Sleep overs and BIG school

Both my angels are growing up so quickly. On one had it is great to see the lovely young people they are turning in to (I seem to have done something right) but at the same time I want to freeze time and keep them they way they are now.

The big girl is going for her first sleep over at a friends house on Friday. I thought long and hard before deciding that she could go... the age old question of is she old enough? She is only 8 and I have to realise that I cannot hold on to her forever. Believe me I wouldn't let her go to just any old sleepover but this is with one of her best friends and I know the parents and it is just her going (i.e. not a house full of raucous girls). She has spent nights away from home before but that has always been with grandparents or her father, this is the first time away from family. I know she will be fine but can't help feeling like the 'good' years are gone... the years where mommy is everything... the centre of her life. She is also getting to the point where giving mommy a kiss goodbye in the morning at the school drop off is no longer acceptable - you never know who may be watching.

As for the angel boy... we are now going through the big school applications. Next year it is grade R for him and preparations for the next 12 school years of his life. Here the dilemma is... do I send him to the same co-ed school as his big sister or do I send him to the VERY good local boys only school (where his father is an "old-boy")??? Personally I prefer the co-ed junior school option when they are still young and developing their social skills. High school is a different matter though and I have no strong opinions either way. I know he would do well in either environment... decisions, decisions.

The BIG girl

My first born is now 8 years old... man how time flies. I got to spend the day on Sat trying to keep an eye on 13 of the little blighters while at ten pin bowling. Then got them all hyped up on sugar and cake just in time for their parents to come and collect them...


Happy Birthday my Angel

Pic of the Week

Pics from the paragliding experience...

Look carefully, I'm in the yellow canopy half way up the picture

Moments after my ever so graceful landing

The little one going on a low level flight of his own

My Baby is 4 today

I cannot believe just how quickly the last 4 years have passed by. I must be doing something right though to have such a wonderful little angel in my life.

Happy Birthday My Boy

Pic of the Week - My Family

A balletrina in the making... practicing for the upcoming exam... it really isn't easy always being the tallest in the class.

The light of my life... he is always ready with a smile and his laugh is contagious.

Here are my four legged and feathered children

Josie...

Mittens...

Nelson (the old man in the house)...

and lastly... Freckels

Pic of the week

The great thing about being small is that your mouth is at just the right level to shovel food off your plate.



Careful inspection of the semi-precious gems at the Scratch Patch. Let's see if this one makes the grade and get's taken home.



My little sun god'let. He is MUCH more content to lie in the sun than get in the water.



And lastly my waterbaby.... getting her OUT of the water is next to impossible

Alive and Kicking (almost)

I have tried three times now to start this post... but my brain is simply not putting any coherent thoughts together. I have been ill for the last week and my head still seems to be suffering some side effects of the lack of nutrition. I have had a throat infection which has made eating almost impossible - however the doctor seems to have a sadistic side and prescribed the biggest bloody tablets he could find... two of them twice a day.

I have snippets of many things that I would like to tell you all about, so I am just going to let them be told in the way that they spill out onto my keyboard this evening.

I am the proudest mother in Cape Town this week. My daughter (grade 1) was awarded a merit award for artwork that was entered into the eisteddfod. A beautiful drawing of a flower. This time of year also starts getting very very busy with them. They have school concerts and galas and fetes and and and... I have completely lost track of what is happening to the point that I am writing EVERY SINGLE thing up on a calendar in the kitchen (something I really should do more often).

Irish is well... we are in contact every day even though we only get to see each other about once a week. I spent the day with him on Saturday again, visited with him mom... boy the stories she has to tell of her days as a doctor in the military and the things that used to go on at base. We took his 'son' Codi (a BEAUTIFUL red-and-white Siberian Husky) for a walk - or at least he took us for a walk... what a lovely animal. Irish loves him to bits and he (the dog) seems to have taken a liking to me as well. Add puppy-charmer to my resume. I have hunted the net looking for a picture that would do some justice to show you just how beautiful he is... but alas.. none to be found. I am just going to have to take some of my own and post here.

Oh, he (Irish) has also invited me to join him at his companies year-end function. Read what you will into that (or the fact that I have yet to invite him to mine... hmmmmmmm).

On other news, I noticed yesterday that posters have started going up around town for the LIVE concert at the end of the month. My tickets are secured (and safely locked away for the last month) and seeing these posters has really started to get me excited.

My brain is now completely on the fritz. See you all on the otherside of sanity.

Unexplained fevers and sleep deprivation

Today I am exausted... my mind is no longer functioning correctly... and any form of coherant speach is not to be expected.

I have had (almost) no sleep in 3 days now. Why? because at this moment I have 2 sick children with absolutely NO explination of what is wrong.

It all started on Wednesday with my son (3yrs) complaining about not feeling well. Seeing as he is only in creche and won't miss anything by staying away, I left him at home with the nanny for the day. By the time I got back from work he had a raging fever - so off I dash to take him to the doctor. Full checkup and NOTHING... no ear infection, no throwt or lung infection, stomach is fine and no visual signs of meningitis (phew)... just a fever and a headache. And that is how it has continued since with him. Okay during the day, but at night a soaring temp and fever-shivers. The only course of action I can take is trying to cool him down and keep him dosed up on Ponstan and Panado.

But, wouldn't you know it... as soon as he is showing signs of getting better, my daughter (7yrs) comes down with what seems to be the same thing. Again, off to the doctor to do a check up and set my mind to rest that there isn't something more sinister going on, and again the same outcome. NOTHING.

While there the GP indicated that they had seen a number of similar cases over the last few days... unexplained fevers and headaches. The only idea being that it is some kind of flu virus doing the rounds in children and adults (which does not bode well for me...)

What all this has done to my sleep patterns is throw them into complete disaray... have you ever tried sharing a bed with two sick, feverish, restless children who insist on cuddling with mommy when they are not feeling well... in the infamous words of Faithless - "I can't get NO SLEEP"

My bed is not my own!!!

Maybe it is a winter thing, hopefully, but over the last 3 months I can count on one hand the number of occasions that I have woken up alone in my own bed. Normally I am cramped, one dead arm because I have been lying on it most of the night as on my left is a little man and on my right a young lady. Yes, I have an extra length Queen size bed, which in any normal family would be more than ample, but not with these 2 additions. All 3 of us actually like to spread out, have our space around us and this is where the problem comes in. On a few occasions I have actually resorted to sleeping in one of their beds and let them have free reign over mine. Most nights they come through around 5:30 AM which is okay as I know my alarm clock (all 3 of them) will be shouting at me in an hour and I have already had a few hours undisturbed sleep, but on others it really is the middle of the night (read anywhere between 11PM and 3AM). Add to this that we are a snoring family and I am in real trouble. In particular my daughter… if I am not asleep again before her, I do not sleep for all the noise that emanates out of her.

Like I said, I am hoping and praying that the only reason for this mid-night-bed-swapping is because they are getting cold. ROLL ON SUMMER.

Yes, please roll on summer… I am now sick and tired of cold, wet, windy, winter. And in true form we are in for another rainy weekend (after a gorgeous week of sunshine while we all sit in our office block)… oh and the sun will return again on Monday morning… Joke: What comes after 2 days of rain in Cape Town? Monday!! (HAHAHAHA)

UPDATE: Early last week I recounted the story of a wrestling match that ended in my son going to crèche in his pj’s… well last Friday they decided to have a school wide pj day. All the kids, and ALL the staff came in in their pj’s and gowns and slippers for the day. I am SOOO proud of my little trendsetter :)

Weekend plans: NOTHING… well almost… besides a coffee ‘date’ with a friend and a trip back to the Toyota dealer. Maybe I will catch a movie, maybe stay in with a DVD and a warm fire… I love the fact that I can do EXACTLY as I wish.

HAVE A GREAT ONE ALL!!!!

Stop and smell the daisies...

Here are a few pic's from our glorious trip up the West Coast on Wednesday.



 

Family Update…

Let’s start with the angels/demons (depending on the day).

What I have noticed is that they are never both angles or both demons on the same day. They seem to take turns with each, for example… Yesterday morning my daughter (the headstrong, stubborn, self confident, 7 year old) who is normally the SLOWEST person on earth when it comes to getting dressed in the morning, having to be reminded of every little thing from where her shoes are to packing her bag, decided that she was actually going to get herself up and dressed and packed all with out me having to say a word. ANGEL. My son on the other hand (the equally headstrong, but still small enough to be picked up and put in his place, 3 year old) decided that he was not going to get up, and when I did manage to rouse him from his slumber at around 7:30AM (when I should be heading out the door), he decided that he simply was not going to get dressed, this in turn led to a wrestling match with me pinning him down to get his pj’s off. Round one to mom. Now imagine little three year old tearing around the house in his undies, locating his pj’s and putting them back on in delighted defiance. He ended up going to crèche in his pj’s, with a change on clothes in this bag for when he decided to co-operate. DEMON. And in perfect contrast, this morning I was back to rushing her along while he quietly got himself dressed in his room. Maybe I should be grateful… single-handedly dealing with demon’s in stereo does not sound like a pleasant task.

Next update… the EX. Leopards will truly never, ever change their spots. This he proves to me time and time again. Friday being a case in point. Now that I am no longer the naive little girl that he married and am no longer susceptible to his manipulation and lies and deception I am able to see though all the afore mentioned and see him for what he truly is. That said, he doesn’t seem to realize this yet. Anyway, to cut a really really long story short, he pulled a typical stunt and completely dropped off the face of the planet on Friday, this being the day that he was meant to pick the kids up from school as they were to spend the weekend with him. I in the meantime ended up in the usual Friday afternoon chaos at the office, but seeing as no-one could track him down had to leave early to do the school run all the while trying to track him down (which I eventually did manage to do). He was holed up at his step mothers house (which he is house-sitting) with all forms for telephonic communication unavailable, that is at least until I rang the doorbell at which point everything miraculously started working. Now for those of you who don’t know the history here (which is most of you) he has a certain addiction to things far too readily available on the internet, and his step-mom’s house has a computer, a modem and a telephone line… not a good combination when he is added to the mix.

Oh... Life... what else can I say...

Pic of the Week

This is definitley one of my favorite pictures of my daughter. It was taken on top of Table Mountain, could it be as long as two years ago. She really has grown up quickly.
And this little man is my son, attempting to help with the gardening at ouma and oupa's holiday house. This is also about a year old and he has changed soooo much in that last year. He is still my little blonde haired angel, and always will be.

What a weekend.

What a weekend. I find myself looking forward to work to get a break and recover.

The concerts were a GREAT SUCCESS and I cannot express just how impressed I was by all the incredible performances from everyone. All the girls (and a few boys) from 5 to 17 did their utmost and managed to pull of a stellar performance. The parents got to do their part to… fetching and carrying, applying make-up and hair gel and trying our utmost to contain the hordes of excited children backstage. This was not for the faint-hearted. And such was the start of my weekend with performances on Friday eve and 2 on Saturday.

Other events this weekend included my ex’s birthday, mothers’ day and my fathers’ 60th birthday. BUSY BUSY BUSY. In between concerts on Sat managed to find some time to get the kids out to lunch to see their dad (a.k.a. my ex). Sunday included a lunch with my family at my mom’s house to celebrate mothers day and my fathers’ birthday.

Then, if we didn’t have enough to do, Sunday was rounded off by a trip to the Great Moscow Circus. WOW. If there is anyone in Cape Town who has not yet been to see this they are performing until 28 May… make the effort, they were incredible.

Now for coffee number 5 of the morning and take a deep breath (again).

... of satin shoes and morning cuddles

My day started off perfectly this morning... 180% turn from last night (but that is a rant for another time - ex-husbands and the like).

My 3 year old decided that instead of getting up he wanted to climb in bed with me, and just cuddle. Needless to say, that with the weather changing and it still being dark at that time of the morning, the prospect of getting up was not all that appealing, so I indulged and just snuggled. HEAVEN. Days like this really should come more often. I am even contemplating installing a CCTV in his room so that I can find out what it is that makes him wake up like this in the morning and bottle it. This indulgence however is normally followed by a mad rush to get dressed/fed/packed and out the door. Somehow I still managed to get kids to school on time... albeit a little disheveled.

My 7-year-old daughter is dancing in a ballet production at the Baxter Theater this weekend. 3 packed performances - I discovered this while trying to buy last minute tickets as usual and having to settle for back row seats. The only problem is that she decided to tell me last night (with a full dress-rehearsal scheduled for today) that the pink satin ballet shoes that she had been lent by the dance teacher for the performance were in fact too small and she gave them back last week. Now trying to explain to her that she should have mentioned this small fact on the weekend ended up in a shouting match as usual and still leaves me in the position of having to run around at the last minute before her practice today to get PINK SATIN shoes.

Which reminds me, I must still tell my manager that I am leaving early today.