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Sometimes being a parent can be a little lonely. 

If I look back at the people I had in my life 4 years ago vs now, the picture is very different.  Back then I used to be a bit of a party animal and smoker and, much to the dismay of my husband, used to hang out with work friends most Friday nights.  I used to belong to a book club.  I used to leave the house at 06h15 most mornings and work until 7pm most nights and then some weekends. I was a top performer and always flexible and available.

These days I mostly get to the office at 09h00 and make it home by 17h00 because I need to travel at least an hour each way and want to be home to take care of 3 kids.  I cannot bear the thought of not seeing them for a whole day.  This also means that I have to put in additional hours at night to catch up (and blog!!).  I am not available to do trips all over the countryside anymore.

I am no longer available for drinks or bookclub, so people stopped inviting me.  And sometimes, just sometimes I wish they would just ask, even though they know I will probably say no.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love my life and I won’t trade it for anything and I have made some great friends in the last few years, I just sometimes wonder at the fickleness of people.  I always think that if I am friends with you today, I’ll make the effort to be friends with you tomorrow, but it would seem that this is not always the case.

I love having people over, I don’t mind feeding 2 or 12 people.  Hubby on the other hand is a bit of a recluse and could quite happily stay home all weekend and not see anyone but us.  We have had some “interesting” conversations around this, especially lately, as I feel like I have woken up from a slumber and can now start facing people again socially as the first year after having twins was really a mindfaak.

 

Gawd, what a looong week on the one hand, but it flew by so quickly too!  

Downs:

1.  money money money.  Want to have a wonderful birthday party for Daniel, but cannot afford to spend too much.  I am reminded constantly by hubby dearest.  Ad nauseam.

2.  related to money topic, we still have to spend the additional R10 000 on the car, have found a slightly cheaper place, so will taking the car soon.  Seriously don’t know how we will afford it, think I might play the lotto this weekend 🙂

Ups:

1.  doing nature walk with the school and kids tomorrow and all Daniel’s friends will be there.  Having a picnic afterward and by all accounts the weather is going to be great.

2.  some things are potting on the work front and with twins society and purebaby.  Watch this space!

Seriously hungry, going off to find food now.   Bye to all, and a have FANTASTIC Mother’s day!

I would like to ask everyone’s input on how you treat common colds and flu with your sprogs.  I would also like to ask what cough medicine (if any you use) and what your experiences have been with homeopathic medicines.

We have Daniel and the girls on Viral Guard and Echinaforce to keep the worst of the bugs at bay.  We also have a homeopathic Blue Box at home that we use for all kinds of things, but a runny nose has appeared and I am very loathe to pump Daniel full of Demazin (my usual poison).  His chest is also a bit tight.  Nothing serious enough for a visit to the GP, but it is now day 3 and it is slowly getting worse, not better.

Thoughts?  

Daniel loves being kissed in the mornings when I am wearing lipstick, so clearly wanted to return the favour last night.  Hubby had to restrain him as all he wanted to do was kiss me.  Sweetie 🙂

 

And, a BIG welcome to little Zani that was born this avie!

My friend Leo is going in to be induced tomorrow and is having her laatlammetjie and long awaited little girl, so hopefully by this time tomorrow we will have another playmate – can’t wait!

I wish her all the best, she is such a fabulous friend, we have known each other for 10 years and she is very special.  She already has 2 beautiful boys of 6 and 7 and they are lovely kids and so gentle with children smaller than them.

Yay!!

 

Sjoe, this is the longest week EVER!  I miss my kids, can’t wait to go home!

We had a massive presentation this morning and I feel quite drained.  I have been stressing about it for the last week, but now it is over thank goodness.  

The mist in Cape Town has also not let up at all today, the traffic’s going to be fun this avie! 

Daniel is at that age now where he says the cutest things, here are some of them:

Groter/kleiner –  to turn music louder or softer
Dit werk nie so nie – says this at random, especially to his sisters or in frustration when things don’t go his way
Easy tiger – says this to his sisters a lot – very cute!
Sharing caring – yep, Barney rules, but only at his convenience of course.  This normally applies to supper time for the girls when they get to watch Baby Einstein and Daniel knows this is sharing time, but he chooses the one B/Einstein that scares them.  He is such a boy!
Net so – he doesn’t like spreads on his rice cakes
Bielie bielie balie – Wielie wielie walie (Afrikaans song)
Tarzan – Tarzes
Muisie – Ice Age
Muisie 2 – Ice Age 2
Muisie 3 – Ratatouille
Soekerman – Superman
Tony – Chinese (food)
Boekwinkel – Library
Snow white plek – actual book shop
Groot winkel – Tygervalley
Klein winkel – any shop smaller than Tygervalley
Chippie plek – Fish and chips takeaway

He LOVES the Balamory song and mostly sings the words, otherwise he improvises and adds his own lyrics or just hums it.

We were also at Cape Garden Centre this past weekend (to escape the PMS!!) and hubby went to show him the snakes they sell.  He kept on wanting to go back and even asked for one.  HELL NO.

He did however get 3 goldfish for his birthday, which he promptly named 1,2 ,3 and 4.  Let’s see how long that lasts as his favourite pastime is to drag kitchen chairs over to the counter, climb on top of the counter and switch the light of the tank on and off.  I caught him yesterday morning trying to spoon water out of the tank with a comb.  Yes, a comb.

Baaalaamoreeee…

Daniel is 3 today. 

Happy birthday my boy, you are very special.  I know it has been a tough year for you having to compete with 2 little sisters for attention, but know that we love you very, very much and that you are very special to us.

You were about 2 months old in this photo and you were the happiest, smiley little baby.  You still are happy and smiley, just with the odd twist of lemon.  🙂

 

I was doing some illegal blog surfing (supposed to be doing Daniel’s Montessori birthday pics) and came across this blog where the author created a bucket list of stuff that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg

Here are some of my things:
Really connect with each of my children on a daily basis 
Learn to draw/paint
Have time to do more for other people
Go hiking without breaking anything (a long story that deserves a post all by itself!)
Live on a farm in the Karoo
Write a book and have it published
Go on a cooking course
Be able to create my own website and generally not be such a technophobe

What’s on your list?

This isn’t a really deep or intellectual post, just some observations and thoughts.

I have had several random conversations with people lately that have varying levels of stress and it always amazes me how our bodies react differently to stress. 

My stomach packs up.  I have a spastic colon and sometimes I don’t even realise how stressed I am until the familiar pangs arrive.  I had a video conference meeting booked with someone yesterday and was really dreading it for various reasons.  By the time I got home, it was so bad I had to take something.

I have heard people comment about ulcers, insomnia, losing weight, gaining weight, crying, feeling aggressive to name but a few.  No matter how we look at our lives intellectually, stress still manifests in some way.

My life philosophy is to live authentically, to feel my feelings, to deal with them and then move on.  I thought that this would be enough to be able to manage stress.  Not!

Does this mean I have to go to gym now?

How does your stress manifest and how do you deal with it??