I pampered myself a lot the week before last. Starting with the lovely Venetia Isaacs who runs a professional mobile therapy service who came to do my eyebrows & eyelashes; I then had the amazing Nelia de Andrade (also a mobile beauty therapist) come and do a mani-pedi, using bright Watermelon nailpolish that I am now totally obsessed with! I also met with Stephanie Leonard who did my hair & makeup for the maternity shoot on Sunday. All these amazing women who are running their own successful businesses are so inspiring! Nothing is quite as appealing to me, as a pregnant woman, as people coming to my house and making me feel beautiful for a little while!
I woke up ridiculously early on the Saturday purely from excitement. My day began with a visit to the amazing Sam of Technigirl Hair in Claremont where I indulged in an Argan treatment, wash, blowdry & style – having my hair played with is the ultimate luxury in my world! We had to rush home to change and then Brett had to drive me all the way to my parents house in Lakeside where my babyshower was being held.
I was blown away by the gorgeous decorations and set up my sister & parents had put together – everything was princess pink & white & every detail was just perfect. Baby tutus, balloons, marshmallows pops, and the most delicious cupcakes I have ever had! A part of her gift to us that she used as decor was a beautiful bunting made by Bella Poppelina with Charlotte’s name and butterflies to match the nursery decor I have been putting together the past few months. And the pile of presents was just ridiculous. I was quite emotional & that was before everyone even started arriving! The love that all these precious people have for me and Brett and our little girl was quite overwhelming.
There were simply too many amazing gifts to list and each one was thoughtful and many had special meaning to myself and the person who gave it to us; nothing reminds you quite how blessed you are as realising how well your friends and family really know you. After the shower, Brett & I stayed at my parents with my sister and had a braai, some special family time, only missing our baby beanie and brother-person.
I was crazy tired on Sunday, but the weather was beautiful, perfect for our beach shoot scheduled for that evening with Portraiture by Heidi (who is also scheduled to do our newborn shoot with Charly a few days after she is due). I took it easy most of the day, a little concerned that nothing the talented Steph would be able to do with her magic makeup to make me look like I had slept for more than a few hours in the past couple of months. Steph arrived just after 2 & spent tireless hours curling my hair and covering my poor tired face with layers of makeup and making me look like a real person again.
Heads up – hair & makeup on a pregnant woman takes a lot longer than it might otherwise; we need to move around more, can’t sit in one position for very long and we need to pee every few minutes (Sorry Steph)! This of course meant that I was running late for the shoot itself (Sorry Heidi) and my hair & makeup never really had the time it needed to settle properly, so I was a little too made up in the earlier pics. But as usual, Heidi worked her magic and somehow our little family looked rested, put together and happy in her awesome photos.
And so after all of the hype, that’s all she wrote. Hope you enjoyed the update & the photos! I think next up I am going to write about what NOT to say to a pregnant woman – the list may contain some things that you would not expect, due to the sheer number of people I have heard say these things of late! If I don’t get around to it before (I am actually working exceptionally hard at the moment!), hope you all have an amazing loooooooong weekend with your family & friends. I am looking forward to Monday when my extended family celebrates pre-Christmas (as everyone has separate commitments on the day this year), with all the delicious food and Secret Santa anyone could hope for.
For those of you in need, here are the contact details for the many talented people mentioned in this post –
Venetia Isaacs: 076 037 7499 (Beauty & Massage Therapist)
Nelia de Andrade: 076 016 9910 (Beauty Therapist)
Stephanie Leonard: 072 283 8861 (Hair & Makeup Artist)\
Technigirl Hair: 074 329 8863 (Sam)
Bella Poppelina: info@bellapoppelina.co.za (Annabell)
Portraiture by Heidi: portraiturebyheidi@gmail.com (For styled shoots, you can also check out Styled Portraiture by Heidi & Tamsyn)