Armes Kleines Mausi!

As Meli was admiring Lillian’s angelic little sleeping face today …

… Mama got lucky! For a while she’d been wanting to capture her favorite Lilly-face … her adorable little unhappy look.

Here it must have been a wind that disturbed her sleep …

… and soon she was sleeping soundly again.

PS.: Lilly got a little striped mouse from her grandma Nena which Erik took an instant liking to. At one point he heard Mama calling Lilly “armes kleines Mausi” (poor little mouse) and concluded she must be meaning the little mouse – since then he has been calling her that.

Armeskleinesmausi has been living more in Erik’s room than in Lilly’s. Lilly doesn’t mind.

Men Busy Busy!

As you know Angie and Clinton have been busy working on their house. Recently they finished their third garage and their balcony (we’re still waiting for that invitation to sundowners…).

Now they’re reworking their front yard …

… including the driveway.

At the same time across the road to our right, number 13 has been sold …

… and is being completely redone.

Thus there’s always something entertaining to look at when we glance out our front windows. Especially Erik enjoys watching and telling us all about it. “Men busy busy!!”

Now the house to our left is for sale and is also promising quite a bit of construction work.

By the time everybody is done we’ll probably start some work of our own.

Tummy Time Déjà Vu

Why hello! Yes, thank you, I had a lovely nap. Aha, OK, yes, eh – I must what?

Lie on my tummy and practice lifting my head????

Alright, here we go! One, two, …

… THREE!!

Ahh! I hate it, I hate it!! I can’t believe you make me do this!

Note from the parents: no babies were harmed in the making of this post;

Mama though somehow got a strong feeling of Déjà Vu …

(Psst, don’t tell, but Erik fussed a lot more when we put him on his tummy at three weeks of age)

Meeting Tante Toni

Last Sunday after a nice bath …

… Lilly met her Auntie Ant for the first time!

Glenn and Meli were spoilt with coffee and sweets while Lilly enjoyed some nice cuddle time with her auntie.

Even in Ant’s courtyard Erik couldn’t help gardening.

He weeded, watered the plants and carried bricks.

Since most of this was forbidden, we made a stop at De Waal Park on our way home where he delighted in watching the dogs, playing in the fountain, …

… chasing birds …

… and playing on the playground with Daddy …

… while his Mama and sister relaxed in the shade.

Springtime

Although Spring only officially starts 1st September (as Glenn likes to point out when Meli starts talking about planting and going to the nursery) it has been feeling like Spring for weeks.

Except for a few rainy days the weather has been lovely and it often gets wonderfully warm during the day although the nights are still very chilly.

Fortunately Meli’s son doesn’t seem to have inherited his Dad’s aversion to gardening and would spend every minute outside if we’d let him. His favorite thing is still playing with water and thanks to rising temperatures and super froggy suits he could do just that yesterday.

Water temperature seems to be about right for bottle brush bushes.

Watering takes a lot of concentration.

Mama, you are IRRITATING!

By the way here you can see the pergola we put up to keep the sun off Lillian’s window in Summer when it hits it at a different angle and used to heat the room up a lot in the afternoon.

Next we will plant some nice bushes to hide the ugly pipes and probably have some kind of deck built … let us know your suggestions!

The gate (which we never use) will stay for the moment as we are planning to put up a fence in the front of the house next year thus extending our yard around the house.

Sleepyhead

Erik’s and Lillian’s German granny Nena remarked how surprisingly awake Lilly seemed in the pictures we posted.

Now it is true that Lilly is very alert for a newborn, but nonetheless she does still spend most of her days in dreamland.

Here some proof!

Dudus in the pram, …

even dudus when being burped on Mama’s lap!

Go away and let me sleep!

Naptime A Little Different

Last Saturday Meli was still sick with cabin fever, so Glenn had the fabulous idea to take a little road trip DURING the kids’ naptime instead of trying to work around it.

This gave “the parents” a bit of couple time while Erik and Lillian snoozed in the back.

Glenn and Meli enjoyed chatting as well as munching chocolate and drinking coffees on the go. Erik woke up in time to look at rainy Melkbosstrand …

… and marvel at the kite surfers and “boats” at Blouberg Strand.

Lilly only started stirring in time for her 4 o’clock snack.

First Outing

After the C-Section Meli wasn’t allowed to drive for two weeks which makes getting out a bit difficult around here. In a way it’s like the States here with the lack of sidewalks in the suburbs and the habit of driving everywhere.

Anyway, last Friday Meli felt she and Erik really needed to get out and dared a first trip to the nearby playground together with Selina.

While Selina and Lillian chilled on the bench …

… Erik and Mama mainly chased butterflies around the playground (which is what he is doing here):

Besides that the see saw …

… and the slide (especially climbing up) were again the firm favorites.

More recent news - after poo-ing out of her nappy and all the way down her leg yesterday, Lillian decided she could do even better and pooed all over Meli’s top today!

Meli was just glad she did this during the day instead of in the middle of the night and that they’d put laminate flooring in instead of carpet (you do learn from the first baby!).

Lillian still is a little angel who hardly ever has anything to complain about. Meli at this point would like to loudly complain about babies’ habits of wanting to eat in the middle of the night. Even if it’s only once a night she doesn’t think she’ll ever get used to it. YAAAAWN!!!

As of today Meli is allowed to drive again which she did of course – even if it was only to the recycling bins with a stop at the playground on the way back. So good to be mobile again!

Little Sister

Erik is getting more and more used to his little sister by the day. Although he does still run away sometimes when she starts crying or demands she goes elsewhere when he wakes up in the night and Mama is busy feeding (“Lilly finish!”, “Lilly cot!”) his curiosity prevails.

Helloooo, Lilly!

Mama and Daddy do have to keep a close eye on them at all times though as he does get carried away. Otherwise Lilly might turn out cross eyed.

Sometimes he finds here very funny! (“Lilly FUNNY!”).

Sometimes just plain strange.

But altogether not too bad as she does seem to be deserving kissies!

12 Day Old Model

Lilly has complained that the pictures we’ve published don’t do her cute looks justice and we agree.

So Meli got out her “proper” camera and took some pictures this morning.

Here’s our little beauty!

Even the two doctors who delivered her insisted that she was really is a Cutie – “and we know what we’re talking about!” , they said.  :)