11 Months old today ~ Camden Kinglsey Loxton

The time has just gone too fast. I sound like a stuck record but it's the truth and totally how I feel. Camden is already 11 months old which means next month he will be an entire 1 year old and no longer our baby but our toddler! At least we will have all of these monthly posts to look back at because these days I don't even remember when Camden reaches a milestone, it all happens too fast as I mentioned above, how am I supposed to keep a mental note of it all?!

I mentioned last month that, that was our toughest month but this one takes the cake! This month has been tough and that is an understatement. We feel as though we have a newborn baby in the house again. Camden is going through some sort of "phase", I call it that because only the Lord knows what is going on with our little guy. His sleeping patterns are terrible along with his moods. We have a baby who sleeps through then we have a baby who wakes 5 to 6 times a night. We have the happiest boy to a boy who is crying and throwing tantrums. Teething? We don't know and we have given up guessing. We are completely exhausted and this kind of exhausted doesn't come close to how you feel when pulling all-nighters with friends out on the Town.

We feel like we are once again trying to adjust to being new parents and we want to spend all the time in the world with Camden so we don't miss out on anything but at the same time we sometimes wish 7pm would come because that means bed time for him and peace and quiet for us for a few hours until he wakes up and starts screaming again from around 2am and then that happens every hour on the hour until the alarm sounds for my 5am wake up call for work. I close my eyes at night and hear Camden cry but the poor child is fast asleep...yes I feel like I am losing my head at times but all it is, is sleep deprivation and I now understand why it is used as a torture technique LOL!

People say it gets easier but I think it definitely depends on the child. I don't want to sound like I am complaining. We love our boy, we are beyond blessed and all the happy moments outweigh the miserable ones but to hear "Oh my child has slept through from 4 months old" makes me want to pull my hair out in big chunks hahaha,  I guess I am human and I am not tired I am exhausted and pray for the day Camden gets over what phase this is and starts sleeping through like other kids at his age.

Camden is such an active boy, always on the go and exploring every nook and cranny. He leaves nothing unturned. I often sit and wonder what exactly goes on in that active mind of his.

When he is happy and laughing I cannot begin to explain how that makes me feel inside because it is the cutest thing to see and experience.

Just look at this face! I could eat him up. Hearing him laugh from the bottom of his belly brings me so much joy and it is that that makes all those crappy days worthwhile.

With Camden full on walking and being so tall we have to watch him like a hawk because he is able to reach pretty much everything off the counter tops including my GHD which I think I have put far away and out of reach on my dresser. We have had a few close moments where Cam could have burnt his little fingers. We have to be so careful!

Camden has an obsession with the Tupperware drawer and the washing machine. He is forever hanging half out of the machine and taking clothing in and out of it. I caught him recently trying to wash his blankie, well at least that is what it looked like he was trying to do.

How big?: Have absolutely no idea, his next check up is only on the 30th of July. I assume around 79cm and 12.5kg although he is way more active these days so he might not be gaining too much weight.

Clothing Size: Currently 18-24 months and some 2 to 3yr old clothing. Also depends on the brand of clothing.

Eating: Towards the end of this month there seemed to be slight dip in his eating. He went from a child who ate practically anything you put in front of him to a child who had gone off food completely and he has become sort of a fussy eater or refused to eat at all at some meals. Strange because Camden loves food. Give him a cracker and he would happily eat it but try to feed him yoghurt, veggies or even spaghetti, which he absolutely loves he refused and spat the food out all over himself and sometimes in your face too if he was throwing a fit about not wanting to eat. After getting upset a few times and not understanding this sudden change I decided to leave him, if he is hungry he will let us know right. He has been having way more bottles lately, he seems to be using his bottle as a comfort thing because he just wants to suck on the teat even when the bottle is empty.

Sleep: Still very up and down. No new breakthroughs to report on when it comes to his sleeping habits. He is still not sleeping through every night and we sometimes go an entire week with him waking up 4 to 5 times a night. Will this ever change?!

Movement: Walking all over the house by himself. His legs are still a little wobbly and he will fall from time to time but he then uses a wall, your leg or a chair to pick himself back up and off he goes again. Very seldom crawls these days.

Milestones:

• Walking on his own, no assistance.
• Dancing, by dancing I mean bouncing and swaying to the music from his toys
• Sings non stop to himself, they teach them nursery rhymes at school so often if you pay attention to what he is signing you will hear the tune of "Bah-Bah black sheep"
• Stands on his own.
• Climbs off the bed and couch by himself, his legs are not yet long enough for him to climb back on even though he tries.

Eleven months post-partum:

Disappointed that after 11 months I am still not where I had planned to be physically but such is life and not everything goes according to plan and this is what I am slowly having to accept. I have 8 and a bit months left to fit in a wedding dress and as much as that is a problem for me I am trying to not focus on it being a problem.

 

5 day Orchard on Long Purify juice cleanse.

Source of image

Yesterday was the last day of my five day purify juice cleanse and I must admit I felt surprisingly good and I was 4kg lighter.

I had of course done some research before just taking the plunge and doing a full on 5 day cleanse. Out of all the juicing companies that I had come across, Orchard on long made use of Norwalk juicers which is a cold pressing system which has the ability to retain up to 5 times the vitamin, minerals and enzymes compared to the standard centrifugal extraction...so I went with them.

The reason for me wanting to do a juice cleanse was because I have been suffering so badly on and off since January with the flu, mostly due to the fact that I am currently suffering with a mass amount of lack of sleep because I have a baby who is constantly sick due to all the sick children at the day care that he goes to and due to this, still isn't sleeping through the night entirely. Regardless of that, my body has just felt run down and I felt in need of a serious cleanse to boost my immune system, nourish my system and help my body function at its best...basically to give myself a kick start if you want to call it that.

Two days before the cleanse I went on a full vegan diet to prep my body. I found it easy to do this but my coffee craving those two days were bad.

Day 1

I opened my eyes, had my morning warm water with fresh lemon!

I was so excited to fetch my cleanse in Town at Orchard on long. When I arrived, I was so impressed with the way that it was all packaged in a mint cooler box, my favourite colour...right up my alley. All my juices for the next two days were marked with numbers according to the order in which I needed to drink them. I received a schedule explaining the order of the day and I got fresh lemons, mint tea and rooibos teabags.

I returned to work and started my cleanse by drinking my first juice scheduled for the day. It all went well. I craved my caffeine fix and I had a slight headache. By 9pm I was extremely tired and I started to feel hungry so I went to sleep.

Day 2

I woke up with a massive headache, a detoxifying symptom. I drank my warm water and lemon and headed off to work with all my juices for the day.

The day went by so quickly, I felt slightly dizzy around 10:30am but no severe hunger at all throughout the day. The fact that everyone at my office was eating cake didn't even bother me like I know it usually would. Had another early night to avoid wanting to snack late at night.

Day 3

I woke up and felt so full of energy. It was such an amazing feeling to wake up and feel like that. I haven't felt that feeling in years. I cycled for 30min and got ready for work while I sipped on my lemon water. An hour later the most intense headache kicked in but I think it was due to the fact that I had not drunk enough water the previous day with being so busy at work. Water is good to help rid your body of those toxins. Around 12 noon I started to feel rather sluggish. The rest of the day went off well. No more caffeine cravings.

Day 4

It was another busy day for me, being a Saturday and having an early morning hair appointment etc. I just went through the motions. Didn't really think about how I felt during the day. I woke up with hunger pains. I did notice that I started to break out on my jawline and my forehead. Aahhh at the age of 32 to still get pimples but I understood that it was due to the detox my body was going through. I was also extremely grumpy and on edge but I couldn't say if it was due to the juicing or the fact that I had gotten roughly 3 hours sleep because Camden had been waking up every hour throughout the night or could it have been the fact that it was a weekend and I was around family who were eating whatever they felt like and I was sipping on my juice.

Day 5

I woke up feeling like I could carry on juicing for a bit longer but I had a feeling of excitement too that this five day of no solid food was finally over. I was so moody and I can only put it down to the lack of sleep over the weekend and the fact that everyone was eating whatever they wanted around me and Wayne kept forgetting that I was juicing and kept asking if I wanted coffee, the thing I craved the most during this fast was coffee. My family also decided to make a Sunday roast so those smells were killing me.

It was so nice to be taken care of by Orchard on Long. The Team there in Long street were so friendly. They had all my juices prepared for me for the day and I just loved having all the juices ready to go because that meant that for five days I didn't need to spend any time preparing my meals for the day. Being a mom I am extremely busy and having the juices ready for me to drink was a nice easy solution and it saved me some time.

All in all I felt healthy, I had no more snotty nose and I felt more energised. So I accomplished what I had wanted to. I found the cleanse difficult on days that I hadn't slept well and I would recommend juicing perhaps when your life isn't so busy or crazy. I didn't exercise as much as I wanted to due to the lack of sleep. I cannot begin to describe to anyone how this lack of sleep is really killing me, it has been a long 11 months but that is a story for another day. I am glad that I did this cleanse and I would definitely do it again in the next few months.

Granny Sandra's Birthday celebrations at Schoongezicht

My gran, a Gem(ini) just like me celebrates her birthday on the 31st of May, only three days after me.

This year as a family we decided to try out the Schoongezicht buffet restaurant. It was such a great afternoon spent with everyone and I am so glad that my gran enjoyed herself. My grandfather was missed ( Bless his soul), my cousin and I were saying how he would have been like a kid at Christmas in the desert section at the restaurant.

I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside but I managed a few sneaky pics of part of the desert section and a pic of how messy Camden got - he really enjoyed all the food...but of course he takes after his mother and father, let's just say that he takes after my entire family.

Excuse the terribly phone quality pictures.

Everything that I tried was good but we were all in agreement that there was way too much variety and some of the meat dishes were very dry, there were no labels telling you what the different dishes were so you had to guess most of the time and the service wasn't all that great.

We are all happy that we tried the restaurant at least once and I was happy I got to try some chicken pie and strawberry mouse, those two dishes were the highlight of my buffet lunch.

Camden was also not feeling himself so we left fairly soon after we ate to get him home. Before we left we managed to catch some pictures of us as a family.

and as we say in South Africa...magies vol ogies toe...

32nd Celebrations!

So I haven't blogged in ages but that is because we have just been THAT busy. Every weekend there has been something that keeps us on our toes.

My birthday passed on the 28th of May and what an amazing birthday it was!

I was woken up to gifts from Wayne, Camden and my family, messages on my phone from my dear friends near and far. When I arrived at work my desk was decorated with gifts, balloons, a happy birthday sign and everyone was there to sing Happy Birthday to me.

During the morning I also received an edible bouquet delivery at the office from my best friends Jen and Tom in Australia, that was such a surprise and so not expected! What a great gift and awesome idea. I love flowers and I love chocolates, especially ferrero rocher put them together and you get an edible pretty bouquet of chocolates!

The evening of my birthday we had my family and my best friend and her family over for a build a burger evening in light of the fact that it was also International Hamburger day on my birthday. I sure do love burgers so it was a win win in my eyes really. Who doesn't love a burger! They were so yummy!

My gran made homemade burger patties, they were to die for. We had burger buns, lettuce, bacon, pineapple rings, cheese, gherkins, tomat, avo, mushroom sauce and a side of fries if you wanted. It was a fun night.

How Yummy did those burgers look?!

Saturday after my birthday Wayne told me to be ready by 1pm as he had my birthday surprise planned for that day. The entire week I had been trying to figure out what he had planned but for the first time Wayne managed to keep this a complete secret. I assumed he was taking us for a couples spa afternoon because I couldn't possibly put my finger on anything else that it could be.

He fetched me a little after 1pm and when we started driving he said we needed to stop off at my best friend Tatum. At that moment I thought something was up but wasn't expecting to rock up to a house full of my friends, a birthday cake and a massive sit down meal that Tatum and the girls had prepared. How amazing is my fiancé and my girl friends. I am loved!

It was such an awesome afternoon and evening. Life has been so busy with Camden, it was so nice to unwind and socialise with friends I hadn't seen for some time.

Things got crazy, excuse the terrible phone quality pictures...What a great party and I got so many great gifts too!

The Sunday after my birthday party was my grandma's birthday and we celebrated her special day with a family buffet lunch at Schoongezicht with a hangover. More on the lunch coming soon :)