Browsing Category: Featured

This is how you play video games with a baby

While I’ve managed some gaming time since Harley was born, it’s not the way it once was. I can’t wear a headset because I need to be able to hear if she cries, and I can’t really play online either because if she needs me she can’t wait while I finish a mission. I managed to get in some single player gaming, but as Harley has grown the way that works has changed. Sure, it’s best to play while she naps, but I’m also learning to hold her and play at the same time – I even managed to play a game while nursing her the other night.

But the best way is if someone else can hold your baby for a bit. At least, I like it because it means I can sort of focus on playing (even if Harley still always has some of my attention) and just relax and have fun. Plus, most people like the chance to hold Harley. I saw most people, because this video with Sam is quite possibly my new favorite thing. Continue Reading

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2 Comments Gaming, Geek, Parenting

Being “normal” as a preemie

breaking the normal mold

I was not expecting to have a preemie. It was not part of my plan, but it was medically necessary. After I got home from the hospital, I started reading up on preemies, and it was pretty scary stuff – there were so many articles and books about the challenges that are common for premature babies, and I was feeling so sad for my little princess. It was hard enough to see her so very tiny, filled with tubes and sensors in the NICU, but the idea that her struggle would continue long after she was home… it just broke my heart.

When she was still in the hospital, I remember a physiotherapist came in the one day and started chatting to me. She explained that premature babies do eventually catch up, but that you need to adjust for their age – instead of sitting by six months it would be six months from the due date, etc. That wasn’t so bad, and that’s how I thought of Harley for a while – as her real age and her “adjusted age”. But I’m not sure I need to keep doing that. Continue Reading

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2 Comments Geek, Parenting

Chicken Soup for the body and soul

I have been loving this cooler weather – it’s such a relief to not need the fan on all day, and nursing is so much more enjoyable when those warm cuddles are sought after on a cold day. Unfortunately, I did come down with a change of season cold last week, which I promptly went on to give to Dean. Being pregnant and unable to take nice cold meds, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. Thankfully, the cold started to go away on its own, but was fully annihilated when I managed to make chicken soup.

Chicken soup is magic, I swear. There are plenty of delicious soups out there – I adore a luxuriously creamy butternut soup and I make an amazing broccoli leek soup – but nothing quite compares to chicken soup. Whether faced with a malady of the body or the soul, this soup seems to make it all better. Maybe it’s the veggies, or simply an uptake in fluids, but there’s a reason that New Yorkers refer to it as Jewish Penicillin. I’m lucky enough to have a recipe given to me by my mom, which she got from her grandmother. Going into winter, I fully intend to have this simmering on my stove at least once a month. Continue Reading

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3 Comments Food, Rambling

The Geeky Mommy Files – Lynette Hundermark

The Geeky Mommy Files

I love being a geeky mommy and figuring out what that means for me with Harley. It’s a daily journey as I try to learn how to be a mommy, and a geeky mommy at that. However, there are some awesome ladies who are further along on the path and have some really cool ideas that I’m totally going to steal. Welcome to the Geeky Mommy Files, where every Friday, I will be introducing you to one.

I first encountered Lynette when I was looking into the state of women in tech in South Africa. She is one of those incredible super moms – running her own business while raising two adorable kids. As more of a techno-geek, she has some interesting ideas about how much tech kids should be allowed to us, as well as some fun ambitions for courses for her little ones. Continue Reading

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Comment Interview

Warm cuddles on a cold day

The first cold front of the season has officially hit Joburg. It is a delightfully cold day today, that I’d be enjoying way more if I weren’t also coming down with a touch of the plague. In fact, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself last night and this morning – it sucks enough to be sick, but even more not to be able to take any of the good drugs. Apparently my normal cold meds aren’t allowed while breastfeeding, so I just have to take some silly painkillers and cough lozenges and hope for the best. There are homeopathic remedies, but those simply don’t work for me.

So yeah, I was sniffling and feeling tired and sorry for myself last night. But then I had some awesome cuddles while breastfeeding Harley, and I was reminded why I’m not taking cold meds. She needs me right now. I am her only and complete source of nourishment. How could I do anything else? Continue Reading

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2 Comments Rambling