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Guess how terminally huge a sucker for punishment I am?  Go on, take a moment to mull it over.

Done?

OK then.  I am officially the world’s biggest sucker for punishment.  Ever.  Because we added a dog to the family today.  Not that I woke up this morning thinking that I would have another dog when I went to bed tonight, not at all.  We have clearly been thinking about it though.

I was happily minding my own business on twitter (damn you twitter!) this morning, quietly sipping an illegal cup of coffee, when someone posted a link to a Facebook profile (damn you Facebook!) of PETS that urgently need adoptions to be done as they have run out of funding.  And I swore I would never get a puppy from them because they spammed me really badly last time.  But hey, seize the moment and all.  So I called and they sent me the list, complete with photos, of all the dogs they have available.

I then emailed the list to hubby and we narrowed it down to 3 doggies that, thankfully, were in foster care not too far from us, so I arranged to take the kids with me.  Yes, I know, another monumentally fabulous decision, knowing how hysterical the girls get around animals.  But my darling husband was at work so I had no choice.

The first house went pretty much as expected.  The girls screamed hysterically even before we made it through the door as there was a kitty at the front door.  Then a doggy came running down the passage.  Queue more screaming (twins) and cringing (me) and stoicism (Daniel).  This is how that doggy looked.  Daniel wasn’t that interested in him, but he did pat him whilst I was trying to disengage the girls from my bra. (lovely dog though, I could have taken him)

The second doggy was equally cute, but didn’t appeal to Daniel at all.  And there was more screaming.  The poor lady from the first doggy went along and I think by this time she was getting a little worried about my children in general and my parenting skills in particular.  Business as usual then.

At this point I knew hubby was home, so I went to drop the girls off and Daniel and I set off.  And it was love at first sight.  Daniel and the puppy went straight for each other.  And she said we could take him immediately.  Not exactly the little lap dog I had in mind, but hey.  Check those ears 🙂

And here he is, all settled in.  On our couch. And he hasn’t really moved, he is in heaven.  The girls?  Well, they have been giving him a wide berth, but no hysteria so far, so clearly a good choice. Our old Labby has been the most hysterical, but he has also calmed down to a mild panic. Now we just need to figure out where he is going to sleep..  Oh, and the cat has gone MIA.

Just as a last thought, I would like to thank everyone that takes the time, effort and money to look after abandoned animals despite their own circumstances, this really stood out for me today.  There is a special place in heaven for you!

Earlier in the month Gareth Cliff had Elna McIntosh, a well known Clinical Sexologist, on his show on 5fm in aid of Breast cancer month. 

Amongst other things she was talking about cervical cancer and how you can immunise girls from as young as 9 years old. 

Off I (of course!) ran to the great big oracle of Google and you can click here and here for more information.

In a nutshell, 80% of cervical cancers is caused by the HPV virus and it is suggested that it is sexually transmitted.

Would you immunise? Have you immunised?  Are we not immunising our children to death (literally)?  Or should we doing everything and I mean EVERYTHING in our power to beat the big C?

At lot of us on this forum have girls, so it is a rather serious thing to consider.

What do you think?

ps If you are reading and not commenting because you have to register, it literally takes 20 seconds, DO IT!

pps sorry for all the links, hope I saved you some time on Google though 🙂

As it turns out, one of the things that wind me up the most is uploading and offloading of children from the car.  It tests my last little bit of resolve and patience when I need it most.

I’ll use today as a shining example of my virtue as a Mother.

Before I start I need to tell you that there is a system.  A child usually sits in front (YES, the airbag is off, relax) and it works on a rotational basis.  They will claim to remember on a Monday who sat in front last on a Friday and God help you if you can’t remember as then you cannot say with conviction who is right.  And they can smell fear.

I usually collect the girls first.  We walk out together, they each have their bag on their back, containing their empty lunchboxes.  They then take a wide walk around the parking lot and after much coaxing I eventually manage to get them in the car.  Then the usual disagreement of who sits where.  Then they each want their (empty) lunchbox.  Then they each want to climb into their own seat.  Which means I have to wait until everyone is settled and only then can I engage seatbelts and check the exits.  Oh, and then someone will drop a precious artwork/cookie/Barney/necklace which would mean another round of opening doors and retrieving said item. 

After all this we pull away from their school and drive to Daniel’s school, on a farm.  Upon arrival I am not allowed to disengage seatbelts.  I have to wait patiently until they let me help them and until the ladies have decided from which exit to alight and grace me with their presence. We then stroll the mere 10 metres to the gate and enter to collect their brother.

This is where it gets tricky. Because now I need to herd 3 of them to the car.  Usually I don’t mind letting them play a little/water the garden/run around before we set off.  Usually I manage to get 2/3 out the gate and leave the last one to run after us.  Sometimes I just walk out when I have begged enough and they eventually get the message.  Then at least one of them will almost disappear into the trees or fall down or trip or demand to bring a stick into the car.  Or scream at a poor unsuspecting dog/cat/chicken/duck.

Today.  Today was special.  Today I lost my rag.  After my usual schpiel I managed to get Daniel in the car and the girls were studiously ignoring me.  So, before I could comprehend what I was doing I got in the car and drove off.  OK, I drove about 20m down the road and you should have seen their little faces crumple.  But I was too mad to laugh at the time.  So, I stopped the car and they RAN and jumped into seats and were strapped in in about 3 seconds.  I shouted, I was really, really mad and I asked them to be quiet until we get to the shops (about 10kms).  Of course Daniel kept on asking how much further the shops were every 15 seconds.  Which made me smile, but just a little.

They all got a really stern talking to, but it will be one of many I’m sure.

Let’s see how tomorrow goes.

Ps We ended up at a friend’s house where Daniel didn’t make it to the loo on time, so he peed in his pants and then said “for fuck sakes”.  But that’s only because I said it.  No Parenting awards for me today then.

Before I talk about the weekend, just a quick share about my In-laws and my darling husband’s family in comparison to mine.  My family thrives on conflict, we never miss a good fight.  Husband’s family avoid avoid avoid.  Everything is always fine.  THERE IS NO PROBLEM.  EVER.

So, knowing this I sometimes really have to bite my tongue.  Recently I heard that my Brother-in-law who lives in Mpumalanga had some puppies and knowing my In-laws were going to visit them we were told we were welcome to have a puppy and that it would be sent down when the In-laws come home.  To cut a long story short, they are back and there is no puppy.  I tried making contact whilst they were away and they would just change the subject etc.  I got the message, but am a little hurt.  I mean, just say ” we don’t have the dog, we gave it away’.  I don’t mind, I’m a big girl, but all this avoiding shit freaks me out.  

So now, with the In-laws back from visiting Brother-in-Law, all I want to ask is WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DAMN DOG.  But I can’t.  God forbid I make them uncomfortable.  FFS.

Anyhoo.  I am moving along.  But we really need to get Daniel a puppy.

We went off to a kiddy party yesterday morning.  There was wine and it was great, we had a ball.  Oh, and the kids had fun too 🙂

Here is Daniel and Isabel with the birthday girl.

I had to grab a couple of things from the shops late yesterday and took the girls with me.  The trip was, well, interesting to say the least.  I let them each have their own trolley, even though I really only needed mushrooms, but much fun was had by all.  Ok, we had fun, there were some other grumpy assholes in the shop… 

Here they are after we managed to pass the eggs without doing any damage:

And off they go into the sunset:

We had a late afternoon braai today with some great friends and got everyone cleaned up and in their PJ’s.  I then managed to get them all to sit with me on the couch and have a cuddle.  And it was one of those rare moments of sheer bliss and contentment that just hits you out of the blue.  I really love my life, I am so, so lucky. 

May everyone have a blessed week!

My sister is almost 7 years younger than me and an epileptic. 

She used to get petit mal seizures that were only diagnosed in her early teens.  To say she was a difficult toddler would be the grandest of understatements.  She was fucking diabolical.  Wouldn’t wear shoes, wouldn’t eat food, wouldn’t sit, stand or do anything you asked her to.  We weren’t allowed to touch her hair.  She would make up her mind and change it 5 times in 30 seconds.  Cry, scream, tantrums, you name it, it was crazy.  Refused to sleep in a room by herself (incidentally, to this day she is unable to be alone at home) There’s a long list of stuff that used to drive me completely insane.

So, looking back and knowing what we know how it obviously makes sense, but back then, it was just very confusing to me as a sibling and I, quite frankly, blamed my folks for her bad behaviour and their inability to control her.  And it had quite an impact on how I parent, hence the no-drama policy.  I can’t stand drama, I think I had enough to last me a lifetime.

So imagine my horror when Mignon started with fussing about food, being unable to make up her mind and the latest:  the morning tantrum.  She wakes up miserable and impossible and by the time we leave the house I feel like a cloth that has been wrung out by Chuck Norris.  This morning the world came to an end because she wanted to sit on my chair and Isabel was there first.  Part of me feels very manipulated and I mostly prefer to hide and let hubby deal with it seeing as how he is the saint in this house.

I just don’t know if I can raise my sister.  I mean, I was there the first time, wasn’t I?

Or is this normal behaviour for a 2yr old girl and I’m just being a right old cow?

It has been a manic week, but in a good way. 

Run around in the mornings to get everyone mobilised, drop kids off, tidy house, do washing and hang out, run off to meetings, try to catch up on emails, fetch children, start supper, hubby comes home, we entertain and chat and eat and bath, read stories, fight to get everyone to sleep at a reasonable hour, tidy the house, continue working, pass out, wake up and do it all over again.

I thought I would mind this mania, this feeling of not getting to everything, but as it turns out I don’t have time to worry about it.  I feel like I’m making some contribution to someone else’s (outside my immediate family) life for the first time in ages and I REALLY needed the validation. The sense of accomplishment.

The only thing I am feeling is that, even though I now fetch the kids at 15h00 instead of 17h00 I am spending less actual time with them.  It this even possible??

Some pics:

A nice pic of Daniel for a change at school last week:

At the Fairmont Carnival on Saturday, their first ‘rides’, they had a ball!!

At home, having their afternoon nap.  Not.  (check the mess they made, Mom was NOT impressed)

I managed to do their hair in 2 ponytails for the first time EVER that made it to school in one piece (or 4, as it may):

Will be back soon, lots more to tell!!

Can’t believe I haven’t done a blog post since last week!  I have composed so many posts in my head and now I have so much to say, but then it will be 5 pages long, so I’ll just share some shopping mall experiences and then come back later for photo and video shares!

I have been spending a lot of time in meetings in coffee shops this week, so I’ve seen some funny stuff.  But my 2 favourite things are:

1.  Walking behind me yesterday I hear: “I didn’t spend that money and when I prove it you will make our tea for 3 nights in a row”.  I thought Huh? and turned around to look.  A very, very old couple having a friendly go at each other.  Scary thing is I can see husband and myself doing the same thing in about 50 (OK, made that 40) years’ time.  Very sweet!

2.  A young couple with a newborn come to sit next to me at the Mugg & Bean.  The Mom had baby in a sling and was looking pale and a little tired (ring a bell?).  She then took baby out and was holding her.  And they weren’t talking to each other, just shared a muffin and had some coffee and was staring at the baby.  And I mean Staring.  I was puzzled and of course my imagination ran amok wondering what could possibly be wrong with this little person.  Until I realised they were staring at their baby in total AWE.  They couldn’t stop staring and touching the baby.  How sweet is that?  I sometimes wonder if I did enough baby-gazing when my kids were babies.  But you probably never can.  And there are so many things I wanted to tell them, but then I would have sounded like one of those psycho shopping-mall-strangers, so I just kept quiet and smiled sweetly.

Gotta run, my Dad’s in hospital for a small procedure so I have left the kids at school later so I can pop in and visit him.

Hope everyone is doing well, will come back to read blogs later!    

Some afternoons I drag the kids off to Kiddy play centres in the vain hope of getting some work done.  It normally goes like this:

One or more of them will always ALWAYS

Run off in the parking lot.

Spill their cooldrink.

Twirl madly and send their chips flying.

Climb into the highest point of the indoor jungle gym and shriek that I come get them out.

Beg me to jump on the trampoline.

Break something.  Like the roof of the play house.

Fart loudly and claim it.  Loudly.

Make the biggest poo EVER.

Pee in their pants.

Cry for sweets just as we leave.

Demand to hold the parking ticket.

and then refuse to give the parking ticket so I can get out of the parking lot whilst 374 cars line up behind us

Sigh.

ps. The girls decided that sleep is for sissies and were awake until 9h30pm.  They eventually stopped running up and down the passage giggling like mental asylum residents.  Here is a pic of them, awake.

Mignon asleep:

Isabel:

Double sigh.

I was all amped to do a blog post about how Isabel stayed home with me yesterday because she wasn’t well and how brilliantly Mignon coped by herself and had an absolute ball.  I guess it’s hard to always compete for attention, even at school.  And then how Mignon was all clingy this morning and Isabel was just so happy to be back.  Children.

But, at school this morning there was a new little boy that looked absolutely distraught.  And we were there early.  So I asked the teacher who he was (I know, nosy me).  He’s new she says, first day at school.  And she hasn’t met the parents, only the helpers have. And apparently it’s his first time at a school.

Not one of my finest moments I know, but I did judge that Mom (ok, and the Dad a little).  I thought, who leaves their little 2 year old by themselves, in a new school, first time ever at a school?  Without even meeting the teacher?  Why not spend an hour or so with him to make sure he’s settled on his first day?

Then I started thinking, maybe the Mom/Dad had to start a new job today.  Maybe they had a really important meeting.  Maybe the parents are recently divorced.  Maybe they recently moved.  Maybe they had to go for emergency surgery this morning like a kidney heart transplant or something.  Maybe the parents both died in a freak extreme ironing accident and the Grandparents or distant aunt with warts on her face now is taking care of him. 

I found myself making up all these excuses because maybe, just maybe, that Mom sat crying her car this morning because she had to leave her precious son at a new school today and couldn’t spend the time with him to make sure he was ok.  Maybe she is spending the day worrying about him and about the fact that she wasn’t able to meet the teacher. 

The good thing is that he will be taken care of SO well at his new school.  But parental involvement is still required.  And I’m still trying not to judge, so please forgive me.

(And I might just end up deleting this post because I upset someone….)

I had to do the home-colour-hair-thing tonight and it went as well as it usually does: Nightmarish.  Not because I can’t do it, because the external factors i.e. the spawn (Yes, I left out Satan) complicate things slightly.

It started out really well.  Hubby offered to read to the girls and Daniel whilst I get myself sorted.  It went really well until I was done putting the colour on and Husband was with Daniel.  Mignon calls: “Mamma, lappie!”.  Which means that she would have conveniently chucked her Baby Sense lappie in the deepest, darkest corner behind her bed.  There where the snakes and monsters live.  There where no-one has vacuumed since 1984. 

So, I mumble my usual friendly words of love, lean over the bed to check where said lappie is, bump hair with colour in the corner against the 2 sides of the wall.  Mumble more.  Get down on the floor on my stomach.  Try to reach. No go.  Shuffle forward, trap naked boob under my weight. Mumble. Reach.  Still no go.  Mumble. Shuffle.  Reach and grab.  Bump head with colour on bottom of bed and ricochet off cream coloured teddy bear.  Reverse out from under bed and hand lappie to Mignon grinidng my teeth and mumbling some more.  Isabel pipes up:  “Mamma hare was!”  Hasty exit.

1 Minute later: “Mamma, lappie”.  Mumblemumblemumble.  Back into room, skip top view this time as I had a pretty good idea where the damn lappie was.  Go down onto the floor.  See lappie in same spot, just a little further away.  Mumble.  Shuffle and reach.  Too far.  Shuffle and reach some more.  Get carpet burn on nipple.  Swear.  Loudly.  Retreat from under bed, manage to cover most of chest and arms in hair dye.  Swear some more.  Glare at Mignon lovingly and promise that I won’t be back another time.  Isabel:  “Mamma, hare was!”

At which point my husband came out of Daniel’s room and opened a bottle of bubbles.

Off to shower, bye!