Thelwyn and Frans went to a black tie end of year function on Saturday, so we babysat Martelize. She was as good as gold - never cried! She drank her bottle on the exact hour, slept when put in her cot and for the rest she played and entertained us with her new tricks.

Trick nr 1: She blows spit bubbles. Have you tried it? Can't do it for the life of me!

Nat spoegbekkie! Wet mouth after blowing bubbles!

Trick nr 2: Sitting in her breastfeeding cushion and watching 7's rugby with great interest. (I know she is not supposed to watch T.V., but Oupa's and Ouma's may spoil!)

Trick nr 3: Rolling over and playing with her nappy. (She loves playing with soft toys, but the best toy is her drool nappy (spoegdoek)!)

I wanted to take a photo after taking the video and this is what I got: she suddenly rolled over onto her tummy and got herself all tied up in the nappy!

Surprise! Look where I landed: right on Oupa's feet

So she kissed Oupa's feet and had ticklish Oupa in hysterics!

Martelize in her "snug and safe" ready for the car trip. She loves her car toy, but the dogs are pretty afraid of it!


I am Franco's school this week: his school closed last Friday. He has drunk his milk and eaten his cereal on time and right now he is sleeping like a baby. When he wakes up we are going to have fun!

What a joy and a privilege to be grandparents of such darling babies. Thank you Jesus. I mean it! THANK YOU JESUS! And thank you that our children and granchildren are not far away in some overseas country!

An irrisistable 3 1/2 month old baby girl

Finally a photo to show that Martelize can easily roll onto her side.

Hugging her giraffe. Thelwyn regularly changes her toys. In the back is the "feely" blanket that Karin has made her.
After Sunday lunch... Frans seems ready for a nap, but Martelize is wide awake. Quite content to lie on her Daddy though.

A little later he put her on a blanket so that she could kick and roll. No-one could resist this cute little baby on the floor. Here is Hendrik playing with Martelize and Eyore - a soft toy found in a packet of nappies and one of her favourite toys.

Jan on his way to the kitchen also stopped at the "Martelize station" for a while. Oupa het 'n groot mond en al is sy hare kort kan sy dit trek!

Finally it was Thelwyn's turn to play with her. There is no-one like my mommy!

I have finally learnt how to take a video! (Ek is maar baie dom met sulke goed! Wens ek het nou die dag vir Franco gevideo toe hy so gelag het!). Hope you enjoy her babbling as much as we do!

Babysitting Franco for a weekend

This weekend Jan and I had to look after Franco. Gert and Dorette had to go for the weekend for a work related retreat. I know now why God gives babies to younger people. It is nonstop work! But it was great fun. Franco was as good as gold. It helped to have Thelwyn, Frans and Martelize here too.

Friday afternoon soon after I had arrived with Franco. Thelwyn and I put both cousins in Martelize's cot and they had a ball together. Here they are watching Thewlyn who is trying to snap them.

Cousins playing footsy.

Franco - nearly 6 months. Happy to be (without Mom and Dad) on the farm.

Our big eyed princess - 11 weeks

Martelize was her usual adorable self. Here she is on the carpet next to Fanco. Thelwyn's hand shows how tiny she still is.

Saturday morning: Franco having fun in our bed! He had a bottle at 19:00, then again at 1:00 and only again at 5:00. We could have done with a little more sleep, but for a child who is used to waking nearly every 3 hours, this was a wonderful night. Anyway, one look at his cheerful little face, and we were wide awake as well. Thank you for being such a model baby Franco! The only time he did cry this weekend was 21:00 Saturday night when he woke with cramps. Fortunately Dorette had left medication and the problem was solved in no time. Jan was really good with soothing him and getting him to go to sleep again. Generally he went to sleep the moment we put him in his bed - no fuss, no rocking to sleep, just his cloth nappy and his dummy.
Franco pulling the blankets over his head. He loves to touch material and when he goes to sleep he holds a terrycloth nappy. Grabs it and presses it to his face. His dummy is also vital for going to sleep of course!

Franco sitting in a bumbo seat and eating his cereal yesterday morning. He tried to help by grabbing the spoon and by putting his fist in his mouth as well. What a mess! But he ate everything!

Look how neatly Franco eats his cereal! By Sunday morning both Ouma and Franco got the hang of eating neatly. Thelwyn gave us a great tip: wear the bib plastic side up - much easier to clean it this way. Where Franco ate only 6 teaspoons of dry cereal on yesterday, he ate 9 teaspoons this morning! He also ate pear for supper and butternut and carrot for lunch. Today he went on a semi bottle strike. Where he drank most of, or all of 180 ml formula on Friday and Saturday, he did not want any today - did not drink a drop between 4:30 and 15:00 when he finally drank 90 ml. He was glad to see his mum though when she arrived at 16:00!

Grandparents may spoil! Jolly jumpers are "out" as far as modern parents are concerned, but babies are still babies. Our own children loved the jolly jumper (for short periods of course). Today all three of them have straight legs and backs - they all crawled and did what babies were supposed to do. So we got one for the grandchildren. Franco tried it out this weekend and although he was not quite sure what to do yet, he smiled and gurgled a lot!

Hendrik is a great uncle. He often played with Franco and Franco loved to tug his hair and his beard. Kicking Oom Hendrik is part of the fun.

Franco practising to sit. Here he sprawls out like his gymnast Mom used to do.

Franco playing with his bunny. His handling of toys has improved much these past weeks. When he was sick about 3 weeks ago, I still had to place his lion's leg in his hand for him to hold. Now he easily grabs both legs of the swinging lion - one in each hand. He is not very interested in the toys on the tray of his swing though. He is much more interested in the swinging mechanism at the top of the swing. Will he become a mechanical engineer like his dad?

Franco can roll over and does so often, but he still struggles to free his arm!

Teddy, Thelwyn and Martelize (here 11 weeks old) Martelize's hand-eye co-ordination, balance, muscle tone etc. improve almost by the minute. She enjoys doing sit-ups with her mom.

Dear God, we praise you for a wonderful weekend. Thank you for our beautiful, darling grandchildren! What a privilege!