Sometimes you just need to take a break!

Those of you who know me will know just exactly how organised I am.  I’m a proper planner and it’s very unusual for me not to have something on the go!  From planning meals in advance, making sure my kids stick to a time schedule, organising holidays and leave, Christmas a year in advance – I’m really not much of a “go with the flow” type of girl.  It’s very difficult for me to do something spontaneously, but as I grow older, I’m quite enjoying the odd out of the norm, spur of the moment things that happen from time to time in my life.  Sitting still and doing nothing is also very hard for me but I’m trying more and more to just relax and enjoy life more.  Nobody likes a worry wart, even worse if you’re worrying over nothing in particular and causing everybody else to stress out with you.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been fighting off a chest infection and as a result, I didn’t do any exercise.  Finally, over the last weekend, I managed to shake off my neverending cough, and I was eager to get back into my exercise routine (said nobody ever, haha) this week Monday.  Well, Monday came around and Monday passed just as quickly.  I got home and had to cook dinner as I’d decided on Sunday night that my day had just been too perfect to pick up pots to cook for Monday night and well…that’s what happens when you don’t cook the night before.  I got home and got the pots on the stove and then sat down and relaxed while the food cooked.  My sister came over and we literally just chilled.  On Monday night, I didn’t cook again.  You see, I’ve been picking the boys up from school after their lunch this week to try and settle Riley in slowly, so when I leave work, there’s no rush to get home.  The trip home isn’t extended due to the school pick up, and so I’ve just decided to be like other normal mums [read: not my usual obsessive compulsive self!] and cook when I get home.  Well, Tuesday afternoon came around.  I got home to the kids playing with their friends, I turned on the stove, got the pots out and…poured myself a glass of wine.  No exercise, no running around like a mad person.  I just sat down and relaxed.  And then well yesterday, I did the same thing 🙂

I felt bad initially, I must say.  It’s the skipping the exercise that’s the main problem…I mean, hello, summer body?!?!?!  But it’s also the letting go and just going with the flow that is not what I’m used to.  It’s been absolutely bloody marvelous though, I must tell you.  I’ve been feeling so much more rested this week.  I feel like a normal person, not a mad one!!!  And it’s really been great to step out of the constant everyday routine that I’m so used to.  It’s made me realise that sometimes you just need to take break.  Unfortunately, being a mum of two littlies, it’s not always easy.  But when I can, I should stop beating myself up about putting all the balls that I juggle down, and well just…RELAX!

A little bit of this and that

It’s May and the winter weather is already rearing it’s ugly head – well, if the weather of two weekends ago is a sign of the weather to come, it’s going to be any ugly one!  Having said that though, how amazing was the weather this weekend?!?!  I was in summer dresses on Saturday AND Sunday.  Our neighbour even commented on how it looks like I don’t want to let summer go, and truth be told, I don’t!  I’m a real summer girl.  I love dresses, skirts, pretty sandals and days outside soaking up the sun.  Closed shoes, layers, electric blankets…not my thing.  In fact, I’ve really battled with sleeping the past few nights because when I go to bed, I’m freezing.  Socks are on, long pjs are a must, and an extra blanket is on all of our beds (on ours, more specifically for the hubster who loves to be covered up with heavy layers when he sleeps!) and then half way through the night I’m BOILING – like sweat dripping down my stomach boiling.  I have to remove my socks, throw all the layers off, and even put on a short sleeve shirt.  And then I’m wide awake with frustration and tempted to open the windows which I know isn’t practical with the temps outside.  Anyway – enough about that.  I guess there’s no way of prolonging the lovely midday temps, it’s all part of the change of the seasons 🙂  I just need to embrace it and move on.  I’ve had so much I’ve wanted to share over here on this blog but just can’t find the words to express it so folks, a “currently” post will have to do…

Last week Monday, our little munchkin started school.  He was so excited with his new school bag and super chuffed that he’d be going to school together with his big brother.  He even told the nanny when he left that she must stay at home and wait for him, he’d come back later for her ❤ .  The first day went so smoothly!  Dad and mum dropped him – brother wanted to walk him to his class but hit a ninja the minute we arrived at school and disappeared (without even a family hug or goodbye!!) to wherever grade R’s disappear to when they arrive at their favourite place in the mornings 🙂  We took Riley into his class which I’d taken him to the week before just to try and familiarize him with it so that the first day wasn’t a complete and utter shock for him…he walked in, greeted the teachers, went to look at the toys and said a happy goodbye to us when we left.  It actually broke my heart a bit to see him so independent.  I called later in the morning to check up on him.  There had been a few tears and lots of “my mummy’s coming back for me teacher” comments, but overall, he was fine.  I fetched them both at midday and Riley had lots to say both in the car and over Skype with his grandparents later that evening.  All in all, day 1 went perfectly smooth and I was super proud of him, but of course, I wasn’t convinced that it would all be smooth sailing, and I braced myself for day 2 being a bit of a shambles.  In a nutshell, boy child cried from the minute he opened his eyes every morning last week with the repeated phrase of “I don’t want to go to school” at home, in the car and even on the walk into school.  The consolation for me was that the minute I rounded the corner to leave, he was tjoep stil – no crying whatsoever – he just carried on with the day and every day when I fetched him after lunch, he was absolutely fine.  He just kept saying “I only cried a little bit mum” so I’m hoping that in a few days time, this too will be over 🙂 🙂 🙂  This week, mum isn’t dropping.  Dad will resume the morning drop.  So we’ll hear later how it all went.  I’m not sure when the kids grew so quickly that we now have two kids in school!!!!  I can’t actually believe it.  Anyway, talking about school…

I really enjoyed the drop off and midday pickups last week and where I’ve always said that I’m quite happy to come into work and do what I need to while the kids are at school and spend afternoons and evenings with them and then weekends, last week, my mind did a shift and I realized that that’s not good enough for me.  And they’re not even in big school yet.  What happens when grade 1 starts next year – what do I do about sport matches, galas, concerts etc.?  How do I squeeze my kids in?  How do I play an active role in their lives?  I know all parents have this issue and that not everybody is fortunate enough to be able to do all of the things I’ve mentioned…but is that good enough for me???  And then I watch the kids growing up and I realize how big they are and how much they’ll need me less and less.  Or rather, how much they’ll WANT me less and less, and I think that now that they still want me, I really should be making the effort to be there right?

Yesterday morning, there was children’s mass at our church and Ethan sat right in the front with his teacher.  I was concerned that he’d fuss (like he usually does with me – when is church ending, when are we leaving etc.) but he didn’t.  He sat still most of the mass and thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the front row – he said that we should start sitting there ourselves.  I’ve been thinking of joining one of the ministries at church now that the kids are older but I’m undecided for now – should I join the children’s church and help out with the kids, should I join the choir considering that’s something I’ve always done in the past…things to think about.  Anyway, I digress.

Yesterday, we had a lovely afternoon at home.  After we all had a Sunday afternoon nap, the hubster and I decided to braai for dinner, something we’ve started doing more regularly over the past few months.  The kids were playing with their friends and there we were, wine in hand, music playing and the braai going.  We danced a bit (well, I did – he looked at me like I was batty, hehe), we played darts, we chatted and it just felt so good.  Like a part of me is coming into its own again.  Like I can still enjoy doing things that interest ME now that the kids are growing up!  And I must say, I’m quite enjoying it.

Something that’s on the cards for the near future is a trip to the mother city.  We haven’t been in soooooo long.  I’m longing to do a bit of travel and to spend time with my best friend and her boys and of course, my Cape Town family.  So for now, it’s looking like a September trip is on the cards.  I’m holding thumbs that it all pans out.

Anyhoo folks – have a great Monday and a blessed week xxx

And now we wait…

So, like most of Gauteng, I’ve been waiting rather patiently with baited breathe for the government school applications for 2018 to open.  When I found out two weeks ago that the date was set for the 2nd of May 2017, my nerves shot up sky high!  This process did not just start on the 2nd of May for me though, it started at the beginning of 2016 already.  I, being the ever organized mama, started looking into schools for grade 1 when Ethan was in grade 00 already.  Okay – this had a lot to do with the fact that I wanted to make a truly informed decision (well, as informed as I could) about whether to move him in grade R or to keep him where he is at now, at the school that has been our home for the last few years and that we absolutely love – but this is when the questions and scouting for schools actually started, in 2016.

Of course, as everybody should do, we visited each school that were options in the north of Johannesburg that were close to home and my work.  The school in our area, which is literally in the next street, is not an option for us, and so we had to stretch our search a bit further than our neighbourhood.  After speaking to Ethan’s school principle, we had three schools on our list to visit.  School number 1 is rated as the best government school on this side of the city but unfortunately, we are not zoned to it and moving into the area just to get into the school is not an option for us.  So we moved on to school number 2 – apparently as good as school number 1 is and close to my work making lifting easier, or so I’m hoping.  We visited school number 3 and were put off in the first few minutes of the principal’s presentation so we really only had 1 school that we could apply to – school number 2.  This we had decided on about mid-2016 and so all we had to do was to wait with baited breathe for the application period to open in 2017.

As the time neared, I started preparing the pack.  Our decision was to apply to school number 2, and then purely because we needed a backup school (just in case, who knows), I was going to apply to the school in the area in which we live, which as far as I understand, cannot refuse us.  This school is an absolute last resort but I figured that we’d at least have a school if all else fails.  And it’s only grade 1 – we can move him mid-year if needs be.  I mean, I moved schools during sub A and came out none the worse for wear…well, so I think 😉

D-day (2nd May) dawned – my pack was ready – and I was at the office at 7:50am in front of my PC ready to apply online.  Now based on last year’s guinea pigs, the feedback hadn’t been great, and so mentally I was prepared to struggle for most of the day but I was determined to get my application through on day 1.

The website came up just after 8 and the actual application took me all of 2minutes.  I selected my work to apply to school number 2.  Once that application was done and dusted, I selected my home address to apply for the school up the road only to discover…school number 1 was on the list as an option.  I think my heart stopped for like all of 10seconds.  I was confused.  I started from the beginning and looked at the list again – there it was.  And so well, I applied and got onto the WA list.

So both applications have been made to the two schools of our choice.  I’ve dropped the application pack at school number 2 and will hopefully get to drop school number 1’s pack before the end of this week.  Now we wait.  It’s completely out of our hands.  I’m so happy that the process of applying went so smoothly 🙂  Grade 1 application just about done and dusted!!!

This too shall pass…

…they said.  It won’t go on forever they said.  Eventually he’ll grow up they said.  And boy were they right!  I look at my kids every day and I honestly cannot believe how quickly they’ve grown up.

Ethan was a bad sleeper from day one.  We did all the textbook things that were supposed to make him sleep better.  We made sure the room was dark, that we stuck to a night time routine that “made him tired“, that we rubbed him out as a baby after bath time and as he got older, that we read to him and sang to him to make him sleepy and know that it was bed time.  We even tried the “tough love” thing, but I just couldn’t.  So I gave up my sleep for three and a half years, afterall, I was the one who chose to have a child so I stuck it out and do you know what’s so funny?  It obviously passed and I cannot even remember those nights when I paced the passage sticking his dummy back in, or laying with him or cursing that my child wasn’t that child who slept through the night for 12hours from the age of 6weeks old, or praying desperately that God could just give me one nights’ good rest.  In fact, I recall saying on numerous occasions that God had such a funny sense of humour because on nights when I desperately prayed about the sleep thing – those nights turned out to be the nights that he had the worst.sleep.ever!!!  And now look at him.  Boy child goes to sleep with few issues – okay, he’s 5! he has those annoying bed time things like calling for 100things that he suddenly thought about at 8:05, 5seconds after I said goodnight and walked out the door – and sleeps through the night with no issues.  He’s still an early riser but how many kids aren’t?!  And in the middle of those sleepless nights when I had an hour or two sleep and I came into work with red eyes unable to keep my eyes open, and I’d have to work a full day and go home and cook and spend time with this child who was wide away who I knew would be up all night again for the umpteenth night in a row, I felt like there was no end in sight.  I thought I’d die from exhaustion.  I thought my life would never be the same again.  And it’s not!

I’m still constantly tired no matter how much I sleep.  It doesn’t matter that Riley slept a million times better and that from a young age, he was that perfect sleeper – 7am – 7pm from the age of 6weeks or so (okay, it only lasted a few months, but we tough loved it out and it only took a total of 2nights and he was sleeping through…textbook child 🙂 ).  It doesn’t matter that we can drop a bomb in the house and these kids will not move, because well, I’m a grown adult!  A wife, a mother of two small kids and a career woman – and my tired may not be the tiredness of them days with a baby who didn’t sleep well, but my tiredness is that tiredness that I think that most adults experience.  The tiredness of juggling a house as well as a job.  That tiredness of budgeting and splitting yourself across 4,000 different things in one day.

Yes I’m tired, and I’ll probably always have some sort of degree of tiredness.  But for those “new mums” battling with real baby issues – this too shall pass!  I know it doesn’t feel like it in the moment, but time really does fly and before you know it, you will be in a new stage of tiredness 🙂

I wish you knew how proud I am of you!

My kids guys – these guys are really something else.  I look at them every day and marvel at their awesomeness!  I am so thankful to God for giving them to me.  Really, I cannot imagine a single day without them.  Yes, they can drive me completely batty with their sulking, whining, fighting, screeching, crying, crying, crying…did I say crying?!?!  When I see the 10year old boy next door CRYING, I’m like WHEN.DOES.THE.CRYING.END??????????  Anyway, I digress.  Yes, there are days when I want to be in a hole, on my own, in silence and I don’t want to hear muummmmm over and over again, but boy do I love these guys besides all of that nonsense.  And like Cindy over at 3Kids, 2 Dogs and 1 Old House said a while back, it’s not that I just love these dudes, but I actually like my kids.

I love their personalities – they are both so funny.  We can clown around for ages giggling over nonsense.  Silly poems, silly rhymes, burping, farting (quite obvious that I have 2 BOYS!!)…just about anything is funny to them.  They love tickles, they love music – dancing and singing, and although they fight just about all the time, these guys love each other.  Yesterday morning when Riley woke up, Ethan told him about how he came into our room in the morning and saw him sleeping, and then he said the sweetest thing to him…do you know that you have the cutest little hands Ri.

My Ethan, my emotional child, my words boy who cries after being reprimanded not because he got a hiding, but because he’s sad that he upset me – be still my beating heart!  He’s the “man” when dad isn’t around, he looks after his brother and he helps mum around the house all the time.  He’s still a mummy’s boy and loves kisses and cuddles as often as I dish them out, but won’t let me or anybody else for that matter sleep on his pillow because he doesn’t want drool on his pillow!

And my Ri who can operate You Tube like an adult at the tender age of two.  He knows exactly what he likes, and clearly this child is going to be a DJ or something in the music stream.  He is attached to his mama like nobody’s business.  He doesn’t even want dad to wipe his bum because mum must do it.  He cries just about every night at bedtime because he doesn’t want to sleep – probably ‘cos big brother is still up – he’s making me contemplate the boys sleeping together in one room option more and more these days now that he’s getting bigger.

I look at these guys every day – sometimes it’s in the morning, sometimes after work when I try and have quality time with them (hence the reason I cook dinner the night before!), sometimes it’s in the evenings as I tuck them into bed – I look, really look.  I see them for all that they are and I am so proud of them.  Proud of the grown boys they are becoming.  I tell them often how proud I am of them and how much I love them – I wish they could understand how I really feel.  If only they had a little inkling!  I marvel at how wonderfully God has made them.  HE gave me these little dudes and I am thankful every day for the blessings that they are in my life.

Random ramblings

I have so much to say but I just don’t know how to say it or where to start…I’m sooooooo tired!  So I’ll just give you guys bits and pieces and let you know that I’m still alive 🙂 🙂 🙂

Holiday time (the long weekends) is fast approaching and I can’t wait!  We’re going away with my family on Easter Sunday for a few days and boy am I looking forward to it.  This year hasn’t been a bad one thus far – on the contrary, personally, it’s been rather good – but I just feel tired man.  I guess that’s part and parcel of having children right?!  And all the mums say riigghhhtttt!!!  There’s truth to the saying that many hands make light work though.  So although going away with two kids in tow will not lead to complete and utter silence (yes, sometimes I feel like I need that!) and full rest and relaxation, having my family to chip in here and there will certainly make a massive difference to adding to that downtime for me.  And then to end that week off, my bestie is going to be in Jo’burg for the weekend so I’ll get to see her – yay!!  And then on that same weekend, it’s book club…

I don’t know if it’s book club that’s contributed to this, but boy have I been reading like a beast.  Perhaps it’s a combination of that and the reading goal that I set myself for this year which I’m tracking on Goodreads – 12 for the year, 1 a month – simple you say?!  Totes!!!  I’ve already completed my 10th book for the year and I’m glad to say that I’ve read some really awesome books this year, one of my favourites being I Let You Go, which was our second book club book and funnily enough, not all the other ladies enjoyed it as much as I did.  I gave it a 5!  I’ve only been to one “session” so far as we were away the second time that the ladies met, but I’m loving the fact that we discuss books and give each other suggestions even outside of book club and of course, there’s the social aspect – roll on the next book club date!

The boys are all good.  I’d like some input into this from those of you reading…I’m a bit torn between the social activities for the two of them.  As an example, this weekend, I’d like to do something different for Ethan but then of course, there’s also Riley.  The two things I have in mind are either going to jump at Bounce/Rush, or taking him to the movies.  Now Riley’s not quite 2.5years old as yet, but of course, he wants to do everything that big brother does.  He’s definitely not big enough to jump on his own and Ethan is not big enough to look after him for an hour on the maze of trampolines, neither can he – let’s be honest – jump for his “worth” (it’s over R100 for him as well guys!) which means we’ll have to pay full price for one of us to jump with him as well as for him and then of course, for Ethan as well.  I personally don’t think that it’s worth taking him.  And then the movies…we took Ethan when he was around 2.5…I thought it was too early but he sat through the entire movie and thoroughly enjoyed it.  How we gaged if we should give it a shot was by how he watched movies at home.  At the time, he could pretty much sit through an entire movie on the tv.  Riley can’t quite just yet, and boy does he ask tons of questions while he’s watching!  So I’m not quite sure that he’s ready to go to movies himself.  Do we split ourselves, letting one parent take Ethan out and leave Riley at home with the other?  Should Riley just tag along and do things that he’s maybe too young for – is this a “second child thing”?  Or do we scrap the outing completely and find something else that both of them can enjoy?

Ethan’s thoroughly enjoying soccer.  Okay, the other day he said he was too lazy to go and I forced him!  Afterall, we’re paying for this and I hate my money going to waste!!  If he was sick – different story – but I don’t want my child taking the opportunities that he has for granted and fobbing off soccer because he’s too lazy to run…that’s just not on for me.  At soccer last week, one of the mums came up to me and vented about how they (herself and her husband) have been supporting the team financially for the last year in tournaments (the annual league fee includes league games but not tournaments) and how she’s not prepared to do that this year and the coach needs to talk to other parents to get involved.  Unfortunately, the majority of the under 8 team (yes, Ethan is in that team as there’s only 3 of them under 6) are from Alex and can’t afford to pay for the actual term, let alone the tournaments!!  [Side note: I was not aware of this at the outset].  This leaves the other parents as 3/4 of us to support the whole team…well, this is what I got from talking to her.  I immediately said I would be happy to support where we could provided we were notified upfront but then I spoke to a colleague and she made me realise that I’m literally wanting to be the martyr voluntarily.  Afterall, not once did the mum directly ask me to help out financially, nor did the coach.  Why did I feel the need to step in?  If the mother was battling, she needed to raise it with the coach…afterall, she surely at some stage offered to help out which is what landed her in this situation to begin with.

Sending Riley to school is another thing on my mind at the moment.  The boy child is ready – really, he is.  But there’s that age old debate about what’s the “right age” to send him to school.  Besides, he’s going to be in school for the rest of his life!!  What’s the rush really and we have a full time live-in nanny – it’s not like him being at home is affecting me in any way at all.  In fact, we’re not having to fork out two sets of school fees just yet and perhaps we should just keep it this way for some time!!  Then there’s that keeping the nanny on discussion ‘cos she’s our only support so she’ll be there if the kids are sick and to help out if we have work functions, date night etc., but the rest of the week, she’ll basically be watching tv and napping (our house is no mansion – she can clean it all in a day or two, honestly) while the kids are at school.  If only I had the luxury of being a stay at home mum!!!  Not that I think I’d cope – I’d probably drive both myself and the kids up at wall, not to mention the hubster.  But still, it may be nice if it were an option you know #justsaying.

Currently, we’re making our first Easter hat for school.  There’s prizes to be won – WE’RE GOING TO WIN of course!

Have a good day y’all xxx

Teaching lessons – where to draw the line?

So this year, Ethan has started attending catechism at church – we are Catholic and attend a Catholic church every Sunday morning, catechism is an hour before the 9:30am mass.  So last week, the bigger kids i.e. grade 1 upwards, were given mite boxes for lent.  Ethan, only being in grade R, did not receive one.  So in the car after catechism, Ethan asks me about it and why he didn’t get one.  To explain this, I felt the need to explain what lent is, the reason for prayer, fasting and abstinence during this period, and how the mite boxes tied in to all of this.  He followed for the most part and when I was done, insisted that he get a mite box too.  He also wanted to give up something for lent.  I was lost – I had no idea how to start him off on this so of course, I called my mum.  She suggested that seeing as he was keen and interested, I should just start off small.  Get him the mite box at church and then just choose one day a week for him where he’s not allowed luxuries.  Then give him the money that equates to the value of what he sacrificed, and he can put that money into the mite box.  Well, I suggested that to him and then my star child took it a step further – he also wants to give the snack to somebody at the robot.  So I should bring his usual snack after school, but he’d forfeit it.  We agreed on that and agreed that he’d do it on a Tuesday and Thursday.

Well – lent started this week Wednesday so yesterday, Thursday, was the first day to put this into action.  So I had a box juice and a granola bar in the car when I arrived at school.  With his usual enthusiasm, he ran to the car, jumped in and immediately picked up his “snack”.  I gently reminded him that it was Thursday in Lent and that he needs to forfeit his snack and give it to a needy person at the robot.  In my mind, I thought we’d ease into it for day 1 and he could still have the juice but give the bar away.  But that all changed when mister had a full on meltdown in the car – crying like somebody had died, I kid you not!  He was saying something in between his tears like, “but I waanntttt a snack”, “it’s not fair”.  And then the next line totally infuriated me – YOU NEVER EVER BRING ME ANYTHING NICE TO EAT (side note: this child gets something to snack on every.single.day after school.  On day’s when there’s soccer, he gets something before practise and then straight afterwards as well as we only get home after 7pm so dinner is late).  I lost the plot.  Guys, I shouted so loud at him that my migraine that I’d been nursing since 1:30 in the afternoon got scared to the recesses of my head.  It was as if it never existed.  I gave him a good talking to and told him that had we not already been in the car all strapped in, he would have got a beating of note!  I cannot handle brat behaviour.  I really can’t.

Then we ended up driving through the storm – thunder and lightning – in silence.  Well, in semi-silence.  Ethan sat in the back and sulked and I just turned the radio up and tried to block his sniffing out.  Halfway home, he points out to me that’s it’s raining so there’s nobody at the robots.  I said that we’d save it for today and give it to somebody then.  I was so livid, I honestly felt like just opening it up myself and scoffing it down!  But it got me thinking – where do you draw the line in teaching a lesson?  I mean, once we got home, I couldn’t quite still be mad at him neither did I feel it fair to punish him for what had happened in order to teach him a lesson.  Afterall, he’d got a stern talking to in the car and I think that I got the point across then!  This was something he chose to do.  He’s still little.  Was I being too harsh on him?  Should I try this next year when he’s a bit older?  Should I have just given in to him and given him the snack later on as we were stuck in traffic??  I don’t quite know…

Happy birthday mother…

Happiest of birthdays mama bear.  Today marks the day that you were born, definitely one of the most special days in the whole entire world.  I don’t have to tell you over here how much you mean to me – I trust that you already know.  All I want to say is that I hope that today is as special as you are.  I hope that your time away with dad is lots and lots of fun.  And I pray today that God holds you safely in the palm of His hand to see many many more.  Thank you for the blessing that you are to me.  I want to remind you of the lyrics of this song today, one of your mother’s favourites…

M – is for the million things she gave me,

O – means only that she’s growing old,

T – is for the tears she shed to save me,

H – is for her heart as purest gold,

E – is for her eyes with love-light shining,

R – means right and right she’ll always be,

Put them all together they spell MOTHER, a word that means the world me.

And then this morning, I discovered another part of the song…

M – is for the mercy she possesses,

O – means that I owe her all I owe,

T – is for her tender, sweet caresses,

H – is for her hands that made a home,

E – means ev’rything she’s done to help me,

R – means real and regular!

Yup mum, all of the above describe exactly who you are.  I love you to the infinity and beyond.  Wish I was with you today to celebrate but even though I’m not, know that you’re in my mind and heart all day today.  I love you so much – happy birthday xxx

My mum and her beautiful sister!

When should compliments end and other things…

It’s the 8th of February…FEBRUARY!  Every.single.person who wanted to go on leave over the festive season has returned, work is in full motion, we’ve received our first salaries for the year and the second one is around the corner (hehe…I’m optimist okay!!).  What I can’t quite fathom is when “compliments of the season” is going to end.  I mean, we’re fully into the swing of 2017 now right?!  So surely it’s not necessary to still be wishing people NOW??!!!  One of the ladies I work with, as late as yesterday, wished a colleague compliments for the 2017 year.  When I asked her when she’s going to stop, her response was – if I see a person for the first time in 2017, I’ll wish them – really?????  For me, it’s okay for the first week or so of January…but no man, we can’t be saying compliments for months after the year has started, or am I being too OTT about this?

In other news, my big boy started club football this week!  He is absolutely obsessed with soccer – he gets it from his father of course who, many moons ago, used to play professional football and who still plays socially to do this day.  So on Sunday, we went to the registration and the owners of the club suggested that we come for a few weeks without paying just in case there are not enough under 6’s to join the club.  How nice of them hey?  That means that we don’t pay an exorbitant amount upfront only to have to go through the rigmarole of claiming back a few weeks down the line!  They’re pretty confident that there’ll be a team judging by last year, but let’s see what happens.  So mister started on Monday and played with a group of boys one age group up as he was the only under 6 there.  He looked like such a small boy compared to these guys who were probably 2/3years older than him.  But wow did he enjoy it!!  He was in his element and really did so well.  He’s equally excited for his session today (he’ll be training on Mondays and Wednesdays at 5:30pm – late, I know! – but we’ll make it work 🙂 ) and walked out his room this morning already dressed for school (he keeps the same clothes on for soccer and will do so until he’s officially registered and has a kit).  He said to me that he wanted to dress in the middle of the night, how funny!

Then there’s swimming guys.  We’ve had swimming on Monday afternoons for the last year.  At the beginning of the year when we were asked to confirm that we wanted to keep to the same time slot this year, I did inform the owner that we may have to change the day or time depending on soccer, even though at the time, we were unsure of which days he’d be training.  Roll on Sunday morning at soccer registration…as soon as they confirmed that training was on Mondays and Wednesdays, I sms’d the swimming teacher. [Oh, as a side – last week Monday, Ethan was ill with a fever and I sms’d her first thing on Monday morning to ask if we could make up some time during the week].  Well, my sms on Sunday morning was to ask whether she could accommodate us on a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon.  It’s WEDNESDAY guys, WEDNESDAY!!!  I’ve since sent an e-mail and left a message on her voicemail.  Not only has she not replied to us rescheduling our times for this term, but she hasn’t even replied to my message from last week Monday!!!  Now this lady is not great with communicating – in the year we’ve been at the swim school, this has happened numerous times – that’s just how she is.  But how.do.you.run.a.business.like this?????  Am I the only one who thinks that this is ridiculous.  I mean, it’s her full time job.  As far as I know, she doesn’t do anything else.  Does she honestly not have time to reply to an sms.  Am I asking for too much?  She sms’d me late on Monday night to say that if my e-mail is a forwarded one, it’ll take her longer to pick up as opposed to a new e-mail.  Am I losing it?????  You know that I sent you an e-mail.  Filter via JODIE, easy as pie.  Anyhoo, the only reason I’m not just giving up and either canning swimming for now or moving to another swim school is because we’ve paid upfront for the term!

With only two extra curricular activities on the go this year (taking up three nights a week), I am starting to wonder about how mums out there have a full time job as well as do the mother thing?!  How do you fit in picking up the kid(s), doing homework, taking him/her to after school activities and cook supper?  How do you navigate traffic during the day carting kids home after school and still come back to work to give your all till the end of the day?  How do you deal with giving one child less attention because the other child is taking up more time?  How do you fit in anything else really other than the kids???  Geez guys.  I’m starting to think that a half day job is probably a necessity rather than a nice to have.  It surely makes life so much easier when you have kids!

Anyhoo – enough rambling.  Wednesday, hump day, have a good one y’all!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Currently

February – hello there!  One of my favourite months in the year because well…it’s the month that I met my hubby all of 16years ago!  The month we got married 8years ago.  One of my favourites’ birthdays…my mum!  And then after all of that, March hits us and then well, it’s my birthday.  So hi February.  I welcome you with open arms.  And of course, I’m glad that January is behind us.  That month where the last week before pay day feels like it’s a whole lot of months more!!  When people start coming back to work after the festive in drips and drabs, school goes back, and the year gets going you know.  So let me update you on where I am.  Grab a cuppa before reading if you like…

The boys…

The boys, well, they’re the boys 🙂  As I’ve blogged about over here – Ethan has grown in leaps and bounds – and over here – Riley is now toilet trained.  I look at these two every day and, other when they’re driving me mad, still cannot believe that they’re so big and that they’re all mine.  The week days are so busy, but the few hours that we get to spend together after work before the bedtime routine is just so special.  Yes they drive me around the bend on more days than one, but I really do love them so dearly!!  Ethan gave us a bit of a scare this past Monday.  He was feverish and complaining about a headache and eventually, late on Monday afternoon, we took him to the doctor.  Fortunately, it was nothing serious, just an early onset of tonsillitis which was causing the fever and the fever in turn caused the headache.  He’s on antibiotics now and murphy…was just about right as rain the moment we left the doctor’s office!  Anyway, our medical aid almost made Feb this year…it’s an improvement, hehe.

Reading…

I’m currently trying to race through (not really my idea of relaxation and enjoyment unfortunately) Big Little Lies.  The reason I’m reading it (she’s not my favourite author and this isn’t really my type of book) is because I’ve officially joined a book club – yay!  So excited about it…I’ve always wanted to be part of a book club 🙂 🙂 🙂  The reason I’m racing through it is twofold really.  When I was invited to join the book club and given the name of the book we’d be reading, the hubster suggested that I wait a little while before buying the book because I have an odd habit of tearing through books like a machine, and he was concerned that by the time book club came around, I would have read so many other books, I’d have forgotten all about this one.  Such a good idea, bless him!  But of course, I delayed it for what probably was a little bit too long and then I was again hit hard by murphy!!!…my Kindle started giving in.  At times it doesn’t switch on at all.  At others it freezes and just restarts in the middle of nowhere.  So I eventually managed to get it in a relatively stable state to at least buy the book but…that was on SUNDAY and well, with Ethan being ill on Monday, I only started reading it on Tuesday night.  The joys of a Kindle – it shows you the % completion at the very bottom of the screen – I’m now only 30% through the book and my days are numbered!  I’m not sure if I’ll finish by Saturday afternoon but I’ll try my damndest.  I’m even reading in lunch hours now – haha.

Watching…

Well, with all the reading I’m having to do, the tv watching has been put aside for this week.  But I’m dying to watch the last episode of Secrets & Lies, season 2, which I recorded last night.  It wasn’t as good as season 1 and the acting, to be quite frank, is not the greatest.  But I just have to see who the murderer is!  Last week, I randomly came across a local series call Lockdown.  It centres around a women’s prison.  I don’t know about you, but recently, I’ve noticed that the quality of South African movies and series has increased drastically – so much so that I find myself even hiring SA movies off box office before hiring Hollywood movies.  At any rate, this series has some seriously good actresses and a good plot so far.  Last week (when I could have been reading for book club – fail!, thanks procrastination), I watched the first three episodes and I can’t wait for the next few to air.

Date night…

I cannot wait for the first one for the year!  We haven’t yet been for two reasons.  Firstly, on the weekend we had planned our first night out, our nanny wasn’t around as she had a family emergency to take care of.  Secondly, I’ve been doing The Daniel Fast for the last few weeks and let’s face it – what’s the point of going out when all you can have is a few greens and a glass of water – although I did go out with my sisters last week and still enjoyed the night.  But with the hubster and I, I want us to really enjoy the night out you know.  They are so few and far between!!  Drink a bit, eat a delicious meal that I didn’t have to prepare, and even catch a movie if time permits.  Soon soon my friends, soon soon 🙂

Two more days till the weekend and counting – enjoy the rest of the week everybody xxx