Baby Steps

4 Years Ago...

2012-01-24T21:01:00.002-07:00

We welcomed our precious little Princess into the world.

Everyday since then she has filled our lives with love, laughter and happiness.

I look forward to many more years with this little Angel in my arms.

Happy 4th Birthday Cyndi!

Birth

I can't believe that she was ever this small. Oh how fast she grew.

1 Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

4 Years Old!

We love you Cyndi!

We hope that you keep being true to the wonderful little girl that you are.

Cyndi Moment

2012-01-07T19:50:00.002-07:00

This evening while Cyndi was finishing her dinner. I turned to Ben and I said "When she finishes she can have some c-a-n-d-y." Ben turned to Cyndi and asked her if she knew what c-a-n-d-y spelt. Cyndi said she didn't. Once she finished her dinner and put her dish in the kitchen. She came back to us and got her wild candy look in her eyes and said "R-B-S." Ben and I looked at each other a little confused. We asked her what r-b-s was and she responded that she did not know. We laughed and figured that she was trying to spell candy like we were doing. We explained to her all about candy and the spelling. She is such a funny little girl!

Pink Baby Booties

2012-01-07T08:01:00.002-07:00

A freind asked me to make a bootie cake for her this weekend.

I think it turned out rather cute.

It is a two tier (circle and square) dairy free chocolate cake with whipped icing.

The booties are gum paste with edible pearls.

The baby blanket is fondant with white shimmer dust and edible pearls.

The booties

The whole cake

Littlest Helper

2012-01-04T15:01:00.001-07:00

Damian wanted to help make his quilt. Such a cute little boy. Just wants to be apart of things, regardless of what he is doing.

Red High Heel

2012-01-04T14:49:00.002-07:00

Cyndi goes to 'school' once a week. She loves it. There is a lady in my Ward who is a teacher. She has 2 kids so right now she is a stay at home mom. I have made a deal with her. I make her a cake, and she teaches my Princess school things.

So this is the cake I make this month for her. I love it. Sadly the fondant did not want to behave, so its a little funny, but I think everything else turned out rather well. Ben made the shoe. It is chocolate. I put the white insole in it and covered it is shiny dust.

New Years Dress

2012-01-04T14:30:00.002-07:00

Cyndi had to have a new dress to start a New Year off. Not only a New Year, but a big new chapter in her (and Mommy's) life - PRIMARY!

Cyndi looked as cute as ever for her first day as a Sunbeam in Primary. My little girl is growing up way to quickly!

Bear in the Jug

2012-01-04T14:27:00.001-07:00

Cyndi got a bear for Christmas. It is a cute bear. She put the bear in the jug the other day and I could not say no when she asked me to take a picture of it.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T22:38:00.001-07:00

Christmas

2011-12-11T20:48:00.002-07:00

We put up the Christmas tree today. The kids both loved it. Yes, BOTH loved it. I was surprised at how much fun Dique had. In case you were wondering the tree is 24 inches plus the star, it is very close to being the same height at Dique. I laughed when we measured them tonight. Last year Britney gave us a cute little nativity set for Christmas. This year we are able to display it. Cyndi likes to rearrange it.

Be warned the video is about 2.5 minutes long. But it is funny to watch Dique. He wanted to help. I love the face he gives Ben after I take the tinsel away from him. Its like he says: Dad, Mom took my tinsel away. Now what?

Ben's Birthday Cake

2011-12-11T20:46:00.001-07:00

Coconut, pineapple and almonds

Snow-family, pine trees

Ben's birthday cake!

Rapunzel Cake

2011-12-11T20:43:00.001-07:00

Love this cake.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair!

I made this for a 3-year old birthday last week. She loved it.

Playmat Gym

2011-12-11T20:41:00.001-07:00

Who needs a playmat gym when dad is around?

Chamomile Tea

2011-12-11T20:32:00.002-07:00

Dique is getting more and more ready for food. It is so cute to watch him and the things he does to get what you are eating. The other night Ben had some chamomile tea and Dique wanted some. He did everything he could think off to get the mug from Ben. When his efforts to get the mug away did not work, he would hold still until Ben was about to take a sip and then wriggle as much as he could so Ben could not take a sip. At one point Dique had hold of the spoon and would whack Ben in the face with it (not very hard though). In the end Ben cooled some off on the spoon and let Dique drink it and that was that. We had to put the rest of the mug into a bottle and let Dique finish it. It was only about 3 ounces. Once the bottle was finished Dique would not give it up. It was rather entertaining. Just another complete opposite to Cyndi. Cyndi still does not like tea, or anything hot/warm to drink. I am slowly getting her to enjoy hot chocolate that is cold.

J-E-L-L-O Round 2

2011-12-11T20:30:00.001-07:00

Dique really enjoyed the jello at the ward Christmas party. He got upset if you took it away before he was done. I love that face!

Festival of Trees

2011-12-11T20:18:00.003-07:00

We had a girls day out plus Dique last week. We went to the Festival of Trees. I had never been before. It was amazing. All the trees were beautiful. I spent a lot of the time with tears in my eyes though. A lot of the trees are dedicated to a loved one who has passed on or who is fighting for survival. It makes me hold my kids closer and count blessing as to how lucky I am to have 2 beautiful children who are healthy. While we were there we saw some old friends, the Howdens. It is always a great pleasure to see them.

Flower Hair Clip

2011-12-11T20:16:00.001-07:00

I taught myself how to make these kind of flowers for hair clips the other day.

Cyndi loves them.

Siblings Bonding

2011-12-04T08:15:00.002-07:00

Cyndi loves to help and play with Damian. Most of the time she is VERY rough with him. But then we get sweet moments like this: she reading to him. She picked a book with lots of pictures of Jesus Christ in it and is showing him the pictures.

Dique loves it when Cyndi laughs.

Granny's Birthday

2011-12-04T08:03:00.003-07:00

Granny's birthday is Dec 6, but we celebrated it last Sunday since everyone is going to the Christmas devotional by the First Presidency tonight and Rory's kids were in town last week for Thanksgiving. I made Granny a french vanilla cake with a white chocolate mousse filling. Ben made the clutch out of rice crispy treats. I molded the shoe out of gum paste a few weeks ago, and then Ben went over it to make it smooth and perfect. If you missed it, the cake is a hat box. I sugar dipped the rims of the glasses and Ben and I re did the label on the sparkling cider.

Close up

The label

Blowing out candles

Everyone expect Rory - he was taking the picture. I love this one because Dique is after Granny's hair. Notice Layne is trying to claim the bottle.

Bottoms up!

We love you Granny! We sure are going to miss you next year after you go back to SA.

New Discovery

2011-12-04T08:00:00.001-07:00

The other day Dique discovered that he could reach the toys that hung from his rocker. He has spent the last couple of months yelling at them from a far. Now to his joy and delight, he can hold them while yelling at them. It is so cute to watch him learn.

Family Photo

2011-12-04T07:56:00.002-07:00

I got my mom to come and take some family pictures of us. It is so hard to get the kids to smile and stay still at the same time. When one smiles, the other moves. GRRR! But in the end we got a few really cute pictures. I love my little family.

Thanksgiving Food

2011-12-04T07:47:00.002-07:00

We had Thanksgiving South African style. It was a lot of fun. It made me miss South Africa and the fact that we would have braai's very often. I made most of the desserts and Ouma and Marius took care of the main course.

Fudge - more of a well sort after snack

Main course. There was also a macaroni salad. It was all so delicious!

Banana bread - never made it to the Thanksgiving table, but made the same time.

More pictures to come of the apple pie and milk tart.

Junk Mail Buddies

2011-11-27T20:41:00.002-07:00

Ben finally has a junk mail buddy. Dique enjoyed going through the junk mail with Ben the other night.

Almost Sitting

2011-11-27T20:39:00.001-07:00

Dique has been working very hard on sitting up by himself. Within the next month I can see him sitting by himself. Here he is sitting on my rocker. Such a cute little man!

Shopping

2011-11-27T20:36:00.001-07:00

I noticed Cyndi putting all the groceries on top of herself while shopping one week. When I asked why she was doing that, she told me that she was cold.

Crazy kiddo!

Turkey-Lurkey

2011-11-27T20:34:00.001-07:00

I made turkey's with Cyndi this year. She loved it!

Bug Clips

2011-11-27T20:32:00.001-07:00

I made some more ribbon hair clips.

Pink Lady Bug:

Standing Butterfly:

TAXI

2011-11-27T20:29:00.001-07:00

Cyndi can do some very funny and creative things sometimes. The other day she turned the car on its front side and 'drove' baby around the house. Sadly I had to put stop to it when she tried to turn it into a slide.

Di-Ka-Leaky Randoms

2011-11-27T20:19:00.002-07:00

Ben and I are starting to laugh about Dique and his fingers. We think that babies should come with a warning label: "Warning: Choking Hazard"

****

I was reading "What to expect the first year" the other night and it said that the 4 month old might protest if a toy was taken away. I decided to test it out. I gave Dique his dino and then gently took it from him. He did not complain. I let him play with it for a little bit and then gently took it away again. Still he did not complain. We did this a few times until he rolled on his side, pushed with his legs and clung onto dino with his back turned. Such a cute little monkey.

****

I love this face!

Fancy Pancakes

2011-11-27T20:15:00.002-07:00

I made Ben pancakes the other day and thought I would have some fun with it. Cyndi sure enjoyed it, I think Ben did as well.

Cinnamon Swirl

Cyndi made this one

Crinkly Toy Part 2

2011-11-27T20:10:00.002-07:00

I was not completely happy with the first crinkle toy I made (here), so I made another one. And Dique LOVES it.

Saturday Work

2011-11-27T20:01:00.002-07:00

At the beginning of the month I had to work custodial. They had not taken me off the weekend rotation yet. Luckily I am off now, no I don't have to worry about it any more. It was snowing and I was assigned to collect trash on Temple Square. I went around with the lead in the cart. It was great fun. I enjoyed the way Temple Square looked all covered in white.

This is by the corner restrooms and the Assembly Hall near the South-West corner

A sister missionary was enjoying the snow a little to much. She made a snowman and snowwoman on top of the trash cans. We decided to leave the trash cans and not disturb the snow 'couple'

Fun Game

2011-11-01T16:33:00.002-06:00

Dique and I play a game on a daily bases. He sits in his rocker chair and kicks his blanket off. I attempt to give him a funny scowl. He smiles and giggles sweetly and I laugh at him. Then I put the blanket back on him. Then he starts again. If he kicks the blanket off and I don't respond quick enough he starts calling me. He is such an adorable attention seeker!

Bag Fascination

2011-11-01T16:25:00.002-06:00

One night Dique was rather fascinated with the bag of corn chips. I how it looks at the bag and tries to grab it.

J-E-L-L-O

2011-11-01T16:21:00.002-06:00

Back in the middle of October we gave some Jello to the cutest little man in the world! I had to get it on video. I think that it is just darling!

Bumble Bee

2011-11-01T16:20:00.001-06:00

My new creative outlet is ribbon. I really enjoy making little ribbon creatures for Cyndi to wear.

Snow Witch Cupcakes

2011-11-01T16:14:00.001-06:00

I made some cup cakes for Halloween. The icing did not turn out the way I wanted it to, but the idea still looked rather cute, I think!

Where is Cyndi?

2011-10-30T09:55:00.003-06:00

Cyndi was playing one day at the laundromat. I love a 3 year olds creativeness to get themselves busy.

Sleeping Babies

2011-10-30T09:52:00.001-06:00

Damian and his little friend Peter sleeping during Sunday School.

My Birthday Cake

2011-10-30T09:50:00.002-06:00

Ben made my birthday cake for me. Cyndi helped him. It was a vegan Swiss chocolate with chocolate icing. The even more surprising thing is that he even liked it. We just made a giant step in the right chocolate direction! We forgot to take a picture of it before the candles. But this is the cake while Cyndi was de-candling it.

Cyndi Helping

2011-10-30T09:47:00.001-06:00

Cyndi helping feed Damian. I love the last picture.

He is trying so hard to get his food. Poor little boy!

Growing Up!

2011-10-30T09:45:00.001-06:00

Such a big little boy! Growing up so fast. *sniff, sniff*

My Birthday Present

2011-10-30T09:39:00.002-06:00

Ben took picture of each step in the making of my birthday present. Cyndi helped him make it as well. I love it!

Domestic Cyndi

2011-10-30T09:34:00.001-06:00

Cyndi made lunch the other day.

Feed Me Slave!

2011-10-30T09:31:00.002-06:00

Ben sent this to me while I was at work the other day. It was a series of 2 pictures. No babies were harmed in the making of this 2 pictures series:

I AM STARVING!

Thank you Slave!

Independent Cyndi

2011-10-30T09:24:00.002-06:00

Cyndi has learnt how to use the step ladder in the kitchen. The other day Ben found her getting her breakfast all by herself. She has also gotten the brown sugar out of the cupboard above the stove as well. Our little girl is getting so big!

Hot Dogs and Spaghetti

2011-10-30T09:19:00.002-06:00

I saw this fun idea online a few weeks back and thought it would be fun to try. I don't each hot dogs so Ben and Cyndi were the genie pigs for this. I cut up some hot dogs, then I pushed some uncooked spaghetti through it and cooked it up. It was cool.

Hiding

2011-10-30T09:18:00.002-06:00

I love how Dique went to sleep. Such a cute little character.

Cyndi Feeding Dique

2011-10-30T09:16:00.002-06:00

Cyndi wanted to help feed Dique. Such a big little girl and a wonderful helper!

Twisty Chips

2011-10-30T09:13:00.001-06:00

We got this cool little device that you twist through food items at the Utah State Fair. I don't know what you would call it, but it made some cool potatoes. Sadly half way through making twisty chips, it broke. Good thing that it was free.

Love this Face!

2011-10-30T09:11:00.000-06:00

Halloween Outfits

2011-10-30T09:01:00.003-06:00

Last night we had the ward Halloween party. It really was not that fun. It would have been better if they did a trunk or treat or something like that. I invited Rachel and her little girl, Chloe, up to join us in the the Halloween festivities. I made Cyndi and Chloe little fairy outfits. I think they are just darling. Cyndi = pink. Chloe = purple.

Dique the Puppy

2011-10-30T08:55:00.002-06:00

If anything comes near Dique's mouth he has to lick it. The softer and fluffier the wetter it gets. Last night Dique was licking Ben's arm.

Sleeping Dique

2011-10-30T08:53:00.001-06:00

Dique loves things on or almost covering his face when he sleeps. I love how he has brought this blanket up to his face. Such a cute little guy!

Sewing

2011-10-30T08:47:00.002-06:00

I was making Cyndi's Halloween outfit the other night and she wanted to help. So I gave her a needle and thread and some scrap material and she had fun threading it.

Best Friends

2011-10-30T08:39:00.002-06:00

This week we had a visit from some friends. A roommate from college had a little girl 2 days before Damian was born. Sentry wanted to learn how to sew, so we had a great afternoon. Damian and Ali had a good time getting to know one another.

I love how they were holding arms. Ali started to lick Damian's arm and Damian just smiled. It was so cute.

Utah State Fair

2011-10-30T07:40:00.006-06:00

Way back in the middle of September we went to the Utah State Fair. It was so much fun. I think I am going to plan a trip there every year from now on. We had done some research about that activities they had and we arrived just in time for Ausie Kingdom. Cyndi loved it. Damian slept through it. There is a farm in Denver, CO that has all sorts of Australian animals living there.

This is a sugar glider. It was so small and so cute!

After the show we were able to go and touch some of the animals. Cyndi loved it!

Then we went off to see the Sea Lions. About 5 minutes into the show it started to rain. It rained for a 30 minutes and then it was a nice day again.

After it stopped raining we walked around for a little, had some dinner and then headed off to save our seats for the rodeo. Everyone's first rodeo, except for Ben.

Damian enjoyed sleeping through everything. He woke up for food twice, but that was it.

At the start of the rodeo, 3 skydivers came down. They each had a flag attached to their backs. It was so cool.

After Damian had eaten a second time, he watched some of the rodeo.

Cyndi, Ouma and Marius watching the rodeo. Notice Cyndi could not stop watching the horses for a picture.

Bronc riding

Calf roping

Asleep again

Steer wrestling - enlarge the picture and you can see the cowboy half on his horse and holding the steer - its cool

They had all sorts of competitions. Its was crazy to see all of it. Here Cyndi is standing next to a very large pumpkin. Behind here were a few tables with best everything on it. All sorts of food products.

We found the bunny section. I was amazed at all the different kinds of bunnies there are. When we walked past this cage, Marius said: this morning there was only one bunny in the cage.

Love these bunnies. They are just so fluffy!

And this one is just so adorable. I love that face (below).

On our way out we went past the pony rides. Cyndi did not was to ride at first, but then got excited and we had to give her a ride. She now loves pony rides!

Love = T-I-M-E

2011-10-20T19:45:00.003-06:00

Something that we should all see and remember!

Simple Truths

Click on the link above to watch a short video.

3 Months Old!

2011-10-16T18:44:00.002-06:00

My gorgeous little man a day after his 3 month mark. Oh how time flies!

Dique and the Ice Lolly!

2011-10-10T06:22:00.002-06:00

Dique wanted Daddy's ice lolly!

Silly little Boy.

Blue/Yellow Butterfly

2011-10-10T06:20:00.001-06:00

I just love the yellow ribbon.

Crinkly Toy

2011-10-07T20:12:00.002-06:00

I attempted to make a crinkle toy for Dique today. It never turned out bad, but I think there are some changes that I want to make. So tomorrow - back to the drawing board to make those changes. Dique enjoys it though - that's all that really counts, right?

It is not in his mouth - just by it. He does not put things in his mouth.

Cute Random Pics

2011-10-07T20:04:00.002-06:00

Dique has a neck. Cyndi never had a neck until she was about 18 months. I love to compare these two little ones. What they were like at the same age. What their likes and dislikes are.

Cyndi: Loved to sleep in her crib

Dique: Loves to sleep in my arms and NOT the crib

Cyndi: Hated the rattle

Dique: Could not careless about the rattle

Cyndi: Ate quickly and was done

Dique: Will eat all day if I let him. He gets very upset if his feedings are less than 1 hour.

Cyndi: Never bothered to hold anything

Dique: Loves to hold things

Cyndi: Loved her binki - only the green hospital one

Dique: Could careless about the binki and hated the hospital one

Both of them don't drool or put things in their mouths.

I love it when Dique lifts his head at me and gives me a little smile. I tickled his chin the other day to try and get some pictures of him doing it. I got lucky with two. He is such a sweet little guy. WE are so lucky to have him in our home. Cyndi is chomping at the bit for him to grow up and play with her and I am saying slow down you are growing to fast!

Just Wait Until I Am Bigger....

2011-10-07T20:01:00.002-06:00

This is how I found Dique the other day - All covered in stickers. He is patiently waiting until he can sticker her!

To Bright!

2011-10-07T19:58:00.002-06:00

The other night little Dique was relaxing in my arms and he pulled his bib up to his eyes. He gave me a look as to say "Mom, the light in to bright." I had to snap a picture of it and the he complained about the flash - FYI: he HATES the flash. He always give me the same expression after I take a picture of him.

Butterfly Ribbon

2011-10-07T19:47:00.002-06:00

I made this tonight for the cutest, sweetest, most darling little Princess in the whole entire world - I might be tempted to say ever in the world.

Rolling Champion!

2011-09-28T16:13:00.002-06:00

Damian has rolled over a couple of times in his little 10 week life, but since Sunday he has been the little rolling champion! We have tried to get it on video, but we have failed every time.... until today! I was able to catch this little man rolling and rolling and rolling. Gotta love the smiles at the end - I sure do!

Whenever I do tummy time with Damian, I always invite Cyndi to join us - so she feels included. She loves to copy Damian. So I videoed her rolling over as well. She is such a sweet heart with her little brother. Today she changed his diaper. Ben had to help her a little here and there, but she did it all by herself. She is going to be such a great little mother one day.

These two little angels make the world turn!

I Watching You....

2011-09-16T18:30:00.000-06:00

I love this picture of Di-Ka-Leaky.

Faces of Damian and 2 Month Update

2011-09-16T18:12:00.003-06:00

Things have been crazy around here. I have started working part-time. My shift was 9pm - 1am, and that just killed me during the day. I could not sleep for more than a couple hours at night because Damian wanted to be fed, so I have been lucky enough to be able to transfer to a different job with better hours and more or less same pay. On Monday I start work at 9am.

Damian has given us all a little scare. A few weeks after we brought him home we found a pink diaper - no the diaper was not pink. It was as though his urine had turned pink. We never thought much of it. One random diaper, no biggy. Then last week we got another one. This time it was very pink. So we called the doctor and we went in for a check up. After ruling a few things out, she decided to send him to Primary Children's for a urine test. Today when we went in for his 2 month well child check up, the doctor said that she could not find anything wrong with his urine. Everything was completely normal. So we are not sure what that is all about. But now we get to play the waiting game and see if anything else happens. He also got a round of med's for some re-flux problems that he has been having. So I am hoping that will decrease his spit up, gagging, choking and not breathing moments. He now weighs 10.5 lbs (25th percentile), his height is 23.5 in (75th percentile) and his head is 15.35 in (25th percentile). So tall and skinny!

Damian always pull some of the cutest, strangest, most random faces that I have seen. I love it! Here are a few that I was able to catch on camera.

"Its rough being this little"

"I know a secret!"

Happiness is.....

2011-09-16T18:04:00.002-06:00

Love the lips

Any Guess As To What This Expression Means?

2011-09-16T18:01:00.003-06:00

Cyndi and Damian

2011-09-16T17:58:00.001-06:00

Love these two little kiddos!

They are the BEST!!!

Little Elf

2011-09-16T17:57:00.000-06:00

SunCatchers

2011-09-16T17:48:00.003-06:00

The other day I sat down with Cyndi while Damian was napping and we painted sun-catchers. She had so much fun.

I painted the rainbow and Cyndi did the rest.

6 Weeks Old

2011-08-27T22:23:00.002-06:00

Cute little Damian chatting and smiling with Ben this afternoon.

Promise... 100% Teeth Free!

2011-08-27T19:42:00.002-06:00

I love this picture. He is so happy here. This picture makes me think he is saying something like: "See I have no teeth. No teeth on top. No teeth on bottom. 100% teeth free."

Many Faces of Damian

2011-08-27T19:33:00.003-06:00

Damian has MANY different faces. I am still learning what some of those faces mean. But one thing for sure, is that they are rather entertaining. Today Ben was talking with him and I tried to capture some of those faces. He is becoming such a little character. I look forward to seeing him every morning and I wonder what kind of little man he is going to be. All I know right now, is that he is perfect and wonderful and such a little pleasure to have. I think that I am the luckiest momma ever! So here are some of the pictures from today.

Trust me when I say there are still many more faces that have not been captured!

Feeding Damian

2011-08-27T19:29:00.002-06:00

Cyndi trying to feed Damian. She has about a 10 second attention span for this. I think she left and came back 2 or 3 times during his feeding. But at least she is trying. Damian was very patient with her. She would look in one direction and move her hand accidental and Damian would make little sounds to remind her that he was eating that.

Tin Foil Potatoes

2011-08-27T19:18:00.002-06:00

Saturday's are the only real evenings we get to spend together as a family, since Ben works nights. So we usually try to have a braai. Ben has taught Cyndi how to clean, butter, season and wrap potatoes to put on the fire. Tonight I decided to document the process since little Cyndi is so good at it and I think she is feeling a little out of it since Damian gets most of the attention (he is ALWAYS wanting food). So here it goes:

Step 1:

First you wash the potatoes.

Cyndi pointing out the black spots of dirt that needed to be cleaned.

Step 2:

Dry the potatoes

Step 3:

Get Dad to fork the potatoes

Step 4:

Butter the potatoes

Step 5:

Roll buttered potatoes in garlic

Step 6:

Roll potato in tin foil

Cyndi is a champ at doing this. She gets a little upset after she has buttered the potatoes since she HATES having stuff on her hands like that.

Left Over Cake

2011-08-26T18:38:00.002-06:00

There was left over cake from the balloon cake. So Cyndi got to ice it for Ouma. It was an egg cake, so it would not be eaten at my house. Cyndi did a great job at icing the cake until she realized that she was allowed to eat the icing. She quickly lost interest in icing the cake.

Icing the top

Icing the sides

I saved the cake and smoothed the icing evenly or else it would have been a smeared blob of icing on top and some on the sides. The Cyndi (with mom's help) wrote on the cake.

Eating the icing.

The pictures were taken on my phone that is why the quality is not great.

Balloon Cake

2011-08-26T18:35:00.002-06:00

A lady at Ben's work ordered a cake. She wanted a balloon cake for a birthday party. I think the kid is turning 3. She wanted 3 balloons. There are 2 chocolate and 1 yellow cake, iced with vanilla buttercream.

Ames Family Sleeping

2011-08-26T18:28:00.002-06:00

Some of the best pictures of everyone sleeping.

I love this one of little Damian. He looks like he is going to throw a football or something. Definitely going to be an little jock!

Ben was trying to get Cyndi to take a nap. Well I guess it worked a little to well.

On Sunday we were listening to conference and we noticed that Cyndi was rather quite on the floor at our feet. I think its funny. She looks she fell sleep and then fell over and that is how she landed.

Family Loves

2011-08-26T18:27:00.000-06:00

Nap Time

2011-08-26T18:26:00.001-06:00

My extremely cute snuggle bum!

He refused to take a nap in his crib. He loves to snuggle.

This was him waiting for me to come and snuggle with him.

Damian's Blessing Cake

2011-08-26T18:17:00.001-06:00

This is the cake that I made for Damian's blessing. It was a coconut cake with lemon icing. It tasted rather good.

Smiles All Around

2011-08-19T11:51:00.000-06:00

Smiling at Mommy! Love this little boy.

Chatty Damian

2011-08-15T16:32:00.002-06:00

Little Damian is a very verbal little boy. Even when he is sleeping, he makes noises. They are so cute. I am slowly learning what a bunch of them mean, but most of them are just him making noises. We have been trying to get him on video making some noises and this is what we got. So cute!

Cute Pictures of Damian

2011-08-15T16:31:00.001-06:00

Damian holding his first piece of mail - his social.

Whats that over there? I am so memorization by it!

Damian's Baby Blessing

2011-08-15T16:19:00.002-06:00

Fast Sunday, August 7th, we had Damian's baby blessing. We had a great support from family and some friends. Sadly most of our friends were out of town that Sunday. All in all, it was a great day.

Everyone that was there. Sorry Charne that you are half in there and Jane was there as well - she was taking this picture.

The Priesthood who was in the circle.

Three generations of Ames.

All of us.

Almost 100 years difference here. Crazy, I know. This is Ken Forsyth. He is Ben's grandfathers older brother.

Thank you to everyone who came and supported our family on this great day, and to all of those who wanted to be there, but sadly were out of town.

Blessing Day Outfits

2011-08-15T16:06:00.002-06:00

I made Cyndi a cute new dress and Damians blessing outfit for the blessing. I wanted Cyndi to feel special as well. I forgot to take some super cute pictures of the kids in their outfits, but here are their outfits. You can probably see more detail in them like this anyway.

Princess Cyndi got a nice royal purple bubble dress. There is tulle inside to give it some more poof.

Prince Damian got a nice shiny 3 piece white outfit. The pattern was about 12 million time to big - even though it said it was a newborn size. Ben helped me scale it down to a more appropriate size.

Up close on the vest. I 'detailed' it with a light blue thread. It looked really good and unless you were looking very close, you would never really know that it was light blue.

Both my little sweethearts looks like a million bucks that day.

1 Month and Recovery

2011-08-15T15:21:00.004-06:00

So I can't believe that this month has gone by so quickly. My little boy is already 1 month old. My oh my how quickly time does fly. On Friday we had little Damian's 1 month check up. He is 8lbs 11oz. Technically he has put on 1lb 6oz, but I like to say he put on 2lbs. When he was in the hospital he dropped down to 6lbs 110z, thus putting on 2lbs. He is a very good little eater, but sleeping could use some work. He can sleep for a good 4-5 hour stretch - if he wants to. Usually that stretch is from around 2pm-ish to 6pm-ish. Then again from 10pm-ish to around 3am-ish. He does not want to go back to sleep at 3am though. But all in all, he is fabulous and I want to keep him forever and ever!

Recovery has been easy and hard at the same time. Easy since I kind of know what to expect and hard because well, it was major abdominal surgery (as my dr and every other medical professional keeps telling me). Like everything there has been good days and bad days. And as I near the end of the 6 week recovery phase, there are more good days than bad. At the beginning I had about 7 different pills that I was taking for one thing or another, so I am not glad to say that I am back to my regular 3 plus one more. My doctor said that I lost more blood than expected during the c-section and then my hemoglobin levels were low already. I am now on iron pills to bring my hemoglobin levels back up.

My dad has been saying with us for the past few weeks. It has been great to have him around. He helps out a lot by playing with Cyndi or cuddling with Damian. It gives me a moment to do something other than feed Damian and chase Cyndi around.

We also had Damian's baby blessing at the beginning of August. More on that in a different post though.

Here are a bunch of pictures, in no order, of Damian in the past month:

Ben burping Damian in the middle of his feeding - he was not happy. He was chomping on his binki.

I love this picture. We have an ultrasound picture of him like this, so it is cool to see him do it out of my tummy.

Being silly at bath time. He loves his hair being washed, but as for the rest of him - its touch and go.

My cute little mole.

He loves to sleep on his tummy. So when he gets the opportunity - usually when he is on someone he is so cute!

More cute sleeping, this time on me.

We had out first official blowout. This one was awesome. He was sleeping on me and I got up to do something and when I moved the pillow out from under him, it was orange. My hand was already under his bum so I got a little worried. I cautiously took him to his change around and put him down. The picture above is what I found on him. I checked myself up and down and there was nothing on me. Not even my hand. Expecting to find a big mess in his diaper I was surprised to find there was NOTHING in his diaper. He is a talented little boy, that is for sure.

Damian tolerates his binki. He will only suck on it if you hold it in his mouth and then just before he falls asleep he will spit it out.

Snuggles with Oupa.

Bonding time with Oupa

Cyndi and Damian - she can be gentle sometimes.

Snuggled in Dad's arms. I love the way he is sleeping in the picture.

Happy ONE Week Old Birthday

2011-07-22T15:45:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that it has been a week already. Oh how time flies. Little Damian has been a little angel. He is mom's little snuggle bum. He figured since Mommy needs to rest and take it easy, he will just snuggle right on up and make sure that she does not move.

This is how Damian's average day goes: eat, poop, eat, poop, eat, poop, sleep, and repeat this process every couple of hours. I laugh and say that in the 24 hour period he has collectively opened his eyes for a total of about 1 hour. The big event of the week was Ben's first diaper spray. While he was changing Damian's diaper, little Damian decided that he wanted to pee. It was funny. I thankfully was a safe distance away, but I really think that Damian aimed for me. Then something that I am learning about his little personality is that he has no patience. When Cyndi was a newborn she would cry once to tell us she was hungry. Then wait patiently until I was ready to feed her. Damian will just cry until he works his way up into the cry/scream of the injustice. But what he lacks in patience, he makes up in tolerance. He will just sit there while Cyndi 'loves' on him. Cyndi is still learning to be gentle and little Damian will just sit and wait until she is done.

Here are s few pictures that we have taken over the last few days - pics in no order.

Daddy decided that there is no better time to start tummy-time than from the very beginning. This was his first tummy-time and guess what... He slept through it. Cyndi hated tummy-time and would scream blue murder the whole time. Not this little guy, he looked around a little, then put his head down and closed his eyes.

I love how little Damian is in this picture. He just fits under Ben's arm perfectly.

This is a common position that Damian was in when he was still in my tummy. See those legs and knees - I felt them regularly trying to push their way out of both my sides at the same time. Look how his cute little toes are curled around each other.

This is a common activity.

My cute little mole! Love him to bits already.

New Addition

2011-07-18T22:38:00.007-06:00

On Friday, July 15, 2011 we had a scheduled C-section. Everything went smoothly and mom and baby are healthy and mom is recovering well. My doctor said that if I went into labour naturally before the 15th then I could try a VBAC. But sadly that did not happen.

On our way to the operating room. Yes they made me walk myself there. It was nerve raking to say the least.

Little Damian Ira was born at 12:51pm

He weighed 7lbs and 5oz. His height was 20.75in.

Almost a whole pound heavier than his big sister and only a little taller than her.

Proud Daddy and little Damian

The three of us

Bonding with Daddy already

Cyndi, Ouma and Marius came to visit a few hours after Damian was born. It was good to see them and see how Cyndi fell in love with her little brother from the moment she said hello.

Loving each other!

Already a desert rat like his daddy. This is what Father and Son did every afternoon.

Damian was born with tuffs of hair on his ears

Catching flies

Sleeping like his big sister. Cyndi would sleep like this all the time

Cyndi found the stethoscope and started to listen to Damian's brain.

I wonder what she heard.

On our way home.

Little African

2011-07-15T00:00:00.001-06:00

What can I say... The African blood runs strong.

She did this all on her own. It was so funny.

Operation: Save the Ducks

2011-07-14T23:52:00.002-06:00

I have come to learn that ducks are not the smarts or most family orientated animals out there. I have seen mommy ducks completely abandon their ducklings and other mommy ducks do anything to save their ducklings, but the most common thing that lies in the duck gene is their lack of smarts.

The other day coming home we found a mother duck and her 8 ducklings stuck in the basement well of an apartment. A little against Ben's will, I got him to jump in and try to get them out. Every time he caught a duckling, it would jump right back into the whole - a lesson in itself for another day.

Mommy and her ducklings

Ben thought it would be a good idea to put a board up for them to climb out of. We got bread and tried to get them up it, but it was a failed attempt at rescue.

I love this picture, mommy duck is 'yelling' at Ben to stay away.

Eventually Ben took his hat off and started to try and chase mommy away so he could get the ducklings out. He chased mom right out of the well and then I helped keep her from jumping back in while Ben would grab a duckling and toss (I kid not, some did back flips) it out to mommy. He saved all 8 ducklings and mommy. Such a fabulous hero!

The terrified mommy back with all 8 ducklings running in the opposite direction for safety.

Koeksisters

2011-07-14T23:49:00.001-06:00

Last week I made a South African treat. Koeksisters. They were nummy. Don't they just look mouth watering?

Meet Happy

2011-07-14T23:44:00.002-06:00

We would like to welcome Happy to our little family. Happy is a little kitty cat that Cyndi got as a reward for sleeping without her binki. That's right... Cyndi is now binki free and just in time! Most nights are still hard to get her to calm down and relax to go to sleep, but everything is work in progress.

Yes that is a carrot, cheese and a crouton (we were having salad)

Cyndi loves happy. She puts her to bed on Mom's rocker with a blanket most nights. Pets are not allowed to sleep in beds/rooms with kids. I thought it was so cute how she would treat Happy like a real cat. The food she tried to feed her was a little strange for a cat to eat, but at least it got fed - right.

Zoo Trip

2011-07-14T23:30:00.002-06:00

Last week we went to the zoo. There was a large group of us, it was Shared and his family, Ouma, Granny and Ben, Cyndi and I. I was hoping that the hot walk around the zoo for 6 or so hours would help encourage Damian to join us, but I think it just made him hide. It was fun to see Cyndi loving all the animals. I never took lots of pictures since we had seen the animals before. So here are a couple that really stood out to me.

Ouma has a cat that sleeps just like this. It was funny to see.

Daddy showing Cyndi the birds in the bird house

Cyndi got to go on the carousel. She has been on one before and hated it. So it was cool to see her loving it this time. She would wave every time she came around and yell 'Mom'

This little guy reminds me of Timone and his family from the lion king 1 1/2. I can see the song 'What was that' going through his head.

Ouma and Cyndi with the elephants. Cyndi LOVES the elephants.

I tried to get some pictures of everyone on the carousel, but I failed. Every one kept coming out blurring. So I videoed.

July 4th

2011-07-14T23:19:00.002-06:00

July 4th we kept tradition and went to the Murray parade. Honestly the only reason why we go to that parade is because of the Jeep 'float.' Its a whole bunch of Jeeps doing little tricks. Its cool. I love it!

Cyndi was very good at learning to respect the American Flag and every time she saw one she would put her hand over her heart. She did not have to be told or anything. She saw everyone do it at the beginning of the parade and every time after that, she would automatically do it. It was so cute. There was a bag-pipe 'float' and at the beginning of the bag-pipes there was a flag. Cyndi did not like the bag-pipe sound and covered her ears while keeping her hand over her heart. She was so cute.

The JEEPS!

Later that day Shared and his family came over for a braai and we all got to hang out. It was fun. Then in the evening we went to the Murray fireworks. Cyndi had a blast. She got sparklers and glow sticks. By the end of the night she had about 25 glow sticks all over her body and she looked like she should come out of one of those futuristic movies where all the clothing is metallic and reflective.

It was a great July 4th this year. I am guessing we have more to come!

Starting July 3rd...

2011-07-03T23:29:00.004-06:00

We decided to start the July 4th celebrations on July 3rd. Since July 4th is going to be filled with a visit from Shard and his family, a parade and fireworks in the evening, we thought it better to do a Cyndi party the night before. As always I had to make a cake for the fun. Ben really wanted to add some 'flare' to the cake, so we got some mini fountain rockets to put on top. They turned out rather cool. We also got just a few cheap fireworks that were Cyndi friendly to light.

The cake. It was a red velvet and vanilla pound with butter cream icing.

The fireworks!

Inside the cake - American flag

Cyndi loved the sparklers. But Marius burnt himself lighting the cake, Cyndi kept crying wolf saying 'I burnt myself.' Note: No Cyndi was burnt or harmed during the night!

The Family at the little celebration:

Cyndi playing with the sparklers - she had so much fun!

Ben and Cyndi playing with the sparklers.

Once we got home, Cyndi went up to Ben and gave him a big hug. She then proceeded to thank him for her party.

July 4th Dress

2011-07-03T23:26:00.001-06:00

The dress I made for Cyndi for the July 4th weekend. I think that it is super cute on her.