AHHHH Sweet !

Today we went to Gareth's birthday party at the Lonehill fire station. Zara was pretty oblivious to the fun being had by the older children - sliding down the fireman's pole as well as going for a ride in the fire engine and then spraying each other with the hose....

She did however love seeing her Grandpa and Granny Hilton again!!!

After the party we went back to Mike & Laura for the present opening - wow Gareth - what a lot of great goodies you got!!!

Gareth & Emma were also very taken by their baby cousin and spent quite a while loving and entertaining her....

Johanna came to visit

Since Zara was born, we have been trying to find a suitable time for Johanna to come meet our baby girl. As you will remember, Johanna, worked for Chris & I for the past 10 yrs after Brett & Lara left for London. Unfortunately she could not come to work for us full-time as she has been working for Julie for many more years and is about 2 years away from retirement. Anyways today was the day that we were all available, when she arrived, Zara was asleep but soon enough, with sleep time over, she and Johanna got to meet each other and have a bit of playtime too.

Hey there Baby Cousins

While we have been down in Durban with Grannyannie & Grandpa, while Grandpa is recuperating from his emergency bypass and valve replacement surgery, we have also been lucky enough to see baby Riley and baby Rebekah a few times. At last we have been able to get all three babies together & awake at the same time. As you will remember, the first time she met Riley and Becky they were all of 12wks (Zara) 4 wks (Riley) & 3 wks (Rebekah) old. Although even now, they are still too little to pay each other much attention now, I am confident that our future visits to Durban are going to be a whole heap of fun for Zara visiting all her cousins.

Soothing the itch

Over the past few days Zara has discovered how to put her toys into her mouth. On her first attempt, she was more accurate at getting her fist there, as you can see, she has now mastered the art...... she especially like her "rasbaby teether". I think the sensation of the baubles on the rassberry sooth those incredibly itchy gums. Although she has possibly started "teething" as her teeth are moving up into the gums, it may still be quite a while before we see an actual tooth.

Bathing with Riley

While we have been down in Durban, with Grandpa recovering in hospital, we have been having supper at Mark & Claudia. Tonight we decided to try let the girls bath together....

As Zara is still new to her bath chair, she was a little apprehensive to her big cousin towering over her and at first clung onto the bath chair. Riley was all too keen to have her baby cousin come out and play so kept tugging on her legs. They both seemed to enjoy the experience and provided a good dose of laughs for all us adults.

I cant wait till they are able to play together, what with a mere 10 mth age gap, I think they are going to get up to all sorts of mischief in the months and years to follow.....

Teo & Zara

Today we went to lunch at another one of Zara's little friends. Teo's mum - Serife - and I did preggie yoga together and our babies are 3 weeks apart - Teo being the older. Teo was very patient in showing Zara how his cars work - they are like "Russian dolls" and the red one goes over the yellow one which goes over the blue one with the green one at the bottom....

Serife and her husband Chris have been in SA since the beginning of last year. Chris works up in Uganda so is in and out of SA a lot. He has just been offered a job back in London, which will obviously be a lot better for them as Chris will be home all the time. So sadly for Zara and me, it looks like they will be leaving at the end of March.....

Zach & Zara

Today, Zach and his Mom, Theoni came to visit. I met Theoni through yoga - she was our teacher. Our estimated due dates were 3 weeks apart but seeings Zara decided to come earlier, Zach and Zara were born 4 days apart. Amazingly they had exactly the same measurements at birth. As you can see now, Zach is a real boy an is a bit bigger than Zara.

While Theoni and I had a catch up, the babies lay "talking" in Zara's donut. It was very entertaining watching our little ones interact with each other. See how they holding hands......

At one point Zara started whinging like a real girl and Zach just looked at her and giggled - we have that on video!!!

Big Girl Bath

As you can all remember, we have always bathed Zara in a rather deep bath allowing her to float about in the water. Well, now that she is such a "big girl" we have decided to let her use her bath seat. This will give her a bit more inderpendance and also give us some relief on our backs. She seems to be enjoying this new found bath technique, albeit a little apprehensive at times as she clings onto the arm rests. We have also started splashing her face a bit in the hopes she will follow in Leo and Riley's footsteps and not get too fussed when splashed in the face..... as you all know I am the biggest ninny about water on my face!

Grandpa's Yacht

Never mind being on "Daddy's Yacht" - look how Zara had a chill out session with Grandpa!

She really looks like she is in the lap of luxury with her arms under her head....... what a life!!!

Zara's Cafe

Not many children can boast having a restaurant named after them - Just kidding! We were however intrigued to find this coffee shop in Durban North so together with Grannyannie we went out to have lunch. The food was absolutely divine - but the aircon was not working so we just about fried ourselves. We had to guzzle down our meal as not matter what we did poor little Zara would not settle because she was so hot. In a desperate measure, as Chris was paying the bill, I rushed out into the Woolworths next door and did a few laps up and down the isles to cool her down.

3 Months Old

Today Zara is 3 months old! Chris & I decided to try get a set of foot prints to add to her collection - first foot print taken on day she was born, then 7 days old and again 8 weeks old.....

All I can say is that its easier said than done - half a ream of paper later, I think we got one semi decent one and now understand why Sharon uses an ink stamp pad (not paint) when she does footprints of all her babies!

As for the past 3 months of motherhood - time has truly sped by. Each day is as exciting as the last and so rewarding watching Zara grow and develop...... she is a real gem. A totally contented little girl!!! Motherhood is all I thought it would be and more - yes there are the tough days but its been well worth the wait and I now understand why people say "this is the meaning of life"

Trip to the beach.....

One of the things, Chris has been most excited about since becoming a Dad, is to take Zara to the beach. So, 2 days short of 3 months old, off we went with Shaun, Mark, Claudia & Riley....

Because of the littlies, we got to Vetchies (near Ushaka) just after 8am. We found a nice spot and set up the sun cabana. Shaun & Chris took the surf ski out for a bit while we chilled out on the beach. Riley had an absolute ball in the sea and building castles in the sand.

Being the sensible parents we like to believe we are, we packed up at about 10.30am before it was too hot an overcrowded.

With a good taste test of the Durban beach, we can now look foward to many more happy, sunfilled beach holidays together with family and friends!

Zara's First Christmas

Wow, what a super Christmas day we have had! As you can see...Chris & I got all we could have wanted, our beautiful Zara, snuggly & save inside her own Christmas stocking! And yet there was more..... Having arrived in Durban on the 22nd Dec, Zara has decided that she is really enjoying the sea air and has been sleeping through - YAY!!!

The celebrations started on Christmas Eve. Kelly and Rory hosted a fantastic dinner at their beautiful apartment in Umghlanga with the Atkinsons & Armours etc. Zara got to meet her baby cousins (2nd cousins to be precise) Riley Lindsay - 4wks old and Rebekah Armour - 3 wks old. Although the kids didn't really pay each other much attention, the adults all "gooed" over the precious bundles.

Christmas day was also divine. We spent a very relaxing day at Mark & Claudia's, opening an abundance of presents...... jeepers was Zara spoilt - I think the picture says it all! Thank you everyone!!!

Then it was time for lunch and we had a very civilised lunch at the table - we were also so lucky as both girls were sweet enough to have their naps over lunchtime which made it even nicer to be able sit and eat our roast and enjoy a good glass of wine. After lunch, with our bellies about to burst we all relaxed around the pool and enjoyed the lovely summer's day.

First Swim

So one of the joys of having a baby is the fact that your life is now once again full of "firsts".

On this typical Durban summers day, we decided to give Zara her first swim! We thought that maybe the pool would still be too cold for her, so we filled one of Riley's plastic shells with water and in no time it was almost as warm as her bath. I had to squeeze myself into the shell but as you can see, our little water baby just relaxed and enjoyed being around her cousins who were swimming in the big pool.

SEE YOU SOON...............

See this Hand Shannon

Yesterday I went to visit some very good family friends, Peter & Shannon Woodliffe. They used to live in Ficksburg when the Letseng mines in Lesotho were still mining as Peter was a pilot for De Beers. Even after they moved back to Benoni, our families stayed in close contact and we spent every Easter together growing up. Michelle their elder daughter and I were only months apart age wise but sadly lost contact over the years. When Zara was merely 4 weeks old, I went to our first "bumps and babes" and lo and behold there I met up with Melanie, their other daughter. She was till a "bump" at that stage and brought me up to date on the Woodliffe clan.

My favorite "Shannon story" is how when we were misbehaving as all children do, she would wave her hand in front of us and quote "You see this hand, do you want to see it land?" This had such an amazing effect on us that we immediately became angels. Although in those days I was scared of her, I have always been extremely fond of them and so spent a lovely afternoon with them, catching up and reminiscing about the "good ol days". Peter & Shannon are in Jozi for a month to spend time with their family ~ I couldn't miss the opportunity to go introduce Zara to them.

Zara better watch out as I may have learnt a trick or two from "see this hand Shannon"

Zara's Christening

In celebration of our first wedding anniversary, we had Zara baptised on Sunday. The intimate family, ceremony was held at St Columba's in Parkview by Rev "Chunky" Young. The service was not only special because it was our anniversary but also because I have known Chunky for years through the wedding industry and he did our marriage prep with us. All in all there were three babies, of which two were Zara!!!

After the ceremony we all came back to our place for a light lunch. In keeping with her special bug theme we had her baptism candle and cake decorated to suit.....


Even though the weather was a bit miz we had lovely day with our families. The Smeetons. Londoners and Parnells were sorely missed, thanks you all for thinking of us and sending your special blessings for Zara!

Grandpa Christmas came to town

Zara is a very lucky girl as her Grandpa is one of Santa's helpers..... the advantage of this of course is that she has a direct hotline to the man himself. But with this, there is a small price to pay too, as that same hotline can also report on any bad behaviour.

Carols by Candlelight

Last week, Jeanie hosted a small gathering for some "Carols by Candlelight". She had arranged for Brenda, the music teacher at Kirsten's school to come along and play her keyboard for us, but with all the Eskom load shedding it seemed at some point that we would be going acapello. However, just in time, the electricity came back on and shortly after that, Fr Christmas made his appearance. The poor chap stumbled in (literally) and all the kids were delighted he could make it so early before Christmas. We all sang a few carols together and then it was time for him to move on to the next group...... he assured us all that if we stayed well behaved, he would be back on Christmas eve with some more presents! [even for the adults ;~) ]

Car Comfort

I can't say Zara is the happiest baby when in the car......

Unfortunately we have been spending quite a lot of time in the car lately, trying to get organised for her Christening, Christmas and our holiday. However, thanks to Pat (my Godmother) we now have some good entertainment for her. She seems to love watching the frog, butterfly, turtle and fish as they dangle above her car seat. Her little legs kick in excitement and every now and again I her "whoop" in delight.

This pic was taken while waiting for Chris as he was coming with me to a small shoot to look after Zara while I worked.

In my Cot

Now that Zara is having more awake time during the day, I decided that we should try encourage a different environment for her day time naps when we are home. So this morning she had her first sleep in her bedroom, in her cot. She looks so tiny in the huge cot, but appeared to be quite comfy as she had a good 45 min nap while I managed to make so phone calls.

Paediatrician Visit

Today we had Zara's 8 week check with the paediatrician, Dr Lucic. This is not the same doctor that was at her birth but was our doctor of choice. Unfortunately for us it had been her weekend off when Zara was born and so we had her partner Nelli. After a thorough check we now have some stats about Zara:

	Birth	Today
weight	3.280 kg	4.880 kg
height	52 cm	56.5 cm
head	36 cm	39 cm

According to Dr Lucic, this puts her in 50 percentile and makes her 100% average on all levels.

As suspected, Zara's belly button has herniated, but Dr Lucic is confident that it will rectify itself as she grows and gets stronger. So far she has not inherited my heart murmur and it is apparently unlikely she will. There is apparently only a 2-3% chance of genetic transfer.

Dr Lucic gave me all the time I needed to ask any questions and at no point did I feel like I had to hurry up as the next patient was waiting. Once again we have been lucky to get such an amazing doctor. Even though she was running late, I must admit it was worth the wait and I look forward to seeing her again at our 6 month check next year.

Gym Bunnies

On the nights we don't go walking, "Bun and Baby Bun" enjoy a gym session together.....

This picture was taken last night while I was trying to get some "work" done. Hopefully a good exercise routine will be instilled in Zara as she watches her Dad in the gym

2 months old

Last week marked Zara's two month birthday! Life in the Atkinson household has certainly changed but we are loving every moment with our precious miracle! It is now so hard to imagine a life without her!

Zara, remains a very content baby and is growing in leaps and bounds, getting stronger and cuter everyday. She is a lot more interactive and she tracks us as we move around her. She has been enjoying her play gym (thanks to Durban v G Family) and can lie under it kicking for ages cooing and listening to Mozart. She also definitely recognises our voices and reacts when we speak to her. Often when Chris gets home from work and greets us as he comes in the door, she turns her head to where his voices came from. She also appears to be a social being and thrives on some activity, be it an outing to bumps & babes or even a walk around neighbourhood.

Although she is still a little stingy with her smiles, I was able to get this one on camera!

As you can see from her clothing, we are still having four seasons in a week....... from bright sunny days to freezing cold wintery days ~ roll on summer PLEASE!

Paddle Power

Last Sunday(on her 8 week birthday), Zara decided that "sleeping-in" was for the birds. Usually our routine is to wake for a feed between 6 & 7 am and then go off to sleep again till about 9am. Which, as you can imagine has been absolutely perfect for her late rising mother. So at 7.30am after her feed , she decided that it was time to play. I took her cue and decided to surprise Dad by going to watch him paddle the time trial. We got ourselves organised and headed off to Emmarentia.

When we arrived, we saw Chris & Dave carrying their boat back to the racks.... very confused, I went and joined the other wives on the grass and waited to see what happened. Chris eventually came back to fetch his paddle and I then heard that they had managed t break the rudder-cable and were therefore no longer able to paddle.

Never the less , we sat on the banks of the dam, had a cup of coffee and fruit salad till the time trial was over. Once again, Zara enjoyed her outing, but lets hope next time we make it to watch Dad paddle, we will actually see him paddling.

Bumps & Babes

One of the perks of having Sharon as your midwife is "Bumps & Babes". Sharon hosts this on a wed morning for all her ladies while preggie or after baby is born. Sadly I never attended as a "bump" but have been enjoying the weekly get together since Zara was 4 weeks old. It was at my first "Bumps & Babes" that I hooked up with Melanie Woodliff who was there as a "bump" (her baby was due mid Dec, he was born 3 weeks ago, Jayden is healthy and growing nicely!). So bizarre after all these years to meet up again.

Basically "Bumps & Babes" is a very informal social gathering where we take a plate of eats and sit and chat to other Mom's. The babies range from newborn through to toddlers. We are able to weigh our babies if we choose to but there is no pressure. Sharon is also available to answer any questions and guide you if you need.

As you can see on this particular day the weather was great and we all got to sit outside ~ in the first pic, the front lady is Tania who I met through yoga, her boy, Jayden, lying on the blanket is 4.5mths old. Next to me is Nicole who I did yoga with and was also in my antenatal group. Jasmine is 2 days younger than Zara!

~ thanks to Sherene for the photos!~

Walkies

In the evenings we have been going walking round the neighbourhood. Most evenings we take her out in the pram, so that Dad can proudly show her off to the world, (we often play-fight as to who will push). Some evenings we drive down to Zoo Lake, it is busy at this time of the year as the weather is usually good. Zara seems to enjoy the outing and has a good bath and then settles well for the evening.

While Graham & Heather were here a few weeks ago we enjoyed a walk around Zoo Lake and then had a delicious coffee and cake at Moyo, the African restaurant at the lake.

I have also gone walking with my friend Serife, who I met at yoga. Her little boy, Tao, is 2 weeks older than Zara. We meet at Zoo Lake and walk around with our babies in their slings. Although they are usually blissfully unaware of each other they enjoy the outing.