So, the paediatric dietician and Big, Hairy, Travel dreams

We had the appointment with the dietician yesterday to discuss the children's eating and weight "issues".

I only made one appointment because I am cheap and practical - I reasoned that anything she said I would be applying to both of them anyway.

Right?

D was not so sure about my frugality (hey - I have a bond to settle this year :)) so I texted the lady and said, "which baby should I bring? the smaller one or the one who has lost the most weight?"

She said as long as I have their growth charts, I don't need to bring either of them.

But we took Connor since he is the baby who lost the most weight and has never, up until now, had an issue.

Kendra has been a skinny little thing from the get go.

She was lovely (I will tell you later how she is my favourite person at the moment) and set us at ease.

I'll admit to having a bit of a chip on my shoulder going in.... I am nothing if not self-aware.

Anyway, we discussed their eating habits, what times they eat, and how much, and the variety of foods, etc, etc. (I brought two of the notebooks with me to help jog my memory) and how much milk, what kind they drink, etc.

Therein lies the problem.

They are apparently drinking too little milk! They have 250 - 300 ml a day. Plus another 125 - 150 ml in cereal when they don't have oats.

And she said they probably should have stayed on formula past the 12-month mark. They are on full cream cow's milk.

I am not even thinking about how all these experts differ in opinion as I do NOTHING without Dr S's say-so.

Moving along.

She wants them on 500 ml of milk daily. But... Pediasure or Nutrigen (sp?) Junior, not cow's milk.

That's when I was pleased I didn't bring baby 2 for a second consultation fee :)

Then onto their eating.

Well... their eating is perfect.

Surprisingly so for toddlers.

And then she said the thing which makes her my current favourite person.

"You should write a book"

We both laughed.

"I'm absolutely serious," she said, "your kids eat really well and you're clearly doing things in a really good way"

Oh, I beamed.

Hopefully she doesn't say that to all the moms.

Also, she's also a mom of twins (4-year-old girls) but like you, Cat, a singleton and then twins.

She said at the end of the appointment that this is still a really hard stage - apparently from 3, it's all sunshine and roses :)

I, of course, said, "NOTHING could ever EVER be as bad as the newborn stage"

Oh, by the way, Connor has gained a lot of weight this month already - he is now exactly 11 kg. Up from 10.63 kg on 7 Jan.

We see her again in 3 months time at which point I am certain we will be back on the growth curve track.... right?

*******************

These pics are still from the beach shoot. I like to look at things that make me happy and the beach makes me happy.

One of my Mondo dreams is to live on the beach for a month... right on the beach, no faffing around with cars and sand in cars (hate!) ... I said to MandyH I would have to take V or rent a nanny to make it truly relaxing :)

To make it a true BHAD, I would go to Thailand.... mmmmm.

What is just ONE of your Big, Hairy, Audacious TRAVEL Dreams?

P.S. To see some Thailand pics, go look at my travel blog header - francoisfamily dot blogspot dot com :)

The holiday, on a scale of 1 - 10 was a ...

First, a beach pic :)

Occasionally I like to dress them like "twins" - same colours but different shades, a girl and boy version. K is wearing a lighter shade of green with a heart-shaped button on the left; C is in lime-green, plain boy t-shirt. Both blue shorts, K's is denim.

This was our pram while we were delayed leaving Johannesburg. Please notice the little boy (I really have to stop calling them "the babies") on the right, barefoot and very happy to be free.

I think he'd made friends with everybody up and down the queue.

This one was taken in the week before we left - he now hangs onto the security guards as he climbs onto the window sill. My heart stops every time and I have to tell myself to remain calm. Eventually I told V, "if he falls, he falls. he needs to learn" to which I received a very shocked look :)

And then, again the cutest little girl in the world. Note the gorgeous grey skies in the background on a beautiful beach day. She loves that hat and ate sea sand from that very spade (maybe she thought it was an oversized spoon?)

D and I discussed the holiday - what was good, what could be improved, what was frustrating, etc. (we do this kind of thing with everything) and decided that it was a 7.

At first I said "MUCH better than Clarens" - I gave that holiday a 4 and really, the scenery and gorgeous quaint town brought it up from a 2.5 to a 4.`So much hard work!

So without any further ado, here is my summary:

Good things

1. Baby seat things - I seriously felt like a genius every time we hauled those things out. You can attach them in about 10 seconds and the babies adjusted to them very quickly (meal 2 or 3).
2. Getting my beach photo shoot (yes, the pics look gorgeous - more so the babies and D than me, but maybe I need to book Jeanette again soon for me - D says I am stark raving mad, but once you get hooked on really good photos, it's hard to feel satisfied with crappy ones)
3. We coped TONS better than we thought we would and the babies were MUCH better behaved.
4. They also ramped up the cuteness a lot because they're talking up a storm and are friendly to all and sundry (everybody in the hotel, parking lots, airport, etc).
5. Pre-planning Christmas presents and just going out to get them
6. My brother has stopped being moody - I actually said to him yesterday, "this year it was LOVELY spending time with you" :) I'm very naughty!
7. General family stuff.

Frustrating things

1. Not seeing my father - he was travelling for much of our time there
2. Not going to church and we had two weekends there.
3. Not seeing any old or new friends like Eve or Katherine (there was a get together on one of the only TWO beautiful beach days and there was no way I was missing that with the babies - I like to think I have my priorities straight :))
4. Kendra decided to go vegetarian for about a week. She just started eating meats again on Monday. How can you get full eating avo, bananas, carrots and pumpkin?! Thank goodness for cereal.
5. General family stuff - like how indecisive they all are. It drives me crazy normally, good thing I'm more relaxed on holiday. Also how nobody (except my brother) communicates properly - the topic of another blog post or maybe I should start a private blog like Rebecca's done?

Bad things

1. The wind - oh my word, I'd forgotten how bad it can be. I had a headache on day 1 from walking in the wind, so much so I had to take 2 Panado (that is serious medication for me :))
2. The rain...
3. The crazy amount of money we spent - I am firmly in denial and very reluctant to do the budget at the moment...
4. My mother was still showing favouritism to Kendra - that's again another blog post...
5. We watched my tv segment all together and nobody in my family said a single thing like "good job" or "I can't believe people actually take YOU seriously" :) or ANY thing.


In a nutshell, I loved being away but I love, love, love being back, not having to worry about if we have enough clothes for the babies, will the laundry get dry in time, etc.

I now need to plan the next trip otherwise I start getting all sad about how I "never" travel :)

Our next trip will probably be to a European destination for about 5 days where South African passport holders don't need a visa as I am dead lazy to go through all that schlep.

But one day when I stop being so lazy, I'll apply for a US visa and go to New York. Meanwhile, I live vicariously through other people.

My favourite type of holidays are either city holidays or beach holidays. Thailand was my best as it was simply too hot to go, go, go all the time (my default setting) and we relaxed the best there. And of course, the outstanding food always helps! I actually lost weight eating so healthy.

What kind of holidays are your favourites?

P.S. Home Affairs sent me a text to say my new passport's ready for collection so technically speaking, the next time I get one of those Flight Centre emails, I could book and go! Isn't it lovely to dream?

Thailand

I was listening to “Just the way you are” on a Billy Joel CD yesterday and remembered a cute story that I wanted to share with you.

We went on a holiday to Phuket, Thailand in Sept 2006 and stayed at a gorgeous hotel on the beachfront with a gazillion stairs leading up to our floor. Yes, I’m serious. Look...

I have never eaten so well on holiday before (have I mentioned I’m fussy about healthy food?!) and the only reason I returned home at the same weight? Those 6 flights of stairs up the hill!

Back to the food…Thailand was where I fell in love with Chicken Mussamen Curry (yum, yum and some more yum) and also where I learned to be more adventurous with my stir-fries.

How far can you go wrong?!

Anyway, our days were typically wake up and run down to breakfast (we’re late sleepers). Drag ourselves up the hill (only 4 flights this time) to either get ready for an organized tour or get book, suntan lotion and water for the pool. We like to alternate on holidays – day out, day lazing, day out, day lazing. Otherwise I feel exhausted when I get back and then I need a holiday from the holiday.

Have lunch…. More lazing….and reading….very low-key as the heat is not conducive to running around like a holiday in a colder place.

Around 4 – 5pm, we’d go to the room, shower and get ready for the evening. Everybody on the island (looked like) went walking in the streets looking for a place to have supper – there are so many great places that it was an adventure every night to try something new.

After the feast (it also helped that this was the one place where our currency (Rand) was stronger than the Baht), we’d walk the streets some more, shop a bit (souvenirs and such) and then go for a massage (again, stronger currency – worked out to about R40 – R50/ $5 - $6 for a one-hour massage) and then back to the hotel.

While climbing the stairs one evening, we heard live singing. I’m a sucker for live anything J so we went to peek into the dining area.

Turns out the guy was just about finishing and there were only about two other couples left lingering.

He spotted us and asked me, “what’s your request?”

Since the setting was all low-lights and romantic, the first thing that popped into my head was Billy Joel’s, “just the way you are” since this is one of our top 10 romantic songs.

Well, he did it BEAUTIFULLY – it was soooo great. A man singing just for us.

I was DELIGHTED (I am easily delighted by small things!) and tipped him well!

So now whenever I hear that song I think about that beautiful, warm evening in Thailand.

*sigh*

(I got an email from Flight Centre last week with a flight special to Phuket and I was THIS close to booking – crazy thoughts!)

Can you guess some of the other songs on our top 10 list?

(I'll post the full list later this week)

What’s on your top 10 romantic songs list? Do you even have a list?

P.S. If you want to see some pics of our Thailand holiday (and a much thinner me), go here. I’m actually amazed this story’s nowhere to be found. That and the fact we were so obviously in the infertility denial phase and simply having fun!

P.P.S. I'm trying things out so I posted this from email - hence different font :)