Letters to my Grandchild

Hello Little Em, What a busy girl you have been! On Christmas Eve you went to Patty's for a family Christmas dinner. Jeff and Gail were there with Brian and Craig and their friends Katz and Gunza from Johannesburg. Greg and Shaz came, Michelle Moller, John, Finn and me. Christmas is a time of giving and you got more presents than all of us but you kinda slept through it all! Then on Christmas Day you came to our house and got more presents. We bought you a three-ring blow up swimming pool so that Tammy and Mark can sit in it with you on a hot day. You also got new clothes, toys, and a useful goody to help you learn to sit when you are a bit older. You looked very sweet in your Christmas outfit with a little hat that Phyllis gave you. Your Mom and Dad gave us lovely photos of you in frames. You look even smaller then! Now you have put on weight and have got a beautiful complexion. Here are a few photos of you, your Mom, Mark and me on Christmas day. Your 2nd cousins Craig and...

Hello my darling Em, We had a very special day today! This morning I wrapped Christmas presents and took this photograph of the first present we have bought for you! You are still too young to understand but by next Christmas you will be 14 months old and it is going to be very special. The other thing that made yesterday so special is that you and your Mom and Dad had a swim in our pool! Tammy put 50 factor block-out cream on you, put a little denim hat on and carried you into the water. You were unsure at first but when Mark and Tammy held you and gently moved you about you seemed to enjoy it. And then, after your 7pm feed, Tammy bathed you in our bath - your first bath in our house. I think you are going to be a water-baby! You loved your bath. Here is a short video I took of you in the bath. Every time I see you I see a change. You are growing so fast and you are trying to smile. You also 't...

Hello little Em, You are 8 weeks old today and had to go for your 6-in-1 shots for Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, HIB (Haemophylis Influenza type B Virus) and Hepatitis B. Mark phoned to say that you weigh 4.3kg!! That is really great! But, we can see how you are growing. Your little arms and legs don't look like sticks anymore and you have a little double chin! Last Saturday night you went to your first 60th birthday party! It was Sharon's Dad's birthday and they had a dinner at the Westville Bowling Club. You were so good, only woke up once for a feed and then went straight back to sleep, even with all the noise of the music and laughter. On Monday I popped in to drop some stuff off at your new home and Tammy let me hold you while she sorted out the washing and ironing. You were tired but didn't want to sleep so I spoke to you, sang to you, walked around with you and eventually you closed your eyes and nodded off. On Tuesday I took Patty to visit you...

Hello little Em, I've been really sick so haven't posted anything here for a while. I don't usually get sick easily but your Grand-Aunt Patty has had a chest infection and a cold and I think I caught it from her. I'm much better now though. You will be moving home on Friday. Last week we went to your place at No. 7 Shiraz in Peach Place, Glen Hills to help replace curtain rails, pack a few boxes and generally help where we could. Mark and Tammy moved into this simplex when Tammy moved to Durban and thought they would be there for years. But, the owner is coming back from Australia and gave them notice to move by the end of January.  They didn't want to wait until after Christmas, so Finn and I helped look for a new place and we were thrilled when they liked the little simplex in Anthony Mews. There is a lovely view of the sea from the two front bedrooms - and from the front garden - and it is light an airy. We like it too, especially because you will all b...

Hello little Em, Mark and Tammy brought you to Greg's new simplex for a braai last night. It was so sweet to see you again. Every time I see you  have changed. The reddish/yellow colouring that you came home with from the hospital has gone now and you are a beautiful, pink and roses baby. Tammy looked tired. It is exhausting looking after a new baby. You are so small but so helpless and very demanding.  People say, "Oh, if the baby is fed, warm and dry, they will sleep all day." Well, I know and you know - and Mark and Tammy now know - that's not true! Babies like to air their lungs. You aired your yours for about half an hour and then you slept for the rest of the night. Greg was a niggly baby. He screamed for nearly three months until I was so exhausted I could have smothered him! But, mothers don't do that. Mothers have these murderous thoughts and then when the baby is sleeping, they look at their sleeping child and melt inside; and feel so gu...

Hello little Em, I was cleaning the spare room this morning - I am doing the whole house, one room a day - and happened to look at the photograph of my Mom on the wall. I said to her, "Hey Mom, what do you think about Emily Ann?" She is smiling in the photo and I know that she would have loved you - very much. It gave me a lump in my throat to think that she will never know you or hold you. Let me tell you a bit about your Great-grandmother. She was born on 1st August 1921 - the 2nd youngest of five children - and lived most of her childhood outside Dundee on a farm called 'Dawn'. Her parents named her Jacomina Magritha Johanna Moolman (quite a mouthful hey?) Her family called her Mina but later on in life she became known as May. Your Dad and uncle Greg called her Gogo-May. The other children were - in order of age - Alida (Tannie Ali), Hansie, Thys and Wessel. The first daughter in all the families were given the name Alida (which was her mother's na...

Hello little Em, Today was your actual expected birth date. They were going to do the caesarean on 27th October (just in case you had fragile bones) but you arrived on the 16th October - so even though you will be 3 weeks old tomorrow, you are only full-term today. You are still tiny Em. I feel like we must enjoy you as a little baby because you are going to grow so quickly and we will forget what you were like as a new born. Tammy said that you are having a growth spurt. I looked it up on the Internet: During the first year of life, your baby will grow at an amazing rate. Your baby will grow the most during the first year of life than she ever will again. Most babies will have tripled their birth weight and grown 8-10 inches during the first year! It is common for a baby to experience his first growth spurt by 7-10 days after birth and again at 2-3 weeks, 4-6 weeks, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months and 9 months. A typical growth spurt can last anywhere from 2 days to a wee...

Hello little Em, Wednesday was a strange day. It was warm in the morning , then it got cloudy in the afternoon, started thundering and a very strong wind - like a mini-hurricane - came from the north-east. It blew and rattled our blinds, sent branches and leaves flying over the house and within half an hour the sun started to come out and a beautiful double rainbow arced across the horizon. You will love rainbows - they are so pretty and they tell us that the rain is almost over. What a lovely surprise to have you and your Mom and Dad at Patty's family dinner last night! I didn't think Mark and Tammy would want to drive all the way from Glen Anil with a tiny baby but they had you warmly wrapped up and you spent most of the evening swaddled in your little orange carry chair like a cocoon! Patty is my only sister and is your grand-aunt. She is 3 years older than me but she is quite frail. Patty has COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder) and feels that her years...

Hello little Em, We went to visit you all this morning - Grumps cut the lawn and tidied up the flower beds and I helped Mark and Tammy by washing the dishes. Mark cooked dinner last night - roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. It was their anniversary so he wanted to do something special for Tammy. Tammy calls you Birdie - because when you are hungry you open your mouth and cry just like a hungry little bird. Actually, you are almost full term now. Originally the gynae set your birth date at 5th November - then 29th October. So, you should only have been born tomorrow. You are growing before our eyes! You are only 12 days old but already your eyes stay open longer and you seem to follow sounds. I chatted to you and you smiled at me! I'm sure it was a smile and not just a burp face! I wonder what colour eyes you will have Em? At the moment they are like little kitten's eyes - slate grey and unfocused. Your Mom has dark brown eyes and Mark has hazel/green eyes. It is g...

Hello little Emily, This is a picture of you sucking your Daddy's finger. Finn and I visited you yesterday and it was so nice to hold you, to look at you and just spend some time with you. I was able to hold you for a while and talk to you. It seemed as though you were listening - perhaps you recognized my voice? I told you that you were my little 'Milly and that I was your Silly and that we would be friends forever! You are tiny! You've got fair hair - quite a lot of hair. You have got a straight nose - Mark calls it a plastic surgeon's nose because it is so perfect. You've got Mark's little pointy chin (perhaps that is the Aadnesgaard genes? Your fingers are long and you've got perfect fingernails. Your little arms and legs look so skinny and your feet are long! I counted your fingers and toes just to make sure that they are all there. After Tammy fed you I held you against my shoulder to burp you and you fell asleep! We stayed for a little w...

Hello little Em, You've had quite a rough time my darling. First you developed Jaundice and had to go under the blue light. Then you lost 300g, which is a lot for a little body that only weighs 2.9kg. You've had X-rays, blood taken and a feeding tube up your nose. Because you have been under the blue light, we haven't seen you since Friday. Tammy was discharged but is staying in the hospital as a boarding mother so that she can still feed you and be with you when you need her. Mark phoned this morning to say that Dr Roos had checked you and was happy that you had put on 110g and might be able to go home later on today. Mark has been sleeping over with us - we are only 7km from the hospital so he gets to stay longer with Tammy at night. We all want you to go home now sweetie. Love you, Silly

Today, my baby had a baby, T oday, my child became a Dad. Yesterday I was a mother,    Today I am a Gran! Mark phoned us early this morning to say that Tammy had been admitted, Doctor Batchelder had examined her and said that yo u were on the way. Now, I had planned on taking photographs of the sunrise on your birth day. Sunrise today was 05:18 but it was misty and raining so I went around the garden taking photographs of some of the flowers that are blooming now. It is springtime and the Azaleas are spectacular: the Wisteria is in bud, the Petrea is a cloud of blue and the wild Iris are all pregnant with white buds. A theatre was booked and at 9: 05am you were delive red weighing just under 3kg - a perfect size for a little girl! M ark was there and he and the anaesthetist to ok many photographs of your first few minutes in the world. Dr J Roos, the paediatrician, was there and he examined you and...

Hello little Em, Officially there are two weeks left until the date you are due to arrive - but, if Tam has a Caesarean on 27th October, there are only 12 more sleeps left!! Finn painted a chest of drawers for your room and the nursery looks ready - all it needs now is a precious little girl to occupy it!! WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Mark phoned to say that they think you might be trying to make your way into the world tonight! They phoned the ante-natal sister and the hospital and they were to wait an hour, see if there are any changes and then make a decision later. Everything is ready for you Em. I actually hope you don't come tonight - or even this week because I've had a cold and it is still there and I won't be allowed near you until I'm 100% better. So, wait a few days my girl! Let me get rid of this sniffy nose and irritable cough before you arrive. I can almost hear your voice now! Stay safe, we are all longing to see you and hold you, Silly

Good morning Little Em, Last Saturday we had a 'Baby Shower' for you and your Mom and Dad. Usually only women go to Baby Showers but Mark wanted his friends to be there too, so we had a few Daddies and wanna-be Daddies and a few guys who seemed bemused by the whole thing! Lauren brought her precious little 5 week old Taylor. I kept looking at her and wondering if you would like like her! The party was at lunch time so we served a light lunch. Patty and I found Polka-dot plates, place mats and serviettes so the theme was Polka-dots - just like some of the accessory in your nursery. You got so many gifts Em - I don't know where they are going to put them all. You have already got enough clothing to last you three years at least! It was a lovely party and you were the main attraction! You are going to be welcomed into a community of friends and family who all love you alre ady. On Monday your Mom went for another scan and it showed that you have moved sides. They h...