11 months of Zoey

I can't believe that this is the last post before Zoey is 1 whole year old. With just 2 and a half weeks until the big day (yes, this post is super late) I am so excited to experience toddler-hood and this ever-changing angel of mine.

Weight: Just over 17lbs

Height: I'll have to get back to you on that! (again)

Clothing size: We're fully in 9 month clothing (except some 6 month pants) and I'm just dying to finally rotate her wardrobe and pull out some cute Spring outfits.

Diaper size: Size 3

Feeding: Her eating habits are finally getting better. She is still a fussy eater who refuses to finish a 6oz bottle, but we tried some new foods this month including blueberries and pancakes.

Sleep: She is still waking up at night (1 or 2 times) and we have not started sleep training (again!) yet, but as long as her eating habits keep up we will probably try sleep training again next month.

Milestones: Dancing with style (I think she has inherited her Dad's spanish rhythem) and she can stand all by herself without having to hold onto anything. The race is on to see if she will walk before her first birthday.

Loves: Her bunny she got for Easter, animals of any kind - even videos of them, Toy Story (she squeels in excitement as soon as she hears the theme song come on).

Dislikes: Having to stay still for too long.

Adventures: Zoey got a brand new baby cousin who went went to go visit in the hospital.

Mommy and Daddy could not get through the month without: Coffee!

10 months of Zoey

Weight: 16lbs (the same as last month since she is so mobile now and refused to eat while teething)

Height: I'll have to get back to you on that!

Clothing size: She's in mostly 6 or 9 months clothing.

Diaper size: Size 3

Feeding: Oh boy! This little girl has been giving mommy grey hairs. She is pretty fussy when it comes to food. She cut 2 teeth this month and really did not want to eat a thing. We introduced some meats, but she quickly decided that it was not for her. (We will introduce them again at a later stage.) She LOVES yogurt and is now almost living off the stuff. The doctor says that she is probably just not a fan of baby food and will do well once she can feed herself. 

Sleep: While going through the traumatic teething event Zoey forgot how to sleep through the night. UGH! But I don't mind because it allows me to give her another 1 or 2 bottles in the night.

Milestones: Of course her 2 new bottom teeth. She said "MAMA" although her very favorite word is still "DADA". She loves giving kisses to her stuffed rabbit, waves and shakes her head in both directions. 

Loves: Her "nite-nite worm", feeding herself, animals or any shape or form, shaking her head to music.

Dislikes: Keeping still while she is getting changed, having anything she is playing with taken away.

Adventures: We visited FAO Schwarz for the first time (hard to resist not buying EVERYTHING), Zoey had her first Valentines Day (even though it was a little uneventful). It's been a very chilly & cold month so we have mostly been stuck inside. Bring on Summer!

Mommy and Daddy could not get through the month without: It's been a rough month with the teething so we have definitely been relying on each other for support. 

Struck by Cupid - shop coupon inside!

I hope your day was filled with love and happiness.

Here is a little gift from cupid. (valid 02/14/13 only)

Introducing the St Patrick's Day collection...

Pot 'o gold onesie

Irish hat & beard onesie

Mc Handsome Bowtie & Suspenders onesie

8 & 9 months of Zoey

 As a part-time working, Etsy store owning, full-time mom; life can get crazy. There are just never enough hours in the day which most often leads to Blog neglecting. But here I am to catch up on the last couple of months Zoey.

Zoey at 8 months old

We had a great festive season as Zoey turned 8 months old on Christmas Eve. She really thrived with all the attention she got from her Aunty and Granny from South Africa and founded her new favourite activity of gift wrapping ripping!

Weight: 16lbs 

Height: around 23 or 24 inches 

Clothing size: She is a little thing and still fits into 6 month clothing and even some 3 month pants at a push. 9 month stuff is pretty loose on her.

Diaper size: Size 3

Feeding: Zoey has never been a big eater, I was a little worried at first but she has really come to love her fruits and veggies (except carrots!) and especially loves yogurt! She's drinking 4-6oz bottles and pushes the bottle away with disgust if she is not in the mood. (oh boy!) I've started giving her little puffs and freeze dried yogurt drops to try and hopefully we'll get around to introducing some meat in the next couple of weeks.

Sleep: MIRACLE! At 8 and a half months, Zoey finally slept through the night. We moved her from the pack and play next to our bed into her own room (which joins onto ours) in her "big girl crib". The first night in her crib she woke up once, I let her cry for 5 mins, and then she proceeded to shock us by sleeping in until 9:30am! After almost 9 months of complete sleep deprivation I am finally starting to feel more "human" now that she is sleeping from around 7pm to 7am. Zoey still gets up from time to time but can sooth herself back to sleep a lot easier.

Milestones: We had some BIG ONES over the past couple of months! Zoey graduated from the "Army crawl" to a proper "hands & knees crawl" and is now wizzing around the house. She pulls herself up to stand on EVERYTHING which has led to a lot more baby proofing around the house. Clapping hands and Sleeping through the night, finally!

Loves: Sleeping in her big-girl crib with her "nite-nite worm" cuddly caterpillar, yogurt, ripping paper like the incredible Hulk, chasing the ferrets around the house, being tickled and roughhousing with Daddy.

Dislikes: Carrots, sitting still.

Adventures: Zoey celebrated her first Christmas and we spent New Years up in Vermont at a ski condo. We did a few trips into NYC to visit the Rockefeller Tree, Store windows on 5th Ave, The Intrepid & The Cloisters.

Mommy and Daddy could not get through the month without: The "nite-nite" worm, family members helping out with babysitting and Zoey finally sleeping through the night (yay for non-interrupted sleep FINALLY!)

Introducing The Valentine's Day Collection

I have been working really hard and am super excited to debut my very first Valentine's Day collection on Etsy. You can check it out HERE!

Meeting Santa!

2 days before Christmas, Zoey got to meet Santa for the first time. It did not go well.

Don't let this picture fool you, you see that bit of blue that she is sitting on? Thats my leg and the only way we were getting a picture of a non-screaming baby. STRANGER DANGER! Zoey knows better then to be sitting on some bearded old fella's lap.

Our Christmas Card - Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Catch Up

I had so many festive posts planned in my head, but I find myself with hardly any time to sit and type them out. Bah Humbug! I am going to admit that it has been really hard getting back into blogging. Between being a mother to a baby who will still not sleep through the night, working 30hrs a week, running my Etsy shop during the busy gift buying season and keeping everyone in this house clean and fed; there are just not enough hours in the day. Lets take a minute to catch up shall we?

My mom, sister and brother in law arrived in New York to spend Christmas with us this year. This is the first time my sister got to meet her niece and Zoey thinks that her aunt is the most fascinating and hilarious person she has ever met. It's been great having some extra helping hands while I was so busy with orders for my Etsy shop and with my mom's OCD cleaning habit, my apartment is almost back to it's pre-baby state of cleanliness.

There is nothing like New York during Christmas time! The city is sparkly and festive at every turn, but completely packed and overcrowded at the same time. I took my family to see the department store window displays and the Rockefeller tree today and basically had to use Zoey's stroller to plough through the crowds. What a nightmare. A twinkly, christmasy nightmare.

DIY: christmas tree ornaments

This is our first Christmas Tree which means it is time to begin our ornament collection. Besides the generic baubles, lights and candy canes that fill up the tree; I think that it is the sentimental ornaments and the handcrafted goodies that give meaning and make your tree extra special. Here are a couple of ornaments that I crafted this year:

BABY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS HAND PRINT ORNAMENT

There are so many adorable baby's first Christmas ornaments out there, but I wanted to capture how tiny Zoey's hand print was at the time so I came up with this little DIY. All you need is a plastic ornament which is large enough for the print (this one is from Michaels), paint (non-toxic), a paint pen & some ribbon.

First, let me tell you that printing a babies hand perfectly is almost impossible. It helps to just sponge on a thin layer of paint and touch baby's hand quickly to the ornament to prevent smudges. If you miss a finger just go over it again, and if it messes up you can always use wet wipes  to clean up smudges or wipe off the entire ornament and start again. After the paint has fully dried you can use a paint pen to write baby's name, date etc. Each year I plan on making one of these hand print ornaments and watching that little hand get bigger and bigger.

TREE STUMP ORNAMENT

I made this ornament as a way to remember our very first tree, but I also plan on doing this every year and making it part of our tradition. When you go pick out your live Christmas tree most places usually cut off 1 inch of the tree stump before packaging it, ask whoever is packaging your tree if you can keep the inch that was sawed off. I ended up painting the side that was not freshly sawed to hide the ugly grime, added the year with a paint pen and embellished it with a bow. Ideally I would have liked to use a wood burner to write the date on the freshly sawed side, but I couldn't justify buying one just for this tiny project (maybe next year).

I hope I gave you some ideas! If you decide to DIY your own ornaments use hashtag: #theafricanllama on instagram or twitter so that I can check them out.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Since the last bite of turkey on Thanksgiving evening, I had been begging my husband to take us to go get our very first Christmas tree. He finally obliged about a week later and I quickly searched for a farm where we could go chop one down ourselves since I am set on living my life like a typical American movie. Unfortunately we ran out of time that day to drive upstate to do the our own lumber jacking so we searched the nearby nurseries instead. After almost forking out $80 for a tree at several places we ended up at Home Depot (not quite the movie scene I imagined) and after untying and shaking out about 7 or 8 Balsam firs we had finally adopted the newest member of our household for only $35.

Since this is our first official tree, we had no old, dusty box of family ornaments to bring down from the attic (which was one of my favorite parts of decorating the tree as a child). I went with a red, white and silver color scheme since it is pretty neutral and can be easily adapted and added too over the years. I cannot wait for Zoey to start making her own little Christmas ornaments out of popsicle sticks and macaroni! I picked up some really adorable, yet budget friendly ornaments and lights at Walmart, Target and Michaels; and DIY'ED a couple of special ones too (more on that later).

Please excuse the needles on the ground and no tree skirt, I'm planning to sew a really cute one soon!

I love our tree, especially because it is our very first one. I'm quite grateful that Zoey isn't able to stand up and pull all the ornaments off just yet, but she loves to sit in front of it and stare at the pretty lights.

2 Years

2 years ago, in a simple ceremony in Central Park, New York I married my soulmate.

Each year around December 4th we visit "The Ladies Pavilion" and refect on our year. This has probably been the best year of my life and although we have had our struggles trying to juggle working full time jobs, going back to university and parenthood, we know that we can always count on eachother.

I love you Mike. You are my everything!

It's officially Christmas in New York

There is nothing like a trip to visit to the Rockefeller Christmas Tree to get you in the holiday spirit.

7 Months of Zoey

headband available {here}

Weight: 14lbs 

Height: around 22 or 23 inches

Clothing size: 6 month clothing is fitting well, although she wears size 3 pants

Diaper size: Size 2

Feeding: Still 4oz - 6oz bottles every 3 hours. 2 tbsp cereal & 1/2 jar of fruit in the morning and 1/2 jar of veggies in the evening.

Sleep: She/We are still not sleeping through the night :( She takes 3 naps a day (50mins in the morning and afternoon and about 2hrs midday)

Milestones: She said "DADA!" which is fitting since she is Daddy's little princess. She can now sit up nicely on her own and can crawl! (Mostly backwards and army-style) This was a big month for milestones!

Loves: Chewing everything, her jumper & Sesame Street (especially Elmo of course)

Dislikes: Waking up on her belly after she tossed and turned in her sleep.

Adventures: Zoey celebrated her 1st Halloween & Thanksgiving. Thankfully we also survived Hurricane Sandy, Frankenstorm (her first snow!) and no heat or power for 12 long days.

Mommy and Daddy could not get through the month without: Zoey's new snowsuit which she wore for the entire time our house had no heat. Grandpa, who took us in after he regained power and her jumper (again) which helps entertain her since she cant sit still for a second.

BLACK FRIDAY SALE!

Starting at midnight TONIGHT every single item in my Etsy Store will be 25% off.

This is the perfect opportunity to stock up on Chritmas gifts for all those little ones in your life!

Just use code blackfriday25 at checkout!

Christmas onesies are here!

. Christmas Lights Bodysuit . Reindeer Bodysuit. Monogram Bodysuit .

This Fall

Apple picking, pumpkin picking and Halloween are all reasons why I LOVE Fall time in the US... not to mention I may have celebrated a birthday in between it all and got dragged into my upper 20's.

As soon as the air gets crisp and the leaves start to change, all I want to do is drive upstate. We celebrated my birthday by going apple picking (perhaps a sign of old age?) and proceeded to get rained poured on. Needless to say it was not the exact vision of fruit picking perfection I had imagined especially since Zoey spent most of the time wrapped up in her car seat and then proceeded to catch a cold. BUT we did have a lot of fun and came home with a bountiful harvest which I later turned into baby food.

Next up on the Fall to-do list was of course, pumpkin picking. Zoey put on her pumpkin hat made beautifully by my blogger friend Amber (she just opened an Etsy shop) and off we went in search of the perfect pumpkin. This was not only Zoey's first time picking out a pumpkin, but mine too! We ended up spending a good amount of time travelling from patch to patch to find the perfect pumpkin to represent each member of our family while sipping on pumpkin lattes and warm apple cider.

Of course, we then had to carve up our prised pumpkins. We spent an entire night scooping guts, carving flesh and roasting seeds before finally lighting up our beauties and setting them outside our front door.

Before we knew it, it was Halloween weekend. Mike and I enjoyed our first baby-free night out in a very long time and headed over to his work colleague's costume party as Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Werewolf. As a South African who never got to have an authentic "American" Halloween growing up, I get VERY excited this time of year. We realised that this year was the first time we have ever dressed up as a couple or even celebrated Halloween together (last year I was pregnant during a Halloween snowstorm and we can't even remember what we were doing the year before that-fail!)

As for Zoey's first Halloween... sadly it was a little bit of a failure. I had been planning her chicken costume for so long but had barely begun working on it (I was determined to hand make ALL of our costumes this year) before the storm hit. Luckily, I stumbled upon a rouge chicken cap that had lost the rest of it's outfit at the store so I scooped that up as a backup plan. Zoey had also caught a cold, which made her miserable and I decided that taking her to the children's parade on a very windy day (1 day before Hurricane Sandy) would not be the smartest parenting decision. On Halloween day I dressed her up barely long enough for the above pictures to be taken. A tantrum then ensued.

How did you celebrate the Fall?

What did you/your little one wear this Halloween?

A Post Sandy Update!

Hi everybody from a damp cold and dark New York.

Hurricane Sandy hit us 6 days ago and I have finally found a place to plug in my laptop and some miracle WIFI to connect to. I feel like I have been totally cut off from the outside world. Until today, I had only seen the devastation from my car window, but am totally shocked as I turn on a television for the first time and take in all the tragedy and heartbreak especially coming out of our neighbour, New Jersey.

Although it has been tough for us with no power or heat, especially with a sick baby and the cold temperatures, but today we moved to my father in law's apartment since he regained power and at least we will have a house to return to whenever our power is restored.

If you would like to donate to the American Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Fund, please click here.

Here are a few pictures from around the neighbourhood, mostly just down trees and electrical wires. Nothing compared to the pictures I am seeing from NJ.

.

6 months of Zoey

Pumpkin Hat from ItsyStitches

Weight: 13lbs 

Height: I will measure her tonight and update asap.

Clothing size: Around 3-6 month clothing and a lot of 6 month size now fits. I just did another closet clean out. It's so sad to say goodbye to some of those cute little outfits, but luckily we have a lot of adorable replacements.

Diaper size: Size 2

Feeding: Still 5oz about every 3hrs. She has also had green beans, sweet potato, prunes and apple.

Sleep: 3 or 4 naps during the day, but is still not sleeping through the night. :(

Milestones: She is HALF A YEAR OLD! She is getting closer to sitting up on her own and has started with the ba-ba's. You can tell she really wants to crawl, but hasn't figured out how to actually move, she makes sudden lunges at objects and wants to eat everything in sight!

Loves: Her big teething ring with a rattle in the center of it, funny faces that mommy makes, sitting in her jumper, her blankies and monkey.

Dislikes: She is not too fond of solids, but I'm still working on getting her used to it.

Adventures: Zoey attended her first birthday party, we went apple and pumpkin picking this month and she also got her first cold (not much of an adventure).

Mommy and Daddy could not get through the month without: Jumper! We can put her in it for 30mins at a time while we get stuff done, and she loves it!