The Travelling Toddler

Traveling on it's own, as fun as it is, is a mission!

Now add a toddler to the mix and it's damn near mission impossible...well, not really, but you get where I'm going with this, more so if you're a parent, aunt, uncle, ouma or oupa who has had to tackle long distances with the never ending "are we there yet"?

First things first! When traveling across border to enter into South Africa, parental consent from the parent who isn't accompanying you on this journey with your seed is required.

Appointment made at the South African High Commission, we had one item to check off our To-Do list! Great!

I always try to keep her occupied on the road with puzzles and educational toys and naps are also crucial in keeping the both of us sane!

It was lovely showing my daughter around the Mother City! Cape Town, where I spent about four years of my life making friends and just about having the best time of my university life.

We managed to visit the Two Oceans Aquarium which she absolutely loved, went ice skating, visited a museum in the Bo Kaap and also managed to squeeze in a mommy activity by visiting a wine farm in Paarl.

As we went as a group of moms, the kids got to play together and go ice-cream tasting while the moms did the wine and cheese tasting!

Another long road trip back to Namibia and we were home in Windhoek for about two days before we headed to northern Namibia.

Puzzles in tow for the road, we reached Ongwediva where she's been to before! We rested one night and we were off again to go glamping!

Another 500ks later and finally we arrived!

Rundu, what a beauty!

She says the best part of her trip was the boat ride we went on! How amazing to tour my country and show her the beauty that is Namibia!

En route back to Windhoek, we stopped at Oshikoto Lake in Tsumeb!

Our travels took us as near as Gross Barmen where our two days there mostly spent in the waters, ranging from cool to the hot bath and a yoga session by morning to as far as Saldanha Bay for a family wedding.

Another wedding in the north took her on a full day's game drive to the Etosha National Park. She returned with stories filled with elephants, lions and giraffes. 


All in all, the traveling toddler, kept occupied and fed, is a pleasure to tour with!  

 

Hospital Blues

I had the worst week of my life when the Doctor's office called me at past 6pm to give me the results of baby's blood test...

The week before we had already been booked off school (and mommy from work to take care of the little one) when Clarissa-Yvonne was diagnosed with an ear infection and tonsils.
As the week went on, she started to feel better and I was happy that I could send her back to school the following week...or so I thought!

It was Sunday afternoon when she started complaining about her tummy but since there was no fever I simply thought it was something she ate! When this continued into the night I decided to follow my instincts and get her to the hospital.

As we arrived at Medi-Clinic we were given a bed and her temperature clocked in at 38.8 degrees. They gave her a suppository and told us to wait an hour for the fever to break...when they came to check again she was worse off with a temperature of 39 degrees. It was then that they placed a wet towel on my baby and after another hour told us we can go home, even though she still had a fever of 38.4 degrees, and further instructed us to visit her doctor the following day.

By now it was past midnight, she was medicated and asleep and I had little energy to argue with the hospital staff as to why we are being sent away while she's clearly not OK and to add to that to further instruct us to go see our doctor while we were already in a hospital filled with doctors!

Moving on to the following day, her doctor examined her and then ordered a blood test. With Clarissa-Yvonne talking my ear off in the ride back home, I expected the results would be fine. He had however, made an appointment for us to get a sonar the next day just to make sure everything was indeed 100% OK!

It wasn't. My heart sank when I saw his number appear on my phone that evening, he mentioned something about high levels of potassium in the blood and said he would call a pediatrician with the results then call me back...

Panic took over as I wondered what all this means, and then the phone rang again...he said I had to get her to Lady Pohamba as soon as possible and that we'd have to spend the night there so they could follow up with more tests.

We ended up with a four night hospital stay and I cannot for the life me begin to imagine how parents have the strength in dealing with and handling a sick child!

I was so relieved when we were discharged the Thursday afternoon I was actually in tears. The days of worrying and concern and trying to be strong for her finally caught up to me..
In this moment my baby girl looked at me and asked me "Can parents also cry mommy?" She asked me why I was sad and I explained that those were happy tears, "Mommy is happy that you're OK!"

"And you're so proud of me right mommy?"

"Right baby!"

Besides the tears from all the blood tests and drip she was on, she was super strong throughout the entire ordeal and at some point told the nurses that she needs her blood back when they're done with it.

My strenght and thoughts go out to all the parents who have sick children out there, this was honestly the worst week of my entire life! I don't know how I would've made it through this week had it not been for the support of my family, friends and colleagues! Our hospital room was packed at every visiting hour and that means the entire world to me!

I am beyond pleased to announce that baby girl is back to school and back to chatting my ear off with endless stories about how much she enjoys 'climbing mountains' aka hiking and how she cannot wait to go to the farm again!

Master Mom

So 2018 is here and we are already half way through the year...what?

Yeah, I set out to blog more this year and guess what happened, mommy decided to take on her Masters degree!

If I thought carrying you in my belly, working AND studying full time was tough, I have another thing coming...

Now you're here, walking, talking, asking me questions:

"Where were you mommy?"
"Will you come back for me mommy"
"Don't go mommy"

It's harder than I thought it would be!
Between travels with work, attending classes at night and still finding time to try to be the best mom I can be?

But one thing I do know?
We gon' be alright!

To all the parents out there pushing through and working overtime and stressing, and crying when it all feels too much, I
know, deep down in my heart of hearts, We gon' be alright!