Meet the Cover Stars

Meet the Cover Star Mee t our adorable cover star - Pieter An dries Ven ter. He is the fourth Pieter An dries in his fathe r’s family, and is five months ol d. H is parents are Pieter Andries and Claire Venter. Pieter is an Advocate at the Pretoria Bar and Claire is a high school teacher turned stay at home mom AKA super-mom!

“Pieter is an incredibly friendly baby, he smiles and laughs all the time. He loves being held by anyone. The one thing people always tell me is how friendly and happy he is,” says the very proud mom.

“He loves it when we sing to him, often when he is upset and crying, I start singing to him and he will almost always calm down very quickly. This is something my husband and I love because we both have a love of music.”

They love going for walks and will often load Pieter into the car and go for a walk around a dam or in a park after Pieter has come home from work. They normally take their two dogs (a Boston and a pug) with them. On a weekend they will pack a picnic basket and then after their walk, they will sit in the shade and play with the dogs and Pieter for a few hours.

What do you love about being parents?

“When Pieter looks at you and then breaks out a huge smile or a laugh is the best thing I have ever experienced in my life. Watching him grow and discover new things and being able to do new things is so exciting. He has recently discovered his feet and now plays with them all the time. I get very excited when he learns something new or does something new. I love that part so much,” says Claire. “I love how Pieter’s laugh and smile can warm up the room and it makes me absolutely burst with pride. I love how people are drawn to Pieter,’s personality” says his proud dad.

Any advice for new parents? “Have something that your husband does with him every day, something special just for them. Your baby spends most of the time with you, so let them have something as well. My husband baths with our child every night before bed time and he loves that time with Pieter,” advises Claire. “Your life doesn’t stop when you have a child, they are incredibly resilient and adaptive - go out, have a life, just take them with. The first few weeks are tough because you can’t really go anywhere, but it really does get easier!”

“I would also like to encourage women out there who have had problems. We had a miscarriage before we became pregnant with Pieter. After the miscarriage we struggled to fall pregnant again - it took us a year and a half. That was an indescribably tough time we went through. When we finally fell pregnant, I had a very difficult pregnancy and a threatened miscarriage. I was in and out of hospital during my entire pregnancy and I was put on bed rest for basically my entire pregnancy. When Pieter was born we had to do a C-section because the cord was wrapped around his neck twice. However, we have always stayed positive and here we are today with the most beautiful baby boy I could have ever haveasked for,” concludes Claire.