4 Month Update

I feel like I've been so distant with the family and keeping you all updated with the kids.
As you all probably assumed we've had our hands full.  If it's not Emma that we're busy with its Addison and vice versa.
When I have alone time which is few and far between, I'm either reading emails, facebooking, trying to catch up with my magazines or parenting/baby manuals....going through photos of kids.....or napping...

Addi is 4 Months old

 Can you believe Addi is 4 months old now.  She's weighing 13lbs (6 kg) and 24in tall.  Averaging 50th percentile just like her sister.  50-75th percentile for height.  I remember being concerned about which percentile Emma was in at each visit....but now not so worried.
This mommy is really slacking second time round.

 Addison is starting to grab at things now and pull.  She loves gazing at her hands....chewing on her fingers or blanket if nearby.  She's a drooler and we just love her gummy smile.  Very sweet and content like her sister was but boy if she's not happy we are sure to know about it.  I've never heard such an ear peircing cry until now and she can really complain.  Its quite funny.

Last few days we've been fighting a virus with Addi....high fever,  very restless, up so often.....very tiring.  But now fever is down, nose clearing up.  So hopefully we're almost well now.
 

Bathtime pics

Rods been away this week.   When he travels I feel like I'm in a circus ...juggling the girls routines, I'm just grateful that Emma listens so well.  The one day I was feeding Addison and told Emma if she had to go potty she'd have to go by herself and discussed the whole routine.  So she comes running into Addison's room and says "mommy potty", so I tell her she has to go by herself.  I'm just listening out for her and hoping that she manages...she had to climb up the stool, turn on the light, pull down her pants and sit.  Then wait for mom to come and wipe up.  Well, she did it, and I was so proud of her.  The following day we had the same predicament, I was upstairs this time and Emma was downstairs.  She didn't say anything  but I heard her moving her stool around and trying to go.  I quickly ran downstairs to see what she was doing, she obviously heard me and came running to me with her pants down at her ankles, saying, "mommy potty".  And whenever she has to potty she'll say, "Quickly, quickly" and runs.

Sporting her Man U Jacket just for dad!

Loved this rear view



This stage of Emma's is really cute - I think I say this with all her stages!  Just gets better and better.  So great to talk about her day and what she did with a bit of encouragement of course.   Pointing things out while we're driving.  It always amazes me how she spots the smallest objects, it always takes me a while to find what she sees, like a bird sitting on a wire, in far the distance.  Her excitement for the smallest things is such a happy feeling.  To see her mind growing it amazing, counting, identifying letters on road signs, on the tv, in books.  There were contrails in the sky and they made a pattern, Emma looking through the sunroof says, "Look mom, A for baby Addison, up in the sky". 

A few of her conversations with mommy

Mommy: "Today is Friday Emma!"
Emma: "What we going to do mom?"
Mommy: "What do we normally do on a Friday?"
Emma: "Music class"

Then just before bedtime,
Mommy: "Tomorrow is Saturday Emma"
Emma: "What we going to do Mom?"
Mommy: "What would you like to do?"
Emma: "Go Park", "Daddy take you to the park?"
Mommy: "If the weather is good, daddy can take you to the park"
Emma: "Mommy come?"
Mommy: "Mommy will come if you want
Emma: "Momma wear carrier, take baby Addison"

Mommy: "Come Emma, lets get dressed" as I move toward her dresser
Emma: Pushing her way between me and the draw, "Let me choose"

Oh and thats the latest battle, "Emma do".  Everything Emma has to do, even though I've done it, she has to start right from the beginning and do it all over again.  Now I've learnt to stop myself before I do something that I know I'll regret doing and set us back another 10 minutes!

Our conversation this morning:
Mommy: "Emma, mommy is going to exercise this morning."
Emma: "Daddy look after you."
Mommy: "Yes, daddy will look after you, but when you say it, you must say daddy look after ME"
a few minutes Emma repeats that mommy is going to exercise and daddy look after YOU.
again I correct her.
So third time, Emma:  "Mommy going to exercise, Emma stay at home, Daddy look after.....ME"
YAY, she got it right!!! (we could just see the little wheels turning in her head when she said ME.
When it was time for me to leave, "Bye bye mommy, see you later"

Then tonight while she's dressing her magnetic ballerina doll and I wanted to join in the fun.
Emma: "No mommy, mustn't help, just watch.  Mom must watch tv, mom must sit on couch"
So bossy....

I could carry on and on with all the things she says, very entertaining.

So from helping set the table, helping to prepare our meals, playing doctor doctor, or shop shop, trying to hoola hoop (Emma that is), who would have thought such a small person can do so much! There is never a quiet day.  Addi just watches, or lays on her playmat and follows Emma and I around the house.  Leaves me feeling and looking a bit ragged by the end of each day, but just loving this time with my girls and watching them grow.



Our two munchkins - Emma looks so uncomfortable but just love how it seems Addi put her hand is up on her shoulder

 

Happy Addi!

Emma's Alphabet recognition and making Addi laugh

Days whizz by with all the activity going on in the house.  Two videos taken today, which I had to share.

Today Emma was able to recognise a few letters of the alphabet, it's always amazing how you think, I'm just going to ask to see if she knows and she does.  Emma makes us so proud.

Then Emma was playing around with her deflated ballooon, throwing it around and making sounds.
Addison found this quite entertaining and we got a few laughs out of her.  With Emma, Rod and I were the ones trying to make her laugh, now we have Emma to provide the entertainment.  This was quite a sweet moment to capture.

Life is sweet!

Videos of the Girls

Emma and Addi playing with their blocks

We've reached 29 months for Emma and Addison is almost 3 months old! 
Just like yesterday I was holding my newly born Addi, and now I'm  holding this baby with the cutest little rolls, chubby toes and dimpled little hands, which can only look cute on a baby!
Then I have Emma who's constantly questioning, What is this mom? or more like, What this is mom? and What this do mom?  Talking so much it's almost tiring!  Still times where I'm amazed at what she says.
We've reached a milestone with Emma, we're pottytrained! Whohoo!!!  We started last week Wednesday and since day 4 we hadn't had any accidents.  We've reached the point where she'll tell us each time when she needs to pee and poop!  I must say on day 1 I almost wanted to turn back to diapers, but so thankful I didn't.  And with Shan here it definitely helped.   Thanks Saamie for the help - I thought I'd make the most of Shan's time here to help me with this and I'm glad it's worked out!
Now to be able to have two sets of hands when I'm feeding Addi and Em needs to potty at the same time.

an oops photo which turned out pretty good

Little Miss Addison

Can't get enough of her smile!

I've uploaded a few videos of the girls to keep you updated with the two....

Addi has started talking so much.  I put together a few snippets of her little conversations.  Just love it!

And then she laughs....

And the two girls "play" so nicely together....haha
Poor Addi being poked and prodded by her big sister - I can just see it....Addi asking, "Why do I always have to be the patient?"

This was Emma the one morning saying morning to her sister.  And Addi just like her sister, greats us with her sweet little smile every morning....such a happy baby.

Por Por and Kung Kung

Mom and Dad left on Tuesday afternoon.  They’re in Atlanta right now until Friday.  Mom is attending a tradeshow, fits in perfectly with the trip.  They’re staying at a 5 star hotel, so really ending their trip off on a high note!

Since I started typing this, mom and dad have left Atlanta, and now safely back in South Africa.

As I said in my previous post, it was really wonderful having mom and dad with us.  Good to catch up, altho with Skype and email, we’re pretty much caught up….just nice to be able to give your folks the hugs you don’t get to give, and just spend time together, have tea together, eat together…  With the kids tho, you don’t realize how often your chats are disrupted, always up and down.  You start chatting at breakfast, then at lunch you get to continue….if you remember that is.


one of many trips to the park with Por Por and Kung Kung

Sadly Em doesn’t seem to be too phased that Por Por and Kung Kung have left.  Too young to really understand I guess, also with Rods travels she knows you always come back!  The morning of my folks leaving I took Emma to my parents room and showed her the suitcases and told her Por Por and Kung Kung are leaving.  Em’s response, “Bye Bye!”  My mom just laughed.  Em couldn’t wait to get to the airport, just because she would get to see the airplanes take off.  Later that evening when I asked where Por Por and Kung Kung are, she said, “South Africa”.
Seeing my folks saying good bye to the kids was really heartsore, but we hope to make a trip to SA in December, so before we know, we’ll be seeing each other again.

Just like yesterday they arrived, Dad down on the ground playing with Emma right away.  And Addi stealing another part of his heart.  Addi was very content with her Kungs.  Dad would hold her in a certain position which she just loved, no matter what time of day, she would fall asleep within minutes.  We called her a little leopard resting on a branch.  Addi really spoilt by all the arms.  So used to it that she refused to nap in her room, she would only nap in her swing which is in our living room, seemed like she liked to be where the family was.  We now have her sleeping in her crib, so that’s all sorted now.

playing with Kung Kung straight away

One of many gifts from Por Por and Kung Kung

Kung Kung got smiles just as he arrived





our little leopard

Mom pretty much bathed her every night, so that was good bonding time with Addi, she obviously loved it, giving us good stretches at night.

loving bath time with Por Por

 

Our last weekend with mom and dad was perfect outdoor weather.  Friday, mom and dad played one last game of golf at Duke Washington Golf Course, then Saturday we spent a wonderful day at Pullen Park.  This was a new found park for us and turned out to be a great find!  Something to look forward to visiting in the spring/summer.  This park has a train, carousel, boat rides, swings, climbing equipment, bridges and all other fun things to see and do.  Because the weather was so great around 20 degrees, the park was really busy, the lines for the rides were pretty long too.  So Emma only managed to ride the train and go on a boat ride.  The food was a bit of a disappointment, at least we know for next time to rather pack a picnic basket.

Emma had been wanting to go on a train ride for a while,  so the train at Pullen Park was a great surprise for her.  Such fun to ride with Por Por and Kung Kung.  Just the other day she saw a picture of a train and got all excited, saying, Por Por and Kung Kung took her on the train.  So sweet that she has that memory now.   As soon as we entered the park, Em saw popcorn, of course Por Por had to get it for her, so they got to enjoy a box of popcorn together.  Another sweet moment. 

on the caboose with Por Por

Kung Kung on Addi duty

Rod and I were waiting in line for the boat ride, we let Em sit with my mom and snack on the popcorn, when it was time to go on the ride, Em quickly grabbed a handful of popcorn before leaving, too funny.  We’re trying to teach her that the food is not going to run away, and that she has to finish chew before grabbing the next bite….not sure if this is just Emma, or all kids go thru this??  My mom just loved watching her munch away on the popcorn!

Emma now knows her Por Por and Kung Kung’s name, so wonderful that she’s at an age where she can remember most things and talk about it.  On Friday my friend Amy was going to visit with Ella, I had told Emma someone special is coming to visit, can you guess who?  Emma’s response was, “Por Por”, I then said, No, want to guess again?  She said “Kung Kung”.  I’m glad she knows that her Por Por and Kung Kung are special to her.  We miss you Por Por and Kung Kung – Thank you for everything you did for us!  Can’t wait to see you soon!



Forest Hills Park with Por Por, Kung Kung and Saamie

It’s been a week now of just us and the girls.   So far it hasn’t been too bad.  With family in town, it had given me time to evaluate things and how I would go about my day with the kids.  We seem to have a nice routine going right now where Addi is up around 6am, feeds and goes back to sleep, Emma is up but thankfully will stay in her room until we go and get her around 7:30am.  We have until about 10am with Emma then Addi wakes again, then it’s lunch and play, then naptime for the girls, they overlap for probably an hour, but of course just when I think I can put my head down for just a few minutes, something happens that I can’t, Addi decides to wake, needs a feed and by the time that is done, it’s almost time for Emma to wake up.  Rod gets home for work, and straight away it’s dinner, short time for play, then bath time and bedtime.  We’re all done by 8:30/9pm, and then it’s out rest time…by this time we’re just ready to collapse on the couch and veg, but you look at the kitchen and see all the dishes to be washed up and toys to be packed away.  You try get an early night, but our early seems to be anytime after 11pm!  It’s real busy busy these days, but when you hear Emma jabbering away asking all her questions, and Addison crying for attention or giving out a little “eh” kind of laugh to join in the conversation, you forget about the lack of sleep and just can’t believe how lucky we are to have such two special girls!  Life is good!

Welcome 2012

Happy New Year to all our Family and Friends!  Cannot 2012 is here.
Addi is now 2 months old, and Emma 28 months old now.

just missing Addi who was sleeping

Addi is smiling so much these days, love her first morning smiles when I go and pick her up.  She's managing small baby coo's.  One day I was busy looking at my cell phone while holding Addi, I hear this little coo, and look down, Addi is looking at me and just smiling.  Like get your nose out of your cell phone and focus on me rather!  She's weighing 10lbs 12 oz (just under 5kgs), Emma at 2 months was 10lbs 5 oz.  A little scary how the girls have their similarities, we've been looking at photos and my mom guessing who is who....Emma though is a give away, as she had way more hair than Addi and definitely stuck up more.

 Emma is just talking and talking and talking.  Answering and speaking in full sentences, like, Mommy's name is Anthea, Daddy's name is Roderick, Mommy and Daddy born in South Africa and the leaf is green.  She surprised me on Christmas day, I was changing her diaper and she started saying a few days of the week, she'll say them at random, but with help can say them in order - what surprised me was that I haven't even spoken or focused on the days of the week with her.  She picks up things so quickly, just have to tell her once and she can repeat just what we've told her.  The sulks have started, which isn't very fun, especially when your patience levels aren't very high, Addi's crying, or you have to get things done, but distraction is key, talking about Christmas, or what happened that day etc.  You can't fool Emma, nor can you break promises.  Just last night I tried to take a short cut while singing Jingle Bells (yes I still have to sing this to her) I stopped after the first verse, giving a long, "on a one horse open sleighhhhhh", but even after that, Emma proceeded to say, "Dashing through the snow..", so I had to continue singing.

It's been a few busy weeks, late nights and lots of excitment, so it's all sort of catching up with Emma, she has been quite pooped.  Very seldom you'll see her climb into her bed during the day and just put her head down.  I think we're all pooped, really been on the go for the last 2 weeks.

Mom and Dad have been in town, bonding with the grandkids, doing some shopping when time allowed.  Shan and Bryan came back from their trip to New York, Washington and Philly to spend Christmas and New Years with us.  Then Aunty Ang and Uncle Kev decided to drive down to NC to spend a couple of days with us.  They took mom and dad to Myrtle Beach for 2 nights, played some golf and did some shopping.  Then came back to NC to see the New Years in with us, trekking back to Canada that same day - Thank You Aunty Ang and Uncle Kev for driving the 12 plus hours to be with us, and at least mom and dad got to see another part of the US.

Shan has left again to continue the rest of her journey around the States, she's in Dallas right now, then off to LA, and makes one more stop back our way before heading back to SA at the end of January.
Mom and Dad have one more week here - time has gone by way too quickly.  Always things left to  do, but hopefully we can fit them in before they leave.

This winter we've really been spoilt, the weather has been so warm, definitely welcoming.  I mean to be able to get a game of golf (4 for my folks) at this time of year is really great.  I was expecting to be staying indoors especially with Addi in the picture, wondering what my family would do during their time here.  But we've been able to go to the park, and enjoy the outdoors a bit. 
It's a bit different with 2.  Emma suffers from cabin fever after a day at home, asking to go to the park or the shops.  So she kind of forces us to get out.  What Emma only got to see at a year or 2, Addi has see before she was 2 months old! Places like the park, the zoo, Disney on Ice, the Life and Science Museum, the UNC Basketball Museum.  Well not sure how much Addi really got to see, as she slept thru it all, but she can at least say she's been there.

Christmas was great.  Emma layed out her cookies for Santa and woke up to find a bag full of toys left by Santa, which included the dollhouse she's been asking for.  She played with this dollhouse for probably 5 minutes before getting bored.
Most of the gifts under the tree were all Emma's, so so spoilt this year - we actually carried the opening of presents over a few days, because there were just too many, and Emma was pretty overwhelmed by it all.  Losing interest pretty quickly.   The smallest toys caught her interest the most, like a plastic fishing toy which I put in her stocking and a beautiful porcelain whistle sent by her grand-uncle in Hong Kong, oh yes and a small duplo set given by Aunty Ang and Uncle Kev.

making cookies for santa

such excitement opening gifts on Christmas Eve

New Years Eve, we cooked a wonderful meal, Rod's famous pork ribs, and a leg of lamb, accompanied by mushroom rice and veggies.  Rod shook up a few cocktails, poured some wine nd we played Pictionary, so ended up quite a funfilled night.  Just before the clock striked 12, Addi started to cry for a feed, so I fed her as fast as she would swallow.  Managed to make it downstairs just in time to cheers the family.  Then Addi started crying again, and as a result we managed to get these cute photos of her....

Love having family around for the holidays - such happy times!!  Emma has really enjoyed having the house full and entertainment thru the day, altho I think she's also run everyone tired with her endless energy.  She's gotten her Pops and Kungs to join her marching band, giving them instruments to shake and getting them to follow her around the house.  Having them swing her in a towel, play hide and seek and all those fun things, read her books.  All I can say is Thankgoodness for family, it's been such a help with the extra hands around.  I've got plenty of shoes to fill for Emma when the family all leave.