Pictures

You thought it was the coolest thing wearing ouma's black berry box sleeve as a crown...we thought so too!


Wearing ouma's shoes, very fashionable my boy...I'm so gonna show this at your 21st!


Pearl necklace on a bike? I don't think dad will approve my angel!


This was a glorious moment for me. You've always fed me your soggy biscuits, or left over bread, and being your mom I've accepted your "gifts". This time it was dad's turn, and you decided dipping coco pops in tomato sauce was the best "gift" ever. I wish you could see your father's face as he unwillingly accepted his fate!


Dad taught you how to make a monkey face...and this is the end result. Now you are pulling your own ears as well!


Sleeping with dad. Look at those open mouths trying to catch flies! Like father like son I tell you!

Hey my monkey,

Just thought I'd post some pics of your antics. Oh, and just to let you know, you have been sick AGAIN, and....now dad and I are also sick. Just another way of making sure you're getting the needed attention I believe. Well, it worked and dad and I have been up with you a couple of times every night.

Anyway, love you plenty and hope you (and we) feel better soon!

Boetie is not a toy my love...

Hello my angel,

As the heading implies, I wanted to tell you about how much you want to play with your boetie, but...it's a bit rough. You don't understand at all that he is fragile and that you cannot pick him up and drag him along with you to the sandpit. We bought you a little doll of your own so that you can also feel like you have a "baba", but I don't think it's working. Last night Ouma said you must take your "baba" to bed and you grabbed it by the legs and threw it over your shoulders, dragging it with you. On top of that you think that sticking your finger in it's eye is also a wonderful new game. So understandably, we are a bit weary of letting you play with Noah just yet, ha-ha. It does break my heart though because you are so excited to see him, yelling "Hello Baba", "Baba drink melkies", "Baba slaap". Unfortunately you don't quite understand keeping your voice down either so usually it ends up in little boetie being a bit upset. I'm so sorry my love, just a couple of more months and your friend will be big enough to play with.

On the other hand, your language is really taking off. It took only 10 minutes the other day to teach you "triangle, square, circle, diamond and star", and if I ask you what you are to a person, you get it right everytime, like Daddy's "Big Boy", Ouma's "Pappagaai (Gaggagaai according to you)", Ohpaw's "special one", granny's precious "Pie", Grampy's "tokoloks" and Mamma se "boudjies". It's adorable! In the mornings you wake up repeating all the words you know, so you litterally wake up talking and do not stop until the end of the day. I love that!

Well my angel, just wanted to tell you about your antics. We love you very much and every day you impress me more and more!

Love you plenty!
Mom

We're home, and we brought you a little something...

You eating your "big boy" serial this morning for the first time...hmmm, chocos, you loved it!


Noah and Dad


World, meet Noah Christian Paul.


Just hours old

Hello my angel,

Well, I am finally home and brought back a little brother for you to play with. Noah Christian Paul arrived via C-section on 03/03/10 at 08h43 weighing a whopping 2.46kg and healthy as can be.

We are so incredibly blessed to have had absolutely no problems, he breathed easily, he ate easily and we haven't had a moment's stress thus far. Thank you for teaching your brother so well my angel, he obviously listened and we have had a wonderful birth experience.

Introducing your little brother to you was quite an experience. You are very excited about this little addition and want to play with him very badly,but you don't quite realise how small he is yet, and well, we have had to stop you from pulling him off the bed a couple of times. You usually start off with a kiss on his little head or shoulder, but soon that turns into a tug of war with dad trying to keep you from pulling him. He-he, at least you like him!

Dad has been looking after you so well while I was away. He really did an amazing job and the two of you seem inseperable now. He gave you all your medicine on time and I didn't have to worry about a thing! He really loves you so much, making extra sure that you don't feel left out. You look like a giant compared to Noah though, and suddenly all the milestones that you have reached are highlighted at every moment. I am so incredibly proud of you and cannot believe what a big, loving, caring, enthusiastic little man you are.

As for me, I am loving having a newborn in the house again and your brother is reminding me so much of you when you were a little baby, just without the oxygen tanks and pipes and stuff. He doesn't really look like me or dad, he mostly resembles you, we think, but with pitch black, straight hair??? But the way he pulls his mouth, his facial expressions, everything is just like you were. Last night I fed him while dad was bathing you and I tucked him safely into bed, and then I got to do the same with you (something I've missed out on the last couple of nights in hospital)and you turned around, half asleep and gave me your bottle, said "dankie dadd..dankie mamma" (when you realised it was me) and gave me two kisses. It was just such an amazing feeling, being so blessed with two boys to love and a wonderful, caring husband who supports me in everything. How did I get to be so lucky?

So this is our new little family. We are so happy and so blessed and just generally overwhelmed with all the love that surrounds us. This journey is going to be awesome!

Love you plenty my sweet.
Mom

Timing? You aint got none mr. Man!

Ok, so it's official, you have definitely found the way to keep mom's attention stuck on you little man, yup, just throw in a 39.4 C temp and mom is all yours!!!

I have absolutely no idea how this happened. Sunday night I saw you had a bit of a runny nose, but everything was fine. Then in the morning dad had to take you school because I had to go to hospital for Noah's injections, and he said you had a little cough. You seemed fine when I fetched you from school and we even went for a swim with ouma, but at around 17h30 I noticed you were very hot. I took your temperatur and it was 38.6, so nothing too bad yet, but definitely something that needs attention. I gave you all the necessary medicinces, and after some cold wipes, you were soon asleep and doing ok. I went to ouma to get the last of my injections, and when I came back, dad told me you were feeling very hot. When I took your temp it was 39.4, just 2 hours after I gave you your meds! I quickly gave you some empaped and that seemed to do the trick. You were very restless though and I spent the night with you in your room. On the other hand, I seemed to have picked up some sort of stomach bug, and was up the whole night with severe cramps and contractions, only getting about 3 hours broken sleep in total. Luckily you are on antibiotics now, so you can see your little brother tomorrow because you won't be "infectious" anymore. You are still not yourself and your temp keeps peaking every now and again.

Things are just not getting better though. This morning we heard some very bad news. Granny Grey had a stroke and was taken to hospital. Please keep her in her prayers so that she will recover as soon as possible. We are thinking of you Gran, and love you very very much!

I have been having very bad contractions during the day so I had to take some medicine that makes me very sleepy. Luckily ouma is around to help, but alas, no sleep for the wicked. Dad had to work late so that he could finish everything before taking some time off to be with us and our new little addition. Poor him, when he tried to leave, his car was completely dead! So ouma had to go and pick him up all the way in Johannesburg. They are still not home, poor monkeys.

So with 3 hour sleep tired eyes, I just want to let you know that we love you dearly, things are going to get a lot more hectic, but that doesn't mean that we are going to take one second of love and admiration for you little man.

Hope you feel better soon and I'll miss you very much while I'm in hospital, but promise to be back soon, and give you lots and lots of kisses.

Sleep tight my angel.

Mom

Almost a big bro!!!

Yay, cutting the cake!


Kai and Cole looking too cute!


Samm and gorgeous Deqlan. Can't believe how many words you are saying already little man. Your mommy is definitely doing something right!


Cutie Keaton in the sandpit


Kai enjoying the sandpit


Cole with his cute hat on


Little bro "Nonah" growing nicely


Your aeroplane cake made by Ouma


The gift baskets and flight certificates for your friends


Hello my angel,

Can you believe you will be a big brother in only only 2 days. I can't believe we made it this far already! I got my first set of injections this morning to help your little brother's lungs grow and to make sure all his veins are connected before his early arrival on Wednesday. We are booked for a caeser at 12h30, but knowing how these things go I'm sure we'll go in a bit later. I can't wait to see how you will react to your little brother. You are such a caring little man, but also tend to demand attention, so it will be quite interesting to see the dynamics! I got you your own little "baby" that you can take care of, the way I will look after Noah, and I dressed him in your old prem-clothes. This way we can look after our babies together!

I love how you kiss my belly when you say hi to your brother. You lift my shirt, kiss him, call him Nonah, and then close my shirt and say "bye Nonah". It is very very cute. But sometimes you think "Nonah" lives in your belly too, so I don't think you quite understand exactly what is going to happen, lol.

I must admit, I'm feeling kind of anxious, knowing I'll have to share my time with you. I know it's worth it because you will always have a friend around, and I'm sure you two will get along wonderfully. But I've been so blessed to be at home and having some extra time to play with you and teach you, that I think the thought of having to share that is quite daunting. On the flip side, I'm really looking forward to meeting your little brother and seeing what things you two will have in common. Will you look like brothers, or will he look completely different? Will he also be an extrovert like you and me, or take after dad and be a bit more reserved? Only time will tell I suppose, and as I firmly believe, you knew what you were getting yourself into before you came to this earth, so needless to say, you chose your little brother as well, and he chose you.

Oh, yesterday dad and I took you to the Johannesburg zoo so that we could spend a qualtiy family day together. You loved the animals, but I think it's safe to say your favourites were the elephants, the lemurs (monkeys according to you), the peacocks (chickens according to you) and the zebras (perdjies according to you). I loved how you immitated all the sounds, roared at the lions, baa-ed at the goats and so forth. And the zoo had beautiful open spaces, so you ran your little feet tired! I think we're definitely going to have your next birthday there!

Anyway my angel, just wanted to give you an update of how are lives are about to change.

Love you plenty!
Mom