Bugs, Ballet and New Beginnings ...

I came back to work two weeks ago and almost immediately started coming down with flu which is clear indication of how filthy the aircon is in these large buildings. I am still trying to fight it off and have not been hit this hard since well before I fell pregnant. So far we are lucky and although Trent has a slight cough there are no other indications that I have passed it on. Morgan on the other hand seems to have caught my nasty bug so here's hoping it stops at her once I dose her up with all the good stuff.

Saturday night we went to Morgan's ballet concert where she was a little angel with wings floating across the stage. I was so darn proud of her as this is the first time she looked completely confident and in control. I mentioned this to her after the concert and she said "Mommy I remembered what you told me ... that all the parents are only there to watch their children so I pictured only 5 people watching me" bless her little cotton socks!!!

Kaylah is now on school holidays so fun and games for me. Her friend is arriving today and staying the whole week. I can already see a lot of favours being asked of me. Mom can we go to movies? or Mom can you take us to the beach? Eish - not sure my head can handle all that just yet! Morgan starts holidays on Friday so even more fun and games with three kids lazing around all day making a mess in the house. Did I mention that Kaylah and Morgan fight 24/7?? Boy do I love the December holidays!! [read: I wish I could pack my bag and run away]

As for little Mr Trent something has happened suddenly in the last week and along with the sitting he has taken to really enjoying rolling from back to tummy. Tummy to back he did a few weeks ago but seems to have forgotten he can do it. After putting him to bed last night I heard a muffled moaning so went in to check. He had turned over on his tummy with the blanket on his head and his leg caught outside the rails of the cot. I couldn't help but laugh (a nervous laugh of course) since the days of him staying put are fast ending. This weekend he was chewing everything in sight - most fancied my fingers and really munched down hard on them. He is drooling all over the place and spitting up cottage cheese on a regular basis now. I am assuming it is because of the increased saliva which is making him feel a little sick. I really was hoping I would escape the teething woes for at least another month but looks like we are suddenly on a train full steam ahead with everything. Man he is just growing up too fast .... I have a nice little bath chair that we will soon start using as the baby chair he was in is no good anymore. He kicks so hard that his leg flips over the centre piece and they both end up on one side causing him to slide right down into the water!! Don't even let me start on when I am eating or drinking something..... if I am not holding him tight enough he will wiggle right out of my arms in his attempts to grap whatever goes into my mouth... what a little tiger!!! xxx

November Madness!!

Its that time of year again where tempers are high and the Christmas spirit is all around us - all our department stores cramming their isles with more goodies than they can fit including last years Christmas stock, baking utensils and far too many toys, making it virtually impossible to manuvoer a trolley let alone a pram through its maize. I look to Christmas shopping with pure dread since I realise that if not done before 1 December it will become virtually impossible to do it at all. The reason being that we live in a very popular (and might I add small) coastal town and come the last school bell of the year thousands upon thousands of holiday makers decend upon us with caravans, campers, bikes, tents and beachballs ... excitedly anticipating their first glimpse of the warm indian ocean. I might add too that the road rage practiced in our lovely GP is carried over to this quaint little town I call home and we find ourselves more often than not, on the receiving end of cusses, middle fingers and speeding angry drivers determined to wipe out anything or anyone in their path as they race against time to the beach or the malls before the other racing angry GP drivers get there first. After living here for 3 years I can honestly say that I am disgusted that I too was one of them and I too had no regard for the local people, their generosity, their kindness and the fact that unlike the GP's they have to work throughout Christmas and New Year. Yes the GP's would say "but we bring in the MONEY so quit complaining" ... a little common curtesy and respect for these quiet coastal people and their beautiful wildlife goes a long way people.

Which brings me onto my next point - I will be spending the week of Christmas in Jhb with my family and I couldn't be happier. Traffic going out that way will be QUIET! Jhb itself will be QUIET! Well quieter than this place that is. My dilemma still remains that I need to get my Christmas shopping out of the way and quickly so DH hurry up and bring on the money!!!

Trent reached a very big milestone yesterday and I have to say he hit me with a curve ball because I didn't see this one coming. He SAT all by himself and for at least 10 minutes before he started crying - problem was he had no idea how to get out of that sitting position so cried for mommy to rescue him....
The drooling, spit up and biting is now full steam ahead which leaves me looking like something the cat dragged in. Here's hoping those teeth come soon but if he is anything like my other two Im looking at around 7 - 8 months.

Soaring Spirit

Hello to all my valued readers I am back - life as I knew it is no more, I am now back at work and things are normal - whatever normal is?? I feel I have come full circle although in saying that, I have come back to this place with a brand new blessing who I am completely and utterly crazy about.
I feel my little man has breathed new life into me and as we go along as he is learning so too am I. I am re-learning the art of patience, devotion, unconditional love and most importantly I am learning to love myself again through it all. Somewhere along the way I lost my sense of self-worth - I felt like a robot that put everybody else's wants and needs ahead of mine. Yes as the mother I am the "heart" of the family and I certainly believe that without me it would all unravel but gratitude, appreciation and love returned in the smallest doses has not been forthcoming.

Yes I do everything for my little man so again I am giving but I am receiving the greatest gift of all in return ... his unconditional and fresh love that only a baby can give, that lights up his face when I am around. Discovering all the beautiful things in the world right along with him as if I too am seeing them for the first time .... I feel lifted, free - I can move mountains...

A little poem:

Mother's Prayer

Dear Lord, it's such a hectic day,
With little time to stop and pray,
For life's been anything but calm,
Since you called on me to be a mom.

Running errands, matching socks,
Building dreams with building blocks.
Cooking, cleaning, and finding shoes,
And other stuff that children lose.

Fitting lids on bottled bugs,
Wiping tears and giving hugs.
A stack of last week's mail to read,
So where's the quiet time I need?

Yet when I steal a minute Lord,
Just at the sink or ironing board,
To ask the blessings of your grace,
I see then in my small one's face,

That you have blessed me all the while,
As I stop to kiss that precious smile.

...Author Unknown