

mega-loved <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe!<br />

MARCH 2012 – month 12<br />

I can crawl . . .<br />

So after the first ‘offial’ moves in the Library, <strong>ella</strong> is the official crawler – moving around at the speed of<br />

light and giggling while she’s at it! I think the fact that she is able to move from A to B causes her much<br />

delight. There was a stage where she seemed a bit ‘frustrated’ at not being able to crawl.<br />

To date, there’s no walking yet – but we’re happy with that. T he longer she crawls, the better Lately<br />

she stands up against just about everything. Lifting the leg to climb on top of whatever surface is in her<br />

way.<br />

Crawling over, under, through… so cute to see her tiny body move along so speedily!


Losing weight, being sick-sick-sick…<br />

So days before her first birthday, <strong>ella</strong> got really sick. Huuugggeee poohs, sometimes three in a space of<br />

15 minutes and diareah-like. She was not a happy camper and very, very, very clingy. By the time we<br />

had her weighed, she had lost so much weight. During the first week in December she weighed 7.9kgs.<br />

Now, almost 3 months later, her weight dropped to 7.56kg. She was skinny! Rich would call me in the<br />

evenings, while he bath her, and would say ‘…kyk hoe maer is sy …’ – shame, we were nervous that<br />

she’d start to resemble a lollipop – big head, skinny body! <br />

Part of the news that she lost so much weight, was the added ‘stress’ that her eating patterns changed.<br />

And almost completely. She went from a very good eater to a very picky eater. Any protein, she’d spit<br />

right back out. Any funny texture, she’d refuse to eat and sometimes refuse to eat even one spoon at a<br />

meal time. Sister St<strong>ella</strong> told us about PediaSure and recommended that we think through maybe using<br />

that. At that stage we’d never heard about PediaSure and I am not always keen to give her ‘unnatural<br />

stuff’ – so we decided to hold off on that and rather check with my dietician and then my paed re their<br />

recommendations. So, we saw both on one day and the consensus was to aim at getting protein into<br />

her and if it meant taking the texture back a few steps and pureeing everying again, then that’s what we<br />

should do. And we did…and it worked for a bit! Our final visit was to see a paediatric dietician and to<br />

especially check that we’re okay for not wanting to give her any dairy. We saw Kath Megaw, who is also<br />

the co-author of the Feeding Sense book. She was amazing and very encouraging – so we had our steps<br />

in place to see <strong>ella</strong> through this, what we hoped would be a phase only.<br />

Part of the changes we made was to stop making all her food ourselves, but to order from<br />

Healthybabe.com, following our friend Tana’s recommendation and Kath Megaw’s. Kath said that she<br />

suspects that <strong>ella</strong> had Rotovirus, despite being vaccinated against it and that often eating ‘someone<br />

else’s food’ – i.e not what you’re used to, helps. And it did! At least, she was e-a-t-i-n-g again!<br />

Currently, it’s still a mission to get her to eat well – lunch especially. All she asks for lately is b(r)ead! So,<br />

feeding remains a challenge, but we’re more relaxed about it because we’re just doing what we can and<br />

praying it will pass!<br />

Turning ONE<br />

We sent out a separate birthday update after her first birthday on Friday, 9 March 2012. It was such a<br />

special weekend and the little garden party we had for her the Saturday was much fun! Thanks again to<br />

Karelien and Kim for helping with all food-prep and to all who showered us with soooo much love! It<br />

was truly a weekend of being very thankful to God for graciously allowing us to take care of such a<br />

precious bebblee-boo!


My birthday card from tannie Miepsie My birthday card from Granny in UAE Had a few pics of her first year as party decor<br />

I loooovvvvvveeee cats….even though I think they make my eyes go puffy!<br />

So, when we get to Ouma and Oupa’s home, she immediately points to the couch where Mieuw, the 16<br />

year old cat, has her snooze. She gets so excited! And best of all – Ouma let’s her brush and touch<br />

Mieuw! There’s a second cat too – Fifi, but she is afraid of little kiddies, so when we arrive, she hides.<br />

Ella knows this though – and goes on a a ‘finding Fifi mission’ with Ouma – eventually spotting her under<br />

Ouma’s bed <br />

Sadly…. Mieuw is no longer with us…she was<br />

just too old and blind and so the Vet took care<br />

of her. At least <strong>ella</strong>tjie got to meet her


Granny<br />

So, Granny missed her actual birthday, but that wasn’t too serious, because it meant that once Granny<br />

arrived, we’ll just have another bday celebration! So, a day at Boulders Beach was where we headed<br />

and despite it being the most windy day of the decade (!), we survived it and came home to sing the<br />

very familiar ‘happy birthday’ song – with <strong>ella</strong> smiling all the way, clapping and doing the ‘blow’ action<br />

towards the end of the song! Very cute!


Other Granny fun included fun at Green Point Park, Kirstenbosch and many, many coffee dates and<br />

cuddles!


Playdates


Words, Words, Words<br />

We think that because she’s not walking yet, she’s using the extra time on hand to build on her vocab.<br />

She has so, so many words! Or at least, we think it’s many! She repeats just about any thing we say and<br />

understands English and Afrikaans equally well. (Rich speaks to <strong>ella</strong> in Afrikaans only and I speak to her<br />

in English only). The cute thing is that lately, when there’s an Afrikaans word, she says ‘Pappa’ after she<br />

hears it, almost as to say ‘Pappa uses those words’ – or I would often ask her, who says ‘neus’ – then<br />

she’d reply: Pappa <br />

So, by the time she turned one, in the previous update, we mentioned the words she could say by then.<br />

Since then, her list has grown and here’s an attempt to capture them all:<br />

Pappa, dad, mamma, light, taglet, duck, books, muck (milk), bye-bye, Jesus, Bible, bear, purple, star,<br />

nana (banana), ag, lag, nag, nat, wet, by, lion, back, fish, door, bag, hello, bum, poepies, jinne, pig,<br />

sssttta (pasta), water, baa (for her doedoe-sheep), sleep, monkey, dot, button, watch, flower, blanky,<br />

rough, wet, doedoe, paste, go-go-go, up, down, rain, hey, me, face, wash, dirty, boots, shoes, box, tea,<br />

butter, market, b(r)ead, mango, berry (the rr-not too clear), bike, hat, head, beads, hair, gown, ock<br />

(sock), ox (fox), mat, pillow, dark, sun, hand, mamma’s (when referring to food that I eat), hmm-hmm,<br />

mug, dough, ball, bee, neus, bad, medsen (medisyn), better, tired, office, work, whabbit (rabbit), dog,<br />

warm, oupa, ouma, one, pitta-patta, nee, ja, yes, fire, nice, day, you, egg, pop, poef, b(r)ush, dow(n),<br />

dankie, many, hereyougo, mouse, baby, hop, eina, wait, not, no, moni(tor), butter and then when<br />

prompted…adds fly (butterfly), ready, off, apple, hippo, boat, tussue, moon, mole, pear, minnamon<br />

(cinnamon), bug, buite, top, toc (cot), wond and wond (round and round), swish, tissue, lekker, pig, pink,<br />

bike, big, lekker, piece, jersey, hereyougo, allgone, kick, bird, amen, ready, two, oop for oops – I think<br />

that’s all I can remember! By 13 months, we counted about 27 words…and now, at the end of 14<br />

months, I think we’re 147 and counting! <br />

This excludes the sounds she knows and the names of friends she knows.<br />

Sounds: Brrr for car and brr for cold, sshhh for sleep, growl for lion or tiger, moo, rrrfrrrfffrrr for froggy,<br />

ssswww for swing, tjoek-tjoek and too-too for train, tweet-tweet for bird, haa-di for hadida, growlins<br />

sound for pig, chewing motion for giraffe, ba-ba-ba lips for fish, fingers on nose for elephant, oe-oe-oe<br />

for monkey, baa for sheep, whoof for dog, mieaauw for cat. . .<br />

Names: SSS is the reply for ‘who’s your friend’ – and the answer is Sadie. Since last week, she says ‘Mia’<br />

(Sadie-Mia), Jack, Josh, Marek, Leah, Emje, Misha, Ni-Ke (Anique), Annie, Ga-rfff (Gareth), onnie<br />

(honnie), Bailey (Dr Bailey), Portia (Dr Lynda’s guide dog), Myrtle, jacq (jacques), cott (scott), Ben, ugo<br />

(hugo), hayley, tash, nichy, tatum, lalla (<strong>ella</strong>), Leights, Tikky (Kitty), Tana, Jo, Oxy, B<strong>ella</strong>, Mymy, Boeboe,<br />

Doctor [from her Moemin book], christie, aco (jaco)<br />

When we ask her Who is Richardt, she says ‘Pappa’, when we ask her who’s Meryl, she replies<br />

‘Mamma’.


When we ask her, who’s Edward – she says ‘whabbit’ hop-hop (The Tubman rabbit). When we ask her<br />

who is Portia, she says ‘doggy’ whoof-whoof.<br />

She is good at ‘associating’ people and things. Eg if you ask her who’s tannie Jean (from Mom’s<br />

Connect), she says ‘beads’, if you ask her who wears sunglasses, whe says ‘Ni-Ke’ (anique), if you say,<br />

what did uncle Gareth buy you, she says ‘fish’. If you ask her, who does Pappa jog with and you say<br />

‘uncle’ then she replies ‘Leigths’.<br />

If you ask her in the morning, where is Pappa? Pappa is at the….then she says ‘office’. And if you say,<br />

yes, that’s right. And at the office, Pappa… then she replies ‘works’ <br />

And if you ask her what does Pappa do after work? She says ogg-ogg (jog-jog) and moves her arms and<br />

then if you say, yes, and after the jog, Pappa is…. She replies with ‘tired’. <br />

If you ask her, what did tannie Theresa (Jumpstart teacher) put on your hand? She looks at her hand<br />

and says ‘butter’ and then if I say ‘yes, a butter…’ then she says ‘fly’.<br />

She remembers well, too. If I ask her, who gave you the flower? She says ‘Jack’. If I ask her, who sleeps<br />

with you, she says ‘taglet’ and then I’ll ask, yes, taglet and…. And she’ll reply ‘baa’ (her sheep doedoething).<br />

If I ask her, what did Oom Jacques do with his hand – she imitates him and shakes her finger up and<br />

down and says was, was, was - after a Jacques-joke about ‘wat was was voor was was was?!’<br />

If I ask her who is in the ‘boot’ of your car (her little ride-on-car), then she’ll reply ‘duck’ – there’s a little<br />

duck that she hides in there <br />

If I ask her where is…. Then she will search and if she can’t see it, she’ll reply, shaking her head ‘NOT,<br />

NOT’<br />

If Rich asks her, ‘is jy Pappa se klein engeltjie’ – she pauses, nods her head and belts out ‘JAAAAA’ <br />

If she passes wind… and that happens so often, then I ask her, ‘what was that?’ – then she replies in the<br />

cutest voice and confidently ‘poepies!’<br />

We also have these ‘songs’ – and she fills in the blanks.<br />

‘they call you mamma’s bebble…bebblee-______ and she will fill in BOO (bebblee-boo) ’<br />

Or <strong>ella</strong>, mamma, ________she adds in ‘dad’, x2 / we are a fami___ she adds in lllleeeeee/ it’s <strong>ella</strong>,<br />

mamma, ________ she adds in ‘pappa’!!<br />

When she hears Pop goes the weezle – she does the shaking action and then ‘lifts her hands up high’ on<br />

the ‘pop’-part of the song – this is what they do at Jumpstart! When she hears any other familiar<br />

song, she clicks her tongue and nods her head in a ‘dancing action’ When Pinocchio starts, she claps<br />

her hands and she can also ‘click her fingers’ as from the end of March , after Granny sang a ‘baby, baby,<br />

baby’ song to her


If you ask her, who says ‘goeiemore juffrou’ – then she says ‘Pappa’. If you say, Pappa is baie____ then<br />

she says ‘lief’… Rich says ‘Pappa is baie lief vir <strong>ella</strong>’.<br />

If you say an Afrikaans word, she says ‘Pappa’ – and then you ask her, who says, for example, neus –<br />

then she says ‘Pappa!’<br />

If you ask her, how does Pappa laugh? Her face lights up and she ‘mocks’ Rich’s ‘silent’ laugh - so<br />

funny!!<br />

If you ask her, how does Mymy laugh? She goes ‘hie-hie-hie’ – just like we read it to her from the<br />

Moemin book <br />

She’s so good at ‘following instructions’ – like you’ll ask her to put book A on the table and bring you<br />

book B and she’ll do it.<br />

When we start to sing ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ – she makes little star actions with her hands, and the like a<br />

diamond in the sky part, she tries to make a diamond shape with her fingers too! And if you leave out<br />

___star, she fills it in.<br />

When we sing incy whincy spider – she also does actions with her hands.<br />

Then she knows where the part goes of ‘wash’ the spider out – and fills it in.<br />

When the ‘driver on the bus says move on’ – she says ‘back’ at the right place in the song , Same with<br />

the wheels on the bus go ____ she says, wond and wond or the whipers on the bus go____ she says<br />

‘swish-swish’<br />

When the Mynie Grove song goes opdrand-op, afdrand- ________ she says ‘af!’ – at the right place. <br />

When we say, row, row, row your…. She says ‘boat!’ and does the Jumpstart actions to that!<br />

She has her favourite books and the one that she really enjoys is the Fool Moon Rising that Craig and<br />

Kerry gave her for Christmas. When we start the opening line of the book, her face lights up! She<br />

finishes the sentences and knows what comes next too!<br />

Eg. …scaled the heights and said ‘_______’ [she says Hey] look at _______ [she says ‘me!’]<br />

Or …face would change, then re-arrange and sometimes, dissa__________ [she says pear]<br />

Or …danced across his___________ [she says face] or would visit him in_______ [she says space]<br />

Etc <br />

Same with her Moemin book. If you ask her, who lives in the tent, she says ‘Boeboe!’ – which is exactly<br />

who lives in the tent! <br />

We also taught her to stay away from plug points – so we do this thing of ‘a-a-a don’t touch, don’t<br />

touch’ and then wave a hand to show, no, don’t touch. So adorable to see her crawl up to the plug and


‘tell the plug’ a-a-a with her little hand! Same for the panel heater and so far, so good! She’s relatively<br />

obedient <br />

Cute when you tell her to ‘lick your finger’ and she does, or wash your hair or close your eyes or clap<br />

your hands or whatever the ‘instruction’. Gareth asks her to do all of those in quick succession and it is<br />

sssooo funny to see her trying to keep up!!<br />

He is also the one to introduce her to the ‘dot’ – on her playmat – the<br />

bottom of the question mark he told her was a pink dot. It became a<br />

fun game shuffling the blocks around and then asking her to find the<br />

pink dot. Thereafter, every circle is now a dot! <br />

And she knows heart, star and she’s just getting the hang of ‘triangle’ lately Wherever she spots a<br />

star, she whispers ‘sssttttaaaahhhhhrr’ – because the first time she ‘learnt’ the word, was in a whispervoice<br />

and now, it is always a whisper when she talks about or points out ssstttaaahhhrrr <br />

However. . . she ‘swops’ letters around of words starting with ‘c’ or ‘k’ – for example, if you ask her, who<br />

is Sadie-Mia’s mamma? Then she replies ‘Tikky’ instead of Kitty. She also says ‘toc’ instead of cot, tocc<br />

instead of scott!<br />

There’s this little ‘Feelings’ book that Nanny Irma gave her for Christmas. When you ask her a few<br />

‘feelings’, she does them with actions – ‘Sam feels hot’ – then she wipes the front of her head and goes<br />

‘sjoe’! ‘Sam feels cold’ – she replies brrrr and ‘Sam feels happy’ – she puts her hands in the air and goes<br />

hrray! – too sweet!<br />

When I change her on her changemat, I usually warm her clothes on the heater. When she feels the<br />

warm clothes against her, she replies and says ‘warm!, warm!’ Or if I say, ooh, can you feel, it is nice<br />

and ______ then she says ‘warm’.<br />

When something is wet, she says that it is wet and knows ‘rough and smooth’ from the velcro label on<br />

her bibs – and on her pink shoesies – and touches the rough bit and says ‘rough!’ and also knows ‘many<br />

and few’ from the booklet Karelien made her <br />

Pink shoes from uncle Gareth<br />

Tannie Kitty’s shoes…just to pose for the pic…we don’t own a pair!


When you ask her, ‘how old are you’ – she replies and says ONE and points her index finger in the air!<br />

When we sing the ‘happy birthday song’ – she fills in the person’s name in the right place. Eg happy<br />

birthday to , then we pause, and she says_____ mischa! happy birthday to_____ mischa! happy birthday<br />

to_____ mischa! happy birthday to_____ mischa! And then she blows – as to say, I know that at this part<br />

one gets to blow out candles! <br />

When you tell her, you are ‘<strong>ella</strong> mireille ________’ – she replies ‘wha-be!’ <br />

Dancing…the joy of my day<br />

She loves dancing…with Pappa especially. But uncle Roscoe did some serious tango-moves with her<br />

which she loved! And then high-fived uncle Gareth afterwards, as if to confirm, I waxed that!<br />

Teeth<br />

So just when you think you’ve got the being sick, diareah-thing sorted, then there’s this thing called<br />

teeth! Who knows why they are an issue now, after the first ones popped out without us even noticing!<br />

But, sadly, as they appear, so too does screaming <strong>ella</strong> in the evening and mega drools and mega runny<br />

nose moments! Saw the fifth tooth make it’s appearance at 12 months, one week.


Emje’s birthday and other parties<br />

So turning ONE is fun, but it also means that all her other friends turned one or will be turning one,<br />

which means the start of many a kiddie party! So far, we’ve only had fun ones. We’ve celebrated with<br />

Sadie-Mia in October – we thought it was at 15h00, only to be phoned and to have missed most of it, as<br />

it actually started at 11h00 (!!), then we celebrated with Cameron Parker and had fun in his splash pool,<br />

at Marek Kowalski’s party we experienced fun with a balloon for the first time and loved our time in his<br />

sandpit! At the end of March, we took a drive through to Stellenbosch, it was a rainy and freezing cold<br />

day, and Granny joined us. We went to Emje’s party. Emje’s mamma, Karelien and I met when we were<br />

11 years old, she practically grew up in our home and we’ve been friends ever since. So being at the<br />

birthday of her little boy was really special for us. Granny too appreciated this moment! So, happy<br />

birthday Emje and a fun day in Stellenbosch, having been introduced to a truck (one of his bday toys)<br />

and in return, introducing Emje to rice cakes, animal sounds and our favourite word at that time: duck!<br />

Next birthday we had the joy of missing, because we got the times wrong…AGAIN (!) – was little Leah<br />

Kooyman’s rainbow party! When we arrived at 15h00, they were gracious to entertain us, even though<br />

all the guests had already left by that time. I was devasted! I mean really…another late (super late)<br />

arrival! But, Leah and <strong>ella</strong> celebrated a private celebration! What was cute though, was that when<br />

we sang the ‘happy birthday’ song for leah (practising at home) – she filled in the Leah-name at the right<br />

place. It was super cute! Our final party was Milea Dara Cronje’s. And…for this party, we went to the<br />

venue in Vredehoek only to find no-one there… after calling the parents, they forgo t to inform us that<br />

the venue changed…so late we arrived once again. But hey…that’s how we roll It was a sweet bday<br />

and the first one we attended where the birthday girl could walk already We’re looking forward to<br />

celebrating Misha Benjamin Miller’s bday at his party next Friday!


Restaurant chair<br />

Tannie Myrtle gave us this hook-on chair for my babyshower, it stays in the boot of our car and comes in<br />

very, very handy!


Other new foods<br />

By this stage, she’s had everything basically! Lamb, rice cakes,<br />

macedamian nut spread, bread, butter (unsalted), rye bread, pasta<br />

(gluten-free) and her favourite snack, pomegranate! What she has NOT<br />

had to date, is yoghurt, cheese, cow’s milk – and we’re not planning on<br />

introducing those either. What she does not enjoy is banana and<br />

avo…can’t get her to swallow it… bummer, as it’s such an easy snack (!)<br />

– and then she’s also not had tomato ‘just as is’. So, will try those!<br />

12 months, week 1<br />

• Sits up in cot by herself during the night – i.e when she wakes, we don’t find her lying and<br />

crying…it’s now sitting and crying!<br />

• Shows one finger in the air when ask ‘how old are you’<br />

• 1 st cake!<br />

• When we sing the birthday song, she starts clapping immediately and before the end of the song,<br />

she blows (knows that there should be a candle coming)<br />

• Pushes herself backwards on her ride-on-car<br />

• Taught her not to touch the plug points and heaters – so, when she sees it, she stops, looks at me<br />

and says, waving her hand ‘ a-a-a-ah!!’ – cause I say: a-a-a- don’t touch, don’t touch – too sweet to<br />

see! <br />

• Pushes her bum in the air, whilst resting on her hands<br />

• Follows ‘instructions’ like ‘lick your finger’


• Loves to close her eyes and copy you – and then smile about it! <br />

12 months, week 2<br />

• When she recognises a song, she clicks with her tongue. Current favourite is b-i-n-g-o song and at<br />

the part where one ‘claps’ – she clicks her tongue!<br />

• Says ‘nice’<br />

• Follows instructions like ‘find the pink dot on your playmat’ – then she looks for it and crawls to it<br />

and points it out - or, put on your slippers – she’ll then try or, ‘<strong>ella</strong>, where’s dragon fly, or mr<br />

sun, or whichever object is on one of her toys/mobiles’ – and she’ll point them out <br />

• Says ses – as in the number 6<br />

• Her favourite word, that she says with such clarity and beautiful articulation, is ducK – emphasises<br />

the ‘k’! <br />

• Loves balls – but we have to start introducing BIGGER balls!! - also need more cars!<br />

12 months, week 3<br />

• Shakes her head for no from side to side (…thanks Candy J!)


• Says ‘star’ and in a whispered-voice – because that’s how we said it the first time – now she points<br />

out stars all the time – from a star on a poster in a shop to the tiny stars on her taglet! She spots<br />

them and then says in the cutest voice: ‘ssss-ttt-aaa-hhhh-rrrr’ and makes ‘stars’ with her little<br />

hands<br />

• Says ‘tweet-tweet’ when referring to birds<br />

• Does ‘open-close-star-hands’ when we sing twinkle, twinkle<br />

• Says ‘doedoe’, ‘bow’<br />

• New tooth – bottom left, next to the two that is there already<br />

• Had her first taste egg – we boiled the egg – she rejected the egg white, but ate the yolk <br />

• Says ‘tsoek-tsoek’ for train<br />

• Says ‘Jack’ – name of her swimming friend<br />

• Crawls under and over the benches in the lounge<br />

• Says ‘ssssssss’ refering to a swing and points to it and says ‘sssss’ when she wants to swing.<br />

Swinging is probably her all time favourite thing. She LOVES it and as soon as she is in the swing, she<br />

relaxes completely and lately humms a sweet little tune while she’s at it!<br />

12 months, week 4<br />

• Drives forward on push car – her bday gift from Oupa and Ouma. First only drove backwards.<br />

• Got a new taglet – Emje’s blue one, that he doesn’t use…now we have back-up!<br />

• 1 st pancake – at ouma’s home


• When she hears the ‘Pinnochio’ song– she starts to clap<br />

• Says ‘YES’ to answer questions<br />

• Says her name – after Granny taught her. Granny said say ‘<strong>ella</strong>, like la-la-la’ – BIG MISTAKE,<br />

because, then, when you ask her, what is your name – she replies, with her tongue out: LA-LA!!<br />

Went for coffee at Starlings and a random lady asked her ‘what is your name’ and she replied<br />

confidently ‘la-la!!’ – was very sweet <br />

• Says ‘wow and wowee’<br />

• Fills the gaps in songs: like incy wincy spider, climbed up the water spout, _______ (says and does<br />

the actions for DOWN) came the rain and __________ (says and does the actions for washed) the<br />

spider out!<br />

12 months, week 5<br />

• Says ‘banana’ when she sees it the flash card<br />

• First ride in her new, forward facing car seat – it was just waayyyy too squashed in the old one!<br />

APRIL 2012 – month 13<br />

Sadie-Mia’s nappy dash<br />

It was cold…and it started to rain…but, nothing stopped us – we supported our friend, Sadie-Mia-tjie, for<br />

her first Nappy Dash at the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon!


Easter<br />

The egg that dad ate, on my behalf <br />

Oupa’s Op<br />

After the Easter weekend, Oupa had a op and we are so grateful to God for getting him through this<br />

time and for looking after him! This meant a few days in hospital and because little ones are not<br />

allowed in ICU or High Care, Anique was very kind to come with me and look after <strong>ella</strong> in the waiting<br />

room, whilst I visited Oupa during the afternoon-slot. In the evenings, I stayed home with <strong>ella</strong> and Rich<br />

went through to check on Oupa. Having carpeted space to crawl around was an absolute treat for <strong>ella</strong>,<br />

so she enjoyed these trips to the hospital!<br />

Mammas and Munchkins<br />

The first Saturday of each month, we get together for our Mammas and Munchkins date at church. We<br />

LOVE these get togethers and meet new mammas at every meeting! For April, we had Sally Visser chat<br />

to us and do lots of practical stuff to do with gross motor development. What I took out from that was<br />

that crawling for at least 4 months is a great, great thing – so there I was doing the math in my head and<br />

‘deciding’ that <strong>ella</strong> would crawl till at least (!) the end of June! hehe… she is still crawling, so we’re<br />

happy! And the other thing is that I need to find my big exercise ball quite urgently and start those<br />

rolling over the ball exercises!!!


Moms’ Connect – Christchurch Kenilworth<br />

Jackie, a friend I met at the creche at St James, told me about Christchurch Kenilworth’s mom’s group<br />

that meets every Thursday. I remember Christie Cronje telling me about this too, but at that stage it<br />

clashed with <strong>ella</strong>’s feeding times and I wasn’t keen to check it out yet. Anyway, been there a couple of<br />

times now and invited Nichy with – Jack swims with <strong>ella</strong> and also invited Liezl, who’s little Lisa-Mari lives<br />

in our complex. One week they have ‘chill and chat’ and the next a speaker. Every week we go, I enjoy<br />

it more. At first didn’t find it too great, but now it’s fun. Met Tana’s friend Rosa and her little Alex there<br />

too, our other swimming friend Nikki’s little Alex goes there too and this past week we invited Cathy and<br />

Luke and Lizanne and Elijah along too. So now there are loads of us and whenever we leave there, <strong>ella</strong> is<br />

covered in mud, soaking wet knees from crawling through the entire garden and this week we left with a<br />

mini-injury – she slipped and scraped her chin on the bricks and has a cute ‘scar’ to show for it!


Kirstenbosch with Jack and Mischa<br />

Jack is <strong>ella</strong>’s swimming friend. She loves Jack. They have their own little da-da-da-da (very loud)<br />

conversations and many giggling moments during the lesson. His parents has a membership card to the<br />

Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden and invited us along one morning. We brought Tana and her little<br />

Mischa too and the three of them ended up with swimming nappies in the little ‘river’, splashing water<br />

everywhere. The weather was great and it’s definitely something we’d love to do more often.<br />

John’s Table Mountain Race<br />

So, not only is John the famous ‘vuvu-John’ after winning the Elle Decoration Lamp competition, but he<br />

is also the famous I-do-adventure-racing-John! And it seems like running up and down our ‘not-so-high<br />

‘Table Mountain for charity, is how he chose to spend a very freezing Saturday morning. We went along<br />

to see if he was for real. And…he ‘summited’ Table Mountain s-e-v-e-n times! Try that for size! Proud<br />

of him, but we prefer the cable car! Bonus was, we got to stare at our beautiful mountain and were<br />

reminded of just how fortunate and blessed we are to live in this city!!


Campcot (Husteds Home – screams)<br />

So, on Sunday evenings, we head to the Tubman home, where Nanny Irma babysits Ben, Jem and Ella<br />

(sleeping) – whilst we get to go to church together. Well, we haven’t been doing that a whole lot in<br />

March, because Granny was here. And then after that, <strong>ella</strong> was sick and we were away and then the<br />

rest of May we just took turns to stay home with her, because she had very cranky days!<br />

So, she hasn’t been sleeping in her (the Tubman) campcot too often. And when she does… she screams!<br />

Like when we went to Christof’s bday braai…it took forever to settle her – as soon as you put her down,<br />

she s-c-r-e-a-m-s….and the same thing happened at Danni and Leroy’s place, when we had Bible Study<br />

there, as a once-off, to celebrate their ‘new home’ – spent sssssoooooooooo long just trying to calm<br />

her!<br />

So, the verdict…pray that she gets over this crying phase, so that we can use this camp cot more often!!<br />

Antenatal Reunion<br />

Our antenatal classes were fun! And we’ve met some really nice couples there. Since the birth of our<br />

little ones, we’ve had two ‘reunions’ and it was time for a third. So we finally got a date that suited<br />

most of us and headed to Hout Bay where Lee and Rocco hosted us. Their place is like play heaven!<br />

Slide outside, sandpit, balls, birds, blocks, you name it! It was really sweet to see how at the last one<br />

(6 months), most of them were just trying to sit on their own…except the Pedersen’s Zoeye, who<br />

crawled by then already (!) – and this time round, at 13 months, they were all Toddlers, motoring<br />

around! We get to see the Kowalski’s often, as Marek has joined Jumpstart and we’ve also been to a<br />

few playdates with him. The others we don’t get to see that often, but we all ‘keep in touch’ via group<br />

emails every now and then. Special bunch of parents!


Porcupines and Ster & Soutie<br />

So…it was the April longweekend and we made plans to visit Ster and Soutie in Vanrhynsdorp – about 4<br />

hours drive north from Cape Town. By this stage, we moved <strong>ella</strong> to her forward facing car seat, despite<br />

her not being 9kg. So, for the trip, we decided to put her into her rear-facing seat, because it was better<br />

to sleep in and safer. And just as well we did that! We left Cape Town at 04h30 the morning and I<br />

decided to drive the first half of the trip. All was going well, there were few cars on the road and just<br />

before we got to Piketberg, we had an encounter with two MASSIVE porcupines! In the middle of the<br />

road, out of nowhere – these two enourmous porcupines appeared – spikes out and all! My first<br />

thought was – oh my goodness…those spikes canNOT hit this car… so, in my head, I thought that I would<br />

just ‘drive around them’ – which meant in real terms, at the speed of 110km/h – swirving! There was a<br />

‘drop’ to the left of the road, and as I went ‘off-road’ – I just heard Rich shout, politely, MERYL (!!) – and<br />

I think that was enough to get me into being much more alert. I managed to, by God’s grace, and purely<br />

by God’s grace, bring the car back onto the road and when we came to a stop, we were facing Cape<br />

Town’s direction, in the opposite lane, having made a 360 turn… and ending this very, very frightning<br />

moment in silence. Next, I just heard Rich saying very calmly, ‘we’re okay, you did well, it’s fine, switch<br />

the car on, and pull to the side of the road carefully’ . . . and that was our encounter with these stupid<br />

porcupines! God looked after us. Ella didn’t even wake up (!) – no one got hurt, I didn’t hit the brakes<br />

and we didn’t roll the car…. We were okay… well, physically okay, but man…what a fright!!! Rich drove<br />

the rest of the way and for the rest of the weekend, images of these stupid porcupines popped up in our<br />

heads wayy to often!!<br />

But – we were at Ster and Soutie’s place. And that meant, great ‘kuiers’ and eating like Kings! Fish<br />

braai, real meat braai, homemade chicken pies, potjie, roosterkoek… oh man…such a treat!<br />

Ben and <strong>ella</strong> played so nicely together, despite her sleeping patterns changing TOTALLY! She woke every<br />

hour the first night…every two hours the second night… every 2 – 3 hours the third night – it was<br />

AWEFUL (!) – again, she was sleeping in a campcot and in our room – SOOO not a great idea! Don’t<br />

know HOW parents sleep with their little ones in the same room as them! So, we left the weekend<br />

having had great times with friends, but we were pretty exhausted, having had very little sleep!


MAY 2012 – month 14<br />

Mammas and Munchkins<br />

For May, we did ‘winter indoor-activities’ as suggested by my friend Tana and executed by Oolz and<br />

Kyla-Rei. It was loads of fun and seeing <strong>ella</strong> ‘conquer’ the obsticle course, was great! We walked away<br />

with artwork too! <br />

PICS<br />

Chilling with Pappa and Oom Tiaan<br />

Kirstenbosch with Tash, Hugo and Oschy<br />

We love Kirstenbosch. Not only because it’s a special place for us or that we had our wedding reception<br />

there, but just because it is so amazingly breathtakingly beautiful!! So any opportunity to go there, we<br />

grab with both hands. We have to buy membership though, because it’s about R40 per person to get in,<br />

which is R80 for both of us and if we still want to grab a coffee or a bite to eat, then it becomes quite an<br />

expensive outing, on our budget at least! But, off to Kirstenbosch we headed with Tash, Hugo and<br />

jacket or blanky, because it gets cold instantly! Which is exactly what happened after our fun afternoon<br />

there!


First Jumping Castle at the Teddy Bear Fair – Buitenverwachting Wine Estate<br />

So, uncle Gareth was kind enough to join us at the Teddy Bear Fair and boy, was it fun! Got to<br />

experience the joys of the Jumping Castle – and even though I was the only one on it who could not walk<br />

and therefore ‘jump’ properly – I just decided to still play and crawl all over! I was so brave! I loved it!


Playdough & Storytime!<br />

What we do on rainy days!<br />

Annie comes and reads her stories, we go on coffee dates with Anique, crawl under the table and just<br />

find stuff to do in the rainy weather!<br />

She never tires of this yellow book of hers with the photos of fam and friends. LOVE finding Sadie-Mia<br />

and then saying MIA-MIA-MIAAAAAAAAAAAA <br />

We play ‘close your eyes and hide’…she loves this ‘game’ too and trying to climb into her bumbo chair<br />

by herself


Swing, Swing, Swing with uncle Gareth and Tannie Ilse<br />

So, for Christmas, she got a swing from tanny Myrtle – and if she can swing everyday, she’ll be in swingheaven.<br />

So, we found this ‘new park’ in Palmboom road and headed there with uncle Gareth. Ella<br />

LOVED it. She and Gar were on those swings for ages and it was all she was intersted in. She wasn’t a<br />

fan of the see-saw, or the merry-go-round, although the big tractor and the slide she enjoyed. But only<br />

so point to the swings and go sss-sss-ssss, and doing her hand-sign for ‘pleassssse’ as fast as she can! <br />

We loved it so much, we went two weekends in a row. This time, dad and tannie Ilse joined too! Whilst<br />

Gar and Ilse entertained <strong>ella</strong> in the park, Rich and I got to take a leisurly walk to Melissa’s around the<br />

corner for some takeaway coffee and stale brownies! Because she was in swing-heaven, she harldy<br />

missed it! Fun times and a beautiful park!


Alfino Playdate<br />

Seth and Cindy’s girls are a bit older than <strong>ella</strong>. Kyla turns four this year<br />

and Riya turns three. But, they are so sweet and plays with the littler<br />

ones so nicely. The alfino lounge was a hit, because they have a swingin-the-lounge!<br />

Ella was a happy camper and was also introduced to<br />

‘jumping on the bed’ – more like ‘bouncing on her bum’ – by Kyla. It<br />

was such a memorable moment for her, that after the playdate, when<br />

we ‘chatted’ about the playdate and I asked about Kyla, she would smile<br />

and say hop-hop and then proceed to bounce! <br />

Very sweet! Well, at playdates, at times, there’s bound to be new experiences and this one was in the<br />

form of <strong>ella</strong> getting some scratches in her face by her friend McKenzie. She just stared at her helplessly<br />

as if to say, ‘what on earth is happening here!’ Despite apologies, this ‘incident’ stayed with her, as<br />

when we named everyone that was at the playdate, and mentioned McKenzie, she would close her eyes<br />

and then ‘scratch’ her face ‘in the same way’ – it was so funny to see – but also amazing at how well she<br />

remembered! Don’t worry – they’ve played together since and they are friends <br />

When you ask <strong>ella</strong> though, who’s your friend? Her face lights up and she can’t say fast enough: sssssssss-sssss!!!!!<br />

That is Sadie-Mia. [Leights and Kitty’s daughter]. Their ‘friendship’ grew especially<br />

during our ‘jogging months’ – when we say each other at least twice a week. When we arrived, they<br />

would be so excited to see each other and would then hold hands and we’d all say together ‘shakeshake-shake,<br />

shake-shake-shake’ and they would smile and then give hello kisses! Sooooo sweet to see!<br />

So when you talk about Sadie – she gets her hands in the air and ‘shakes’ and smiles and since last week<br />

she realised that she can say ‘MIA’ [Sadie-Mia] – which is much easier to say than Sadie, so then she<br />

would get so super excited and bolt out Mia-Mia-Mia-Mia!!!!! Love it! <br />

Mother’s Day<br />

The Saturday before Mother’s day, Rich told me to be ready early as we had a date at 09h00. So, we<br />

arrived at PINK Coffee Boutique and 09h00-ish, only to find others there too! Hayley, then Kitty and<br />

then Zoe. And then the plan was revealed. The dudes were going to take the kids and leave us ladies


there to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, to celebrate an early Mother’s Day. It was such a lovely morning<br />

and what a great, great idea! Thanks stubman and crew! <br />

Ben Tubman, Sadie-Mia Ronne, Ella Rabe, Jemma Tubman… fun times! <br />

Teetjie with Ouma on Mother’s Day


Recognising people on pics<br />

Ella is good with recognising people on pics – and herself too.<br />

And if the person is in the room, she will then turn around, look<br />

for them and point them out. The one ‘collage’ she goes to all<br />

the time, is one that my work colleagues gave me at my<br />

farewell. She points to most of the pics and all you here is<br />

‘mamma!’….’mamma!’….’mamma!’ <br />

Garden Picnic with Ni-Ke and Myrtle<br />

We love the garden in our flat complex, and if it’s not too cold, we venture<br />

downstairs with our picnic blankies (that tannie Kitty covered for us) and spend<br />

a lovely time in the winter sun! At the last picnic, we invited Ni-Ke (anique) and<br />

tannie Myrtle to join as well. Smelling flowers, waving at helicopters, spotting<br />

the moon and saying ‘MOON!!’ and playing with anique’s sunglasses made this a<br />

great picnic. And subsequently, if I tell her that we are going downstairs to the<br />

garden, she says ‘Ni-Ke!!!’ <br />

Ascension Day<br />

Being home with <strong>ella</strong> is great. It also means that I am free to attend the afternoon<br />

Ascension Day service – despite it being in her nap time. So, miraculously, I managed<br />

to get her to sleep in her pram, whilst rocking it backwards and forwards in the foyer,<br />

whilst listening to the sermon. She slept so well, I parked the pram next to the car and<br />

waited for her to wake…eventually!<br />

Kowalski Playdate<br />

The Kowalski home is super child-friendly, which is great!! Ella and friends<br />

crawled from the lounge to Marek’s cool room with fascinating toys, to his<br />

bathroom with all his bath toys, to the kitchen…everywhere! She loved it – and<br />

so did we, because despite the bad weather outside, it was a great indoor space<br />

and kept them entertained and happy!


PediaSure Talk and uncle Gareth babysitting<br />

So, long story about how we got to host a PediaSure talk at church, but it was fine in the end. Except,<br />

we did not have anyone to look after <strong>ella</strong> during this time as Rich had a breakfast with the dudes from<br />

our Bible Study at the same time. So, we called on uncle Gareth. And he was very keen and excited to<br />

babysit <strong>ella</strong>. So, off to his flat they went. No mess, no fuss…. Until he called about 30 minutes later…<br />

‘meryl….she doesn’t want to stop crying!!’ – and so, the babysitting effort came to an abrupt end and<br />

Gar had to bring a very sad <strong>ella</strong> back to me. Shamepies! Gar says she had such fun looking at the<br />

fffiiisshhhh and bouncing on his bouncy ball, etc – until she stopped and started to call ‘mamma!’.<br />

Luckily Rich managed to leave the breakfast earlier and meet us at church to console a very upset<br />

bebble! And thereafter, Gareth said – ‘meryl, I will only look after her when she is MUCH older!!’ <br />

Sam’s Aquarium<br />

Uncle Gareth bought <strong>ella</strong> some goldfish. She LOVES the fish in the fish tank at his flat, so he thought<br />

he’d get her her own. So, just before the longweekend, she received this much loved gift.<br />

However…they died…and pretty soon too…three weeks maybe?!! Anyway, after the gift, when you ask<br />

her, ‘what did uncle Gareth buy you?’ – she would reply with a smile and answer ‘fissshhhh’!<br />

So, as an outing, we took her to Sam’s aquarium. It’s closer than the Two Oceans Aquarium that we are<br />

planning to visit at some time – and it is free (it’s a shop) – and it is where Rich use to buy all his fish and<br />

equipment when he had his tank.<br />

Ella, Gar and I enjoyed the outing, although I think Rich was wayyyy more excited to visit Sam’s than <strong>ella</strong><br />

– as he dreams of a Fish Tank sssoooo often! We have to make a plan!


Sick, sick, sick…first Antibiotics-type-of-sick<br />

So, just when we get through a rough patch that we identified as ‘teeth’ – some really bad nights arrived<br />

on the scene!! Waking up SCREAMING hysterically, and struggling to calm her – having to pass her from<br />

Rich to me to Rich to me - it seemed as if nothing helped! We had about 4 in a row of those…and it got<br />

to the stage where I’d see 2am on the watch and think – oh no…still 5 more hours till 7am, when this<br />

should end…and then brace myself and then get up every hour till 7am. We were t-i-r-e-d!!! Walking<br />

zombies and so the Monday I took her to the GP. Dr Baron’s verdict was that the ears are clear –<br />

despite us telling him that she would scratch her head and not want to be horizontal and that she was<br />

drowning in her snot (!) – he explained that it was just viral and a bad snot-cold. So, we left there with<br />

nose drops and coryx for flu. Which of course, she refused to drink! So, Monday night and Tuesday<br />

night were no better than the horrible ones we had earlier that week and so on Wednesday, instead of<br />

going to Jumpstart’s Dad’s Day – we had an outing with Dad to the Paed! The verdict: middle ear<br />

infection, wet cough, cold. And her first course of antibiotics! Sad to say. We went to the paed because<br />

her temps were 38.9’C and didn’t seem to go down. So, we also got some suppositries.<br />

Dr Bailey weighed her as well, and we were bummed that she only weighed 8.28kg (14 months, week 3)<br />

- he seemed happy with this, especially since she was under 8kgs the last time he weighed her. Anyway,<br />

we were very grateful to God that despite her refusing most of her other meds, she drank the antibiotics<br />

with no fuss at all!!!! Five days of that and three days of cough meds and she seemed to improve,<br />

although the cough remained for at least another week and the nose… it’s STILL runny!<br />

She continued to wake up in the evenings, several times before<br />

midnight and we had to work hard at not being annoyed (having been<br />

very used to her sleeping with no wakings from 18h30 – 06h50!!) – we<br />

realised she was sick and not herself and just had to bite the tired<br />

bullet.<br />

The past few days have been better – although she is not back to normal yet. Fortunately, she seems to<br />

be sleeping at 9am again, after we thought she’d drop this nap… which is great for me as it’s the time<br />

that I get to hop into the bath and get sorted for the day.


13 months, week 1<br />

• Says ‘pappa, mamma’ - two different words in a row<br />

• Completes the words for twinkle – fills in ‘star’<br />

• Tannie Honnie taught her the word ‘pop’ (doll) – and from then onwards, when she saw a pic of<br />

Honnie or we chatted about Honnie, she would say ‘pop’!<br />

• Says ‘poef’ – and when there’s a ‘poo in the zoo’ – then she crawls to me so, so quickly, as to say<br />

‘please change me’. Happened so many times, was quite sweet. She’ll be playing happily, then all<br />

of a sudden, dash to me – and then, the verdict: a pooh in her zoo!<br />

• Says wag (wait), mat, watch, flower<br />

• Favourite book at the moment is Moemin and Mymy / Favourite song at the moment is Mighty to<br />

Save / Favourite animal at the moment, the elephant – and she puts her index finger on her nose<br />

and makes an elephant sound whenever she sees one we could be walking in Cavs and she could<br />

spot one and then you’d just hear random elephant sounds <br />

13 months, week 2<br />

• Drove back from antenatal reunion, and the ‘wheels on the bus’ song was playing, when all of a<br />

sudden, we just heard this casual, calm voice, say ‘back’….’back’…. spot on, when the lyrics went,<br />

the driver on the bus, says move on ________ she would say ‘back’ on the right place in the song.<br />

Rich and I just looked at each other! What a surprising moment <br />

• Says ‘by’ for bee (afrikaans)<br />

• Stands up against furniture comfortably and confidently<br />

• Tries to put on her own bib, socks, hat<br />

• When we say, let’s pray or let’s say ‘thank you God’ then<br />

she folds her hands together<br />

• Says ‘hat’, Says ‘ssshh’ and puts her finger on her lips<br />

when she sees someone sleeping or if you tell her someone is<br />

sleeping<br />

• Says ‘ag!’ during the ‘ag nee Jan’ song


• Does the ‘feelings’ for the Sam’s Feelings<br />

book – hot, sjoe, cold, brrr, etc<br />

• Reads this one ‘lift the flap’ book by herself and chats to<br />

herself and then says what she sees on each page – eg. Moo for<br />

the cow, Growls at the tiger page and says ‘Mamma’ at the page with the Mamma<br />

• Says ‘paste’ (sticking magnets onto the fridge)<br />

• Closes room doors<br />

• When we talk about Edwards, the Tubman rabbit, she says ‘hop-hop’! and bounces up and down<br />

like a little rabbit!<br />

• Read the Ant and the Grasshopper library book to her and she remembered the story so quickly!<br />

When we chat about the book (without having the book in front of us) – she also does the actions or<br />

remembers the story eg, grasshopper sings in the sun – and she’ll respond: la-la-la-la – and then the<br />

story goes, but Ant ______ and she will reply WORK(s)!! <br />

• Same for the Fool Moon book – can chat about it without having the book in front of us, and she will<br />

still fill in the words and know what is coming next <br />

13 months, week 3<br />

• Stands up in her cot<br />

• Says ‘boots’, Says ‘bye taglet’, Says b(r)ead – doesn’t say the ‘r’, says ‘dirty’ and ‘one’, and ‘rough’<br />

and ‘fire’<br />

• Stands for short stints ‘on her own’<br />

• Says pitta-patta when we talk about he rain, says ‘nee’<br />

watching the rain….


• LOVES her yellow booklet I made her with pics of family and friends and points everyone out and<br />

says their names<br />

• Completes the ‘this little toe went to __________’ says ‘Market’ and says ‘Home’ and says ‘butter’<br />

and says wee-wee-wee<br />

• Says ‘hmm-hmmm’ after smelling coffee or a flower or a flower in a book even <br />

13 months, week 4<br />

• Other bottom tooth is visible, to the right of the two that is already out<br />

• Says dankie, butter – for butter fly, silent ‘fly’, says ‘bib’, ‘wash’, ‘brush’, ‘ssh’, ‘rabbit’, ‘dog’, ‘hair’,<br />

‘wet’, ‘up’, ‘tiger’, ‘letter’, ‘post’, ‘tjook-tjook’, ‘monkey’, ocks for socks, ‘mouse’<br />

• Tries to make a ‘diamond shape’ for the ‘like a diamond in the sky’ part of the song<br />

• Tries to climb into her bumbo seat on her own when it’s snack time<br />

• When she recognises our clothing, she points at it and says ‘Pappa’ or ‘Mamma’ eg. A shirt of Rich’s<br />

on the washing line or a scarf of mine lying around<br />

• Finishes the sentences of the ‘Fool Moon Rising Book’<br />

• Says ‘dow-dow-dow’ when she wants you to put her down on the ground<br />

• Climbs steps! Saw this on the Tubman steps for the first time, then two days later, the stairs in the<br />

Library – she just LOVES trips to the Library and helps herself to the books!


• Made her her own ‘bookshelf’ at home, to prevent her from helping herself to our books. It started<br />

as a box, but we turned it on its side and it is now her bookshelf!<br />

JUNE 2012 – month 15<br />

Mammas and Munchkins<br />

The days leading up to the next Mammas and Munchkins event was crazy-busy!!! It involved helping out<br />

with Ouma’s 60 th invitation and wine label and couple quiz, sorting the last arrangements for Mammas<br />

and Munchkins and finishing the Recipe Book that we compiled for all the Mammas. So, finally, when 2<br />

June arrived – all these elements had to be completed. And luckily, they were!<br />

So, we hosted co-author of Feeding Sense, Kath Megaw and had a lovely, lovely, very informative and<br />

encouraging morning!!<br />

We were also excited about our recipe books and left the morning having met more new mammas!<br />

Ouma’s 60 th – Noordhoek<br />

After Mammas and Munchkins, we headed to Noordhoek for the evening. We booked a guesthouse just<br />

down the road from Monkey Valley, where the birthday dinner was. Candice Jacobs and Alexa were<br />

amazing and agreed to come to the guest house and babysit <strong>ella</strong>, whilst we celebrated with Ma. Their<br />

pizza and DVD evening was undisturbed, as <strong>ella</strong> did not wake up once!! We were checking our phones<br />

the whole time, being 0.5km away from the guest house, but nope…no smes, no call…all good! Ella<br />

slept soundly and we enjoyed a rustige meal with the family


More playdates (lizanne, nadine – then Lizanne home – Mira, Kowalski’s Harfield Park) Tubbe/Ronne’s<br />

our garden<br />

Lizanne and Elijah are our new neighbours and we had them over with Kitty and Sadie-Mia for a picnic in<br />

our garden. We also spent a very hot Saturday afternoon with the Tubmans and Ronnes in the garden<br />

and it was so special seeing all of the kiddies love each other and play so lovingly together! Whenever<br />

<strong>ella</strong> sees Ben, she’s happy! Whenever we talk about the Tubmans, she says/shouts ‘BEN!!!’ – and when<br />

we point to a pic of Jemma, she says BEN! Uncle Leights was the star of the afternoon, making them<br />

fly like aeroplanes and carrying all four of them at once, making for some very happy little ones! Love<br />

spending time with these two families!<br />

Tubbe&Ronnes<br />

b


Pregnancy<br />

So, it was ‘time’ to do a pregnancy test, and so we did and then two days later we saw Dr Zinn and saw<br />

our 6 week old’s tiny heart beat!! God has blessed us richly with this new life and we were sssoooo<br />

grateful. Our due date is 29 January 2013, but with us being the elective-caesar-fans, it’ll most probably<br />

be either 16, 18 or 21 January 2013 – if everything goes well. With <strong>ella</strong>, we only found out that I was<br />

pregnant at 9 weeks, so this time round, we know ‘3 weeks earlier’. With <strong>ella</strong>, I had almost no<br />

pregnancy ‘side-effects’ – but this time round, in week 5 and 6 especially, I have been fairly nauseus in<br />

the morning and at about 18h30 at night. It’s not bad – but I am aware of it. And hey, after having all<br />

those parasites and bilharzia and multiple helicobacter-episodes, I think nothing beats the nausea I<br />

experienced during those days!! So, I reckon God prepared me well. So this ‘nausea’ is really a piece<br />

of cake! <br />

Father’s Day<br />

And it’s time for yet another Father’s Day. We had a great morning with Oupa at the Alphen Hotel; <strong>ella</strong><br />

playing with play dough with Ouma, being fascinated by Ouma’s beads – that she brought for <strong>ella</strong><br />

especially, crawling on the table (allowed by Ouma!) - and then exploring the garden and returning<br />

with very, very dirty tights! It was such a sunny and warm morning, we stayed and kuiered till lunch<br />

time! Tomorrow is Father’s Day and after the All Age Service at church, where Leights will be doing the<br />

talk, Scott the MCing and Rich the prayer – we’ll check the weather and then hopefully head to<br />

Kirstenbosch. Failing which, we’ll go to the Cape Town Book Fair!


We drew dad some pictures as part of his gift. It was our first official ‘drawing time’ – and she’s so into<br />

it…says WOW!!!! After every stroke


Uncle Gareth<br />

Ella loves her times with her uncle Gareth…and she loves his hats…or is it a cap?!<br />

And that’s that really. . . <strong>ella</strong> is now 15 months and counting and we love her more and more each<br />

day!<br />

14 months, week 1<br />

• Says ‘medsen’ for medicine and when I say, the medicine is going to make you ________ she says<br />

‘better!’<br />

• Says ‘work’<br />

• Fills in the name of the person we’re singing happy bday to – did this for Leah Kooyman first<br />

• Says more of her friends’ names, including Josh and Marek<br />

• When she doesn’t like something, or is scared of something, she nervously will say ‘bye-bye!!’ –<br />

meaning, oh, no, please go away! Eg the vacuum cleaner lately!<br />

• Says mmmmm-MA! For Ouma and says motl for myrtle<br />

• Says ‘up-down’ and then tries to hop up and down in her cot, or wave something high and then low<br />

• Says words repeatedly, example monkey, monkey, monkey or bag-a-bag-a-bag-a-bag<br />

And, also, when she ‘walks’ – holding onto the couch – she says ‘monkey, monkey, monkey’ – it is<br />

from what they do at swimming, when they hold onto the side and fetch a toy, saying ‘monkey,<br />

monkey, monkey It was really surprising to see her link that and the walking holding onto the<br />

side – first of her cot, then on the couch


• When I say, <strong>ella</strong>, let’s sing: she smiles and claps her hands together, indicating that she is ‘ready!’<br />

• When we say ‘bike’ she replies with ‘ting-a-ling’ – like in her Toddle Waddle Book that the Kallis’<br />

gave her<br />

• When she holds a straw or a pen or a stick, she starts to sing the ‘row, row, row’ song – like the do<br />

at Jumpstart<br />

• You are ‘<strong>ella</strong> mireille______’ and she will reply ‘Wha-be’ for rabe!<br />

• Says ‘hmm-hmm’ when she sees you eating<br />

• When she sees me eating something that she knows is ‘not hers’ she’ll point and say ‘Mamma’s!<br />

- Or if I ask her, who’s toast/chips/fruit is this, she’ll say ‘mamma’s!’<br />

14 months, week 2<br />

• Says ‘oupa’ and letter<br />

• Says ‘NOT’ when someone or something is not here – eg. ‘is pappa here’, then she’ll look and reply<br />

‘NOT’ – or if she asks for a toy, and I ask her if the toy is here, she’ll look around and look back and<br />

say ‘NOT’<br />

• Tries to copy ‘eina’ and then cracks herself <br />

• ‘walks’ with dad – takes confident steps if you guide her<br />

• Says ‘lion’ after asked her who makes the roaring sound<br />

• Says ‘oh no’, ‘pillow’, ‘heidie’<br />

• When you ask her, ‘where’s meryl’ – she points to me, when you ask her where’s Richardt, she<br />

points to Rich – or when you ask her ‘who’s meryl’ she says ‘mamma’ or when you ask her ‘who’s<br />

Richardt’, she says ‘pappa’ <br />

14 months, week 3<br />

• When she is in her bumbo, on the table, and I have to get something, I tell her, <strong>ella</strong>, you have to<br />

_____ and she says ‘wait’ – then I’ll say, yes, that’s right, you have to please ‘______’ wait in your<br />

chair. She loves it that she has to concentrate and say ‘wait’ and wait for me to rush back with the<br />

wet wipes or spoon or whatever it was that I needed to fetch!<br />

• Either side of top teeth, new ones are popping out<br />

• Says ‘Bailey’ for Dr Bailey<br />

• 38.7’C – sick phase and first antibiotics for middle ear infection and wet cough<br />

• FINAL morning breast feed (24 May 2012) – NO MORE BREASTFEEDING<br />

• When I tell her, that we’re going to Dr Lynda, and Portia will be there – she says ‘dog’ and then<br />

‘whoof’ – referring to Dr Lynda’s guide dog<br />

• When you ask her ‘who is Edward?’ – she says ‘wha-bitt’ (rabbit) and then says ‘hop, hop’<br />

• Says ‘ready’ – when you ask her, ‘are you ready’ – she replies ‘ready’ or ‘yes’<br />

• When you say, ‘Pappa is at the’ - she replies ________ office!


• Knows all the names of her teddies, so if I ask her where is London or Dhabi or Dog, she points all of<br />

them out<br />

This bear is called, London…chad and kim sent for her from…wait for<br />

it…London [thanks Erin for the delivery!]<br />

• Says Ouma properly<br />

• When she is on her knees, I will ask her ‘<strong>ella</strong>, please sit on your bottom’ – and then she’ll change<br />

position and sit on her bottom! <br />

• More words at this stage: dag, nag, lag, off, head, wash, face, hey, apple, nana (banana), hello, ok,<br />

go-go-go, jersey,<br />

• When I say ONE…she responds with TWO …<br />

14 months, week 4<br />

• Made a ‘big move’ - she moved from the couch to the coffee table, whilst standing – Rich and I both<br />

saw this – excited moment…and happened that once only <br />

• More and more chats about ‘who’s jersey’ or ‘who’s milk is this’ and she’ll reply ‘<strong>ella</strong>’ or ‘mamma’s’<br />

• When you ask her, who says ‘goeiemore Juffrou’ – she replies ‘Pappa’ <br />

• When I warm her doedoe-baggie or taglet or her clothes on the heater, and she feels it, she says<br />

‘warm’ – or when I say, ooh, this top is nice and______ she says ‘warm’! <br />

• Makes mouth movements when you ask her ‘how a fish goes’ or puts her hands together to show<br />

how they ‘swim’<br />

• More words: egg, ja, neus, wet, jacket, hippo, jersey, lekker, tea, milk, off, af, down, wag, tissue,<br />

mole<br />

• When you ask her ‘one mole digging a’ – she says ______ hole and other lines from her Mole book<br />

15 months, week 1<br />

• Wants to feed herself with spoon – dishes herself and puts into mouth perfectly<br />

• Realised that Sadie-Mia’s name it’s easier to say MIA than Sadie – now, when we talk about sadie,<br />

she excitedly shouts MIA-MIA-MIA-MIA!!!!!<br />

• Says minnamon for cinnamon<br />

• Got sick again, runny nose, temp,


• Very good with remembering people and associations and every day we chat about our day and<br />

when we mention names of people, she will say something that reminds her of them – eg when we<br />

talk about uncle Leights – she will say ‘bike’ or if we talk about tannie Jean – she will say ‘beads!’<br />

• First ‘official’ drawing time – we drew some picture for Dad for Father’s day – she even adjusts the<br />

crayon so that the ‘pointy’ bit is in the ‘right direction’<br />

• Climbs onto the couch by herself, lifts her knee first, then pushes herself onto the couch…and the<br />

coffee table! <br />

UPCOMING<br />

New friends – Potter friend, du Plessis friend, Oliver Spencer Venter – other pregnancies Kitty, Nichy,<br />

Oolz, Cindy<br />

Chat and Kim’s little ‘Harry Potter’ is due to arrive any day now, so too the third addition to the du<br />

Plessis Family and we saw the cutest pics of Dave and Tiff’s 4.something Oliver Spencer Venter!<br />

In the next few months, <strong>ella</strong>’s friendship circle will be growing with Cindy and Oolia being due in<br />

September and Nichy and Kitty are due in October!<br />

More friends…more playdates…more fun! <br />

Granny’s long holiday<br />

Granny will be arriving for her school holidays soon, so we’re looking forward to Mid-July for that.<br />

21km Knysna<br />

Rich is brave. Rich is amazing. Rich is going to do his first 21kms! The Knysna Half Marathon, here we<br />

come! We’re all going together. Leights and Kitty, Corne and Zoe and the Alfinos. Corne and Zoe’s<br />

parents have been very kind and offered their holiday home for all of us to stay at in Glentana, so it will<br />

be a great family holiday with great friends. Can’t wait! And of course, until then, Rich is training hard<br />

and doing well so far!


New update format<br />

I think I will have to change the ‘format’ of these updates, so that I can get them out quicker and Danni<br />

is trying to convince me to start a little website… not convinced yet, but think I will be… so, hopefully, for<br />

the next update, I’ll send you all a link to a site and we’ll take it from there?<br />

Chat soon and please send us your news too!<br />

Love,<br />

-rabes-<br />

SOME ‘STATS’<br />

<strong>ella</strong>’s weight<br />

age date weight comment<br />

1 Birth Wed, 9 March 2011 3.210kg Yeah, healthy and beautiful! <br />

2 3 days old Sat, 12 March 2011 3.000kg Out of hospital weight<br />

3 1 week, 1 day Thurs, 17 March 2011 3.220kg Gained 220grams in 5 days<br />

4 2 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 24 March 2011 3.460kg Gained 240grams in 7 days<br />

5 3 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 31 March 2011 3.680kg Gained 220grams in 7 days<br />

6 4 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 7 April 2011 2.940kg Gained 260grams in 7 days<br />

7 6 weeks Wed, 20 April 2011 4.300kg Gained 193grams per week<br />

8 8 weeks Wed, 4 May 2011 4.710kg Gained 205grams per week<br />

9 10 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 19 May 2011 5.020kg Broke the 5kg mark! <br />

10 12 weeks, 5 days Monday, 6 June 2011 5.540kg and counting!<br />

1 13 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 9 June 2011 5.60kg<br />

2 15 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 23 June 2011 5.960kg<br />

3 18 weeks, 2 days Friday, 15 July 2011 6.280kg Gained 320 grams in 3 weeks...not much...<br />

4 20 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 28 July 2011 6.540kg 62 cm length and 38cm head<br />

At birth: 49cm and 32cm head<br />

5 23 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 18 August 2011 6.740kg Gained 200grams in 3 weeks<br />

1 28 weeks, 1 day [6 mths, week 3] Thurs, 22 September 2011 7.220kg<br />

2 30 weeks, 1 day [6 mths, week 5] Thurs, 6 October 2011 7.380kg<br />

3 34 weeks [7 mths, week 4] Tuesday, 2 November 2011 7.630kg 68cm<br />

1 11 months, week 4 Tuesday, 28 February 2012 7.56kg 73cm (St<strong>ella</strong>)<br />

2 11 months, week 4 Friday, 2 March 2012 7.75kg (Dr Bailey)<br />

3 12 months, week 1 Monday, 12 March 2012 7.88kg 74cm<br />

4 12 months, week 4 Wednesday, 4 April 2012 8.2kg (Sister Lynn)<br />

5 14 months, week 3 Wednesday, 23 May 2012 8.28kg Dr Bailey<br />

_________________________


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 months-


12 October 2012 | 15 December 2012 | 31 December 2012<br />

So, she’s 19 months already! The last update included months 12, 13 and 14. And now…5<br />

months later, here goes the next update! SOOOO much to tell, and partly the reason why I<br />

never started this update, because I thought I’d send this version out as a webpage and not<br />

this format…but life happened and I never got there…yet!<br />

At the same time, I didn’t record too much detail from months 15 onwards, as quite frankly,<br />

the busy life of our mooiste, liefste, <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe graced us with surprise and so, this is a<br />

non-detailed, but summarised update of the life of our bebble! <br />

SO MUCH NEW since the last update. Sentences, singing, running…YES, running, because<br />

WALKING started (!), she has a ‘deep love’ for reading her Bible (hehe…obsessed with<br />

DAVID) - and some time to chat about discipline in the Rabe-home!<br />

First, let me start with month 15: It is now 1 Jan 2013…here’s the update…FINALLY!! <br />

JUNE 2012 - MONTH 15<br />

Playdates<br />

Sadie-Mia and Elijah in the Charnwood Garden<br />

Ni-ke (anique) visiting Fun with Gazza (Gareth) Love dancing with Pappa Playdough with Ouma<br />

Ouma & Oupa Gazza’s hat Jemma uncle Leighton In the park with Jack


Tubmans and Ronnes picnic at Charnwood – crazy fun Flying with Pappa Sliding Board with Elijah<br />

Tannie Myrtle<br />

We had a very sick <strong>ella</strong> on our hands and saw Dr Bailey, got antibiotics and prayed that the<br />

she would bounce back soon! She weighed 8.28kgs [14 months, 3 weeks] and it took a<br />

while before she was okay again.<br />

We had the joy of hosting Kath Megaw at Mammas and Munchkins and that sorted out all<br />

our feeding questions! <br />

We also celebrated Ouma’s 60 th and kind Candice J and Alexa came all the way to<br />

Noordhoek with us, to babysit <strong>ella</strong> at a guesthouse there, whilst we went to Ouma’s dinner!<br />

Ben!<br />

thanks Alexa and Candy J!<br />

This was also the month where we heard that <strong>ella</strong> will be having a sibling! It was so, so<br />

exciting! Went for our scan and heard that the little bebe was 6 weeks and 3 days old,<br />

strong heartbeat and doing well! We were thrilled and beyond thankful to God!<br />

Sibling’s pregnancy test top: <strong>ella</strong>’s bottom: sibling’s 6 weeks and growing…


Her texture issues continued and her not so great<br />

appetite too…really a tough time trying to get enough<br />

protein into her. She was ‘under’ the standard growth<br />

graph, although apparently still ‘ok, although not ideal’.<br />

Fussy eater indeed… But, she started insist on dishing<br />

‘by herself’ much more and did so with great success!<br />

She also started to ‘practise’ her walking a bit more. She would hold onto the<br />

couch and walk side-ways to her sippy cup, saying ‘monkey,<br />

monkey,monkey’! That’s what they say at swimming when they have to do<br />

that similar movement of holding onto the side of the pool and moving<br />

across. She loved it <br />

Other<br />

Climbing…what fun love this page of my Toddle Waddle Book First time someone (Mira) sits next to me in car<br />

Injury…fell at Mom’s connect… ‘bye-bye copter!’ my first flower…thanks Jack! LOVE drawing!!<br />

drawing! ‘walking’ with ouma & oupa lief vir jou pappa! ‘hano’ with ouma<br />

pappa’s jersey – 30 years old!<br />

Love drawing with dad


JULY 2012 – month 16<br />

Playdates<br />

Mira’s bday, k-bosch<br />

Tannie Honnie and the keyboard<br />

Park-fun with Jack<br />

Ni-ke visiting tannie Tana <strong>ella</strong> & mischa


The end of June was also our HOLIDAY time! Went to Knysna with the Ronne’s and stopped<br />

over at the Kooymans in Groot Brak on the way. This was to be Rich’s first half marathon!<br />

We were amped, Rich was ready, we had sightseeing including a day at Knysna Elephant<br />

Park and the little ones [<strong>ella</strong>, Sadie-mia, Leah] did sooo well, being away from home for a<br />

week and played so nicely together.


All went according to plan, except that Knysna had the storm of a century and it was beyond<br />

freezing (!!!) – and the 21km race got c-a-n-c-e-l-l-e-d! So, all that training, for nada! It was<br />

a HUGE disappointment!!!! But a great holiday! Thanks Ronnes & Kooymans.<br />

On our way back, we stopped over at C, u/Calvin’s and Mom had just arrived – so it was<br />

great to see <strong>ella</strong> and granny together again <br />

Granny visited for 6 weeks and we had fun, fun, fun. Singing<br />

songs, dancing, playing in the tent granny bought her, going to<br />

the beach, etc, etc.


She knows our names: Richardt and Meryl. The pronunciation is another story though, but<br />

she gets close! If you ask her, <strong>ella</strong>, what is Pappa’s name, then she’ll respond by saying:<br />

“Jighaad” and if you ask her, <strong>ella</strong>, what is mamma’s name, she’ll reply with ‘Me-hl’ <br />

She also knows where Granny lives and where she lives.<br />

So you’ll ask her, <strong>ella</strong> – where does Granny live – and she’ll say ‘Abu Dhabi’ – perfectly!


And ‘where does <strong>ella</strong> live’ – the answer started as Caper-Town, and then eventually a clear<br />

Cape Town When I tell her, Cape Town has a mountain, and an…. – then she says ocean!<br />

We’ll get this little lady into a destination marketer in no time! <br />

Granny visited and many things were learnt from Granny. Like moving from showing hand<br />

signs for ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to finally saying the words! It was so cute to hear them<br />

practice with raisins! She would ask’ pease, tanny’ – and then she’d get a raisin.<br />

Considering how many raisins she scoffed down in a day, there was loads of time to practice<br />

this! Great results, thanks Granny!<br />

She also started with ‘instructions’ like Leave me / sit, read / see it / feel / show me. Or eateat<br />

– when she wants to eat something, or ‘next page’ or come…car (wanting to go to the<br />

car) or cuddle / give / sit, lap, mamma’s lap or (re)mote, <strong>ella</strong>…keep it! ….etc.<br />

She is very clear about describing things like cold vs hot, so when she picks up a stone from<br />

the sun, she’ll say warm….or when she walks on the tiles with no socks, she’d say ‘cold!’ Or<br />

when she finished her milk, she’ll say ‘ all gone, empty!’<br />

She is more familiar with shapes too and knows heart, cross, star, cirlcle, triangle, bisous (for<br />

a x)<br />

We LOVE it when she says ‘love you’ to me or ‘lief-vir-jou’ to Rich! It was amazing the first<br />

time the lief-vir-jou came out of her babbling mouth! <br />

She’s into ‘counting too’ – not really, more rhyme, than comprehension, of course. But<br />

when we say ‘one…’ she says ‘two… three!’ And three comes with much excitement and<br />

ready for take-off! <br />

When we give her her supplements in the afternoon, it’s ‘medcine time’ and all smiles as<br />

she anticipates which bottle. By now (September onwards), she knows which is which: So I<br />

will show her the bottle, and she’ll say ‘cough’ or ‘gut’ or ‘plex’ for zinplex or ‘iron’ or<br />

‘b(r)ain’, referring to the Omega drops. And when I ask her, how many drops of this, she<br />

will respond confidently with ‘FIVE!!’ So sweet!<br />

‘Oh dear’ is also a regular on the chatting agenda!


Other<br />

Hair long enough for clips! Books, books, books – she loves it! Mirror-fun! Loving my pink glasses from granny<br />

Hair growing…yippe e! this is how I often sleep… LOVE reading my Bible winter outfit<br />

She LOVES unpacking ‘all’ of her books another fav: unpacking CDs request: to read my Bible..in my cot!<br />

ready for the alfino party…princesses…we just had fairy wings!<br />

Waiting for dad<br />

More book unpacking swinging fun from Ben Tubman – first ‘I love you’ letter


AUGUST – month 17<br />

Playdates<br />

Mischa annie ‘breakdance’ with Sadie-Mia<br />

Jack and Ella tannie myrtle library dates<br />

random friends at the park


It ALL happened in AUGUST!<br />

1 August 2012…first WALKING!! As in the real deal! Whoo<br />

hoo! It sommer just happened During Jumpstart class, she<br />

just ‘got up and walked’ Teacher Theresa invited all the<br />

little ones to fetch the dusters from the basket for their next<br />

activity and there <strong>ella</strong> just walked to her! Everyone shared in<br />

this glorious moment, as she was the last one in the class to<br />

walk – it was precious. First ‘sign’ was the Saturday before, at<br />

Cape Point, where she ‘practiced’ to ‘stand up’ on her own!<br />

After the afternoon nap, we weren’t sure if the walking would continue, but it sure did!<br />

SSSOoooooo cute to see the penguin-waddle and then the confidence that comes with time.<br />

Our little walker…it took her 16.5 months…but she got there! Happy about the fact that in<br />

total she crawled for 4.5 / 5 months.<br />

More ‘new in August’ included dropping her morning nap… I fought this one for a long<br />

time…but eventually realised that it was time! So now, during the ‘morning nap slot’ we<br />

have books on her reading mat.<br />

We also celebrated our 7 th wedding anniversary on 9 August 2012 and mom and Gar kindly<br />

sponsored a weekend stay in Greyton for us! LOVED it – and so did <strong>ella</strong>. Made a lovely fire<br />

– as it was freeezzzzing cold (!) and had nice, warm summers’ days and ate well!


One of our favourite spots has got to be Groot Constantia. LOVE it there – come rain or<br />

shine. Took Granny there too – had lots of fun!<br />

Mamma: Dear<br />

Ella: God<br />

Mamma: Thank you for<br />

Ella: ________ fills in the name<br />

Mamma: A-<br />

Ella: Amen!<br />

August was also the month of saying, okay, no more baby monitor<br />

and we moved from words to mini-sentences Like ‘please mamma<br />

give’ or ‘mamma…take…raddit’<br />

We also loved the ‘prayer requests’ that came from her. So, in the<br />

eve, whilst she has her rice milk on the couch with us after her bath,<br />

I’d ask her, ‘who would you like to pray for’ – and then she’d say the<br />

name of a friend or someone. SO CUTE. Our prayers go like this:<br />

Too cute and she has a favourite: we always have to start by praying for Leighton!<br />

When she trips or falls, then she’ll say ‘oh dear <strong>ella</strong>’ – or when something silly happens<br />

(according to her), she’ll sigh and say ‘E-lah!!!, e-lah’ – emphasis on the second syllable. Or<br />

ma-maaaaahhhhhh or pa-paaaaahhhhhhhh or ga-zeeeehhhh or gra-nnnyyyhhhhh Love’t.<br />

If she is looking for something, she’d say ‘I wonder…’ and later it went to ‘I wonder is?!’


Distinguishing Afrikaans and English is an interesting one. She knows that when it is an<br />

Afrikaans word, that this is the ‘language’ that Pappa uses, cause she’ll say, Pappa, when<br />

there is an Afrikaans word mixed into my sentences. Eg. I will say, Kom, Kom, Kom – then<br />

she will say ‘Pappa!’ – then I will ask her, ‘who says kom, kom, kom’ – then she’ll say:<br />

Pappa!<br />

If I say Pappa says Kom, Mamma says___ ? - then she’ll say come! Or vice versa like:<br />

Mamma says mountain, Pappa says: she’ll then say berg.<br />

She does this with many, many words: garden/tuin, milk/melkies, walk/stap, come/kom,<br />

rabbit/hasie, lion/leeu, etc, etc.<br />

We were fortunate that Granny was still here during August – as we did this incredible<br />

course at church called ‘Effective Parenting in a Defective World’ by Chip Ingram. It was a 9<br />

week course, about discipline and tips on raising them modelled by how the Bible outlines.<br />

It was an eye-opener, very daunting, but so so encouraging and 9 weeks were are so<br />

grateful to have had. Nichy and Marcelle and Leights and Kitty did it as well – so it was nice<br />

to have friends with kids similar age, do the same course. It made for many a laugh and<br />

great encouragement too!<br />

Other<br />

West Coast flowers<br />

klippies, klippies, klippies!


SEPTEMBER – month 18<br />

Playdates<br />

swinging with John Groot Constantia with Jack enea<br />

Sadie-Mia Kyla Alfino annie<br />

ni-ke at Ferndale nursery emje jack, Sadie-mia<br />

Tannie Kim<br />

Tannie Riana


She is very friendly. And she LOVES animals. Definitely NOT like her mamma!<br />

She gets very, VERY, excited when she sees a cat, dog or rabbit. Oh my goodness, like<br />

beside herself. She can’t stop herself from running up to them and instantly saying ‘hello<br />

dog!!!, cuddle! Kiss!’ Same for the cat. Oupa and Ouma has a cat, named Fiefie. And let it<br />

be known, before she greets the grandparents properly, she asks after Fiefie. Then they<br />

have to first locate her and get all the excitement out of little <strong>ella</strong>, before we continue to<br />

normal life again.<br />

The other day at Groot Constantia, she sat in the middle of the parking area at Simons, in<br />

front of a White Fluffy Dog (see, I don’t even know what these are called!) and ha d a fat, fat<br />

chat with him, nodding away, saying, come dog, yes, cuddle, kiss, love youuuuu, hello dog,<br />

hello dog! Animal-crazy, this <strong>ella</strong>!<br />

Not allowed: So, shame, poor <strong>ella</strong> lives in a home that is not very toddler-friendly. We have<br />

not moved stuff around yet, since she started walking, so as a result, there are many<br />

tempting corners in our lounge. The CD rack, the bookshelves, the corner with my stuff, etc.<br />

I’ve proceeded to explain to her which areas are ‘not allowed’ – she gets this – and so cute<br />

too! When she approaches, she will wave her little pointy finger and say ‘not allowed, not<br />

allowed’ I caught her walking to all the ‘not allowed areas’ on her own and politely<br />

pointing and telling them ‘not allowed’ – obedient little girl…most of the time!<br />

She loves CORNERS – so she will run to a corner and say, ‘mamma, <strong>ella</strong>, corner!’ – then I will<br />

say ‘ yes, I can see you are in the corner’, what are you doing, <strong>ella</strong>? And she’ll say ‘reading,<br />

standing, sitting, whichever’ – it keeps her occupied for long…this running to corners<br />

business! <br />

One thing she does really, really well is to remember names and associate moms and kids.<br />

For example, I will ask her ‘tannie kitty and…’ then she’ll say ‘sadie-mia’ – but same goes for<br />

kids we don’t see regularly. Like tannie tiff and…. Then she’ll remember and say ‘Oli’ – it is<br />

astonishing at times, cause she can meet someone once and then remember them. Like at<br />

the Thursday mom’s group, we arrived, after she saw this one kiddie once and when she<br />

saw him again, she piped up and said ‘mamma, Xavier!’ She knows all the names of the<br />

kids in her Jumpstart class too! Partly because she wants us to look at their photo all the<br />

time!<br />

What is also cute is when I tell her ‘ <strong>ella</strong>, today is Wednesday, where do we go on a<br />

Wednesday?’ – then she will reply: Jumpstart!! If I say ‘<strong>ella</strong>, today is Monday – where do<br />

we go on a Monday – she will answer: Swimming!’ – slowly but surely, we’ll get to the other<br />

days of the week <br />

She remembers stories well. She’ll often ask about the Worm at the market – that Oom<br />

Jacques showed her, she’ll remember who was there, she’ll tell us that they ate egg, she’ll


tell us that Charl was there, but not John and it is incredible how she can tell the difference<br />

between John and Charl <br />

The other day, we left the Tubman house and she pointed to the wall at the door and said,<br />

‘mamma…elephant’ – Hayley and I looked to see what she was on about and there was no<br />

elephant there…only to remember that in fact, that was where the big Mammoth Pic was<br />

(that she called an elephant) at Ben’s Stone-Age-Party! That was like 6 weeks ago since that<br />

poster was up .<br />

Happy Birthday is one of her favourite songs – she will just randomly sing the first line<br />

‘happy birthday, <strong>ella</strong>’….’happy birthday, ben’….etc. on her own. And if you tell her ‘Today is<br />

Scott’s birthday’ and later in the day ask her, <strong>ella</strong>, who’s birthday is it today – then she will<br />

say ‘Scott’!<br />

Cavendish had a charity book sale and I bought her this little book for R10, because of the<br />

size, it was a nice size and light for paging whilst she was in her pram. It’s a book about a<br />

little girl called Thandi – no words, we just named the girl Thandi. It turns out that she<br />

LOVES this book. So, that afternoon, she kept on saying ‘mamma, read’ - so we started with<br />

‘one day, there was a little girl and her name was Thandi. She wore a pretty green dress’.<br />

That resulted in her saying ‘<strong>ella</strong>, read’ – and then ‘one day…’ over and over ‘one day…’ –<br />

then she wanted us to do the rest, so we’ll say, ‘there was a little’ and she’ll say ‘girl’ and<br />

we’ll say, her name was….and she’ll say ‘Thandi!’ – etc. It was such fun to see her<br />

excitement as she got to ‘read on her own’. And of course, we’d then tell her, mamma says<br />

one day, papa says? And she’ll reply with: Een dag! <br />

She’s generous at heart, but not in practice So, she’ll say ‘give, taglet’ when she sees one<br />

of her friends or ‘give, rabbit’ or ‘give, book, Elijah/Enea/etc’ – but as soon as the friend<br />

approaches, she’ll retract with ‘not yet! Not yet!’ – and at first it was sweet – but trust<br />

us…we hear ‘not yet’ waaayyyy to often. Ella, it is time to bath – ‘not yet’ Ella, please pick<br />

up your books ….’not yet!’ etc!<br />

The Fool Moon Rising book that Craig and Kerry gave us in December, remains one of her<br />

firm favourites. In the book, there’s a page where the moon disappears. She loves that<br />

page and whispers ‘peahhhrrs’ when ever we get there. Well, she’s linked that when she<br />

can’t find something, then it has ‘(disap)peared!’<br />

Eina –she sucks her thumb – usually only before doedoe time, but lately, during her fragile,<br />

tired times as well. So much so, that there was a crack in and cut in her thumb. She realised<br />

it hurt and would say ‘pappa…eina’ ‘pappa…kiss…better’ – but that would so not make her<br />

stop the sucking! <br />

BIBLE Stories, Bible Stories, Bible Stories. So she has two ‘official Bibles’ – ones we love and<br />

love for their content: The Big Picture Storybook Bible by David Helm and then the Jesus<br />

Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. Other than that, she has x3 boardbook-type Bibles.


She reads them all, she loves them all, and in everyone, we have to find….David. i.e the<br />

story of David and Goliath!<br />

What is fun about this now is that she knows so many of these stories so well already and<br />

‘completes the sentences’ when we tell her the story.<br />

Eg. Creation Story:<br />

Mamma:In the________<br />

Ella: ginning<br />

Mamma: God created<br />

Ella: eeevvvveryyyyfing!<br />

Mamma: He made Mr______<br />

Ella: Sun!<br />

Mamma: and the<br />

Ella: Ocean!<br />

Mamma: and the<br />

Ella: elephant! Lion! Hippo…etc<br />

Adam and Eve<br />

Mamma: God created Adam and<br />

Ella: Eve!<br />

Mamma: They lived in the<br />

Ella: Garden!<br />

Mamma: What did they eat, <strong>ella</strong><br />

Ella: Fruit!<br />

Mamma: Were they allowed to eat the fruit, <strong>ella</strong><br />

Ella: No ways! No ways!<br />

Mamma: That’s right, Adam and Eve did not<br />

Ella: listen (to) God!!


Noah<br />

Mamma: What did Noah build?<br />

Ella: Ark!<br />

Mamma: who went into the ark?<br />

Ella: Animals!<br />

Mamma: And then, it started to?<br />

Ella: Rain! Pitta-patta-pitta-patta!<br />

Mamma: Until they saw a<br />

Ella: Rainbow!<br />

Moses<br />

Mamma: who is the baby in the basket?<br />

Ella: Moses!<br />

Joseph<br />

Mamma: who wore a pretty, coloured coat?<br />

Ella: Joseph!<br />

David & Goliath<br />

Mamma: one day there was a big<br />

Ella: giant!<br />

Mamma: and his name was<br />

Ella: Goliafff<br />

Mamma: He was big and<br />

Ella: Strong!<br />

Mamma: Nobody wanted to fight him, except one little boy, his name was<br />

Ella: David!<br />

Mamma: David used a<br />

Ella: Sling!


Mamma: And he picked up some<br />

Ella: stones!<br />

Mamma: And he put it into his<br />

Ella: Sling!<br />

Mamma: and the stone hit Goliath between his<br />

Ella: Eyes!<br />

[At this point, she puts her index finger between your eyes and ‘pushes’ you over]<br />

Mamma: And Goliath fell<br />

Ella: Down!<br />

Mamma: And God’s people were<br />

Ella: Freeeeee!<br />

Mamma: Yes, and who helped David, <strong>ella</strong>?<br />

Ella: GOD!!! ….and then she says, ‘again!!!’ – so we have to…do-it-all-over-again!<br />

She finds the David story in ALL of her Bibles! When Granny was here in July/August,<br />

Granny had to find her the pic of Jacob in the Storybook Bible, with his mouth open and<br />

tongue out, out of disbelief that he had to work ‘seven more years’ for Rachel – and the<br />

next mission was to find all the pics of camels in that Bible! <br />

She also knows stories about Daniel, Solomon that was wise, Elijah and Jesus and<br />

Nicodemus! She loves picking up our Bibles and saying ‘Pappa’s bible…Mamma’s bible’<br />

and then taking a NIV New Testament softcover one we have and walking around saying,<br />

<strong>ella</strong>, reading…bible…mamma’s bible!<br />

She also has a bit of a ‘charismatic streak’ in her. When we listen to ‘morning music’ – that<br />

is our Praise & Worship-type CDs – she will ask me, mamma, song – and when it starts, her<br />

hands will go up, smiling, waving, turning around, loving every moment of her ‘worship’ <br />

She’s good with listening to songs only and then identifying the song or recognising the<br />

tune. Eg the intro of the muffin-man song, within seconds she’ll shout out ‘muffin-man’!<br />

She regularly requests, mamma…song…Heidi or nocchio (Pinocchio). The moment twinkle<br />

stars tune comes on, her little hands makes twinkle movements and the other day there<br />

was a tune of ‘the more we are together’ – then she said promply, ‘mamma, swimming!’ –<br />

and that was exactly right – the tune to the swimming song that we sing every Monday in<br />

our ‘hello-song’.


18 months was also the time where we saw some visible ‘changes’. Literally, after her shots<br />

on Wed, 7 November, it was like a switch has been flicked. Not in a good way!<br />

[She was unusually hysterical during Dr Bailey’s visit…didn’t want to be examined, screamed<br />

like a crazy person, it was the weirdest thing! She weighed 9.34kgs then and was<br />

80cm…finally broke the 9kgs mark ]<br />

Firstly, it took her so long to ‘recover’ from the shots. She was miserable, moaning, in a bad<br />

mood all round. Total contrast to the friendly, sparkly <strong>ella</strong>’tjie that we know. Then, to add<br />

to that, her tantrums started big time. Well, maybe tantrum is a strong word. More like,<br />

she got frustrated often. For example, she would play with her sunglasses and put them on<br />

and take them off and put them on and then, just like that, she would burst out crying and<br />

say ‘not working’ – when she struggled to get them on her head. Other frustration would be<br />

to try a puzzle and in a flash, she’d get so frustrated, it resulted in a ‘stamp my feet, I am so<br />

unhappy’-dance. We were NOT amused. Like in h-e-l-l-oooo lady, where does this<br />

behaviour come from! Such a reminder of the sinful heart. <br />

So, we remedied this behaviour by being firm, stopping the tantrum in the first few seconds<br />

and eliminating the things that frustrated.<br />

But wait…there’s more (the more I reflect, the more I am reminded about this 18month<br />

phase that was the least pleasant, to date, for these reasons).<br />

Lunch time nap…what lunch time nap!! As of the shots and her 18 month bday – no thanks<br />

for lunch time naps. It was a MISSION to get her down, and then she would just stand up in<br />

the cot and screammmmmmm…… but, we just persisted – still tried every afternoon until<br />

eventually God was gracious and ‘fixed’ this for us. But oh my goodness – how weird were<br />

those days when she was NOT sleeping in the afternoon, because that meant, no mid-day<br />

put your feet up moment for me!<br />

So then, to add to this wonderful new phase of hers, she decided to wake up EARLIER in the<br />

morning! Wat ‘n storie! So no more lovely nap till 07h00, past 07h00…no, no, no –<br />

welcome to the 6am wake in the Rabe-home! The ‘good thing’ was that Rich was still home<br />

for 15 minutes before leaving for work – so he would get her and got to ‘see her in the<br />

morning’ too – so that was ‘nice’ – but not really at the cost of an early start to the morning.<br />

A few of these were sommer 05h50….I mean who wakes at that hour?!!<br />

So, we had that too.<br />

The cute-phase of 18 months was her saying ‘sorry mamma’ and ‘thank you mamma’ and<br />

towards the end of 18 months returning to her ‘normal self’ with calm afternoon naps,<br />

almost no tantrums, but, but, but – the early morning waking still continued!<br />

I blamed the change of season – it was much lighter, much earlier in her room – light<br />

seeping through the sides of her blinds AND, the beloved geese of hadidas – whichever, the


ones that wake you with an annoying noise!! So, all of these factors contributed. She would<br />

often say ‘mamma, birds….wake <strong>ella</strong>’ - and yip, they would wake me too!! <br />

Fortunately, the end of 18 months also brought more ‘sentences’ and cute moments, so it<br />

wasn’t all ‘bad’. Just hugely different!<br />

Other<br />

Love these ‘pretend houses’ helping in the Charnwood Garden <strong>ella</strong> and dad<br />

PUMAs from gazza…lights go on if you walk… both reading… first Sunday School lesson<br />

Loves ‘mixing’ and ‘tasting’ Some ‘moon book’ from the Library…Jack and Ella ;)<br />

Posting


OCTOBER – month 19 and counting!<br />

Playdates<br />

Ni-ke joined for swimming lesson!<br />

Green Point Park with Hugo and Oscar<br />

Fun with tannie Honnie and hammock at Oupa & Ouma’s<br />

Oupa made me this hammock Scratch Patch with Ni-Ke Groot Const with tannie Kim<br />

Meeting Baby Sam<br />

Meeting Baby Inez


laughter with Annie<br />

drawing with Gazza…and hide and seek!<br />

swinging fun with tannie Myrtle<br />

Kirstenbosch with Gazza & Ilse (below)<br />

(below: Tick-Tock window game with Sadie-Mia)<br />

Kirstenbosch with Tannie Nichy (above)<br />

Hello Gazza! Gazza is what she calls Gareth. She loves her uncle. She also knows that Willie<br />

is Pappa’s and she’ll reply: boetie. And she knows and loves her tannie Honnie loads too.<br />

Despite not seeing Anique for a while, she constantly talks about ‘Ni-Ke’ and when you ask<br />

her, who reads you Lola&Charlie books – she will say ‘Ni-ke’. Or you will ask her ‘ who loves<br />

you and loves to read on the couch with you in the afternoons? Then she will shout out<br />

‘Annnieee!!!’ (Andrea).<br />

Or if we drive past tannie Myrtle’s office, she will point and say ‘motl…office’ or if we stop<br />

outside a friend’s house, she’ll know where we are or if we are in Bathurst Road, she will<br />

shout out, Swimming!<br />

We drive over the railway line often – so she loves looking out for the train and when she<br />

does not see it, she says ‘gone away…office’…thinking the train goes to the office. Lately<br />

though she’ll say gone away…station


There are SO many helicopters that fly over the Kenilworth skies daily – another thing she<br />

hears from a mile and loves to look out for and wave and say in a kind, gentle voice ‘bye-bye<br />

copter!’<br />

Playing in the Charnwood Garden is such, such fun. And her friend Lisa-marie, who she calls<br />

‘Misa-Me’ joins us often. So much so, that when you ask her where lisa-marie lives, she<br />

responds by saying ‘Garden!’. She also knows that Pam lives in ‘Chicago’! So cute when she<br />

says it!<br />

Lisa-Marie Jack & Ella Waheed & Ella


Lately, when she draws, she will do running commentary and say ‘up, down, up, down’<br />

referring to the zig-zag patterns on her drawing sheet <br />

She loves the ‘pretend playing’ – making tea – saying ‘Hooibos’ (for ROOIbos tea…battling<br />

with her ‘r’s - and she offers you (and all her teddies) some Earl Grey tea or Coffee – she<br />

can play this pretend to make tea game for long periods at a time! When however she gets<br />

to Sadie-Mia or Jemma’s home, she is in heaven – because they have these mini-kitchens<br />

with stoves and pans, etc – she LOVES it! Occupies her for ever! Mischa Miller also had<br />

these cool toys that you can cut in half – it is attached with Velcro – def a CHRISTmas<br />

present option we have to get for her! <br />

Like her Pappa, she doesn’t like dirty hands or dirt. So in this week, she was reading one of<br />

her board books, only to call me, ‘mamma…’ – sometimes she calls loudly, and I have to tell<br />

her, please call me gently – and instantly her tone will change to this sweet call ‘mamma’ –<br />

anyway – so, got there, only to hear her story: ‘mamma, dirty…clean’ – and I then asked<br />

her, how do you ask <strong>ella</strong>? And she replied ‘clean…please, mamma!’ <br />

We also have fun reading (which remains her favourite past-time…Rich is panicking a bit and<br />

saying we have to do more puzzles or blocks or drawing – all of which she does; she loves<br />

drawing and comments ‘beautiful!!!!’ ‘amazing!!!’ at her own creations - very sweet, and<br />

she asks you to draw stuff and pretends to ‘copy it!’ ) – but one of the library books has a<br />

page with pics of chickens, squirrels, horses, apples, etc – but duplicate pics all on random<br />

places. So I’d ask to her find all the frogs…and she is so quick, she points them out and says<br />

‘nother one…nother one’ or ‘yip, yip, yip’ – such fun!<br />

In October, we celebrated the birth of Nichy and Marcelle’s second little one, Sam Harper.<br />

That is Jack- her swimming friend’s new brother. And this week, Inez Rose Ronne was born.


Sadie-Mia’s sister! Ella is very sweet and knows their names already. So you will ask her,<br />

<strong>ella</strong>, who is Jack’s brother – and she will say ‘Sam!!’ or who is Sadie-Mia’s sister, and she will<br />

reply: Inez! Then say…cuddle…or give…taglet! <br />

She loves to ‘identify’ what belongs to who, and will often say ‘pappa’s hand, <strong>ella</strong>’s hand,<br />

mamma’s hand’ or bag/food, etc. And when she chats to Rich – she’ll say Ella s’n. <br />

When asked, What is mamma doing? Cutting, sitting, driving, reading, etc . She enjoys<br />

giving these answers


Other<br />

coffee dates with dad<br />

cuddles and kisses<br />

Tokai Market (above) Splish Splash at Kirstenbosch (below) Sunday School Sheets swimming


Thanks Granny!<br />

Sorting game…match same ones<br />

My shadow!! Dina in hospital Fun in the playhouse at Plastic’s Warehouse<br />

after bath time fun and laughs with dad!<br />

my art!<br />

Sadie-Mia’s a touch of pink 2 nd bday party


November 2012 – month 20<br />

So, it’s NOVEMBER – and this update is still not done!<br />

Here’s a summary of what month 20 brought:<br />

Playdates<br />

Alice Quickfalls visits<br />

4 le roux lane garden fun!<br />

Tannie Honnie<br />

Elijah visiting Jack Potter Tannie Honnie<br />

Tannie nichy Elijah and <strong>ella</strong> riley and <strong>ella</strong> (playshed)


Alex-ie and <strong>ella</strong> – Palmboom Swings<br />

Luke Lindenberg visited….and ate brother’s door stopper <br />

Jack and <strong>ella</strong><br />

tannie Rosa<br />

We MOVED. Technically three streets up the road, from Kenilworth to Harfield Village. That<br />

meant that the end of October was fairly chaotic in packing, or trying to pack with an awake<br />

<strong>ella</strong> – in the end, HUGE packing help from Andrea, Gareth and Anique saved the day!<br />

So, Thursday, 25 October 2012, we got the keys to 8 Edward Square, 53 Bell<br />

Road, Harfield Village, 7708, South Africa!<br />

The last time we saw the place was when we put in our offer to purchase in July – and by<br />

the time we saw it now, it was a little disappointing that the previous owners didn’t bother<br />

to give it a proper clean or take care of the garden – they could have at least watered the<br />

grass, surely!


So, our Thursday plan was to get in help and clean the place, Oupa and Leighton were<br />

legends in helping with moving some of the boxes across and angels Bronwyn and Ewald<br />

offered (how crazy) to P-A-I-N-T <strong>ella</strong>’s new room! It was an amazing gesture and they are<br />

pro’s!!!<br />

Our Friday plan involved getting a carpet cleaning company to clean the carpets upstairs, as<br />

the previous owners had many cats…so yay for the cleaning company and Oupa was<br />

instrumental in helping more boxes across.<br />

And Saturday was the day. Our first night in our ‘new house’ – as <strong>ella</strong> refers to it as well.<br />

And if you ask her about her new room, then she’ll tell you that her new room has…’two<br />

windows’ Of course her new room didn’t have her stickart pic on yet, neither does it<br />

have blockout or her own curtains…but, previous owners left their curtains in that room, so<br />

we could at least use that until we get sorted.<br />

But this Saturday was also a SUPER busy day. It involved Sadie-Mia’s 2 nd bday party at<br />

11am, Luke Lindenberg’s 1 st bday party at 12h00 and trying to find a way to let her have her<br />

lunch time nap – whilst dad and Oupa and Gareth helped with more boxes before the<br />

removal company moved the ‘big stuff’ at 13h30. Needless to say, with trying to squeeze in<br />

both parties, we were late in getting her to nap in the car and I ended up driving to Anique’s<br />

home in the hope that she would sleep. Literally 5 minutes before getting there, she passed<br />

out…which is NOT GOOD – as it meant, 15 minutes later, she woke and then it was overs.<br />

Not a chance of getting her back to sleep again. Anyway, the good thing about the stop at<br />

the Edwards home was that we returned to our ‘new house’ with John who again was a<br />

hugggee help to Rich in putting our bed together, sorting out garage boxes and carrying all<br />

the ‘upstairs boxes’ upstairs and unpacking all our books onto the bookshelf!


At about 17h00, Ouma and Oupa popped in to see how we were doing, so did Anique and<br />

tannie Myrtle; (exhausted by this stage!) only to discover that the gyser took forever to<br />

‘activate’ – and there was a timer issue and what what – so that meant no hot water which<br />

also meant <strong>ella</strong> would not have her bath….not great, especially not if this was to be her first<br />

doedoe in her new home!<br />

So, we skipped that, gave her her milk and then she settled fine.<br />

The Tubmans popped round and Hayley Tubman’s enthusiasm and brainwave resulted in<br />

the Tubmans returning an hour later with Ben and Jem in their PJ’s, settling into our bed,<br />

whilst Hayley’s mission of ‘we are going to unpack your entire lounge and kitchen TONIGHT,<br />

kicked in’. Scott didn’t have much choice in this matter, as she was excited and determined!<br />

And what a blessing!!! What a blessing!!! We did just that – but the end of the evening –<br />

past midnight – our kitchen was sorted!<br />

We were blessed further by Nichy and Marcelle dropping supper for us! Super generous!<br />

Tubmans brought their Thai World order and that was our first meal in our new home!


The only snag in this whole ‘first night’ was when <strong>ella</strong> woke at 23h00 – fully awake and it<br />

took me 45minutes of standing with her to settle her. When I put her down in her cot – I<br />

knew that ouch…I just did something to my back! And so began my unbearable back injury!<br />

Turns out I sprained my SI joint/vertebrae…whichever – all I can say is that with chiro<br />

treatment every second day and now physio added to it, it is the most pain I have been in<br />

ever! And it doesn’t exactly help having to still carry and settle <strong>ella</strong> for lunch time naps, etc.<br />

BUT, at the same time, God has been amazingly gracious! Her lunch time naps have<br />

returned to ‘better than normal’ – she now sleeps at least 1 hour 45 minutes and some of<br />

the days more than 2 hours easily! That is the moment when I waddle to bed and just<br />

breathe and take a break! If it wasn’t for that, I would surely resort to myprodol!<br />

Next day, we just enjoyed our garden <br />

First bath in new home… First playdate: Jack Holden du Plessis! Thanks Pappa…soaking wet!<br />

Cuddles with dad after hose pipe fun aah…sonnetjie! Letter from lisa-marie new garden happiness


The first Sunday in November we also did the Little Big Walk event with Gazza and Ilse. To<br />

say that she was on cloud 9 is an understatement. She LOVED (!!!) it – we put on her<br />

ladybird backpack, that has a ‘leech’ and she walked…and ran…95% of the route herself!<br />

Praising herself as she went along ‘well-done <strong>ella</strong>-b<strong>ella</strong>’, ‘keep going <strong>ella</strong>-b<strong>ella</strong>’, ‘careful <strong>ella</strong>b<strong>ella</strong>’,<br />

‘slowly <strong>ella</strong>, slowly’ – it was too cute! She gave the Grapes and Pineapples (big<br />

costumes) high fives, danced with them and at the end of the walk, was over the moon to<br />

receive her medal! Fun on the jumping castle afterwards was just the cherry on top for her!


November was also the month of her first HIDING! And a few in a few days as well! First for<br />

not obeying dad and for continuing with pressing the buttons of the washing machine after<br />

several warnings – the second for writing on the wall, the third for writing on the wall and<br />

the fourth for continuously spitting out her food. No further hidings (to date!). The warning<br />

of the wooden spoon is enough.<br />

It’s hard! It’s not nice; but it was necessary.<br />

We’d ask her to acknowledge what she’d done, she would tell us, eg. Ella wrote on wall;<br />

we’d ask her is that allowed? She’d say ‘not allowed’ – then she would say sorry, we’d give<br />

the hiding, we’d cuddle, pray, cuddle and then all done! We do this in her room. Then<br />

we’d go downstairs and she would help to clean the writing off the wall. It worked.<br />

The deed…..<br />

the handy andy cleaning that followed – to date: never wrote on wall again!<br />

Other bits of November news is that <strong>ella</strong> chats to us in the cutest ‘sentences’. LOVE IT!!<br />

It’s like running commentary – the funniest is her ‘cracking jokes’ and one of them was<br />

‘pappa…<strong>ella</strong> needs panado! NO!!!.....mamma, needs….panado’ – and then cracking<br />

herself! She loves that she ‘knows the right answer’ and then she will say things like<br />

‘tannie <strong>ella</strong>…NO….tannie mamma…NO…tannie pappa…NO!!!!’ – and then say ‘silly billy <strong>ella</strong>’<br />

<br />

Or when she trips she’ll say ‘oops <strong>ella</strong>tjie’, ‘careful <strong>ella</strong>’tjie’….and since a week or so, she<br />

refers to herself as <strong>ella</strong>-b<strong>ella</strong>.<br />

Oops <strong>ella</strong>-b<strong>ella</strong>….hello <strong>ella</strong>-b<strong>ella</strong>….etc. Too sweet.<br />

She’ll have random lines like ‘ mamma, horses…eat…grass!’ – out of the blue. Or ‘dog ate<br />

mamma’s chips’ – don’t know WHAT she is on about <br />

Or she’ll say ‘<strong>ella</strong> eat biscuits….NO….no thanks friends!’ ‘<strong>ella</strong> eat..mango/raisins/grapes’ <br />

Or ‘Mamma dropped <strong>ella</strong>’s raisins’, or ‘<strong>ella</strong>’s pressing buttons’ or ‘<strong>ella</strong>’s eating oats…yes<br />

<strong>ella</strong>…eating oats!’ or ‘lady gave you pink taglet’ or ‘sylvia gave you mamma’s top….Ja!!’ or<br />

‘pappa, what are you doing?’ or ‘<strong>ella</strong>’s reading Sadie-mia’s book!’ or ‘<strong>ella</strong> tell pappa<br />

later…fountain!’


This is Sylvia…whom <strong>ella</strong> LOVES and chats about all the time!!<br />

She confuses ‘you’ and ‘me’ – so if she wants help, she says, mamma, help YOU – instead of<br />

mamma help ME <br />

She also remembers things so, so well – despite them happening sssooo long ago. For<br />

example, in Sept, I went for a massage and Anique babysat her that afternoon. So part of<br />

her snack, ana gave her these freeze-dried apples, with Minnie Mouse pic on – and<br />

apparently anique told her that there are ‘tiny pieces of apple in the sachet’. So earlier this<br />

week, I was chatting to her about something and said there’s a tiny piece of fruit left. Then<br />

she said to me ‘mamma, ni-ke said, tiny…piece, apple….minnie mouse!’ – I had to think for a<br />

moment WHAT she was referring to, but then realised! Was super cute – two months later,<br />

still remembering the ‘tiny pieces’ story, thanks to ni-ke <br />

It is also so, so cute to hear her ‘speak in Afrikaans’ to Rich. ‘Pappa, werk toe’ – ‘lief vir jou<br />

pappa’ – ‘Pappa, doedoe-tyd’ <br />

She is also good in telling us stuff, like ‘<strong>ella</strong> hungry/ thirsty/ super hot/ tired’. On the ‘tired<br />

one’ I said to her once, mamma is sooo tired! Fatigue! Then she smiled and said…’mamma,<br />

fatigue’ – then I said, yes, fatigue means tired. She still remembers and often says ‘mamma<br />

fatigue…tired!’ She also knows that tannie Eloise (who is French) says oui, oui, oui and that if<br />

you ask her how tannie Elisenda (who is Italian) says ‘bye’ – then she smiles and says ‘ciao<br />

ciao’! <br />

If you ask her, who says:<br />

my gogga – she’ll shout out ‘Pappa!’ and if you ask who says<br />

‘els’ – she says ‘Gazza!’<br />

Ella-b<strong>ella</strong> – she says Honnie…AND…ouma…AND…oupa!<br />

Ella’tjie – she says ‘ni-ke’….AND ‘mamma!’<br />

‘my love, my lovie’ – she says ‘GRANNY!’<br />

‘bebblee-boo’ – she says ‘MAMMA!’ - so cute <br />

She is also into saying her ‘surname’. So she will chat and say ‘Ella Jabe instead of Rabe’ –<br />

Ella Jabe eating bread! Ella Jabe running! Ella Jabe sitting, carseat! And she has a friend<br />

in Sunday school who is Ella Galloway. So she says, mamma, ‘Ella Galloway’ – and with a<br />

huge smile, then I will ask her ‘are you <strong>ella</strong> Galloway??’ – then she would crack herself and


slap her hand on knee and say NNNOOOO, Ella Jabe!!!! - she LOVES to do this over and<br />

over and over!! <br />

She also ‘talks to herself’ and ‘answers herself’ – so she’ll play in the corner – loves standing<br />

and sitting in corners – and then start chatting ‘ Sadie-mia…..yes <strong>ella</strong>-….garden…ok?!! ok?!!!’<br />

– and then it is JUST her in the room Or she will say ‘mamma, <strong>ella</strong> take keys, OK?! OK?!,<br />

thank you <strong>ella</strong>!!’ – all these conversations to herself.<br />

And now, when she asks for her snacks she says ‘ please mamma, (then I say can I) then she<br />

says ‘have more mango/bread/raisins?’ Then I say, sure <strong>ella</strong> – then she so politely says<br />

‘thank you mamma!’ <br />

The other morning we were reading Rich’s book ‘in die jaar nul’ – Rich got it when he was<br />

little. One of the characters are called ‘Tandjies’ – so she said to me ‘mamma, Tandjies…<strong>ella</strong><br />

can’t find him….’ and when I looked at the page, I realised that yip, Tandjies was not on<br />

that particular page. Very sweet.<br />

She also likes to ‘eat on her own’ some nights, but it is hard since<br />

most of her evening meals are still in a mushed form, but then she’ll<br />

say ‘<strong>ella</strong>, eat, self’ and then proceed to feed herself <br />

I watered our plant earlier this week and used the glass water bottle<br />

that I drink out of. And then she piped up and said ‘plant drinks<br />

mamma’s water!’ with a big smile.<br />

LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE these spontaneous little observations of hers and chats and running<br />

commentary. Wish I could record all of it! <br />

One delightful thing is that she LOVES reading the Bible and when she has to ‘choose a<br />

book’ in the morning, then without fail, first chooses the Bible, then after Bible Stories, we<br />

read more. It warms my heart to ‘hear her pray’.<br />

So, besides the prayer requests of who to pray for, lately, she fills in more words in the<br />

prayer. For example, she’ll say, ‘mamma, <strong>ella</strong> sick’…which by the way she ended up being<br />

sick with antibiotics for hectic bronchitis on 9 November and two weeks later MORE<br />

antibiotics for ear infection…after telling us, ‘<strong>ella</strong>’s ear eina’…. [we should listen to her<br />

more!] – anyway, so then she’ll say ‘<strong>ella</strong> sick’ and then I’d ask her if she wanted to pray<br />

about it and she’d say ‘Ja…’ Then I’d say, ok, let’s start, then she’ll say”<br />

Ella: ‘dear God’<br />

Mamma: ‘I am feeling a bit’<br />

Ella: ‘sick’


Mamma: ‘please will you’<br />

Ella: ‘help me’<br />

Mamma: ‘to feel’<br />

Ella: ‘better’….AMEN!<br />

Or, she has this thing where she’ll run to me when she hears the hadidas and say ‘mamma,<br />

<strong>ella</strong> nervous!!’ – and we resorted to praying then – and she is soo cute in this ‘prayer’<br />

Ella: ‘dear God’<br />

Mamma: ‘I am feeling a little’<br />

Ella: ‘nervous”<br />

Mamma: ‘please will you’<br />

Ella: ‘help me’<br />

Mamma: ‘and keep me’<br />

Ella: ‘safe!!’ AMEN!<br />

LOVE it <br />

So I wrote about her remembering so many Bible Stories, but the other day we were in 2 nd<br />

avenue and she saw a cross on top of a church’s roof. Then she told me ‘mamma, cross!’ I<br />

had to turn and look to find it and said ‘Yes, it is a cross’. She then said, ‘mamma,<br />

Jesus…died’ – I then said ‘Yes, Jesus did die on the cross’ – then I said to her, Jesus died,<br />

because our hearts are…. And she replied ‘full sin!’ – and then I said to her, yes, and now<br />

that Jesus has died for our sins, your heart can be…. And she said ‘CLEAN!!’ – and then I said,<br />

because Jesus is also our…. And she said ‘KING!’ – it was such a ‘special chat’ on the side of<br />

the road and made me realise that she does ‘take in quite a bit’ of what we read in the<br />

mornings <br />

She also met the cute little Jack Potter last week; Chad’s little<br />

boy. Jack is only 4 months but is SO big! Chad and I spoke<br />

about how we must have been their age when we met! And<br />

how weird it was to have tea in 2012 and have our children<br />

meet each other


Another ‘FIRST’ was going to the Emergency section of the hospital on 18 November 2012!<br />

Rich and I thought we’d have a quick coffee before evening church at the Alphen Hotel.<br />

Rich and <strong>ella</strong> went for a run on the grass whilst I ordered and upon their return…some tears:<br />

<strong>ella</strong> fell and fell on her arm. There was a ‘different’ type of cry and we knew, something was<br />

not right. She was in such pain and trying to get the sore arm strapped into the car seat was<br />

another story! We went to Constantiaberg – luckily ‘Fluffy Duck’ was in my bag, so she had<br />

something to cuddle. Fortunately Oom Jacques and Tannie Myrtle just arrived at the Alphen<br />

and sorted our bill for us while we rushed off! Waited for such a long time! Got there just<br />

before 5pm, left there just before 8pm…Sister Rosie and a lovely Dr attended to us…but<br />

getting to them took forever. Ended up taking x-rays as well – I couldn’t accompany <strong>ella</strong> due<br />

to the pregnancy and hearing her little cries from there was not nice! She was so, so brave<br />

thought. End result: soft tissue injury – right arm – luckily nothing was broken. Stilpain<br />

was prescribed, but she had a rough night! The next day we wore the sling, until Dr Lynda<br />

saw her and strapped her arm instead. Poor bebble…took a good 3 days before she used<br />

the right arm again!<br />

playdate at Marek’s<br />

Dr Lynda strapped her arm<br />

Few days after, I turned 32 and enjoyed breakfast with a bunch of other mammas at Deer<br />

Park Café, hoping it would be the perfect spot for kiddies…well, it RAINED…so we were stuck<br />

INDOORS! Eventually braved the wet and played outside for a bit


Tannie Lizanne made her her first two<br />

ponytails<br />

They painted our new house – the insides and one of the afternoons it involved painting<br />

<strong>ella</strong>’s window frames too; clashed with her afternoon nap – but successfully, and for the<br />

first time, she napped on our bed! <br />

Another year of Bible Studies has<br />

come and gone! LOVE<br />

Wednesday nights with these<br />

guys! God was yet again, so<br />

gracious and we had great<br />

moments of studying His Word<br />

together! Thanks Rich for your<br />

hard work in prepping the<br />

studies every week!


‘mamma, <strong>ella</strong> unlocking!’ – and yip, she is obsessed with keys and key<br />

holes – great thing during chiro and physio visits! Keeps her busy –<br />

but everytime she spots a key or a lock…she’s there like a bear! <br />

When Rich gets home from work, then they have playtime and stories. She often requests<br />

‘Tandjie’ – the ‘In die Jaar Nul’ book – was Rich’s book when he was little.<br />

At the moment, we have a ‘fixed schedule’ of what we do on which days and she is<br />

fortunate to have so many friends who love her and whom she adores! Those that she sees<br />

fairly regularly are Sadie-Mia, Jack, Alex-ie, Lisa-Marie, Elijah, Enea, Marek and her<br />

jumpstart friends.<br />

Mondays we go to swimming, Tuesdays we have as a ‘free day’ to go on outings or<br />

playdates or just stay home, Wednesdays we have Jumpstart, Thursdays mom’s connect and<br />

every second Friday Rich is home – hooray!<br />

Since moving to our new home, we’ve adjusted her evening meal times and bath times and<br />

sleep times.<br />

She now eats at about 17h30 instead of 17h00, Baths at 18h30 instead of 18h00 and is in<br />

bed closer to 19h30/20h00 instead of 18h30, 18h45.


The tricky thing now, is that in the evening, when she has her rice milk or oat milk before<br />

bed time, gone are the days (since hitting 18 months!) where we could just give her a cuddle<br />

and put her down in her cot. NOPE – this now involves sitting with her until she is basically<br />

asleep and then cuddling her and THEN putting her down. If you do this ‘too quickly’ – and<br />

put her in her cot, she wakes up and screams ‘Pappa come!!’ or ‘Mamma come!’ – there<br />

was an even worst stage where she would cling to me as I would bend down to put her into<br />

her cot and cry ‘no mamma, no mamma, no mamma!!’ – this makes putting her down SO<br />

hard lately – and this still hasn’t changed! So, most nights Rich puts her down, but the odd<br />

night she would cry ‘mamma, come…cuddle!’ – and I would then put her down…despite my<br />

painful back – but we try to avoid it. She does say ‘mamma, back, hurting….(Dr) Lynda fix<br />

it’….<br />

At least, she does still sleep through and despite no block-out in her room yet, the going<br />

down closer to 8am results in her waking at 7am again and not 6am…<br />

So, life with a 20month-old-<strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe is just SUCH SUCH a joy! She is adorable,<br />

funny, sweet, BUSY and our liefste, mooiste, <strong>ella</strong>! Nichy du Plessis, Jack’s mom was<br />

incredibly kind and asked me what I did with all the little videos that I take of <strong>ella</strong>. I said<br />

‘nothing’ and she said, ‘give them to me, sort them in 6 month groups and I will make you a<br />

little video clip’ – best.thing.ever – and amazing, amazing video by nichy had us watching<br />

footage of <strong>ella</strong> from 12 – 18 months with tears in our eyes and gratitude to God for<br />

entrusting us with such a little amazeball! [I will post the video in the dropbox as well]<br />

LONGEST sentence to date: ‘mamma, little girl said no <strong>ella</strong>, don’t run out shop!’ –<br />

10 words in a row And for it is official, <strong>ella</strong> has the chatting-genes – gesels, gesels,<br />

gesels die hele tyd! Other than the long sentence, she tells you so many stories, pauses<br />

inbetween to think about the context and continues! ‘Tell Pappa…..’ recounts everything!<br />

We LOVE it!


Other<br />

Riley Husted at Mammas & Munchkins Loves the washing machine! Dad’s drawings<br />

driving jokes…. drawing circles pen detail…<br />

sandpit fun at mom’s connect on Thursdays In die jaar nul – Rich’s book from years ago…she loves it! Oupa showing me how to rake!<br />

cuddles with dad


And now briefly….in ‘other news’ – <strong>ella</strong>’s BROTHER:<br />

Yes, it is a BOY! No…I don’t have specific updates for him…sorry dude…. YES, he is growing<br />

like a champion and all is going well and YES, I am huge, wide, heavy and definitely am<br />

gaining weight at the speed of light! NO, I don’t exercise, as I did during <strong>ella</strong>’s pregnancy<br />

and YES, I am praying that God will make the extra weight melt away as soon as this bebe<br />

arrives! <br />

He is due the week of 16 January – either 16, 18 or 20 Jan – don’t know which date we<br />

‘want to choose yet’ – but if all goes according to plan, then it will be that week. Official due<br />

date is 29 January 2013.<br />

And then the hardest part of knowing it is a boy, is that WE DON’T HAVE A NAME! We don’t<br />

even have a Top 3! We have many names that we ‘don’t want’ – but have to make an<br />

urgent plan if naming this little bebble…soon!<br />

And then after the paint he interior of our new house next week, and after Oupa comes to<br />

the rescue of putting in cupboards into his room – we will start finishing his room! At least<br />

we ordered his wall art sticker already! Doing a ‘world map/travel-theme’ for his room <br />

SO….that’s the update! VERY late – but here none the less.<br />

Hopefully when you receive this, it will still be November – as the next thing I will be doing<br />

now, is sifting through the pics of the past 5 months to insert into this update…it might take<br />

a while! <br />

And upcoming for us is my birthday on Tuesday and mom’s visit on 12 December and then<br />

<strong>ella</strong>’s second CHRISTmas! <br />

OOPS – nope…another delay in sending out this update – so might as well insert some<br />

December news as well!<br />

______________


December 2012 – month 21<br />

Playdates<br />

noah mcgill<br />

Jumpstart End of Year Picnic<br />

Alex-ie’s slide and sandpit<br />

Elijah and Jack visiting<br />

Riley Husted’s Green Point Park Party


Swimming at Sadie-Mia’s<br />

Ben Zandberg<br />

Mackenzie’s bday|LOVES the telephone…this is Jack and Ella at Kitty’s and baking party| DDT & Jacqui<br />

Sophia en Daniel playdate<br />

Out and about


Hout Bay with Granny<br />

First ice cream…blended banana and cocoa – thanks tannie Nichy | Swimming date<br />

Big Red Bus with Jack, Nichy, Marcelle


Tannie Honnie and Ouma<br />

Palmboom Park and Edward Square Garden fun with Jack! [pics: Nichy du Plessis – Jack’s mamma]


So, here’s the brief December news:<br />

Mid-November saw two bouts of ani-bitotics – first time we got there, Dr Baron politely said<br />

we are a week late in bringing her to see him, as her bronchitis was pretty bad by the time<br />

we got to him. Her very audible wheezy chest was the reason we took her and thankful that<br />

we did. Two weeks after, ear infection – new antibiotics.<br />

December was also the last swimming lesson, the last Jumpstart, the last mom’s connect get<br />

together, but many, many playdates, bday parties, babyshowers and to do’s.<br />

It was also CHRISTmas, granny visiting and the stories that <strong>ella</strong> tell us daily cracks us up!


CHRISTmas ‘play’ at church was SUCH fun! Ronne’s convinced us to go, so last minute we<br />

attempted a ‘Mary outfit’ – she LOVED it! Half the time she was running on the stage,<br />

confidently, happy as can be and when it was carols time, clapped and waved hands like a<br />

charo <br />

Scott’s two pics


CHRISTmas 2012<br />

Our CHRISTmas plans always involve time with the Edwards Fam, the Rabes, and the Mom &<br />

Gareth fam. This year was no different.<br />

Our tree was our ‘usual lounge tree’ and thanks to Kitty, we got some nice velt decorations<br />

<br />

Edwards Fam


Rabe Fam – 24 th get together at Tiaan & Rachelle’s place in Somerset West<br />

Rich, Meryl, <strong>ella</strong> – CHRISTmas Day


Mom, Gar, Johnson and Jacobs Fam


When you ask her to ‘sing’ a song – she starts with Twinkle, says is SO super fast, as to say,<br />

seriously mother, this one is easy peezy! Two little monkeys jumping on the bed is another<br />

one she says on her own from start to finish and getting into the CHRISTmas spirit, she sings<br />

Long Time ago in Bethlehem Love it and requests it in the car. Other CHRISTmas<br />

favourites were oh come all he faithful and when the Mariah Carey’s Joy to the World plays,<br />

<strong>ella</strong> is in happy-ville Yip – here we jive with Boney M and Mariah at CHRISTmas time <br />

She also has fat conversations with herself, the vacuum<br />

cleaner, her teddies and always talks to ‘Sylvia’ – who is<br />

only here on Thursdays!<br />

Still LOVES her books, and happy that she got those<br />

‘pretend play’ toys for CHRISTmas like vacuum cleaner,<br />

broom, veggies to cut, a fun mini blow-up jumping<br />

castle and cute sandals and outfits and really, she was<br />

spoilt!<br />

Other December brother stuff included good updates from the gynae pertaining to<br />

brother’s growth. At 35 wks and 3 days, Dr Shannahan (who checked us whilst Dr Zinn is on<br />

holiday) she said he is a ‘text book baby’ – because his measurements on the scan match<br />

the 35 wks 3 days age perfectly. Weighing 2.75kgs already and with a strong heartbeat, he<br />

seems happy <br />

Next, we had SO many to do’s to fix brother’s room. Until 28 December, brother’s room<br />

was STORAGE room. But now, we’ve got stunning cupboards thanks to Oupa! His Roman<br />

blinds are installed, curtains up, thanks to aunty Erna sorting out the lengths, we finally<br />

found a chair at coricraft – the last place we’d think we’d find something, next we have to<br />

assemble the workbench that we finally bought from builders yesterday, have to paint it and<br />

also then getting Ben Tubman’s cot. The cupboards make the room much, much smaller,<br />

but the additional space makes it all worth it!<br />

Checking out what Oupa is doing


Trying to figure out world map decal<br />

Unpacking b/shower gifts<br />

AND….I was treated so SUCH a LOVELY, PRETTY, awesome SURPRISE babyshower! Plan was<br />

to go to Leights and Kitty for a ‘swimming date’ – ended up being my babyshower. On a<br />

Friday…4 days before CHRISTmas…the hottest day of the year – but so so so lovely!<br />

See these beautiful pics by Nichy and thanks to Kitty and Nichy for organising a memorable<br />

babyshower! LOVED it! Look at the pretty invitation, the very cool photo-messages (!)<br />

and the pics below are from Nichy too. [super thanks!]


Other<br />

Advent calendar…some pics were weird…a ladder? new ‘trick’…spitting water on shirt! Green Point Park Feeding Gazza some Tumbles<br />

LOVE back tickles…and asks you to tickle UNDER the shirt! Finally, b-day canvas of friends’ feet up in room Puzzles with uncle John Stories with Granny and aunty Erna<br />

Taglet makes me happy…<br />

Deer Park Café with Oupa, Ouma and Granny


In other brother news….We’ve also booked our c-section date: Wednesday, 16 January<br />

2013, if all goes according to plan. So…min dae!!!<br />

We think we have a name for brother – not a second name yet…getting there!<br />

So, we best put our playlist together, pack our hospital bag and get ready for a family of<br />

FOUR! <br />

It’s 1 January 2013 – it is a new year and we’re nervously excited about what lies ahead!<br />

Chat soon-soon…[how will I find time to do more updates?!. . . ] <br />

Love,<br />

-rich, meryl, <strong>ella</strong> and brother (now 36 weeks old exactly).<br />

____________________________________________


R A B E<br />

-brother’s babyshower-


BROTHER’S BABYSHOWER<br />

21 December 2012 - kitty’s home & pics by nichy du plessis


R A B E<br />

-the story: zach stefan’s arrival-


other…<br />

26 January 2013 | 1 February 2013 | 6 February 2013<br />

now also known as. . . handsome, little, liefste. . .<br />

zach stefan rabe<br />

Howzit, Bonjour, Hello liefste family & friends!<br />

Yip, yip…he has arrived. Brother is no longer ‘brother’ but our oulike zach stefan rabe and oh<br />

man…we are already loving him ssssoooooo much!<br />

It’s Day 10 in the life our little zach and so far, so (oh so new), but so good! Oh so new, despite<br />

the fact that a mere 22 months ago, we were doing this for the first time with <strong>ella</strong>. One would think<br />

we’d be waxed by now – but nope…have these moments of ‘now what? . . . he is awake…what do<br />

we do with him now?’ So funny – but such fun and being reminded of just how much I LOVED the<br />

newborn phase. Always so nervous when I think about the ‘newborn-phase’ – but really, really<br />

enjoy it!<br />

So, read ‘the story’ below and hopefully, somehow, there will be time in the days to come to<br />

document this little life and keep you in the loop via updates…well, I will at least try to do it! <br />

mega love from grateful hearts,<br />

-rich, meryl, <strong>ella</strong> & zach-<br />

PS: following the trend of the ‘<strong>ella</strong>-updates’, this one will reach you late for sure, and since starting<br />

it, it is again 3 days later. Today though, is zach’s official due date: 29 January 2012.<br />

He is sssooo loving – except for when he struggles to settle after a feed, usually the 2am or 5h30am<br />

feeds…then it’s not that much fun to see him battling some cramps and winds…but all in all, he is a<br />

happy camper and we love him more and more every day! <br />

And finally – here it is: he is 3 weeks old today. Don’t be alarmed re number of pages, most is pics!


the story . . .<br />

So, we knew that it was definitely going to be a c-section and with zach’s due date of<br />

Tuesday, 29 January 2013, we had the ‘options’ of choosing either 16, 18 or 21 January as<br />

his birth date.<br />

My dad’s birthday was 17 January, so it would have been nice to have it then, but the next<br />

best choice was 16 January – which was my Belgian host dad, Serge’s birthday, so we were<br />

excited to the 16 th Subsequently there were many others who indicated that 16 Jan was<br />

a ‘good choice’ as they too celebrated their bdays on this day.<br />

So, Wednesday, 16 January 2013 was the date. We worked out that <strong>ella</strong> was due on 22<br />

March, but born 9 March (elective Caesar) – which means, she arrived 14 days prior to her<br />

due date, and with zach’s due date being 29 Jan and arriving 16 Jan, it also meant that he<br />

arrived 13 days prior – so both almost the same womb time in the end!<br />

Anyway, so having chosen the date, our next ‘dilemma’ was that this was the week that<br />

‘everyone’ went back to work/school, etc – and in that sense, we were ‘stuck’ with where<br />

we were going to leave <strong>ella</strong> on the 16 th . Fortunately, the Tubmans were still on holiday and<br />

being the godparents, we cashed in on that privilege and arranged that they would then<br />

look after <strong>ella</strong> on that day. We were still a bit worried though, because if I had to check-in at<br />

06h15 (which we would only know the day before) – how on earth will we get <strong>ella</strong> to the<br />

Tubmans so early in the morning without her waking and without it being all too unsettling<br />

for her, so early in the morning! Anyway, we banked on a ‘later check-in’ time and in the<br />

mean time, we ‘practised’ by me dropping <strong>ella</strong> with them and then leaving her there – to<br />

see if she would ‘be okay’. Bonus is: she LOVES the Tubmans. Seeing Ben and Jemma<br />

always gets her sooooo excited and she is totally fine with uncle Scott and tannie Hayley.<br />

So, our practice sessions went well, and we were all set: waiting to hear what time we were<br />

to check-in at Kingsbury Hospital.<br />

So, Tuesday, 15 January 2013 was our ‘last day’ as a family of three and with sssooo many to<br />

do’s to still take care of before ‘the day’ – we decided to do something ‘fun’ and spent our<br />

last morning together at the Two Oceans Aquarium. I got Rich an annual pass as a gift and<br />

<strong>ella</strong> really, really enjoys her time there. Well…maybe Rich a tad more than <strong>ella</strong> – so it was a<br />

good way to spend the morning – happy husband, happy little girl!


family outing to the aquarium<br />

When we arrived home, we were waiting for the motor gate to close, when all of a sudden<br />

‘ out of the blue’ – there was someone standing at the gate, calling for us. We looked back<br />

and just saw a VERY EXCITED <strong>ella</strong> kicking and waving and smiling from ear to ear shouting<br />

‘g(r)anny, ganny, ganny!!!’ – and yip, yip…it was Granny, literally, at our doorstep.<br />

Crazy-Granny, we might add. Granny’s school term had already started on 6 January 2013<br />

and she spent 3 weeks here in December, flew back to Abu Dhabi on 5 January 2013, had a<br />

fantastic holiday with <strong>ella</strong> – only to surprise visit us the day before zach’s birth with the<br />

opening line ‘your babysitter has arrived!’. Needless to say we were very surprised, but<br />

equally pleased and relieved, because that just solved sooo many of our concerns. One of<br />

them being – how will Rich spend time at the hospital this time round if we had a 22 month<br />

old to take care of and entertain during the day and when she needs to have supper, bath<br />

time, bed time, etc – by the time that ‘routine’ is over, the hospital visiting hours would be<br />

over and all in all it would mean me not seeing them much for four days!<br />

When Granny arrived, all that went out the window, as we now had someone who <strong>ella</strong> is<br />

totally comfortable with, who spent the past 3 weeks with her every day, and who was<br />

there to babysit 24/7 if needed.<br />

Yipee yay for crazy granny.<br />

So after all that, the call came through to let us know that check-in time was indeed 06h15.<br />

So, this meant that Granny would come to our place at 05h30 and be here to wake <strong>ella</strong> and<br />

start her daily routine. We still included the Tubmans in the plans – and they went there for<br />

a playdate the morning, before Oupa picked them up to visit us at the hospital at about<br />

11h00.<br />

Thought we’d keep the Tubmans as part of the day, because we ‘prepped’ her to say that<br />

when Mamma goes to hospital, she would go to tannie Hayley, etc etc.


Anyway. So, heard it was 06h15 and that night we still had to pack the last few items of my<br />

hospital bag, choose a ‘going home outfit’ from zach’s neatly packed cupboard (thanks<br />

Rich!), not forget to pack a beanie (as we did with <strong>ella</strong>) and burn the playlist to CD and of<br />

course make sure we have a back-up <br />

Went to bed exhausted, actually, as the days leading up to the birth was quite busy and<br />

emotional. I organised my week so that I could spend a lot of ‘alone time’ with <strong>ella</strong> –<br />

without many playdates or others around, just to soak up ‘our time’ – as I realised that<br />

never again will it just be the two of us ‘chilling’ <br />

Last pic of the two of us…before brother joins<br />

We did some fun outings, including the aquarium and did<br />

loads of ‘chats’ and stories and cuddles and songs and just<br />

LOVED our moments together. I also put her to bed for that<br />

whole week and cherished our ‘time on the couch’ before she<br />

had her doedoe.<br />

The last night was very sad though, as I could not imagine life<br />

post 16 January and for a moment felt as if I could still stay<br />

pregnant for a good few months – just to maximise the ‘<strong>ella</strong>time’<br />

<br />

So, it’s been a good, but tiring and emotional few days – so I was pretty exhausted.<br />

Woke up, took my LLLLOOONNNNGGGG shower and got ready. Mom arrived, we checked<br />

that we had everything, mom took a quick pic of us a nd then off to Kingsbury we went!<br />

Last moment at home with zach in belly ready to check-in thinking about the name…<br />

We thought we would be the 08h00 theatre slot – but turns out, our slot was only at 09h00.<br />

But lady said, we were still to check in at 06h15, so all was fine.


Waited for quite some time before it was our turn to check-in, then went op to Maternity<br />

Ward. Before we did, I leaned over and said to Rich…SO…have we settled on the name yet!<br />

Upon which he responded ‘o vet! Ons moet seker nou finaal besluit ne?!’ [oops… guess we<br />

have to finally decide now, hey!]…. We had the first name ‘sorted’ – but not the second – so<br />

there and then concluded what it would be <br />

We arrived same time as Veronica, the nurse who ran our antenatal class with <strong>ella</strong> – so it<br />

was sssooo nice to see a ‘familiar’ face!<br />

Got to the ‘prep room’ – met the nurses who measured my legs for the ‘flight socks’ that<br />

you get to wear, got my hospital gear, finger pricked, blood pressure tested, etc etc – and<br />

had to then obviously – get.onto.the.scale…..so, I braced myself for what this ‘final weight’<br />

was going to be, bearing in mind that with <strong>ella</strong> I hit 71kgs <br />

So, I took a HUGE breath and a whopping 75 appeared…well, it was between 74 and 75,<br />

leaning towards 75, but I smiled and said to the nurse – it definitely says 74kgs [man…it<br />

just sounds so much lighter than seventy-FIVE…] – so she laughed and jotted down, 74 -<br />

that totals a weight gain of 18 kgs…exactly the same as with <strong>ella</strong> – even though this time I<br />

felt a hundred times bigger!<br />

Next, the monitoring of the baby – loved hearing the heart beat and at one stage it went up<br />

quite a bit – I think he sensed the slow arrival of my anxiety…. As we approached 08h30,<br />

when I was expected to be wheeled into theatre, I just felt more and more nervous!!<br />

brother’s heart rate monitored ….. below: beanie choice and his first nappy….<br />

below: trying to chill and


Excited yes, but more nervous. Because this time round, I ‘knew what to expect’ in terms of<br />

what the inside of theatre looks like….what the anaesthetist would be doing…etc, etc…and I<br />

was really scared. Also very scared at ‘the reality of TWO’….so I clock-watched and had to<br />

really concentrate on chilling and not freaking out! <br />

The anaesthetist came by and chatted me through the ‘process’ – I was VERY VERY<br />

disappointed that it was not Dr Sue Gardener, who took care of me when <strong>ella</strong> was born,<br />

cause she did a FANTASTIC job – but with Dr Brummer, I had to just tell myself that hey, I am<br />

sure she’s good too! And besides…not as if I could change her on the day….<br />

Anyway, I made sure that I told her that needles are NOT my best friend – upon which she<br />

replied that ‘all her c-sec patients’ feel that way apparently – but I think she didn’t really<br />

‘get’ that I was REALLY not a fan! I told her that I don’t want detail about what she was<br />

going to do, didn’t want to see a thing and asked her to PLEASE ensure that post theatre, I<br />

had the self-medicated drug, so as to avoid injections. She assured me, no injections will be<br />

needed – so I could then start breathing again!<br />

I showed her my tube of EMLA CREAM – the cream Tash told me about with <strong>ella</strong>, that you<br />

apply pre-drip and it is a type of anaesthetic, so you ‘shouldn’t feel the drip’ being put it.<br />

She looked at it and said ‘oh but you should put it on straight away!!! It takes up to 45mins<br />

to start working’ – FLIP…I freaked out and squirted a generous amount all over my hand and<br />

she put some on my back too. [Thought to myself – WHY ON EARTH did the nurse tell me to<br />

put it on 30 to 20mins before the time….] anyway!<br />

Emla check. Camera and spare batteries, check. Playlist CD, check. And then veronica<br />

fetched us and wheeled me into theatre.<br />

Rich got changed in his snazzy green theatre outfit, the very crazy Alexis sister, who<br />

welcomed me when <strong>ella</strong> was born, was on duty in theatre again and provided much<br />

entertainment as we waited to go into theatre. This time, we only saw Dr Zinn and the rest<br />

of the team in theatre, and not before, as with <strong>ella</strong>.<br />

So, on our way into our room, Dr Shanahan shouted from down the passage ‘hello meryl –<br />

sorry I won’t be joining in theatre today (as she was the assistant gynae with <strong>ella</strong>) – will see<br />

you and your baby in a short while to say hello though!’ – was very sweet of her. We also<br />

saw her for a check-up in December, when Dr Zinn was on leave. Pity she couldn’t join, but<br />

she had a patient at 08h30, so didn’t do back to back sessions.<br />

So, our team was Dr Zinn, Dr Paula Penkin (who checked up on me on Day 3 and 4 with <strong>ella</strong>)<br />

and our paed, Dr Bailey, was a very pleasant surprise – he delayed his holiday plans to first<br />

be in theatre with us. Was ssooo nice of him – we were very grateful and had fun chats re<br />

the Breede River with him!


Anaesthetist then started: first,<br />

she asked them about 3 times, in<br />

a space of 1 minute, for them to<br />

put the CD in…I reckon she could<br />

read that I was pretty<br />

nervous…and needed to hear<br />

familiar tunes!!<br />

our playlist – based on <strong>ella</strong>’s with a few new ones like track 1, 9, 15 . . .<br />

Then, she preceded to TELL ME almost everything she was going to do…aah man…made me<br />

even tenser ‘meryl, we will now use a THIN needle to give you the local anaesthetic…’<br />

[lady….WHY are you telling me this?!!] Anyway, then some ‘surprises’.<br />

With Dr Garderner, at <strong>ella</strong>’s birth – I only had a drip and spinal block.<br />

Now I had drip (which I FELT !!!!!) – then apparently had an epidural combination…not sure<br />

why – but it was not great – then some other drug as well – before they moved me over to<br />

the bed.<br />

waiting for it all to start…


Cheerful Dr Zinn then entered, gave us a hello and a kiss and then the happy chats started.<br />

Everything was really FAST – and next we just heard Dr Bailey say ‘hey Philip, I nearly missed<br />

that, you’re really moving fast here!!’ – then I heard Dr Zinn say – ‘ooh, it’s like a real<br />

swimming pool in here’ and then next I felt this MASSIVE pressure on my lungs/heart –<br />

thought my heart was going to pop out of my throat (!!) – still smiling all the way, as I was<br />

fine, but had a fright at the sudden pressure – and then, next – voila!!!!!<br />

A.very.blue.purple.MASSIVE.baby.boy – in sight!!!!<br />

Aah man….as Clair de Lune was playing in the background – that moment was just<br />

incredible. Could never imagine it. Could never prepare for it. Just such an amazing<br />

moment. Felt like time stood still as I just looked up at this perfectly created little bebe,<br />

feeling a sense of overwhelming joy and then heard Dr Zinn ‘interupt my lala-land-ness’ and<br />

saying – parents! You can touch him! - so we reached out and touched his little purplecoloured<br />

foot – before they moved him to the side to check him out and I just heard<br />

cheerful voices of ‘hey, he is 3.695kgs!!!! and then whoops – he was on my chest and our<br />

cuddles began <br />

I could NOT believe the size. I mean really – <strong>ella</strong> was 3.210kgs….3.695…from MY belly – and<br />

then the last few days of really feeling HEAVY made total sense


That feeling of holding them for the first time – there’s nothing like it.


Next Dr Penkin waved good bye and was delighted at the name choice – as her son is<br />

apparently also called Zach. Dr Bailey wanted to know, moments before zach arrived, if we<br />

would not consider calling him Martin Martin (his name…) – and Dr Zinn came round to<br />

give me a congrats kiss and asked: so, what did he weigh again? And then he said, aah, I<br />

UNDER-estimated!! [The Friday before, he was weighing 3.3kgs, and Dr Zinn reckoned he<br />

would be bigger, but not as big as 3.695] <br />

Anyway, then they took us to be monitored a bit – but then zach just started grunting – like<br />

a very weird, non-stop grunt. Sister Fiona, who assisted Dr Bailey in theatre, then asked the<br />

dudes to hurry up with the monitoring, because she reckoned zach was too cold – despite<br />

him being skin to skin and said we had to get him to an incubator for a few minutes as it<br />

would help. [Grunting apparently fluid on the lungs…]<br />

So, off to the Recovery Room we headed and after a few more cuddles, Rich and zach went<br />

to the nursery where they put him in an incubator, to heat him up, for a few minutes. At<br />

that time, I just kept on pumping the self-medicated drug and managed to find a moment to<br />

send out an sms to spread the word that our gorgeous little, massive zach stefan rabe<br />

graced us with his presence at 09h41, weighing 3.695kgs and 53cms <br />

incubator


When they returned, sister Pauline joined us – same lactation sister who helped with <strong>ella</strong><br />

and she said that because of his grunting, he might not take to the breast immediately. She<br />

expressed a few drops onto a teaspoon, gave it to him and then we tried and no prob at all –<br />

yippee yay, perfect latch! (go zach!) So that was nice, a relief and great to have had the<br />

‘support’ of Sister Pauline – because, despite breastfeeding <strong>ella</strong> for fourteen months, I was<br />

still worried about ‘how to do it again!’ – so all fine in the end.<br />

Next, it was the Grandparents<br />

Visiting Slot and oupa and mom<br />

got to meet zach. It was then<br />

obviously also the first time that<br />

<strong>ella</strong> saw us again and her<br />

reaction to seeing zach was<br />

sooooo sweet. Very gentle, very<br />

intrigued, very ‘careful’ and very<br />

loving. And then just wanted to<br />

cuddle him ‘pappa, <strong>ella</strong> cuddle<br />

zach’. I think she fully<br />

understood what was happening<br />

and who this new dude was that<br />

joined our fam.<br />

It was also the first time that we told her his name – because if we’d have told her before, it<br />

would definitely not have remained a ‘secret’ So finally, she met ‘little brother’ – as she<br />

also calls him and I loved giving HER some long cuddles.<br />

sister meets and sees brother for the first time…


It was also a moment of seeing her ‘through new eyes’ – she seemed ‘so much older’ and no<br />

longer our ‘little bebble’…<br />

oupa Rabe<br />

<strong>ella</strong> giving mamma cuddles…not too impressed until she discovered the self-med-button…<br />

Granny and zach


anique, tannie myrtle


After this, I got to snooze a bit, with zach on my chest and Rich, mom and <strong>ella</strong> left to return<br />

at the 15h00 visiting slot again. Tannie Myrtle and Ni-Ke (anique) joined then too and got to<br />

meet the latest member of our Rabe-family and slowly but surely it all began to feel more<br />

and more real – and I just loved it more and more!<br />

By the time evening visiting hours started, I was beginning to fade – not as heavily drugged<br />

as with <strong>ella</strong>, but I could feel that I was having to concentrate pretty hard to stay focused in a<br />

conversation! Delighted though that Gareth could meet his nephew, Ouma got to meet<br />

her grandson, Wilhelm met his nephew and Annie, Lester, John, Sarah-Jane, Leon and Candy<br />

J all popped in to meet little zach! Loved seeing them all!


sarah-jane, candy j<br />

john & annie<br />

lester, ilse<br />

[no pic of the uncles: wilhelm & gareth!]


Some who came the next day and thereafter:


tannie honnie<br />

scott, hayley, ben and jemma<br />

tannie nichy<br />

coupa & ouma<br />

annie<br />

tannie kitty


Oh yes, a concern was that at about 17h00, my self-medicated drug had run out…as in,<br />

there was nothing left! It took me by surprise, as I was expecting it to last the night still –<br />

especially since with this drug you can only press every 20 mins, as oppose to <strong>ella</strong>’s one<br />

where I could press every 7 minutes. Anyway – I asked the sister and they said ‘oops, no,<br />

it’s all done’ ‘don’t worry, next you will just get some injections’. Worst.Info.Ever. I mean<br />

like in really….I worked so hard at AVOIDING this situation – even checking with the<br />

anaesthetist re injections and her assuring, chill, won’t happen. And if you need, they will<br />

put it through your drip system. Anyway, anaesthetist gone home already and I was told<br />

that for pain relief, injections would be my only option.<br />

Needless to say, I was not looking forward to the night ahead.<br />

It was ok though, despite being in a very full, general ward – it was quieter than I expected<br />

and fortunately I had a window bed. The hospital was just so, so full – and when you<br />

pressed the buzzer – the wait for assistance took some time – but I had enough meds in my<br />

system to give me a good night’s rest though – and I survived (net-net) the injections…three<br />

of them the first night – NOT FUN (!!)<br />

The cuddling with zach made up for it for sure! They took him to the nursery for the first<br />

part of the night, but after the second feed, he stayed with me till the next morning. Was<br />

nice to take advantage of this ‘non-Gina-approved’ sleeping with the mamma moments <br />

hehe….I just kept on thinking – enjoy it whilst it last little lad…Day 4 is fast approaching and<br />

then it’s off to your own space, your own cot - loved it though! <br />

[And despite not being able to read my sms replies…thanks Nokia Lumia 710 and<br />

MTN…what’s the point of an upgraded phone if when after you’ve sent a group sms, it just<br />

gives you sms-reading-issues…. ssoooo disappointing and annoying…. Anyway!]<br />

So, that was DAY ONE in the life of our super-handsome-uber-loving-zach stefan rabe.<br />

Oh, and just for the record – re his name: It was the hardest part of the pregnancy -<br />

finding a NAME. It really WAS hard. For MONTHS he didn’t have a name – so we just called<br />

him ‘brother’ - and then we realised that time was fast approaching and we had to make<br />

work of this name business! None of the options I liked made it to Rich’s approved list and<br />

vice versa. I threw some names in like sven, which immediately got the boot from Rich <br />

When he threw in axel and erik and nikolaas – it got the boot from me I liked axel, but<br />

pronunciation here would never work. Anyway…. So then when zach was suggested, it was<br />

the first one where we both went…ooh…um…maybe… and it ended up coming back to zach<br />

all the time.<br />

Next, the question from Rich was whether we shouldn’t name him Zachary and just call him<br />

zach…but I wasn’t in favour of having a name that is not really your name and having to<br />

explain that it is not your full name, bla-bla – think of what is on your ID vs what people<br />

know you as…. Bla, bla – so we (fortunately) agreed that it would be just plain zach!


Then a second name… again, hard to find options – but zach micah got the boot and zach<br />

stefan got the nod. Not stefan as in the Afrikaans pronunciation, but stefan as in stefan<br />

Edberg…the tennis dude.<br />

So there you have it: zach stefan rabe, sibling to <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe, has now finally arrived<br />

and oh my goodness….how uber greatful we are to God for his amazing provision in giving<br />

us this healthy little boy to look after and care for and love! We are so grateful!<br />

update below…for those who are still keen to read:


the update . . .<br />

The rest of the hospital stay took a bit of a dip on Day 2 and then eventually improved…from<br />

having the best experience with top staff and excellent service and efficiency 22 months<br />

ago, when <strong>ella</strong> arrived, to just having very, very disappointing support from the staff and<br />

several issues that could be avoided. Things like them not taking my dressing off on Day 2<br />

as they should have, me having a full on WWF moment with the nurse who was SO WILD<br />

and ROUGH in changing my sheets the morning of Day 2, resulting in me having to be<br />

shoved on my side and then pulling out the pillows from underneath my back – which<br />

supported me- resulting in me ‘falling back’ onto the bed and shouting out a loud ‘WAIT!!!<br />

EINA!!!!’ and then bursting into tears afterwards, cause hello lady…it HURTS if you move me<br />

from side to side so quickly and with no patience! It was SO sore! And then to ‘fix it’ – they<br />

just added yet another injection to my thigh…awful! Then they delayed my pain meds for<br />

the rest of that day, took really long to move me to the new room, had no buzzer or light<br />

there for the entire day, kept on getting the wrong meal orders – always the dairy options<br />

when at every junction I had to repeat that sorry, I didn’t order dairy, etc etc. It was just an<br />

average Day 2 in terms of care. On Day 3, I told Dr Zinn the full story and especially the fact<br />

that I waited for 4 hours for one set of meds. He was REALLY NOT happy, told me I should<br />

have called him, I should not be so polite, etc etc – he was so so not impressed that my<br />

dressing was still on etc, etc – so assured me he would chat to sister Faye, head nurse and<br />

thereafter – they were on the ball! Bringing meds on time, asking if we needed anything,<br />

checking up on us – and probably also because I had a VERY VOCAL neighbour, Sam, sharing<br />

the room with me. She was super cheesed off with the bad service and complained loads.<br />

By the time the night staff came, I was very happy to see ‘familiar faces’ – same team as<br />

with <strong>ella</strong>, so that night was just SO MUCH better!<br />

Coming home was smoother this time – I was discharged on time – mom came by to greet<br />

before going to the airport – quite an emotional goodbye from her – she did such a sterling<br />

job taking care of <strong>ella</strong> for 4 days – allowing Rich to spend so much time with zach and I at<br />

the hospital, and really making life much easier for us. Thanks mother!! <br />

So, off to the airport she went – and whilst I was getting all my stuff ready and Ouma was<br />

kind enough to look after <strong>ella</strong> at the hospital, and Rich could therefore again be ‘hands-free’<br />

to help zach and I.<br />

When we got home, it was just after 12h00 and both zach and <strong>ella</strong> went to their own cots<br />

for their afternoon doedoes whilst Rich, Ouma and I enjoyed a teetjie and delicious<br />

cupcakes, saying ‘welcome zach rabe’ – courtesy of Jaco&Christie Cronje! Thanks guys!!


And to date, all goes well in the Rabe-home; we’re Gina Ford fans once again, trying to<br />

follow her routines as much as possible, not always going according to plan so early on, but<br />

we are persevering; zach does about 3 to 3.5 hour stretches in the evening….none of the 5<br />

hour luxuries as with <strong>ella</strong> and in general feeds well, but has regular sessions of battling to<br />

settle after a feed, clean nappy, burp out….then I have NO IDEA what else to do <br />

Dummy was introduced on Day 15 and he took it like a champ!<br />

In the mean time, we’ve also enjoyed Rich being home with us – he goes back to work on<br />

Monday, after being off for three weeks (!) – it has helped SO much – extra pair of hands!!<br />

We’ve also had zach weighed after 5 days of leaving hospital and his birth weight dropped<br />

from 3.695kgs to 3.440kgs and then he gained 190grams in 5 days, and sister St<strong>ella</strong> reckons<br />

he is doing just fine.<br />

Our first ‘outing’ as a family was to Green Point Park on Day 7, zach has had loads of visitors<br />

and we’ve been SO SPOILED by our friends, bringing us meals since we’ve left hospital!!<br />

Check out this awesome meal plan!! [compiled on www.takethemameal.com – thanks to<br />

Nikki Homann, this is a online way to organise meals and we’ve been using ‘this nikki<br />

suggestion’ for the past few meal plans we’ve done ]<br />

Date Meal Provider What I Plan To Bring (Or Send...)<br />

Sat, Jan 19 Nichy du Plessis 0722453950 Roast chicken & veg / salad<br />

Sun, Jan 20 Carla Cookson 0723073775 Thai Green Curry + Chocolate Pots and Fruit<br />

Mon, Jan 21 Zoe Kooyman 0713309105 Thai World phad thai<br />

Tue, Jan 22 Andrea Timothy 0722421308 Fish-a-la-Timothy/Kannemeyer<br />

Wed, Jan 23 Rosa Mackenzie 0835026693<br />

Moroccan inspired chicken and chickpea<br />

salad<br />

Thu, Jan 24 Julia Quickfall 0823150551 Chicken and Broc bake with salad<br />

Fri, Jan 25 Gillian De Villiers 0843585707 Cauliflower & chickpea curry<br />

Sat, Jan 26 Anique Edwards 0731946295 pizza :)<br />

Sun, Jan 27 Candice Jacobs 0741432848 Spag Bol<br />

Mon, Jan 28 Elisenda Kirchmayr 0822991802 something good<br />

Tue, Jan 29 Myrtle Edwards 0834792211 Roast Chicken and Veg<br />

Wed, Jan 30 Lizanne Pitt 27846138175 Pasta of some sort...<br />

Thu, Jan 31 Jolene&Grant Abrahams 0792959283 Nando's<br />

Fri, Feb 1 ouma&oupa rabe 0826534853 Verrassing<br />

Sat, Feb 2 Kirsty Ronne 0768751219 Stir Fry<br />

Sun, Feb 3 Cindy Alfino 0796976018 Eat Out the Box<br />

Mon, Feb 4<br />

Tue, Feb 5 Nikki Homann 0733030666 Cottage Pie<br />

Wed, Feb 6<br />

Thu, Feb 7 Jenny Collett 0828720995 to be confirmed


09h41….a week ago….zach arrived - this time… we’re hitting the park, baby!<br />

Chilling in green point park…<br />

So without blabbering on for too much longer – this is it I will prepare his 0 – 3 months<br />

‘update’ in due time and will have more pics and stories about happenings in the life of zach<br />

stefan rabe – for now, the ‘purpose’ of this was just to share ‘how he arrived’! <br />

Again, enjoying this newborn phase SO much – <strong>ella</strong> LOVES zach and puts on her cute voice<br />

when she chats to him and greets him and even though up to now, I don’t REALLY ‘know’<br />

what it feels like to be home with two…that adventure starts on Monday, 5 February 2013,<br />

when Rich hits the office and <strong>ella</strong>, zach and I figure out life as a team of three at home.<br />

Love,<br />

-rabes 4 -


some pics . . .<br />

DAY OF ARRIVAL<br />

zach stefan rabe<br />

16 January 2013 | Cape Town |<br />

3.695kg | 53 cm | 09h41 |


DAY OF ARRIVAL – part ii<br />

zach stefan rabe<br />

16 January 2013 |<br />

Cape Town<br />

BIRTH DAY


DAY OF ARRIVAL – part iii<br />

zach stefan rabe<br />

16 January 2013 | Cape Town


DAY ONE<br />

Day ONE


DAY ONE<br />

Day ONE


DAY ONE<br />

Day ONE


DAY TWO<br />

Day TWO


DAY TWO<br />

Day TWO


DAY TWO – first bath<br />

Day TWO


DAY THREE<br />

Day THREE


DAY THREE<br />

Day THREE


DAY THREE<br />

Day THREE


DAY THREE<br />

Day THREE


zach’s space…<br />

first doedoe in new space… DAY THREE


zach’s room<br />

Room progress – Rich unpacking all babyshower gifts….Rich painting compactum…Oupa building the built in cupboards<br />

…<strong>ella</strong> supervising…Rich figuring out the World Map plan…Rich, Rich…it’s ALL RICH… thanks Rich!


zach’s room<br />

To-ra! All done! and the bunging from nichy and marcelle – thanks dudes!!


PS: Check this out: Nichy asked if she could swing by to take a few pics of zach and<br />

especially of zach and <strong>ella</strong>. We, the camera-shy-parents, said, sure – and see below –<br />

talented Nichy du Plessis – thanks super much!! This was zach on Day 10.<br />

DAY 10 – pics by the VERY talented tannie nichy du plessis


the end…for now….


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> turning TWO - birthday edition-


-birthday edition-<br />

MY BIRTHDAY PICS – turning two<br />

1


the end.<br />

11


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> turning TWO - party-


-birthday edition-<br />

It’s been a busy year! Zach Stefan Rabe has joined since January and with a second birthday only 7<br />

weeks thereafter, life at the Rabe-home was let’s just say a tad bit more busy than usual!<br />

Nevertheless – 9 March 2013 was fast approaching and it was with humongous excitement, joy and<br />

absolute shock about HOW ON EARTH can it be 24 months already….that we waited for this day! <br />

Last year this time, she could barely crawl, let alone ‘realise’ that it was her birthday. But let it be<br />

known that this time round, there’s NO DOUBT that she knows what’s cooking!<br />

She sings happy birthday to herself – from the many birthday voice notes she practiced to those who<br />

celebrated before her, she has a few books that co-incedently tell the story of birthdays and then<br />

joins the dots and talks about her own birthday coming up! She also spots the birthday cake and<br />

knows that when it is her turn, she gets ‘special cupcakes’ – which means gluten, egg and dairy free<br />

with special rice-something icing!<br />

And she’s good about not eating cake and sweet things. She knows what she is allowed to eat and<br />

what she should avoid and politely tells you ‘no thanks, <strong>ella</strong> is (pro)tecting my skin!’ – referring to<br />

the eczema spot that arrive post too much yeast. She basically has a sugar-free diet, except for the<br />

raisins and dried mango that she is addicted to, so once a year – when it is her birthday, she gets to<br />

eat some ‘cake’!<br />

So an email to Alison’s Cakes (alisonscakes@telkomsa.net) ordering her ‘special cupcakes’, planning<br />

her party and figuring out how we would spend the morning of 9 March 2012, is what was on our ‘to<br />

do’ list!<br />

We knew that the afternoon of 9 March, we needed to be in Stellenbosch, for Carla and Jeremy’s<br />

wedding, so a party on the day itself was not going to be an option. Having a wedding on her<br />

birthday also meant that we needed a babysitter and with zach and his feeding times and the venue<br />

being Stellenbosch we ended up only attending the ceremony and not the reception and booked<br />

Annie to please babysit <strong>ella</strong> and zach at the venue, whilst we listened to the ‘I do’s’.<br />

So, bearing all of this in mind and with VERY LIMITED time in the days leading up to her bday to<br />

physically go places, as zach entertained us with colic and reflux symptoms in the day, restricting our<br />

movements, coupled with Rich working 5am – 5pm shifts during this time, I only really had Friday, 8<br />

March, leavin home from 19h30 after settling an unhappy zach, to sort out her birthday gift and<br />

birthday tray! <br />

This then meant that Canal Walk was the chosen mall, with it being open until 21h00 and me<br />

missioning from shop to shop to get everything, including a card and helium balloons, before it<br />

closed at 21h00!<br />

1


Got home, then wrapped everything, wrote her little card, prepared her birthday tray and then – no,<br />

not off to bed, fed zach and then went to bed! <br />

Waking her on her birthday morning was ssssooooo special and ssssoooo cute! For starters, she<br />

woke later than usual, which was great, cause then I could finish zach’s 7am feed, change him,<br />

before hearing the daily ‘pa-paaah’ (calls pappa in the morning). But not this morning. No calling –<br />

instead, we woke her at about 07h45 and when she saw the birthday sparkles and heard the happy<br />

bday song, she shot up in her cot with a huge smile and said ‘it <strong>ella</strong>’s BIRTHDAY!!!!!’ – sssoooo<br />

sweet! LOVED seeing her so excited and happy! She then proceeded to sing the happy birthday<br />

song to herself and also told all her ‘cot friends’ aka the teddies that sleep with her, [Lion, Rabbit and<br />

Fluffy Duck] – she told all of them, one by one, that it was her birthday! ‘Lion…it <strong>ella</strong>’s BIRTHDAY!’ –<br />

‘Rabbit…it <strong>ella</strong>’s BIRTHDAY’….’Fluffy duck….it <strong>ella</strong>’s BIRTHDAY’ – ending with a huge smile!<br />

We put her ‘birthday tray’ on the table in her room, easy reach and she blowed out candles, ate the<br />

rasberries from her ‘fruit-cupcake’ before we all moved to our bed to read the card and open<br />

presents.<br />

She was just one happy camper! Cheerful, excited, beautiful and it filled our hearts with such joy to<br />

see this 24 month old, chatting away, enjoying this moment and providing many moments for us to<br />

smile away WE LOVE HER SO SO MUCH.<br />

Last year we didn’t really get her a birthday gift…and this year would have been the same story if we<br />

didn’t remind ourselves that um…maybe we should, hey! So we got her some…wait for it…books.<br />

YES, YES, we know, she is addicted to books and has a whole library already – but we couldn’t resist<br />

adding to her library and giving her some of the favourites that we read in Exclusive Books, but don’t<br />

own yet. So Where’s Wally, The Graffalo, more Miffy and Mia and Marnus sticker book was<br />

unwrapped with much appreciation and excitement! Also bought her a mini graffalo mug – as she<br />

loves her Rooibos tea, so now she has her own mug for that too.<br />

She read her books and again, when she spotted characters, she would tell them it was her birthday<br />

and sing happy birthday to herself all the time <br />

The highlight of her morning, no doubt, must have been to tuck into that ‘special cupcake’! She<br />

licked that icing like someone who has never had cake before….ok, that is sort-of true….but it was so<br />

funny to watch! Rich had a moment of announcing his concerns that our dovet will now be covered<br />

in icing and crumbs…and wasn’t too thrilled… so we had to quickly make a plan so that she continue<br />

this messy-yumness…on a towel…on the duvet! <br />

Granny called, she chatted to her, and then it was time to get ready for our ‘birthday breakfast’ at<br />

the Jonkershuis with Oupa & Ouma, tannie Honnie & Gary, the Edwards fam and Gazza.<br />

It was such a chilled morning and she was showered with love and thoughtful gifts from everyone<br />

there.<br />

In the middle of our bday breakfast, the wind blew the rooftop cover of the courtyard and the<br />

previous day’s rain water came SPLASHING down, soaking our bags and some of us, who sat on that<br />

side of the table. It was hilarious…after realising that we’re okay, only WET! – Ella was on that side<br />

too – most of the splash missed her – but she looked up, and I could see in her eyes that she had<br />

2


something huge to say: she paused, and belted out: ‘mamma…STORM CAME!!!’ – ‘just like in <strong>ella</strong>’s<br />

BIBLE!!!’ – referring to the story where Jesus calms the storm! So funny!!<br />

And just before we left, as <strong>ella</strong> said: ANOTHER STORM CAME – the exact same thing happened!!!<br />

Why we didn’t MOVE after the first incident, I ask you… at least it was a VERY HOT day – so we didn’t<br />

mind getting wet a bit! <br />

We then headed home, had a quick doedoe before rushing to Stellenbosch for the wedding. <strong>ella</strong><br />

wasn’t tooo happy to stay with Annie, but Annie managed the tears well and brought a friend,<br />

Maxine along, to help as well.<br />

Our day ended with another cupcake and thankful hearts for the birthday of our mooiste, liefste <strong>ella</strong><br />

mireille rabe!!<br />

______________<br />

Meanwhile – the next mission was – her party. We could not have been more blessed with the<br />

many offers to help us and one of those came from Danni Villet – one of our Bible Study girls. A<br />

week or so before <strong>ella</strong>’s birthday she said ‘please can’t I help’ and with a unsettled zach and limited<br />

free time, I happily agreed! We then met for our ‘planning session’ at Montebello after she ‘pitched’<br />

a theme to <strong>ella</strong> the Wednesday before Danni & Leroy gave her a copy of the very hungry<br />

caterpillar book. A familiar story to her, as she got one for her birthday last year. ‘She loved the<br />

idea’ and hence the theme was confirmed. So at the planning breakfast session, we chatted about<br />

some detail after which Danni mailed me a lekker spreadsheet and the party planning was then set<br />

into motion <br />

We also did a recce of the park we wanted to have it at – Palmboom Park in Newlands – but, but,<br />

but the grass was covered in wasps! And there was no guarantee that in two weeks from then, the<br />

wasp problem would be sorted, so Danni suggested Burnside Road park, close to her flat in<br />

Tamboerskloof. It turned out to be the perfect choice! Easy access to her flat to prep the food and a<br />

fenced off spot with lots of shade.<br />

This included Danni’s offer to design the invitation as well. So I sent her what I drafted the week<br />

prior (yay for powerpoint…hehe) and we chatted about the wording, sent her pics and voila…out<br />

came this very colourful and very pretty invitation! <br />

3


Danni assembled her dream-team and on 10 March, some of them got together at our place for a<br />

‘knip n plak’ session – prepping for the party. She printed pretty ‘thank you’ labels for the party<br />

packs, made a HUGE caterpillar with pom-poms, made a ‘<strong>ella</strong>’ sign, nicci made butterfly cut-outs, we<br />

put tags on the straws, cut out circles for the caterpillar activity and whilst this production line was in<br />

motion, rich and Leroy entertained <strong>ella</strong> at the park whilst I tried to keep zach calm. It was quite a<br />

day!<br />

8


Next on the list was getting the invitations out, finalising the birthday cake order from Alison and<br />

then…enjoying the party!<br />

Oh, what we failed to say was that on the Friday before the party, Kim Herzfeld and I drove to<br />

Alison’s place to pick up the caterpillar cake. I sent her a pic of the cake and it was fairly easy. Just a<br />

round red head and then green cupcakes for the body. I got there…the head was orange…upon<br />

which she said ‘ooh I hope I got the colour right, I battled to mix the orange’ – I responded ‘um,<br />

thanks… I guess orange instead of red will be fine too!’ She said – oh…sorry, I thought it was<br />

orange. OOPS number one. The colour. But OOPS number two was that the FACE of this<br />

‘caterpillar’ didn’t nearly resemble the face of the caterpillar from the book. She ‘sommer’ added<br />

some eye lashes, a mouth, a number two on the forehead…she really used her ‘creative licence’ .<br />

Needless to say – I realised, this needs to be EDITED….urgently. It was already 20h30 that night. Kim<br />

and I were SO HUNGRY! - but we set out on this ‘fix-the-face- mission and Jolene, who baked<br />

other ‘normal’ mini cupcakes for us – she was an absolute angel and tried her best to change the<br />

look of the face. We left her place relieved that, despite the orange head, this now resembled a<br />

caterpillar much, much more!!<br />

Our next thing was to make playdough. Rich called us on the way to inform that we had no salt –<br />

and I then asked the dude from the Thai shop, please can I buy a cup of SALT – upon which he<br />

answered that it was the strangest order he had received to date. R10 later…can’t believe he<br />

actually charged me…anyway…R10 later, we headed home with the salt to make playdough. Well,<br />

Richardt made playdough – it flopped …and thankfully at that time Karelien called, I remembered<br />

that she made dough the week before and I organised for her to bring hers through to the party!<br />

Sjoe!!<br />

The dream team, Danni, nicci, candy j, lyndsey, Candice, Victoria, Kim and John, all helped with party<br />

prep and venue set-up, Gazza organised the beverages and ice, which meant zach and I just arrived!<br />

And, we arrived to a very, very, very pretty party scene!!!<br />

LOVVVVVVEEEEED it!!!<br />

10


Guest of honour was dressed as a<br />

watermelon (thanks Granny) and we picked<br />

two special friends to wear the other two<br />

costumes that granny sent. Sadie-Mia was<br />

the strawberry and Riley was the cupcake!!<br />

Thanks friends!! You were great characters<br />

from the ‘very hungry caterpillar story!’ <br />

Nichy was an absolute star, as usual! Besides offering to help, despite having a toddler and a 5<br />

month old…she also made banana-cocoa ice creams for us [no dairy! Yippee!] AND offered to take<br />

the party pics!!!!<br />

11


The Kowalski’s also attended and Marcin arrived with his camera too and Annie was in charge of<br />

trying to capture ‘silhouette profile shots’ of the little ones, for our post-party canvas plan!<br />

So this splendid afternoon was well ‘documented’! <br />

We also had three tables set out for ‘activities’ – playdough station, caterpillar sheets and crayons<br />

for colouring in and a third station with contact paper – sticky side up, and then they had the<br />

opportunity to ‘make’ caterpillars with green and red circles. <strong>ella</strong> loved this!!<br />

And the other ‘hit’ was the jumping castle. Not a traditional one, but one that gazza bought <strong>ella</strong> for<br />

CHRISTmas. They had sssooo many laughs on this thing and it was very cute to, at one stage, see the<br />

watermelon, the strawberry and the cupcake on it at the same time! <br />

When we gathered to sing the bday song, <strong>ella</strong> was bothered by the fly that kept on sitting on the<br />

head of the caterpillar cake – and frowned and said ‘shoo fly!! Shoo!!!’ – so she missed the first half<br />

of the song but by the time ‘veels geluk liewe maatjie’ was sung, she was into it! <br />

12


Thankfully we had sparkles there, cause the wind blew the candles out all the time <br />

Reaching for the icing during the song was also a fun thing to do! <br />

Scott, who is <strong>ella</strong>’ s godfather, then prayed for her, thanking God for yet another year of her precious<br />

life and the rest of the afternoon everyone just chilled and all seemed to have a smile on their face.<br />

Gazza, zach, Geraldine, Annie and I left ‘early’ – as we headed to Paarl for a funeral – whilst the party<br />

continued.<br />

Totally LOVED the party and very grateful for the major, major help we’ve received from all –<br />

especially Danni and her troops <br />

<strong>ella</strong> is one lucky little lady, blessed with ssssooo many special friendships and friends who love her<br />

and care about her.<br />

God is gracious. God is kind. God has looked after this talkative, energetic, mooiste, liefste bebble<br />

for yet another year. We’re very grateful! Here’s to the next 12 months…life as a two year old and<br />

beyond! <br />

13


pre-park-party-prep-pics<br />

14


_________________________________________________________________________________<br />

15


some of Nichy’s pics<br />

17


some rabe pics<br />

31


some of annie’s pics:<br />

34


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> 21 -29 months | zach 0 - 7 months-


| zach stefan rabe<br />

Hmm…how did April suddenly become AUGUST. And to make it worse, it’s the last few DAYS of<br />

August! Meaning, I should just as well admit that it is September and that this means FOUR<br />

MONTHS since I last worked on this doc. To date, still have not added pics and *sigh* - all I want to<br />

do, is sit down, uninterrupted, with MAJOR time available to me, and back-up my pics of them, add<br />

some to these updates and complete it. But, but, but – it’s just not happening. Mom has three days<br />

left of her long 8 week holiday and guess what? Even WITH HER HERE – there was no time to work<br />

on these. We’ve had quite a ‘storie’ with a unsettled zach, interrupted and mostly non-lunch-timenaps<br />

of his lately – although, today and yesterday was phenomenal – so hopefully we’re back on<br />

track – and all in all, there was just so much ‘other stuff’ to do whilst mom was here to lend a hand.<br />

I am however now finding a moment, so here goes. Another attempt to capture, in this format,<br />

what’s been happening in the lives of the two that gives us so much joy!<br />

We’ve had our first travel on an aeroplane, unaccompanied by Rich, we’ve had our first 14 nights in<br />

a row home-alone, without Rich; we’ve heard that the Northern Hemisphere will be our home from<br />

October 2013 to about 2015; we’ve finally introduced solids! We’ve been to talks about ‘which<br />

schooling option to consider’ and have made a decision. Well, sort-of! We’ve had great nights and<br />

we’ve had less than average nights with zach and his unsettled-ness, if I can call it that. We’ve had<br />

two months of holiday from swimming and yet Monday the next lesson starts again – with zach<br />

braving the waters for the first time. He’s started Jumpstart, <strong>ella</strong>’s hair has grown and her appetite<br />

has slightly improved over the past few months and lately, she just LOVES having a basket or bag<br />

with ‘stuff’ in it. Plastic cupcakes, bracelets, hair bands, girly-rings, akkers, random STUFF – thanks<br />

to (and not always ‘thanks to’ – granny!) – adding to the already over-crowded-home of ours, in<br />

terms of ‘stuff’! Oh, and zach’s been baptised already and is on the 97 th percentile in terms of<br />

weight and height! This was at his six month check-up. I am convinced he is close to 10kgs already!<br />

<br />

So, let me start. I will continue from WEEK 20onwards below.<br />

-m-<br />

__________________________________________________________________________________<br />

It’s April 2013. There is a 25 month old and a 13 week old living in the rabe-home. Yip, it’s real.<br />

To say that <strong>ella</strong> loves zach is an understatement! Our lives are lately filled with much, MUCH joy,<br />

many moments of thankfulness to God for this phase of life and despite having days of being pretty<br />

tired, we ssssooooo LOVE having zach as part of our family.


Since <strong>ella</strong>’s arrival, and actually, before her birth, I’ve found moments to write some ‘updates’ and<br />

now with zach added to the fam, I find myself thinking ‘um…so…how will I get to keep these updates<br />

going’! Answer is, I have no idea. To hit ‘pause’ in the busy-ness of life with <strong>ella</strong> and zach is quite a<br />

challenge, but what I think I will be doing, is to attempt a ‘combined-update’. Sorry zach…that’s the<br />

best I can do <br />

SO much has happened since the last update and it seems as if the days are flying by faster than<br />

before, but make no mistake. It’s hectic, it’s busy, it’s tiring, it’s ‘new’ with two, but there is nothing<br />

else that I would rather do than hang with these two bebblee-boos I LOVE it. I truly do. I love<br />

every moment – even the moments when I think ‘seriously zach, you can settle now…’ Cause all<br />

of this just goes by soooo quickly! TOO quickly.<br />

So, here’s what’s been happening!<br />

11 May continued…<br />

JANUARY 2013 – <strong>ella</strong>, 22 months<br />

Prior to zach joining the family, we made sure we milked as much ‘one-on-one’ time with <strong>ella</strong> as<br />

possible. So the two weeks before the birth, I avoided playdates or going out with others, as I just<br />

wanted to spend time with <strong>ella</strong>. It was soooooo lovely and so special and I found myself so<br />

emotional and sad the days leading up to zach’s birth – not being able to imagine having another<br />

little bebble around. BUT – as I was told and now come to experience, when you have another baby,<br />

your love does not ‘divide’ – but it multiplies – and therefore you ‘do have enough love to love both!<br />

and so it was. Unable to describe it, but oh so true!<br />

So, we had fun celebrating Rich’s birthday, dates at the aquarium, dates to the park and then zach’s<br />

arrival. With Rich home on leave, it also meant that she had her dad take her to Swimming and<br />

Jumpstart and she was just overjoyed to have him join her. She did, however, miss out on about 5<br />

weeks of swimming, due to us not having found someone to help out on a Monday when swimming<br />

was on. Wednesdays were solved with her aunt, Helena kindly offering to join us at Jumpstart – look<br />

after zach whilst we did the programme. What a HUGE, HUGE help! And <strong>ella</strong> LOVES having her join<br />

us on Wednesdays!<br />

Rich being home also meant more walks in the neighbourhood with dad and venturing up the high<br />

slide with him too!<br />

Helping Oupa with the cupboard under the stairs was another thing she just loved and I would find<br />

her ‘measuring’ all sorts of stuff in her room and saying ‘<strong>ella</strong> measuring…just like oupa!!’ <br />

Feb also meant the start of the first Mammas and Munchkins get together for the year and we<br />

looked at the topic of Sleep. It was zach’s ‘first’ mammas and munchkins – although, he slept<br />

throughout the entire morning, as a good newborn should!


JANUARY 2013 – zach’s arrival and WEEKS 1 AND 2<br />

Zach is just ssssoooo adorable! He really is! He is much, much heavier than what <strong>ella</strong> was and the<br />

rate at which those cheeks are growing adds to his face changing from the newborn look to the ‘Iam-so-full-of-mammas-milk-look’<br />

within weeks!<br />

On 11 January, I was in my 37 th week, and zach was then already 3.285kgs according to the<br />

ultrasound measurements. Five days later, he arrived as a 3.695 kg beauty! At that stage I had<br />

already hit 75kgs on the scale. Lovely!<br />

He feeds well. Very fast, one side only and it suits me just fine! He sleeps fine too in the night<br />

that is! However, he is very, very unique compared to <strong>ella</strong> in terms of a distinct ‘grunt’ that he has.<br />

Yip, a moaning-groaning-grunt that can go on for….minutes!! It’s so ‘bad’ at times, that you think he<br />

might be in serious distress – cause the knees curl up to the chest and the back arches, etc etc.<br />

So, we find ourselves asking – what in the world?!!!<br />

Fortunately, Rich was still home for two weeks after zach’s birth. That helped LOADS, of course. As I<br />

could not drive, due to the (elective) c-section. And <strong>ella</strong> was not going to put her ‘busy-phase’ on<br />

hold for the arrival of a brother! So, it helped having extra pair of hands here!<br />

Whilst I was in hospital, Granny was here and <strong>ella</strong> LOVED it. It also helped heaps, cause we knew<br />

that she was totally fine with Granny, so that free’d Rich up to spend time with zach and I in hospital.<br />

Since our arrival back home, not once did we have an ‘issue’ or incident of jealousy from <strong>ella</strong>’s side.<br />

SHE LOVES LOVES LOVES zach. She gets really excited when she sees him, she asks to hug him and<br />

kiss him all the time, she often says with a huge smile ‘<strong>ella</strong> lllooovvveeesss zach!!’ ‘zach kind to <strong>ella</strong>’<br />

Sooo lovely to see her interact with him.<br />

But despite her cute-ness with zach, she has had many moments where she just seemed to be ‘more<br />

sensitive’ and cried so easily for silly things like ‘not working mamma!!’ - referring to a toy that is<br />

stuck, or Thandi (her doll)’s arm that she can’t lift or something really ‘silly’ – she would just burst<br />

into tears. This ‘fragile’ state went on for quite a few days – but eventually subsided!<br />

Recovering from the c-section this time round I found was ‘a bit harder’ than with <strong>ella</strong>. Harder in<br />

terms of me being a bit more aware of being ‘sore’ at times – not major, but more than with <strong>ella</strong> and<br />

me feeling that I needed to keep taking pain meds for a while. And then, psychologically it didn’t<br />

really help me when in week 2, a ‘bump’ appeared, just above my cut, it was a swelling. I freaked<br />

out – thinking of the worst that could happen, like having to have another op!!! Only to be told that<br />

I should chill, it would go away and that it did happen to some post-op. Of course I did not relax<br />

until it went away…after 6/7 weeks only!<br />

But, other than that – it was fine. A week after my op, we went to mom’s connect – the Thursday<br />

group we hang at – and introduced zach to all there. It was nice to find these ‘things to do outside of<br />

the house’ whilst Rich was still home, because I knew that once he went back to work, and without<br />

being able to drive, I would be ‘stuck at home’. So, we ventured to Green Point Park and coffee<br />

shops, etc – just to ‘get out’.


Rich and <strong>ella</strong> had many ‘dad and daughter’ dates to the park in our neighbourhood and had good<br />

quality playtimes, especially during the frequent feeding intervals in week 1 and 2.<br />

I had Angie Buck, physio, visit me for about ten days after I arrived home, to do ultrasound and laser<br />

theraphy, especially under my arm, which, as the milk came in, got hectically swollen and only<br />

ultrasound really worked to relieve the rock-hard-lumpy-ness and bring down the swelling.<br />

It was also during week two that we had our cupboards put in under the stair case and had our car<br />

serviced and had a 7am visit from a plumber on a Sunday morning (!), whilst still dealing with the<br />

very strange groans from zach!!!<br />

When Rich went back to work on Monday, 4 February 2013 – it was definitely the ‘quieter ‘ zone to<br />

be in compared to a groaning, but OH SO ADORABLE zach - - so it was a happy-tired-oh-zachplease-settle-kind-of-first-two-weeks.<br />

First weigh-in<br />

BUT – we had him weighed and in the 5 days since leaving hospital, he gained 190grams – weighing<br />

3.680kgs. When we weighed him again at week 3, he weighed 4.90kgs! We have him weighed with<br />

Sister St<strong>ella</strong> at Synergy Pharmacy, where we took <strong>ella</strong>. But Sister St<strong>ella</strong> said, we only needed to<br />

come every second week and not every week, as with <strong>ella</strong>.<br />

His birth weight was 3.695 kgs and his out of hospital weight was 3.490 kgs.<br />

All along though – we we TREATED to delicious meals every night for weeks on end!!! So that was a<br />

HUGE blessing!<br />

The night feeds<br />

For the first 8 weeks, I woke zach for his feed at 22h30. In the beginning, he would wake at 22h00 or<br />

just before and later on, I would wake him at 23h00 for this feed. I decided NOT to go to bed before<br />

this feed, as it was by far the toughest feed to get up for!! So I would stay up until then, sleep and<br />

then feed when he would wake up. Most nights it would be getting up twice, later it would be just<br />

getting up once. Really made up for the battles of day sleep we experienced and the ‘no silence<br />

when he is awake in the day’ moments! There were times when I couldn’t finish a page in a<br />

storybook with <strong>ella</strong>, without having to stop – dip dummy in gripe water (again) and then try to<br />

continue. But <strong>ella</strong> was SO PATIENT. Really never, ever moaned!<br />

When I fed him, she would patiently play in his room or read the books from his cupboard (which I<br />

told her had to only be read in zach’s room – that way she couldn’t get ‘bored’ of them too easily) –<br />

so when it was feeding time, she would happily chill with the books until after the feed. Which was,<br />

at times, 8 minutes only! And then the nappy change. So feeding-wise we were fine. Me, feeding<br />

though, was ‘easier’ than with <strong>ella</strong>, but because I still had strong memories of nipple injuries during<br />

the early days with <strong>ella</strong> – I am still not ‘at ease’ during a feed, and super alert to avoid a wrong latch<br />

or me falling asleep during a feed and ending up with the same dilemma as with <strong>ella</strong>!!<br />

Bath time at home


Unlike with <strong>ella</strong>, we did not bath him in the babybath on the dining room table (!) rather, we bathed<br />

him, in the same babybath that <strong>ella</strong> used, but on the floor in his room. Meant harder on the backs,<br />

but Rich preferred it. Bath time is also not accompanied by the same ‘bath time CD’ as with <strong>ella</strong>, but<br />

it varies, and most nights it is just the white noise CD! Bath time also means Rich and zach time and<br />

it is really sweet to see the two of them ‘chat away’ – well, as you can imagine, at this stage, the<br />

conversation is one-way only!<br />

Sneezes<br />

When he sneezes – it is the cutest thing to date! He sneezes 8 in a row most of the time! And<br />

ALWAYS end with a very lovely ‘aaahhh’ at the end. So much so, that <strong>ella</strong> picked up on that and tells<br />

us often, ‘mamma, zach goes ‘aaah’ – and then she copies him too cute!<br />

FEBRUARY 2013 – <strong>ella</strong>, 23 months<br />

Pooh in Loo<br />

3 March – <strong>ella</strong>’s first poo in the loo! I was in the kitchen, getting supper ready when, out of the blue<br />

and very excitedly and urgenly <strong>ella</strong> said ‘mamma, mamma, mamma!!! Pooh coming!!’ – I raced her<br />

to the downstairs loo, held her little body – as we had no baby toilet seat yet – and there it was, a<br />

poo in the loo!! Unfortunately, it wasn’t really a fun reaction from her side, because she had so<br />

many explosive poohs at the time and this one was the same. So instead, she said ‘eina<br />

mamma…<strong>ella</strong>’s bum burning!’ Shamepies.<br />

This lead to her not being so keen to let us know when the poo was on its way – as she said when I<br />

often asked her afterwards, she’d say ‘ no mamma, <strong>ella</strong>’s bum be eina’…. So, that made us just ride<br />

the wave and not pursue ‘potty training’ in a hurry. In fact, prior to this, we did not even really<br />

consider starting potty training!<br />

Third Person<br />

She speaks about herself in the third person: ‘Mamma, <strong>ella</strong> wants….’ ‘Mamma, <strong>ella</strong> is reading’<br />

‘Mamma, what is <strong>ella</strong> doing?’<br />

Water into Wine & I am a king!<br />

So we drove to Buitenverwachting to have coffee with ni-ke and then as we approached, I said to<br />

her look at the pretty vineyards <strong>ella</strong> – do you know that grapes grow on the vine and that the<br />

winemaker uses those grapes to make wine – she then replied: Just like JESUS did! [earlier that<br />

week we read about Jesus turning water into wine ]<br />

Also, she came playing with a milk jug and then ‘pouring’ something onto her head and then she<br />

asked me ‘mamma, <strong>ella</strong> is a king’ – I couldn’t figure out WHAT she was on about – then I said, you<br />

are a king??? She then said, look mamma, look – and did the ‘pouring action ‘ again and said, JUST<br />

LIKE SAMUEL DID!! And I clicked and laughed and said YES! Who did Samuel pour oil onto? And she<br />

replied with a fat smile DAVID!!! - classic. [We did the story of Samuel anointing David as King<br />

and there’s a pic of him ‘pouring’ oil onto his head]


FEBRUARY 2013 – zach: weeks 3 – 6<br />

Groaning<br />

So, the groaning just didn’t get any better – so we called in Sister Pauleen. The lactation consultant<br />

from Kingsbury. It was really great to see her and to have her affirm that the groaning is not just in<br />

our heads! She reckoned it was definitely a form of reflux.<br />

It was an interesting visit. She weighed him and measured him. Then she said we must weigh him<br />

again after me feeding him, to see how much he had gained. Turns out, he feeds like a machine<br />

taking in 140ml in just 11 minutes. [head was 37cm, from 36cm at birth and weight was 4.680kgs]<br />

Paed visit<br />

Our nights now also seemed to not going too well either, with him being so, so unsettled. So, after<br />

our visit to Dr Bailey, we got a script for Bennetts Colic Remedy. This is the stuff I avoided with <strong>ella</strong>,<br />

cause of the long list of side effects- but then after a really trying Friday eve after the paed, Rich said<br />

first thing the morning ‘where’s that script?!’ – and once we started giving him the Bennetts – it<br />

made ALL THE DIFFERENCE…well, only the nights, when we gave it…the days, we did not give it, so<br />

the days were still the same.<br />

One month old<br />

Yipee yay – one month and counting. ‘Celebrated’ it, asleep in my car seat, at Marek Kowalski’s<br />

party <br />

Lunch time nap<br />

What’s that?! Zach not interested! Squirms like a worm, kreun soos iemand in erge pyn and just not<br />

settled… this means that despite a beautiful 2 hour nap from <strong>ella</strong> – I can’t snooze, because zach is<br />

up and moaning <br />

First drive<br />

Drove at 5 weeks. Drove to Mom’s Connect. Oh how much LONGER it takes to pack, load in car and<br />

get going But love it! <br />

First Passport Application<br />

Ventured into the city centre to apply for zach’s unabridged birth certificate and his passport. First<br />

stop was at Oscar Kallis’ three year old b-day party at Green Point Park, then Home Affairs.<br />

Passport arrived after just two weeks of applying!


Clothes<br />

He is already TOO BIG for newborn clothes…all looking quite ‘tight’ – and so heading to 1 – 3 month<br />

clothing here we come!<br />

First official smiles<br />

Oh yeah! Smiles are here! From week 6 onwards, officially smiling! LOVE it!! LOVE it!!<br />

Birthmark?! and Hair Loss<br />

Noticed a birth mark on his left ankle! How weird to have seen that…. Ella doesn’t have any<br />

birthmarks. Just a mole on her back that we’ve noticed recently. But no birthmark. It’s small<br />

though – but it is there! And also now in week 6, noticed that he had been losing a lot of hair since<br />

birth!<br />

I can chat!<br />

Not only did 6 weeks bring smiles, but coupled with that – chats and many, many ‘klankies’ <br />

sssoooo adorable! Really loving zach more and more each day!<br />

ROLLING…now already?!<br />

Well, not quite, but then how on earth did he get onto the bed if I put him ON THE PILLOW, on the<br />

bed. Yip, he rolled right off! At 6 weeks and 6 days nogals… And, he is SLIDING off his sleeping<br />

wedges! We put him towards the top of the cot and then find him off the mat, towards the bottom<br />

of the cot! A real mover!<br />

MARCH 2013 – <strong>ella</strong>, 24 months – TURNING TWO!<br />

‘Mamma, Mamma!! Ella SPOTTED a…..’ - that’s a favourite game to play or random comments that<br />

gets shouted from her carseat with much excitement! Like ‘Mamma, Mamma!!! Ella SPOTTED a, a,<br />

a….hot air balloon!!’<br />

Then I would normally ask her ‘where, <strong>ella</strong>, where did you spot a hot air balloon’ - and she would<br />

respond, being VERY excited’ THERE!!!!!!!! [wer!! Because her ‘th’ comes out as w] <br />

And so she goes along and spots things! Random things like seeing a squashed piece of popcorn and<br />

telling me that she spotted a turtle! And when I look – then it is in fact ‘in the shape of’ a whatever<br />

she said. So a piece of plastic cord, that normally attaches price tags, was lying on her mat and she<br />

said that she spotted a STINGRAY. And yip, it looked like a stingray This happens so often. Very<br />

cute how she ‘sees patterns’ or ‘things’ out of ‘nothing’ really!<br />

Or we will be driving and she will ask, ahead of time ‘mamma, where’s the lawn mower’ – and then<br />

two seconds later, we will drive pass the shop with the lawn mowers on its front stoep and she’d say<br />

THERE!!! There are the lawn mowers! When we get back and they happen to be packed away or it<br />

is a weekend – then she’ll say ‘Mamma, lawn mowers not here today’….


More on what <strong>ella</strong> says<br />

‘Thandi, do you want a cupcake?’ Talks to Thandi and teddy’s and asks them repeatedly. Or ask<br />

them ‘do you want <strong>ella</strong>’s cupcake?!!’<br />

Makes decaf gelados, double shot Americanos, rooibos tea, earl grey tea….without you asking, she<br />

‘makes’ it for you with her tea pot on the stove.<br />

Ella just quickly…. A favourite line: <strong>ella</strong> just quickly fetch another cup. Ella just quickly find brown<br />

taglet. Ella just quickly choose a story. Etc etc<br />

Sings – a lot<br />

She LOVES singing. And she is very good at memorising almost all the words – and even two verses<br />

of a song or rhyme. She sings them on her own. She sings in her cot. She sings in her car seat. She<br />

sings so often. LOVE it.<br />

When I sometimes hum a song – then she’ll say ‘no mamma, words please’ – meaning – sing the<br />

lyrics please! <br />

She knows SO many songs – the entire song:<br />

Twinkle Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Parts of You are Stronger, Good Good Morning Jumpstart<br />

Song, Happy and you know it, Wheels on the bus with all the verses, London Bridge, Old MacDonald,<br />

Three blind mice, etc etc. But her FAVOURITE song by far…is happy birthday! And we often send<br />

‘voice notes’ to whoevers bdays it is and then she’ll say, ‘mamma, voice note please’ – and we’ll<br />

record her singing and we’ll send it off.<br />

Three blind mice she ‘sommer translates’ and sings at times ‘drie blinde mice’ <br />

Who am I?<br />

Depending on the mood, she ‘changes her name’. So if you say ‘<strong>ella</strong>’ please will you….then she will<br />

quickly respond and say ‘no mamma, it’s not <strong>ella</strong>; it’s <strong>ella</strong>-baby’ or <strong>ella</strong>-b<strong>ella</strong>-boem-boem or ‘horsegirl’<br />

or ‘mopsy’ ever since we watched the Tale of Peter Rabbit! Or ‘tinkerbell’ after Leah’s party.<br />

Or ‘doggy-doo’ and then say mamma, doggy doo says ‘WHOOF!’ And then she will ask you:<br />

‘mamma, what’s <strong>ella</strong>’s name’ – meaning – please mamma ask me what my name is now? - then I<br />

will ask ‘what’s your name <strong>ella</strong>’ – then she’ll say: MOPSY!!! Or TINKERBELL!! Or ELLA-BABY! And<br />

then she’ll go on to say ‘<strong>ella</strong>-baby just quickly going out side’ or ‘<strong>ella</strong>-b<strong>ella</strong>-boem-boem’ making tea,<br />

etc etc - very funny!


Which friend?<br />

A game we enjoy playing is ‘which friend’ –<br />

‘mamma, please ask <strong>ella</strong>’ – so then I’ll say:<br />

‘which friend has a sister called Inez’ – Sadie-mia!<br />

‘which friend’s pappa wears a cap’ – Jack!<br />

‘which friend has blonde hair and his mamma drives a blue car’ – Marek!<br />

‘which friend …etc etc…’ – this game can go on for a lllooonnnggg time <br />

Days of the week and ‘time’<br />

She knows Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. And knows what we do on those days. Or I<br />

will say, today is ‘Monday and on a Monday we go to…and she’ll reply SWIMMING’ – she’s been<br />

doing this for a while. But lately she’ll say – Mamma, Sylvia (who comes once a week to help with<br />

the house), mamma, Sylvia comes on Thursdays!<br />

She also says ‘yesterday’ to everything or ‘this morning’ or ‘last week’ – but lately, she is ‘getting it<br />

right!’ <br />

She also knows that Rich comes home at ‘FOUR-THIRTY’ – so in the morning, she’ll ask ‘mamma,<br />

where is Pappa?’ and I will reply or ask her, and she’ll say ‘at the office’ – and I’ll ask her ‘ what time<br />

does Pappa come home - and she’ll say ‘four thirty!’ – and when it is ‘almost four-thirty’ and she<br />

hears cars…she often says in a sweet voice ‘pappa here!!’ - She LOVES welcoming Rich home. She<br />

gets so excited she can’t jump up and down fast enough!!!<br />

Ella’s birthday & Ella’s party – see birthday edition - <br />

MARCH 2013 – zach: weeks 7 – 10<br />

Chiro<br />

So, it was time to take zach to the chiro as the groans and moans were still a very present feature in<br />

the life of our little zach. So at Rich’s last chiro appointment, he told Dr Lynda Greathead all about<br />

this, she said ‘bring him to me’ and so we did! We thought he had impressive ‘neck control’ for a 7<br />

week old, but she burst our bubble by pointing out that the reason he is so miserable, was that he<br />

had a major neck spasm!! She asked if he fed with more of a ‘fuss’ on the left side, I said YES ! – she<br />

explained and showed why and that his little neck, turned on that side, caused him much<br />

discomfort. She worked on his neck, gently and he gave such polite little tears and cries whilst she<br />

was busy Poor bebble. After she was done, he had much better range in his neck and the<br />

‘impressive neck control’ was back to a typical newborn floppy head! The days following his visit to<br />

the chiro, HE SLEPT MUCH BETTER in the day. Hallelujah!!!


We’ve also noticed, that he ‘hits the target’ in front of him. We found this out ‘by mistake’ – when<br />

we put a mobile onto his cot whilst waiting at the chiro and voila, just like that, with ease, he<br />

reached for it and hit it from side to side. Impressive, we thought <br />

Au Pair starts<br />

So, we missed so many swimming lessons due to me not being able to get into the water with <strong>ella</strong><br />

before 6 weeks and also, cause we did not have anyone to help us! So fortunately, Kyla-Rei<br />

recommended her friend, Jo-ann Flynn, who then started when zach was 7.5 weeks old. Au pair<br />

duties just involved coming on a Monday before swimming, driving to swimming with us, sitting next<br />

to zach’s car seat with him sleeping, whilst <strong>ella</strong> and I are in the water, coming home with us, help me<br />

load them out of the car and then going home! SUCH a blessing to have Jo. BUT..BUT…BUT – she is<br />

pregnant. Great for her, but back to searching for an ‘au pair’ for us – starting from June 2013! <br />

Paed visit<br />

Another visit to the paed for shots. Shame, he cries such a very sad cry – but thereafter, his fine!<br />

However, after the paed visit, the rest of the day, he was just screaming away. It is not like him to<br />

‘scream’ – he groans and squirms a lot and when he cries, it’s gentle. But not after this paed visit – it<br />

was full blown screams for the rest of the day until after bath time . And he seemed to also be<br />

extra unsettled directly after we gave him the Bennetts Colic, in weeks 6, 7 and 8…<br />

Stop the 22h30 feed<br />

As from 8 weeks, 4 days – decided to stop waking him for the 22h30/23h00 feed. He would then<br />

wake on his own after 1am. Sometimes closer to 3am or even 04h30 for good few nights! Loved it!<br />

First ‘sleep out’<br />

10 weeks, 4 days and sleeping ‘out’ for the first time. Oupa and Ouma’s bed. <br />

APRIL 2013 – <strong>ella</strong>, 24 months<br />

Pretend Play<br />

She LOVES this. And she goes to the ‘extreme’ in some cases. So, besides Ee (ie-eeeh) being her<br />

imaginary friend, and her telling me politely ‘mamma, please move your bag. That’s Ee’s space’ –<br />

when I place the nappy bag between the two car seats!.... The other thing she does is that when she<br />

sees pics of berries in books, she ‘picks them’, then she holds them in her index finger and thumb,<br />

and then she ‘can’t use that hand’ – because ‘no, <strong>ella</strong> can’t – <strong>ella</strong> holding berries’ – or if she ‘picks up<br />

a kitten out of the pages of a book’ and you ask her something or give her something, she’ll respond<br />

with ‘no, <strong>ella</strong> can’t, <strong>ella</strong>’s hands not free. Ella holding the cat/berries/dog/hamster’s nut…’ <br />

Or she will take a leaflet and say – <strong>ella</strong> just ordering from menu, mamma! Um…umm…and then<br />

pretend to think hard about ‘what she wants to order!’


Or she’ll say ‘ mamma, don’t wake bear, bear is now asleep’ – after singing the ‘Rock-a-by-your-bear’<br />

song <br />

Mamma, this cupcake is gluten-free and dairy-free! <br />

I can ‘read!’<br />

So, since about November, everytime we give her breakfast from her bowl with the writing ‘Ella’ on,<br />

I would say to her that that says ‘Eh for Ella’ l, l a! – so we started talking about this bowl as the ‘E’<br />

for Ella bowl. And she would often ‘spell’ her name if we asked her to – then she’d say the ‘rhyme’.<br />

So, as from about end of Jan/Feb – she started ‘spotting E for Ella’ everywhere. Look Mamma, that’s<br />

E for Ella – if she saw a capital ‘E’ somewhere.<br />

So for her birthday, tannie Honnie & Gary got her some alphabet cards and randomly one Sunday<br />

morning, we paged through these cards and looked at the pictures. I then, for ‘fun’ tested if she<br />

would recognise the letters. So the card has a letter and a picture on the one side and on the other<br />

side, it would have the word spelled out. We had such fun with that and the ENTIRE alphabet, we<br />

did all the cards and EVERYTIME – she’d get it right! Don’t know who was more excited. Ella or us <br />

Since then, she goes around spotting these – out loud – in public like in Typo – LOOK MAMMA –<br />

that’s ‘o’ for octopus….and ANOTHER ‘o’ for octopus! And an ‘i’ for INK!<br />

E, e, o, i, l, a, r, t are the letters she shouts out wherever she sees them <br />

Find this very cute because she gets SO EXCITED when she spots these letters! <br />

Babalela<br />

Babalela is a character from one of the books Ouma bought her. Babalela lives in the forest/bush<br />

and sleeps often. So everytime we get to a place with lots of trees or bush or on our way to<br />

Kirstenbosch or on Rhodes Drive, she’ll say in a whisper-voice ‘Mamma…we MIGHT see Babalela…we<br />

MIGHT!!’ - and then I’ll say, ‘yes, we might, but I don’t know if Babalela is awake’ – then she’ll say’<br />

YES! YES! She IS mamma – she IS!! And go on to ‘talk to Babalela’ – I then pretend to be Babalela<br />

and talk back to her sssooo funny! We love it! <br />

Eating and food<br />

She is SUCH a picky eater! Still only wants to live off fruit or pasta or bread and sometimes egg. But<br />

also, she knows that she can’t have dairy or sugar. So if I say, there’s sugar in, she won’t touch it. Or<br />

she will ask me and then I’ll say, what’s in there <strong>ella</strong>, and she’ll respond – too much sugar. Ella can’t<br />

eat it.<br />

Or we have this thing where we’ll say that if friends give <strong>ella</strong> biscuits, what will <strong>ella</strong> say? ‘no thanks<br />

friends, I’m protecting my skin!’ – referring to her eczema spots that apprear after too much wheat,<br />

so don’t even want to attempt sugar!


Ella thought<br />

Loves saying ‘<strong>ella</strong> thought’….. mamma, <strong>ella</strong> though taglet was downstairs! Funny <strong>ella</strong>! Funny!<br />

She’ll say! Or, mamma, <strong>ella</strong> thought thandi was in <strong>ella</strong>’s pram! Thandi NOT in <strong>ella</strong>’s pram, Thandi in<br />

Thandi’s COT!<br />

Questions<br />

Granny, what’s <strong>ella</strong> doing? Pappa, what’s <strong>ella</strong> saying? Mamma, what’s <strong>ella</strong> reading/drawing/eating’<br />

She also looks at you and sees you doing something and asks with a smile ‘mamma!! What is<br />

mamma doing’ – and then you need to tell her – although she already knows! And when she hears<br />

what she already knew, she cracks herself <br />

Or<br />

‘Zach…what is your sister doing?’ Then she’ll repeat, repeat, repeat it, until I pretend to be zach and<br />

ask ‘what are you doing <strong>ella</strong>’ – and then she’ll say: …..switching the light on! Or reading a book! Or<br />

cooking with Ee!<br />

Or<br />

‘Mamma, what is <strong>ella</strong> doing in the corner??’ replies with: ‘switching the light on’ [bedside table<br />

light’<br />

Ella’s just…<br />

If you call her to come or do something or fetch something, she’ll casually reply ‘<strong>ella</strong>’s just….writing<br />

or standing or reading or sitting or drawing’…..then you need to let her ‘snap out of her ‘<strong>ella</strong>’s just’ –<br />

before she’ll respond! So I often say’ I can see you drawing, but come here first then you can go<br />

back to drawing’ – and then she’ll look up, and obey and a favourite one: ‘<strong>ella</strong>’s just drawing her<br />

favourite mamma!’ <br />

Toilet Seat<br />

Bought a Bumbo-brand toilet seat and informally she uses it. Made poohs and wees in there several<br />

times. Key thing is that if there’s something else distracting her; like the sound of the motorbike of<br />

the neighbour opposite us, whilst she is on the loo – she immediately says’ <strong>ella</strong>, see, <strong>ella</strong> see – <strong>ella</strong><br />

wants to see motorbike! Ella ALL DONE with making pooh!’…..so then it’s OVERS. Then we try again<br />

next time! <br />

Barking dogs<br />

We live in the noisiest street in Cape Town – I am convinced of that! We have dogs, dogs and more<br />

dogs all around us. They bark. Often. And howl. And it’s terrible. Imagine 12 dogs at one time.<br />

Yip. And then it’s those pavement-special-type dogs….annoying bark to say the least. Anyway –<br />

they make a lot of noise and the sweet thing is when <strong>ella</strong> responds to them:<br />

‘no dogs – you can’t bark. Please dogs stop barking’ [they can’t hear her – she is standing on the<br />

windowsill talking to them


Or<br />

‘dogs, be quiet – zach’s sleeping now!’ – says very politely <br />

Just Like<br />

Another things she LOVES to do, and does it ALL THE TIME – is say something and then follow it with<br />

‘just like’ – eg. Saw the doors of shopping centre open and shut automatically, then she said:<br />

mamma, doors open and shut…just like crocodile’s mouth! [referring to our line of open and shut,<br />

with our hands talking about crocodiles] or JUST LIKE Sadie-mia says or JUST LIKE mamma’s car<br />

[she’s very good at spotting cars that look the same] – classic one was walking in kingsbury, hearing<br />

a ringtone and her shouting ‘Just like Gazza’s ringtone, mamma!!’ <br />

Or, uncle David moved to Durban, JUST LIKE Riley mamma! AND uncle Franci lives in Durban!! <br />

She does this so often that I don’t even write it down anymore. But now that I have to think of<br />

examples, I can’t. But it is so sharp at time and really sweet how the little light bulb moments bring<br />

a huge smile to her face! <br />

Happy camper<br />

She is such a joy. And she is so happy just to play on her own lately again (yeah! Went through a<br />

phase of ‘no, only with mamma…mamma come…’ - and when she returns to the room we’re in,<br />

she’ll cheerfully say ‘HI mamma!!!’ ‘HI zach’!! <br />

Reading – still her favourite thing<br />

‘mamma, please read <strong>ella</strong> this one…no THIS one mamma - please read’ or ‘mamma, please read <strong>ella</strong><br />

a story’ – or ‘let’s snuggle on mamma’s bed and read story!’ <br />

Sunday School Breakthrough!<br />

So, end of April we had a ‘Family Day’ at St James – fun time with all and then parents listen to a talk<br />

and kids go for their own programme. To date, she was ‘unable’ to stay at Sunday School ‘all by<br />

herself’ – because she cries…screams when we leave. So Rich ends up going to Sunday School with<br />

her and I sit with zach in the ‘Cry Room’. BUT, for Family Day – she stayed! I dropped her, she<br />

played happily with Sadie-Mia [part of the success I am convinced…so don’t know how it will work if<br />

Sadie-Mia is NOT there] – but then didn’t cry when I left. Apparently she had a moment and did a 7<br />

minute cry…says Melissa…but after that, she was fine. They were there for an hour… so I guess 7<br />

minutes is okay?! So the week after, I told her, we’re going to go to Sunday School, just like when<br />

we went with tannie Melissa. NOT as easy as dropping her at family day – she screamed – but I left<br />

and then few minutes later got an sms to say ‘she’s settled and playing happily with Sadie-Mia’ <br />

Sjoe! First time in MONTHS that Rich and I got to be in the same service!! Let’s hope and PRAY that<br />

this will be the new pattern!<br />

more about what <strong>ella</strong> says<br />

After Elijah jumped onto kitty’s bed, whilst I was feeding zach and <strong>ella</strong> and Sadie was playing in<br />

kitty’s room: ‘mamma, Elijah …he disobeyed mamma’s word!’ ‘elijah disobedient!’


‘<strong>ella</strong> having a very, very lovely picnic’ – sitting on a blanky with her ‘cup of tea’<br />

‘well done <strong>ella</strong>, you opened it!’<br />

‘<strong>ella</strong> just settling Thandi’<br />

‘then so…and then so….because….then so….’ - makes up these random stories whilst ‘reading on her<br />

own’<br />

‘<strong>ella</strong> just pretending’<br />

‘<strong>ella</strong> can’t drink water from green bottle. Has gas in. Ella ONLY drink from blue bottle!’ – referring to<br />

still and sparkling water! <br />

‘mamma, it’s two eggs in the pan….it’s still frying’<br />

Swimming teacher said: Stretch, Stretch – <strong>ella</strong> responds ‘ooh mamma, rooibos tea messing in the<br />

sky!’ Pretended to hold a cup of rooibos before Laurelle said ‘stretch hands high in sky’ <br />

APRIL 2013 – zach: weeks 11 – 14<br />

Theatre! First show!<br />

At 11 weeks, it was time to hit the theatres! Granny was here, so that made it easier to go to shows.<br />

We saw The tale of Peter Rabbit! Zach was there…sleeping at first, but then Granny took him out<br />

and he watched some of it. The next day, after visiting Artscape, we hit the Baxter Theatre for the<br />

Three Little Pigs, and straight after that show, our third visit to a ‘show’ in Cavendish for ‘Keep on<br />

Dancing’ <br />

Better Sleeps<br />

F-i-n-a-l-l-y…..his lunch time naps are improving! And sometimes…they even ‘happen’! So grateful.<br />

Yipee yay!<br />

Big Bath<br />

Baby Bath Smaby Bath! Time for the BIG BATH and he lllooovvveeedd it! Smiled all the way! <br />

Officially 3 months old – so it was a good way of celebrating <br />

More rolling<br />

From week 13, saw him ‘roll’ to left hand side a few times He is also very happy on his tummy –<br />

VERY DIFFERENT to <strong>ella</strong>. When he moans and groans and I turn him onto his tummy or hold him<br />

with his back towards my belly – then he settles down and is more content.<br />

Holding<br />

He is also keen to ‘hold dummy’ in his hand, or hold on to his ‘forest friends’- the little mobile that<br />

we hang in front of him.


Laughing out loud<br />

From about week 12, he laughs out loud – he is also very ticklish – so when you tickle him, especially<br />

around the ribs area…he cracks himself <br />

Kicking, splashing galore in bath<br />

Yip, it’s week 14, so why not show them how to kick in the bath. So cute to see him do this!<br />

More size problems<br />

Despite him not being 4 months old yet, he already fits into 6 months clothing!! To find anything in<br />

his cupboard that fits, is a challenge! [note: we need to shop for him!!] <br />

Things this month that she said & some things she likes<br />

• Mamma, Elijah…he disobeyed his mamma’s word! Referring to a friend who jumped on Kitty’s<br />

bed! <br />

• Mamma, <strong>ella</strong> is having a very, very lovely picnic!<br />

• Well done <strong>ella</strong>! You opened it!! – talking to herself<br />

• With regards to her doll, Thandi: ‘mamma, I am just feeding her / I am just settling her’<br />

• Likes to talk and say ‘then so….then so…and then so….because….because….’ – links her<br />

sentences beautifully and can have a fat chat – all made up!<br />

• Loves kitchen-play<br />

• Some of her names: mopsy, <strong>ella</strong>-baby<br />

• Mamma, I am JUST PRETENDING….<br />

• Mamma – it’s TWO eggs in the pan…it’s still frying<br />

• Look mamma – it’s a half! A half and a half makes a WHOLE!<br />

• That’s a whole moon, mamma (meaning full moon)<br />

• During swimming, she pretended to hold a cup of Rooibos tea in her hand and when the<br />

swimming teacher, teacher Laurelle said now reach up in the sky – she did it and then said ‘ooh,<br />

ooh, ooh mamma, the rooibos tea is messing in the sky!’<br />

MAY 2013 – <strong>ella</strong>, 25 months<br />

‘<strong>ella</strong> all done with doedoe’<br />

So, since we’ve hit the month of May – we seem to also be hitting a phrase – ‘<strong>ella</strong> all done with<br />

doedoe’ mamma. Not a very convenient line if we’re out having dinner with friends and need her to<br />

SLEEP in her campcot… a battle starts and then eventually, she settles. It happened on three<br />

separate occasions and I think it had to do with the ‘break in routine’. After bath, she did not go<br />

straight to bed, but there was a ‘story time’ slot inbetween. I concluded that stories before bed time<br />

WILL NOT WORK for <strong>ella</strong> – cause instead of getting her all calm and ready to sleep – it activates her<br />

little mind and then it’s a mission to get her to switch off again!!


‘<strong>ella</strong>’s first LONG full prayer’<br />

She prays often, but mostly when she’s prompted with the start of the sentence. Eg. When we start,<br />

she will say ‘dear God’… ‘dina is sick’…then I will say ‘please will You’ and she will complete ‘help<br />

dina and make her better’ amen.<br />

This time round, it was so sweet to hear her pray the following (I immediately wrote it down!)<br />

After Bible Stories on our bed, reading about God’s free gift of salvation to everyone –Saturday<br />

morning- we said, okay <strong>ella</strong>, let’s pray:<br />

Dear God,<br />

Thank you for my gift and everything God made. Thank you for my zach and my mamma and my<br />

pappa! AMEN!<br />

It was also the same morning that whilst reading, she pointed to a picture of Jesus in her Jesus<br />

Storybook Bible and said:<br />

There’s Jesus. Jesus is God! <br />

Such a joy to see her LOVE her Bible. And she really, really does. She says to Thandi, her doll,<br />

‘Thandi, let’s read Bible Story to-g-e-t-h-e-r! And proceeds to tell Thandi about ‘God made<br />

EVERYTHING. He made Mr Sun, ocean, Adam and Eve!’ She also continues and tells Thandi about<br />

Jesus is King. When she ‘pretends to read’ - it is often a Bible Story.<br />

She sings ‘You are Stronger’ to her teddies and sings the bridge too! <br />

‘You are Stronger, You are Stronger<br />

Sin is broken, You have saved me<br />

It is written, Christ is risen, Jesus You, are Lord of all<br />

…so let your name be lifted higher, be lifted higher, be lifted higher x3<br />

She sings this word for word! <br />

more on what <strong>ella</strong> says & likes to do<br />

• Driving home from Cavendish, I told her – <strong>ella</strong>, when we get home, you can tell Taglet…. And<br />

she responded after a brief moment of silence: ‘no mamma, Taglet can’t talk!!’ <br />

• Don’t worry zach, pappa is coming, mamma is coming – don’t worry, don’t worry! [zach crying in<br />

room whilst we were getting his bath stuff ready]<br />

• Or if he wakes in the morning or from a sleep and we hear him on the monitor –then she’ll often<br />

say ‘don’t worry – we’re COMINGGGGGG’


• Or she would say ‘zach…here’s your dummy here’s.your.dummy It’s ooookkkaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy<br />

zach, it’s oookkkaaayyyyyyyyyy – and pop the dummy back into his mouth <br />

• Mamma, <strong>ella</strong> saw two birds…they were tweeting!<br />

• Don’t worry Thandi, we’re almost home…allll-mosssttt-HOME! See Thandi, we’re HOME!!<br />

• Don’t worry zach – mamma’s here!<br />

• Are you thirsty Thandi, come – let’s feed you! [And she loves to feed thandi, lifts her top, finds a<br />

‘pillow’ and says, here’s the plonky-donky (name of my breastfeeding pillow) – and then<br />

proceeds to feed Thandi <br />

• ‘well done <strong>ella</strong>!’ – praises herself when she gets the puzzle pieces right. Or ‘<strong>ella</strong> got it right!’<br />

• ‘look, loooook, look what <strong>ella</strong> found?!’<br />

• ‘what is that mamma?’<br />

• ‘it’s FREEZING cold, you need your jersey mamma. Here you go mamma, here’s your jersey!’ <br />

• ‘use this mamma to protect your feet; here you go mamma’ – passing my shoes to me. And<br />

then she said: ‘wear it please mamma, it’s cold outside, you need your shoes today!’ <br />

• In our bed, <strong>ella</strong> lying in the middle, turns to zach and pipes up ‘zach…you are PRETTY!!!!’ You are<br />

P-R-E-T-T-Y zach!! Hellllooo zach!’ <br />

• Gave taglet to zach: ‘here you go zach – here-youuuuu-goooo, here’s your taglet!’ zach then<br />

puts it in his mouth and she replies ‘nnnoooo zach… you can’t eeeeaaaattttt it…it’s only for<br />

HOLDING zach!! ’ – said it all with a huge smile on her face!<br />

• In our bed for morning stories, <strong>ella</strong> in the middle, turns to zach and says ‘ mamma is sleeping<br />

BUT…BUT…zach is AWAKE!!!’ <br />

• speaking on the toy phone: ‘yes…sorry, I had a MISSED call…sorry. Yes… I had a MISSED call…ja,<br />

ja!’ – very serious! <br />

• likes to make decaf gelados, cappuchinos, double shot Americanos, earl grey tea – in her<br />

‘pretend kitchen’ – always seem to prefer the orange cup for her.<br />

• LOVES to drink medicine – whether it is flaxseed oil or an antibiotic!<br />

• LOVES xylitol toothpaste and xylitol sweeties<br />

• Loves the hair dryer<br />

• Loves climbing onto the window sill, holding on to the burglar bars and rushes there when she<br />

hears the neighbour across the road’s scooter starting<br />

doesn’t like<br />

• washing her her – until we made her ‘float like at swimming’ – now washing hair is easy!<br />

• Doesn’t seem to like the sound of the vacuum cleaner – but always wants to ‘see’ who ever is<br />

vacuuming, but hesitant to go too close<br />

• Cries during a particular song at Jumpstart – teddy bear, teddy bear turn around – every time!<br />

It’s like a switch that goes off!


Seekers of the Lost Boy<br />

Taryn Hayes’ first book – such a brilliant read – read it to <strong>ella</strong> and zach out loud and she remembered<br />

SO MUCH about the book. Calls it ‘simon’s book called seekers of the lost boy’ - she can tell you<br />

that simon’s mamma is ‘tannie Rachel’ – she will tell you the whole story of simon on the beach<br />

finding a, as she calls it ‘a glowing, glowing bottle!!’ – and how ‘tannie Rachel’ called him to come to<br />

the car and the dog that jumped up against him which caused the bottle to s-h-a-t-t-e-r! And about<br />

the message. And if I ask her, ‘what did the message say’ – she can tell you ‘who is God and does He<br />

care about me’ – and if I ask her ‘who wrote the message’ she can tell me that it was Joseph and<br />

then tell me that ‘nick said ‘let’s google!’ and tell you that they had to google to ‘find Joseph’ - it was<br />

really so, so amazing to see her ‘love’ this book – no pictures – and just tell me that she wanted to<br />

‘read’ seekers of the lost boy. So being invited to the book launch and taking her with was a real<br />

honour for all of us! Thanks Taryn! <br />

Beautiful song<br />

Randomly just made up a tune and sang the following lyrics:<br />

‘thank you lovely mamma, I love you mamma, thank you mamma!’ – ssssoooo sweet!<br />

Can’t do<br />

She can’t JUMP with both feet together – she can’t do some of the Jumpstart activities like keeping<br />

legs apart and then swaying body, but the jump thing…she’s the only one in the class who can’t do it.<br />

Instead, she gallops! <br />

Alphabet<br />

She now really knows all the letters. I can flash through all of the cards and she can answer them<br />

confidently: a for ant, j for jellyfish, x for x-ray and also says o for octopus – but it has ‘changed’ to o<br />

for OXFORD – which she pronounces OX-E-FORD – tannie Myrtle taught her this, referring to the<br />

Oxford opportunity that lies ahead of talented John! So, O is for Ox-e-ford! And she can also say<br />

m for moon and tell me that m is also for mamma!<br />

Mozzies<br />

‘mamma, the mosquitos goes bzzz-bzzz. And then mamma and pappa can’t sleep. Even <strong>ella</strong> hears<br />

them. They come into mammas room and bites pappa and mamma! BUT, not e-E. The mosquitos<br />

doe not bite e-E!’


MAY 2013 – zach: weeks 15 – 19<br />

Lunch Slots<br />

He is now a lunch time sleeping champ. Well, don’t know if he really is, because started from about<br />

12 weeks on, to give him meds before his 11am feed. So reckon that helps hugely! Nevertheless, a<br />

sleep slot is a sleep slot and I am so grateful to have that little break to snooze myself! Short<br />

snooze…but snooze none the less! <br />

Flapping, excited hands<br />

He started to ‘flap’ his hands in the air, very excitedly, when you come into the room to greet him in<br />

the mornings. OR…if he ‘cries/moans’ and you go to his room to plug his dummy back, as soon as<br />

you open the door, the ‘cry’ moves to a fat smile and arm-flapping! Hard to get ‘annoyed’ about him<br />

not settling if you’re greeted with that delightful expression and ‘happy-zach’ moment – but…if it’s<br />

early hours of the morning, it is not all that cute! <br />

Daktarin<br />

The ‘thing on his tongue’ never really seemed to have gone away totally, so regular return of<br />

Daktarin was what we had to resort to.<br />

Bennets Colic Mixture<br />

Have been giving him Bennetts every night since ‘we started’ and then also added it before the lunch<br />

time slot. The days when we DON’T give Bennetts….it’s a tough session that follow! So, we are still<br />

fans of this bright-red-liquid (the thought freaks me out!) – but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to<br />

do!<br />

Thumb Sucking<br />

Hmm….don’t really know how we will get him to suck his thumb. He has brief moments where it<br />

looks promising, but then…he gives up trying. So, dummy still our saving grace!<br />

Some Stats<br />

Age Date Weight comment<br />

1 Birth Wed, 16 January 2013 3.695kg Healthy and HEAVY <br />

2 3 days old Sat, 19 January 2013 3.490kg Out of hospital weight<br />

3 1 week, 1 day Thurs, 24 January 2013 3.680kg Gained 190 grams in 5 days<br />

4 3 weeks, 1 day Thurs, 7 February 2013 Gained<br />

5 4 weeks, 2 days Friday, 15 February 2013 4.900kg (Dr Bailey)<br />

6 8 weeks, 2 days Friday, 15 March 2013 6.260kgs (Dr Bailey)<br />

7 11 weeks, 1 day Thursday, 4 April 2013 6.720kgs<br />

8 12 weeks, 2 days Friday, 12 April 2013 6.980kgs (Dr Bailey)<br />

9 13 weeks, 1 day Thursday, 17 April 2013 7.120kg<br />

10 15 weeks, 1 day Thursday, 2 May 2013 7.240 kgs<br />

11 16 weeks, 2 days Friday, 10 May 2011 7.710kgs (Dr Bailey)


• 10 days – white tongue…ended up to be thrush<br />

• 11 days – umbilical cord fell off [day 15 with <strong>ella</strong>]<br />

• 12 days - started first ‘meds’ Daktarin for thrush<br />

• 15 days – first ‘Dr visit’ – Dr Ferguson re zach’s swollen nipple lhs<br />

• 2 weeks – started dummy<br />

• 19 days – BCG spot visible<br />

• 4 weeks – start the Bennetts Colic Remedy<br />

• 5 weeks – too big for newborn clothes<br />

• 6 weeks – start pampers size #2 nappies<br />

• 6 weeks – first official smiles <br />

• 6 weeks – chats and klankies<br />

• 7 weeks – first visit to the chiro<br />

• 8 weeks – stop waking zach for the 22h30 feed<br />

• 10 weeks – first time we needed to BUY nappies. Gifts lasted for 10 weeks! So fortunate!<br />

• 10 weeks – first ‘sleep-out’ – on ouma’s bed<br />

• 11 weeks – moving on to pampers nappy size #3 already, oh and run out of oh life bum balm <br />

• 12 wees – officially 3 months old and now bathing in the kango seat in the BIG BATH<br />

• 15 weeks – sharing a room with <strong>ella</strong>…just for a while, whilst we had dinner at the Ronnes – worked well<br />

• 15 weeks – fits into bumbo and sits comfortably!<br />

• 16 weeks – eyebrows colour changes to darker colour – blonde before


Schedule at the moment – May 2013<br />

06h54 zach wakes up (it seems to be 06h54 sooo often!) or<br />

07h15 zach wakes – FEED ZACH<br />

07h15/30/07h45 <strong>ella</strong> wakes<br />

Then, change <strong>ella</strong>’s nappy, dress her immediately, change zach’s nappy and dress him. Back to our<br />

bed for Bible Stories and then another story or two.<br />

Downstairs for breakfast. Which at the moment is OATS. And only OATS. Not with honey, only oats<br />

and cinnamon is what she wants. I sneak in some Oat Milk, just to make it a bit more sweet. But the<br />

bland-er, the better it seems!<br />

After breakfast, 08h45/09h00 zach goes down for his nap.<br />

Ella plays with her tea set or kitchen stuff and Meryl hops into the shower!<br />

10h00 zach wakes. Something in <strong>ella</strong>’s room – puzzles (we try) or stories or playdough, although I<br />

am not a playdough fan, but she loves it, or she just plays and ‘cooks with Ee’ and offers me decaf<br />

gelados <br />

11h00 zach’s next feed, <strong>ella</strong> plays/reads/sings/dances<br />

After zach’s feed, downstairs getting ready for more play and then 11h45 zach in cot for lunchtime<br />

nap.<br />

12h00 start sorting lunch options for <strong>ella</strong><br />

12h30/45 – <strong>ella</strong>’s doedoe time for 1.5 – 2 hours<br />

14h00 zach wakes<br />

14h30 zach’s feed<br />

When <strong>ella</strong> wakes, it’s snack time for her and play or read again<br />

16h00 zach sleeps again<br />

16h30/40 yay! Rich gets home<br />

17h00/30 <strong>ella</strong>’s ‘supper’<br />

18h00 zach’s bath time and lately we bath <strong>ella</strong> in the same bath as zach<br />

18h30 zach’s feed and sleep<br />

19h00 <strong>ella</strong> in bed after milk on couch and chats with dad<br />

Then, depending on what day it is, we also have the following on:<br />

Mondays – SWIMMING at 08h45 – 09h15


Tuesdays – our FREE day<br />

Wednesdays – JUMPSTART at 11h45 – 12h45<br />

Thursdays – 10h00 Mom’s Connect<br />

Fridays – our FREE day and every second Friday Rich is off!<br />

What’s upcoming?<br />

Mother’s Day, Ouma’s birthday and a visit to the UAE at the end of June 2013 followed by our<br />

Knysna weekend with the Ronnes <br />

Oh, and Sunday, 18 August 2013, we’re going to have zach baptised!<br />

__________________________<br />

the end…for now…. <br />

To continue: WEEKS 20 onwards … 27 August 2013<br />

JUNE 2013 – <strong>ella</strong> – 27 months<br />

Sick – ‘first time’ in a long time<br />

So, then it just started. First a bit of moody-ness, then she was just exhausted come 10h30 in the<br />

days and eventually turned into a fever of 38’C – she ended up in our bed for a stint – FIRST TIME IN<br />

HER LIFE – cause she just kept burning up and screaming and was so ‘pap’ – and cried every 15<br />

minutes – so I asked her if she wanted to come to our bed for a bit – she did, she felt like a burning<br />

coal next to me – and eventually said ‘mamma, please will you take <strong>ella</strong> back to <strong>ella</strong>’s cot!’ – and so<br />

she went back. Visit to Dr Baron, relieved that it was NOT chicken pox (! Dankie tog!) – as it’s been<br />

‘doing the rounds’ – and I was terrified that she’d get it. Also, Jemma Tubman got it and the two of<br />

them exchanged some lovely hugs just before the Tubmans realised Jemster had the pox…BUT, God<br />

was gracious and spared us for getting chicken pox – especially since we were on our way to visit<br />

Granny in a few weeks’ time!<br />

Ended up with antibiotics – fell asleep on couch – which is such a rare thing, as she usually ONLY<br />

sleeps in her own cot! Took it for 3 days.<br />

Songs<br />

We love ‘making up songs’ and our latest one is about ‘Pappa Richardt’. It goes like this: ‘Pappa,<br />

Richardt, Pappa Richardt, ek is LIEF vir Pappa Richardt!’ – she just LOVES singing it! Smiles from ear<br />

to ear every time! AND – she improvises. Also added ‘Mamma meryl, Mamma meryl, I LOVE you<br />

mamma meryl’ – and also the same for ‘brother zach, brother zach’ Too sweet.<br />

Adds to our ‘family songs’ of ‘<strong>ella</strong>, mamma, dad…and zach! X2 – we are a family, it’s <strong>ella</strong>, mamma,<br />

dad…and zach!’


Also – ‘they call you mamma’s bebble…bebblee-boo! You’re mammas bebble…bebblee-boo’! AND<br />

the funny thing is that she ‘composes’ her own songs like<br />

‘thank you very mamma…thank you very mamma’ – or ‘please change my nappy’ – makes her<br />

sentences and questions into mini-songs. Or has this thing about ‘little mamma’ – think it comes<br />

from me saying ‘little bebble’ to her, so she sang the other day ‘little, mamma, little mamma take me<br />

to the bath!’ - Love it! [And she does sing ‘in tune’ – let’s hope we can say the same about zach<br />

one day!] <br />

Imagination & Swopping Names/adopting names<br />

She plays so, so many pretend games. Besides her imagining eE – she also ‘takes the<br />

cat/rabbit/whatever’ ‘out of the book/page’ and puts it ‘next to her’ on the floor. And has a picnic<br />

with them.<br />

Her favourite ‘pretend play’ time is no doubt ‘cooking’ at the pretty kitchen granny gave her from<br />

Ikea for her birthday. She LOVES making decaf gelados or double shot Americanos.<br />

She LOVES to adopt different names. So like ‘I’m Mopsy’ today, etc. So also this one French parking<br />

guard outside Woolies in Belvedere Rd calls her ‘petite fille’. If I ask her ‘<strong>ella</strong>, what does petite fills<br />

mean – she confidently tells you: Little Girl!!’ – so whenever we go there, she changes her name to<br />

petite fille as she remembers that’s what he calls her and will ask ‘mamma, what is petite fille<br />

doing?’ or she also said the other day – ‘mamma, petite fille is SO happy!’ <br />

Love for Sylvia<br />

She just LOVES Sylvia – who comes round once a week to help us. She knows Sylvia comes on<br />

Thursday, cause she says – Mamma, Sylvia is coming on Thursday! And so whenever she pretends to<br />

chat to someone over the phone, the first person is always ‘SYLVIA’!<br />

She spontaneously often just blurts out ‘THANKSSSSS Sylvia for helping with my room!! THANKS<br />

SYLVIA!’ and the other day she said ‘Sylvia, are you ready to go to your family?!’ She also says<br />

that we take Sylvia to ‘Claremont’ – and when we pass the spot where we drop her, she often says<br />

‘mamma! That’s where we drop Sylvia!’<br />

Asking questions-phase<br />

‘what’s pappa doing’ or over and over ‘what’s <strong>ella</strong> doing’ then she wants you to ask her ‘I don’t<br />

know, tell me, what ARE you doing’ – and she’ll say something like ‘I’m cooking! Or I’m ….’ <br />

Or in a shop ‘what’s this lady doing’ – or in a magazine, etc.


Feeding Thandi<br />

She also loves to ‘breastfeed’ Thandi and gets all serious. Takes a pillow and calls it her ‘plonkydonkey’<br />

– the feeding pillow I use – and lifts her top and feeds Thandi and rubs her head gently<br />

during ‘the feed’ <br />

Swimming<br />

So, tannie Jo, who helped us with ‘au pairing’ during swimming lessons – had her own little baby –<br />

myla rose – so we needed someone to help us out for the rest of the term until the end of June.<br />

Alanna, from our Bible Study – turned out to be ‘that somebody’ and we were just so, so<br />

appreciative of her kindness to help us out!<br />

To the theatre, again!<br />

Nod, nod, nod with noddy; Noddy! Clap, clap, clap with me! She LOVED this song – got ‘so into it’ –<br />

sat very quietly watching the play, despite us being super late and me finding the play not as<br />

interactive and ‘her level’ as the Peter Rabbit show! Nevertheless, she seemed to love it. Jack and<br />

ni-ke also joined! <br />

First Flight!<br />

So, Thursday, 27 June arrived faster than we’d imagine and we’d received the ‘go ahead’ in terms of<br />

zach’s ears and was ready to go. Our flight was at 18h10, but we were at the airport before 15h00<br />

already to check in early (we couldn’t check-in online re bassinet booked) – so we were there early,<br />

checked in and it was all exciting. Rich was there, Annie came, and ni-ke and tannie myrtle as well.<br />

Ella was in happy-ville the entire time. Chatting and singing to the Emirates staff who checked us us,<br />

and on flight she was the best passanger to fly with. Cheerful, excited, obedient, cute, all in one.<br />

After the meals were served, I got her into her doedoe baggie with her taglet, and off to sleep she<br />

went – without protesting. Gazza and Ilse sat behind us, great support. Flight back, it was JUST us<br />

though – but all in all it was fine. CPT – Dubai though, if it wasn’t for GRIPEWATER and a dummy, we<br />

would not have survived. Zach was on my lap for 7 out of 9 hours as the seatbelt light was on ALL<br />

THE TIME and then you are not allowed to put them in their bassinetts. Besides, he was a bit to tall<br />

for it in any case! 8/10 for the flight up and 7/10 for flight down. <br />

Holiday with granny<br />

So, yes, it WAS super hot. We had car seats that we carried around with us everywhere. Taxis are<br />

beyond expensive. Feeding times and nap times made our days quite ‘short’, but they were SO<br />

HAPPY to be with granny – <strong>ella</strong> especially. Slept sssoooo well when we were there. The first night<br />

there we stayed over at the Hilton apartments in Dubai in Jumeira Island – zach practically slept<br />

through! And I had the best sleep in months!! After Dubai we went to Al Ain for a few days, then<br />

Abu Dhabi to the Al Raha beach resort for two days then back to Al Ain and then to Dubai to end our<br />

8 day short visit. Some memorable moments include zach crying in the car for most of the ‘long<br />

trips’ – it was just so so hot – and he was ‘too big’ for the car seat – so ended up using a forward<br />

facing one for him instead. Zach making an enourmous pooh that leaked out of the nappy onto the<br />

car seat onto the floor….had to stop side of road to clean it – couldn’t get out of car – as it was ttooo


hot! We LOST BROWN TAGLET!! I ended up looking through cctv footage of this one store to try<br />

and see if we couldn’t FIND IT! – no luck! Zacharoo got a heat rash - <strong>ella</strong> sat on the burning tiles<br />

outside of this mosque in Abu Dhabi and screamed so loud the entire UAE was aware of that<br />

unpleasant experience! See pics below:<br />

random things she said<br />

• With a HUGE smile ‘ mamma!! T-H-E-R-E are the hearts <strong>ella</strong> was talking about!!’ - referring to<br />

the hearts that hang from the side of her window…totally random!<br />

• Ella llloooovvvveeesss skapie (her sheep) so very, very much!<br />

JUNE 2013 – zach – weeks 20 - 27<br />

Good Sleeps, Squirms, Appetite<br />

He slept so well during this time! Waking at 07h30-ish after a 03h30/04h00ish feed, which was just<br />

lovely! But his feeding patterns ‘changed’ again to wanting to drink mainly one side only again.<br />

Once he went down in his cot though – he’d squirm and moan and just be so, so unsettled, before<br />

falling asleep!<br />

ENT, Dr Esterhuizen, Constantiaberg<br />

So, this ‘thing’ on his tongue just did not want to go away. It was a strange ‘consistency’ almost like<br />

a mushed naartjie, stringy, gross thing at the back of his tongue and it just got bigger. Dr Fergusen<br />

didn’t know what it was, Dr Bailey, the paed said ‘you see meryl, this is what makes paediatrics<br />

fun…I’ve never seen something like this before!’ - we continued with the Daktarin and treated it<br />

like a ‘fungus’ and then when it didn’t clear after like a month of Daktarin, Dr Bailey referred us to<br />

the ENT at Constantiaberg. Gave same advice – still to continue with Daktarin – if not, surgery and<br />

biopsy. We’re very thankful that it eventually disappeared – hence no surgery or scary tests needed!<br />

Tickle-ish, Grabs dummy<br />

He is VERY tickle-ish and this makes for delightful moments of his beautiful giggles! LOVE it. Cause<br />

most of the time his cheeks ‘weigh him down’ and he looks droopy sometimes – until the smiles<br />

comes - then his face LIGHTS up. And now, in month 6.5 – month 7 – he is just THE FRIENDLIEST,<br />

heart-warming, beautiful, not-so-little boy!!<br />

He grabs his dummy and puts it back by himself. Still ‘chews’ thumbs more than sucking though.<br />

VERY drooly – wet and probably teething…<br />

Physio & zach’s pre-croup sick-spell<br />

So, then zach got sick. Snot running out of his nostrils, droopy, pap, moany, hectic wheezy chest – so<br />

I called the Paed, he ‘listened’ to him over the phone and said how quickly can you get here! Turns<br />

out zach had ‘pre-croup’ and Dr Bailey said it was a good thing I called when I did. Got Celestimine<br />

and then told to monitor it. He had a hectic cough. Chatted to Tana re this, she recommended I defs<br />

take him for chest physio. Never heard of it, but was keen. Called Claire Louw, physion who treated<br />

my back, she referred me to Lucani Physios which is a paediatric practice based at Constantiaberg


hospital. Called, made an appointment and ended up going 7 days in a row. The physio, Candice<br />

Poole, was amazing. So, so loving, kind, and gentle with zacharoo as the snot got sucked out of his<br />

system! Ended up talking about all sorts of things, including the fact that we go to St James – she<br />

had incidentally read up on St James earlier that day, wanting to visit – so we made a date and she<br />

came along. She helped zach SO MUCH – it was really the best thing we could do. But despite<br />

this, he didn’t get better ‘fast enough’ and we were due to fly to granny in 10 days time – so back to<br />

the paed, back on celestimine, more physio and a script for antibiotics which in the end we didn’t<br />

need to fill! It was quite a week – exhausting to the max and just full of pity for suffering zach!<br />

Some of these nights I didn’t even feed him, cause he was just not interested. He would feed for<br />

max 2 mins and then just give it up. Struggled to breathe and all. Later added nose-drops to the mix<br />

– betnasol and had his ears checked twice – all clear – him just not well.<br />

Scary thing during this time was him rolling his eyes in a weird way that looked like he was about to<br />

have a seizure…<br />

Week 20 (4 months, 4 weeks)<br />

• Takes dummy out all by himself<br />

• Tickle-ish, many, many LOUD giggles if you tickle him<br />

• First 37’C temp – highest we’ve measured<br />

• Started ‘sitting’ by himself for short periods of time – very supported, but moments of sitting<br />

alone<br />

Week 21 (4 months, 5 weeks)<br />

• Catches and holds on to feet – he loves it<br />

• LOVES it when we make him a ‘tent’ – puts him in cot with blanky over – squeeks van lekker kry!<br />

Week 26 (5 months, 1 week)<br />

• Used Karvol vapour rub for first time<br />

• Gave him Celestimine for first time – he was really sick – hectic phlem<br />

• 8.430kgs (st<strong>ella</strong>)<br />

• First PHYSIO – met Candice Poole ‘zach’s physio’ and first time no night wake<br />

• Finally started to SUCK THE DUMMY ON HIS OWN – without needing a blanky wrapped around<br />

his mouth to ‘keep the dummy in’ – but this habit continued in terms of him ‘looking for<br />

something’ against his cheek when he goes down for a nap – as soon as there’s a blanky next to<br />

his face, touching his cheek – he would settle easy


JULY 2013 – <strong>ella</strong> – 28 months<br />

More UAE holiday pics:<br />

Knysna 2013<br />

From Cape Town we connected to George. Annie met us at the airport to take our luggage.<br />

Fortunately zach slept in my pouch for the entire journey to George. Quick flight, very bumpy – but<br />

oh so exciting to see Rich at the other end of our trip. It’s the longest we’ve all been apart. Ella<br />

could not control the excitement! Flapped arms, danced on one spot for a few seconds before<br />

bolting towards him and jumping into his arms! And then, reunited with the Ronnes – Sadie-mia<br />

and <strong>ella</strong> were over the moon and we were happy to spend the Knysna Marathon weekend with<br />

them at the Knysna Hollow, despite Rich not participating in the race!<br />

more about what she says:<br />

• Putting on a pair of cream coloured cords, she says – ‘it’s just like…um…the ladies!’ I asked<br />

‘which ladies’ – and she replied ‘ the laddies that served <strong>ella</strong>’s food on the aeroplane! – referring<br />

to the Emirates Staff Uniform – same colour pants. ‘Oh…THOSE ladies’ I said – YES MAMMA –<br />

the AIRHOSTESSES!!!<br />

• ‘mamma, is granny still in abu dhabi?’<br />

• From July onwards, she started to change from speaking of herself in the third person to using ‘I’<br />

• BUT – she seemed to start mixing her past tenses – which was weird and used ‘did’ a lot ‘I did<br />

go…’ - major corrections needed <br />

• Please don’t ring the bell-door – telling about how when the Bible Study guys arrive and the ring<br />

the ‘bell-door’ ‘then they DISTURB <strong>ella</strong>’s sleep, granny!’<br />

• Plays ‘this little piggy’ with zach’s feet<br />

• Rich: weet jy wat blind is? After chatting about one of her Sunday school pics – ‘YES pappa!<br />

When you can’t see!!’ <br />

• Mamma, I’m just like uncle Leighton! Look Mamma! – pointing to a wristband she was wearing<br />

• Mamma – it’s EVA CASSIDY! Ella recognises so many songs within seconds of them playing. This<br />

is from about April already. If a Derek Leisegang song comes on, she’ll shout out ‘it’s Derek!’;<br />

same with Corinne bailey rae, eva Cassidy’s fields of gold song and recognises most of her<br />

nursery rhymes within seconds of hearing the intro!<br />

• Zach, I’m just going to put the dummy into your mouth! Don’t worry zach, we’re here…and<br />

here’s your dummy – don’t worry, don’t worry!<br />

• Mamma – ‘did <strong>ella</strong> not….’ - says these lines over ‘did <strong>ella</strong> not drink her water?’ and the answer<br />

to these questions are always ‘YES, she did!’ <br />

• Fun with ewald at the fountain: bends forward, then can’t see the fountain and then asks him<br />

‘oom ewald, can <strong>ella</strong> NOT see the fountain?’ - and then comes up from ducking and says<br />

‘NOW <strong>ella</strong> CAN see the fountain!’ <br />

• Asks very politely ‘mamma MAY I’ or ‘May I PLEASE have a …. Mamma?’<br />

• Calls me ‘mamster’ for fun with a huge smile. I love you mamster Thanks mamster


• ‘excuse me sir, what’s your name?’ – loved asking all the taxi drivers in UAE and all the<br />

passengers on the flights and when they respond she’ll politely say ‘hello….(name)” <br />

• Sings chorus and first verse of ‘Bless the Lord oh my Soul’ – sings I will rise, you are stronger on<br />

repeat in her cot! <br />

• When asking her to do something ‘<strong>ella</strong> will you please…’ – she responds VERY friendly and<br />

instantly ‘I willllll ’<br />

• When she asks a question she asks ‘ did you KNOW that Pappa?!!!’ <br />

JULY 2013 – zach – weeks 28 - 31<br />

First Swim<br />

He totally loved it. He is SO calm in the water <br />

Two at once!<br />

And then there were…TWO TEETH – saw them at same time – at last – they were out, but hectic that<br />

it was two at once! For a moment thought I hadn’t paid enough attention to him to have noticed -<br />

but no, they really came out the same day - Thursday, 11 July – on granny’s bday nogals.<br />

Month of crazy sleeping patterns – and calpol and neurofen<br />

Not fun. Slept sssooo badly. Woke several times…went through screaming phases, it was just a<br />

mission. Had no poohs for a few days and we tagged team most nights. BUT, then Rich left for Los<br />

Angeles from 30 July – 13 August. Mom was here in the day from before 7am which was such a<br />

blessing – but the nights it was zach and I….at times every 30 minutes…and he is not the lightest<br />

baby to hold. In any case, he wasn’t keen to be still in my arms – squirming, wriggling, just not calm<br />

at all. It was a very interesting time nights alone with zach!!<br />

Trust me – 5mls of Calpol or Neurofen does NOT knock him out! Camomilia powder seemed to have<br />

helped, but the other meds…niks, nothing, nada!<br />

How I sleep<br />

Started turning in cot and often ends up horizontally – and that meant he was too tall, so his head<br />

would be wedged into the slats of the cot and he would cry and then I’d have to move him again.<br />

FIRST SOLIDS and turning six months old!<br />

Finally started Solids. Didn’t start before because I knew we would be travelling and it would just be<br />

a bit of a mission to steam veg on holiday. So when he turned six months old on the dot…we<br />

started. Sweet Potato. He was full of smiles at the start – but let’s just say, he’s not a fan. Arching<br />

back out of Bumbo seat, screams, tears, not opening his mouth (as <strong>ella</strong> did and seriously, why can’t<br />

he have the good table manners that his sister had!) - and all in all an average start to solids.<br />

Persevered the first three days with the sweet potato and only now – 40 days in, he seems to like it.<br />

Tried to follow the same ‘eating sequence’ we did with <strong>ella</strong>. From Gina’s guidelines. New food at<br />

11h00 and then the familiar food at 17h00.


Week 27 (5 months, 3 weeks)<br />

• First time in swimming costume and first swim in Abu Dhabi at the Al Raha beach resort<br />

Week 29:1 (5 months, 5 weeks)<br />

• First two teeth – <strong>ella</strong>’s only came out at 8 months!<br />

• First DOEDOE BAG – he was just TOO big for the wedges, so tossed those, tossed the swaddling –<br />

sadly – but he just outgrew all the blankies – so moved to doedoe bag. It did affect his sleep<br />

pattern – slept worse than what he did when he was swaddled<br />

Week 30:2 (6 months, 1 week)<br />

• Six month visit to the paed: 70cm length, 40cm head, 8.71kgs – 97 th percentile height and<br />

weight<br />

• First JUMPSTART class – yippee yay…finally he started Jumpstart – eldest in his class, unlike <strong>ella</strong><br />

who was the youngest in her class all along<br />

• Says mamma!!<br />

Week 31:4 (6 months, 2 weeks)<br />

• First time in crech at church – YES!!! FINALLY – first time that Rich and I sat in church together<br />

since who knows when – cause finally, since about June, <strong>ella</strong> is at Sunday School on her own as<br />

well – without Rich having to sit there with her! So, Debbie Hutton was on duty at crèche and<br />

we ‘handed zach’ over to her. There were NO TEARS. Go zacharoo! Happy days!<br />

• Back arching….so so often!!<br />

Week 32:1 (6 months, 3 weeks)<br />

• Dropped the 4pm nap – he was still drowsy, but because he had such bad nights, dropped this<br />

one to not risk a tricky nap after bath.<br />

• Shakes head from side to side, just like <strong>ella</strong> did/ does – pre-nap<br />

Week 32:5 (6 months, 3 weeks)<br />

• Dropped the 4pm nap – he was still drowsy, but because he had such bad nights, dropped this<br />

one to not risk a tricky nap after bath.<br />

• Tried the bath ring – but his legs are too ‘meaty’ so that didn’t work – back to kanga seat – but it<br />

was too small – so next few days made him sit in the bath all by himself – granny’s move.<br />

Week 33:1 (6 months, 4 weeks)


• First trip in the shopping trolley<br />

• Rubs eyes when tired – only noticed it now<br />

• Sits on own – with no support, since mid five months<br />

AUGUST 2013 – <strong>ella</strong> – 29 months<br />

EIGHT YEARS – celebrating at Kirstenbosch…without Rich<br />

So Rich and I celebrated our 8 th wedding anniversary in two different hemispheres. BUT – the<br />

Tubmans took good care of me and we hung out together at Kirstenbosch, where our wedding<br />

reception was and had just the most beautiful weather and lovely day. We stayed on with granny till<br />

past 4pm that day – it was just too lovely a day not to have an extended picnic. LOVED it. Would<br />

have loved it more if Rich was here with me – but, still had a lovely time.<br />

First dentist appointment<br />

‘Hello Dr Bodenstein’ is how she greeted him. Talking to her about things before hand works SO<br />

WELL – as she is then prepared for what to expect and especially a dentist visit, which can be a bit<br />

scary – but she was totally fine. Hopped onto the chair by herself, opened her mouth, did ssoooo<br />

well until she had a mini-wobble. Think she did not know how to respond when her jaw became a<br />

bit lame from having her mouth open the whole time. Tears, but then I reminded her of what he will<br />

be doing, and then she was a champ again! She then sat up and said ‘mamma, Dr Bodenstein will<br />

wear his mask ‘now-now’…’ at which point he laughed and said ok, I will if you are ok with that. She<br />

said ‘YES’ and then he put his mask on, and continued <br />

She has two more teeth due to come out at some point and apparently doesn’t have many gaps<br />

between her teeth which could indicate that she might not have ‘enough space’ for all her teeth<br />

later in life, but for now, all good. Glad we went!<br />

Tantrums, discipline<br />

So we have the wooden spoon for hidings – and still use it. She is terrified of it. Granny thinks we<br />

are too strict. Found also that if she doesn’t ‘eat regularly’ – then she just falls into a very ‘sensitive’<br />

mood where she would have mini cries and moans about just about anything. As soon as she’s<br />

eaten, she’s back to normal! It’s tough having to be consistent when it comes to discipline, but we<br />

try to be!<br />

more of what she said:<br />

• Candice Physio and Amanda comes to Moms Connect with us to spend some time with <strong>ella</strong> and<br />

zach. They ask a friend – are you English? Are you Afrikaans? He doesn’t answer them. They<br />

ask <strong>ella</strong> ‘ is he english or Afrikaans?’ – she answers them and has a good chat about that with<br />

them They respond: at least one can get a straight answer out of her!


• Reading to zach as we got ready for the baptism – she read the story of John the Baptist and said<br />

‘uncle scott will be JUST like John the Baptist when he baptises zach!’ Why <strong>ella</strong>? ‘cause John the<br />

Baptist baptised Jesus!’ ‘Mamma…just like charl and john – it’s the SAME name!’<br />

• After baptism found a mike stand and began to sing ‘you are stronger’ to all there…not shy at all<br />

<br />

• Mamma, the sun is beginning to set…it’s almost night time! Look mamma, the sky is pink!<br />

AUGUST 2013 – zach – weeks 32 - 36<br />

Baptism<br />

What a privilege to combine it with Inez rose ronne’s baptism. With the great help of setting up a<br />

pretty food table, thanks to Kitty’s creativity and Kim and Leight’s help – we sent out invitations<br />

designed by nichy and could not wait for this day! Many friends and family came and mervyn<br />

started the ‘I am’ series from the book of John. Ella and Sadie-Mia were very cute in their hello-hugs<br />

on stage - in full view of the congregation – and zacharoo was a stylish little lad! Thanks uncle Scott<br />

for doing the honours. We thank God for his godparents Leights and Kitty and Nichy and Marcelle –<br />

who will love him and pray for him and input into his life as he grows to know this Jesus that we call<br />

our Saviour and Lord of our lives!<br />

Week 34:2 (7 months, 1 week)<br />

• Says ‘da-da-da-da-da’ when crying – those ‘sounds’ come out<br />

• Loves to play ‘hide and seek’ by putting his own taglet on his head and then excitedly taking it<br />

off again <br />

Week 34:4 (7 months, 2 week)<br />

• Really cold winter, despite heaters on all the time. So started to put a fleecy blanky on top of<br />

the sheet.<br />

• zach baptised with leah blair and Inez rose ronne! – 18 August 2013


R A B E<br />

-zach - ONE - birthday edition-


56 BIRTHDAY<br />

o n e<br />

zach stefan rabe<br />

EDITION<br />

___________________________________________________________________________<br />

It’s 16 January 2014. Zach woke up in another city and country from the one he was born in. He woke up from being a notso-little<br />

bebble to this one year old toddler! And it all happened so so quickly. Our little love, now a one year old. Arriving<br />

as a 3.695kg and being a healthy boy who broke the 10kg barrier. Nothing but gratitude, deep sense of gratitude to what<br />

has been a colourful and let’s just call it ‘busy’ 12 months.<br />

From the moment I held him on my chest in theatre, he was grunting. The days following that grunt turned into a continual<br />

grunt and had us all scratching our heads as to what was going on. Days were generally unsettled and hardly any of the<br />

‘content phase’ that babysense talks about – hu-uh…not with our zacharoo – days were busy – often fighting ALL the<br />

naps – but from the start, evenings were ‘fine’. Yes there were those nights where we were tag teaming to hold him as he<br />

just refuses to stop crying after an early morning feed, but in general, his nights were good and he was good about waking<br />

closer to 7am or after 7am.<br />

We heard that it was colic, then reflux, then reflux and colic until we realised, no…it’s only zach! And thereafter, we knew:<br />

this little lad was definitely different. Did we continue to try our Gina Ford routines? Definitely. Did we take it ‘session by<br />

session’ – yes we did. Do I feel like we haven’t inputted into his little life in the same way we did with <strong>ella</strong>? I do. And it<br />

bothered and bothers me. But at the same time, when I think about it, then I just try again. So with zach, it’s just about<br />

persevering I guess. Persevering through the tricky days – of which there are and have been many.<br />

But then, those beautiful dark blue eyes that have faded into a more blue-grey shade – those cheeks and that diving-bisous<br />

that he gives you, all filled with happiness and slob (!) – man…those are just some of the things that adds to the<br />

indescribable amount of LOVE we have for this dude!<br />

The flapping of the arms when he sees me in the morning, the shriek of excitement whenever he sees <strong>ella</strong>, the ‘I want to<br />

jump out of my skin’ when he sees Rich home after work, the laughs when you tickle him, the little voice when there’s no<br />

dummy plugged (!); the tap on your shoulder that he gives you in the morning when you pick him up and greet him; the<br />

responding to ‘zach, say thank you’ – with his hand on his chest from about December 2013, the clapping of hands from<br />

about September 2013, the waving when you ask him to from about October 2013, the first crawls from 2 November 2013,<br />

the standing up against stuff from mid-November 2013 and today, we’ve seen the ‘zach, blow kisses and him totally blowing<br />

many, many kisses to granny whose face was on the skype screen’.<br />

Zachadoodle, zacharoo, zacha-boemie as Rich calls him – our handsome zach stefan rabe celebrated his FIRST birthday<br />

TODAY, and this was how we spent it:<br />

New country, new friends…I mean no friends - so we weren’t sure about a birthday party, but then decided to have it<br />

despite having virtually no little ones his own age. So we invited the Chevron colleagues’ little ones, a friend I met from<br />

Mothers of PreSchooler group with her 21 month old and a friend I met in the Library with her 4 and 2 year olds. A set of<br />

friends from church couldn’t make it, so on Sunday, 19 January 2014, we’ll have a party for him here – the theme being<br />

‘world traveller’ – stemming from the theme of his room at home and from the fact that I am subtly brainwashing him<br />

(unashamedly) to love travelling and to venture into this world exploring villages and cultures and cities and enjoying the<br />

beautiful continents that God has created for us. It’s ‘easy’ to find ‘party décor’ here in the States – you just go to Etsy.com<br />

or Amazon or OrientalTrading or wherever and order and they deliver it to your door. That’s if you didn’t find anything at<br />

Michaels or Target or Party City, which has everything! So, we’re almost all set for Sunday’s party. Placed an order for a<br />

gluten-free, vegan, sugar free (don’t worry, it has agave in it, so that’s fine) CAKE. Just like you don’t get homemade baby<br />

food delivery in this city (still don’t get why) – it was almost as hard to find a place that will make a cake that has no sugar or<br />

dairy. So this place is very close to Hollywood, called babycakesnyc.com and we get to pick it up on Saturday afternoon.<br />

They don’t do any custom made cakes, so it will just be round with happy birthday zach on it.<br />

Last night our mission was to bake him a sugar-free, gluten-free cupcake so that he could at least have cake on his birthday.<br />

Rich attempted this and lets just say it wasn’t the most delicious cupcake, but zach hasn’t had cupcakes before, so hy sal<br />

nie weet nie At least it was made with love! <br />

Prepared his ‘birthday tray’ with cards from us and <strong>ella</strong>, cupcake holder with berries in and candles and a balloon. Then, off<br />

to bed.


At Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group yesterday they sang happy birthday to one of the ladies there and he got all<br />

excited, smiling and clapping his hands and waving and we all laughed at this happy boy getting into the birthday vibe. So I<br />

defs think he totally KNEW HIS DAY was coming up, cause we did talk about it like…a thousand times! <br />

BUT… maybe we talked about it TOO much – cause he was awake EARLY….we put it down to birthday excitement…but<br />

05h00…no dude… not fun. Rich went in to put his dummy back and found him standing in his cot, taglets…. tossed out of<br />

his cot, dummy…. tossed out of his cot and bouncing up and down with smiles. Happy Birthday zach…but it’s ‘NIGHT<br />

TIME’ – sorry dude, go back to bed…we tried…but wat ‘n storie. Took him a long time to settle again – but eventually, at<br />

06h30, there was silence. Sjoe! And then he woke at 07h30 only. This was great, cause when <strong>ella</strong> woke at 07h00, she<br />

opened her eyes, SMILED and asked if it was zach’s birthday? [She LOVES birthdays and sharing the love!] – so I asked<br />

her if she could come and help me with his ‘birthday strategy’ – she was beside herself…SURE!! YES MAMMA!! LET ME<br />

HELP YOU WITH HIS BIRTHDAY STRATEGY So we snuggled in our bed and chatted about how she would open the<br />

door, start the singing, carry in his card, etc and I would follow with his birthday tray and candles.<br />

The MOMENT she heard him wake, she jumped up from our bed and said ‘MAMMA!!! He’s AWAKKKEEEEE…let’s go!!!’ <br />

Upon spotting the cupcake of course she asked if she could lick it, but when I showed her the plate with her OWN cupcake,<br />

it totally made her morning <br />

She opened the door and started the birthday song, gooi’d in some own version of veels geluk liewe zach lyrics on the<br />

happy birthday tune and then eventually the veels geluk lyrics, but her version is:<br />

‘veels geluk liewe zach, omme dat jy verjah, mag die HELE (not Here..but heLe..) jou seen en nog baie JAHE spah!!’ hip<br />

hip…hoorayyyy! <br />

The birthday boy got in on the action, clapping for himself and smiling so much his dummy popped out! He then leaned over<br />

the cot and admired the little flames from the cupcake and it seemed as if the foil helium balloon was by far his favourite<br />

thing of the morning! Gave him his cupcake holder with blueberries and rasberries which he devoured, <strong>ella</strong> gave him his<br />

card and read it to him: ‘it says ‘dear zach, happy birthday’! - and she then looked at me and asked ‘mamma, is zach a<br />

toddler now??’ <br />

After his feed came the big moment: His first CAKE. It was a hit And opening gifts he enjoyed too. We got him a<br />

stacking ring, inflatable beach balls to roll around, a Eric Carle Brown Bear book which <strong>ella</strong> read to him, the right words from<br />

start to finish after hearing it once (!), we got him a xylophone which was another favourite and then after supper tonight,<br />

when Rich was here to join, he opened his ride-on-car (almost like the winnie the pooh one <strong>ella</strong> had) and a big VW Combi<br />

shaped Tent.<br />

We had breakfast, skyped with granny and after his morning nap our plan was to go to the painting studio a few mins walk<br />

from here to have some painting fun. It was 30’C and we had a lovely walk, zach in a happy mood, <strong>ella</strong> in a happy mood,<br />

loving the time with the two of them. Got there: CLOSED…opens at 12h00 only! So instead, walked to the toy shop where<br />

they have displays of wooden toy sets out for all to browse and play with – so spent loads of time there before…the third<br />

pooh nappy of the day – so had to go get that changed, did that at the cinema right next door, then walked home, did the<br />

clay print at the paint studio and got home just after 12h20. Door locked. Cell phone battery dead. What happened was<br />

that Rich got here after 12h00, found that the door was unlocked, so locked the door, went back to the office (don’t know<br />

why he didn’t stick around to wait a bit) – but he couldn’t get hold of us due to phone dying as I tried to call him when we<br />

were at the paint studio. So we were stuck outside. We have a mega grumpy neighbour who complains that we are too<br />

noisy, so she rang our doorbell two nights ago to say it’s excessive – she is referring to the fact that when you run (i.e when<br />

<strong>ella</strong> runs) on the middle level where the bedrooms are, she can hear it from her bedroom below us, as it is all wooden floors<br />

and finds it too much. Anyway, point is, with us stuck outside the flat, there was no way I could knock on HER door for help.<br />

She gives us the evil eye all the time. So we waited for SOMEONE to walk past – got help from this guy, used his cell<br />

phone, Rich then came back from workshop at office, unlocked for us, wasn’t a happy camper that we were locked out and<br />

did not have phone charged (!) – and then he had to dash back to his meeting again. Before naps, fourth pooh nappy of the<br />

day (!) – then zach protested the sleep big time, but I kept on trying and when he passed out at 13h30, so did I! Ella woke at<br />

14h30 and he woke at 15h15 – so there was at least a quick sleeping slot!<br />

Then, off to the park we went. Got there…pooh number FIVE. I mean like in really? Anyway, he was happy-boy in the<br />

park, needless to say <strong>ella</strong> was over the moon cause if she could LIVE in the park on a swing, she WOULD! – and we walked<br />

via the sushi shop to get sushi for dinner and for his first taste of salmon califonian rolls, I’d say he’ll be having many more of<br />

those! <br />

Rich got home quite late – they have back to back meetings and workshops etc this week; but at least he got home before<br />

bedtime. We sang happy birthday with another round of cupcakes and the two of them then opened more bday presents.


Zach is now asleep. Ella is asleep. Rich is at a work dinner in Pasadena. I am sitting here and just watched this beyond<br />

amazing gift from nichy and marcelle, who together with kitty and leights are zach’s godparents. Nichy and them made us a<br />

VIDEO CLIP of zach. On a song the ‘over the rainbow ’ – it was on our theatre playlist, #1 and also a version we got from<br />

them, so it was extra special that that was the song. Watched it and again, makes me realise the enormous task of being<br />

this little lad’s parent and feel surprised at how it is possible to love both our bébés, that God so graciously gave to us, so so<br />

so so mega miga much. Thanks to God, huge thanks to God.<br />

Happy birthday liefste, mooiste zach<br />

stefan rabe!<br />

______________________


MY BIRTHDAY PICS


eflecting on zach’s first 12 months<br />

Poor zach won’t have the detailed ‘updates’ that <strong>ella</strong> had. Sorry dude, it’s called a time issue. BUT – he has ‘pics per<br />

month’ that I managed to put into albums on Facebook and then there’s his ‘birth story’ and also an update of the first six<br />

months of his life written up. Other than that, here are a few things that Rich jotted down <br />

ZACH: ONE YEAR AND COUNTING<br />

Has one of the best smiles and giggles ever seen (equaled only by his sister)<br />

Enjoys a cuddle, occasionally; from parents and sister.<br />

Kisses with a wide-open mouth<br />

Just wants to stand up against everything and anything. He has managed to stand on his own without holding on to<br />

anything for a couple of seconds on a few occasions already.<br />

Going downstairs for bath-time must rate as one of his favourite parts of the day. He gets all excited and if he were grumpy<br />

or tired moments before, all of that disappears as soon as you put him down in the bedroom. He crawls all over, bulldozes<br />

over dad, loves being chased and “cracks himself” when he is caught. These days he heads for the stairs with a naughty<br />

giggle!<br />

He has a funny way of playing ball: Sitting on his bottom, dad will roll the ball to him; once the ball is close, he will literally<br />

throw himself (or his upper body) at the ball, grab it with both hands. Then he might try and chew on it, or if it is a smaller<br />

ball, he’ll lift it up and watch it roll slowly out of his hand onto the floor.<br />

He enjoys it when dad throws him up in the air and catches him again.<br />

He enjoys it when dad plays “aeroplane” with him and flies all over the room with him.<br />

Hated textured food until fairly recently. It appears that raspberries were the food that effected the breakthrough and finally<br />

got him to eat not only pureed food, but also lumpy and more textured foods.<br />

Does not like sitting in chairs, especially if you strap him, like the high chair (for eating) or the car chair, or even the pram.<br />

He’s getting better at sitting in chairs, but his favourite “chair” is still Mom or dad’s hip.<br />

Hates having his nappy changed.<br />

Zach’s sister Ella used to cry when she was unhappy; Zach doesn’t cry, he moans. Perhaps it’s a guy-thing.<br />

Still likes to taste absolutely everything he can put his hands on.<br />

Never took to his thumb the way his sister did; he’s a “dummy-man”. He does share his sister’s love for taglets though and<br />

has developed a bit of a reputation as a “taglet-thief”.<br />

He loves a good clap and appears to have inherited his mother’s rhythm. Like his sister, he enjoys dancing with dad –<br />

especially to the music of David Kramer.<br />

__________________________________________


R A B E<br />

-zach - ONE - party-


56<br />

my party<br />

What a FUN day! I was happy, there was CAKE, I loved<br />

making my footprint canvas and all in all a lovely bunch of<br />

friends who hanged with me! Balloon tennis rocked and so<br />

did ‘eating’ the aeroplanes…Here’s to next year! <br />

16 january 2014


my very first party


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> turning THREE - birthday edition & party-


my birthday edition<br />

MY PARTY<br />

My third birthday. Wow. Turning three! A new age, on a new continent with new friends! Would not have<br />

imagined this scenario a year ago. And yet, it happened and it was awesome!<br />

The first part was to decide ‘what kind of a party’ I’d like. So, following my interest in train books from the local<br />

library and my excitement when we visited the Travel Town Museum in Feb, there was no doubt as to how I<br />

wanted to celebrate this year. Surrounded by trains…and ON a train!<br />

Mamma booked the venue – she had to do all the arrangements by the postal service here – including paying by<br />

money order, which was a first for her! Next we needed to sort out my guest list, pray for good weather and find a<br />

supplier to bake my non-sugar-non-dairy-cake! The parents were not too keen to schlepp all the way to Hollywood<br />

to pick up a cake, as they did for zach’s party; so FORTUNATELY, right here in Monrovia, at the Friday night<br />

market, Mamma spotted a stand that does sells cakes and ‘sweet stuff’ but that uses no sugar! Ta-ra…problem<br />

solved. Well, until after Mamma convinced tannie Amy, from Katie’s Naturally Sweet, to please bake my birthday<br />

cake – it was her first ‘large cake’ order and she was kind enough to even come and drop it off here and bake<br />

cupcakes for me too! So that sorted out the cake. The invitation was started by Mamma and beautified and<br />

transformed by tannie Danni Villette (baie dankie!), so those were sent out and so well received! The last thing<br />

mamma wanted to do was order some bunting and some train-related-stuff, so etsy.com helped with that!<br />

The plan was to make ‘lunch packs’ for my friends, and this included pretzels, a banana, box of raisins, water and a<br />

miffy lunch box with a train-shaped chicken-mayo-broodjie (dankie Pappa) and some cucumber and blueberries!<br />

The parents had a fruit platter, cheese platter, brownies and sugar-free blueberry bites to sort their bellies out, so<br />

all was easy-peasy! Only worry was whether we would be able to set-up in team, before the guests arrived!<br />

Travel Town Museum opened at 10h00 only and my party started at 11h00…let’s just say that zach and I<br />

interrupted the set-up attempt several times, despite mamma plonking us on a picnic blankie with train books and<br />

train tracks to keep us busy…and if it wasn’t for tannie Johanna arriving first and helping with the last finishing<br />

touches, we’d never be ready for our guests! What a mission! Tannie Yvonne jumped in and so did tannie Tobi<br />

and then finally – it was all set-up!<br />

It was a BEAUTIFUL DAY! The Friday before it STORMED – but today, two days before my birthday, it was a perfect<br />

day! Friends added their handprints to my canvas, the HAPPY BIRTHDAY song made me SO HAPPY and I joined ‘uit<br />

volle bors!’; our picnic lunch on blankies chatting was so chilled and lovely and then we all got train engineer hats<br />

and missioned all the way down to the PINK TRAIN that I spotted on my first visit here! Oh what fun when mamma<br />

lifted us all up onto this train! Tait was hanging on for dear life…Joseph was too nervous to get on, but mamma<br />

convinced him; Mavis was keen bean, so too was Oliver, Nina and Mira. We stayed up there for quite some time;<br />

and the parents all pointed these phones and cameras at us too! We just did our things, giggling and chatting –<br />

like one does on a train!


Then, the highlight of the day: ‘ALL ABOARD?!’ – whoo hoo!! Train-FUN!!! LOVED it. Sooo loved it! Mamma and<br />

zach rode at the back and I sat next to Pappa towards the middle. All my friends and their parents joined and man,<br />

did I have fun! I bounced around afterwards…all the adrenaline and happy happy beats running through my veins<br />

and then ANOTHER HIGHLIGHT…cup-cake-t-i-m-m-m-m-m-e!!! I was just so, so happy.<br />

I had a few dances with Joseph joined in the fun on the ‘activity table’ that mamma had set out with train<br />

colouring in pages and paint and crayons; I explored the huge steam engines and had hugs and chats with my<br />

friends. It was a ‘full day’ as I’ve told mamma. And I just loved every minute, in my bright pink party skirt, that I<br />

chose, of course!<br />

In the end, a few friends could not join (Adagio&Ibiza’s granny got really sick, Tanner and Elizabeth’s papa got<br />

really sick, the Chevron kids couldn’t come due to school or out of town trip, same for Marisa from Sunday School,<br />

and two MOPS friends Morgan and Lucy also couldn’t make it), but those that were there, were from church<br />

(Adam, Micah, Mavis, Tait, Oliver, Isaac, Chase, Olivia), from MOPS (Joseph, Gabby, Chloe, Caris, KK, Breccan), from<br />

Mom’s Club, Evan and then my favourite brother, who had a blast, and I.<br />

One lekker party. BUT – it must be said, I sent invitations to my SA friends and it was really hard for me to realise<br />

that they would not be able to come to the party. I did send them ‘emails’ to tell them that I missed them and<br />

wrote the notes on my white board, so that helped me! Looking forward to celebrating a birthday with them again<br />

in future.<br />

And that was my party! Thank you God for the opportunity to celebrate and for the kind hearted guests you<br />

brought into my life whilst here in Los Angeles.<br />

_________________________________


my party


These are a few pics of my birthday party!<br />

I also sent these to my friends as birthday thank you notes.<br />

I had fun!! And I was really so blessed to share this day with so many<br />

who showed love and kindness towards me! And, it was fun that this<br />

year, my brother, zach, was old enough to crawl around with me too! As<br />

I’ve said before…I LOVE birthdays – and this celebration was special! <br />

travel town<br />

museum<br />

los angeles,<br />

USA<br />

7march2014<br />

friends who were<br />

there:<br />

gabby, joseph, chloe,<br />

caris, evan, tait,<br />

mavis, mira, nina,<br />

jeremy, isaac, oliver,<br />

chase, olivia, adam,<br />

micah, breccan, kk,<br />

zach and <strong>ella</strong>!,


\\\\


the end


MY BIRTHDAY<br />

So, leading up to my birthday, we read ‘Toast the Mouse’ book several times and it got me more and more excited<br />

after every read. The book is about Toast asking his mamma and pappa ‘how many sleeps until my birthday’ and<br />

then how he sends out invitations, prepares for his party, celebrates with his friends and gets his birthday bike as a<br />

gift! I’ve had this book for the last two years already and love it.<br />

Needless to say, I often asked mamma ‘ how many sleeps till my birthday ‘ – and her answer always made me<br />

smile! It was soon-sooooonnnn!!! I regularly said ‘ooohhhhh…it’s soooo exciting…it’s almost my birthddayyyyy’ –<br />

or randomly ‘mamma, mamma….something EXCITING (!!) is happening soooonnnn!!! My BIRTHDAYYYY!!!” <br />

So, when on my birthday morning, I was woken with a gentle kiss on the cheek by Pappa – as I was SNORING<br />

AWAY, still at 07h00…so unlike me these days…I tend to wake earlier. BUT, I had the best sleep, didn’t wake once<br />

that night and when I woke with that gentle kiss and the sounds of the happy birthday song and the sight of my<br />

birthday tray with candles and berries and a cupcake and gifts and a card….oh man…then I knew…it WAS my<br />

birthday!! And my opening line, following my HUGE smile….’mammma…I LOOOVVVEEE birthdayssss’ – said whilst<br />

I had deurmekaar hare and glowing eyes! <br />

Unwrapping each little gift filled me with such joy – and a ‘THANNNKKKK YYOOOUUUU zachhhh for my …..’ was a<br />

common response that morning! Inbetween, I took a lekker lick of my cupcake and the Elmo birthday card with a<br />

button to press for a birthday song was one of my favourites of the morning!<br />

The parents bought me a bike! I liked it, but to be honest, the Peter Rabbit books and kiddie nail polish and other<br />

stuff caught more of my attention.<br />

When I walked upstairs for breakfast, there was a birthday sign and bunting up and another gift…a basketball<br />

hoop! Yay for this one!<br />

Then some skype with Granny and opened the gifts she sent me, that mamma stored for me in my ‘birthday box’;<br />

then Gazza skyped, he was so sick, spent most of the night at Claremont hospital! Next we listened to so many<br />

voice notes and video wishes and whatsapp messages and sms messages from friends back home – totally felt so<br />

grateful for the love and friendship that was showered upon me!!<br />

Zacharoo was sick again – a bad cold; so mamma and I went to church, whilst he stayed with Pappa. I insisted on<br />

wearing most of my new bangles, my new sunglasses from granny and mamma bought me a new dress too. At<br />

Sunday School they sang for me, we also ate some of the blueberry sugar-free-bites mamma brought for them and<br />

after Sunday School, via Starbucks, we went home for more gift opening. Amazon delivery from Marek in Seattle!<br />

Loved it!! I then had a quick nap – about 45 minutes and we headed upstairs, to open the many, many gifts I<br />

received at my party! Wow, my friends were so generous!!<br />

Then, I tried out my bike for a bit, was not toooo keen – so zach ended up being pushed around on it mostly. It<br />

was SUCH a HOT DAY here in Monrovia! The park of course included swinging-fun and running around and<br />

climbing and all the things that make me smile! Then some more running around in front of Library square before<br />

coming home for supper and stories from my new train books.


What a day. What a celebration. What amazing grace from God for yet another year and even though I had a<br />

rough start to the week, with testing mamma’s patience, by the end of the week I was ‘back to normal’ and<br />

obedient and kind and loving and filled my parents’ hearts with joy <br />

And now I am three Oh and then…tannie nichy and oom marcelle…they sent me an AMAZING VIDEO that<br />

brought tears to the parents’ eyes…beautiful to watch, grateful to God!<br />

I love birthdays and this one was memorable and special too!<br />

love,<br />

-<strong>ella</strong>-<br />

_______________________________________________________________


PICS OF MY BIRTHDAY


the end


R A B E<br />

-<strong>ella</strong> turning THREE - the update-


…now that I’m three…<br />

THREE! She’s THREE!<br />

New continent, new year, new moods added to this our liefste, mooiste, kleine, <strong>ella</strong> mireille rabe, but all<br />

in all – what a lovely bebble!<br />

LOVE her heart. [ignoring the active sin in there] – she has such such compassion on others, from her<br />

imaginery friend Ee, to rabbit, her cot friend, to ‘aaahh, sleep well, my little love…sleep well my zach’ to<br />

caring about random pics in a book of someone who is ‘cwying’, to spotting the sad face in a shop and<br />

asking why they are feeling ‘unsettled’. She is filled with love and compassion for all around her. She is<br />

friendly, chatty, interacts with even ‘tourist bear’ – this statue down Myrtle Avenue, has fat chats with<br />

Mark Twain (statue in front of the Library- ‘Mark…I love your shoes…it’s so very shiny!’ – and often tells<br />

him ‘would you like some lunch?? Ok, Mark, I can get you some – and then she hops off the bench and<br />

picks up some acorns and twigs and gently puts in in his lap ‘to eat’<br />

She is very observant. Spots when people have cut their hair, wears different colour shoes, wears their<br />

beads or not, changed their reading glasses to sunglasses, spots car logos ‘lllooookkkkk – it’s a<br />

chevroletttt!!’, remembers what different people wore and describes it later, remembers names so very<br />

well and connects families. So you will ask her who are the Ronnes – and she’ll name them, or the<br />

Tubmans or the Langhoffs of the Du Plessis, etc etc.<br />

She cherishes friendships. And longs for time with her ‘Cape Town friends’. Since our move to Los<br />

Angeles on 25 October 2014, she’s really, genuinely, been missing them dearly. There’s no one like<br />

‘Sadie-Mia’ and the list of close friends, whom she talks about daily and includes in her imaginary play<br />

ALL THE TIME, include Jack, Jemma and Ben, Daniel, Lisa-Marie, Sam, Harris, Inez. She has this way of<br />

randomly talking about some of her friends and their parents – like when we peeled a peach the other<br />

day, she proceeded to remind me about tannie Lara offering her a peach with Riley – and at that stage<br />

she was just over a year old….she has a memory bank of memories stored – from when the hadida use<br />

to ‘make a noise’ on the roof at Charnwood, where we lived since she was born till about 18 months, to<br />

when Jack asked ‘where are the snails’ in his garden to when Waheed, one of the kids at Charnwood<br />

touched the mole or when a song plays, she’ll say ‘mamma – we listened to this at Edward Square whilst<br />

I was eating my oats!!’ or some random, random. Or remembering that she was eating raisins when<br />

she first saw a giraffe in real life, being 22 months at them time or reminding us about ‘we use to this or<br />

that at Edward Square…’ <br />

If you’ve done something ‘new’ with her at any stage, she’d remember it. Like drawing lines in the sand<br />

– she saw someone else do it at the zoo the other day and said ‘mamma, that’s what tannie Maria<br />

(Edwards Square neighbour) taught me!’ – or she loves to say – ‘just like….’ And compares or<br />

remembers things that sound the same, names that are the same, things that rhyme. Today she started<br />

by saying, mamma ‘s’ for Sadie-mia and s for…sock and s for…something! Just out of the blue. And in a<br />

fun way – whilst in her high chair. Since about 24/25 months – she learnt the alphabet – not in<br />

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sequence, but letter recognition – from a birthday gift she got from tannie Honnie – a for ant, b for<br />

balloon, etc. It took ‘one session’ of doing these with her before she memorized it! I for ink and o for<br />

octopus were her favourites Then shortly after that, we were in Typo and she exclaimed, LOOOK<br />

MAMMAAA!!! It’s a o for octopus! Pointing to the Typo banner So we just casually allowed her to<br />

‘spot’ the familiar letters she knew. Her name she recognized from early on as she had a bowl as a gift<br />

from Milea that said Ella – so she had this ‘song’ E for <strong>ella</strong>, l – l – a and spelled her name out everytime<br />

we used that bowl…which was daily. So she then after that, quickly spotted her name by herself,<br />

recognizing the Ella all by herself. Was sweet to see the delight in her eyes as she spotted these <br />

Since about September and then when we moved here, she casually read two pages of the letterland<br />

activity book. It had the m-at mat and c-at, cat words in it. Those she ‘can read’ cat, mat, hat, bed, Ted,<br />

red, pig, wig, dig. I don’t push any of this further – just leaving it at that and then we continue with<br />

whatever. Just sweet to see her ‘read’ these.<br />

She makes these scribbles and often draws the letter e and then rushes over LOOKKKK it’s an e for <strong>ella</strong>!!<br />

And same with a z and a m and the letter l. Point is, she enjoys all of this and when randomly she ‘writes<br />

something’ she gets so so excited <br />

Her drawing skills are not very advanced – well, who knows what they must be able to do at which age<br />

BUT – she likes to draw Table Mountain, rainbow, good with circles from before her second birthday,<br />

later a few combined circles became ‘tinsel’ and she draws lines and LLOOKKK it’s and octopus with<br />

tenticals or a jelly fish And her ‘first person’ looked pretty good too Hair on the right spot, arms<br />

coming out of the head and feet from the legs, a nose, smile, even some ears And started to write<br />

her name too! Also knows the letters well enough to tell you what letters different words start with –<br />

‘what does taglet start with’ – a ‘t!!’ and zach? a ‘z’ etc etc <br />

Since zach’s arrival, <strong>ella</strong> has been the most loving older sister. She LOVES zach. It’s visible everyday.<br />

She is gentle with him, caring, concerned when he is unsettled, which is most of the time, sooo excited<br />

to see him in the morning or give him good night kisses or hugs or ‘don’t worry zach…mamma is here’<br />

don’t worry zach, I’m here with you…don’t worry zach…here’s your dummy – there you go little<br />

love…THERE YOU GOOOOO. ‘are you fine now zach’….’okay, you’re fine now, zach.’<br />

But then her all time favourite thing to do, is to read her Bible. Any Bible for that matter. And my blue<br />

Bible is a particular favourite of hers. The insight she has into who God is, why Jesus had come, our sin,<br />

the need for us to have our sins cleaned, how Jesus is God – ‘mamma, Jesus is God AND Jesus is God’<br />

son AND Jesus is our King!’ she’ll tell me with absolute conviction and confidence. The way she prayers<br />

is so touching, her sincere way of saying sorry for her disobedience ‘mamma, I am so, so sorry that I<br />

screamed and shouted, I won’t do it again, I will ask God to change my heart’. And then promptly prays.<br />

The way she ‘reads the Bible’ on her own is just so so lovely to see. It’s her first request when we do<br />

stories. Pre-zach, we had Bible Story time every morning before her nap in her chair – it was ‘part of the<br />

routine’ – we read through the Big Storybook Bible by David Helm and the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally<br />

Lloyd-Jones and Fool Moon Rising so so many times. Post-zach, we read in our bed and then some other<br />

stories – and then there was a time when reading the Bible with zach being awake, was just impossible.<br />

SO now we read it together if she wakes first, or otherwise she reads it lekker loud on her own or we<br />

read it when zach naps. Yes…zach gets minimum Bible time – we try, but he screams and doesn’t want<br />

to sit still for the story and tears the pages and and….BUT – we keep trying with them together but then<br />

make time with her on her own.<br />

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About reading: <strong>ella</strong> in front of a bookshelf is one of her favourite places to be! Ella knows EVERY SINGLE<br />

book in her bookshelf and what they are about – including a ‘chapter book’ Seekers of the Lost Boy, that<br />

I read to her after Zach was born and she could re-tell so much detail of the story and the storyline, it<br />

was quite entertaining! <br />

She LOVES singing. She use to sing herself to sleep every night at home. Since Los Angeles, this<br />

beautiful habit stopped as she shared a room with zach and sadly, had to keep her voice down, so she<br />

doesn’t do it anymore. Which is a shame. She would start with verse, chorus, verse, etc and sing<br />

through ‘I will rise’ ‘You are Stronger’ ‘Bless the Lord oh my soul’ – LOVED it!<br />

She also requests these songs over and over and picks up lyrics quite quickly!<br />

Highlight at church for her use to be the All Age service, cause then she could join in on the singing –<br />

most songs she recognized and that always broadened her smile!! Here at Grace Pasadena, she loves<br />

jiving to the band – so much so that many a congregation member has told me before how they ‘enjoy<br />

her dancing and swaying’ ‘mamma, I am the guitarist’ is a firm favourite saying.<br />

This ‘I am…’ thing is another story. She changes her name often, depending on who she is thinking<br />

about or pretending to be, etc etc. Calaya is the name of this dancer girl from the island of Guam that<br />

she met at the LA Travel Show – and was totally fascinated by their dances – and joined in – uninvited<br />

and they were kind enough to dance with her – she saw them in Long Beach again, they gave her a<br />

flower for her hair and a necklace and she was just in heaven! So ‘mamma, I am Calaya, is a regular line’<br />

- others are ‘mamma, I am tannie Ilse…the massage therapist’ or ‘tannie Jacklyn from Sorbet’ – after her<br />

coming to a pedicure with mom and I and totally loving it! And she does enjoy dancing – music plays<br />

and the body starts rocking…shoulders up and down, hips side to side, attempting to open and shut legs<br />

or forward backward feet for ‘steps’ – and the jumping and turning – she’s so into it. Best is at church<br />

when the band plays – that she jives to the tunes. Always fascinated by instruments – notices who the<br />

guitarist of the day is, who wears what, if the drummer changes, etc. Sweet to see – all very<br />

spontaneous and ‘free’.<br />

She is so ‘into bangles’ and thanks to granny(!) painting her toe nails – kiddie nail polish I might add –<br />

she looks like a Christmas tree most days, covered with necklaces, bangles, rings, sunglasses – and she<br />

totally loves it. Add in her favourite ‘pink-tip-shoes’ from Woolies and she’s a happy girl <br />

She has finally, since two weeks ago, started to do a 30 minute swimming lesson ‘on her own with the<br />

teacher’ here at the YMCA. They don’t allow parents to be ‘pool side’ and after a few SCREAMING<br />

lessons, she is finally okay to go with teacher Amy. But lessons here are not as structured in terms of<br />

what they learn compared to back home.<br />

Feel like she is missing out on the ‘quality’ of lessons we had from swimming to Jumpstart – but, we’re<br />

here now and so we settle for this. Musicali is a nice music programme we’ve joined – they are both in<br />

the same class together, so that’s fun. She is very sensitive too – if there’s a sad song – usually she’d<br />

burst into tears – but now lately, she’ll say ‘I don’t like that song, but I know it will pass’…much better<br />

than the deep rooted sad cry that she use to have, especially in Jumpstart classes!<br />

She’s the fussy eater in the home. Addicted to date bars and oats. And finally we get to add some sauce<br />

to her pasta. Before that it was just plain rice, plain pasta, plain everything. She loves meat – so that<br />

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goes in. We still don’t give her dairy or sugar and don’t think I will ever give in on that front as her poor<br />

skin is often still in such a bad condition – itchy, scratchy, burny rash spots often.<br />

We started ‘potty training’ ‘officially’ since January and it is going really, really well. Only time she wears<br />

a nappy is in the evenings. The only thing is that the few times she needed to make a pooh, she was a<br />

bit constipated, so that negative association with ‘it will hurt mamma!!!’ is still there and often she does<br />

not want to make her pooh in the loo. Other than that ‘blue bumbo, is what we call the blue bumbo<br />

toilet seat, is her friend and she hops onto the loo by herself quite fine!<br />

She’s also been in her own bed since the first Sunday in Feb. We went to ikea, chose a bed, they<br />

delivered it, Rich built it and yay – that went very well. Till the next day when she cried that she wanted<br />

her cot back. She is very sensitive to change – so you have to tell and explain the full story in order for<br />

her to be okay and accept something new. I guess it is still part of the ‘I want to go back to Edward<br />

Square’ feelings. Like when we had to throw out the dead Christmas tree – she sobbed, wanting us to<br />

please not throw out the Christmas tree!<br />

Ella on a swing is another happy space for her. She LOVES the swings and LOVES the park and LOVES<br />

running around and hanging of bars ‘lookk….it’s my trick mamma!’ She wants to be pushed in pram<br />

often too cause ‘I can’t walk mamma’ and ‘my knees hurt’ is also something we had to deal with – so<br />

much so we saw a physio, she confirmed that her knees could hurt because of the way she positions her<br />

foot ‘inwardly’ – and lately her cries about not being able to get up the stairs is making us consider<br />

taking her for some xrays.<br />

Since the visit to the states, she’s been sick too, like zach and had conjunctivitis, bronchitis, RSV, often<br />

blocked nose – and she does not like a blocked nose! She’s had to have two injections for flu (!!) – but<br />

was really, really brave about it! She LOVES medicine and takes it easily and requests it often! She<br />

weighs about 13.8kg, seems much taller, has longer hair, and I just love the light brown colour of her<br />

hair <br />

She loves kids – always reaches out to even the older kids at the park, has more and more confidence on<br />

the bike we bought her for her birthday and enjoys ‘shooting hoops’ and gets SOOO excited about it!<br />

Another bday gift.<br />

And then of course, her ‘kitchen’ wasn’t here in LA when we moved, so after Christmas we ordered her<br />

a pink kitchen and this makes her sooo happy!! <br />

I love the random ‘mamma…I LOOOVVEEE you’…or the ‘mamma, I will make you headache better’ or<br />

the ‘ mamma, can I read you a story’ LOVE listening to her chat to her cot friends: Lion, Rabbit, Fluffy<br />

Duck. She is still super attached to her brown taglet!!<br />

Has a routine still – naps from 12h45/13h00 till about 14h30 or 15h00. Wakes earlier since we’re here<br />

in LA, but again, since daylight saving, she wakes at 07h00 again – dankie tog!!<br />

‘that’s a good idea’ / ‘ooohhhhh, I am sooo excited!’ / ‘aaahh THANK YOU mamma for giving me this<br />

meal’ / all these random, sincere phrases – totally love it.<br />

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Washing her hair has become easier – she ‘floats’ on her back and sings twinkle little star sometimes –<br />

just like she used to do at swimming back home. She LOVES xylitol ‘sweeties’ – she has no issue<br />

brushing or flossing her teeth and since our arrival in LA – she stopped drinking milk in the evenings<br />

before bedtime. And since the end of February – no more doedoe baggie either.<br />

Has a song that she liked to sing to Richardt when he got home:<br />

‘pappa richardt pappa richardt ek is LIEF vir pappa ricahrdt!’ and changed it to mamma meryl I love you<br />

mamma meryl or brother zach… - very sweet.<br />

The bonus about life here in Monrovia, is that Rich gets to come home for lunch and this brightens her<br />

day!! She LOVES to see him and her entire body gets totally pshyched when she sees him!<br />

Our move to LA also brought on new moods in her that we were not familiar with. Frustrations,<br />

screams, shouts, tears about little things – and so hidings were regular and other than that, we tried to<br />

be patient with her, taking into account the new new that she has to deal with and how much moving<br />

here affected her. ‘pappa…there are no friends here….’ is what particularly struck us one day as she was<br />

staring across the park and not recognizing a familiar face.<br />

To date, there isn’t a girl friend that she is ‘close’ with – but we are praying that God will bring some<br />

friends into her life. She is fond of Mavis and Mavis seems to be just a few weeks younger than her, so<br />

we’ll see how that goes. But she was very excited about her party and the friends that were there.<br />

<strong>ella</strong> really adds such joy to our lives and the lives of others around her. We thank God for her, her love<br />

for Him, her care for others, the way she cracks us up, her fun little being and for the priviledge, which it<br />

certainly has been, to (try) and parent her!<br />

You are three bebblee-boo – and oh my goodness, more than ever, we love you! As you say…so mega<br />

much! <br />

__________________<br />

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Ella Rabe – 09 March 2014. 3 Years old.<br />

:<br />

Ella has been a joy and a challenge all the same over the last few months. Definitely not “terrible twos”,<br />

but we’re busy learning the art of self-control, about delayed gratification and about dealing with<br />

disappointment etc. It’s a steep learning curve both for Ella and her parents.<br />

Here are a few recent milestones, observations and highlights from dad’s perspective, in no particular<br />

order:<br />

• We bought her her first “proper” bike for her 3 rd birthday. No pedals, so she can learn to<br />

balance – Oupa will approve. She hasn’t taken to it like a duck to water, but I think she’s<br />

warming up to it nonetheless. At the moment Zach is still more excited about it than she, but<br />

that may be because he never has to any pedaling himself!<br />

• She’s still a fussy eater, but often surprises herself when she ends up liking something she<br />

eventually gets coaxed into eating. The journey continues, I suppose…<br />

• Reading is still very much a favourite activity. And it’s amazing how much she remembers. And<br />

often she won’t want you to read to her because she wants “reads” herself. Then she basically<br />

retells the story as she remembers it and makes up the details she can’t remember. It’s quite<br />

funny because you can tell when she’s “buying time” while she’s composing a story to fill in the<br />

gaps in her memory… “Then…, he … pause (check facial expression: eyebrows lifted) …... “. She<br />

really tells a story with her face. Too cute!<br />

• Ella has been a little less excited about balls compared to her brother. That said, we bought her<br />

a mini basketball and “hoop” and she’s been doing quite well throwing the ball through the<br />

hoop. Dad is impressed and relieved at the same time! <br />

• Enjoys “writing” more than drawing. She can now write her own name. She can also write a “Z”<br />

for Zach and is very excited when she gets it right. She also recognizes many, if not most, of the<br />

letters in the alphabet and can spell things like, “cat.”<br />

• Enjoys playing with her brother and always kisses him goodnight.<br />

• Loves the iPad, iPod and other electronic gadgets – always wants to watch video clips or look at<br />

photos. Mom limits the time spent on these devices.<br />

• Still has her imaginary friend i-i. I’ve caught her scolding i-i for being disobedient. Eish.<br />

• Loves the park and especially the swings. Swings have always been a favourite. She has,<br />

however, “graduated” to the “big swing.” The “big swing” doesn’t have a basket that you sit in<br />

(so that you don’t fall out), it simply has a flexible, rectangular seat (no old tyres here). But this<br />

means you really have to hang on. Dad is really scared!! And she’s very quick to tell you that<br />

you’re not pushing her high enough – she wants to go really high! And swinging still produces<br />

giggles. Another trick she recently learned on the swings was going on her tummy – almost<br />

takes a run-up to the swing and then “falls” onto the seat with her tummy and pushes forward<br />

and up for “lift-off”; then proceeds to swing forwards and backwards a few times. I can just<br />

picture the fall! Another park trick is jumping off a low platform and grabbing a horizontal cross-<br />

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ar and swinging like a monkey from this cross-bar (legs pulled up). These days she also climbs<br />

up to the high slide and goes off all by herself.<br />

• Beginning to dress and undress herself. Goes to the loo by herself, sometimes.<br />

• Finally graduated to a “big” bed.<br />

• Still swops names regularly – she can be a number of different people in the space of 15<br />

minutes.<br />

• She still cooks in (on) her kitchen – a pink one replaced the IKEA one she had in South Africa.<br />

• Loves music and I can hear the progress in her singing – she manages to hit the right notes much<br />

more regularly. Also, dad’s dancing in those early days seems to be paying off as she’s<br />

displaying evidence of rhythm. But these days she’s picking up on lyrics more and more, which<br />

means I need to be careful what I play. Some of those wonderful blues songs have real dodgy<br />

lyrics!<br />

• When I come home for lunch or after work, she’ll always (almost) tell me if she was disobedient<br />

that morning or afternoon.<br />

• Didn’t take many lessons for her to get over her fear of being left alone with the swimming<br />

instructor, which is a real relief, as parents are not allowed next to the pool. Now she enjoys<br />

swimming. And it’s funny to see how much she chats. The swimming instructor takes turns<br />

with the kids and sometimes they’ll come down the length of the pool almost to where the<br />

parents are sitting (in an adjacent room overlooking the pool area) – and you’ll see her chatting<br />

all the way from the other side, non-stop! She even chats to the life guard standing next to the<br />

pool.<br />

• She has her own starbucks order – a cup of chilled water… The friendly barista at the Starbucks<br />

in the local grocery store knows us well enough that the orders just arrive – Ella’s included.<br />

• Loves bread, just like her dad. But at the moment it’s pretty much only honey – or sometimes<br />

even just butter.<br />

• Is very proud of her “long” hair – “like Mamma.”<br />

• Still loves the “bling”. Rings, bangles and necklaces remain firm favourites. And the more<br />

bangles she can fit on her arm at the same time, the better. Real American gangster style!<br />

• Among friends she’s often a “voorbok” getting them to follow her where she wants to go. She’s<br />

not at all shy about grabbing a hand a pulling the friend along.<br />

• Very funny when she imitates her parents or uses phrases she hears us using, such as, “like in<br />

really, Pappa.” Thanks Mom! Or, “Oh my goodness!”<br />

______________________________________________<br />

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