Voting Day

this was me 2 years ago on Voting Day (21 April)

this was me yesterday with babies!

I am not really into politics but I do vote.

My plan was to go at 6:30 (polling stations close at 7 pm) but D was hell-bent on voting at a reasonable hour.

I was going to babysit and let him stand in those queues by himself.

After texts from all of my family in PE (to take the kids as they let you into the front of the queue), I relented and we eventually left home at 12:10.

I had this bright idea to walk and take the babies in the pram. Since it was a lovely day, fresh air and so on.

Well, the walk was much longer than I thought and of course, I was taking pics all over the place.

babies pointing to bins, trees, cars, etc.

leaves, glorious leaves

I don't know how she got that mark on her chin.

When we arrived at the voting station, we joined the back of the queue to suss things out. An official was right there checking for old people and ones like us and immediately showed us the way right into the hall to cast our votes.

It was fantastic aside from the rude glares from jealous people.

One man joked with me that I should rent out my kids so people could skip the queues :)

The officials were fantastic - courteous, quite efficient (I'm afraid only the Singaporeans measure up to my very high standards of efficiency :)) for South Africa and very, very friendly.

In and out within minutes.

And that was with people oohing and aaahing over the babies.

On the way out we met very old church friends of ours we hadn't seen in years so spent a good 20 minutes catching up with them - lovely.

a lovely grey cloud...

I like these garage doors

So I'm not political but I do love passionate people and a certain blog friend *cough* Hayley *cough* is so passionate about this stuff, it's lovely to see.

Also I don't get all the people complaining that they were turned away at the wrong voting stations - I'm as apathetic as they come and even I sent a text to check that I was, in fact, registered where I thought I was.

Quick and easy and reassuring to know they had me on record.

It may surprise you to know that I don't vote for either of the two major parties (!) - teehee :) I'm not about just lumping my vote in with large volumes of people.

I'd rather have one or two persons properly representing my values and ideals than 10 people I don't agree with.

Mmmmm.

So I saw on FB that in some places you don't get time off to vote - what???? (honestly speaking, I'd be much less inclined if there wasn't some free time thrown in) - and that you get fined if you don't - whattttttttttt????

Do you vote? Did you vote? Where are you on the caring about politics scale? (I'm a 2)

PS My favourite pics are the one of the flower with my voting dot on my finger and Connor's face, "what am I supposed to do with this flower?"

Mr blue mouth

Today the kids didn't repeat their wonderful sleeping habits from the weekend and only took a morning nap.

As a result, they were MANIC in the afternoon.

In between all this craziness I'm trying to cook.

Suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I spot a little boy whizzing past me in a I know I'm being naughty so best I ran as fast as I can way.

So I chased him and only caught up with him in the lounge.

Little 22-month-olds go fast on those tiny legs.

I must confess I screamed. Like a girl.

Because my little boy had a blue mouth, blue hands and his grey top was also splattered with blue food colouring.

D is the one who told me to go fetch a camera!

He'd got into my baking things.

Then I realised I have light carpets which are new (for us, two years is new) and screamed again for D to come collect him and take him straight to the bathroom for a bath.

Fortunately we had no drips anywhere and I removed the blue bottle.

I know I'm supposed to be cool, calm and collected but I'm afraid they already know I'm prone to the screaming.

Do you know that Connor laughed when I screamed?

Do you scream? Do your kids laugh at you too?

PS I had a WONDERFUL experience voting today and will tell you all about it with lots of pics tomorrow because I figured if I'm going to endure all that civic duty business, then I'm going to have fun at the same time.

This day can only get better, right?

Last night I had my talk at the church (that’s another blog post) and because D had to be home at 6.30 latest, he couldn’t work late and finish some deadline stuff.

While I’m in a rant-y mood, his company thinks their employees are the only ones with lives.

When he told them he had to come look after babies so I could go do my thing, they freaked.

HELLO!!!!!!!

So he then told them (he is verrrrrrry private and doesn’t like to let them know a THING they don’t absolutely have to know – yes, the opp of me) that I do a monthly talk at the church and it has been planned since Jan.

Even if it hadn’t, I still would not have cancelled.

Anyway, point is because he left “early” he went in at the crack of dawn this morning (6.30) and I did morning shift with the kids.

I am not a morning person. At all.

The children were tearing up my room, books everywhere, my things flung everywhere, etc.

I eventually fetched their dummies (pacifiers) and Friday (Connor is seriously attached to this bear – I’m starting to worry… but it’s still cute) and plonked them on D’s side with “books” (old magazines).

They were quiet and I fell asleep.

Woke to see these blue plastic dental floss things EVERYWHERE – they got into my bedside drawer and FLUNG these things everywhere. Connor was saying “sore sore” because one of those things got in his “shoe” (slipper).

And then he got manic because he was hungry. No doubt from all that running around at the crack of dawn.

Connor goes from normal to STARVING in seconds, a real little boy, and has absolutely NO patience when he’s hungry, much like his father.

I plonked them in their high chairs and gave them Provita and raisins til V got there and made their oats.

Then it started calming down.

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Tuesdays is when Nester, Rogers (gardener) and V are all there.

And today, Rogers brought a friend to take over from him for two weeks while he goes to get married. To be 100% honest, I find Rogers very abrasive and aggressive – even this morning the way he checked that we had his money ready… ooh, boy, he should be glad the kids were going crazy and needed my attention.

It makes me go crazy when there are so many people in the house because everyone asks me questions at the same time, etc.

And remember, I am not a morning person.

Oh, some feedback. Both Nester and V said that the pillowcases were definitely not there. I doubted myself so have chosen to believe them both BUT I gave them both a very stern talking-to and I think they’re a bit scared of me. In this same conversation I said I’m tired of being the only one in the house to put things where they belong.

My old “toys and books do not belong in the kitchen/ on my dining-room table, etc”.

Connor loves Nester – you should see him when he hears the intercom signaling her arrival – “Where Ne?” Then when he sees her, he gets all flirty! “THERE!!!” with such glee and gorgeous smiles. Both V and I laugh and laugh.

Well, while I’m having a cup of coffee to calm down from the morning madness (and check work email), V announces that the iron I bought on Saturday (after the previous one stopped working after 8 months) is not working.

I flipped.

But since I want that pile of washing ironed, I dragged myself to Clicks to take the two irons back and buy number 3.

The one manager started talking to another one (in another language I don’t understand) for a full 3 minutes or so.

Now I may not understand the language, but I do understand tone and body language.

And so I flipped out!

I said, “if there’s a problem, tell me and I’ll just pay for the new one and complain later. But I do NOT have time to stand here while you decide if I broke the iron or not. I need to get to work”.

And so they refunded without further problems.

But the one lady gave me serious attitude.

I had had it!

And that is why I got to work at 10:15.

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I’ve just come back from a FANTASTIC meeting – seriously fantastic. Loved the guy. He knew what he was doing, could answer all our questions and if it were up to me alone, I’d sign him up on the spot. I am on a high but this is why we need actuaries and accounting people :)


Are you a morning person? Night owl?

To brighten up this rant-y post, some cute pics.

Connor feeding his father some coloured rings

Kendra sporting ponytails for a few seconds before her brother pulled them out of her hair. And yes, I was organising the medicine drawer (see background in pic on bottom left)

PPS I have 100 followers - thanks to each and every one of you. Giveaway tomorrow!

Strangeness

new post here

Oh gosh, wet babies in winter

Remember the post about the Pampers loyalty being possibly misplaced?

Well, we tried everything:

• Huggies Dry Comfort
• Huggies Gold

We were getting better results with Huggies Gold but still not great.

Then my brilliant friend Michelle told me that her E used to leak when he was ready to move to a bigger size bodyvest.

Apparently the bodyvest pushes against the nappy when they pee. The pee then escapes through the top and so... wet vest... wet child.

I moved her to bigger vests and all was well in Kendra land for many, many months.

And after those two packs of Huggies nappies finished, I went back to my beloved Pampers.

They're just so much softer and the babies' skin is so lovely :)

But over the last month or so, the leaking has started again.

And it's winter.

So she's waking up at 4 am again. Soaked through.

D and I have started going in at 10/ 10:30 to change her nappy just before he goes to bed (sad to say, he is much more diligent than I am) but it's terrible.

She cries because who wants to be woken from sleep? Although she's gorgeous - all pink cheeks, big brown eyes and slightly sleepy so very huggable.

Here's what I've done:

1. moved her to a bigger vest again (btw, I can't find vests for Connor - haven't been to Woolies yet but will have to go look).
   
2. reduced her water intake at supper (4:00) to maximum 75 ml (poor thing because she LOVES water, like me) because she gets 150 ml milk at 6 pm before bed.
   

She's in Pampers 4 and they still fit her properly.

I am going to get a bag of Pampers 4+ on the weekend just to see if there's any difference.

Any ideas? Do you have leaking babies? What do you use?

PS The kids slept for 3 hrs 40 and 3 hrs yesterday. I am amazed and feel like a new woman. I finished a book, made a good start on another, cooked, tidied, etc. It nearly felt like life pre-kids :)

I'm hiding out in the study so the kids will sleep

Our church only has one morning service today and next week so off we trudged to church (very late but as I say, better to get 1 hour than nothing at all).

The kids missed their morning nap (yes, they still take two short ones) and we got home just after 12 as I couldn't resist some Crazy Store shopping (like the Dollar Store but a bit more expensive).

Kendra fell asleep about 5 minutes from home so took a long time settling down in her cot again. She sings and sings until she gets tired - very cute!

Connor fell asleep immediately - he is exactly like D. They don't sleep easily elsewhere but once they hit their beds, off they pop.

Kendra and I sleep anywhere.

So I had a cup of coffee and then tackled my wardrobe.

As you know, N messes up the order in my cupboards and with the winter/ summer clothes switch, I've been literally itching to tackle it.

And I did.

Happy to say it all looks gorgeous now.

I just remembered I came in here to get labels and a permanent marker to label the shelves.

I have also decided on a theme for the party - it's a bit boring but suits me actually and best of all, is totally in line with the "living a simpler life" goal on my 36 things list.

Let me just look into getting invites out and then I'll tell you more. It might change again because D says to me this morning, "I honestly can't believe you're going with such a boring theme" :)

I don't know why he has such a problem with boring? It may be boring but hopefully it will be super-easy!

Anyway, so I saw this on Cat's blog:

Favourite song - sadly, I had about 49 downloadable audios to listen to for my business so I've made CDs and that's what I'm listening to at the moment. Current CD is on the 7 biggest marketing mistakes :) riveting stuff... not!

Favourite Shop – Studio Blue - I love the sleek, simple furniture and then Exclusive Books

Favourite chocolate - anything Cadbury's, but the plain old Dairy Milk is still the best.

Favourite cookies - most homemade types would suit me. The plainer the better. Sugar or oats or ginger

Favourite food – my mother's chicken lentil curry or otherwise Thai Mussamen curry from Chef Pon's Asian Kitchen in Cape Town

Favourite meal that I make –Pasta. I make lots of pasta with whatever is available. I like to get creative in the kitchen and checking the fridge makes me get resourceful with what's there.

Favourite flower – yellow chrysanthemums

Favourite colour to wear – deep reds, hot pinks, bright blues, greens. Those colours apparently look good on me according to my friend (and image consultant)

Favourite shoes – I don't really have favourites. My summer sandals probably make me happiest because they're all bright colours. Oh wait, I had this pair of red suede shoes once. When I moved up to Jhb, my mother posted a box of stuff. That was the box that went missing.

Favourite drink – Water with a slice of lemon

Favourite lens – huh :) the ones I wear to see through

Favourite place to walk the dogs – no dogs

Favourite place to take the kids – sadly, I still am looking for a nice place but currently any park will do so they can run wild

Favourite coffee for every day at home - Ricoffy Decaf (not much of a coffee drinker) but my favourite tea is Joko (the round ones)

Favourite coffee shop – nothing at present although years ago I used to like a place at Killarney Mall called Aromas :) I'd often meet clients there for in-person coaching sessions

Favourite pizza place – Mimmos

Favourite places to take photos – cities and mountains.

Favourite place for holidays – the beach

Favourite yoghurt – currently Woolworths fat-free white peach

Favourite man – depending on who's behaving, D or Connor :)

Favourite website – google reader - is that cheating?

Favourite TV programme - Amazing Race. Love it!

Consider yourself tagged!

Even if you don't feel like doing the whole tag, share some of your favourite things with me in the comments. Feel free to link to your post if you accept the tag.

PS they're still sleeping! 2 hrs 20 for Connor; 1 hr 45 for Kendra. At this rate I might drag myself to the first service every week :)

Caught out

Spotted while I was doing a walk around at work with an art director scouting for locations

This morning I was walking across the parking lot at our church when my phone beeped.

I checked the message and it said, "Marcia, please come weigh in so I can help you. Maureen".

Caught out.

I replied, "You are SO sweet! I'm at a church thing but I do need help and will phone you. Marcia"

I'm terrible at texting but I had to respond immediately because the Weigh-Less Group Leader figured me out.

I haven't been to weigh-in at Weigh-Less for two Saturdays.

And the week before that I'd put on 0.6 kg. It was the Saturday after our holiday so I chalked it up to being out of your routine on holiday .

The next week I was exactly the same on my scale which means the same on their scale too.

And this morning I was only 0.2 kg lighter.

So I told myself, "what's the point in going?" and "I don't have time"

I never, ever believe people when they say, "I don't have time".

A better thing to say is, "I'm choosing to do this instead of that".

In the interests of full disclosure, I spent some time this morning looking at A's teddy bear bday party (thanks for your Picasa link, Cat).

I could have gone to weigh-in even though I was on my way to church.

I've been having lots of constipation problems and lots of birthday problems.

Birthday problems- these are no excuses. I accept full responsibility.

The table where the birthday girl/ boy puts all the cake and goodies at work is right across the aisle from my desk.

The way I achieve goals is to set up my environment for success. So I don't take any food to work I can't eat. E.g. Julia commented in a post a while back when I mentioned the ginormous bag of food I take to work that I should leave some things there. I can't. If I'm at any point hungry, I would polish it all off since I have very little self-control.

We've had two birthdays in the last two weeks. All with VERY good cake. I've had small pieces but still...cake. I have no problem with things I'm not keen on - fresh cream, lots of icing, etc.

Thank goodness the next birthday is only mid-July!

Then, constipation.

Let's just say I've always suffered somewhat but usually the water and the all bran flakes do the trick.

Not anymore.

I had to buy Dulcolax on Wed because I'd had no success since Sun (TMI!) and yes, it worked on Thurs but I felt so ill I'm considering the rest of the box worth R60 a waste of money. 29 tablets, anyone?

Today my friend told me to try Benefiber so off I went to Clicks again this afternoon and got me some. R85 later, this stuff better work.

There's also one other thing which seems very superficial but here it is:

My jeans are already loose.

The weight I've already lost coupled with the "magic" of the personal trainer has meant my size 34 (10) jeans are all loose around my thighs. So are my work pants and therefore I feel thin. I've even been turning down the waistband to keep the jeans on.

I think I should fit on some of my old size 32's so I can feel a bit fatter and get motivated to lose these last almost 4 kg :)

Here's hoping this week is better and I lose something crazy like 2 kg :) Look at me, over-achiever extraordinaire.

How good are you with self-control and eating the "wrong foods"? What do you tell yourself? What are your tips for "eating success"?

PS I've just realised - I haven't been exercising!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's probably reason 3.

The one good thing about Blogger being down

is that I left work this afternoon at 3:25, with only 1 email in my inbox and all my work up to date.

And a clear Google Reader.

Miracle!

That's because I couldn't post and the gazillion other blogs I read couldn't post too.

Of course I also couldn't comment on the older posts so please know I've read but I'm not going back to everything just to comment :)

1. Because of that, I went to get my hair done. Okay, that's not strictly true.

This morning I'd just had it with my hair and I phoned her while walking from the basement parking up to our office for an appt.

2. I'm also going to a women's thing at church tomorrow with a friend. Can't wait. We're having something to eat afterwards and a nice chat.

3. The other thing I did for me this week happened yesterday.

We have a two-hour meeting every two weeks which always runs over. Always.

And that means instead of having time to attend to one or two things, I run between meetings and end up feeling stressed because I'm not actioning anything.

So yesterday, at 2:10 I excused myself and said I had some things to attend to before my next meeting at 2:30. I did have to contact a few people so I didn't feel bad leaving; instead I like that I maintained strong boundaries.

And tonight I'm going to curl up with my Tony Parsons and get properly stuck in.

Some other tidbits...

I start working with the personal trainer again next week . It's going to take some getting used to because it'll have been 7 weeks and I am lazy.... and it's now winter whereas before I was exercising in summer.

I hope to get to goal weight by the time the babies turn 2 (nice milestone to aim for).

I am nowhere closer to deciding on a birthday party theme (Mandy, D was not keen on the book theme unless something specific like Alice in Wonderland, etc.)...any other ideas or blogs/ websites are welcome.

What did you do for yourself this week?

Love tanks

We had our supper last night with the couple who got married.

They had a wonderful time on honeymoon, are here for a bit and jet off to the UK tomorrow night.

Their tickets back home are already booked for 16 Dec which is nice because it’s not a vague “oh, see you sometime in the next year, but see you in December” farewell.

I was telling them exactly what I loved about their wedding and I said to him that his speech was so beautiful and how, being a words of affirmation person, I loved every single word.

Then I had to give a quick rundown of the 5 love languages.

They loved it!

He is like me – words of affirmation and acts of service – and hers are gifts first and then physical touch.

I gave them their gift yesterday and since it was two envelopes, I tied a gorgeous bow to make it look special.

She squealed when she saw it.

He loved reading our card :)

We decided that they are perfectly matched as he can read all the cards and she can open the gifts :)

I ended up giving cash since there were a few small inconveniences with delivering the John Lewis voucher plus a disc of all the pics I took at the wedding.

They loved hearing my story of how the signage at the venue said “K & B”, with her name first and HUGE, and how the security guard said to us, “are you here for K’s wedding?” and how I said, “yes, K AND B” :)

I took their wedding invite, cut out the pic of them and put it in a photo frame in the dining room, ever so casually, so they could see it when we had supper. They loved it! It happened to fit perfectly in a standard 10 X 15 photo frame which thrilled me.

Anyway, we had a lovely evening and they even got to see Connor (and Friday, the teddy bear) who came to see us when his medication was wearing off.

K sees the kids every few months as we have lots of coffee dates together in the afternoons when she’s done with school (she teaches) and she was amazed at how he’s grown. B hasn’t seen them for about a year so he was shell-shocked!


My love tank is also full:

• D said some lovely things to me on Mother’s Day. I told him to write it down because my memory is bad and I don’t want to forget.
• The twitter comment yesterday…
• And on Saturday at our infertility group get-together, I received the most beautiful card from one of the ladies. A thank-you card for speaking in March and how she was so blessed by hearing my testimony. She also said she believes I am called to bring hope and light into the lives of women who are struggling to conceive and that my going through all of it is my platform. How lovely. I receive it!!!


How full is your love tank at the moment? What needs to happen to top it up?

PS I have been searching hi and low for binder rings for some crafty things I want to do – I don’t think we make them in South Africa.

So is there a kind person from the US out there who normally goes to a stationery store and is willing to send me a pack or two? If yes, please contact me so we can arrange payment? I would be eternally grateful.

My poor boy is sick

Today when I got back from my outside meeting there was an email from D telling me that V phoned him as Connor is sick.

He'd been complaining that his knee is sore and told her he wants to go sleep.

BIG alarm bells as my Connor goes FULL out the whole day.

She checked his temperature and it was fine but an hour later it was 37.6 (37 is where we want it) so she gave him some Panado.

Poor thing.

I got some new Panado melt-in-the-mouth tabs at Clicks in the afternoon on the way home.

Connor was just laying still on his bed, red little cheeks.

He said to me, "Friday (Fi)... hug" so I gave Friday a hug and then I said, "Connor, do you also want a hug?" and he nodded.

Oh my sweet boy.

He also asked for medicine so I gave him one of the new things. They made it perfectly for kids because even though he didn't want it, it melts so quickly that before you know it, it's dissolved.

And I had his milk ready to wash down any aftertaste.

We prayed and lights went off. No kids were crying and jumping out of their beds which is a miracle.

But still I miss my active little boy.

How was your day?

PS I've been so office-bound lately that I LOVED driving to the client, meeting about their business needs, and then driving back. Jhb is SO gorgeous in winter - bright blue skies - and it's just so nice to get out and meet new people.

PPS The day started off so well when I got wind of some nice things said about my coaching on twitter. I beamed :)

Top 25 multiples blogs on Circle of Moms

So, a very kind person has nominated my blog for Circle of Moms top 25 Multiples Blogs.

I squealed when I saw the email.

So even though I don't really do this begging for votes thing, I would hate to be last on that list because that's just embarrassing and I have my pride. And I had 5 votes compared to the other people's hundreds :)

Apparently you can click once a day (on that pic on the top of this post) so I'm going to try and remind you daily. In a nice way, of course.

Have a lovely day - I'm off to an off-site meeting.

Doing my own thing

Yesterday I received an email from Justine, the new personal trainer, and I literally squealed.

How sad is it that I'm excited to start working out again?!

I have a meeting with her tomorrow afternoon to discuss goals, scheduling, etc. (all my favourite things) and I can't wait.

Because I'm getting my flabby butt into gear again.

It's been 6 weeks since my last session :( so hopefully we'll have a session this week.

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Isn't it funny how when inspiration strikes you can just go go go?

My friend, R, gave me a Weigh-Less magazine on Saturday and after paging through it, I was so inspired I cooked two things last night.

For those like me, it was macaroni cheese - I used beef instead of chicken - and tomato soup.

Why I have not made tomato soup before I really don't know!

It is so easy but of course, I never follow directions.

I look at the ingredients and then do my own thing :)

I need to stop the doing my own thing because I need to get serious about this weight thing and get it over and done with. I can't be doing this WL thing for months and months on end - my goal is 2 kg this month and then another 2 kg next month, and then I'm done!

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I am always doing my own thing - I get a bee in my bonnet and off I go, no matter what.

I'm also the type of person who likes shopping alone (my friend with the twins, C, is the only other girl I know like me) and best of all, going to movies alone.

Did you gasp?

I only go with a friend so that it kills two birds with one stone, but actually, I prefer going alone :)


Are you someone who does your own thing or do you find comfort in doing things with other people?

Do you prefer to shop and go to movies alone?

PS I wrote a bit about mother's day on my organising blog if anyone's interested.

The good thing about being around other moms with kids is...

Natalie & D2 (baby one is also D)

On Saturday we had a big infertility get together.

Huge!

Of course there were hundreds of babies.

I joke, only about 30 or so?

Accompanied by their parents although lots of the husbands had "hockey" and "fishing" and "work", otherwise known as avoiding large gatherings of women and kids.

There were a few very brave souls still "in the trenches" (S, it was so great to chat with you and R - I think he's amazing to have pitched). Personally, if I'd been in that situation I wouldn't have gone - far, far too painful.

Apparently over 40 babies have been born in the 4 years of the group. K just phoned me back - we counted well over 40, of those 11 sets of multiples (Dee, yours are the only triplets).

K has a beautiful house with a gigantic garden and the kids were in heaven - running around, playing, stealing toys, eating things they don't ever eat (my two).

Connor and Emma were single-handedly polishing off one bucket of Flings

So back to the topic.

The best thing about these things is the realisation that your kids are really not that bad :)

Sometimes it takes seeing them all together to see that everyone has crazy kids and you're not the only one.

But the best best for me is seeing how other mothers do things.

Example 1

Some hover, some totally relax, some are somewhere inbetween with regards to kids running around like crazy.

My friend, R, has two girls who were dressed beautifully.

I'm not 100% sure but I think they weren't allowed to sit in the sandpit. Understandably - those beautiful dresses would be ruined. See hot pink dresses.



Mine were covered with sand (and water - Connor) from head to toe by the time we left. They climbed into the sandbox and did who-knows-what with the sand but yes, it was everywhere.



I just let them at it knowing that I'd dump them in the bath (the curer of all ills, in my book) when we got home.

(they were exhausted and slept soundly with not a peep the entire night)


Example 2

My friend, C, has twin girls. The one threw a tantrum when her mother wanted her to share toys with the "babies" (my two) and so went to the naughty corner (a far corner of the garden).

That's her in the pic below (tiny little girl second from left) - this is also me being lazy and zooming in from where I was sitting very far away.


This was priceless.

After a couple of minutes, C went to have a chat with her.

She then returned without G so I asked what was wrong.

"G says she's not ready to share and wants to stay longer in the naughty corner"

Well, I laughed and laughed.

Too cute!

But this inspired me.

So I tried it with Kendra yesterday.

"Kendra, are you ready to listen to Mummy or do you need to stay in time-out?"

She told me she's not ready to listen to me yet.

Brilliant!

And sure enough, when she came out a few minutes later, she was listening!

I've always felt like time-out with her needed some modification. This might just be it :)

What's the best thing for you about being with other moms?

This is my favourite pic of the day - such a serious boy (was he okay, Caren?)



PS I uploaded nice big pics this time - click to view big and save if you are featured :)

Dog tired of budgeting and .......tattling

Since I'm sure most of you are also probably sick of reading soppy Mother's Day posts, let's change the subject completely.


I've been doing the budget this evening.

Reconciling holiday spending and the last week's too.

I am thousands out (impossible as we haven't really gone crazy anywhere with the spending) and even though it's making me feel crazy obsessive like this, I know nothing is going to be clear when I'm this tired.

The other annoying thing is that it's not something you can just send a colleague (like I can with a normal excel sheet) and say, "please check me on this - something is not adding up" :)

I'll have to have another look with a fresh set of eyes tomorrow.

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In other news, my son has started "tattling" on ME!

Not even on his sister but on me.

D says to me, "Connor told me you took the orange pen away from him and didn't want to let him play with it"

I literally was floored.

He was right.

"How on EARTH did you know?"

Apparently Connor ran crying to him.

"Daaaadddddddy! Mummy....no....pen.... orange.... :) "

Yip, I am the mean one because I said no when he wanted to play with my orange pen.

Things are about to get really interesting around here!

Quick question on Shutterfly to the bloggers

Did you guys get your 50 free cards in Nov/ Dec when you did those posts with the 3 links?

I did everything I was meant to, followed up after about 2 weeks, then a month and then forgot until I've just seen another blogger blog about a similar promotion.

So I'm not impressed with Shutterfly.

Also, on another note - how do all you South African bloggers know one another?

When I find myself commenting on one blog, I see everyone knows one another and then I click another, and there's the same thing happening. And on and on and on.

I found South African blogs quite by chance (I know Cat found me and that's how I found LOTS of other bloggers, including my photographer :)) except for Tertia, the SA'n rock star blogger.

I feel like the best kept South African blogging secret :) because no one knows my blog.

Anyway, just some thoughts on a Sat night.

In exactly two months' time

my babies will be TWO!

I'm really going to have to stop calling them babies...

On a side-note, my baby boy has discovered the joy of freedom. In the last week he's come to our bedroom clutching some pumpkin from the freezer (he goes exploring before he comes to find us in the mornings) - maybe he was hungry???

The other night he arrived at my bed at 2:30 am wanting to play. I had to walk him back to bed twice, the second time he told me he was "scared" but I took the opportunity for some hugs :)

So here's the thing - I need to start planning a party!

I have the photographer booked but that's it :)


I need some ideas please.

I like easy, cheap ideas and either unisex, or things that will work for boys and girls. No characters.

I'm thinking of having it outside so I don't want decor that's too fussy because my aim is to only have one table.

Help!!!

What are you doing for Mother's Day?

I saw a post on Holly's blog that reminded me about something I wanted to talk to you about.

Holly asked if people wanted jewellery, something handmade, a break or something else for Mother's Day.

First, a bit of background.

You know my infertility background.

Mother's Day was one of those hard, hard days that always left me crying.

At my church, they ask all the mothers to stand and they pray over them.

I thought it was beautiful ... for them... but heart-wrenching for people like me.

And so last year, my first Mother's Day, I thought I'd be all sunshine and roses.

Life is beautiful and all I want to do is spend time with my babies.

Um, no.

Far from it.

I actually just wanted to be alone. Also, at 10 months, our kids were just starting to sleep through so I was still sleep deprived.

I remember I sent a text to some of my friends saying, "is it terrible that all I want to do for Mother's Day is be by myself?"

Some replied and said they'd love the same thing but due to expectations they'd have to suck it up and have more of the family/ baby thing.

Oy!

But I spoke to D and he took the babies to visit his mother after church so I could have some alone time.

Bliss!


Now, this year I'm doing things differently.

I'm not taking chances on him reading my mind.

I told him I want something (small and practical) from him and from the kids.

We're also having a quick lunch with his mother after church (we have restaurants at church and I couldn't face the slow service and overpriced menus of traditional restaurants) and then home.

I'm going to tell him that I want an hour to read in the afternoon.

And that's it.

But this year, I will actually spend time with the kids :)

What are you doing this Mother's Day? And what do you want?

This week I did a couple of things just for me:

1. On Monday I stayed in my pj's until 3 pm and it felt gooooood. I could get used to that.
2. Yesterday I had another full body massage. This one was good but I was cold - apparently there is something wrong with the aircon but I told her she better get it fixed because I hate being cold. Yes, I love the cold but I don't like BEING cold.
3. Best of all, I've been getting my goals and things sorted and realigned since we're 1/3rd of the way through the year. Next week I want to post an update on my 36 things list. This might sound boring but it's how I keep moving forward in my life.
   

What have you done for yourself this week?

We have ourselves a situation

I've had the sense over the last month or so that things in my house are going missing.

Nothing big, but things like a spoon, that kind of thing.

I mentioned this to Julia last night when we were emailing each other and she said something like "trust your instincts; that's what they're there for". Good advice.

This week I asked N (cleaning lady) to change the bedding to winter sheets (I bought a new duvet and pillows on the weekend) and to put on the green winter continental pillowcases.

When I got home on Tuesday, there were white pillowcases with green trim (summer cotton ones).

I thought, "obviously she misunderstood" and so this evening I got up in my cupboard to get the correct ones so I could change them.

They weren't in the spot I'd last seen them.

I bought new, moss-green winter ones at the end of winter last year and so they haven't been used yet and are/ were still in their plastic cases from Mr P Home.

About 6 - 8 weeks ago, I climbed up in that same cupboard to "straighten it out" as it was a mess (for me) and saw them there, still in their cases.

So when I couldn't find them tonight, I went berserk (do you also go crazy if you can't find something?) and ripped EVERYthing out of the cupboard so my bed was FULL of sheets, duvets, etc.

BEFORE

AFTER

this is how I took the pics - hanging on with one hand and leaning back

bit of a close-up

It is now beautifully organised but still those things are nowhere to be found.

Then I thought, maybe I'm in fact going mad (I hate this feeling) and so I went berserk again.

I went through every drawer and cupboard that houses linen in this whole house looking for those green pillowcases.

Nothing.

Again, everything else is decluttered and tidied but no pillowcases.

I also have a sneaking suspician about a duvet cover but I may have given that one to my mother so I will check first. Still it's strange I have the pillowcases and continental pillowcases for that set but no duvet. Hmmm.

So now what do I do?

I am so not in the mood for firing and rehiring people although I promised myself the last time (2009) that I would not be a softie next time around.

It's not the value of the pillowcases (R80 each) but the principle behind the whole thing.

I asked D and he says, "do you really want to make a big deal about this? maybe it's your memory?" until I explained that I have searched EVERYWHERE.

And he knows when I go wild, I go WILD!

The only thing I did tonight was cook, have 1 30-minute coaching session, eat and look for these darn things/ organise linen.

Which is two wasted hours of my life I can never get back.

LOL and now I'm blogging about it.

I will ask V tomorrow if she knows anything. I don't think she's taken them but maybe she'll have seen something? And she's scared to say but if I ask her outright she'll tell me???

In 2009 our cleaning lady P helped herself to lots of things. I was in the crazy newborn stage and thought I was SERIOUSLY sleep deprived because I could swear I had tops in orange and purple but yet there was only one colour. Many such incidents.

Once I sent her a text and said, "P, when you come on Sat please will you remember to look for my silver ring. I can't think where I might have put it but it means SUCH a lot to me" and then on the Sat we left and went to coffee or something.

When I got back, she'd "found" it fallen down the side of the bed. Of course I knew it wasn't there but I wanted my ring back and if she had taken it, I wanted her to know to bring it back.

I don't want all these games.

For the moment I'm going to pray and ask God to please please please show me if they're in the house so I can stop going crazy.

And this, people, is why I'm organised. I just don't have hours and hours to indulge my crazy tendencies and look for things.

What do you think I should do? What would you do?

"Your children talk so beautifully"

I haven't written a lot about the children talking because I didn't think they were doing anything outside of average, either way.

I'm not one of those mothers who thinks her kids are geniuses.

But then one too many people commented (esp recently - and yes, their language has exploded somewhat) on how much my children talk and how well they talk.

So maybe there's something there?

I remember when my one friend, Natalie, said something to me, I was like, "really? they talk a lot? I hadn't noticed"

And the two of us decided that maybe it was because I talk a lot.

Another friend said she doesn't talk to her son half as much as what we talk to ours.

The house is never quiet when the babies are awake, except when they're being naughty.

Although yesterday I was putting Kendra in pj's and we were chatting away, as we do, and suddenly I noticed very un-Connor like silence.

I quickly put Kendra in her cot and rushed to find him.

He was sitting back on my bed in between the two continental pillows, Friday (teddy bear) in the one hand, watching TV (the news no less!).

Too darn cute.

Anyway, point is Dr S mentioned that they're streaks ahead of babies their actual age but who knows if he says that to all the mothers? D says I'm getting way too cynical.

But a lot of people commented recently about how we also don't use "baby talk" with the babies.

That's true.

I personally have never seen the need to talk baby for two reasons:

1. I would feel stupid :) and
2. I don't want them to have to learn to say the same words twice (e.g ta and then thank you). My view is just teach them the correct thing first time round.
   

So we don't talk baby at all.

I must confess, I wondered when we started with baby sign language if it would slow down the kids' speech.

It hasn't because we always did the sign along with speaking the words and they still (mostly do the same).

I noticed when Connor's tired and hungry (and cranky!) that he can't be bothered to talk as much and just signs wildly. Too cute!

And if you don't get what he's saying, then he signs and talks which to my mind, is raising his voice at me. LOL

I still would have done it even if it had been so simply because it has saved my sanity.

Anyway, so back to the baby talk.

Do you talk baby? What has your approach been with talking to your baby/ies?

Considering myself tagged

Julia wrote a post yesterday and I had so much to say I thought I would consider myself tagged :)

These questions are from her blog.

1. Does your partner/spouse read your blog?

D doesn't read any of my blogs but does subscribe to the one where I only write about the kids.

He has no interest in reading any blogs but he does know this one exists and what kind of things I post on it. I often write here and then I'll say, "so I wrote on the blog about time-outs, etc, etc and the people said X" That's enough for him :)

Now and again, if I come across something that I know he'll love love LOVE (usually on parenting), I'll send him the post from my Google Reader.

On the one hand, I think he'll enjoy some of what I write but on the other hand, it is nice to have MY space so I can write about him. Teehee :)

2. Am I being unfair to write people off who don’t speak to me in my love language? Even though I have spoken to them about what it is that I need from them? Even though I make an effort to speak to them in their respective love languages?

Well, I have lots of issues with friendships but the same Suzanne from yesterday's post said something a while back that really put this into perspective for me.

She said there are different friends for different things. Some are just to have fun at a movie with, some to go shopping, some to go to Scotland :), some to talk serious stuff and share your life dreams.

I have since just accepted each one for what they are and know that some are to go see chick flicks with and not for serious talking :)

So I think, Julia, that maybe these girls aren't your "love language" friends. Set the intention and pray and ask God for some LL friends. That's exactly what I've done.

3. Why do people not respond to you or call you back when they say they will?

Maybe they're not "phone" people?

I'm not an SMS person but I am an email one. If you SMS me and I'm at a computer, I'll reply by email unless it's urgent.

I go “mental” if people don’t phone me back, especially in service industries.

Call them out on it. Yes, a bit embarrassing but worth it to resolve it. Sometimes people don't realise they are making you go nuts.

4. What is the best type of holiday for a Toddler and a Tween?

A beach holiday is surely good for anyone, right? :) Or is that just me? Or something with animals since they're boys?

5. Why do some people put empty milk cartons and stuff back into the fridge when they are done? Why is it so difficult for some people to clean up after themselves when they peel potatoes or whatever?

Now this is something that seriously drives me nuts. We have a rule in our house that when you approach the bottom third of anything it goes on the shopping list on the fridge.

V has learned that I do not go to the shops mid-week, ever. And she is now planning much better :)

I have a particular issue with V - she will use baby toiletries - Vaseline, powder, shampoo, etc. and leave 1 drop in the bottle. Literally.

Bear in mind that I have a cupboard stocked with things and all she has to do is finish using the thing and take another bottle from the cupboard.

But no, I will have to empty the container.

And yes, I have told her so before. Yesterday I gave both her and Nester a talking-to. I told them I am tired of my house looking like a train wreck.

Toys only belong in the babies' bedroom or the lounge area, not the kitchen or my bedroom, so if they see things out of place, to move it back.

And so on...

We'll see how effective this talk was :)

To answer your question, though, I think it's because they're lazy and don't want to get another box of milk from the cupboard :)


Oooh, that felt good!


I'm tagging 7 bloggers - MandyE, Rebecca, MandyH, Laura (Harassed Mom), Gina, Blackhuff, and Amanda from LilyPad just because I'm curious :) but go ahead and consider yourself tagged.

Do any of these things drive you nuts? Or are you cool as a cucumber? If you're cool, what do you say to yourself to keep calm?

P.S. I forgot to acknowledge one other award and am mortified. My post is edited.

P.P.S. I was up to date with my Google Reader by about 7 pm last night. When I logged back in later, there were 34 posts and then I deleted 7 blogs :)

The power of a good crop

The original pic (which I'm not crazy enough to post) has my slightly double chin and the belly.

With this crop, I actually look good :)

Body issues, what I'm learning about food and tons of pics

love this pic - it's so me - grey skies, cold weather and warm clothes - LOVE!

walking through a cemetery in Scotland

no Photoshop - the grass at the Blarney Castle is really that green!

beautiful street in Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland - isn't it quaint?

me in Scotland (just for you, Roz) - down one of the side streets off Princes Street, Edinburgh

in England somewhere - love the colours

my 2nd bloggy meet-up in Scotland - the lovely Suzanne, my organising buddy :)

D & me at the Blarney Castle grounds

me in Chester, England - love this kind of gorgeous little street

I answered in the comments of that torso pic :) but wanted to quickly write it here in case you don't go back and read comments (I know I don't).

Contrary to perception, I really don't have body issues.

I'm happy with what I look like, even the 5 kg overweight version :)

The thing is... I know what my body is capable of and I really hate to see it not living up to its potential.

Confession - I hate seeing any person not living up to their potential.

I want to run up two flights of stairs and not be out of breath.

I want to chase Connor around the garden for hours on end.

Etc. etc.

And I want to be toned and athletic :)

I can dress to camouflage the bad bits... somewhat... but I just want to be the best possible me.

Does this make sense or do you think I'm talking rubbish?


So this time around Weigh-Less is teaching me a couple of things that I'd forgotten, and some new things.

1. Two herbal tea bags in a litre of water plus two sweetener is almost as good as water. I make a jug and drink from it the entire night so that I don't drink endless cups of tea (as I normally do). Delicious. Also helps you get to the water quotient in winter.
2. I have almost gone off normal tea because I'm being intentional about my calories and that extra quarter spoon of sugar (I take 1 equal sweetener (Canderel is too sweet!) plus a 1/4 spoon of sugar in a mug of tea) is just not worth it.
3. I really, really, REALLY look forward to my real cups of tea/ coffee these days because I can only have 3. Sometimes I don't even make it to the 3rd cup!
4. Other than the tea/ coffee, I really prefer to eat my calories rather than drink them. I can easily turn down milkshakes, smoothies, juice, etc.
5. I choose proteins that have the least amount to eat since this is the one I really battle with. So feta cheese over lean ham :)
6. Soup is my friend
7. When I'm organised, I'm much happier (I now carry a herbal teabag in my handbag and to meetings so I'm not tempted by our delicious cappuccinos) and cheat less.
   

And some things I'd forgotten:

• To not buy food I normally don't eat (like those darn Finn's rye biscuits - gosh, they're like cardboard)
• How much I love baked beans and tomatoes!

So how do you feel about your body? Do you have body issues?

And have you learnt anything about your relationship with food lately?

PS there's no reason for the pics - I just felt like looking through some of them and thought you'd enjoy them too :)

This made me cry and lots of linky love

EDITED to add another award! Look at number 3 - I am bad!!!

Down to 82 blogs now :)

I've been following J-mom since her triplets were about 3 and they're now 7.

Today I read this post that was just SO sweet, it made me cry.

Enjoy.



And then, before I get too late with these, I've had 4 blog awards recently.

*blush*

1. First, from Kaitake in New Zealand (I am so jealous of their weather.................), versatile blogger and stylish blogger awards. K is taking on the NZ govt for funding for her IVF (love her perseverance and determination).


2. Then, from Blackhuff in South Africa (she has lost a TON of weight over the last 8 - 9 months and is pure inspiration with her self-discipline!) also gave me the versatile blogger award.


3. Also, from Mash at The Lucky Life (another South African blogger, this time in CT) gave me the Versatile Blogger award. Mash has family in Jhb so hopefully we'll meet up soon. She's so self-disciplined with money and is Inspiration. She's the one who told me I can pay off my bond this year and even sent me a helpful spreadsheet.


4. and last, but by no means least, from Rebecca at Unexplained Happiness, the blog with substance award. And... she wanted to take it back after seeing my good photo crop post :)

I thought I was the most straightforward and honest person I know but... um no, Rebecca is.

Thank you to all of you ladies for the virtual hugs :)

I'll share my 7 things and then, for those reading, please take whichever awards you like - you are all awesome people for reading and writing me lovely comments :)

I am way too tired to hand out awards as a little girl was in my bed at 4 am this morning crying her eyes out. We don't know why; we think she was just being emotional (I know, I also thought girls only started with this nonsense at 13).

Here goes:

1. I only do filing every 2 - 3 months. I keep very little paper so it's only about 1 cm thick after that long. I have an in-tray I put it all in and I date it (last time filing was done 13 January!).
2. I only keep (max) about 3 months' worth of any one bill. And sometimes when I'm lazy (like today) I only keep the latest. How often do you file?
3. I also have an in-tray I call "things to do in front of the tv". Tonight I watched about 20 minutes of the Bold and the Beautiful and cut out gift tags. They've been waiting for me for sweet forever since the B&B (and now, Amazing Race) is all I watch.
4. I've done 3 GINORMOUS loads of laundry and there are still 2 to go. Laundry is my worst chore, ever. Waaaay above cleaning toilets. What's your worst chore?
5. I have not worked out with the personal trainer for a whole month. Tomorrow I'm going to phone the gym manager and fight with him as he keeps changing these people. On the one hand, I'm sad as my flab is kind of creeping back at an alarming rate but on the other hand, I think I would have wasted 10 days adjusting to a new person ...
6. I've been doing that random acts of kindness thing and.......... in a surprising turn of events, I got stuff done back at me! One friend sent me TWO cards (I am TICKLED pink when I get anything fun in the mail) and TWO men tried to pay for my parking the other day. That was hugely embarrassing and is a blog post in itself. My favourite one I've done is to leave post-it notes with lovely messages on them on random people's computers. I giggle to myself when they find it. Do you ever do random acts of kindness?
7. I made a vision book last year (sketchbook with double page spread for each section of my life) and I think I'm going to have to go back to the old-fashioned way and do a vision board, on an A2 poster board. I need to see it out in front of me all the time. The book was propped open in a recipe book holder on my desk but was taking up way too much space. Hmmm, I may do this with the group at my monthly church talks. It is a fantastic group activity as people actually do it within a specific time instead of just saying "yes, I really should..."

And that's me!

Now answer my two questions in 4 and 6.

Have a lovely week - I'm back at work tomorrow.

What's that about the 7th time?

Before I forget, is anyone's kids on Floradix? When mine went for their 21-month appt, Dr S said they were looking a bit pale and to give iron supplements!

We started giving them Ferrimed and then I decluttered my medicines (in a burst of productivity on the Easter weekend) and found two unexpired bottles of Floradix (liquid iron).

They are 10 ml bottles and the dosage instructions say to take 10 ml before morning and evening meals which is obviously crazy.

I gave them each 1 ml but does anyone know what the correct dosage is?

****************************

Today was the 7th time the babies went to children's church and finally, the first time I didn't worry one tiny little bit.

Afterwards I was so anxious to see them and when we went up to the classroom, we peeked in.

BTW, am I the only one who gets annoyed by peaks, peeks and piques all being used wrong?

Kendra was right near the door and I said, "Kendra!"

She turns around and goes, "MUMMY!" with such joy. We laughed!

Then we watched Connor for a bit where he was playing with some bigger (but still in the 12 - 24 months class) boys.

Eventually the lady on duty told him we were there.

First thing he does is he scrunches up his face like he wants to cry.

He was remembering that actually, he was sad to be left 1.5 hours earlier.

And then he ran over and I scooped him up.

I couldn't resist and spontaneously said, "Connor, you gorgeous boy! I love you so much!" and I saw a couple of the parents smiling.

D said to me afterwards that I better get it under control because I'm going to embarrass him.

Is it bad that I don't care?

He is gorgeous and I do love him! :)

So things are looking up.

We went to D's mom for lunch and the kids would not eat a single thing.

I was mortified because they're normally excellent eaters but were just not in the mood for food and she'd cooked things she knows they eat here - pasta, chicken, etc.

Then we went to drop off the camp cot at Caren's place.

Caren is looking fabulous. I could hardly believe it - she's lost so much weight and is even more gorgeous. I'm so proud of her.

And her babies? Big and beautiful.

They were gobsmacked by my two crazies running around in their space :) and didn't utter a single word the entire time.

We were saying how we couldn't believe that they are all so big and two years ago we were all just pregnant.

And now I'm freezing and my warm, electric-blanketed bed and my Sheila O'Flanagan are calling my name.

Also, I'm down to 161 posts in Google Reader.

How was your Sunday? What are you looking forward to this week?

PS Laura, the books are in the PS of my previous post.
Laura Case, I'm going to write you a lovely long email soonish... about your doubt post.