It’s a new baby!!!! So excited to have welcomed baby Isa into the world and to have been chosen to be his mommy! There were a lot of similarities between the birth of our first and second- we had the same medical team in the same hospital and even ended up in the same room! All these things offered a familiarity that made it easier. Our first was delivered by an emergency C-section because I experienced a placenta abruption. It was a hard process but I’m grateful our Nur came to us safely. With our second, natural birth wasn’t an option so we opted for an elective C-section for his delivery ..read more

I was raised in Redcliff and Harare, Zimbabwe. We were lucky enough to have big gardens and many trees at home where my siblings and I could explore and climb, playing games and spotting all sorts of wonderful creatures like monkeys, moles, geckos and chameleons or even owls and sometimes snakes. We would copy the cries of the crows (gunguo), comparing them to ones of the birds that visited less frequently.  My parents were also keen on keeping farm animals at home so ducks, chickens, rabbits, a peacock once, were a part of growing up. They also got us dogs at an early age so we had 4 run ..read more

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…I love Christmas time, I love the summer sun, the braais with family and friends, the carols and year-end parties and the decorations!  Last year we had our first Christmas together with baby Nur and we promised to start a couple of traditions for our little one! Some of them were to always put a Christmas tree up- lights and all, to have a gift exchange and to have a small Photoshoot so that we can send pictures to our families and friends. With a tight budget this year and my backdrop obsession still growing – I challenged myself to create a ..read more

Wow! I cannot believe just how active our baby, sorry, toddler has become! We continue from the previous 7-10 month activities list but to be honest, with a global pandemic and a lockdown in SA, we were just taking each day as it comes. Sometimes we were great with these activities and sometimes we watched series in bed all weekend, we tried! She has become independent and surprises us with telling us what she wants to do, saying things like, ”door…car…ball…nom nom nom…MORE!” This has been great- our first lessons in really listening to her and her opinion. So here we go- some activities for y ..read more

In all the craziness around us, I’ve been looking for ways to feel in control of my life.  Whether it’s through baking bread, washing and re-hanging our curtains, or finally putting up the floating shelves that were sitting in storage for years- I’m finding ways to flash a middle finger to 2020! I know I can’t control everything about safety in the home, but with a busy, walking and tumbling toddler, I’ve had to pay attention to what we can control. 1. First Aid! This lockdown, I finally came around to keeping a well-stocked First Aid Kit in our home. One of the moms in my baby group gav ..read more

First birthdays are so special! We had ours during the Covid Lockdown and my little family had an amazing time. Here are my pointers on how to make a home birthday party beautiful and budget friendly. 1. Do You! Pick the theme or concept you want for your little one and create a Mood Board. Our theme was Color Blast and we had asked guests to wear color block outfits! I use inspiration images from Pinterest and Instagram. Customize and make it your own. I also use Over for all my montages and the invitation. 2. Plan In Advance Note product lead times, and add 2 weeks. I like giving deli ..read more

Time is moving fast and so is Baby Nur! We now need activities that can keep up with this busy body. Going with our instincts again, here are some of the games and communication methods we have with the baby on typical days. This continues from the previous 3-6 month activities list I gave to Sisi to use as a guide for stimulating activities! Please do let me know what activities your baby enjoys! xoxo SBJ ..read more

One of the things I didn’t look forward to was all the paperwork and admin involved in having a baby! Planning, scheduling and budgeting helped us keep on track with this. Here is a list of some of the items that needed to be organized; 1. ACTIVATING MATERNITY BENEFITS Covered in My First Trimester Must-haves post, one of the reasons we chose our OB/GYN was to get full cover from my Discovery Health medical aid plan. We chose a doctor from their network who has a payment arrangement them. I also had to activate my maternity benefits through the ‘My Pregnancy Programme’. Consultations were cov ..read more

On our way to the airport for the early morning flight to Joburg, we laughed about how Baby Nur’s first flight was a far cry from our first airport experiences. We grew up going to the airport excited in our special clothes, skin plastered in Vaseline, and ALL this was just for escorting the traveler! We took the 6.30am flight to go and process some applications and returned on the 9pm flight back. We were all exhausted afterwards but here are a few tips on what worked and what didn’t go well. 1.What to carry Taking just one baby bag, a small cooler bag, my hand bag and the Doona we kept ..read more

I used to judge parents whose phones were filled with 100s of pictures of their children, but alas, here we are with my mobile memory full. As we celebrate baby Nu’s 5 months today yay!, I thought of all the fun ways we have been keeping track of our milestones and special moments. Here are a few: Baby Diary We forget sometimes and keeping this diary from the first time we found out we were pregnant (7 weeks), detailing how we found out, reactions after doctor visits, our ups and downs and any other weekly updates helped us track the journey. This will be a beautiful gift to baby Nu. I will ..read more