Pitter Patter of Little Feet

I think Milea is an overachiever even at this young age! At 10 and a half months she discovered that she can stand and has even started toddering along and walking! So cute to see her do the little shuffle - short, small footsteps with her shoulders and arms lifted up and ready to save herself if she plops down. She is SO pleased with herself as she squeals each time she starts walking. I suppose it doesn't help that we scream with encouragement every time she does. Hope she doesn't expect that sort of response all the time..... soon I may be less than impressed that she is walking around so much - no more chill time for mom anymore;-)

So my folks were here for Easter and the whole CPT side of the family moved into their Camps Bay house! It was wonderful having them spoil us with home-cooked meals, babysitting and some quality time. They are the doting grandparents of note! Wish they lived down here so granny and grandpa could be more apart of her life (she keeps forgetting them when they leave). We also took advantage of the beautiful weather and did a Table Mountain Hike with Milli. She loved sitting on Jaco's back like a little mountain goat - and Jaco loved the extra exercise in having to carry her! Everyone climbing commented on the fact that she was climbing and we (actually Jaco) were so brave to carry her up there. Mom and babs took the cable car down while dad tried his best to beat us to the bottom. Guess who won??? (answer at the bottom...)

Our other big sporting moment these last couple of weeks was swimming the 2 Oceans Half Marathon. We were both winging it really with Jaco having done 1 run this year and me trying to convince myself that I had plenty of muscle memory from the Half Ironman in January! Although the weather was far from perfect, it was such a fantastic run and so great to do it together. Jaco was a mini Bruce Fordyce and kept running off cos he had so much energy and I was obviously too slow for him. But we stuck it out together and thank goodness for that cos he (literally) pushed me along the last 3 kms to the finish. We slushed across the muddy finish line in 2hrs 20mins and then froze our butts off in the cold weather. No time to revel in the glory as we sprinted back to the car to hotbox it big time in order to warm up.

So life has been a bit sucky the last couple of weeks as Jaco has been travelling so much for work - Seychelles, Germany, UK and Nigeria all in 4 weeks! Mom and Milli have gone into auto-mode and adapted to a single mommy routine which is full on! I am so glad that its nearly over and we can be a real family again - which means dad is back to cooking duty ;-) In the meantime mom is very busy with Milea who loves unpacking the grocery / Tupperware cupboard, climbing into the shower, licking the pages of the touchy-feely books and discovering that the toilet has a lid that lifts up and down. Maybe only having one parent around is starting to effect her after all....??!?

After a day at Moyo's

I love licking my books

(Answer: Cablecar of course! He can't run THAT fast!)


Oops! You caught me in the act!



Exciting News

Besides my daughter having popped her second tooth and learning to open drawers and delve into the tupperware cupboard, the Cronje's have exciting news. We are the proud new owners of a beautiful home in Pinelands!


We are so excited to eventually have our own place after 4 years of living in a flat in Vredehoek. We are definitely going to miss the convenience of living in the city, but are finding that the walls are closing in on us and we're running out of space (yes, open the cupboards and everything comes tumbling out because they're so crammed full!). We started looking in January for a property and liked the area of Pinelands because it offers good value for money and large properties. I had the misfortune of looking at many old houses in the area which needed lots of work before finding this gem. For example, this one house I saw desperately needed renovation and hadn't been changed in the last 70 years. The old lady living there was 4 years old when her father built the place! When I stumbled upon what was to become our house, I only had 15 minutes to quickly whizz through it before a Chiropractor appointment for Milli. But you can tell within 2 minutes if its up your alley or not. This place had such potential, and with a few changes here and there, I could definitely see us living there. Jaco saw it the very next day and we decided to put in an offer. In the first 4 days of the property coming on the market, the owners had already received 3 offers!

The 3 bedroomed, 1 bathroomed house is in good condition with wooden flooring. It also has a cute cottage in the garden. The kitchen desperately needs some work and we will need to put in another bathroom. However we have time on our sides as there is no rush to move in - the sellers are renovating another property down the road. We only have to leave our flat in Aug / Sept this year. Milli will definitely be walking by then - she is already standing against furniture and then letting go to balance for a few seconds before plopping down. Apparently this is called 'cruising'. She loves showing off her new trick. It will be great to have a garden and space for her to run around.


So the missy is 9 months old already and weighing 8.25kgs. She has such a little personality and the cheekiest grin. Her new skill is to wave goodbye to people - and has perfected the queen's wave I might add. I am finding it more tough as she gets older because she wants my attention all the time and needs stimulating every waking hour. So between work, which is very busy and spending time with Milli in the afternoons, I'm not finding time to exercise as much. Argus this weekend and the 2oceans marathon in April are going to be interesting. I'm discovering how difficult it is to be a career-minded, fit, healthy-looking mom! You definitely cannot have it all!

Jaco has been racing the summer league in Cape Town with his new BF (Berge Farrell) team. He has enjoyed being back on the racing scene. With his regular travelling to Nigeria, it sure makes the racing quite challenging! He is trying to find an Epic entry/partner, so if you know of one floating around, give us a shout! I've warned him that this could possibly be the last year he's on a bike when Number 2 comes along so he had better take advantage of it. Mom putting her foot down....



Milli just loves cuddles! Her favourite time of day is when dad comes home and plays rough and tumble with her on the bed. She squeals with delight!

We've had to put up a security gate so she doesn't venture out into the big wide world. She just loves standing at the gate and making noises for me to let her out. She cannot wait to get out there! In the meantime she spends her time cruising (standing and moving from one piece of furniture to the next) the apartment.

Like her folks, Milli loves her food. She always wants to taste what mom and dad are eating even if she only has 1,5 teeth to eat it with. I mean how do you eat a piece of toast with those tools - her solution is sucking it so it falls apart.

Having fun with her best friend, Rebecca on a hot day!

Mom is an Ironman!

After 6 months of hard and strenuous training, I finally achieved my goal of completing the Ironman 70.3 in East London this last weekend. The 1.9km swim, 90km cycle and 21km run was a goal which I set myself shortly after giving birth. Thanks to some gentle persuasion from a few of my girlfriends I decided it would be a great achievement to get fit again and return this mommy's body back to its former state - that of an endurance athlete! I'm proud to say that I completed the race in a time of 6 hours and 34 minutes, well within my time of wishing to beat 7 hours. I was elated to have finally conquered this challenge after many hours of training, tiredness, exhaustion, struggling to stick to my training programme and continuously motivating myself for the last 6 months.

The conditions on the day were perfect: cool, overcast and little wind. We couldn't blame a poor performance on the weather. I was very excited to do the race - actually I was tired of all the training and just wanted to get it over and done with. So the nerves were calm as I didn't know what to expect. I had a very good swim, with no kicks or punches in the face and exited the water after 42 minutes. Running to the transition zone on wobbly legs while trying to strip off a wetsuit was interesting. Once on the bike, I tried to use my Tri bars as much as possible to rest my body but the harsh rolling hills didn't allow for such comforts. I had to be careful not to slipstream other cyclists as referees were continuously monitoring everyone's following distance. Transition into the run was slow as I slapped on as much suncream as I could before trying to find a steady rhythm. I started the run with a stitch and couldn't run very easily. I panicked as I thought of 21 painful kilometres to look forward to. So many times I felt like giving up - my body was sore, aching and had no energy. I pushed through and by 10kms felt alot better. I kept looking forward to the feeding points every 2kms where I would walk and drink as much as possible - that was the only thing that got me through the run. There was a nasty 1km hillclimb as well which saw me walking it both times (the run was 2 laps). I just kept telling myself that every step I took was one step closer to the finish. And finally the red carpet was there and I had done it!

Jaco and Milli supported me all the way! It was a long hot day for them but their cheering got me through my run. They were the best supporters that a mom could ask for!

I've been asked whether I'll do it again. The sore achy legs are enough for me to decline right now, but perhaps I'll look back one day and only remember the highlights and forget the pain!
Milli is 8 months old today and weighing 8kgs. She has found her voice in the last couple of days and babbles away non-stop. She is getting faster on her hands and knees and loves following Constance around the house. She is exploring every space in our flat which means we need to watch her every move. When there's silence, you know she's up to mischief. I miss those days that I could just plonk her down on the carpet and know she wasn't going to go anywhere....sigh!! You always want what you can't have ;-)

Milli on the Move

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2012 has already started out with a bang with my baby Milli going from sitting to crawling in no time at all! I am happy to report that after a frustrating month of balancing on her hands and knees with bum in the air and pointing her head down into the carpet, she has finally discovered how to mobilise those fat little legs and sumo arms and crawl. She's no longer happy to sit and play with her toys on the carpet anymore - she wants to see the world! Mom, dad and nanny are having trouble keeping a beady eye on her all of a sudden as she's quick as lightening to crawl from one spot to another. But, in true Cronje style, she's no longer happy to just crawl, she wants to start walking as well! Pulling herself up against the couch, TV cabinet, toy box and her bike (yes she got her first ybike for Christmas!) seems like such fun.....until she bliksems over and looks at you with puppy dog eyes before screaming.

I've suddenly realised (with sadness) that she no longer needs me. She can operate pretty much on her own these days. She told me that breastfeeding is for babies and only wants to eat proper food for brekkie, lunch and dinner. So its been a long and hard (in all senses of the word) road to dry these boobs out! She doesn't want me to hold her bottle while feeding her - she can do that all by herself. Her first tooth broke through this week, so she's getting ready to start chewing on some meaty biltong. We've dropped her bed down to the lowest level as we've often found her sitting up and crying when I go through in the middle of the night. She is very vocal about what she likes and doesn't like - don't ever think of taking a toy away from her when she's playing with it as she'll bite your head off with an angry scream! So she is becoming a real little missy....or just taking after her dad ;-)





Granny and grandpa were down in Cape Town for Christmas and Ouma was in town from the farm so she was a very spoilt little girl and spent many hours playing with them. Christmas day was so special with both my parents, Jaco's mom and brother with us to celebrate the day together. She was very spoilt with lots of pressies and I think loved the wrapping more than anything else! Actually mom enjoyed opening two lots of pressies on the morning as Milea didn't really know what to do with all of them! We really did get our money's worth from the ouma's in terms of babysitting as Jaco and I went training every morning in the holidays. The half ironman is next weekend and Jaco's cycling season starts this weekend. He's signed up with the BF team this season which means he's in line for a sponsored bike and all the kit which he's very happy about. 2012 seems to be a very big sporting year for both of us what with the half ironman in East London (Christie), Argus (both of us), Boland Tour (Jaco), Two Oceans Half marathon (both of us and Milli in her pram), and depending on training possibly the Epic for Jaco. It may just be the last time we'll be able to do all these things. I'm enjoying having my athletic figure back but have a feeling this is the most fittest, thinnest and well-toned I'm ever going to be in my whole life!! Sigh......



Milli was lucky enough to be selected to appear in 2 adverts recently: one for Huggies nappies and the other for a French catalogue. It was very exciting to see behind the scenes and take part in the photoshoots. She was such a star and behaved so well - the fame definitely didn't go to her head! It was very strange seeing her pose with an Italian model as her 'mom' in the Huggies photographs. And I didn't realise that they always cast 2 babies for photoshoots - 1 being the main baby and the other being the backup child in case the main baby doesn't feel up to posing that day. I'm pleased to say that she was great as the main baby and the other little one just sat around for 3 hours watching Milli strut her stuff. She will be appearing on the nappy packaging for Huggies from August 2012. The French catalogue photoshoot took place in the beautiful gardens of a Bishopscourt house. Milli had to pose with another little boy who had trouble sitting up by himself. They had to prop him up with lots of pillows so he didn't fall over. Milli took it in her stride and gave lots of big smiles while Constance (her nanny) jumped up and down and made funny faces at her behind the camera.

1 week to go before half iron man which means I need to stop typing and get out there and train!

Our Beautiful Girl at 6 months

So, as you can see, we are really into our photoshoots! Actually, we love our Groupon vouchers at the moment so could not resist to book a photoshoot with Milli to capture her smile at 6 months. It was not the easiest session to get through as the flashing lights really made her miff. It's not easy being a supermodel you know! The photographer captured some real beauties in the first 15 minutes.... and then it was game over!

Sitting, Sucking Toes and Supper Times

My baby is growing up so fast! Her achievements in the last month probably equal to more than that which any adult would accomplish in one year! Firstly, she has learnt to sit on her own with the occasional toppling over – although I believe some adults still have the same problem! She has also started eating solids and so we have the joy of watching her play with food in her mouth while not knowing what to do with it. We’ve started off with runny baby porridge and it’s the funniest sight to see her pushing it out of her mouth and then Jaco scoops it back in and then she pushes it out again. She hasn’t quite worked out the swallowing part. Needless to say, even though she’s on solids, she is not sleeping through the night and is still waking up once a night. We also tried butternut tonight for the first time and I think she thought it was porridge cos she pushed her mouth excitedly towards the spoon to get it into her mouth, only to find out after the 3rd spoonful that it wasn't quite the porridge she was used to. I promptly had to give up feeding her after she refused anymore.

I have been back at work for over a month now and am enjoying it thoroughly. I’m involved in a lot more high level, strategic projects and have an assistant to deal with all the daily administration. She is fantastic – almost like a mini-me! A perfectionist, hard worker and very diligent! She was the best find ever! She really takes away all the stress of the job and allows me to leave at 1pm on the dot every day. But don’t think I’ve got an easy life, ok maybe a nice life. Because from work, I rush home, jump into some cycling, running or swimming stuff and off I go training for an hour and a half! My nanny works until just after 3pm so I have time in the afternoons to myself. Its been awesome to cycle around the coast on beautiful sunny afternoons, run along the Sea Point Promenade watching the waves or take a nice, long (60 length!!) swim at the pool in the gym! I really do have a wonderful life.

My nanny, Constance, has also been the best find ever. She is so gentle with Milea and I love listening to the long conversations they have with each other all day. She really treats Milli like a little person and it seems they enjoy each other's company alot. I love coming home to find Milea give me the biggest smile ever when I walk in the door. Its great that Constance has 3 kids of her own ranging from 18years to 1 and a half years old so she's been through it all and normally gives me advice on what to do. So I'm really confident and happy to leave Milli with her as she knows more than me!

Last weekend I completed my first Triathlon in preparation for the 70.3 half iron man in East London which I've entered for next January 2012. I totally underestimated how hard it was going to be and believed I was a lot fitter! So I have alot more training to do, but its great to have a goal and something to work towards. I've never swam in a wetsuit before so that was new to me. The cycle was flat and windy and you're not allowed to slipstream so its hard work all the time. And I'm definitely not a runner so the 12 kilometers through the vineyards out in Rawsonville was agony for me! But I finished in 3 hours 51 mins and came 40th woman out of 63. Not too bad for a first attempt! It was awesome to have Jaco and Milli cheer me on and encourage me from the sidelines! I also had my best friend, Ange, down from Jo'burg to do it with me, so I got lots of helpful tips and advice.


We spent a few days away in the Pilansberg with my family recently who have timeshare up there. It was awesome to have all the aunties and uncles spending time with Milli - babysitters on tap so mom and dad could rest. We saw lots of awesome game and it was quite funny trying to get Milea to look out the windows at all the animals. She was just interested in her plastic Giraffe called Sophie!



Her newest party trick is to bring her foot up to her mouth, while she's lying on her back and suck her big tow! I cannot believe how supple she is! Probably turn into a gymnast or something. I'm not sure her toe tastes like her thumb but she seems to like it. It cracks me up every time! She now weighs 7 kilograms and mom feels every bit of it while lugging her car seat to and from the car every day. So I'm getting a nice arm workout at the same time.

Some other highlights of this last month include a very special day indeed - being surrounded by special family and friends witnessing us, as parents, dedicating Milea to the Lord! She looked just like a princess in her Christening gown - actually like a cute puffy marshmellow ;-)

Family Photoshoot

We recently had an in-studio family photoshoot which ended in tears because of too many bright lights and flashes, but we managed to get some awesome shots!