The Joys of Daddy's Little Girl & Mommy's Little Boy!

What An amaing bond: Daddy's little Girl!

I Love the Way Loren Captured our Releationship in this picture!


Hi All,

I have been blessed with the absolute pleasure of having a girl & a boy!! Whomever I meet along the way tells me how lucky I am to have a pigoen pair! I agree, I am indeed lucky and very very blessed!

There are simple joys in life and I would like to share these with you... The phrases, Daddy's little girl & Mommy's little boy are entirely true.. You never understand the concept until you experience it first hand......


The Joy's Of Daddy's Little Girl - Hannah!

Well, the title says it all, she is indeed daddy's little girl! Hannah has her daddy wrapped right around her little finger..... I get my hugs & kisses to but somehow the hugs and kisses she gives her daddy seem to be an unspoken secret between the two of them..

When Stephan's car stops at the house her eyes light and she screams at the top of her lungs - It's Daddy!! and she charges for the front door, only to find mommy (not again) has locked all the security doors again and she can't get to the front gate! This is proceeded with a lot of Mamma's & something in the line of: jahsdk slkfaslj Keys (Hannah's french) - that means, Mommy get the keys... When that gate goes open she meets her dad at the front gate with a very excited: "Hello Daddy" followed with a hug & a kiss!!

Well all of the above depends on Hannah's mood - If she has had a bad day she stays just where she is and when Daddy walks into the house and asks the question: How are you my angel?, a huge smile appears on her face.. And that there, is where I freeze the frame in my mind and I see how wonderful and full and complete pour lives are..

Now these are some of the simple joys in my life, watching an amazing bond form everyday between father & daughter... It is so amazing to see the absolute adoration Hannah has for her daddy and it is wonderful to see the absolute pride, love and adoration daddy has for Hannah...


The Joy's of Mommy's Little Boy - Ethan


Now don't understand me wrong, both Stephan and I are crazy about our kids and we do not pull the one in front of the other, but there is just that something special between dad's & daughters and moms & sons...

Our little baby, Ethan, our handsome prince.. He has an absolute killer smile... I love the way that when I walk into his room after his nap and he is laying awake trying to get his feet into his mouth, and I say, Hello my precious baby, he stops what he is doing and immediatly looks around for me... He gives me a huge smile and arches his back to say: "Mommy pick me up..."

Just before I put him in the bath, I pick him up and hold him close to me and he curls up and starts laughing.... He absolutely loves to be hugged & kissed.... I love the way he falls asleep in my arms, so peaceful and so relaxed....


I enjoy forming my everlasting bond with my little boy!! Its one amazing experience... These are just the simple joys of mommy's little boy!!


Its not always sunshine and roses but there are definately far more joys than upsets when you bring children into your life... I would never for one second change our life, we love those two precious souls given to us from Our Father above !! Its tough but someone has to do it!!


Hope you enjoyed reading this blog, just wanted to share with you what the simple joys are in our lives!!


God Bless,


Love


Claire, Stephan, Hannah & Ethan

A Right To Be Treated Fairly..........

Hi All,

I had a discussion with a friend of mine yesterday and something has been laying heavy on my heart after our discussion....

As most of you know, Samms little boy Deqlan is a neuroblastoma survivor and he is on the Austism Spectrum..

We discussed the fact that we live in a very cruel world, and people especially children can be really cruel to someone who is slightly different from them... Children do not always understand when it comes to things like this but I am sure as parents we can teach our children to be fair and not too judge.

It must be one of the biggest worries a mother must have when they have a " special needs" child or a sick child.. The worry of: "Is society going to accept my child as is?" This must hurt deep down. A mothers heart is like no other, it breaks for the smallest things, like, your childs first day at school.. A mother cries about everything, and I do mean everything... So to try imagine what this must actually do to a mothers heart..

Children with special needs have every right to be in society as any other person on this earth.. People should put differences aside and interact with these amazing children.. Often people have a fear about this but if people only knew how much their social interaction with these amazing, beautiful children can help, then I think the world will be a friendlier and better place.. People must take the intiative to educate themselves and their children so that when their paths cross, they are not afraid to just lean over and say, how are you today?

I have had the absolute honour and privelage to meet children who have won battles, survived against all odds and being born with (in his mothers words) a little something extra... Deqlan - Neuroblastoma Survivor and on the Autism Spectrum - an amazing little boy with most contagious little smile, always full of energy and climbs into everyones heart the moment you meet him. Caden Paul - born at 28 weeks and weighed only 1.02kg - I don't know them personally but I followed his blog and am still following it, survived against all odds and is one of the cutest babies I have seen. Malakai Stow - Baby Boy born with that little something extra (Down Syndrome) but is 100% healthy (once again, I don't know them on a personal level, his mommy has taken photo's of my family and I religiously follow his blog) and has the most gorgeous little face with the most beautiful smile!

Through these families I have learned to have strong faith, to stand up for what you believe and to put all your trust in the Lord. These boys are destined for great things and I pray that the Lords keeps them all safe on their journeys and may they have an amazing time growing up with each other and interacting and being the best of friends..

God Bless!

Love
Claire

Tears & Celebrations!

Two other precious babies: Malakai & Caden

Trying to get Keaton to sit.. ha ha

Only picture I could get of Deqlan

Hannah loves to climb in & out

Keatons Beautiful Birthday Table

Samm holding on to Keaton

Keaton, Hannah & Samm

Keaton, Hannah & Logan swimming

Hi All,


I know the heading of this blog is odd, but you will see why I have put these two together after you have read the blog!!

Well, my baby, my angel girl started creche last Monday (on my birthday) and boy was this awful. I dropped her off and she never even cried! I think I prepared myself for the worst and she surprised me! Well, it was not long and the tears streamed down my cheeks, I mean, my baby girl is in playschool now.. I cried almost the whole day, as I thought what an awful mother I am leaving my child with complete strangers, taking her out of her comfort zone.. I just kept reassuring my self that its best for her, she will learn new things!! Yeah, like that worked..

The weeke continued with each day getting tougher as Hannah started to realise whats going on and she became cligy and cried everyday after Monday.. You know, its absolutely heart wrenching to walk away from your child when they are crying.. It takes a lot of courage.. Needless to say, I cried the whole entire week!! I wonder sometimes who it affected more, me or Hannah???

On Saturday, we had 2 parties to attend. Keaton's 1st birthday and Brittny's 2nd birthday.. The one was in Centurion while the other took place in Carletonville..

We arrived at Keatons party, and just said WOW... Meagn had gone out of her way with the Noddy theme... The table for the kiddies lookedc too cute for words, there was even Noddy music playing. Hannah headed straight to the pool to play with the water. Keaton, the birthday boy was already in the pool splashing away! We could only stay at the party until 2 because we had to get on the road to our 2nd party in Carletonville! When we were leaving, Deqlan & his mommy, Samm, were so kind to see us off. Deqlan even gave Stephan high five before we left. My husband can't get over how cute and clever Deqlan is, this was Stephan real first interaction with the brave soldier!

We then arraived at Brittny's party and what was there, more water!! Hannah had an absolute ball! Needless to say, she was exhausted after these two partys and fell sound asleep in the car on our way home on Saturday night.


We had a great weekend.... And a tiring one.


God Bless & keep you all safe!


Love,

Claire, Stephan, Hannah & Ethan

Deqlan Ross Higgins - NED Forever!

Brave Deqlan on his 2nd Birthday - and as we know him today!

Beautiful Deqlan and his mommy & daddy on his 1st birthday

To A Very Brave and Wonderful Little Boy, Deqlan,


WOW, 1 year since you recieved the most amazing news - NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE!! I can just imagine the look on your mommy & daddy's face when they heard those words for the first time - the relief and ofcourse the absolute pride that shone for you that day!


Deqlan, you have fought a very tough battle and through it all you still managed to smile! I am sure there were very tough days for you! I remember all your mommy's posts on the blog and although it must have been real hard for her & your daddy, each blog had a little more positivity in, a little more faith, a little more hope... You fought and fought and fought and you conquered with God by side and your wonderful wonderful family too...


You crept into our hearts from the very first day we met you, and you continue to delight and amaze us with your intelligence, stunning smile, beautiful personality and lets not forget, your very handsome looks.. Always know that we are still 100% behind you and your family and we are absolutely honoured to be part of your strong army!

Enjoy growing up and learning new things, but most of all enjoy being the wonderful, amazing beautiful little boy you are. We look up to you and salute you, Deqlan..... You saw, you came and you conquered at a very very very young age. You are so wise in many ways and I agree with your mommy, very very clever!


Take whatever comes along in your stride and always know that your Father in Heaven is watching over every single day and he is holding you tight because you are a true gem in the Lords crown, shining so bright for the world to see...

Congratulations, brave soldier.. You are mean't for great things!


God Bless


Love,
Claire, Stephan, Hannah & Ethan

Happy 25 Months My Angel!

Dear Hannah,

Happy 25 months today my angel.



You are growing so fast and learning so fast. We can now almost understand what you are saying most of the time.



Stay the sweet, precious vibrant little girl that you are. We love you unconditionally!



Love

Mommy, Daddy & Ethan

Our Photo Shoot with Loren

Hi All,

Here are some of the pics Loren took of my family, some more memories......

Loren is one talented lady, we have just had 2 shoots with Loren and both were fantastic. Loren is truly blessed with this talent. ( Thanks Loren)

Enjoy the pics!

Love

Claire

Celebrations, Celebrations, Celebrations!

All For Me!!

Fish!

Look at my fish tank

Look Mom, this is fun

Hannah Opening Pressies

Hi All,

It has been a long time since I updated our blog and i have so much to write about and so many different subjects. So not to confuse anyone, I will do 1 subject at a time.


Hannah's Birthday 15 December 2008:


I unfortunately had to work on this day but nonetheless tried to make it a very special day for my very special little girl.


I firts went shopping for the perfect gift, so she would have something nice to open. Need less to say her Daddy was thinking the same thing and also went shopping. I then went and bought a cake and invited friends of ours over to come and have cake and celebrate with us.

Well Daddy came home early too , so that was a surprise on its own. Daddy bought Hannah a fish tank and fish and every gadget to set - up a tropical fish tank. For those of you that don't know, Hannah is crazy about Nemo, so Daddy thought a fish tank for her room is a wonderful idea. She loved it.

Her second present was a little dressing table, with a little play play hairdryer and lipstick and curlers. Hannah loves these things. She enjoyed opening her pressies.

Later, after supper we sang Happy Birthday to her and she blew out her candles, she was incredibly shy.. I am sure she enjoyed her birthday very much..


A Trip To Tania's farm



We then decided to Tania ( a friend of mine) farm in the Freestate. What a lovely trip it was. Hannah enjoyed running around outside and playing in the water but it was incredibly hot and both kids were unhappy, they cried a lot.

Nevertheless, Hannah enjoyed all the animals and went crazy when she touched the goats...

I do have photo's from our trip to the farm but they are opn my husbands cell, so I will post photos of the farm visit as soon as he downloads them for me.


Christmas with Ouma & Oupa

We then left on the 24th December for my Dad in Tzaneen. We left at 5 am while the kids were still sleeping and had a very easy trip down to my dad.

Ouma & Oupa were very excited to see the kids and we were just as excited to go away for a bit. We arrived in Tzaneen at round 08:30am and Hannah was keen and ready to start exploring this new and exciting house.


We then opened some gifts on Christmas eve and Hannah had an absolute ball. Ethan on the other hand found the christmas wrapping more intigueing then the actual present.


On Christmas morning the kiddies opened the rest of their presents and my step mother prepared the most wonderful lunch for us to enjoy. We sat at the table and just enjoyed being together as a family.

We then left Tzaneen early on Monday 29th December @3 am and we headed home. At around 6:00am we were just an hour away from Pretoria when we got the dreaded phone call that we had been burgled and that the body coporate was not sure what the had stolen. They must have used someone very small to fit through our burglar bars because I left 1 window open for the cat and this person must have locked the back door open as I left the back door keys at home (silly me) and they went through our entire house throwing out the cupbards and drawers in all the rooms. they stole all my jewellery and nothing else. We can be thankful that that was all that was taken.

Other than that experience, we enjoyed our break.


New Year Braai


On the 31 st December we had a braai at our house for new years with a couple of friends and we had a great time..


We visited and laughed and just enjoyed each others company, needless to say we only finally got into bed after 4 am... We were a bit exhausted but all in all we had loads of fun...


January 1 - Happy 4 Months Ethan

Ethan is 4 months old now and is cuter than ever. He is smiling and laughing at every opportunity he gets. He is trying to sit and he sits well with pillows as a support. He is such an easy and content baby.

To My darling Baby Boy, Ethan,

WOW, look how you have grown precious baby boy! You entertain us everyday with your emerging personality. You are our everything.. We enjoy watching you learn new things and we can just see that Hannah is already a firm favourite in your eyes. Everytime you see your sisters face, you smile from ear to ear...

You are so precious, and absolute gift from God..

Love you precious boy...


Happy Birthday My Big Brother, Sean - 1 January 2009

Dear Sean,

A very happy birthday to you, big brother.. 29 hey, you are knocking on 30's door.. We hope you had a fantastic celebration and we wish you many many more..

May God bless you and keep you safe for many many many more years to come! We love you lots and lots and lots!


We would just like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and may all your dreams come true in 2009. May God Bless you all in abundance and my this year be fantastic.


All Our Love

Claire, Stephan, Hannah & Ethan

PS: Enjoy photo's of Hannah's birthday, will post other photo's soon!