Franco is 10 Months

The L's were much better after their weak of coughs and they came to visit on Friday evening. The 3 H's were still sick, so they couldn't come.

It was near Franco's bedtime when they arrived, but he was still in good spirits and showed us how his skills are improving. He loves to stand and "walk", but he is still encouraged to crawl. He has a lovely wind up duck that zooms across the floor and he enjoyed crawling after it.

On Sunday we went to visit them. (The H's were still not feeling too great.) Here Franco has a ball with Uncle Hendrik.

After lunch we went to see where their new house is. Franco enjoyed the trip and I enjoyed sitting next to him.

Guess who grabbed the camera!

Back home, Dorette put him on top of the balls in his tub, but he quickly wiggled himself through the balls until he sat comfortably and started to throw the balls out.

Oom Hendrik added to the fun by spinning the tub around, Franco and all.


Franco tried to turn the tub over, but the balls under the tub prevented him from creating an avalanche of balls.

Back at work!

I started homeschooling Tamerin again this week. I thoroughly enjoyed it. She is such a blessing. I blogged about her first two days: it is actually amazing how much work we have accomplished already!

Jan has been suffering from anaemia for months. Iron pills have not helped, but recent tests show that the iron shots he's had in December have actually helped. (He has also been taking cayenne pepper capsules to stop bleeding. Are they the reason the iron is absorbed all of a sudden?) Anyway, we are really grateful that he does not have to go for drips in the hospital as was envisaged last year. However, he has to go for another round of shots. Ouch!

He has had quite a lot of physical activity this week. Hendrik has to move to another room in his commune and all his furniture has to come home. So Jan has been helping him every evening to load a cupboard/ a bed/ a table/ onto the bakkie. On top of this, our washing machine packed up and it had to be hauled out of the laundry, down three stairs and onto the bakkie and after it had been fixed, the processed had to be reversed again!

Today Jan helped with a community project to get rid of the "pom-pom" weed, growing next to the road. It was a massive job and not so funny in this heat! (Guess who did not want to use sunblock and guess who now has a red neck and face!) After returning at about 15:00 he started to water the garden and then he put up a shelve in the laundry. I'll keep him! Thank you Jesus for such a husband!

A tired Jan in front of my shelve. (10 guesses which rugby team we support...!)

I was also quite physically active this week. On Thursday I swam 86 x 20 m (1.7 km or a little more than a mile) in the gym pool. I have trained only once since swimming my 5th Midmar in 2007. (I did not train at all last year due to my mother. At least that was my excuse, I guess I could have made a plan to train and swim the Midmar if I had really wanted to! ) But now, I'd really like to swim it again, because I'm afraid that if I do not do it this year, I may never do it again. On Thursday I just wanted to see if I could still swim a mile and I managed reasonably well. I got a stitch in my side after 400 m, but it passed and the rest was not too bad. However, when I got out, I was too exhausted to shower - it took all my effort just to get dressed!

On Friday Tamerin and I did ten minute sessions on the cycles and on the rowing machines. When we lay on the mats to do abs exercises, I felt the beginning of a muscle spasm and my knees hurt a bit. Now I am afraid: did I hurt myself by swimming a mile without any recent training? Should I train again in the next three weeks or should I just spare myself and hope for the best? How much can anyone train in just three weeks anyway?

I fetched Franco and took him home on Friday. Unfortunately I left my camera in the car, so now there are no photos of Franco this week! I'm sorry I was too lazy to go and fetch it, because he looked so cute in his red jumpsuit. He has 4 teeth now! He says "words" that he did not say a week ago. Then it was only baby sounds, but now he says over and over "ky da" (At least that's what it sounds like to me! (Not pappa/ mamma/ ouma!) He is 8 months and three weeks. Will try to take a video clip next time I see him.

The H's went to a endurance ride this morning - not to ride but to be time keepers. They were pretty tired when they arrived here, but Martelize was full of beans. She tried her level best to crawl: she can pull her knees up under her bum, but her arms do not co-operate yet. Her favourite toy is now a soft ball and she was very interested in the texture of the upholstery. She is 5 1/2 months old.

Martelize and her ball.

In Ouma Miekie's creche again

Thelwyn and Dorette both started working again this week. Franco's school only opens next week so he stays with me during the day this week and Martelize joined him for the first two days, before going to her real creche for the first time. Playing next to Franco was her introduction to life in a creche: we hope all the other babies will not overwhelm her. At five months, she tolerates Franco's advances much better than a month ago and she reaches out to him herself.

One of Franco's Christmas presents was a bag with 100 light weight balls. Here Martelize gets a turn with them.

Franco likes kicking the balls right out of the tub!

Franco is swinging in the jolly jumper and Martelize is intrigued by all his antics.

A sleepy Martelize... she sometimes falls asleep on the playmat or while eating. When she starts getting tired, I put her in her cot with her dummy and "spoegdoek" and she usually falls asleep immediately. She is a sound sleeper and naps lasts at least an hour - more often than not about an hour and a half.

Franco going wild in the jolly jumper.

While in the Jolly Jumper, he soon got attracted to the telephone cables and then discovered he could pull open my desk drawer - I quickly had to move the telephone and remove all little things like paper clips from the drawer. He is 8 months.

Franco was happily playing with his toys on the carpet and I quickly went to fetch his bottle. On my return I found him playing with this host of electrical cords! (They have since been lifted and tied to the window sill!) Franco was also very intrigued with the cord and switch of my treadmill - that seemed harmless enough. Will he become an electical engineer like his other Oupa? One thing is for sure, our house is getting more baby proofed as he gets more mobile. He does not crawl much yet, but if you turn your back, he can cover quite a distance in no time.

Franco giving Martelize a kiss. (See video below)