Manipulated

I know, I know... I'm totally one-track-minded and stuck-recordlike right now, but I am just SO in love with my little sugar booger! and today was the first day that Jesse-Lee smiled AT me. Really smiled! At ME! She was lying on her back in the window seat and I said "Hello my schnooki pooki wooki looki sugar booger schnookums!" and she looked at me and her whole face crinkled up into an enormous grin! Talk about heart-stopping! I was planning on blogging about much more relevant, important or frivolous things, but that all had to take a backseat when Jesse-Lee smiled at me!

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I tell you what, it's just as well she's bloody beautiful and I love her more than life itself and she makes my heart melt and I would saw off my arm to protect her, because I've started noticing a particularly naughty streak in her. The scanniving little bugger. (And I mean that in the nicest possible way!) You see, the sneaky little sugar booger waits until you've cleaned her whole bum (and sometimes her legs, back and heels too... ahem, ahem) and put a new, clean nappy under her butt before she decides to piddle all over the NEW nappy. And her vest. And her changing table cover.

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And my shoes.

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Yes, she's talented, my gal is. And frikken naughty. Because immediately after she's wet the NEW, CLEAN nappy, she smiles. And then I can't even be cross with her anymore.

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Yeah. I guess it's safe to say that she has me and my piddled wet shoes wrapped around her little finger. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

What bathtime looks like from Jesse-Lee's perspective

And then there are the moments when there is NOTHING is better on this planet...
Nobody told me that this is what real love feels like.

Of Bibs and Bow-wows

...and before I get millions of comments saying how terrible I am to compare my little girl to a little dog, allow me to crrect you: I'm comparing their bibs! hehe!

MORE Jesse-Lee

Jesse-Lee was 3 weeks old yesterday. I can't get over how much this little bundle of ours has grown and changed in such a short time. And how much our lives have changed too! It's awesome. Motherhood comes highly recommended from me right now...

Just had to show you how much she's changed... (these pics were taken on my cellphone so the quality's not too great...)

Jesse-Lee then (1 day old)

Jesse-Lee now (3 weeks 1 day old)

OK, so I know I might be just a wee bit biased, but isn't she just the most gorgeous little person this planet has ever allowed on it??? Seriously, if she was edible, I'd have binged on her ages ago. Just as well she isn't then, because I can't seem to get enough of her! I don't call her Sugar Booger for nothing. Ahem Sometimes I forget that I need to disguise some of my hillbilly habits to be more appropriate reading for my non-hillbilly blog readers. I apologize. There will be no further talk of booger munching on this blog. At least not today.

My tjommies are here!

Two of our bestest buddies are here in Dundee visiting from North Carolina!!! Dewald and Chantell and their little boy, Eli, are here and we saw them for the first time today, in two years! OK, so that sentence structure totally sucks, but I'm just too excited to care! hehe. Here are some pics of us from a while ago when they still lived in South Africa...

Above: This one is of me, Chantell and Hanlie (one of our other tjommies) at a Westlife concert in Durban two years ago or so. We had SO MUCH fun that night!

Oh, and this is one of Robin in his hairier days. hehe!

I am sooooo excited that they're here for one whole month! Woot woot! I'll be posting more pics soon.

Happy happy happy!

It's the photo monster again. It's eaten up my creative brain and left me with nothing but mushy happy floaty bunny thoughts right now. Which isn't exactly conducive to good writing. So, in the absence of something really funny and witty to say, these pics will have to fill the gap. And really, when the pics are of such a cute subject, who cares if there's nothing to say, right?

I marvel every day at our little angel. What did I do to deserve such a blessing as this? I just praise God every moment that I spend staring at her. Which lands up being a huge chunk of my day, cos once I get started looking at her, I just can't stop. I run my fingertips down her nose and twirl her little fingers between mine. I cuddle her into my neck and breathe deeply of her scent. She is gorgeous. Perfect. And mine. All, only, by the grace of God. Without Him and His blessing, I would still be barren. Instead, "He has settled the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children..." Psalm 113:9 (Thanks Karen for sharing that verse with me!)

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I just can't totally fathom it.

Pics, pics and more pics

A few pics before I return the modem to my hubby at the office... (You've got to take advantage while the going is good, you know...)

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I couldn't resist this one of little Jesse-Lee (and her super hot dad) in her spiffy boots for church this past weekend! Those boots were made for walking. And that's just what they'll do. Sorry, apparently I get corny when I haven't had enough sleep.

And last night Robin's parents visited with us for the night. It was SO nice having them here with us. And I couldn't resist a photo op with them and Jesse-Lee at the breakfast table this morning...

As for these two pics, well, just some more proof that my baby schnooki pooki is really smiling every day. Winds schminds, I say. And like I said before, if it is winds that are making her happy, I'm going to have my hands full in future. Let's just say she already fits right into her hillbilly family.

Quickie

Just a super quicky to say hello and I'm typing in the middle of the night because our social worker is here for the home study so we've been working our fingers to the bone in preparation for THE visit and now that she's here we've been on our best behaviour. Which means no farting or burping in public... Super hard for us hillbillies to do, I'll tell you that much. Just kidding. Sort of.

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And also, I would have blogged sooner, but my hubby dearest forgot to come home with my mobile modem for THREE FRIGGING DAYS IN A ROW! I mean: THA-REE WHOLE DAYS without even looking at emails?!?!? Craziness. Needless to say his popularity is teeter-tottering right now. Just as well he's damn hot, otherwise he'd be in trouble.

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Anyhoo. Just thought I'd let you know that we are indeed still living. Will blog again as soon as possible. If my hubby dearest will remember to bring home the modem again tomorrow night, that is. Love y'all. Chat soon. Toodledoo.

Parenting aint for sissies

Warning: This post contains details of poop. May offend sensitive readers. (haha!)

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My heart is breaking for my lil sugar-booger... she has gone from jippo-guts to constipation of note. Poor little bunny. And my poor blog readers too - this blog is turning into a bit of a POOP CHRONICLES. Thank goodness one of my friends is a pediatric surgeon, and another of my friends is a homeopath specialising in childcare... They talk sense into my panicked brain all hours of the day and night when I phone them asking a gazillion-and-one questions. Were it not for them, I might have gone around the bend already. Well, more around the bend than I already am, that is. Is parenting supposed to be this hard? Or am I just a little more paranoid than most parents? Hmmm... OK, don't answer that.

Anyhoo... It turns out that I'm quite a good poop-scooper after all. When it comes to changing nappies (that's diapers in Americanese) I can do it with my eyes closed by now. Not really closed. But you know what I mean. And now, as an added dimension to the Poop Scooping Posse, I have added bum massage and bicycle-legging to the nappy-changing schedule. They say it helps to get the, um, er, bowels moving. At this stage, I'm willing to try anything, y'all.

In one of our nappy-changing sessions, my mom and I were doing the Poop Brigade, i.e. one of us holds sugar-booger, the other gets the changing table ready with all the goodies we're going to need. Then we do the whole nappy change together. One holds the legs, the other wipes the derier. Quick!, remove nappy, place new one under the buttocks, wipe, tuck, fold and attach. Simple really. Until the, um, poop, is still traversing the dungshoot and the new nappy is not yet in place under the exhaust pipe. If you know what I'm saying. Then both granny and mommy jump around the room going 'Ew! Ew! Where's another Bum Wipe? Quick! You get it! No, I'll get it! OK, one of us better get it, and SOON!' by which stage the poop is already landing on the nifty easily-cleanable changing table's surface. Thank Heavens for plastic changing mats!

So, this one time (and yes, this has happened more than once and yes, you'd think we'd have learned our lesson by now...) neither of us were quick enough in grabbing another Bum Wipe. And so my mom, Poop Scooper of Note, caught the protruding offender in her hand. I kid you not. I was laughing so hard I couldn't offer any assistance.

For about one whole hour.

And then, (yes, it gets better!) my mom walked to the rubbish bin with the log in her hand, and just as she lifted the lid on the bin, the parcel in her hand landed on the floor and she had to pick it up off of the floor to throw it away! Too funny! My sides are still hurting for laughing so hard.

Anyhoo. I told you it was gross. Don't blame me. You kept reading after I posted an OFFICIAL WARNING at the top of this post. Haha!

Here is a pic of my fave sis (Aurette) with my punkin. This one was taken last Saturday already.

And this is little Ethan (Aurette's son) with his new cuzzy.

(The puppy had to be in the pic. It goes everywhere with him! Too cute!)

Happy Gas

My mom came home with us to the Hillbilly Dump. Thank Heavens for moms! I went into hospital to be there with our baby totally healthy and came out with a tummy bug (uh, yes. Welcome to Africa.) and then, as a welcome home pressie, Jesse-Lee caught my bug. So it's been a rough couple of days. I thought my heart was breaking when she was struggling with tummy cramps. Now I know what helplessness feels like. But, praise God!, she is better now.

I thought I'd post a few more pics of our gorgeous little sugar booger. Because I'm totally one-track minded right now and absolutely smitten with her.

And they said that one week old babies don't smile...

They tell me that it's not a smile but gas. Well, if that's the case then me and my nostrils are in for a rough ride... I already have one member of my family that thinks that gas is hilarious (hint: he is totally hot and I get to sleep with him every night) and now Jesse-Lee also smiles whenever there's a gaseous eruption brewing. Lord have mercy!

Who? Me?!?

Just a quickie! Somebody thinks I'm cool!!! I have been awarded a Pink Rose Blogging Award!!! Ms J, you blew my socks off. Thanks so much for honoring me so beautifully. Woot woot! Happiness is getting an award while holding your baby in your arms! Also, apparently somebody posted a birth announcement for me on Lost and Found. Can anyone send me the link so I can download it for my scrapbook? Paaallleeeeaassse? Thanks.

Some phobies for ya

I have too much to tell you and too little time... so for now, some pics... These are already old but I left my camera cable to work (I know! You can all kick my b*tt later!) so I can't download the gorgeous pics I have of my little angel that are on my camera. Maybe tonight I can load some more for you all to see how totally angelic my little sugar-booger is.

The new mommy (still in hospital)

Grandpa Barry - Robin's dad

Ouma (South African for Granny) - Robin's mom

Granny - my mom with my baby

Jesse-Lee's first car-ride; and she slept through it!

I have some pics of my dad with Jesse-Lee on my camera, so those must still be downloaded... and of Jesse-Lee with our sisters. OK, must dash, baby needs some-a-lovin'.

P.S. I still haven't read any of your comments. So they weren't lying after all, when they said I wouldn't have any time to myself.