dogs and babies Archives

Tag: dogs and babies

28
Aug
2021

Zara Turns Five and We’re Having a Pawty

categories: Zara

Today Zara turns five! I have no idea where five years have gone but what I do know is that the fluffy bundle of fun we brought home back then has grown up into the most beautiful, kind, loving and loyal soul I could ever have imagined.

Zara truly is one of a kind and I’m not sure what I did in my previous life to deserve such a beautiful girl I get to love and who loves me back with her whole heart. I’m not complaining though 🙂 Zara fitted into our family from minute one! She knew she had found love and she knew she had found it good.

Fast forward to where we are today, and I could not be more proud of Zara! She put up with Oscar for the good part of 2 years. She’s shared her home with numerous bunnies, babies and all plus a pretty cool kitten who is almost a cat. But more importantly I am most proud of the way she has handled becoming a big sister to her tiny human Gia.

The relationship that Zara and Gia share is something unique. It’s also something I never had growing up so I am particularly in awe of how the two of them are together. Yes I grew up with loads of animals always around me, at family and friends homes but I tended to have the small critters in my home while I was younger. Zara is extremely tolerant of Gia, in fact Zara is extremely tolerant in general. I guess Oscar taught her that because he was forever putting her in her place- whether it was needed or not.

So today we celebrate Zara in the only way I know how and that’s by spoiling her with gifts, letting her eat all the cake and have lots and lots and lots of fun with her favourite humans US!

Zara’s Birthday Cake

Usually I make Zara’s birthday treats from scratch but this year something caught my eye.. The concept is awesome and the first of its kind to be available in South Africa so I thought let’s give it a try! The wolf & Women birthday pupcake. Not only does this make my life easier but I am pretty sure it is going to be one very tasty birthday cake fit for my Princess Zara.

Click to shop the Wolf & Women Pupcake.

Zara’s Spoils

Zara is not short of toys and things to play with so when it comes round to her birthday I always have a hard time finding that one gift that’s a little more special than the rest of her gifts. An obvious place to start looking was Amazon and oh boy did I find something awesome for her! This water obsessed pup is gong to have hours of fun with this gift and I am pretty sure her tiny human will join in too- just the way I love it 🙂

Click here to shop Zara’s birthday gift.

Zara’s Birthday Decor

No birthday celebration is complete without some special birthday decor. Of course I had to get a special 5 balloon plus some other cute balloons too. Zara is not a fan of balloons at all so they’re just there as decor. Happy birthday signs and party hats also go a long way!

Click here to shop Zara’s birthday party decor.

Happy 5th Birthday to you Zara! Today we celebrate all your amazingness. Thank you for being you, you sure are one of a kind special and we all absolutely adore you!

*Should you wish to spoil your furry loves with one or more of these goodies, we receive a small percentage of the commission (at no extra cost to you- It’s just Amazon being nice to us)

Thank you for reading

12
Feb
2021

Valentine’s Day

categories: Holiday fun, Recipes

Valentine’s Day. It’s a day you either love or hate. Some love to celebrate it and some don’t and that’s ok, thank goodness we’re all different. You can guess that I love to celebrate it!

Many argue that your love for someone shouldn’t have to be shown on one particular day of the year and while I agree with that, there is something different about sharing a meal, a coffee or a slab of chocolate with someone you love on 14 February. That someone doesn’t have to be a romantic love partner either. It can be your child, your furry loves, your best friend or a family member you treasure. There are so many people I wish I could share a slab of chocolate with on Valentine’s Day this year but as we all know, some things cannot happen right now.

With that being said, our little family will celebrate together. We will drink pink milkshakes, share cupcakes and eat spaghetti & meatballs lady and the tramp style 😉

This years valentines treats are not necessarily dog specific but if there is one thing that 2020 taught me, it’s that life is way to short to not eat cake. So this valentine’s day Zara will eat cupcakes and Gia will help make them…

Yes these cupcakes came out of a box, and who actually cares right. We still had to add the eggs, butter and milk hahaha! This is a local Zambian brand which I’m happy to report did not disappoint. They turned out perfectly, Gia devoured them while Zara I don’t think really tasted them as she swallowed the entire thing whole, paper and all-typical Zara! So thank you Meraki cakes for our yummy valentines cupcakes.

We hope you enjoy your valentine’s day however you decide to celebrate it, remember to hug your loved ones extra tight and give your furry loves an extra kiss at bedtime 😉

Thank you for reading

28
Aug
2020

Zara turns 4

categories: Zara

Happy 4th birthday Zara! I can’t believe Zara has been with us for four whole years already. On one hand it feels like the other day we went to collect this small(ish) bundle of fluff to bring home to Oscar. And then I think how much has happened in our lives the past four years and I cannot believe how times flies.

In the four years since Zara became a member of our family, the three Amigos joined too, she’s had 2 TPLO surgeries, I turned 30-eeek! We got engaged and married (officially), we lost Oscar, we had baby Gia, we traveled and we had a whole bunch of fun in between.

On Zara’s birthday last year, baby Gia was exactly that, a baby. This year she’s a tiny walking talking human who Zara can interact with. Zara loves having someone else to harass in the house and Gia is just as obsessed. So much can happen in a year and this past one was no different.

It’s fair to say twenty-twenty has not lived up to most peoples expectations however I do feel that having months of staying in rather than going out has made our family stronger especially the bond between Zara and Gia.

Zara is always close to Gia. If Gia is playing in her bedroom, Zara is there too just watching. If Gia is reading in her play corner, Zara is there too listening to Gia ramble on. If Gia is playing outside, Zara is watching over her and of course looking out for any lizard action too. If Gia is eating, Zara is right by her side waiting for any leftovers. If Gia watches Paw Patrol on tv, Zara is watching too. In the same way that Zara is always close by when Gia is doing something, Gia enjoys being close by when Zara is doing something. Gia loves exploring the garden with Zara, the two of them go looking for lizards and watch the birds fly in and out of the trees.

Since Zara and Gia are always together it’s kind of a no brainer that I wanted to include Gia in the birthday celebrations and that meant making pupcakes that both Zara and Gia can enjoy!

Zara’s Birthday Pupcakes

Banana bread & Peanut butter icing pupcakes

Ingredients

3 large very ripe bananas

1/2 cup melted butter

2 large eggs beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup brown sugar

Directions

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Line your muffin tray with cupcake liners. Then in a large mixing bowl mash the bananas well and add the melted butter and brown sugar and mix well. Stir in the beaten eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Don’t over mix. Scoop your cupcake batter into each cupcake holder and place in the oven. Reduce the heat immediately down to 180. Bake for +- 20/25 minutes or until each pupcake is cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool before topping with the icing.

Peanut butter icing

Ingredients

2 cups plain thick yoghurt

2+ tbs less sugar less salt peanut butter

Directions

Place the yoghurt and peanut butter into a mixing bowl. Using an electric beater, beat until the peanut butter is whipped into the yoghurt. Whip for about 2-3 minutes.

Once your pupcakes are cool, pipe your peanut butter icing and decorate as you wish.

You can store un-iced pupcakes in the freezer in an airtight container, simply take it out the freezer and let it defrost on its own before serving.

We love spoiling Zara with gifts on her birthday and this year was no different. If you follow us on Instagram you’ll know how much Zara loves to swim! Zara’s pool broke just before winter so an obvious gift was of course a new pool for her, I can’t wait to set it up and fill it so she can have some pool fun again. I also added some fun pool toys and some pretty pool floats all bought on Amazon.

Click here to view our Amazon store with all our favourite pet goodies.

We love celebrating Zara’s birthday, after all she is a very important member of our family. To some she’s just a dog but to us she’s one of our baby’s and always will be!

If your pup is having a birthday soon or you just feel like baking something yummy we hope you try out this pupcake recipe and don’t forget to tag us @stylish_paws

Thank you for reading.

17
Jun
2020

Dogs and Babies… A year on

categories: Zara

When I first posted about dogs and babies, a year ago, baby Gia was less than a month old and I was still in South Africa waiting for the doctors clearance that we were both able to fly. So much has happened in that year…

This topic also sparks a lot of interest from my amazing Instagram community. I cannot thank my followers enough for welcoming baby Gia the way that you have! You all LOVE seeing Zara and Gia together, you love to watch their bond grow, as do I! Gia has grown into a beautiful, kind and loving one year old and Zara is learning about life with a tiny almost walking human, but has embraced her role as big sis in ways we never imagined.

Our main goal with the girls has always been and always will be for them to respect each other. They both require their own space, time alone as well as family time. From the very beginning we have been teaching and showing both Zara and Gia how to interact in a respectful way. For example: Gia is not allowed to crawl or stand all over Zara in her attempt to get onto the couch. Zara is not allowed to push over, stand on Gia or steal Gia’s food from under her nose. Things happen, Gia is a one year old and Zara is an excitable 53kg Rottweiler! The girls are not perfect nor perfectly behaved all the time, it’s how we manage it and teach them what’s acceptable that’s important.

We got our fair share of ‘warnings’ when I was pregnant with Gia and we still get raised eyebrows when we mention we have a one year old and a Rottweiler. The judgement only makes us want to showcase the girls even more.

Here are some of the things we did when baby Gia arrived home and things we still do to make sure Zara feels very much included and part of her pack…

No area is off limits

No area is off limits in our home. I got a lot of warnings and even read numerous articles that said pets should be kept out of the nursery. I’m not quite sure what keeping your pets out of your baby’s room would do… but it wasn’t going to happen in our home. Zara helped us prepare Gia’s room which was our way of showing her that change is coming. As a result of including Zara, she now leaves a toy in Gia’s room every night and it’s also her favourite place to take a nap.

Sharing toys

The girls share toys. Yes Gia is at the age where everything goes into her mouth, as long as she can’t choke on it, I am totally fine with it. I think the world needs to worry about a lot more than dog germs. Both Zara and Gia have recently been dewormed so in my eyes it’s good for them to share toys. It teaches Gia important lessons, so important that Gia now puts her comfort rabbit toy in her mouth just like Zara would to transport it… Genius I tell you 😉

Learning to share food

It’s no secret Zara lives for food! I always knew the starting solids stage with Gia would spark a lot of interest from Zara and it definitely did. Without a doubt meal times are Zara’s favourite! We’ve had to teach Zara that she can’t steal food from Gia’s bowl or out her hand. We have taught Zara the clues Gia gives to say ok you can have this now. Zara has been very patient and she knows that when Gia is done there is always something for her. Of course this doesn’t happen 100% of the time, just last week Zara decided to steal Gia’s entire meal. But it’s ok, not the end of the world. We are all still learning.

Showing affection

We have never stopped showing Zara how much we love and appreciate her. We might have a tiny human who demands so much time, energy and love but we include Zara in all of that too. Gia sees how much we kiss and hug Zara and it has become her favourite thing to do… Kiss Zara! We also allow Zara to kiss Gia, why wouldn’t we. Gia’s first kiss from Zara was the day after I arrived home with Gia. It was important that Zara knew it was ok to love and show love towards this new human that is now living in her space.

Being respectful

Respect is an important part of Zara and Gia’s relationship. They both need to respect each other and learn each others boundaries. I am extremely lucky to be a stay at home mom so I am always around making sure boundaries and limits are not crossed. Gia is only one year old and still has plenty to learn, so when I see Zara has had enough kisses from her baby sis I gently remove Gia from the situation and direct her attention towards another activity. In the same way when Zara is licking Gia’s face ferociously to welcome her home from our shopping trip, I divert Zara’s attention so Gia can catch her breath.

Both Zara and Gia are our girls. One I gave birth to and the other I didn’t but that doesn’t mean Zara cannot be a fully fledged member of our family. It is possible to keep your fur babies as part of your family when you welcome a human baby. I struggle to understand why some people find it so difficult. Some days are harder than others, being new parents is tough. There is nothing easy about raising a tiny human but I honestly couldn’t imagine doing this without Zara. She’s licked away plenty tears and endured hours of cuddling when we are too tired to run around and play. Zara has embraced her role as big sis and we couldn’t be prouder!

If you are pregnant or recently welcomed a newborn into your family and have fur babies too, I really hope this post has inspired you. It is ok to have pets and babies!

ps: The photos used in this post are 100% natural and unfiltered. They’re personal photos I wanted to share to give you a glimpse of how my girls interact on a real level. They’re not posed and beautifully edited. They’re beautiful moments simply captured on my iPhone 🙂

Thank you for reading.

10
Apr
2020

Easy Easter Dog Treats

categories: Recipes

Happy Easter weekend everyone. I guess this Easter is a little different to what we all had planned… yes our travel plans got cancelled too but that doesn’t mean Easter has to be cancelled!

Whenever I think of Easter I only think of one thing… CHOCOLATE and lots of it! We are all well aware of the dangers that chocolate brings to our furry loves. I have done carob treats in the past for Oscar and Zara which were a hit but a bit messy to make and eat so I thought I would simplify things right down and make some yummy carrot treats for Zara, since the Easter bunny loves his carrots 😉

Zara’s Carrot Biscuits

Ingredients

2 steamed carrots, pureed

1 cup wholewheat flour

1 egg

1 tbs coconut oil

1tsp chia seeds

Directions

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Mix together your carrot puree, egg and coconut oil. Then add your chia seeds and flour and mix until a dough forms. You might need to add a splash of water if it’s too dry or extra flour if it’s too wet. Roll your dough out onto a floured surface and using cute Easter themed cookie cutters, cut out the treats. Place them onto a greased baking tray and bake for 20-30mins or until cooked and slightly golden in colour. Allow the treats to cool completely before icing them.

Icing

2 tbs cornstarch and 4 tbs water. Mix them together then use to decorate as you wish. You can add organic food colouring to make different colours.

Using traditional coloured icing sugar is also totally fine!

Zara is sharing Easter with her baby sis this year, and while I love finding recipes so both girls can enjoy the same treat, sometimes baby Gia needs something a little extra yummy because after all it is her first Easter!

So here is the recipe for baby Gia’s Easter treats…

Super Easy Shortbread Bunnies

Ingredients

1 cup butter

2 1/4 flour

1 cup icing sugar

2 tbs vanilla

Directions

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees. Cream together your butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add your flour and mix, then add your vanilla. Mix until a dough forms. You may have to turn the mixture out onto a floured surface to combine. Once combined, roll out your dough and using Easter themed cookie cutters, cut your shortbread and place the shapes onto a greased baking tray. Bake for +-20 minutes or until biscuits are lightly golden. Remove and allow them to cool before decorating.

You can decorate your biscuits however you wish, using icing, buttercream, melted chocolate etc… My decorating skills need a little work-haha. Nonetheless, these Easter biscuits are a total hit amongst the humans in the house! And Zara is loving her Easter treats too… My heart is happy!

Happy Easter everyone. Stay safe and enjoy your quality time with family at home! If you decide to make these yummy Easter treats for yourself or your furry love, don’t forget to tag us in your pics… @stylish_paws

Thank you for reading

31
Oct
2019

Happy Halloween

categories: Holiday fun, Recipes

Happy Halloween everyone! We don’t typically celebrate Halloween here in Africa, but any excuse for us to celebrate makes for great fun right…

Halloween is slightly different this year because we have Baby Gia celebrating with us. One day Zara will be able to share tons of candy with Gia, but not too soon 😉

I am enjoying celebrating all these firsts with Zara and Gia together, creating memories and of course taking photographs of the two of them on occasions like this. Zara has stepped into her new role as big sister like a true champion. Their bond as sisters grows stronger every single day, which makes my heart explode with pride and joy.

It’s the end of October and that means it is seriously hot for us here in Africa. So I thought it would be fitting to make some frozen halloween treats for Zara this year, and of course I wanted to include Baby Gia in the celebrations too. I have so many creative ideas for Gia and halloween treats but I need to take it one step at a time… For now I am keeping it simple with pumpkin puree for her.

Zara’s Frozen Halloween Treats

These treats are frighteningly easy to make and Zara absolutely loved them!

Ingredients

melted coconut oil

pumpkin puree

melted peanut butter

silicone moulds

popsicle sticks

Directions

Since it’s so hot here, my coconut oil was already melted so I simply spooned 3 tablespoons of the liquid into each silicone mould and froze for an hour. While that was freezing, I made the pumpkin puree. I simply steamed chopped up pumpkin from the pumpkin that Baby Gia is sitting in in the photos of this blog. Once the pumpkin was soft and cooked through I blended it into a smooth puree. Spoon the pumpkin puree over the now frozen coconut oil. The orange (pumpkin) segment needs to be the largest but be sure to leave enough space for the peanut butter layer. Place your popsicle stick in the middle and pop them back into the freezer for a few hours. Take five or six tablespoons of peanut butter and put it in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave it for 30 seconds then using a teaspoon, gently spoon a layer of peanut butter over the frozen pumpkin layer. Place them back in the freezer for another hour. Once the entire treat is frozen, take them out of the moulds and let your pup enjoy them!

Baby Gia’s Pumpkin Puree

Since Gia has only started eating solids I needed to keep this years halloween ‘treats’ very simple for her. So I just made a yummy pumpkin puree using her Baby Bullet. Simply place steamed pumpkin into the blending cup with a 1/4 cup of water and blend until your desired texture is reached. Yum!

Both Zara and Baby Gia enjoyed their pumpkin treats this year. I particularly love Zara’s halloween treats because they are my take on the American candy corns which are famous during halloween. But possibly the best part of halloween this year is Baby Gia sitting in her pumpkin, she actually loved it and thought it was rather funny!

Happy Halloween to you all. Enjoy the festivities and candy but remember to keep your pets safe!

Thank you for reading

07
Jun
2019

Dogs and Babies

categories: Zara

On 30 September last year, we found out that we were going to be parents to a tiny human! Nothing can describe that feeling of utter happiness and excitement. That day will always be extra special to myself and my husband because that same day is Oscar’s birthday, and it will always be Oscar’s birthday!

Our biggest wish was to make Oscar a big brother, unfortunately the universe had other plans but I now understand why. In Oscar’s eyes I belonged to him and only him. My husband will even admit to that-haha. I am not entirely sure Oscar would have been able to share me, let alone get through the eleven weeks of separation.

Most of you know that we live in Zambia, but I travel to South Africa fairly regularly for various business and personal engagements. Because the medical facilities are not up to scratch in Zambia, we decided as a family that I would give birth to our nugget in South Africa. This also meant that we would all have to endure eleven weeks of separation…

On 17 May, our beautiful daughter Gia came into this big bright world! We could not be happier and more proud of our little angel. Gia means “A gift from God” and I do believe she is our gift from God and Oscar, who is by my side making sure I look after our tiny human in the best way possible.

Zara on the other hand is going to be the best big sister we could ever have asked for. Zara is extremely intelligent, loyal and a little OTT on the affectionate side, but we love that about her. From the moment we found out about our little Nugget, we spoke to Zara and explained what was happening inside my tummy. Believe it or not Zara would just sit and listen to every word. She stopped body slamming me in the middle of the night when she jumps on the bed for a cuddle. She became mindful of my growing tummy and was careful not to bump me or push me. That’s how clever she is.

We wanted to prep Zara for what was about to happen, because ultimately her life is about to change forever too! So here are the things we did to help ease Zara into the role of becoming a big sister…

Baby Room Prep

We had to shuffle things around and swap the spare rooms to make Gia’s room closer to ours. While sorting through a pile of things we didn’t need anymore, Zara was right beside us! We never once chased her out or got mad because she dug through a pile of rubbish we just sorted through. After all this is a readjustment for her too. Once the nursery room was cleared out we painted and began furnishing it-the fun part!

Doll Practice

We decided to buy a doll and introduce it to Zara. We wanted Zara to get used to us holding something in our arms quite a lot. She needed to learn that sometimes there will be an extra person in the bed in the form of her baby sister, and she needed to be a little careful. At first Zara was unsure especially when the doll made a noise. But with patience and time Zara began to recognise that this little thing is quite special and lives in the newly decorated room.

Our Scent

When I left Zambia in April, I left behind a shirt that I had worn to remind Zara of my scent. My husband says she loves sniffing that shirt! After Gia was born I sent my hubby home with another shirt that smelt like me and baby Gia. We decided to do this so Zara can get used to the scent of me with someone else. Zara is so intelligent she knows exactly what we are trying to do, I just know it!

Zara’s Gifts

Often articles will tell you to separate your pets from your baby and to never allow pets into the nursery. We have been the total opposite with Zara and have allowed her to walk in and out of Gia’s room as she pleases. As a result, Zara now delivers one of her toys (her most prized possessions) and leaves it either on the rug, the chair or in a corner for her baby sister. When Zara gifts you with one of her toys, you know she loves you! It is something she started doing all by herself, we did not teach her to do it. So by Zara leaving presents for Gia I know that they are going to be the best of friends!

Of course this chapter is not complete yet because Zara still has to meet her tiny human. I am in South Africa until the end of June so I will be sure to post an update when Gia and I have settled back home…. But for now we continue to video chat, where Zara is most intrigued by her baby sister especially when she moves or makes a sound.

Be sure to follow us on Instagram for all the goings on.

Thank you for reading.