Flip I’m craving concrete. The smell of it. Haven’t ever tasted it but I’m sure that must be nice too.

Let’s start with this tummy of mine. My belly button couldn’t stick its neck out anymore if it tried. Shame, poor thing, it’s got nowhere to go. I’m walking like a real pregnant lady, the swaddle, the slightly arched back, the short steps. Then there’s that “eeeh” sound when I try and sit down onto the couch and the “mmmph” sound when I try and get up again. It’s pathetic.

Sometimes Jeremy makes these noises too….confusing..and weird at the same time.

We both had a month off work over December and besides entertaining the Tominator every day, we’ve been nesting and getting ready for the arrival of  Tominator 2 or Tammynator 1.

Jems been doing man-nesting stuff like finding things to make which require the purchase of a new power tool. I’ve been doing pregnant-women-nesting things like sorting out the sock drawer and console drawer and just any drawer really. Nesting does that to you, its not just about getting baby things together it’s about sorting. It’s that uncontrollable urge to put all keys into a tin just for keys and spare keyrings into a tin just for spare keyrings. It’s the urge to throw out kitsch-smelling shower gels and clean out the spice drawer. All very urgent, very important tasks. In fact it almost verges on OCD and at times feels worthy of medication, especially considering the degree of joy all the sorting does for me… The good news is that once the baby is out, the sorting urge subsides quite significantly and thereafter you couldn’t really care if spare keyrings have a home or not.
Less than 3 weeks to go. We’re in countdown mode and I’m ready to puuuush! Like a serene, calm and confident angel that is

P.S Have you had a look at my Etsy shop? – yes I started an Etsy shop as part of Limelight and it’s doing way better than I ever expected…it sells digital paper and clipart sets – take a look -

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SunshineLemons?ref=si_shop

P.P.S Did I mention I discovered Pinterest? It’s in the leagues of Etsy. It’s a visual pinboard of ideas… this is my page – http://pinterest.com/limelight/

P.P.P.S Thomas is a-talking! His little 15-month old world consists of these big words:

Ball

Door

Mamma

Dada

Gogo

All gone

Gone

Up

Down

On

Off

Tata

Deh (as in there)

Mah (as in meow)

Hoohoooohoo (as in what does the Dog say Tom?)

Owa (as in flower)

Noo-Nooo-Nooo (as in no)

Oh-no-no-no-no (as in no I don’t think so buddy)

Baba

Toodles until next time…the Nesquick is calling me.

Then you get distracted and read an article in the paper and all of a sudden the house goes quiet. No Tom noise, no Jeremy noise, no cat noise. Nadas.

You walk around the house and there’s no sign of anybody. But you do hear the sound of a motorbike at the top of the road…and a few seconds later, in the distance you see your man on scoot with your baba.

And you just want to watch them without interrupting their little moment together, without them seeing you, just for a few minutes, just because you can and it makes you sigh with content.

But no, something tells you to hurry up and haul your 8 month pregnant ass upstairs – just picture it – to go get the camera.

Buzzing up and down our quiet little road in suburbia…just the two of them, tsssssaaaa!

I couldn’t really click away unnoticed….big ass lens, even bigger tummy, there was no camouflaging me!

Again Dad….

aaaaahh can you handle this picture? I got this look as if to say “I just need to ask daddy some very very important questions about exhausts, gears and motors…I’ll come for my bath now now see.”

The little sausage’s first birthday party.

Before we had kids, Jem and I thought first birthday parties were a bit weird…like does the kid even know it’s having a party? Why the big hoo-haa-raa?

Then we had a kid.

And received our rose-tinted glasses and got all mushy and gooey and gagga about anything baby and baba.

If you don’t have kids, it’s kind of like you carry this baby for 9 months, prepare for its grand arrival, push it out, breastfeed it, change nappies, care for it and nurture it so that it actually grows and reaches milestones, bond with it and laugh with it…and then you finally reach 12 months and you think hell YES it IS time to celebrate this wonderful year of life and we ARE gonna have a PARTY and crack open a bottle of cheap and cheerful JC. And he will know it’s his party….when he’s old enough to read this post! Sorted.

So that brings me to his little monster birthday bash…here it is in pictures…

Beware of the Little Monsters…

Helium balloons – an absolute must – they are still providing the ‘Nator with entertainment one week later..

The Tominator obviously mistaking the tablecloth for a curtain. Bless.

There were all kinds of monsters at his party…this googley eyed monster…

Also known as the Cookie Monster..

This little Grassy head monster, who doesn’t look so scary here….

But here he commands a bit more Boo! factor with his one and two-eyed monster friends beside him.

You’re scared, I know.

I’m-watching-you monster…

The big-mouthed serviette monsters…

The high-on-food-colourant-bulging-eye monsters.
These ones are kinda scary for me, how about you? I wasn’t sure to serve them or not.
But I did.

The Thank-Boo monsters…

The Cake Monster…

The Mini-Me Cake Monsters

Our little monster…

And some of his beautiful monster (girl)friends…

And one boy monster friend! Thank-you Daevin!


Even a littly blue-eyed baba girl monster made an appearance…

Granny says, before birthday cake….we must taste milk tart!

The most precious moment of the day…when Tom notices everyone is singing Happy Birthday to him and he is the main monstertjie! It melted mamma and pappas heart…into whatever hearts get melted into…still gooey as ever.

Thank-you for coming and sharing the afternoon with us, it’s always heartwarming to spend moments like these with friends and family. xx

This has got to be the best feeling in the world, a newborn baby on your chest…

Daddy was there the whole time.

I finally got to see my beautiful boy with his eyes wide open…just staring at his mamma.

We took him home and I got to stare at him some more..

He’s changed out life in so many beautiful ways. Life is a bit simpler now, we go to bed early and our weekends are less about mountain biking and more about spending time with this little guy, outdoors. It’s a special time.

We’ve celebrated milestones, the first smile, the first tummy roll, the first time he could sit, crawl, walk and more recently, his first tooth. It’s amazing how much joy you get from experiencing these “firsts” with them, don’t you think?

He pulls a lot of funny faces, this is one of our favourites..

We love you beautiful boy, happy 1st birthday! Here’s to many more.

Little TomTom’s come highly recommended by us.

1. I met the man of my dreams, Jeremy. This kind of includes my late teen years but he’s shared all my twenties with me, and that’s what really matters. He’s seen me through all of this…

2. I can’t really remember turning 20 but 21 I definitely remember. I didn’t have a party or anything, I just opened presents in the lounge and cried with laughter when mom presented me with a letter I had written to Santa when I was little.  I told him that I had been good and that I needed a lot of “stuff” for my room. Classic.

(opening pressies on the morning of my 21st with my family and Jem)

3. I got my degree in Dietetics from PMB. Man I loved that course. Thought I’d be a dietician but things just didn’t turn out that way.

4. My mom was probably bummed that I didn’t use my degree but she was so cool about it she just wanted me to be happy. I hope I can be that wise with my own kids one day.

5. I worked in the UK for 8 weeks over my varsity holiday. The only thing missing from the experience was Jem.

6. a.)Met one of my best friends, Amanda, at varsity.  She influenced me in so many ways and is the reason I’m doing what I do now, creative work. Thank-you Mands! Xxx

we spent a weekend at the buddhist retreat centre – Mands trying to be serious

6.b) I met a lot of beautiful friends in my twenties…Gina being one of them…

(one of our more mature moments)

7. I started a business in 2005, I had just turned 25.  It’ll be 6 years later this year.

8. I did a couple of dusi’s, started mountain biking, we built a house and got two cats. (Friendly Frank and Gorgeous George)

9. I got married to the most beautiful boy on earth…it was such a simple yet intimate wedding. *happy sigh*

10. I did the Cape Epic with my hubby.

11. And trained my butt off for it. It was special. The doing it with my hubby part, not the butt part.

12. I’ve travelled to Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, London, Spain, New Zealand, Scotland, Mauritius and Zanzibar. I learnt to ski, go off-piste and shriek at the same time. I also got to watch my beautiful friend Gina go down a black slope backwards. #priceless

13. I became an aunty to my sister’s little boy David. She pushed him out natural with no help from Mister Epidural. Respect!

14. I’ve heli-biked, motorbiked, slept next to rivers and under the stars, rafted and ziplined, been zapped by electric fences and bathed in mud.

15. I’ve also been to a lot of spas.

16. I discovered Etsy.com (as did my Visa)

17. I wore glasses in my early twenties but then saw the light and pretty much everything else when I went for the Lasik eye op.

(blocking out recurring Christmas tunes on the aeroplane)

18. I started this blog, Phuthu, initially as a place to boast about our beautiful country…but then it underwent a facelift and is now our little family blog.

19. I learnt the meaning of ISO, aperture, depth of field and exposure. The superjerm taught me.

20. We had a beautiful baby boy, Thomas (sometimes called the Tominator or nator for short.) This boy has brought us so much joy. He’s 10 months already.

21. Hang in there…I’ve got 8 more points to go.

22. I did a marathon when I was 28. We were training for the Comrades but that got put on the backburner when I discovered I was pregnant. Jeremy fell pregnant at the same time and he didn’t do the Comrades either.

23. I did a meditation course and tried out yoga and pilates. Yuh. And that was that.

24. Learnt French. Am still trying to learn French.

25. I’ve watched my brother turn into an incredible man, my sister into an incredible woman and mother.

26. I’ve seen my dad take up a new hobby of making knives and my mom kick ass at bowls.

27. I’ve made a lot of cupcakes. And eaten them. *gives sheepish grin*

28. I’ve driven with my handbrake on, said silly things and done things which I wish I could have control-ALT deleted. All in all, my twenties have been good to me – actually they’ve been amazing, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have experienced so much..

29. Tomorrow, on my thirtieth birthday I’ll be 16 ½ weeks pregnant with my second baby.  The best birthday present of all. Here’s to me and you, thirty.

It’s steep in places, like lactic-acid-burn-steep.

..me catch my breath halfway up stairs and take photo…can’t talk so much.

The viewpoint overlooking Kloof Gorge…

The Nator seems to be having a word with his papa. Maybe something like move away from the edge now before mama has a heart attack!!!!

Spectacular though isn’t it?

A rare sighting, the whole family in front of the lens!