Home alone

(posted by Elizma)

Well, as you probably gathered, my parents went back to South Africa last Wednesday evening. Now it's just me and little Liam. For the first time since he was born.

I must say, I had a huge feeling of loneliness for the first couple of days. That mixed with the sadness of missing my parents made for a few emotional days straight after they'd left. The first morning after their departure, I cried with everything I did for the first time on my own - making toast (!), dressing Liam in the morning, going to Starbucks...

I was wondering how I will manage to be a stay-at-home-mom if that's the way you feel. Well, I'm really glad to say that I'm over that now. Every time I feel a bit lonely, I remind myself how short this precious time I have to spend with Liam will be and before I know it, I might be back at work.

So now I'm enjoying it. I love having nonsensical conversations with him at unexpected moments during the day. And listing to his music (Carike in Kinderland, Baby Einstein Classical Music etc.) whilst he is lying on his changing station.

And I'm looking forward to every new little thing he does...

Saville Garden

(posted by Elizma)

Another outing we had with my parents when they were still here was to Saville Gardens in the Windsor Great Park. It was a lovely day and the gardens absolutely beautiful.

For more pictures, click here.

Gardening with Dad

(posted by Elizma)

Whilst they were here, my Dad helped me to plant some things in our garden. We had a hard time finding the Iceberg standard roses we were after, but eventually we found them at a nursery in East Sussex - about an hour from here. It's a beautiful nursery with over 20 000 varieties of roses!

I wish you could see how we loaded the car with me, my dad, my mom, Liam in his car seat, the 4 standard roses as well as his pram! Again my dad managed to fit everything in. It has always been one of his strong points - it had to be going on holiday with 4 daughters as well as his mother in law! ;-)

In any case, here are some pictures of the final product - some more here. I can't wait for all the small plants to grow bigger.

Winchester

(posted by Elizma)

The last weekend before my parents went home we spent a night in Tania's hotel in Winchester. It's only an hour from us here in Woking, but staying the night gave us a good excuse to explore the area. It was really lovely. We even spent some time in the New Forest as well discovered another vineyard.

I was a bit worried with Liam in a hotel room and how he will cope with the change of routine. He was absolutely fine, sleeping from the minute we went out to dinner around 19:30 and only waking up at his normal time around 06:00. He is such a good sleeper and we're contantly thanking our stars!

We went on a walking tour around Winchester which is highly recommended. We learnt so much - not only about the town, but also about Britain as a whole.

Here are some pictures. For more, click here.

Winchester Cathedral

King Arthur's Round Table. It's been hanging in the Great Hall for 700 years!

Lunch at Lymington in the New Forest

Alika's 2nd birthday party

(posted by Elizma)

Liam went to his first birthday party today - the first of many - I'm sure! He couldn't take part in the festivities, but I did and it was a lovely day.

Congratulations Alika!

8 weeks old today and cuter than ever...

(posted by Elizma)

Liam is 8 weeks old today. Boy, how time flies! I have to remind myself everyday to enjoy the time with him as he'll be all grown-up before I know it.

We spent a lovely afternoon with our friends Johan and Celia under a huge tree in their garden. It was a really hot day today - 30C! Liam enjoyed it too - very happily lying on his pillow for more than two hours.





Come on guys! You look ready to us... ;-)

At last!

(posted by Elizma)

We've been trying to video Liam's conversations in the mornings for weeks now. He chats away until the camera comes in sight and then nothing. Not a peep...

But this morning at last we got something.

Another nice picture of Liam

(posted by Elizma)

Morning greetings

(posted by Elizma)

This is how we are greeted every morning by Liam. He's growing so fast and is the cutest thing!

Our loft room

(posted by Elizma)

Our loft room is at last finished and thanks to my Mom's talents and hard work making the curtains it looks stunning. It is such a lovely room filled with light - worth all the hassle after all...

Three cute pics...

(posted by Elizma)

Big hands

(posted by Elizma)

Liam's got the biggest hands and longest fingers. Probably the only thing he has of me - the rest I think is all Leon...

Signs of hunger

(posted by Elizma)

Liam makes it very clear when he is hungry. Not only by letting us know verbally, but also by 'biting' at us like a little bird.

Sitting on Oupa's hand

(posted by Elizma)

Ever since I can remember, my Dad has this thing where he balances a baby on his hand. They usually LOVE it. Although Liam's only 5 weeks old, he's already had his first taste of it and I'm sure there will be many more times where he sits on Oupa's hand.

Smiling

(posted by Elizma)

Liam's started to smile at us regularly now. As you can imagine, they're very random and therefore not very easy to capture on camera. I came close this morning with this one...

Oh crap!

(posted by Elizma)

Need I say more...?

Wisley Gardens

(posted by Elizma)

Today was the hottest day of the year (28C) and we went to Wisley Gardens to make the most of it.

Liam slept the whole time - even when we went to 2 shops and Starbucks afterwards.

'Sleeping through the night...'

(posted by Elizma)

Our angel (who is 1 month old today) has been 'sleeping through the night' the last four nights. He goes to bed at 21:00/22:00 and wakes up at 05:30/06:00. We're not complaining! Although, from the second photo it looks like Leon doesn't get much sleep...

Most of the pictures I take seems to be when he's sleeping, but he's got a different 'pose' every time - Liam that is ;-)