Maya playing happily

It seems Maya is happiest playing with toys that aren't meant to be toys. Came home with some baby groceries and among them was a packet of two-pack baby wipes. She couldn't take her eyes off it so I eventually let her play with it. Speaking of groceries, was so excited to see such wonderful concoctions in Purity baby food! Will share with you some of the wonderful flavours and Maya's reactions in my next post...

Country Road Baby

Maya is going to be the best dressed little girl in town. Her auntie Zanele spoiled her with some kiff new outfits (and her first cozzie) from the newly-launched Country Road Baby line at Woolworths in Cape Town. http://www.countryroad.com.au/ Aren't the clothes gorgeous? And the fabrics! Exactly how little girls should dress I think. Maybe it's a good thing they haven't rolled out the range in Johannesburg yet otherwise I would have done some serious damage to my account already!

Being back at work

Throughout my maternity leave (in fact even before Maya was born) all I heard from other moms was how difficult it would be to leave her at home after being with her 24/7. And so I started to dread the day from the very start. January 5, 2010 would loom closer and closer and hang over our happy times together like a bad smell. And then the day finally arrived. I woke up, played a little with Maya, had a shower and got dressed and packed my lunch with a feeling of excitement mixed with a deep sadness I'd never felt.

After giving Maya huge fat kisses (she's not at that reciprocal stage yet so I took that kiss by force, grabbing her cheeks in my hands and kissing her all over her face), I handed her over to Nomathemba and made to leave. And then nanny tells me she dropped the cell phone we gave her in water and it's no longer working.

Why is she only telling me now? I scrambled around the house looking for a spare phone - so many had recently passed from my hands to friends and family - and now staring into the drawer they were usually kept, I felt despair. There sat a lone decrepit Samsung from 19-voetsek, that I was sure didn't work. As it turned out, it could receive incoming calls but not make outgoing ones. So the plan was to charge it, and then to send me an sms once it was charged. Fine. Another round of fat kisses and I was away heading towards the office like it was just another day.

Trying to get my office life back to normal - sorting out defunct email, restoring my contacts (the server had crashed in my absence) I did my best not to keep checking my phone.

By 12pm, I decided to drive back home - at Jean, my office manager's insistence. 'Get out the way get out the way!' I wanted to yell as the driver negotiated lunchtime traffic. When we finally got there in 11 and a half minutes flat, my hands were shaking as I turned the key and found my little one sitting in her Bumbo, playing with her teething ring, minding her own business while Nomathemba got on with the ironing.

Maya looked up as I called her name, flashed a brief obligatory smile and carried on fiddling with her toy as if I had only been gone two minutes. Kanti, what had I been expecting? Well, giggles and squeals and throwing open of arms is what!

I realised I hadn't been rushing home because I was worried something had happened... I had rushed home because I was missing Maya - and I didn't want her to forget me. My biggest fear: that she'll prefer her nanny over me. And instead of rushing into my arms - when she's able to - she'll cower behind nanny and smile shyly at me, like I'm a friendly looking stranger.

So it's the third week back at work and I'm doing absolutely fine. I'm enjoying being Zodwa for a few hours a day and then coming home and being Maya's mom and Hein's wife. Sometimes I can go for a few hours without thinking about her and then I look up at the photo of her on my desk or someone phones me and asks after her and my heart literally sings thinking about her. Mommy loves you more than you'll ever know Ms Maya.

Sitting up

Our little sausage is growing up so fast. She's already sitting up unsupported! See video attached. I told her nanny that she must not tell me if she says her first word, walks or reaches any of her other milestones - while I'm away becasue that will just finish me. I want to discover all these things on my own. Which reminds me, I still need to write the 'going back to work' post. Love to you all!

5 months old

Maya turned five months yesterday. Took a few snaps of her at bath time and they've turned out to be some of my favourites.

Eco nappies work

Maya is finally fitting in those eco nappies that cost me a packet before she was born. They're coming in real handy now and cost effective so for any mums thinking of going the cloth nappy route, visit www.mothernatureproducts.co.za. I would recommend the part time pack because when you're travelling, you don't want to be lugging a bucket with dirty nappies around. I also did try them earlier on when Maya was about two months old but truthfully they were a bit bulky and those snug little onesies wouldn't button around them. And of course, it was still cold so she couldn't coast around topless like she's doing now.

P.S. I won't lie. I only use them when nanny is around. *winks and grins*

Maya's first taste

Without doubt one of the most exciting events in a child's development is introducing them to the wonderful world of flavours and food. I'd been vowing to wait until the six month mark but after the egging on of parents and others... and after giving her a taste of banana on Christmas eve and being attacked for the spoon, Hein and I bought her small containers of organic baby food and Purity (what child doesn't taste Purity sometime in their life), and gave her a taste of butternut which she loved!

I can't wait for her to try apples, pears, avocado...

Festive season

Going on a long road trip with multiple destinations with Maya was quite challenging. The easiest part was Maya. Her luggage was another story. In fact, it was the number one reason Hein had to trade in his car for a bigger model. Maya's luggage was more than twice ours combined. There's just no way you can leave anything behind - pram, travel cot, jumper, swing chair, bumbo, clothes for all weather, nappies, formula, bottles, steriliser... the works! My one regret: not taking the Shantala bath. Not all homes we discovered have basins big enough or shaped ergonomically enough to fit a four-month old comfortably.
The trip was filled with so many highlights, like introducing My sister Kholeka to Maya (now only Nomzi left to introduce), taking her to the beach for the first time, hearing her humming to herself trying to put her to sleep on the journey, watching our parents fall more and more in love with her...

What I really need to do this year though is step up my search for a second hand SLR camera. The moments pass so quickly and it makes me so sad to miss out or mess up moments when all I get is a blur of hands and face! Nxa!