4/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Dear Olivia,

I love that you are starting to get mobile, but shame my baby, you are getting so many bumps and bruises. I love the serious look you put on when staring at something outside the window. How I would love to know what's going on in your head.

Love,

Mama

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Just you and me

This week has been quite an adventure, sweet in some ways, but not without a hint of different tastes other than sweetness (if you know what I mean). My awesome Mr. Man, Olivia's amazing Daddy has been out of the country on a work trip. So we've been flying solo, just me and my sweet Caramel. We usually get a friend or one of my sisters to come stay with us when he's away, but this time I felt like experiencing "just the two of us".

It has been fine for the most part. Actually, Olivia has been suprsingly and amazingly calm. I must admit I had predicted that I would be going to bed so tired after a day of carrying around a whopping 10 kg "bag" around with me as she is usually glued onto my hip, back or chest when I get back from work midday, but it hasn't been too bad at all. She even allows me to put her down on the bathroom floor while I___!

I had also foreseen an exhausted me waking up in the mornings to get ready for work, wishing for more sleep after a night of the 4 to 5 wake-ups that we have been used to the past few months. Nope! This not so long ago sleep deprived mama has been enjoying some good quality sleep. Olivia has been sleeping for about 9 to 12 hours straight, just slightly waking up once to have her pacifier put back in. This is a testimony worthy of its own blog post. I will share the details later. Whether this good-sleep season lasts a few more days, weeks, months or whatever, I am making sure to enjoy it!

We miss him, his random laughter in the middle of sentences, his tickles, his presence, his warmth and of course his strong arms. As I was working on his computer sitting in his office chair with Olivia on my lap, she started looking around this familiar space with the look on her face she usually has when we are in a new place. I wondered what was going on in her head. I wondered if she noticed that we are in Daddy's space and he is not there. I remembered that her Daddy had sent her text hugs, kisses and tickles, so I gave them to her at that moment.

Her Daddy is coming back in a few days. I will have my hubby back with me in less than a week. There are millions of women whose husbands or partners are gone forever like my mother who singlehandedly raised 4 children. Millions of children like myself who grow up in homes without fathers. I do not know what it's like to be a single mother, but I know too well what it's like being a fatherless child, the questions, the pain anger and resentment. I am so grateful that I can hold my sweet Caramel and say to her, "Your Daddy will be back sweetheart."

3/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Dear Olivia,

I love how you enjoy these beads. I love your beautiful smile. 

Love, 

Mama

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Friday Fun Foto

Funny face 1!

Funny face 2!

2/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Dear Olivia,

I love how you enjoy being in the kitchen sink. I love your beautiful sparkly eyes.

Love,

Mama

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1/52

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Dear Olivia,

I love your sleepy face. I love your classic biting-the-lip pose.

Love,

Mama

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52 - A Portrait Every Week

I love taking photos of Olivia. My camera is almost always with me, ready to capture all the special, cute, funny and silly moments. Last year I took hundreds if not thousands of pictures of her and when I browse through them from time to time I am left in awe of how she has changed, grown and blossomed  over the last 8 months. These pictures tell an incredible story of the beauty and miracle of life.

I came across a brilliant idea on an Australian mama's blog, to take a portrait of your child every week in 2013. I love it, I love it, I absolutely love it! Just the idea of deliberately stopping whatever may be on my agenda, taking a moment to record my child's life in such a beautiful way. I'll be joining in on this project and at the end of the year I'll make something special with the collection of weekly portraits.

Yes please!

Mommy or Daddy coming home from work is undoubtedly one of Olivia's favourite moments.  But honestly I think this might be her second favourite, number one being...(drum roll please)...EATING TIME!

As she is carried into the dining room with an already set table, her eyes and mouth open wide with excitement and anticipation. At this point, she starts making all kinds of sounds,and her legs usually start kicking uncontrollably, making it very hard to fit her into the high-chair.  Sometimes she even starts drooling!  Then, as we give her meal, she dives in…and believe me, she knows how to enjoy her food!  I would not blame anyone who witnessed this and thought we starve the poor girl.

This has been Olivia's attitude toward food pretty much since the very first meal she had other than breast milk. Good thing, else we might have falsely believed that it's a result of our good parenting  and culinary skills…although I would still like to claim that it has something to do with my amazing kitchen skills! Some people have asked me for tips on how to get their little ones to similarly eat, but honestly there's not much that I have done to "get" Olivia to eat. We just decided from the onset that we would keep a very chilled attitude about introducing solids, at least for the first year of her life. We see it this way, that food is just for fun, learning and exploring for now, and hence we offer her most of the foods that we eat as a family in pieces that she can handle and manipulate (all of this within reason, of course we do not feed her McDonalds and Coke!). We know that when she feels like eating, she will eat, and without much effort from us. And when she's not interested in a meal that I've prepared for her (which is very rare), that's okay too, it just means she doesn't feel like eating at that moment. And her main source of nourishment continues to be breast milk for now.

I don't give this information as advice, rather I just want to share the approach we have taken with Olivia. Who knows, it may not be the same with our next one. But for Olivia, this was the best decision we made in terms of food.

I think this little girl is a living, breathing example of the quote by Luciano Pavarroti: "One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop what we are doing and devote our attention to eating."

Oops, I must end this now, it’s feeding time again…on the menu today, a large, fuzzy, succulent peach…let the eager kicking begin!

Bread roll attack! She wasn't actually eating it, just ripping it apart. - A few days before turning 6 months

Licking her bib after eating papaya for the first time at 6 months. 

Feeding herself oatmeal. Just over 6 months old

We love eating with her at the table

Steamed carrots. I love that expression!

"Thank you mama :-)"

So focused! :-)

All time favorite- PEACH!

French toast. "Yummmy"

"This spoon business is not fast enough!"

Another favorite- Avocado on rice cake

All she did was to squish it!

"Hmmmm, I'm not too sure about this meal mama, but I'll try it."

"Can I pleaaaase have some more berries"

Olivia's first holiday with Grammy and Poppy

Here's a beautiful guest post by Olivia's Grammy

We had only seen our newest granddaughter with SKYPE.  We could already see that she was such a cute baby with her big eyes darting everywhere. But nothing can prepare you for the first time that you see your grandchild up close and personal. We walked into the East London airport and there they were - Scott and Yolanda holding the most beautiful baby  with the most gorgeous eyes imaginable. And she actually locked eyes with us (so different from SKYPE!).  I wanted to take her in my arms immediately but didn't want to frighten her. So I tried to be patient and let her get used to these two strangers - Grammy and Poppy - for a little while.  It was such a wonderful feeling holding her for the first time.  We had such a great week with all three of them. Olivia won't remember us the next time we see her  (perils of living half way around the planet from her) but, maybe she will have some feeling of having known us before and that we are o.k.  We look forward to that time!

Waiting at the airport Chocolate Mama style

Almost here!

I see them!

Hello Grammy!

I like my Grammy.

Holiday time

Three generations

Gift opening time. Thanks for the paper and ribbon Grammy and Poppy!

...and for all my lovely gifts too!

I was saving my first crawling movements for my Grammy and Poppy

Really Poppy?!

At the Airport to say goodbye *sniff, sniff*

Thank you for an amazingly special holiday. We love you.

Friday Fun Foto

"I really don't feel like another photo shoot, but I'll pretend I'm having fun Mama."

"Okay, that's enough!"

"Please get me off NOW!"

Beautiful old thing

Many of my friends know that I am antiques auction queen! I have several valuable possessions in my home that I got for close to nothing (and a heap of useless "finds" in our garage!). My latest treasure that I found two months ago is a beautiful old pram that I got for about R30 (under $3). I am very delighted that my little princess enjoys it so much, she absolutely loves it!