We are the Stow Family and this is our story. Our lives are blessed by Love, Joy and Hope. Follow our sometimes interesting stories on loving our two boys, exploring parenthood, and celebrating a little extra - two parents, two boys and an extra chromosome!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Good Gracious!

What a week!

It all started with a little 24-hour bug that took me 48 hours to recover from (thanks to Mr Malakai keeping me up all night!). Murphy's Law says that if you take 2 weeks off from work for bedrest, the day you get back to the office you'll end up with your face down the shared loo, vomiting up your left lung... It wasn't pretty...

I was at work for a total of 60 minutes and before my husband came to collect me and take me home, stopping enroute for more 'close encounters' with the side of the road. I spent the rest of the day sleeping, thankful that I could rest and recover while Malakai's nanny took care of him. That night, however, Malakai kept me up for hours, so any recovery was quickly wiped out.

The next day was the worst I've ever felt in my entire pregnancy so far! I was completely finished - feeling very very sorry for my little self! But luckily Mr. Man allowed me a full night's sleep that night and so Wednesday, when I felt human again, was the best day of my pregnancy so far! LOL!

Unfortunately, whatever I had been plagued with had passed onto Malakai, who started his own vomiting on Thursday, Friday & Saturday. And a heat wave just made it impossible to keep him hydrated enough, resulting in an overnight hospital stay on the Monday, with Mr. Man hooked up to a drip. The poor little guy was so lethargic, he just slept and slept.

Malakai was admitted to hospital by Daddy, as I was still trying to catch up with work from being off for 2 weeks (and 1 day...). As I raced to get to the hospital (the moment I could get away from work) the car's engine blew up. Yes... smoke from the dashboard - everything... Luckily a friend of my husband's came to rescue me from the side of the freeway, and two very nice tow-truck drivers waited with me until he got there. Being on the side of a freeway is probably the least safe place in South Africa - I would have been a prime target if I didn't have those two gentlement with me.

So? How are we all doing? I am feeling much better & Mr. Malakai is back to his old self again (except for the fact that he won't eat anything but viennas and yoghurt...). As for the car - it's still very broken...

What a week! Whew! I'm glad it's behind us!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

And Vogue!

My little man has been going through some real changes the past few weeks - the biggest being more teeth arriving - we are now up to 7 in total (and waiting for that 8th to arrive soon). With the teeth comes more sleepless nights and grumpiness - shame, I really hope that teething becomes easier for him!

Other than that, Malakai is doing really well cruising along the furniture and has started - all by himself and with NO intervention - to try and stand by himself. He can try for hours, letting go of the furniture or trying to stand directly from the floor - each and every time he tries, he looks so proud of himself!

Also, Malakai has started to feed himself by hand. Now - I know that he's been physically able to do this for some time, but he much preferred throwing everything on the floor and I just wasn't into all that cleaning. But I've taken baby-steps - first giving him the food directly in his hand, which he then puts in the mouth (and claps proudly afterwards!), and now I can put some food infront of him and he'll put it in his mouth (instead of throwing it to the floor). So we're making some progress there!

Another really exciting development is that I'm able to push Malakai's dinner a bit later so that we can eat together as a family. Often, we'll all eat the same food, or I'll make a small change to make the dinner suitable for Malakai. It's great, because it makes his mealtime less tedious, and Darryl and I can actually sit, talk, eat and enjoy the time together - whereas before it was about stealing a bite to eat while Malakai was trying to hang off my head! LOL!

It's also becoming more of a challenge to keep Malakai entertained - he really seems to get bored and frustrated easier. I think he's craving experience more than toys - so we try to plan something for both Saturdays and Sundays that are different - somewhere outdoors, and somewhere that's different, interesting with new smells, sights and experiences.

Yesterday I took Malakai to the Irene Dairy (a real 100+ year-old farm down the road from our house), where I do all my Private Photo Shoots. I decided it was time for a little photo shoot of our own! It wasn't easy I tell you - to entertain Malakai, get him to 'perform' infront of the camera, and take the shots - whew! But I got some great shots of my little model! Hope you all enjoy them!