Just so that you don't think that I've gone and deserted y'all, I'm going to give a quick update....
The boys are crawling (and Tommy is actually trying to stand already!)
My sister has extended her holiday in SA
My hubby is booked off until Monday
I have had my best friend visit for a few days
Over the last week we have:
Looked after the boys all on our own (and thoroughly enjoyed it)
Travelled around 500 miles visiting extended family
Celebrated an 80th birthday
Done a huge pile of laundry (without really making a dent)
Vacuumed!!
Packed and sorted toys
And I have...
Sorted out the baby clothes which don't fit the boys
Packed several boxes of baby clothes to send to charity
Sewn new cot bumpers for the cots to try and stop the mid-night head bumping
Bought the materials to build a new desk
Bought a web cam!!
Accomplished a whole bunch of niggly things that I've been intending to do but never seem to find the time
Still to do....
Loads, but on the top of the list is FIND A NEW JOB! (but you didn't hear that from me).
See ya later peeps,
A
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Timewarp blogging
Yeh, I know that I said that I would post around Tuesday-ish but it seems that time just passed me by and here it is the following Monday and I'm only updating now. To say that life is hectic right now would be a HUGE understatement. This is what things look like in the village at the mo'...
* Hubby is booked off and at home and may be for some time yet. As we work together, this means that life at work is a little strange as everyone expects me to keep them up to date and I don't see it as my place to do so.
* On the work front the optimism has faded. Being turned down for flexible working, told that they won't pay towards my degree because it isn't beneficial to my current role (it is, but even if it wasn't, surely furthering my education is beneficial to my company?) and having to accept that I'll never get to explore any other opportunities due to my rather unique position (that nobody else wants) means that I'm having to try and figure out some other plan.
* This 'some other plan' is taking up far more of my time and attention than I anticipated.
* Preparing for the next 2 weeks - starting Wednesday - when my sisters return to South Africa and I get to be primary carer to the boys (I'm sure I'm going to love it, but that doesn't stop me from being very nervous).
* We all have colds - a minor ailment but trying nonetheless.
I have so many posts running around in my head, I just need to get a handle on things so that I can make head or tail of them.
I promise to be more consistent from Thursday as then I'll have some me time.
A
* Hubby is booked off and at home and may be for some time yet. As we work together, this means that life at work is a little strange as everyone expects me to keep them up to date and I don't see it as my place to do so.
* On the work front the optimism has faded. Being turned down for flexible working, told that they won't pay towards my degree because it isn't beneficial to my current role (it is, but even if it wasn't, surely furthering my education is beneficial to my company?) and having to accept that I'll never get to explore any other opportunities due to my rather unique position (that nobody else wants) means that I'm having to try and figure out some other plan.
* This 'some other plan' is taking up far more of my time and attention than I anticipated.
* Preparing for the next 2 weeks - starting Wednesday - when my sisters return to South Africa and I get to be primary carer to the boys (I'm sure I'm going to love it, but that doesn't stop me from being very nervous).
* We all have colds - a minor ailment but trying nonetheless.
I have so many posts running around in my head, I just need to get a handle on things so that I can make head or tail of them.
I promise to be more consistent from Thursday as then I'll have some me time.
A
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
I haven't forgotten..
I am just so very busy right now.
Fortunately broadband is fixed at home so I will post something fresh and exciting this evening.
That is all.
A
p.s Congratulations to HER - I'm holding thumbs :-)
Fortunately broadband is fixed at home so I will post something fresh and exciting this evening.
That is all.
A
p.s Congratulations to HER - I'm holding thumbs :-)
Friday, March 09, 2007
A roundup..
It has been a loooong week. I'm convinced that someone slipped an extra day in somewhere and it's not funny!
Here's a round-up of the week (because I'm tired and lacking in inspiration);
Monday - Truly horrible news that Sheldean Human's body had been found. A horrible story and my heart goes out to her parents. The day didn't improve and Nathan developed a really bad case of chicken pox.
Tuesday - No sleep. Nathan's chicken pox developed much faster and was far more serious than his brothers was. The poor child (and mum) slept not one bit.
Wednesday - The chicken pox doesn't let up. After a grueling days work, I returned home to a child with a raging temperature. Whilst feeding him an ice cube to bring his temp down I discovered that he has cut a tooth! Through the chicken pox my brave baby boy cut a tooth *bless*
Thursday - I was convinced it was Friday, all-day and nobody could convince me otherwise. Until that is, I woke up today and discovered that everyone was right and yesterday wasn't Friday but...
Friday - dawned and here I am with 2 hours left of the day. YAY! And Nathan returned to daycare this morning so everything is going back to normal. In as much as it can :-)
Roll on spring!
A
Here's a round-up of the week (because I'm tired and lacking in inspiration);
Monday - Truly horrible news that Sheldean Human's body had been found. A horrible story and my heart goes out to her parents. The day didn't improve and Nathan developed a really bad case of chicken pox.
Tuesday - No sleep. Nathan's chicken pox developed much faster and was far more serious than his brothers was. The poor child (and mum) slept not one bit.
Wednesday - The chicken pox doesn't let up. After a grueling days work, I returned home to a child with a raging temperature. Whilst feeding him an ice cube to bring his temp down I discovered that he has cut a tooth! Through the chicken pox my brave baby boy cut a tooth *bless*
Thursday - I was convinced it was Friday, all-day and nobody could convince me otherwise. Until that is, I woke up today and discovered that everyone was right and yesterday wasn't Friday but...
Friday - dawned and here I am with 2 hours left of the day. YAY! And Nathan returned to daycare this morning so everything is going back to normal. In as much as it can :-)
Roll on spring!
A
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Mommy Bloggers T.O.T.W - Favourite tv show as a kid
Growing up in South Africa meant that we really had strange tv shows. Television only found its way to our fine land in 1976 (the year I was born) and we only got half an hours worth of news for the first few years.
My first memory of a favourite show was an Afrikaans classic called Trompie. Essentially a story about a naughty little farm boy who used to get into mischief all the time.
Once American and British tv found its way to us all sorts of things caught my attention. Those that stand out (in no particular order) are, Transformers; Robotech; He-Man and the A-Team. I may be a girl but it seems the boyish shows appealed the most.
As a young teenager I watched Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place and pretty much any other trashy angsty teenage drama and to be honest, they'd still be my guilty pleasure :-)
A
When words just simply aren't enough... RIP Sheldean
My hope is that she didn't suffer and that her family will be able to wake up one day and see that the sun is shining.
Alley
Alley
Thought provoking stuff..
I have somehow found my way to this lovely lady and I am so impressed with her that I am currently reading all her archives. Amazingly almost every post makes me exclaim loudly that I agree! Absolutely! You fracken said it susta!
Anyway, Andrea has got me to thinking about our lots as mothers in Western society and it is true that we are heading for a meltdown if we don't all start being more honest about how difficult parenthood is. I look at the society of teenagers who are the children of teenagers and how little concept of structure they have and I worry that in years to come we will look back and discover that all the 'helpful' books and advice and guidance has only resulted in our children being obsessive about image and perception rather than about the reality.
I thought that I was prepared. I thought that I had been exposed to the concepts of parenting and children often enough to know that it would be hard. I didn't know. I still haven't been able to intellectualise the process that we are going through. I never thought that there would be moments when I felt physically ill with fear. Fear that I would fail myself and in so doing that I would fail my children. I knew about dirty nappies and sleepless nights but I hadn't experienced the constant demands that these things have on your life. I didn't have any idea about the financial burden that children bring - even though I thought that I had researched it, the true expense is far more than I could imagine.
There was something else that I thought I knew but I didn't and that was just how much love I have to give my boys. How often my breath catches in my throat when they smile. How horrible I feel when they're feeling sick or tired and I can't comfort them. I never thought for a second that loving my children could be so BIG! Or that expressing that love would feel so right.
So if anyone stumbles across this, let me say this. It is far harder than you can imagine. It is more tiring, more expensive, more difficult, more time consuming and most importantly parenthood is far more fulfilling than you can fathom right now. My advice is to try and live each moment and when the moments are too hard and you think that you can't do it, know that the moment will pass and another one will replace it - usually a better one, sometimes a greater one.
I am so grateful and happy to all of these woman for making me feel normal.
A
Anyway, Andrea has got me to thinking about our lots as mothers in Western society and it is true that we are heading for a meltdown if we don't all start being more honest about how difficult parenthood is. I look at the society of teenagers who are the children of teenagers and how little concept of structure they have and I worry that in years to come we will look back and discover that all the 'helpful' books and advice and guidance has only resulted in our children being obsessive about image and perception rather than about the reality.
I thought that I was prepared. I thought that I had been exposed to the concepts of parenting and children often enough to know that it would be hard. I didn't know. I still haven't been able to intellectualise the process that we are going through. I never thought that there would be moments when I felt physically ill with fear. Fear that I would fail myself and in so doing that I would fail my children. I knew about dirty nappies and sleepless nights but I hadn't experienced the constant demands that these things have on your life. I didn't have any idea about the financial burden that children bring - even though I thought that I had researched it, the true expense is far more than I could imagine.
There was something else that I thought I knew but I didn't and that was just how much love I have to give my boys. How often my breath catches in my throat when they smile. How horrible I feel when they're feeling sick or tired and I can't comfort them. I never thought for a second that loving my children could be so BIG! Or that expressing that love would feel so right.
So if anyone stumbles across this, let me say this. It is far harder than you can imagine. It is more tiring, more expensive, more difficult, more time consuming and most importantly parenthood is far more fulfilling than you can fathom right now. My advice is to try and live each moment and when the moments are too hard and you think that you can't do it, know that the moment will pass and another one will replace it - usually a better one, sometimes a greater one.
I am so grateful and happy to all of these woman for making me feel normal.
A
Monday, March 05, 2007
oohh ooohhh I remembered another funny moment!
(not sure if it is against the rules to post a second funny moment but it is so much funnier)
This morning the SO and I had both boys sitting on our bed with us. Nathan (the younger twin) is of course covered in chickenpox spots and he had been coughing on and off through the night. As the SO was spending the day at home with him, I asked him to keep and eye on the cough and that if it got any worse he was to call me and I would come home. At this point my 9 month old (eldest) son look up at me and gave me a deadpan *cough* *cough*!
Is it possible to have created an hypochondriac already?
A
This morning the SO and I had both boys sitting on our bed with us. Nathan (the younger twin) is of course covered in chickenpox spots and he had been coughing on and off through the night. As the SO was spending the day at home with him, I asked him to keep and eye on the cough and that if it got any worse he was to call me and I would come home. At this point my 9 month old (eldest) son look up at me and gave me a deadpan *cough* *cough*!
Is it possible to have created an hypochondriac already?
A
Carnival Post - Funniest Moment as a Parent
I'm new to this whole thing (both being a parent and being a member of a blog ring) so you'll forgive me if I get something wrong - feel free to point it out so that I can learn from my mistakes.
Being new to parenthood means that I don't have as many of these funny moments as everyone else does and perhaps my benchmark for what is funny will change in the coming months and years, but thats not to say that there haven't been any funny moments and yesterday comes to mind.
Picture the scene: my eldest Tommy is recovering from chickenpox. He is covered in scabs in varying states of healing and he is suffering from a serious case of momma attachment. Yesterday, his brother (my youngest) woke up covered in spots, seriously grumpy and desperate to be the center of my attention. The day was HARD - one of those days that test the limits of my medication and make me want to seriously re-think my new position in the world. My nerves had just reached the point where every sound feels like a dagger and even the most thoughtful suggestion or pitying look invoked a murderous thought.
The turning point for days like this is at 6pm when I can strip them off - bath, dress and feed them and then put them down in their cots (and by I, I of course mean my hubby as well). At around 5:50 last night, I had had enough and began stripping Nathan down but as I was standing waiting for the sink to fill up (yeh we're hippies, we bath them in the sink) I felt this warm dribble down my leg - the warm dribble of a baby having a wee onto my beautiful wooden floors and cheap patent leather shoes.
I guess it was seriously situational (it doesn't seem half as funny as it warranted at the time) but it was one of the moments where the balance can be tipped either way - fortunately for him I don't begrudge him his toilet humour, in fact I embrace it!
A
Being new to parenthood means that I don't have as many of these funny moments as everyone else does and perhaps my benchmark for what is funny will change in the coming months and years, but thats not to say that there haven't been any funny moments and yesterday comes to mind.
Picture the scene: my eldest Tommy is recovering from chickenpox. He is covered in scabs in varying states of healing and he is suffering from a serious case of momma attachment. Yesterday, his brother (my youngest) woke up covered in spots, seriously grumpy and desperate to be the center of my attention. The day was HARD - one of those days that test the limits of my medication and make me want to seriously re-think my new position in the world. My nerves had just reached the point where every sound feels like a dagger and even the most thoughtful suggestion or pitying look invoked a murderous thought.
The turning point for days like this is at 6pm when I can strip them off - bath, dress and feed them and then put them down in their cots (and by I, I of course mean my hubby as well). At around 5:50 last night, I had had enough and began stripping Nathan down but as I was standing waiting for the sink to fill up (yeh we're hippies, we bath them in the sink) I felt this warm dribble down my leg - the warm dribble of a baby having a wee onto my beautiful wooden floors and cheap patent leather shoes.
I guess it was seriously situational (it doesn't seem half as funny as it warranted at the time) but it was one of the moments where the balance can be tipped either way - fortunately for him I don't begrudge him his toilet humour, in fact I embrace it!
A
The ups and downs
The week-end proved to be both good and bad in equal amounts...
Tommy is feeling much better and Friday night both boys remained in good spirits. I guess I should have known that it wouldn't last but clearly motherhood still hasn't quite beaten the spirit out of me :-)
Saturday morning, Nate woke up with a couple of spots. I tried to be optimistic and as he was in an excellent mood I thought that they may just be random spots. Unfortunately murphy strikes and so has the chicken pox. Poor little Nate has it far worse than Tommy did so he is at home with his dad being pampered.
On a happier note, my sister and I managed to get some of the outside walls painted. Give us a few more week-ends and we'll finally have before and after pictures :-)
Role on the week-end I say (and yes, I know that it is Monday *sigh*)
A
Tommy is feeling much better and Friday night both boys remained in good spirits. I guess I should have known that it wouldn't last but clearly motherhood still hasn't quite beaten the spirit out of me :-)
Saturday morning, Nate woke up with a couple of spots. I tried to be optimistic and as he was in an excellent mood I thought that they may just be random spots. Unfortunately murphy strikes and so has the chicken pox. Poor little Nate has it far worse than Tommy did so he is at home with his dad being pampered.
On a happier note, my sister and I managed to get some of the outside walls painted. Give us a few more week-ends and we'll finally have before and after pictures :-)
Role on the week-end I say (and yes, I know that it is Monday *sigh*)
A
Friday, March 02, 2007
Missing Child - Sheldean Human
God knows that I'm not usually one for hysterics, but I have been following a story back home in South Africa about a little girl that has been missing for almost 2 weeks now.
In a bid to lend some support, I'm posting the details here - if you feel like its something you'd like to help with, feel free to pass the information along. Please don't change the details on the poster, that way we can make sure that it stays accurate.
Thanks in advance!
A
In a bid to lend some support, I'm posting the details here - if you feel like its something you'd like to help with, feel free to pass the information along. Please don't change the details on the poster, that way we can make sure that it stays accurate.
Thanks in advance!
A
Thursday, March 01, 2007
oh the fellowness of feeling...
I find it somewhat odd that yesterday I read a random post that resonated, and today I clicked on a random link which ended at an ex-South Africa's blog about crabby mommyness!
Call me weird (or beautiful/intelligent/witty - any of these would also do) but is the universe taking me seriously all of a sudden?
On another note, the realisation that both of my sisters are returning to South Africa (one for only 2 weeks thank f&ck!) in 2 weeks time. This will mean that the SO and I have to be primary care givers for our children. How the hell did that happen? Anyone want a part time job that doesn't pay but results in a daily shower of love, affection and partially digested milk?
I guess the SO and I will be taking our holidays early this year. Here's hoping we come out of it feeling well rested (as if!).
Bring on the week-end I say.
A
Call me weird (or beautiful/intelligent/witty - any of these would also do) but is the universe taking me seriously all of a sudden?
On another note, the realisation that both of my sisters are returning to South Africa (one for only 2 weeks thank f&ck!) in 2 weeks time. This will mean that the SO and I have to be primary care givers for our children. How the hell did that happen? Anyone want a part time job that doesn't pay but results in a daily shower of love, affection and partially digested milk?
I guess the SO and I will be taking our holidays early this year. Here's hoping we come out of it feeling well rested (as if!).
Bring on the week-end I say.
A
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
