Photos galore! (2)

Graeme's youngest brother, Phil, has just (at long last!!) got engaged to Brenda. At the Sunday picnic, I suddenly needed to do something, so quickly passed Janel to Brenda - who promptly froze in panic. There's nothing like being dumped in the deep end to teach you to swim!

Having got over her initial fear, once we were back in Cape Town after the wedding, Brenda asked me if she could hold Janel. At the time Janel was with Phil, having a great time of laughing. Everyone was so thrilled to hear that Brenda was keen to hold her that we all gave a big cheer. Phil then proceeded to clap loudly - right in poor Janel's face, giving her a massive fright, and she promptly erupted in screams, much to Brenda's chagrin! (Once Mommy had soothed her, Janel was very happy to go to Brenda, so she did get to hold her after all.)

Tata, who is not a wine drinker, had been given a bottle of 1973 KWV Cinsaut in the late 1980's. (KWV is an excellent, popular, but slightly expensive, Cape wine.) He decided to keep it and open it when his first grandchild was born. Roughly 15 years have passed from that day, and Janel has been born, so we opened it to drink at a family dinner. It wasn't vinegar, which is the good news, but it wasn't a great wine either. However, if you thought of it as a fortified wine, it was really quite palatable!

In the month away Janel has developed quite a lot. There were a number of firsts for her. These photos aren't necessarily the actual first moments, but they at least document what the event was.

She's discovered her fingers and now chews on them with great glee.

Here, with Gogo, she's demonstrating how she's started pushing up and trying to stand.

She's also started to really push herself up and will also try to pull herself up into a sitting position if she's lying in your lap.

An early developer: she's 'reading' - actually, she's just fascinated by the black and white of the text. She's not in the slighest bit interested in the pictures!!

She's taking much more notice of her environment now - she discovered first Mommy and then herself in the mirror. We spent a delightful 15 minutes smiling and laughing with our images in the mirror.

Because she can now sit so much better, she is nearly ready for her highchair. With a few bits of padding, she's fine in it even now - only for short periods though.

Granny (my mom) was the unfortunate recipient of another first - Janel's first illness. We'd had a family braai for my side of the family, and one of her cousins had had a vomiting & diarrhea bug. Ouma got it, and then later, so did Janel. One morning she just cried and cried, for no apparent reason. I left her with Granny while I went out for lunch with one of my nieces, not realising that the reason she had been crying so much was because she was ill. When I returned an hour and a half later, she had a fever and had been vomiting. Poor mite! I felt like such a bad mother for not realising. Thank goodness for Granny!!

While out shopping, I made an impulse buy of this little African outfit. While she may have been born in London, she will be an African child!

Here's Ouma (my step-mother). She was such a support and gave me a real break every now and then - she helped with feeding, and was a star at burping!!

Oupa (my dad) was the recipient of a lot of hugs! I think he got the best deal of all the grandparents.

Of course, there are a lot more photos of our trip I could publish here - like the wedding itself - but as this blog is supposed to be about Janel, I'll restrain myself. Maybe I'll start another blog for our trips....

In the immortal words of Warner Brothers, then: That's all folks!