I am Tamiya…

I don’t know if my year at home turned me into some sort of recluse, but I don’t find joy in shopping malls any more. I would much rather shop online!

We went to Sandton City today, so I could get more coffee from Nespresso, and decided to pop in at Typo quickly. You know, much like last time, I just didn’t feel it. Yes, there are many cutesy things, but none that I would actually buy. Those stamps I bought last time – awesome as they are, I can’t actually use them around the office much. I looked for more stamps today. They have stuff like “OMG!” “Douchebag” & “Fucking Idiot”. Funny, maybe, but hardly appropriate for office use. All I want are stamps that say “done” “to file” etc… Normal office things but just in fun colours. Anybody know where else I can look for these things (online preferably)?

Then, I mentioned last week on the Twitters that we’re moving to a new office/building and we get to decorate our office how we want to. We being my work BFF, the real designer, and me. We’re thinking a darker blue chalkboard paint production wall, a lighter blue maybe turquoise product wall and red accessories. We’re on a budget and will probably have to get all the accessories ourselves. I managed to find us a very cool red clock on 5rooms.com on Friday. They delivered today = AWESOME service!! But the problem I have is that I can’t find many cool, quirky or fun red office accessories anywhere I’ve looked. I saw (and got reminded by a twitterer) that Citymob had a red pop up sale a while ago, but it’s over now. I find very many red kitchen things, but nothing for an office  

I was hoping to find something at Typo today, but they didn’t have anything in red. 

I think what I’m trying to say is that online shopping trumps real life shopping. You can do it from the comfort of your desk, with no one realising you’ve been shopping for an hour. Our trip to Sandton took just over an hour and a half! Also, with multiple tabs open, you can view a lot more products in a shorter space of time. I’m click-happy! 

Anyone who has any suggestions for any places to shop at, I’m open to your suggestions!!

xoxo

This is NOT a sponsored post! Although, I somehow wish it was, because then we could have ALL.the.Hot.Wheels

A1′s birthday is in just over 2 weeks and his party on the Saturday after. I wrote about the planning of the party here and I think I mentioned he chose a Hot Wheels party theme. So we went with that and I had a whole bunch of cool ideas and initially I wanted to put a Hot Wheels car in each child’s party pack as their take home gifts. But then, I started messing about with some designing stuff at work and got the bestest brilliantest idea – Why not make the car the actual invite??

So using my new-found design skills, I played around a bit and my work BFF helped me with a tip here and there and I made the invites for the party.

I’m SO super chuffed with how they came out! I needed to finalise them this week so that we can hand them out over the weekend and next week for the friends from school. But then when I got started it was so fun and went so quick that they’re already done and ready for hand out.

I wonder if we can have a Hot Wheels party for every birthday every year?

xoxo

This morning I was listening to Radio Jacaranda (as I do every morning) and their “5 calls says it all” question/segment today was about the cost of weddings and whether you need to have an expensive wedding day or not. 4 of the 5 callers said no, it’s not about the wedding day, it’s about the marriage.

You know, I agree completely with that sentiment, but I’m also busy planning my wedding right now and have a few other thoughts on this. I don’t think anyone (or most people anyway) starts off by saying I want an expensive wedding. I want to spend the most money ever on this day, because it’s my big day etc. The problem is though, that everything is just so damn expensive to start with. I’m seeing this with every aspect of the planning that I’ve done so far.

I’m fortunate enough that I don’t have a very strict or too small a budget that I need to stick to, but even so, I’m not just spending money willy-nilly like there’s no tomorrow. I’m trying to implement all my ideas in the most cost effective way possible. And while some things might just be a few hundred rand here and another couple hundred there (instead of thousands) it all adds up at the end of the day. I’m also not even going over the top and getting things “just because I can” or just because there’s space to do so. In fact, my FMIL was initially concerned about my want for simplistic, yet effective, that it won’t be enough…

Yes, it is your big day and you want it to be special. Even if you choose to go the DIY route and make and do many things yourself, there is also a cost involved to that. You need to buy all the elements in order to make the invites/decor and such yourself. But then you have the added cost of time involved, which you cant really put a price on. I’ve chosen to outsource a whole lot of my ideas. I call this job creation. They’re still my ideas and my vision, I just don’t have the time to make or source everything myself right now. And who better to ask someone to do something when it is their job to do these things and they’re really good at what they do?

Like I mentioned before, I’m trying to save us money where I can. We’ve chosen to forego fresh-cut flowers in lieu of something that will last longer and hopefully result in less stress on the day. But even that, when you need 12 of the same thing, becomes a lot of money. We’re sharing our big day with a 100 people. To some it may sound like a lot and to others like enough and then to some like “just a 100?”, but it’s a good mix of our closest friends and family and colleagues. Colleagues because you spend most of your waking hours with these people and friendships grow from there.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that unless you have a courthouse marriage or something super intimate with just the wedding couple and their parents, a wedding is going to cost you a lot of money. As long as you don’t get yourselves into debt with the wedding day and remember that it’s not just about that one day, but your lives together, the cost of your wedding shouldn’t worry you too much…

xoxo

…okay, not really. That wasn’t even funny :/

Right now, my hair is the longest it has been in many many seasons. Partly because of the wedding (I want to have enough hair to do something nice with) and partly because I haven’t had the urge to cut it into some obscure schleb style. I’ve had trims, but only because of necessity. My hair now, is also its natural colour from root to tip. Because I couldn’t decide which colour to make it. 

Then I discovered a GREY HAIR!! Actually more like 3 or 4! i’m horrified!! Aren’t I too young for this? Still even now, people mistake my age, guessing me much younger. And most people are surprised that the boys are my own and I’m not their aupair or big sister. And now I have grey hair!!

I’ve seen one before, and I just plucked it out. There, gone. But this morning I saw more and I can’t exactly pluck them all out, I’d have no hair left… Luckily, no one pointed this out to me, I discovered them on my own. So I could have my little Gasp! Freak out!-moment in private.

I’ve always said that if and when I do go grey, I’d love to be platinum. All over. Not that awkward salt-and-pepper. I want to be like that boss lady from The Devil Wears Prada. Was it her?

I guess for now I’ll just have to live with them. After the wedding I can look into doing something about it. Colour or highlights maybe. I doubt my hair magician will let me go platinum now already…

Yours in age.

This year Easter wasn’t much of a big thing in our house. I only bought eggs during the week before. The boys knew it was Easter Weekend, but not which day and we didn’t count down sleeps.

They didn’t wake up to an Easter Bunny who came to visit, although he did come around at about 10:00, when they were in the bath on Sunday. They were quite excited, even A2. The hunt went well, quickly. They found their eggs and bunnies and immediately started munching away.

A1 then proceeded to tell me all about the bunny and how he saw him bounce away. He described him in so much detail! Gotta love his imagination

Maybe next year we’ll do more…

xoxo

When you become a parent, other people (parents, non-parents, everyone with an opinion) like to tell you about the different phases your child will reach and go through. Hell, I’m sure I’ve done it too. Currently, we’re in the Terrible-Twos phase with A2.

While we’ve been lucky enough to be spared the worst of it, it does rear its ugly head sometimes. A2 now and then throws a tantrum, but with some distraction or having him sit on the step until he feels better, he mostly gets over it rather quickly.

Yesterday, he chose another spot. I really just wanted to laugh at him, but that made it worse. I did manage a few snaps of him in the throes of it all…

I told him I’m going to show this picture to his teacher and Alina at school and he immediately stopped And then he had a nap and woke up a ray of sunshine!

xoxo

A1′s birthday is in 44 sleeps. We have a countdown timer on the iPad which tells me so. About a month ago, I started giving his party a think. On where and how many and who and which theme. I was very excited to discover that Melinda from Pretty Things For You. And you and you. could provide me with all my Superhero needs! There’s even a whole Superhero Party in a Box set you can get from her – how easy peasy would *that* make the planning bit?!?

I was so ready to fetch A1 from school and tell him about this great idea for his party! And then it was time and we discussed the theme and he said it’s nice, but not what he really wants… What he really wants is a Hot Wheels party! So there goes that idea. 

I found a nice venue, close to home, that has also become our new favourite hangout spot for lunch and play time. There are a few nice jungle gyms, lots of grass for running around and the food is nice too. It’s also not crazy busy like at a Spur, so the kids will have more freedom to play. Then I googled a bit and found another party supplier close to where we live and it turns out that they happen to have a special set of packages for the venue we’ve already chosen and booked! How cool is that? AND they can do the Hot Wheels theme for us!

What also makes this great, is that A1 has officially made the rugby team (official post coming), and they have a game on for that morning, at another school. So I’m not sure how our timing will work out. The party will definitely be held in the afternoon, but I still don’t want the stress of rushing and setting up in time and making sure everything is done before the party starts. So we’re outsourcing all of that this year.

Also, this year, we’re keeping it small. 10 kids, including the A’s. So them 2 and 8 friends of A1′s choosing – which changes every week still. We’ll finalise names 2 weeks before the party. We’re not inviting his entire class, because it doesn’t seem to be the done thing around here.

As we were discussing A1′s party, A2 piped up that for his birthday he wants a Ben 10 party! I tried my best to swing him for the Superhero party, but nope, he must.have.Ben.10!! Okidoki then. The slight hiccup, but not really, is that this year, his birthday is on the Saturday after our wedding. We’ll probably (hopefully) still be on honeymoon then. 

I’m really trying my bestest to get R to plan the honeymoon including the boys. We’re getting married as a family, so I feel we should honeymoon as a family. Also, after our 9 day separation from them in December, I don’t know how A2 will handle another extended separation, again. Even though he’ll be a bit older, it’s not by much and I can’t do that to him again. Besides, the boys already have their own passports, so any over the sea trip shouldn’t be too big of an issue.

But back to the party – A2 is turning 3, which means he can’t even tell time yet, never mind dates, so we’ll just have his party a bit later. He won’t know the difference, so it doesn’t really matter. I’m thinking we’ll use the same venue for his as for A1′s. He’s big enough now to enjoy all they have to offer in terms of play things.

(It’s a small pity we a. had a Monster Party for A2′s 1st birthday party or b. Pretty Things for You. And you and you. wasn’t around back then, because look at the awesome Monster Party things you can get from Melinda now!!)

Then the boys asked me what I wanted for *my* party? Uhm, the day A2 was born, just 2 days after my own birthday, I kind of stopped having birthday parties for me But to make them happy, I said I want a Princess Party! (Seeing as my birthday this year is only 5 days after the wedding, and the honeymoon as mentioned above, I won’t be having a birthday party for me in 2013. Not one that requires much planning, anyway.) But!! There’s always next year, and then maybe I can have my Princess Party then?

Maybe even combine a party for me and A2, like Princesses and Pirates?? Yes! There you go, we’ll have that for next year, thankyouverymuch

xoxo

PS. None of the above was in any way sponsored. This was all my own ideas. I’m just so happy that Pretty Things for You. And you and you. exist now, because it means you can start having parties like the kind we are so fond of pinning on Pinterest!

I asked A2 the other day “Where’s my baby?” He answered, rather cheerfully, “Weg!”

Yeah, I’m not so very sure I’m completely cheerful about that. I’m not missing the sleepless nights and constant guessing because he can’t talk yet bits, but I don’t know if we’re quite ready for A2 to be all growed-up yet.

I wrote the other day about his progress with potty training. It has now been brought to my attention that the school is also aiming to get his class off bottles too. That’s not a bad thing either. In fact, school has been very beneficial for him – he’s learning so many new things, lots of friends, activities, routines. He likes school.

Back to the bottles – the school is trying to switch from teat-topped bottles to sports bottles or sippy cups. I know he doesn’t get a normal bottle at school, because after the first week I stopped packing one in. I was asked to send a sports type bottle. So we went and chose another one of those fancy NUK ones. He already had one, so I figured 2 would be sufficient for school. They get used daily.

He was still getting all his milks/teas at home in a normal bottle though. Sometimes mostly for my own (spill-free) convenience. But R mentioned this morning that we should maybe get him off that too. Now I know my child – mostly, from a plastic cup or glass, he doesn’t finish his things. And I hate wastage. And he needs all the nutrients he can get! He’s such a maergat!

So this morning A1 (he’s on school holidays) and I went to BabyCity to see what we could find for A2 as replacement cups. We found two that could possibly work, so took them both. They both claim to be non-spill bottles, taking 250ml+. Perfect. The spouts/openings look nice and big and not like a teat, which would defeat the object otherwise. I also didn’t want to get a straw bottle thing – it wouldn’t work for all our situations.

I’m hoping that if I sell the idea to him as “oh wow! Look at your *new* drinking cups!” he’ll accept them. (He still refers to the last dummies we bought him about 6 months ago as his new dummies.) He likes new things.

Will see how it goes when we fetch him later.

In the meantime, I’m washing all his old bottles to pack away. Before I eventually give them away…

Hold thumbs!

xoxo

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. It’s becoming more apparent every day, as A2 grows every day. Even though they come from the exact same DNA, the boys could not be more different!

A1 is a rather sensitive child. He gets upset easily, and other children or animals in not-always-nice situations affects him greatly. Whether it’s real life or on TV. He is also our beloved drama queen and is prone to obsessing about things. Most notably in the last few months: when he stuck that sweet up his nose. He was going on about it for a week!

And then, unfortunately, the following week, he accidentally swallowed a tiny sweet whole. He was convinced he was going to die! For another whole week, it was a constant struggle to get him to eat something. Anything. But he was adamant he could still feel that sweet in his throat. And he worried about everything that he swallowed, lest that gets stuck in his throat too! He lost so much weight during that time.

A1 is also the outgoing type. While in some situations it might take him a few minutes just to mellow and check the scene out, he’s the one that will play with everyone and anyone. He’s lucky enough to count many children as his friends, everywhere.

He’s also the affectionate one. He thrives on hugs and kisses and hands them out spontaneously and freely. He loves to snuggle. Admittedly, (and wrongly so) I probably don’t always respond to his needs. It’s something I’m working on and trying to be on top of.

The one thing he does, that drives me absolutely dilly, is his constant whining. About every.little.thing!! I could climb walls when he starts with that!

A1 is our healthy child. He always has been. When he was little, he reached all of his milestones on time, if not earlier than the books said. He’s always been ahead of his age, even now.

He is super amazing when it comes to drawing. A1 has always drawn pictures with such detail! Even his teacher commented on his talent, both in class and in his latest report card.

A1 gets moaned at a lot – partly because he’s almost 6 and I feel he should know better by now, and partly because he just.does.not.listen!! I swear, some days I think those things on the sides of his head are purely for aesthetics.

On the other hand, A2 is our not so constantly healthy child, but we’re working on that. He took his own sweet time with reaching milestones, doing so only when he was good and ready.

He’s not big on the whole hugs and kisses thing. He gives them to me, but not everyday. And not regularly to other people either, not even his dad or his brother. Sometimes I have to pull all my tricks just for a hug.

He’s very, very much a mommy’s boy. He’s my constant companion, like a little shadow. 95% of the time, when he needs something done, “Mamma moet!”

A2 is a cautious child, initially. But once he gets over that, he’s a fearless brave child. I suppose he still needs to learn that actions have consequences. He’s also a big tease, with a sharp sense of humour.

And he’s bloody naughty!! And not like his brother, who doesn’t listen. He’s lekker aspris! Doing things deliberately when he knows it’s not allowed. Or to get A1 into trouble. In the beginning that worked, but I’m catching on to his tricks.

I suppose we took longer in disciplining him than we did with A1. Maybe it’s because he was the baby. And we saw him as the baby for a good long time.

A2 is not keen on new people or faces. It takes him ages to warm up to someone. He’ll happily play by himself somewhere, once he’s ready to explore. Like today, I took the boys to a lovely place for lunch and outdoor playtime. For the first 30 minutes, he sat with me at the table, just looking. And then I pointed out the sandpit and he shot to it like a bullet. Initially he played alone, then alongside an older girl, then alone again. Eventually he looked for A1 and convinced him to play in the sand for a bit. I didn’t see them for almost 2 hours, except for sips of cool drink.

My baby is quick to grab a book. He loves paging through them. Specially the Disney ones where he recognizes the characters from movies he’s seen. He also loves the books on the iPad. He listens to them constantly. We have a few Dr. Seuss books on the iPad, of which we have the hard copies as well. His little face lights up when he recognizes the book in either format, and runs to fetch the other matching book to show me.

A2 is very much a routine child. A1 never was. Still isn’t. I need to keep A2 in some sort of his routine or he becomes rather difficult. And when we start the morning, I need to go through the plans for the day, so he knows what to expect.

I’ve had almost 6 years to get to know A1 and only 2.5 years with A2, so I’m sure his list will grow. But beyond these differences, we love both boys equally. In their own different ways.

I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with them, getting to know them better!

xoxo