Exciting Stuff!

All the news that's fit to blog...

We have a fab new spot to call home from the 1st of June. Right on the beach in Gonubie, which is officially on the Wild Coast. Yippee! We're terribly excited to wake up and fall asleep to the sound of ocean waves and to dine with a view. Hell, even cooking and cleaning seem more palatable in that location. I plan on being very industrious, in between feeds and nappy changes, in that sunny apartment.
We will have 2 bedrooms, though only 1 bathroom and most likely a screaming baby (any day now!), still, all friends and family are very welcome.
Our first few weeks in East London we’ve been staying in a tiny garden flat in Vincent. I’ll miss my pals Pooch, Golly and Nana (Jack Russell, Collie and Chihuahua) and 3 year old sunshine Sihle (beautiful boy).

We got back from 10 days in Cape Town on Sunday. It was such a treat to hang out with our friends there. What a comfort to see familiar faces and chat chat chat.
Karin and Falk (the bride and groom) treated us to 5 nights in their Camps Bay nest with possibly the most stunning view in the whole wide world. We then had some rambunctious fun with Craig, Wendy and kids in Milnerton Ridge. As always, they gave us an incredibly warm welcome. Finally my dad treated us to 2 nights in his chic new urban hotel The Adderley in the heart of the Mother City.

All of this sprinkled with yummy lunches and dinners with my ever so clever friends, all of whom are thriving. Arthur's Electric Book Works is preparing to print their second children's book and it is gorgeous. David is making sweet sweet music. Karlien and Danie are both creative geniuses. Karlien is preparing for a solo exhibition while teaching full time at Stellenbosch University and has just published her first book, while Danie has received the prestigious Eugene Marais prize for his first volume of poetry and is writing for the swish magazine Visi while hosting a groovy show on Bush Radio! I'm really so proud of them. Also got to see some friends from Gauteng who came down for the wedding. The most lovely Liesa and Peter-John among them, who were the first to give us a gift for our daughter, which tickled us pink.

The wedding was truly beautiful. Both bride and groom looked great and we were all wrapped in warm fuzzy lovey dovey vibes. Very romantic. I've posted a few pics.
So now it's back home and honestly it's so good to be here. East London is really laid back and even Cape Town seemed too hectic after just a few weeks here.

I have to send a shout out to Bronnie who is expecting her first :) Big joy.

J and I are overwhelmed with excitement at the prospect of adopting our baby daughter. Our social worker should have some profiles of little girls for us any day now.

Quite a few people have asked questions about the adoption, so here goes…
We want a little girl, as young as possible. She’ll most likely be Xhosa since that’s the ethnic majority in this area. No, we’re not infertile (or at least we have no reason to believe that we are), we just feel very strongly about wanting to adopt. In other words, we may well have biological children some time (so many people seem conerned about that, which we find a bit puzzling). Currently there are estimated to be over a million South African children orphaned by HIV/Aids alone. Since we have the privilege of being South Africans and get to be here now, it’s our big chance to jump through all the legal hoops. Yes, we’re very aware of all the many concerns surrounding adoptees, birth parents, trans-racial/cultural adoption, etc etc etc. As my friend Stella put it, I have already done enough research on adoption, baby care and parenting to earn a PhD. Despite all the intimidating aspects of parenting any child, we’re ready (at least as ready as we’ll ever be!) and very excited.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there. Especially my sweet sweet mom. Can't wait for your visit!