Food Revolution!

Now we're in for it...

So as most of you know Aidan went through a "I don't need food " stage which freaked both Andrew and I out completely, so much so that we were resorting to sneak food into his mouth, however we had underestimated how smart our child was(not sure how that could happen because he is OUR child and we are kinda smart too) and he would just spit it out again, well we sat panicking about the amount of food that was making it into him that when face to face with his baby clinic nurse I nearly bite her head off because she is telling me not to worry as children are clever and know when they need food and that they would not starve themselves, I mean how can I relax and not worry, my child didn't want to eat...

Anyway Aidan did as he chose and I tried listening to Sister Maureen and not give him sooooo many choices when it came to meal time and tried sticking to one thing, not so easy I tell you! Sister Maureen also told me that all children go through this as they are at the age where their imaginations take over and their need to explore out weighs their need to sit in one spot and gobble the food that you so lovingly prepared for them.

This continued for approximately three months and just all of a sudden did a complete 360, I suppose the fact that Aidan is walking(or running) helps spur the appetite on, I now have a food revolution happening in my house, as Aidan is not only eating more but he is also starting to warm up to eating bits of meat(before he would just chew the flavour out of it then give it to Aimee) I don't think there is enough food in the house anymore...

This appetite has just come from nowhere, I have a little gobble monster on my hands, for example, last nights dinner consisted of 2x medium/large potatoes mashed, 1x purity bottle of roast lamb and veg, a few blocks of cheese, 2x bananas(I was making pizza for Andrew and I and Aidan took the peeled banana off the counter) 2x fish fingers and then when I thought nothing else could fit in his belly he then helped himself to the edges of my pizza! oh and we wont mention the fact that he had 2x cups of milk and a few sips of water...

Hmmm what tells me he has his dads kind of appetite? He will definitely be worth the money spent when taken to and all you can eat buffet!

That's it for now, I think I'm going to go replenish my grocery cupboard now...

Wow why did no one tell me?

Well as you all know by now, I have stopped breast feeding and am now waiting (not so patiently) for my milk to dry up.

Now while I have been "weaning" I did a little research as to what would help it go quicker, and all the baby and breast feeding website suggests crushed, cooled cabbage leaves stuffed into your bra,so I try it, walking around smelling really gross as the cabbage warms and lets off it's wonderful smelly vapours, it seems to soothe the engorgement I admit, but about three or so days of cabbage bra I am feeling very tired and drained(not the kind of drained I was hoping for) also my breast were getting all splotchy and red as if a rash were developing, so I hope onto Google and state my issue, you would never believe it but it states that if you are allergic to sulphurs you should NOT do the cabbage thing...

Wow why did no one tell me this? all this tiredness and slight bouts of nausea were because my system was slowly being poisoned and I didn't even know, thing is you actually have do a search for sulphur allergy and cabbage otherwise you wont find the information very easily...

Just as some are told to drink coca cola and coffee to help increase breastmilk when in actual fact it is really decreasing it, gee talk about misinformation in the information age....

Well needless to say I have stopped with the cabbage and have tried Sudafed decongestants, and although it may take a wee bit longer for the milk to go it certainly isn't making me tired or nauseous and on top of it all its helping my morning blocked nose issues too talk about win win...

A few web pages that help:

Cabbage and sulphur allergy: http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/cabbage.html

Coca cola and breast milk: http://www.birthworks.co.za/articles/breastmilk-peak-production-plan

Hello to a new day...

Well we say "Hello to a new day and a new challenge" as we (or at least I) have decided to go cold turkey on the whole breast feeding matter, mind you, it wasn't even for the nutritional purposes anymore but more for the comfort Aidan got of knowing mom was there...

However as it may have been comforting Aidan I can say without a shadow of doubt that it was NOT comforting to me! OK OK it was up until a little while ago but now that Aidan has managed to grind his caps/ fillings (or whatever you would want to call them) off as a result of his molars attempting to cut, he now has two of the sharpest little monsters in his mouth, and they are intent on doing grievous bodily harm to me and my bits...

Anyway Monday was my first official day of cold turkeyness as it had been over a full 24 hours since his last feeding, and most of the day seemed to go pretty easy, however by the time 2/3pm came around I was swollen and nicely engorged but it wasn't sore or tender or anything so I pushed ahead... But that soon changed,and I was quickly looking like I had had a breast job done as my boobs were sitting right under my chin(well not really but you get the idea)hot water bottle came and went as did a bag of frozen peas all I could think of doing was going and having a warm bath and just trying to relax- easier said than done, so bath starts running and I begin to worry about waking Aidan as the last time I did something like this my house turned a deeper shade of Barney, I mean purple,oh well anyway I get in and sit there trying to relieve the pressure(they say you should try hand express) well hand expressing was... to say the least interesting, my bath turned white... I just had to tell myself I was soaking in "food" and at least it wasn't pee or a certain monkeys log... needless to say that although it was enough milk to almost have a milk and honey bath it still wasn't enough to ease the SWELL!

I was starting to look and feel like Alice The Camel, so next thing you ask, well because of Seacom's incompetence the only way I was able to ask Andrew( without phoning as that would wake Aidan) was to post it onto his buzz... well if that doesn't make this swollen camel cringe then nothing will!

Another hour till Andrew gets home... DRUM ROLL PLEASE... duh duh duh duh... a nice BIG cabbage, yes that's right a cabbage, another "home remedy" if you will, now this one is supposed to work with you placing cold cabbage leaves into your bra and basically waiting till they have warmed and wilted then do it again and it's meant to draw the milk and help with the stopping of milk production, what they seem to have left out is the fact that you are left smelling like an over ripe cabbage once the leaves have started to wilt, not attractive... not even the dog wanted to sit next to me last night(now that IS BAD!) oh and don't forget to watch out for slugs...

It is now day 2 and I press on in search of milk(and cabbage) free breasts, when they decide to show up is another story, I shall do this I shall persevere!

And so I leave you with a plea, everyone out there PLEASE wear green in support of cabbage saving swollen boobies week... cos I know I will!! HAPPY CABBAGE DAY!

Alice The Camel...
...Over and Out

For You I Will

When you feel your world just ain't right
Call on me, I will be waiting
Count on me, I will be there
Anytime the times get too tough,
Anytime your best ain't enough
I'll be the one to make it better,
I'll be there to protect you,
See you through,
I'll be there and there is nothing
I won't do.

I will cross the ocean for you
I will go and bring you the moon
I will be your hero your strength
Anything you need
I will be the sun in your sky
I will light your way for all time
Promise you,
For you I will.

I will shield your heart from the rain
I will let no harm come your way
Oh these arms will be your shelter
No these arms won't let you down,
If there is a mountain to move
I will move that mountain for you
I'm here for you, I'm here forever
I will be your fortress, tall and strong
I'll keep you safe,
I'll stand beside you, right or wrong

I will cross the ocean for you
I will go and bring you the moon
I will be your hero your strength
anything you need
I will be the sun in your sky
I will light your way for all time
Promise you
For you I will

For you I will, lay my life on the line
For you I will fight,
For you I will die
With every breathe, with all my soul
I'll give my world
I'll give it all
Put your faith in me
And I'll have to leave it be

I will cross the ocean for you
I will go and bring you the moon
Promise you
For you I will, I will, I will, I will,

I will cross the ocean for you
I will go and bring you the moon
I will be your hero your strength
Anything you need,
I will be the sun in your sky
I will let you wait for all times
Promise you
For you I will
I promise you
For you I will

Oh Boy!!

Barney came to play yesterday....
and turned my house a bright shade of purple!!

no actually Aidan managed to reach the gentian violet and proceeded to empty the whole lot all over the house, all this happened while silly mom thought she could find some peace while she goes to the loo and closed the door behind her! (for those of you who don't have kids that would be a normal thing to do however once you have a child there is absolutely no way in hell that any door is allowed to be closed UNLESS of course the mini you has done it themselves...

well anyway I finish pretty quickly and find a purple house... (but in the 5 seconds you take to pee a child only needs 2 seconds to repaint your whole house!)

Here are some pics of Barney (boogie)

Excitement at the Bevan's

Howdy Doo all,

As of late there has been much excitement in the  Bevan household, as most of you have already gathered Aidan can now officially be classified as a toddler as he started walking not so long ago! I'm pleased and slightly nervous to announce that he has mastered that in virtually no time at all, well that and walking BACKWARDS??

How is it that you have only been walking a month(walking properly for approx. 2 weeks) and you can walk BACKWARDS with ease?!? what did i miss here?

Anyways that isn't the only thing that has been keeping us busy and entertained, Aidan now plays round and round the garden with you, he circles your hand with his finger and does the one step, two step but waits for you to tickle him… sometimes he doesn't even wait to circle round your hand he just hops to the one step, two step, so he can be tickled… Funny little guy!

We are also getting into the whole soccer spirit with Aidan blowing his vuvuzela loud and proud, he really loves ANYTHING that makes a noise! typical boy! he is so cute because he cant make the proper sound like when we blow it so he purses the mouthpiece to his lips and  goes wooooooo woooooooo, and well there you have it a 16 month old playing a vuvuzela( gotta tell you i prefer when he plays it then when adults play it!)

Talking about soccer, Candice, Ryan, Andrew and i all went to the Durbs Fan Park on Saturday the 26th June for the Uruguay VS South Korea match, it was a total ball! we made a whole afternoon/evening of it, and the atmosphere was electrifying… not overly crowded, no drunken idiots running around and wait for it, no excessive vuvuzela noise (people reserved that for goals) which was such fun! Heck i even won a vuvuzela from the coke tent for doing a crazy corner goal dance, it was such an experience (well right up until i dropped my whole cup of cappuccino all over myself, with Candice and Ryan getting sprayed in the process…) i  mean yeah it was HOT but i didn't really notice my leg burning because i was too busy laughing at how stupid it all was, i don't even know how it happened, one minute the coffee was making its way to my mouth, and the next it was all over me… ha ha reminds me of the MiWay advert… ‘It just jumped in front of me!’ all this without our little angels- although we did miss them terribly, only to fetch the two kids and find that they were perfectly happy without us… must be the grandparent touch!

Anyway after such a good time we are so going to the Fan Park for the Finals!!!

 

i was also in a state of fantasmagorical excitedment as Aidan’s huggalugs were finally going to be arriving, for those of you who dont know me , lets just say i have excitement issues… i bounce, now when i say that i bounce, i REALLY BOUNCE when i get excited, strange- i know but what can i do? so with the huggalugs in the mail what else is there left for me to do , but get myself a free spoon for aidan  from Vital Baby( they are the same people that his sippy cup and straw cup are from, and they are fabulous, its a bendy one!

Huggalugs( basically Leg/arm warmers for babies and kids up to 6)

 

Vital Baby Spoon

 

And it bends…

Well time to sign off….

Damn It's Been Hectic

Wow so these last two weeks have been soooo crazy! It all started with a braai on Friday 28th, OK I must admit it wasn't too rowdy but still went on a little late(ish)

Then at 9am on Saturday Andrew Ramsden(had to give surname as there are 2 Andrews) and Mel came over and we all met up with Candice, Ryan and little Kyla- Lee in Hillcrest and made the trek up to Pietermaritzburg to hit the Royal Show, which was pretty cool because (my) Andrew had never been before and the rest of us hadn't been there in ages, of course all the guys got caught at the remote controlled gadgets stand and we had to practically drag them away, Never fear as they got their revenge when the 3 of us girls got to the scrapbooking and crafts section- some REALLY cool things!
later that day the kids were entertained on the merry- go- round however I don't think Aidan was so impressed( maybe the fact that these pony's weren't responding to his excited kicks and jerking on them, he even resorted to stroking its fibreglass mane) but this naughty pony didn't do what Aidan was hoping for...

As for Sunday we were up at bout 4ish to get ready to go to Kloof to watch the Comrades Marathon, don't think Aidan was too impressed by waking up so early and then going to sit in the dark in nippy cold Kloof, but that too turned into a fun day...

However I didn't think the word fun would crop up on Monday, as Aidan had his MMR vaccine at around midday, Andrew even took half day to be with us!
Well anyway vaccine time came and went with a little niggle and tiny temp but nothing too serious, and Aidan seemed his usual self, well that was until about half past seven that evening... when he just got up and walked... I think seeing all the runners the previous day inspired him to get up and go! go! go!
He has been none stop ever since even throwing a tantrum in the middle of Pavilion to get out of his stroller to walk!

He is also cut is 14th tooth(top canine) with only 6 to go!! Thank heavens!
Talking about teeth uncle Sean came over on Wednesday and fixed his 2 chipped front teeth and they have been perfect and beautiful ever since! Thank you uncle Sean!

Now to wait on more FUN!!
Chow for Now...