Teething!

Granny Lesley with Emma and Daniel

Daniel can spend hours just watching the washing machine going round and round.

Enjoying Provita biscuits.

Granny Lesley and Daniel

Granny Lesley and Emma

Thatcher girls with the twins

Thatcher girls

Our lives are rather tough at the moment. Both Daniel and Emma are teething. Emma's face is really very swollen as it seems all her teeth are moving down/up to their proper places. On Monday she moaned and cried all day. We have been getting up several times a night to placate one or the other so their screaming does not wake the other which will lead to more complications (i.e. less sleep). Emma had a temperature yesterday and today both had temperatures after their day nap. All teething related.

They also have very dry, horrible sounding coughs that only make an appearance when they are stressed.

Anyhow, things are getting better. last night Daniel only woke up once - or else we both too tired to hear any other protestations!

Daniel has also suddenly decided that going to bed is not nice and tends to scream. For a few nights we indulged this behaviour and went in and picked him up until he calmed down. Last night we did the tough love thing and left him to scream for a bit - he soon went to sleep. tonight we had 30 seconds of screaming before he realised we were close-by but we were not going to help any further. He then went to sleep.

Liz - a colleague at my work gave us a plastic kitchen set with a sink and stove etc. Well, Daniel pushed it around for a bit before losing interest. Emma then took over and proceeded to pack the stove/cupboard with plastic plates etc. before unpacking them again. This she did several times last night and tonight. She seems to really enjoy this - evidenced by the fact that she does not demand any hugs etc.

The planned power outage on Saturday night went well. Last week, when it happened on Thursday night, the twins really performed. So we learnt and turned off everything while it was still light. So when the lights went out (they did promptly at 6pm), it was not even noticed. We gave them each their own hand-held LED lights which they used for a bit but soon abandoned as they quite clearly were not bothered by the dark. We used headlamps (LED) which worked really well as it meant we had both hands free to do whatever was necessary. Nice thing was that both faded quite quickly in the dark and so we had freedom a little earlier than usual. Got some great reading and sleeping in!

Tomorrow night is our next outage so we will be coming home a little earlier to ensure a smooth transition. Woolworths pies will be going down (again). Hopefully another early night too.

Otherwise life is pretty busy with everyone trying to get everything done before our two day week hits at the end of the month. looking forward to the long break. I've got a new staff member starting on the 28th which may mean I'll have to go in. Otherwise we are on leave for a whole two weeks - bliss!

Winter is coming - Joburg is getting cold at night.