I was going to write a about all the Danielisms I have been meaning to post, but my children were all shits tonight and they have all gone out of my head.
You can tell it’s the end of the week, they are all tired and therefore vacillate between manic running and screaming, general defiance and downright laughter in the face of mortal danger from their Merlot infused mother. (or was it Shiraz?)
Hubby made a chicken lasagne that we have been meaning to try for ages and the kids all sniffed at it and promptly left the table. That is, all except Isabel who sat crying because ‘kannie eet nie Mamma’. I still can’t help but take it personally when they don’t eat food that was prepared with so much care. Even after all this time.
Back to the Danielism, he has this really cute way of saying “Excuse me” whenever he needs to get your attention. We should probably be grateful that he is so well-mannered, but it makes us giggle. And he’s quite the little joker. With a very, very kind heart, he’s such a special little man. Yes, yes, his Father’s child 🙂
Here he is this avie in the car, on the way to collect his sisters. He had Mignon’s necklace on his head, which he very kindly put on her neck when we arrived. He also kindly let me collect him today as he instructed me to get ‘Ouma Hannetjie’ to fetch him yesterday. Aren’t I lucky?
I have been watching people promoting their blogs for the upcoming SA Blog awards with mixed feelings.
My first instinct is to scoff at the whole thing. To regard it as a popularity contest of sorts. Which, with my reputation for making unpopular (but true) statements, would put me right at the end of the line.
My second instinct is to feel utterly petrified. I know my blog is read by a number of people. Several people have actually subscribed to it, so it can’t be all that bad. (Fair enough, most of them are long-suffering friends, but still!) I really hate competing with other people in any shape or form. I suck at it. I have flashbacks of being in a sales job I was quite spectacularly bad at and cost me a whole lot of self-confidence and self-belief.
My last instinct was to re-examine my reasons for blogging and whether it has changed in the almost 2 years I have been exposing my failures and fears and all the love and fun we have. Oh, and the odd parenting win. My reasons are still the same: to document our children’s progression through life so we don’t forget a thing. So there is a legacy of sorts. Along the way it has become necessary for me to write on a daily basis, it’s cathartic. And I get to catch up with some new amazing friends I have made along the way.
So, this is my blog. This is my life as a Mom and a Wife. If it entertains you or makes you laugh or makes you feel better because you had a bad day, please nominate me?
There, I did it. A little bit of sucking up and a little bit of self-promotion.
Gulp.
Just a couple of random things:
I went to Pilates this morning for the first time since I hurt my back last week. And whilst I was lying there it occurred to me that I sometimes don’t feel like going. But I have not once regretted going. I’m always, always happy I did. Even though I feel like the resident hippo. But a strong hippo.
It also hit me that since I have been going and am now closely acquainted with my pelvic floor muscle things of ‘another’ nature have been fantastic. I’ll just leave it at that 
The toilet is officially unblocked. Goodbye little red lego car and thank you hubby and my Dad that got it sorted!
And lastly, I only buy cheap sunglasses, because my kids are always chewing / sitting on / throwing / wearing them and yesterday morning Isabel managed to step on my latest pair int he chaos of trying to leave the house. I was quite annoyed, but I know it was an accident. I found a really nice pair with a pinkish bottom rim that look really nice. And as I arrived at school sporting my latest pair of really cheap glasses I looked down at Daniel and thought hey! this is really like looking at life through rose-tinted glasses. Love it!
I came across these cheapie girlie necklaces, hair clips and earrings today and couldn’t resist.
The girls were in heaven. Or rather, Mignon was. Isabel managed to break the earrings and chew through the necklace pendant in about 30 seconds. And Mignon refused to take off the earrings and necklace in the bath or at bedtime. We have to sneak in and remove the necklaces whilst they sleep. With their “Barbies”.
Here’s a pic of them with their bling:
And lastly, can you spot the child? (They don’t want us to switch the lights off, but I suspect it bugged her.)
I broke my own rule last night: I blogged about someone without telling them about it. I feel two-faced and dirty. But then again, guilt is my middle-name, so I guess I should just move along swiftly.
I could also whine on about how money is getting tighter than ever, but I will try to remain sane and positive and rather tell you about our cool end to the day with the kids.
Evenings here are hectic, but I wanted to bake some wheat-free cookies for school snacks, so I thought it would be nice for the kids to help. We bathed them and fed them and then did the cookies just before bedtime. I chose an easy recipe out of my MIL’s Kook en Geniet from 1973 and I just replaced the flour with rice flour. It doesn’t taste the same, but worth the effort. Anyone here have suggestions on how you replace wheat in baking?
(Mignon missed the final product as she slept really badly last night and asked to go to bed earlier tonight. Hey, who am I to stand in her way if she wants to sleep?)
Here they are busy with the cookie shapes. It was lovely, no fighting, no crying, they had a great time. And afterwards the Labby came in to lick all the debris off the floor. Win-win!
What a weekend.
I’m still battling with my back, will probably see a doctor if it’s not better tomorrow.
We had a couple and their 2 boys over last night, ages respectively 2 and 4. I knew we were in for some trouble when it was very quiet and then one of the girls came running, screaming ‘water, water!!’ We then found all the bath toys in the tiny little fish tank in Daniel’s room. Courtesy of their 4yr old, assisted by our 4yr old.
Then, not even 3 minutes later I hear a crash. And the cover has been broken off my antique ‘meelkis’. Yep, you guessed it. He partly broke it about 6 months ago and hasn’t set foot in our house since. And then he finished it off last night.
The adults then retired back to the kitchen and a while later silence once again descended, only for me to find all the toys from the play room pretty much strewn throughout the bedrooms. Courtesy of the 2 4yr olds.
I must confess, at this point I shouted. I was really, really cross. What would you have done?
I just think, we teach our kids respect for our things and other people’s things, why can other people’s children not respect our house?
And THEN, this morning hubby used the toilet in the family bathroom. Blocked. Some toy was flushed down. So, now I not only have to pay to get my furniture fixed, but also to get a farking plumber out. I am not impressed.
Has something like this ever happened to you or have your children ever behaved this badly? What did you say??
Here is a pic of the girls building a puzzle yesterday afternoon: (Mignon left, Isabel right)
Here are they all having real tea in real cups earlier today: (notice the tea pot with the feet, that came all the way from London, many years ago, for just this purpose!)
I have been dreaming about a ‘duvet day’ of late. And I was granted one in a very unexpected way today. Not in a happy unexpected way, but still.
This morning was the usual chaos, but we were ahead of schedule for a change. Until I bent over to grab my phone off the couch. And my back made this rather uncomfortable little twinge thingy. Fast forward to me in tears of agony by the time we got to the school, unable to even bend to help Daniel out of the car. I have never had problems with my back so this was quite a shocker!
Of course I thought my Pilates guru would be able to sort it out (as I was on my way to a lesson), until I realised how damn far the floor was all of a sudden. And that, once there, I wasn’t getting up in any hurry. Not without crying at least.
One frantic phone call to the Chiropractor (the fabulous husband of our Homeopath) who knew exactly what was wrong and prescribed a bag of frozen peas wrapped in foil, under my back where it hurt the most for 15 minutes every hour. And absolutely no heat. And of course, me being as A-type as they come, my first thoughts were: what type of peas and which brand of foil. Which I battled to get to in the shops that I stupidly drove to as of course it is all on the bottom shelf. And then I dropped my car key at the pharmacy and stood there, looking at it, completely powerless and with tears in my eyes, until the pharmacist took pity on me and offered to walk around the counter and pick them up for me.
I spent the first 2 hours on the floor with my bag of frozen (baby)peas and (heavy-duty) foil as instructed and then moved to bed. After the 3rd session I could feel the difference i.e. I could lift my pelvis to remove the peas without crying.
I’m feeling a lot better tonight, still can’t bend down, but hopefully tomorrow will be better! I felt so bad lying in bed watching hubby and the kids run in circles on the trampoline and playing!
Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!
I collected the kids a little earlier today and we went to visit my folks. And it struck me that I end up spending more time with them when we aren’t home, because I’m not doing dishes or some other domestic chore. Or feeling guilty that I’m not ironing or mopping. It’s pure slothlike, unadulterated, play and love time. AND by the time we got home supper was almost finished and hubby had some alone time.
Daniel was building a 104 piece puzzle all by himself, and I finally managed to get a picture of my lovely little man!
Mignon, in true fashion, refused to kiss them goodbye and then was inconsoleable as soon as we were around the corner, crying for ‘kissy from Granny’.
And lastly, my Dad was telling me about someone that did something that upset him. And it struck me how he has changed in the last 2 years in how he deals with this kind of thing. Big thumbs up Dad, you rock! And then of course called me at 7h30pm wanting to know how to print something as he couldn’t get his printer to work. Have you ever tried to explain ctrl plus p to a 62 yr old? But he apparently sorted out the problem by whacking the printer a couple of times…
Once again I have amazed myself at my completely stupidity as a Mom. Really.
Mignon has been very whiny and clingy and miserable the last couple of days. And full of crap and drama. And, as you all know, I DON’T DO DRAMA. I abhor drama and hysteria in any shape or form. So, I have been rather impatient with all this.
The pits was this morning when hubby made her 2 slices of toast and the one crust broke off. Which meant that the 2 slices didn’t fit 100% on each other. Much crying ensued and Isabel and Daniel literally stared at her with a mixture of awe and disgust, it was quite funny to watch. (it would have been funnier if we weren’t late as usual and I was willing that piece of farking toast down her throat like you can’t believe)
At school I was relating the story to Daniel’s teacher with much rolling of eyes and she asked whether I made other toast. To which I replied: Hell no. And she nodded in a way which I took to mean agreement.
And then I did a bit of reflection today and thought that I am really tough on them sometimes and resolved to be a little more flexible. Only, this is usually DH’s role. But still.And the kids are at school the whole day and they probably need attention and love from us, not the running around that is us at the moment with no domestic help.
I have been thinking about collecting the girls before their nap time and then just doing telephone calls and emails in the afternoons, but know that this will just not work. It was really sweet to collect them last week when they weren’t well.
AND THEN, DH tells me their teacher asked him this morning if I was going to fetch them half-day as a rule or not. And he said no, why?
Because Mignon refuses to go to sleep in the afternoon, she is waiting for her Mommy.
Gulp.