Our official photoshoot in Newtown

I keep forgetting to share some of these photos with you.

I showed you the ones that I took - shoot 1 and shoot 2.

And here are some of the ones from the official photographer, Eve Meyer. I get an official shoot done purely so there's a record of me being the mother. I'm finally happy with the photos I get of the kids and D :) :)

I LOVE THAT DOORWAY!!!

Jeanette took photos of us in front of this door too... 3 years ago

babies!!! - I want to get this one enlarged and put up in their room. After the list of 9 is complete :)

and yes, Thursday is still making appearances in photos. I love it!!! Connor still plays with Friday but these days, he's hanging him up by his ears, and other such boyish things.

Did you see my Newtown pics the first time around? 
Which is your favourite?

I'm mortified, frustrated and blue

So please, for the love, go read half of the post that disappeared when I pressed publish last week.

And then tell me those tips are good, ok?

I realised something. I'm frustrated with blogging, not because I necessarily want comments (I do!), but because I want feedback and to chat, and to engage and connect.

It's the strangest thing - I keep thinking "I need to talk to the blog about X" and then I have this weird feeling of almost deja vu. So I go check my blog and sure enough I have talked to the blog about X, but it doesn't feel like it because no-one's talking back.

*sigh*

That's what I miss about old-school blogging.

When everyone was just having a fat (online) chat with friends in the computer via the blogs.

I had some emails from concerned parties because it's no secret that I've stopped the post-a-day for a few weeks and the thing is this - I enjoy it but it's a 30-minute (or longer) exercise and I could be getting my kicks from other things in the evening (reading, clearing emails, working on my business or tidying my house - I get satisfaction from my sorted spaces).



I'm not really blue but I am super busy at work. So on the one hand I feel slightly out of my depth and on the other hand, I'm totally earning my salary (!) but I'm also getting to that cool stage of anticipating client needs and doing really good work. It always happens at a point in time, and I love it because it feels like I'm on my game.

How are you doing...really?

Nanny updates & my list of house projects

So nanny S returned to work this month.

She had a big smile on her face at the start and at the end of the day.

It's like we can all breathe again.

The kids are calmer, I'm SUPER calm and D is his usual self (but not telling me how the nanny's eating all the ham/ cheese, etc.)

I didn't even THINK to phone or SMS to check if the kids were picked up on time, etc., things I used to do almost daily with the other nannies.

It's the small things - she checks through the fridge to make sure fruit/ veg is not going off without me telling her.

She checks the menu planner and asks me things like, "how much rice do I use for the tuna bake?" Aaaah, bless!

I'm going to paint my "portrait" wall! What colour would you go? What colour do you think I'm going?

I told her the house is slightly to very out of order due to all the nannies doing their own thing, and to fix where she sees there is a need. I have been sorting out things as I see them but I can't check the entire house daily. And everything is back in its place. It is a beautiful sight to behold.

Best of all, I can get my list done. It's amazing to me how quickly one has to do house maintenance.

I was thinking how ugly my carpets look in the main area and thinking, "but they're new", and then I worked it out - um, not new. They're 6 years old because I was newly pregnant with the twins when they were replaced. Do you guys budget for these "regular but infrequent" house things? We never have, but it may be a good idea.

I have this list of 9 projects to do around the house. 1 is already done and we're only 1 week in - yay :) (The carpets are not on the list!)

Tomorrow I have a tree feller coming, and then I can get a builder in to fix around the pool, and then finally we can PAINT.

By we I mean the person who is going to paint, not D and me.

However, I have this crazy idea of building my own bench for outside... and a window seat in the sun room... I think all the heat in Jhb's got to me, to be honest :) Clearly I think I'm Mandy! HA :)

Do you have a list of house projects?
What's next on your list?

Joburg-style entertaining

I've spoken a lot on the blog before about how it seems in my circles, most people prefer to meet up by going out to eat instead of having people over.

I have wondered if it's just us... but that's another story!


Then we had a family wedding a few weekends ago and I was reminded of something else which I thought only happened to me, but my BIL also spoke about. Now I think it's maybe just a facet of Joburg-style entertaining.

He said he doesn't get this Joburg business where people ask you to bring basically all your own food with you. He said if he can't afford to have people over, he doesn't invite them :)

We've spoken before about bringing a salad or dessert with you, so it's not that.

He gave an example where their neighbours "invited" them over for a braai, and then said they should bring their own meat, and their drinks and could they also bring a salad?

So he said (hopefully only to us!), "well then that's bringing the whole meal! What's the point of inviting people over?"

HA! Too funny.

I didn't mention anything about how my SIL used to invite us over yearrrrrrs ago and tell us to bring our own food. Payback :)



 Funny stories aside, amazingly I still managed to see a few friends despite doing no "entertaining" .

We didn't want to add any more complexity to our life with all the nanny drama, so we made a decision early on to do nothing the whole month.

This is what nothing looks like for me:

• two parties 
• two 1:1 friend dates which were just divine
• my Let's Do This workshop

As soon as I hit publish, I'm going to update my March calendar with a few plans.

But the main plan is we are going to see MICHAEL BUBLE on 21 March. I CAN'T WAIT!

Are any of you going?
What are your hospitality/ social plans for March?

Parenting advice from my friend, Se7en, a mom of EIGHT!

EDITED to add all the red!



oh my gosh, people!

I only discovered after Sam's comment on this post today (Tues 10th) that blogger ate the first half of my post last week...and I am MORTIFIED!

Must have been some anti-reading gremlins because I also wrote about taking some of your latte money (or whatever it is for you - nail polish, Kindle books (*blush*) money) to buy a book or two for the library project.

So let's try to do this again:

You all know I met Se7en in real life last year after being online friends for about 4 years or so. She and her entire family are amazing. Such hearts for hospitality it is beautiful to see.

I saw her (their) parenting in action in those kids and here is a woman who knows, lives, breathes and walks her talk. I keep telling her to write a book and I'm not even joking :o

Anyway, enough blathering from me. Here are my favourite 3 tips from my friend, Se7en. I still can't believe no-one TOLD me. Clear no-one's reading :(

1. Your Kids Need You, Not Stuff:

We live in the world of marketers and child rearing has become, just like sport, a marketers dream... without a million products you cannot raise a child. Don't believe it for a second. There are millions and bazillions of perfectly fine kids all over the world who didn't have a special wedge in their cot, in fact they didn't have a cot... they didn't have special educational mobiles that rocked them to sleep while singing Mozart, and still those kids grow up to be fine. The one advantage that you can really give your kids is just being there alongside them. This will be far more key to your kids "getting ahead" than any extra mural or any multi-sensory toy ever. And your kids don't need you to be doing special crafts, special dates, special activities, special anything. You there lying on the couch on a lazy afternoon asking about the game they are playing or their walk earlier counts for so much more than you think. And no marketer is ever going to tell you that - EVER.   

 

2. Set Your Kids up to Succeed:

I have said this before and I will say it again, kids need three things to survive... lots of sleep, nutritious food and plenty of fresh air. Their parents need the same. Those three things together. The child that is sleep deprived isn't going to eat well and will hate fresh air; the child that is never hungry, won't sleep comfortably and just can't run around outdoors; and woe to the poor child that never gets to be in the great outdoors, because they will never feel the fatigue of a good days play and they will never stimulate their senses enough to enjoy tasty food. When you see a parent-child couple melting down anywhere, then usually one of those factors is not in play. When you have crying baby and they have cried for hours... wrapping them up and going for a walk is often the best medicine for everyone. Often when I am gathered with mums of little people they just seem to feed and feed and feed them. The snack industry sure is making millions out of moms of tots. When these kids say they are hungry, they are really just bored and a walk in the park, or races in the garden would be equally satisfying.

3. Children are Short, Not Stupid:

Adults so often make this mistake and think that they can talk down to children or worse, be sickly sweet with children, when actually those adults would rather be doing anything else. Try it, talk to a child like a person and you will be strangely surprised how eloquently they respond. Kids see right through our fake voices, we call it the gym voice... When you are at gym and you hear mums saying, "Darling, just get out of the shower will you, just pick up your towel, just get dressed for the ten millionth time." That mum is about to pop and everyone knows it, even the kid. You can be true to yourself and respectful at the same time, while I am polite to my children, "please and thank yous" flow freely, children understand grumpy days and moody moments a whole lot better than we think. We want them to know that we love them no matter what, so let's give them the chance to love us, no matter what.

Hoods 2 and 8

I nearly forgot to write about Se7en's parenting superpowers:

1. She's raising those kids to be such well-adjusted and genuinely nice people. I'm really not surprised because they have great role models.
2. She's equipping them with all sorts of practical skills too - the boys' future wives are going to love their MIL for teaching them to cook and clean!
3. She really parents with the end in mind. She is great at asking herself, "what is the most important thing to focus on right now?" and not worrying about things that won't matter even a year from now.

(not forgetting Mr Se7en, of course :))

Don't you love those tips?

My favourite tip is probably the one about setting your kids up to succeed. I actually say this in all my workshops and it's probably the reason I like MBTI and the love languages so much - those tools help us to set ourselves up for success.

Also, I'm forever going to listen out for my gym voice now :) People do give me looks but I thought it's because I call the kids Pumpkin and Sweet Cheeks :) :)

Which was your favourite tip?
Do you have a gym voice?

PS
Did you see I'm selling a beautiful green camera bag and the cutest pink camera ever? ;)

If you're interested, let me know.

I'm selling some cameras!

I'm clearing out stuff I'm not using and I have 3 things for sale:

Moss Green Jo Totes Camera bag

Here is the takealot listing. It retails for R899; D paid R850; offers from R650.

Nothing wrong with it - it is in excellent condition (I even have the bag it came in and the one strap STILL in plastic!). I just don't use it very much because I prefer to use Mandy's camera case and toss it into my normal bag.

I feel slightly bad because this was a gift from D and the kids two birthdays ago.....



Samsung DV150F Point and Shoot Camera

Here is the takealot listing for R989. Offers from R750. Everything is included, exactly as I bought it.

Less than 100 photos taken with this thing. Super new (like October last year!)

Impulse purchase..



3. My Nikon pink camera

I just am not using it. I used it for six weeks and then we went on holiday with my Canon, and since then, it's been lying in my cupboard.

Here is an amazon listing; the takealot one goes to an error page.

I paid R3000 plus R400 for a memory card. Make me an offer for both, or just the camera :)

I've just looked through some photos I took with it....and I'm rethinking my decision but I'll be strong and not take the camera out just in case I cave!

4. I'm also thinking of selling my beloved Sony Cybershot

That one has lots of sentimental value though. It's the camera I used to take most of the baby/ pregnant pics.... and lots of overseas trips. So I'm partial to it... still. Someone at work desperately wants it and I'm just not sure.

Amazon listing

Would you sell it?

At the time (7 years ago) we paid about R2400 for it and it's been (it is) an amazing little camera.


Let me know either in comments or mail me if you're interested in anything. Otherwise I'm going to send out a mail at work, and failing that, this OLX I hear so much about :)

Thank you for reading!