Great Expectations...

This crazy girl, with an oversized tongue, has a secret; a very special secret.  Yep, you guessed it!  Princess Laila is expecting puppies soon!!  Danie had her covered about 6 weeks ago and her pups are due in about 2 - 2 1/2 weeks time.  She was checked out by her vet a couple of weeks ago and they did a scan to show that she's expecting about 4 or 5 puppies.  Danie said it was too cute to see the tiny, perfect puppies on the screen, but unfortunately, they don't print pictures of puppy scans.  All the puppies have homes already (thank goodness not mine).  Actually we have homes for 6, just in case there are extras hiding in there! 

 I must be honest, I am also quite excited about the arrival of Laila's puppies.  I don't want to keep one, but I'm looking forward to experiencing it all with Danie and Jake.  Jake is especially excited.  Looking at Laila's swelling body, I do feel a little sorry for the poor girl too - it was tough enough getting one baby out.  Not to mention feed it...

I am also reminded of our precious Amber and the beautiful litter she had in March 2003.  She was just over 3 years old and I can't get over how young she looked when I look back at these pics.  This one was taken the night she had her puppies...

She'd been acting strangely all day and we knew that she was due to give birth at any moment.  We'd also been told by our vet that she was having a small litter (without a scan), so when she took a break after the first 4 puppies were born, we though that was it...  

We'd set up camp for her in our bathroom.  The floor was lined with newspapers, plastic and blankets.  It was a long night for her and she was surrounded by our love through the entire birth. 

After the quick arrival of the first four pups, we were surprised to find another one about an hour later. And then another and another, until Amber had a beautiful litter of 10. It was a long night!Unfortunately, one little puppy had a cleft pallet and we had had to have her put down, as she couldn't suck.  My beautiful girl was an excellent mommy...

 Taking care of 9 puppies (and 2 adult dogs) is a lot of hard work.  I used to cover the bathroom, passage and kitchen floors with newspapers twice a day.  The puppies got sick and had to go to the vet for injections.  They got diarrhea and we had to feed them yogurt to bind their tummies.  But the work we did was nothing compared to what Amber went through herself!  It was OK when they were tiny and sleepy, but got tougher as they got bigger and more demanding.  Weaning was especially tough on her.  Seriously, imagine feeding 9 demanding puppies - no wonder she was asleep on her feet...

 It was an emotional journey too.  We kept the puppies till they were 8 weeks old and fell in love with each one of these tiny little bodies; it was so hard to give them away.  The first one went on my birthday - I was happy to see her going to a good home, but devastated at having to part.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted as soon as Laila's pups arrive!  I have a feeling they're going to come early.  No doubt to be as gorgeous as their mommy!!

Sue X

PS.  My pics of Amber's puppies were taken before I had a digital camera.  I borrowed our work's camera to take some digital snaps at the time.  The camera worked with a stiffy disk!! Not great quality, but you'll get the idea.

Fishing...

Jake loves fishing.  When we're at Danie's house, he will find any free moment to get his rod out and go sit on the jetty.  He's happy to cast and catch nothing.  It frustrates him when the weather's bad and he can't get outside.  In between the rain a few weeks ago, he made his way down to the jetty, with his lantern and sat on the upturned boat for ages and ages.  Danie eventually felt sorry for him sitting outside, freezing his butt off and took him a beanie and blanket (pink!) to keep him warm.  You can see by his lips and red cheeks below, that it was pretty cold...

 When the weather's reasonably good though, Jake's favourite outing at the moment is a trip to Kalk Bay Harbour to go fishing.  For those of you who don't know it, it's a tiny, but always bustling harbour.  Kalk Bay is a quaint little town, with small sidewalk shops selling antiques and art and the some of most delicious restaurants.  But the harbour is the main attraction for us.  Jake loves to see the boats coming in and the day's haul being off loaded for selling to passersby.  You can pick up two snoek, cleaned on site for you while you wait, for about R80 (a little over $10 US).  Jake loves watching the ladies cleaning the fish too - yuck...

 There are often Cape Fur Seals hanging around the harbour too, waiting for the bits that can't be sold...

 Of course, the colourful boats always make for beautiful photos...

 On Friday, Danie managed to get off work a little early and we headed off to Kalk Bay for a bit of fishing.  It wasn't very warm in the harbour on Friday evening, but that didn't matter...

 Jake is always excited when he manages to draw a crowd in.  He's trying to show these people the tiny fish nibbling on his bait... 

 As the sun set over Kalk Bay, the temperature dropped rapidly.  Thank goodness for coffee...

 A rusty loop (indulge me)... 

 Jake doesn't care if he doesn't catch anything.  I love watching him try though.  He is good at baiting his hook, but is still learning the tricks of tying the knots...

 His hard work and patience paid off on Friday night and Jake caught a fish!  Just a little one, but the size really doesn't matter to Jake, he caught it and that's all that matters...

 It's OK, little fishy, I'm gonna let you go right now...

 Danie was also there.  I think he was just enjoying being out of the factory for a bit, even if he didn't catch anything.  He had Laila with him, she always attracts a lot of attention...

 Bottom's up.  Jake reminds me of my dad in this photo...

 And of his dad in this one.  Note his SUPER cool shoes...

 Once the sun had gone down, I was very pleased to be hugging a cup of coffee, rather than on the water.  These guys were so heavily laden, you could barely see their boat.  Sorry about the super skew horizon.  It's something I'm working on...

 Jake caught this gorgeous crab too.  I tried to kick it (gently) back into the water, but it tried to crawl up my shoes and that freaked me out a little.  Too much like a spider, for me...

 Jake caught his second fish just before we left for home, he was very excited!  I'm not sure whether he was mimicking the fish, or threatening to eat it here...

 The fresh fish attract hundreds of gulls.  I was scared of getting pooped on... 

 We had yummy take aways from Kalky's (the fish & chip shop in the harbour), which we took home to enjoy.  While I was clearing the plates up, these two were melting my heart.  Probably playing games, but still, they're so cute...

 Oh, by the way, Danie got a new dining room table a few days ago.  What do you think?  Finally, some furniture...

 As soon as these two clowns realised that I was taking photos of them, they started acting like, well, clowns...

Laila wanted in on the action too.  I don't think she thought we'd notice her sneaking her head up onto the table...

Look at those lips and that innocent look in her eyes...

 Jake decided that it would be a good idea for him and Danie to put their heads on the table with sneaky Laila...

 And she decided to show Danie just how much she loves him.  That's one seriously long tongue.  We have laughed and laughed at this picture so much this weekend...

 Sunday saw us heading off to Kalk Bay again.  The weather was perfect and it felt more like summer than the middle of winter.  It was just so gorgeous down at the water's edge... 

 We decided to go to the green lighthouse wall (that's starboard side) instead of the usual red one.  I've never been to this side of the harbour and was very pleasantly surprised...

 There's a cute little beach down there and all.  I don't think I'd be all that keen on swimming there, but it's a pretty beach, nice and secluded...

 Just knowing those boats are pumping muck into the water would be enough to put me off swimming, but it'd never stop kids...

 That said, the water's pretty clear, so maybe it's not too badly polluted... 

 See?  Summer.  These people were cooling off in the spray... 

 Green lighthouse, red lighthouse.  There's Jake and Danie on the left...

 Jake wanted to catch a crayfish here and thought he might get lucky, but after loosing his hook and sinkers, he decided against it... 

 I have photos of Jake as a baby pulling this exact face...

 All grown up, but still my baby with chocolate smeared across his face from his half eaten doughnut.  Still getting used to his hair though.  I like it better when he gels it off his face, but he's not allowed gel for school, so doesn't think to use it on the weekend... 

 The green lighthouse...

 Danie was a little more amped to catch a fish on Sunday.  He even wore a fishing hat...

 It was a good thing that we picked the green lighthouse quay, the red one was a little over crowded.  Jake would've landed a hook in some one's nostril...

  Remembering the peaceful seas of Greece... 

 Once again, Jake made friends with a kid on the harbour wall...

 He caught another 2 fish, both smaller than his fish from Friday, but, once again, that was irrelevant...

 Jake even helped one of his "friends" get a fish off his hook...

 Oh-la-la on the quay side...

 Jake's friend's friends soon arrived...

 Boats from another angle...

 I kept trying to sneak photos in of the kids, but eventually just asked this guy if I could take one of him while he fished... 

 The boys were not much older than Jake with mouths like sewers.  Thankfully most of what they said was in Afrikaans and Jake didn't have a clue what they were saying about fornicating kitty cats and such.  He was not happy when he realised that they were smoking though and quickly distanced himself from the crowd, telling me on the walk back to the car that he didn't really like them and asking why they were smoking (yes, I did tell them it was bad for them, but they don't care)...

 Good boy!  Don't ever give in to peer pressures.  Please...

 And, so, our relaxing, weekend came to an end far sooner than I had wished.  It was just about perfect; relaxing and just so happy.  Danie didn't have to work, which was the cherry on top for us all and he got to spend some time with Jake on Saturday at the rugby too, which was fabulous for Jake, even though our team lost.  Jake was extremely good this weekend too, so perhaps we are turning a corner.  I am just hoping that he has an amazing day at school today!

Sue X

PS.  Thanks for putting up with me and for all your kind thoughts for us.  I know that this is all going to work out for Jake and I am really looking forward to having my happy, school-loving little boy back again!!