Bedtime and Nanny

Little Miss has been having a hard time in the evenings lately. Either she is wide awake come bed-time or she is SO tired that she falls asleep "early" (say 19.45 hrs) and then wakes up again in the middle of the night.
The night before last it was very warm and she was getting too hot in her bed. Darren took her blankie and her PJ bottoms off to cool her down. She would not go back down and ended up in bed with us. As soon as her warm little body hit the mattress she slipped in to my arms, closed her eyes and went to sleep. For some mysterious reason she leapt up in full activity a few hours later but went down again eventually as well.
She is SUCH a Honey! She really is. Her little legs touching mine and her hand in my hair. That adorable sleepy baby smell.....

When I came to Nanny's house yesterday, she told me Little Miss seemed to be running a bit of a fever. She did feel a bit warm to the touch, especially her cheeks. I think she might be in the process of getting the last few teeth through. So, last night she got a bit of Dozol and went down no probs, at the right time and everything! :-) Didn't mean she'd STAY there though..... Yup, at around 01.30 hrs Darren was next to her cot again and she ended in the exact same place as the night before!

When I got out of bed this morning at 05.45 hrs I looked behind me and Little Miss was snuggled up in her Daddy's arms. Her back against his chest and her hand under her cheek. They looked so sweet I could have cried right there......

I am such a lucky woman to have these wonderful people in my life.

Today I am flying to The Netherlands for 2 days and I am going to miss them SO much!
I don't really do much for myself. This is not to be all "Poor Me" but I don't really get to do much for myself. Most of my friends have moved back to their respective countries and I don't really have many friends here anymore.
Between work and Little Miss I don't get much time for me. So now I am going for a mini-break home! My dear, dear friend Monique is getting her Diploma for becoming a Doula and I am going to be there for it! :-) I am SO looking forward to it!

But for one woman I wouldn't be able to go and that woman is her Nanny. Nanny has 4 kids and three granddaughters who are her world. This lady has 31 years of taking care of kids under her belt and knows her stuff. But what I think makes her so great is that she genuinely loves "Her Girls" so much. You would not say that she is the age she is and will sit down on the floor to play with the girls easy as that. The traditional "Granny" picture (White hair, flowery dress, bun) certainly does not apply to her.
We would be lost without her. I hope she knows she IS really appreciated and loved.

THANKS A MILLION FOR EVERYTHING NANNY!! YOU ROCK!

Easier Comments

I have changed the way of leaving comments on this blog! :-) No more passwords and tricky stuff!

Feel free to leave comments, I would love to read your thoughts/opinions!

Love,

Nynke

Developments

A very friendly and improbable cheery nurse called me last week to make arrangements for Caíthlyn's developmental test.
"How old are we?" she asked me in a voice that convinced me that this lady has free access to the medicine cabinet and is not afraid to use it! I refrained from giving the obvious answer ( "I don't know how old YOU are.......") and we made arrangements for 14.00 hrs on Friday the 10th of June.

Darren managed to get the afternoon off and so we all arrived at the Lovely Town Health Centre together. The nurse, Sandra, was actually quite lovely and had a great way of dealing with Caíthlyn. Caíthlyn kept close to us for the first 3 minutes or so and then just moved freely about the room.
Being forced in to any kind of position does not sit well with Little Miss so when there was an attempt to place her on the scales there were tears galore! But that was the only hitch. You all will be glad to learn that Little Miss is perfect in regards to weight and height. Sandra was very happy about everything but one thing.
She said that Caíthlyn should be putting at least two words together now.
Now, Little Miss KNOWS a hell of a lotta words. Really. But since her gnashers are making a bit of a late appearance, the actual speaking of the words is a bit slower to develop. She is more a sound kinda gall. "Meow" rather than "Cat", that kind of thing.
We are not worried in the slightest and are sure that before the year is over she will be talking our ears off! Can't wait! :-)

Also, she advised us to definitely stop the bottles. And seeing as this was the plan anyway, today marks the very last day of Caíthlyn's bottle. I personally wanted to stop the bottle earlier but was still a bit reluctant to let go of that little warm body in my arms. Now, the time has come...... The end of an era. Another chapter closed.

It will be a lot better for her teeth though (next stop: soother) and I am all for the good dental care as regular readers will know.
I think that just having the toothbrush in her mouth will not do the job. You HAVE to have a good brush around. Little Miss is not a fan of this, she will try to grab the brush herself and have a go. I have tried all kinds of approaches: Singing Songs (to the tune of The Wheels on the Bus: "Caíthlyn's toothbrush goes up and down, up and down, up and down, Caíthlyn's toothbrush goes side to side, All through the tooowwwnn!!"),
Making her laugh and getting in there quick, Letting her hold it too and brushing her teeth "together"...... Sadly, none of these methods get's the job done properly. That just leaves the "Relentless Firm Grip tm".
I have to lay her across my lap, hold her flaying arms and legs and try to get it done as quick and thorough as possible. The cries she gives would make you think I was traumatizing the child for life. That some future shrink would be clucking disapprovingly whilst taking notes on my daughter's childhood toothbrush trauma's! The thing is though, that as soon as I sit her back up, she's all smiles again. Happy as Larry!
So whilst it really does break my heart to see the tears pop from her eyes, it would hurt her (and me) infinitely more to see her in the dentist chair with a mouth full of cavities. Toddlers and fillings are not something I want to see in our future.

Oh, the pictures came back. Auntie S. framed three of them for my birthday and they are lovely! Great big THANK YOU to Auntie S.!!!

I will do my very best to get them in softcopy so that I can give them the publication they deserve!

Have to love ye and leave ye!

Have a great day everyone!

First Time on the beach

I will be flatout in work today, so I have to keep it short. Little Miss went for her first walk on the beach yesterday. Followed by a picnic at the playground. Please click HERE for a slideshow of this great day out!

Models Inc.

Let me tell you about Little Miss and footwear. Little Miss firmly believes that footwear should never be without a foot. And her mission is to ensure that the soul (sole...geddit?) mates are always in close proximity of each other. When you are not donning shoes and/or socks you can expect a little hand to come out of nowhere and try to wiggle a shoe or sock on your foot.
Last night for example, Darren and I were doing the dishes when my foot was lifted and Little Miss attempted to "shoe" me. My boots had been lounging in the hallway and this would just not do! If she can't get it to go as she wants it, she will do with whatever WILL do. As soon as there is some semblance of correctness she will utter a few approving words and toddle off again. (Correctness being the shoe and the foot touching...... I could be standing on it for all she cares)
She's a Gas Gas Gas child. (Gas = Funny)

I read a quote on Woulda Coulda Shoulda's Blog. Am paraphrasing the hell out of it but it's SO true:

"The decision to have a child, is deciding to forever carry your heart outside of your body"

Thought I'd share that one with ye.

Auntie S. lives a few doors up from a professional photographer who has a studio in his (stunning) house. Last Sunday we were invited to commit the beautiful images of the three girls to film. The ladies are respectively 6 yrs, almost 3yrs and 17 months old.
M. was just brilliant, smiling on cue, keeping the poses the photographer put her in and frankly the child is a little Super Model in the bud.
The two other little ladies were a completely different story however! I have to give the photographer kudos for his patience. Bless him, trying to get not just one but TWO little ladies to sit and smile is more than anyone should have to deal with!
At one stage we had the nice idea of having Nanny in the picture with "her" three girls. And it would have made an absolute excellent picture! The little ones are SO Nanny-Mad however that the photo-op was lost in their quest for Nannies lap. After a very eventful afternoon, which included running laps around the house chasing after Little Miss and praying nothing expensive would be knocked over in the process, we did get one or two good pictures.
I shall proudly display them here when we get them.

And finally, it's my birthday today boys and girls. Yup, 27 summers young!
Walking in to the living room this morning I found two lovely cards. There is nothing quite like the words: "Happy Birthday Mamma" in writing on a pretty, shiny card! Made me all warm and fuzzy inside! And the best boyfriend in the world also left another heartwarmingly eloquent card too.

Thank you my darlings!

You are my love, my light and my life!