Benjamin has been wearing an amber bead necklace for quite a while now, and he gets a lot of comments on it so I thought I would post about it. Amber necklaces are really common in Europe, Australia and New Zealand as they have some really fantastic healing properties, and I definitely think they are helping our little guy. I have noticed that he is considerably less fussy when he is teething when he has it on, than when he doesn’t – and what Mamma is not in favour of that hey!

Besides looking darn cute, here are a few pros:
Providing pain relief –

Baltic amber’s remarkable medicinal properties include analgesics that reduce or eliminate pain associated with headaches, joint stiffness, dental discomfort such as teething, etc.

Strengthening your immune system –

Succinic acid is the primary substance in natural Baltic Amber and has remarkable ability to boost the body’s immune system, to enhance natural healing, and to protect the body from infection.

Restoring Energy –

Succinate is a raw material and a major catalyst in the Krebs Cycle, one of our main sources of energy. During this cycle, our bodies metabolize carbohydrates, fats, and proteins for energy. metabolized for energy. Our own bodies naturally produce the same succinic acid to some extent. Succinic acid contains salt which is one of the key substances in cellular respiration as well as intercellular energy production. As a result, succinic acid restores both oxygen and energy to depleted cells and aids the body in returning to a normal, fully functional state.

Maintaining Wellness -

Under stress or duress, the human body’s cells require more oxygen more quickly. A lack of oxygen can result in lethargy as oxygen is vital to the intercellular creation of energy. When the body has low oxygen, it is much more at risk of illness. A healthy body is one that has a slightly alkaline blood “ph” balance which means that oxygen is being fully absorbed in all the critical areas with ease.

Breaking a cycle of (chronic) inflammation -

Whenever there is any form of chronic inflammation, disease is a good probability. With chronic cellular inflammation, the body’s immune system will automatically increase production of free radicals which can, in excess, cause inflammatory-related disease. Chronic inflammation is quite of the underlying factor in many seemingly unrelated illnesses.

I hope that these necklaces become popular in the States soon, I am such a fan and would love to see more little babies wearing them!

I have pondered paint colors for weeks now, loving every second of spreading out paint samples and chips and driving Mark crazy with a dozen questions about which shade of green looks better. Finally decision made, paint purchased, I set out to paint the living room. My plan is to paint while Benjamin naps during the day, and after that while he plays quietly and sweetly in the dining room which is cordoned off and safe. I am so excited I can hardly wait for him to take his delicious long morning nap so that I can get started. Finally he is sleeping, I get kitted up and just as I am rolling on the first stripe of green, I hear a cry. Rats! He is awake, already? Ok well no problem, I will just put him in the dining room and let him play there. Aware that paint is drying on the roller, I quickly get him set up playing and race back to paint. 2 minutes later, he is wailing his head off. Back down off the chair, roller down and check on Benjamin. He is stuck in a cardboard box.

Reverse the man out of the box, back out, up the chair, roller back in hand. Another wail. Down we go again. Reverse him out of the box again, back out, up the chair and roll. Wail. And so on and so on. Holly in the meantime is whining to be let back in. She has muddy feet so I make her lie down on the mat to dry off. I then bring Benjamin in to the living room with me, with all the gigantic cardboard boxes that he loves. Space is getting a little tight now, but as long as I can shuffle around the boxes  and wet dog I should manage to get a coat on the wall. Back up the chair we go, roller in hand. I reach up, delighted to finally get stuck in. In a matter of seconds Benjamin has navigated through the boxes and heads straight into the pan of toxic paint. Delightful. And is now tracking paint all over the wooden floors. Holly decides that now is the perfect time to slink onto the carpet unnoticed.I frantically climb over boxes diving to get to Ben before he makes it to the carpet or eats the paint, meanwhile yelling at Holly to get off the carpet. She in turn, looks terrified and like she might pee, and Benjamin is frightened of the yelling and starts to cry.

I am standing in a room surrounded by boxes and paint cans, holding a green baby under one arm and clutching at the collar of a muddy smelly dog in the other. Mud and green paint all over the floor. I laugh and take a deep breath. I am trying to do too much and it ain’t workin’ mamma! So Holly gets turfed out to dry in the sunshine like a dog aught to, and I spend the rest of the morning playing peak-a-boo with Benjamin in a pile of boxes. The paint dries on the brush and the walls will wait another day, and in the meantime I am having the time of my life laughing with my gorgeous little boy. Yes this is my life and I would not change a thing about it!

Our long awaited trip to Cape Town is over and it seems like a dream already!

I feel so incredibly blessed that we were able to take Benjamin all the way to Africa and introduce him to my family. It was so special and meant so much to me to see him with them! Having been to Cape Town before, Mark and I didn’t feel like we had to do too much or see too much, and instead just enjoyed being a family and having no agenda. It was marvellous! We stayed at an incredibly beautiful part of Cape Town called Noordhoek at Monkey Valley. Wild and exposed to crazy weather, beautiful wooden chalets and breakfasts on the porch looking out over the beach. We saw friends and family and rode the cable car up the mountain. It was wonderful! Benjamin did as well as he could with the time change and I am hoping that the pain of those 4 long awful flights (he decided to start crawling 2 days before our trip…need I say more) will dull with time. In the meantime, it is awesome to be home and we have no desire to fly anywhere again for a long loooooooong time!

This morning I went in to fetch Benjamin from his night in the crib, and I was greeted by him standing up in his crib for the first time. I was amused to see his little body all upright and balancing on his tiny little feet and then gradually a little horrified that he is already standing up in there; he is getting so big so fast! If only I could have had a nickel for everytime anyone told me to enjoy every minute of Benjamin growing because it goes so fast. I just cant help wishing that we were back at day 8 instead of month 8, so that I could love every second of watching him grow all over again. He is amazing, and every second that Mark and I get to spend with him is such a blessing. He is the best thing ever!

In a very short 8 months we have gone from this:

To this:

and this:

And now this:

and this:

I can’t resist him!

(On a side note, I did notice that he is already trying to hitch his little legs up and over the side of his crib…one of these might be in his future!)

I looked back and am a little horrified to realize that I have not blogged since December, and here we are fast approaching the end of March. How life and a baby changes in three months!!! The last three months have been a blur of trying to uncover the food allergy that has been making Benjamin pretty unhappy since December. We have uncovered a nut allergy, and there is still one more that we have yet to reveal. In the meantime he is growing into a stoic, smiling darling little man. He is always on the move, itching (quite literally too!) to move and trying his hardest to crawl at the moment. We find him crying and rocking on his hands and knees in his crib, working hard on his new challenge. When he finally masters it, we will all sleep a little easier I think! We are looking forward to introducing to solids in the next week or two which should be fun.

We were very sad to have to say goodbye to Stephanie, Pete and their kiddos as they relocated to New Jersey a few days ago. I never really believed that they would leave. We have really loved the time that we have spent in Colorado getting to know them and watching their kids grow up. Our hearts are so heavy now that they have gone, and we miss them already. It is a good poke in the right direction to get us to the East coast to visit them in summer!

In about 4 weeks time we embark on the terrifyingly long journey to Cape Town with Benjamin in tow. My family are joining us there for a few weeks, and we can’t wait! In the meantime we watch Benjamin learn to crawl, and dream of African sunshine.

Two videos. Crawling, smiling, and Ben doing what he does best: eating things.

Part 1 (watch in HD):

Part 2 (watch in HD):

One thing that keeps me up at night as a new parent, is the question “Am I doing enough for my child?” Both Mark and I want Benjamin to have the best possible childhood he can have, and as his primary caregiver during the week I am desperately trying to fill his days with things that will stimulate his mind, senses and growing limbs so that he will be the best that he can be. Can we say over achiever – he is only 3 months old, give it a rest Mum!

So in an effort to help him along, I am constantly looking for all sorts of new and fun things to do. Yesterday we discovered that he fits perfectly in the laundry basket, and so now he is flown down to the laundry and back up again on a warm nest of freshly laundered clothes. In my mind he is feeling the different textures, feeling the warmth and the motion, and appreciating the smell. But really, he is probably just getting a taste for flying first class!

From what I have read, I need to count my blessings that Benjamin seems to like tummy time! We try to get a little in every day, and for the  most part he is so keen to get up on his knees and put some distance behind him, that most of it is spent grunting and shouting.

Do you see this deliciousness? Right now I feel I could write a book on how to make a nursing mamma and baby happy … firstly bake her a cake without gluten or corn. Secondly, grind up some sugar to make your own frosting without corn in it. Thirdly…make it a BIG cake!

This is what my sister in law Stephanie did for me for my birthday, and thereby made me a very happy and full mamma! The cake is delicious, which I am not quite sure how she achieved since it is extremely tricky to bake without gluten and corn. I am struggling not to eat the whole thing at once. It is sitting on my kitchen counter staring me down….

Thank you Stephanie, you are the best best bestest!!! (For those of you who are not familiar with Steph’s cooking, she has a fabulous blog: www.glutenfreebynature.com. Check it out!)

Mark has been quietly tinkering away with the heater on in the freezing cold garage over a new front door for our house. He very ambitiously ordered an unfinished door, and opted to finish it all himself to save us some cash. He was out there staining and drilling holes and doing who knows what, for about a month! And then yesterday, on my birthday, he hung the new door. I have to confess that when we were first married, every time Mark took on a new project I would inwardly gulp and dread a disaster. But now, my ‘honey-do’ list is very long and I can’t wait for him to start a new project. He is amazing and casually creates the coolest things!

Check out our new front door, letting in lots of nice light (featuring the international supermodel, Holly).

Honey, now about those shelves I was talking about…

Wishing you, Judes, a very Happy Birthday from Benjamin, Holly and myself. May all your wishes today and all days this year come true!