Ah Vinyl...How I love you!

Nothing makes me as happy as an afternoon placing stickers on objects, no matter how big or how small the object I manage to find JOY in every smoothing over action of my thumb.

Chilly July Monday morning...

With a chance of snow...Gioia thought it best to wear her little pink hat to school.

New accessory from Ouma

Night time sketching

Relaxing weekend with my folks

Back to school and back to Practica

Now that we are settled and school has forced us into a much needed routine I caught up on my Practica reading material.  Last night, prepared wiyh my notes, we sat down on the persian in the playroom and played for an hour.  I was so impressed with her length of concentration!  We moved all the educational toys out of the big box and into Johan's bookshelf for easy access. I hope to out do myself daily from here on, and in the process stimulate Bean in the fields of maths and design.

Thumb sucker

Joys of pregnancy

I've been up since 2:20am.  Most babies 'drop' as the time for delivery looms closer, but I think little Isla is confused about which direction she needs to move towards and bypassing my tonsils would be the wrong way but that's what it feels like as I CAN'T BREATH!  Everytime I toss, Gioia mirrors my movement.  This encouraged me to sneak out of the bedroom and into the cosy media room so I can blog and she can rest.  At one point while I was sneaking an extended sniff of her little girly scented skin and hair she turned to me and we bumped brows.  I winced as quietly as I could but she heard and in her sleepiest state said 'sorry Mommy'! I'm in love with my co-chef bath time buddy, she is possibly the most magnificent pre-schooler in our hemisphere. Two and half years on and it boggles my mind that she can still take my breath away as often as she does. 

Yesterday at ten thirty new little Jhoana Truebody arrived into the world.  Here are the first images of Rebecca's carbon copy raven haired sibling.

Bean is certainly the girliest of girls, she climbs into my cupboard daily to put on my shoes or to find an accessory that will compliment her handbag or hat.

Living life

Today was a wonderfully simple Saturday with Gioia and the 'renters'.  Us Benade babes watered the garden, some of us fully clothed (me) some of us not so much (Gioia).  She tries her best to take control of the powerful hose but manages to drench herself from head to toe, so off came the pants...and the panties.  She was wearing a pink tracksuit top and hoodie and socks and slippers and that was it...I laughed so hard when I came around the corner that Isla had had to hold onto my spinal column for support.  Since Johan left Bean has been a bit up and down, she is demonstrating her frustration levels more than usual by grabbing object and either throwing them, hitting them or kicking them, then storming off to a corner.  I hope this is a phase and not a sign of a future bar brawler? 

My friend Surene and her family are getting ready to finally move into their brand spanking new house, so she text me a wonderful glimse of Sadie's room that she had wallpapered in personalised wall paper.  This of course struck a chord with me and I began to finalise vinyl for Gioia's sunny sweet room.  See below, I have sent the first stage in for print and I cant wait for Nick to call so I can pick up and apply. 

This morning at ten I attended a creative cell and we made felt brooches.  The ladies around the table were talking kindle kindle kindle!  I have a kindle but up until now was not very interested in learing how to operate it, so I leant it to my friend Julie who reads as if its an olympic sport.  I am going to pick it up from her this week, so lets see how up to the minute I too can be!

Back to school on Monday for Gioia, she has been at home with us for a month.  No more piggy pjama days for now, we will be up and off with the early bird...nothing like routine to kick start your day.

A family outing to Tshwane Municipality

Day 2 of trying to get the water and electricity and rates and taxes in our name...we (Johan) did succeed though and we wait with bated breath for our first account! 

30 weeks pregnant

Housie update

Today, we have been in the house for 4 weeks.  I cant believe a month has gone by since the movers tossed our belongings out the back of their truck.  We are feeling settled as I am happy to spend the day in my pjamas with Gioia.  We took Johan to the airport last night for a quick 8 week stunt.  He returns days before my scheduled c-section.  We both tried our absolute best not to get teary eyed as we said our goodbyes as Gioia seems to suffer tremendously if we show too much emotion, infact she warns us on the highway already that tears are not permitted.  I pinch my thigh at the first hint of a tear and Johan keeps faking sneazes in a weak attempt to conceal the true reason for his moist blue eyes.  I have stopped making 'to-do' lists as I realise running a house is a marathon and not a race and we have the rest of our adult lives to fine tune the little imperfections and make the house just perfect.  I am looking through the big double doors imagining Gioia's future 3rd birthday party on the deck...it will be a warm summer afternoon for sure and I can see all the little guests in their costumes running around the pool..so much to look forward to..so much!

Loving playdates again

Big sister Little sister...

There certainly is a family resemblance.

Who is this confident little person?

Gioia has done nothing but amaze us the last few weeks.  She is on holiday, so she is with us 24/7.  She sings like an Idols contestant, reads to her baby and bear, counts to ten in afrikaans and struts around with her hand on her hip like a vogue model.  Here she is striking one pose after another while Johan and I applaud and stare with dropped jaws...who is this little person?  Where is our baby girl? Her personality gains colour daily and we are entertained by her performer like traits every time we sit down and she takes the floor.

Fix it Girl with Fixing Dadda

Gioia and Johan have been working side by side for three weeks now, here Johan is demonstrating how to hammer in a hilti nail to Gioia, a rather dangerous demonstration and one I am sure we will regret later on.

Gioia's clubhouse gets signage

There is not much I can, or am allowed to do around the new house, so I design signage and stickers for the house and the Bean.  I designed these stickers for her treehouse and Johan stuck them on perspex for me then glued them to the little entrances.  Apparently I am not allowed up there...so I supervised from below and yelled my input to Johan, who nodded and obliged.

The second 4D scan

Johan and I went for another 4D scan yesterday and the results were amazing.  Isla worked with us and did her best to pose for the camera. This is my favourite freeze frame, as you can see she is acutally smiling.