Dinner with friends.

Last night we went to our friends Yolande and Koffi's house for dinner. They are an expert couple from the US in kenya. They have two gorgeous children. Yolande and I have arranged play dates since we have been here. It was a first for Sarah and I. Boy, how I wish I had friends with babies or toddlers to have play dates with. I'm really going to miss seeing Sarah getting along with other babies.
 

Lovely family, shame Eli was already asleep by the time we got there.

It took us two hours and a half to get to a place that usually takes 20 minutes to get there thanks to the lousy driver who forgot to check their fuel gauge. The traffic was murder, we even switched off the engine and just chilled out on the high way. We thought there was an accident but there was no scene and next to  the car stood the driver with his jerry can filling up. Even after notifying them in advance that we would be late, we had to call again to extend the time.
As usual the cooks are always late we are never on time however early we leave the house. when we finally arrived dinner was served, delicious and the company was even better. We chatted till past mid night and  then headed home.
 
We shall definitely miss them soo much. We have met some of the nicest people here in Kenya. My heart is heavy. We do plan on visiting again though.
 
Its past midnight we leave tomorrow for joburg, I wish I could rewind the clock. I'm so tired. Typical of the Cooks, we leave everything till last minute, we pack on the day we travel. Wish us luck!!! I'm going to bed now. Not looking forward to the flight tomorrow. Lucky for us munchkin is a very chilled baby. She flies so well. we have flown three times and this will be her forth. We haven't had any problems. Keeping fingers crossed.

My two favorite people in the whole wide world

Almost the end -Kenya

We have been in Kenya for two whole months!!! Loved every bit, the weather, the food, even the annoying traffic.  When we left joburg it was the coldest it had ever been, Sarah was in a snow suit when we let home and was still cold. we couldn't feel our fingers and to make matters worse electricity went like four hours before we left for the airport. I was so glad to get out of that place and say hello to tropical sun and paradise. But boy was I given a rude awakening when we got here, it turns out it was their winter too!!! but their winter has been summer to us. Perfect weather.It's so sad that we have to go back, I have fallen in love with this place. If our dog fudgie and cat jiji were here I don't think I would look back or even blink if we had to stay. All this as a result of my wonderful hubby's hard work and I'm so grateful for all his has done and for this opportunity for us to live here. We are so proud of him for all he has done for our family. It's been crazy for him as he has had to do two jobs but even with the hard work we spent more time together as a family which was the best part of this adventure.

In the kitchen playing with the broom. She moves around the house with it.

Chasing after the cat

The cat running away from munchkin

the cat taking a breather after being chased around

So excited with herself

We have been living in Andrews apartments in westlands, I'm not going to miss their laundry services but the place was good. Yesterday Sarah and I took a walk around the premises just to soak in everything one last time. She chased after cats and we even found new members of the place. Three cute kittens that she is scared of and wouldn't dare to go near unlike the cats!! If we lived here I would have taken them.

One of the kittens, they were so adorable!!!

Sarah so excited to see the cat she almost jumped off the chair as I was trying to take her pictures

So cute!!!

The cat decided she would be a prop in the picture

During this time munchkin grew and has continued to blossom into the lovely little girl she is. I must say I am kinda sad that she is moving past the baby phase.
Since she started crawling, we have become more active around the house. She is not crawling like a soldier in training its more like little leaps. So she is every where and any where including the suitcases.

I left the suitcase in the lounge so I could pack some stuff to send home and when I came back from the kitchen this is what I found.

 I'm enjoying having her as my shadow and she keeps me company in the kitchen, bathroom and around the house.
The first time she crawled properly, I was in the shower. I usually left her on the bedroom floor and went in to shower. As I showered I felt something touch my feet and got the biggest fright ever. To look down it was munchkin hehe . She had such a big smile on her face, for the big accomplishment and insisted on entering the shower with me, which we count as her first shower.
Tonight we are going for dinner at our friends Yolande and Kofi's house.Looking forward to it.

Munckin 6 Months

Its been a while, well blame it on ... the list is long, being a mom moving away from home for two months but I guess better late than never. yes she turned six months and i did take lots of pics  but didn't get the time to blog about her growth but i did write about it in my journal.. These days there isn't enough time in a day. I usually get into bed after mid night and very exhausted that I battle to sleep and end up sleeping at about one am. Any way we are deeply in love with our little princess. Here are some pictures I took of her at 6 months.
 
 She is such a daddy's girl.

Our little angel turned 6 months on the 28th of may!! Unbelievable how time flies. We are so blessed by her and she  continues to bring so much joy in our lives.
We took her the doctor 2weeks ago and

She weighed 7.3kg
64cm long  and her head circumference was 41cm.

She still loves to bath and splash around and get us all wet while bathing her. She screams blue murder when taken out of the bath. At times I have to change the water in order to keep her in the bath longer

She started on solids this week and her favorite foods are butternut and apples

She is still under routine though with teething it's been here and there. Se is getting back into routine.

She is very curious and into everything around her..she has learnt how to dive for things out of her reach since she can't crawl to get them..

She is still laid back and rarely cries.
She loves to watch cricket rugby and Dora the explorer..

Cries for her daddy when he leaves for church in the evenings or when he leaves the house during the day.

Loves to smile
At the moment everything that she touches goes into her mouth.

She is still breast feeding but at this rate I'm not sure what will happen when the teeth come as she is biting for dear life.

Loves to make faces and she is very expressive.


All in all she is an awesome baby and we couldn't be happier with having her in our lives.As you will see she literally wrestles with the prop instead of just looking at it. :)

we couldn't be any happier as a family and as parents. We love you so much munchkin and thanks for being such a joy in our lives.

Long weekend

 We had a long weekend on the 28th April, and we spent it doing what we do best chilling it was a lovely time to just enjoy our family, we went shopping and went out to dinner. Wayne took the Monday off so we had five days with him!! It was family time galore. Thanks to the labour day holiday.

munchkin with daddy :)

We celebrated Sarah turning five months. Experienced being parents of an almost teenager. We kind of baby sat Lu, the sweetest kid around. If that is what being a parent of an almost teenager is about, bring it own we can't wait to experience it every day with munchkin.

5 months old

It's amazing how time flies, it's five months since munchkin was born ie 28th April. Yet it feels like yesterday. She is growing so fast for my liking, it's like every second something new happens.
Lots of photos taken by me.

We love this cutie pie so much

 One day she is just lying and rolling arou d and the next she is pulling her feet towards her mouth. We are so blessed to have her in our lives and are extremely thankful for the beautiful gift we have. Nothing can explain the joy of being Sarah's mom. We love her and we are so glad that we are sealed as a family. I'm thankful to my wonderful husband for giving me the opportunity to stay at home and look after our little process. She is going through milestones as she continues to grow and we can't get enough of her. I take pictures of her literally everyday. I had to buy another 16g card as the ones I have since she was born are full.
 She is such a pleasant baby she is soooo laid back hardly cries and is not fussy. The only time she is fussy is when we take her out of her bath tub. Then hell breaks loose as she loves bath time and enjoys splashing. Around as she plays with her bath toys. The thermometer has seen lots of days as she likes to toss it out after giving it a few licks.

 She continues to roll on both sides, it's scary to leave her on the bed for a second unattended to, so I now use pillows to stop her from moving all around. A few days ago I left her at the top of the bed as I prepared her bath and when I came from the bathroom she was at the foot of the bed. Never will I leave her alone again. She is more alert and doesn't fall asleep easily any more in the car. She continues to be very vocal especially when she has just woken up and it's music to our ears.


She is still on breast milk today is her third day of being on solids, we are giving her apple by purity stage 1. We not doing rice cereal as it gives her cramps and she is miserable after that lots of crying. But with apple she is fine so it's 2 teaspoons every day at 11am for one week the we shall increase the intake. Though she wants more sometimes. She is wearing 3 to 6 months clothes. She loves to play with her toys and at the moment everything goes into her mouth. She is not teething much occasionally she will want to munch on our fingers.

 She is a good sleeper usually wakes up once a night to feed and goes right back to sleep. She is not a big eater she doesn't drink more than 60ml at a time so I have to feed her frequently but I'm cool with that. She loves to smile and laugh. She smiles when she sees our faces as soon as she wakes up.

 She loves daddy time as they sit and watch either cricket or rugby and is so chilled. Tummy time is still going great.

Loves to kick and hold on to her feet.
She is so cute.

 We are so blessed with munchkin and can't complain. She continues to be such a joy to us and we are so grateful for her. I'm hoping that this weekend we will finish her bedroom. It's been an on going process but I'm glad we waited for the stuff we wanted for her room.

She has a very expressive face :)

I'm planning on thing her to be weighed next week so for now I'm not sure how much she weighs but she is definitely fitting better into her clothes and growing out of some.

Doctor's Visit at Four Months and a Half

 

Two weeks ago, we made our first trip to the pediatrician, our munchkin was not well. She developed a rash around her neck, on her back and under her arms. At first we thought it was heat rash so I decided to increase the dose of baby powder that I applied to those areas but it was not showing signs of improvement. Then I thought maybe it was because he skin was too dry and I kept on applying lotion onto her body to keep her skin moist but there was no change.

 

 Eventually after two weeks of no change, I called the Dr's office and we were told they were fully booked so we had to wait four agonizing days.it felt like we had to wait for ever. Wayne gave her a blessing as I was freaking out, and in the blessing it said she would get well and we had to follow the doctor's counsel. Eventually Monday arrived and we were an hour early at the premises.
 
As we sat waiting for the doctor to get back from the wards, I noticed that all the children who were also there to see the doctor had been wrapped up, wearing mittens, hats tight and socks, meanwhile our Sarah was just wearing a dress with no socks and I had a swaddle that I was carrying her in. Feeling like the worst mother in the world got the socks out of the diaper bag and decided to dress Sarah but in less than two minutes she had kicked them off. I tried twice and gave up. I usually carry two pairs for in case of emergency. I do accept our child is different even when she is sleeping we don't cover her hands as she gets so restless.

 

On seeing the pediatrician, it turns out princess has eczema. Upon seeing the rash on her, he asked what products I was using on Sarah and I told him it was Johnson, and he advised us not to use that but instead try something else. When we got home I started using Elizabeth Anne products, I bathed her and also applied the cream he prescribed for her and by morning there was such a big improvement. I returned the Johnson products that we had bought almost 6 months worth of baby products luckily I had the receipt so I just swopped instead. Besides the rash, he was happy with Sarah's development. And she had a full check up.

 

She was weighing 7kg, 63cm long and her head circumference was 41cm. He also gave us the green light to start Sarah on solids, and we tried the rice cereal and she was crying from cramps and we abandoned ship. She is still exclusively on breast milk though still insists on only feeding from the right boob. All in all we are in love with this precious angel. she is growing so fast!!!!

She is now fine and doing great. When  we got home I took some pics