I am Tamiya…

…and isn’t anymore…

So, in my previous post I told you about the BabaIndaba we went to and that I got to spend some money. Besides the odd purchase here and there, look what I bought:

Ubi Deluxe Baby Changing Station

This is something I really don’t need, and something I really REALLY HAD to HAVE!!! I can’t picture my future of nappy changings without one! This is the coolest, most awesome changing station I’ve ever seen. Here’s a write-up about the Ubi I got from About.com:

The Ubi Baby Changing Table is very interesting looking. I found it very sleek and stylish, I was even oooing and ahing as I took it out of the box. The wood was very nice and the table felt very solid.This modern changing table meets all the current US safety rules and does include a safety belt to harness your baby onto the table. This gorgeous table is designed for use on the floor and will hold up to 30 pounds. There is a slight slant to the table so that baby’s head is up, but it didn’t seem to cause the babies we changed to slide down, even without the strap. And I would imagine if you get a baby who is actively leaking, it might be nice to have that downward flow to minimize dirty clothes and diapers.

The top of the table is a antimicrobial covering that helps prevent nasty germs and smells from collecting around a typically not so clean area. The patterns are also very interesting at which to look.

There are two styles: basic and deluxe. The biggest difference is that the deluxe allows you to store up to 10 disposable diapers inside. The area also adjusts to fit different sized diapers. This is also where the Velcro tabs come in handy for holding the diaper in place. I actually didn’t find this feature as helpful as I had imagined. It also does not work with cloth diapers.

The Ubi is a very stylish and useful diaper changing table. I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a floor based changing table, though I’d skip the deluxe version.

Visit Their Website

Now, I have the Deluxe one, the exact same one as in the picture above. Only mine has light wood, not the dark wood. I didn’t really have much choice in which model I wanted, which is fine, because I probably would’ve opted for this one anyway. I know myself, and why do just normal or standard if there is a Deluxe version available ? I’m not going to be putting it on the floor either. It works just as well on the bed, or even the chest of drawers I was going to set up as a changing station anyway. And I got it for what I reckon is a bargain, considering that they are imported, and I could only find them for sale on american baby sites and then they retail for about $119. I bought mine for R399.00! Yes, that IS a bargain! And just to put into perspective the size of the Ubi, here’s another picture:

Pink Ubi for Girls

PhotoShop CS5 Extended

In other news, I finally got the last bit of my fab friend’s (will do a name update as soon as she’s done her own blog post on stuff) present together for her baby-shower this weekend. I can’t wait to see her again. She had her first baby-shower with the family this past weekend, and man, did she get spoiled?!?! I’m almost jealous

This weekend marked the 3rd Baby Show/Expo/Indaba that I’ve gone to this year alone, being pregnant with PlusOne. I don’t go to these shows with the intent on blogging about them or criticizing them and I certainly don’t get anything from the organizers for talking about the shows. But that’s not why I go. I go because a. I am their target market i.e. pregnant and b. I want to gather information about services, the pregnancy and the baby, and I want to shop and lose myself in all things that are baby. I don’t even go to take Boobah to the shows they’ve got – after the first Baby Show this year, and the absolute disaster we had with taking Boobah along to see Noddy, who then became tired and grumpy and whiney and heavy and just too much of a handful, I vowed never to take him again! So I didn’t.

Anyway, my take on the three expos. Of all three, regardless of the slight distractions with Boobah, I thoroughly enjoyed the first one, the Living & Loving Baby Expo the most. It had more shops and stalls than the other two combined, offered much more variety in the products on display and was generally the most informative. The exhibitors were the most engaging and there was a myriad of innovative and non-commercial/relatively unheard of products to ogle. I really felt like I got a lot out of that day. I left with two bags full of pamphlets and leaflets and samples and goodies.

Next, we went to the Baby Expo at the Coca-Cola Dome. This time I dragged The Dad with me, as he’s never gone with me and I feel he needs to be there at least once, it his baby too! Well, I felt this one was a little less impressive. Yes, they catered for the kids also, and yes, perhaps their food stalls were great, but the only two stalls that really really stand out in my mind from this show, was one that had THE MOST AMAZING COMFY rocking chairs EVER, and I SO totally want one and I sat for 10 minutes in a chair, rocking, whilst asking all kinds of dumb questions just so I didn’t have to get up, and another stall that sold baby Hammock, called Shammocks or something like that. Those hammocks were super cool, but it’s not really something the Average Joe can really afford. SO almost then, what is the point. Also, I can not for the life of me justify spending THAT much money, on something that only lasts for the first 3 to 4 months. Then what? What do you do with it then? It certainly doesn’t convert into something else to prolong it’s usage. So, very cool? Yes, very impractical? Definitely! – It also doesn’t help that they scheduled this show kinda mid-month, which doesn’t help really, because at that time of the month, there isn’t really very much money left over to spend. Silly-planning. On the positive side, I did get to say Hi! to the BabyTees guys and pick up one of Jenty’s Moo cards (which are awesome, by the way). I think we spent a total of 1.5 hours at this show and that includes the time we sat down eating something. My bag this time wasn’t really filled with much and I think I only had some Lansinoh Samples in there.

Then, this weekend, it was time for the BabaIndaba at Gallagher Estate in Midrand. Now you would expect a WHOLE lot from the BabaIndaba, right? Let me tell you, I think I was probably the most disappointed at this show, out of all 3. There weren’t many exhibitors, there weren’t many people (which is actually a bonus, I know) and there was just nothing really WOW about this one. Admittedly, I did spend the most amount of money at this expo, but the main contributing factors to this was that a. I finally knew that PlusOne is going to be a boy, and b. They had thought of timing when they chose dates, because this was PayDay Weekend, so I actually had money to spend! On the positive side, the goodie bag we got at the door contained the BabySense book, which was a lovely gift and retails for a quite a bit in the shops, so that was an absolute bonus. Now, I’m not sure if they just got a crap-load of these books to give away, or if they only had a limited amount, but that the people hadn’t really been coming, which meant that they still had a lot of books left over on Saturday to give away… Anyhoodle, I’m not complaining about my book and I think it’s a lovely book to read, especially if you are a first time mum, like my friend is. I will also read it again, just to kind of refresh my memory of what it’s like with a newborn and stuff, you know. The only stall which I was really glad to see, because I didn’t see them at the other two for whatever reason, were the lovely ladies from the La Leche League. I mos really really want to breastfeed this time, and even though last time didn’t work out, I blame that on the lack of help and guidance from the nurses at the hospital. They didn’t show me diddly-squat on how to do that. So I’m hoping the LLL will be able to help.

Remember, this is MY opinion on the shows and what I got out of each one, in a short nutshell. Many people may disagree with me, and that’s fine if they do.

Much love x 3.5

…will be the focus of today’s post.

Let’s start with the crappy bit first – UIF Uphills. Three and a half years ago, when I was pregnant with Boobah, I had been working for just about two years. Besides the fact that that didn’t allow me to qualify for the full 121 days, which I only found out when I didn’t receive my last month’s payment whilst still on leave, the whole process actually went very smoothly. I didn’t have the tremendously long queues I heard other people complain about, all my paper work was in order (because I read every single last sentence on every single form) and the officials who assisted me were all very friendly. Most days I went in, I was out under 30 minutes. I didn’t use an agency then, partly because I didn’t know they existed, and also, because we didn’t really have money for that then and also, it was so easy for me to do myself, that it didn’t really occur to me at the time.

That is then the basis of my decision this time to do the whole UIF thing by myself again. This way, forms and paperwork can’t be lost in transit, and if anything goes wrong, I can only blame myself (or the government) which may result in less of a headache when it comes to admin.Except perhaps when it comes to filling out all the forms required… Did you know that if you changed companies within the last four (4) years, you need to have your previous employer(s) complete a UI-19 form also? I certainly didn’t know that! Now this may be okay for some of you, because either a. you’ve been at your current company a life-time already, or b. you may have just changed jobs once in the last 4 years. Now me, on the other hand, just so happened to have had 4, yes FOUR different employers in the last 3 and a half years.

• The company I returned to after my first bout of Maternity leave (+/- 1 year)
• Then the company I went to after leaving the 1st company – more money and things like that (+/- another year)
• Then I got head-hunted by an agency to work at the place I work now (11 months)
• And lastly, the company/client I work for now, decided to change employment agencies, but they still wanted me, so I was forced to move to the new agency (2 months at the moment, but there’s still about 2 or 3 months left before I have to go on ML)

That’s 4 different employers. So that’s FOUR different places I need to go to to fill in one stupid form so I can claim my benefits.  I have had to book a day’s leave for next week, so I can go around to all these previous companies and have them fill out my forms. On the one hand, it’s going to be nice to see all the old people again, because I never left anyone on bad terms, but on the other hand, two of these companies are on the other side of the world, which is partly why I left them in the first place! I’m actually not looking forward to spending the whole day in the car, on our highways, to Rivonia and Midrand, from The Vale…

In other, happier news, after about 4 years (just under if you want to get technical about it) of having lost touch and growing apart, my we’ve-known-each-other-since-std.3-and-were-bffs-from-std7-joined-at-the-hip-siamese-twin-sisters-until-i-fell-pregnant-at-21-former BFF and I have reconnected. When our break-up happened, it wasn’t a particularly messy split, it just so happened that at 21, I was pregnant, she was not, we each just started a serious relationship and everything that comes with that and she could still go out and party and I didn’t want to, so we grew apart and yes I missed her but that’s just the way things happened…. Turns out she’s also pregnant now (13 weeks) and initially, when she just heard the news, I sent her an email of congratulations, rather than just ‘Liking’ her Facebook Status thing. I knew she still worked at the same company and I still knew her email address off by heart, even though I’ve changed jobs 4 times (see above), so I thought it would be more appropriate to send her an email. Nothing fancy or too gushy or anything, just a simple congratulations, I hope it all goes well for you and that you have a lovely time being pregnant type of mail. Not long after that, she mailed me back. I was surprised, to say the least. I don’t know why I felt this way, or why she might not have responded, I just didn’t expect her to.

Anyway, so after some back and forth mailing, it got quiet for a while. Then she sent me a reply on something about 2 weeks ago. At that particular moment, I couldn’t respond, so thanks to my mush brain, I kind of forgot. I would always remember at the most inopportune moments that I STILL haven’t replied, but then there was nothing I could do about it at that moment. So yesterday, I decided to make a conscious effort to make time to reply to her. But then, as it turns out, there was so much I wanted to tell her, that I would’ve ended up writing a whole novel. So I did the even better thing – I phoned her (Yup, the company number is still the same also). When she answered the phone, she didn’t sound surprised that it was me on the other end, and answered me in the kind of tone she used to when we spoke to each other, EVERY SINGLE DAY. Didn’t sound surprised, or skip a beat, she was so normal about it!

Now you have to understand, I was actually quite nervous about making that call. Whether I’ll admit to that in public or not, I was. What if it turns out to be one of those awkward conversations, with a lot of gaps and pauses and I’m sitting with a mouth full of teeth and end up looking like a retard?!? So her response just immediately made me feel at ease, and we spoke for almost an hour! An hour, it was SO nice! We eventually said good bye, because work kept interrupting (how very rude!). But she said she’d mail me the rest of the conversation, which she did. And I responded. Maybe I sound like a love sick puppy at the moment, and that’s okay too. It’s just SO nice to be able to talk to someone, who knows me from way back when, accepts my quirks, and is an In Real Life Friend. (Not that that detracts ANYTHING from my ITC friends, you hear! You guys know how important you are to me, and that I have more in common with you than most people I know, and that I lost a whole bunch of IRL friends because I felt pregnant at such a young age, and that I share *MUCH* more with you than I do with most people in my life! – I heart you!)

So we’ve made plans to go to the Baba Indaba that’s happening this weekend at Gallagher Estate. It will be fun, because it’s going to be just the two of us, TD is working and watching the Rugby afterwards with his guys, her husband made plans with his mates to go biking, so there’ll be no pressure or anything. And because we have something in common again now, and she understands now more than ever what I went through with Boobah and the 1st time pregnancy, I’m hoping we’ll be able to bond again and become friends like we were. Then I can also have someone IRL to actually call my friend (yes, that’s a sad statement to make, but it’s also the truth. More often than not, I CHOSE to end a friendship rather than be strung along, and my working environment is not conducive  to forming friendships with new people).

Hope you all have a fabulous HUMPDAY!!

Much love x 3.5

…and I am loved. This time, I’ve been loved twice MeeA and Megan deemed me fit to be awarded a ‘Versatile Blogger’ Award. I feel so special now.

As with all blogger award, this one has rules attached to it. But who cares, right, as it means you get to spread the blogger love even more, and isn’t that what our blogging community is all about?

So, rule number 1: Acknowledge the award giver (or givers in this case ) – Again, thank you MeeA and Megan.

Rule number 2: State 7 previously unknown/random facts about yourself.

1. When it comes to my sandwiches, I like mine cut square, in half. Not diagonally so they make two big ass triangles. Diagonally cut sandwiches feels snobby to me. TD reckons my square cut sandwiches are dumb and refers to them as ‘Koshuis Broodjies’ (boarding school bread). I don’t care, that’s how I like them!
2. I don’t like  those ice-cream cones or edible cookie cups. It looks and tastes like colored cardboard. If I *have* to have a cone, rather give me a sugar cone. Or better yet, you keep your cone and just give me the ice cream in a cup I can throw away. Much less messy and it lasts so much longer.
3. I have a Cars lunch tin. Yes, it’s mine. No, it’s not Boobah’s. I bought this one for me (!). He can borrow it for school, as long as he brings it back, and that can only happen on occasion, just in case he loses it.
4. My favoritest smell/flavour in the whole world is Vanilla. Vanilla bath oils, Vanilla Latte’s, Vanilla flavored milk, you name it, if it’s vanilla, I probably like it.
5. Currently, my iPod contains only the following: Gregorian Chants, Il Divo and Majors for Minors. I’m really feeling the classical/soothing/calm vibe lately. This also helps me focus.
6. One day, when TD actually decides to propose and I get to start planning our wedding and the big day FINALLY arrives, our First Dance song is going to be: Il Divo & Celine Dion – I believe in you. This has been our future wedding song since very, very early on in our relationship, and even though many years have passed, and the plans in my head for our wedding has constantly changed and evolved, this is the one thing that has never been changed or brought up for reconsideration. This is our wedding song:
   
7. I want to get another tattoo. This may or may not be

1. my last one. I have 3 already, all of which I got before I met TD. He doesn’t like tattoos at all, and accepts them as part of me, but doesn’t want to see me get anymore. However, this is just one of those things I’m going to do anyway, as soon as I’ve found and settled on a design, and will need to wait until after the birth of PlusOne. I want my boys’ initials, inked on my wrist. I need to either design, or find a design, or commission a design of their 2 initials A & A that somehow links and intertwines with each other, and there must also be stars. But not girly stars, boys stars. So it cant be pink or anything… Maybe for my birthday, as a belated present to myself.

Lastly, rule number 3 states that I need to pass on this award to 10 bloggers I’ve recently discovered, who I have found to be worthy of being called a Versatile Blogger. Now, some of these bloggers aren’t new discoveries, per se, but I feel they deserve to be award anyhow. This is MY blog, and I get to make some of the rules, no? So, in no particular order, besides alphabetical, here are my 10 deserving bloggers:

1. Acidicice
2. AngelInAfrica
3. Bananaramagirl
4. Beagle_Momma
5. Caz
6. Cazpi
7. Jenty
8. The Jackson Files
9. TotallyCooked
10. Wenchy

Much love x 3.5

…for the kids and as a family pet…

***Update below***

A while ago, last year more or less and also a couple of months ago, I was dead-set on getting an English Bulldog puppy as a pet. I had my heart set on getting one and even found out all about the breeders and availability of the litters and so forth. The Dad was okay with getting me one, even though they sold for about R6500- R7000 a puppy. But then a couple of other things cropped up that needed paying, as well as even more medical expenses in our near future, that paying THAT much for a puppy at the moment is not something we can do. And then that is just the cost of the pup, that does not take into account everything else we would still need to buy for this new addition, like a proper, good quality kennel, a comfy doggy pillow, toys and leashes and accessories and other things puppies may need.

So we’ve now decided to still get a puppy, but just one that is not AS expensive as the English Bulldogs… Here are our requirements:

• Must be a medium to largish (and I say largish, because not as big as a Great Dane or St Bernard, but more like a Boerbull at most) size
• Preferably one with a short coat, so not a long haired dog
• Good with kids with a good temperament, although I also firmly believe that a dogs’ temperament is also based on the way that they are raised, and not only a natural instinct – much like kids.
• Needs to be a puppy – because as much as people claim that they’ve raised their dogs in a loving environment, no one can ever be really sure and with two little kids, this is not something I would like to put to the test. I would much rather raise a pup in our environment, surrounded with our love and care and rules from the start. I don’t want to re-train someone else’s habits, good or bad.
• We would like a male dog
• Not a cross breed
• The following breeds are what the Dad told me to look at:
  Bullterrier – the ones with the nice big heads, not the pointy heads (Nr. 1 favorite choice)
  Boerboel
  Bull Mastiff
  Doberman – me, I don’t like them so much, I think they look funny
  And we may also consider Jack Russels, even though they’re small, but they are super lively and will be good playmates for the kids, specially Boobah at this point in time
• I also have a budget I need to stick to when it comes to looking at buying a dog. And as far as I can see on Gumtree (which is the only place I’ve looked at, for now, will do the classifieds later) most of the above breeds fall into my budget.
• And lastly, must be in the JHB or surrounding areas – it’s where we live, so no point in falling in love with a gorgeous, gorgeous puppy, that’s in the Cape or somewhere far where I can’t really get to him…

So here’s where I ask for your help. If you have a friend or know of someone who has pups available meeting the above requirements, please let me know. I will gladly give them a call and make arrangements to meet up and view their furry little doggies.

Oh, and as with all things in my life, if I want something, I want it NOW (or as close to now as I can get). This is also to make sure we have our new puppy, before something else crops up that needs payment or provides an excuse for this not to happen.

Much love x 2.5

***Update***

So I may have found us a puppy that meets the above requirements. Just look at this face:

Our future family member

Actually finding a white Bull Terrier, is not an easy thing to do, because a.) they’re almost always the first ones to be sold and b.) there are more black-and-white ones born than solid white ones. And yes, I realize you may notice the black spot just above his eye, but just as there’s Kids with Bubblegum incidents, you also get Puppy with Paint incidents

We’re going to view him tonight. First picking up Boobah though, and then we’re hopefully, most probably picking this little guy up also. So my next question is: Anybody have any name suggestions?

…do not go well together.

Judge me and chaste me if you wish, but I let Boobah eat bubblegum. He’s been allowed bubblegum since I can’t remember when. He knows not to swallow it, or to take it out and throw it away when he’s running/drinking something/eating something else/done with it. This has always been our rules and arrangement, and it works for us. At least, until last night, that is…

Boobah was lying in his bed, watching his How To Train Your Dragon movie which he got for his birthday. This is not something new (except maybe the movie, which he only got the weekend), as he regularly watches a movie in bed before he goes to sleep. The problem though is, he has not yet watched this particular movie enough times to remember to anticipate the scary bits. So he still gets scared during certain parts. For some reason last night, he was still chewing his gum when he started watching his movie.

Now, I’m not sure how this happened, or what made him do it (he said he got scared), but the next moment, I get this panic-stricken call from his room. I can hear he wants to cry. So I get up and rush to his room to check on him. What do I find? One small little boy, sitting bolt upright in his bed, with one eye glued together at the eyelashes with bubblegum. Super white bubblegum on my boys’ super long eyelashes. What do I do? Burst out laughing at the sight of him. The end results? A small boy who can only cry very loudly out of one eye…

Fortunately, my mush brain has not quite left me, and I managed to remember some snippet of info about peanut butter which helps get gum out of hair. So I figure I can’t exactly put peanut butter on his eye, and it’s essentially just the oil in peanut butter that helps, so I opt for baby oil instead. Squirted some on a piece of cotton wool, and proceeded to rub his eyelashes with that. Rub some, then pull off some gum, rub some again and pull off some more gum. Eventually we got everything out.

Boobah thought I was a superhero for fixing his eye, and promised never to put bubblegum on his eyes, in his ears or even on his hair EVER AGAIN!

Much love x 2.5

…most awesomest little man in the world!

This weekend we had your birthday party. After many weeks of planning and gathering ideas and getting everything we needed to have an amazing party, the day was finally here. All the sweets were bought, everything that was booked was collected, cake was en route and so were your friends. I even managed to squeeze in a haircut, so I could look more like your mommy and less like an older sister

I’ll let some pictures tell the story of the day:

The Sweets Table

Dinosaur Birthday Cake - with 3 candles

Setting up the jumping helicopter

Inspecting the successfulness of Dad's handiwork

Boobah and his cousin, Little Red

The Blank Canvas

The kids' aprons

And the fun started

Mixing awesome colors

Even PlusOne was wearing his apron

The finished piece

Finally it was time to sing and eat cake

Playing with his remote control helicopter he got from his Nannie and Oupa Bike

And then, ALL I wanted for Mothers Day yesterday, was for my painting to be put on the wall. That’s it. Nothing else. We did go for breakfast, but even that didn’t matter really, I REALLY REALLY just wanted my painting put up! And what did I get? This:

This is what I wanted, and got, for Mothers Day

Now, on a side note, I’ll just have to move the TV Stand and stuff over slightly, because apparently it’s not in the middle of the wall. The Painting is though.

But what do you think? It came out super, didn’t it???

Overall, we had a seriously good time, and Boobah fell asleep shortly after 19:00 on Saturday, only to wake up again at 06:20 the next morning. That’s a sure sign of success!

Much love x 2,5

… I dedicate this to you!

I received this in my Inbox this morning, and instead of just passing it on, I would like to share it here. As a way of remembrance, but also because I can reach more AWESOME Mothers this way, than merely typing in your email addresses.

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn’t worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn’t want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn’t know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body..
I didn’t know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that bond
between a mother and her child.
I didn’t know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom

May you all have a stupendous Mother’s Day and remember that you are truly loved and special!

Much love x 2.5

…so after yesterday’s slump, I have decided I need to pull myself towards myself and get over it. There are SO many other people who have things and problems WAY worse than mine. Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 In The Computer Friends who are going through a tremendously tough time at the moment. They have loved ones in trouble, with absolutely nothing they can do to fix them, except give them love, and pray, and hope. Angel, Cath and Heather, my thoughts are with you and all that you’re going through. Besides sending love and hugs and squidges to help carry you through this time, there’s not more that I can do. I know I haven’t commented much on your posts and tweets about the troubles, but it is because I’m not sure what to say… Just know that we love you and will always be there for you, regardless of what happens.

I have a lot to be thankful for:

• Yesterday, I probably spent more than I should’ve at the sweets place buying stuff for Boobah’s Party on Saturday, and also the party packs I’m sending to school on Monday – which is when it’s actually his birthday anyway. I wasn’t feeling guilty about spending the money at all, but was slightly dreading the phone call from The Dad I’d probably be getting going something like “WTF did you buy for R600.00!!!”. He gets an SMS every time I swipe his card for purchases over a R100.00. Fortunately, *that* particular call didn’t come and he only mentioned it to me once during the course of the night and he wasn’t even angry about it.
• I packed the party packs for school last night already, to make sure that I’ve got enough stuff and that there’s at least a pack for every kid in his class, as well as his teacher. I’ll bake cupcakes on Sunday night for school.
• I’ve been invited to share in the celebrations of an ITC (in the computer) friend’s new baby on Sunday. It’s awesome that I get to be part of that.
• My mum is flying in tonight for Boobah’s birthday this weekend. It’s great, because I haven’t seen her in a month and after she flies back on Tuesday, I’ll probably only see her again when it’s time for PlusOne’s baby shower. I’m thinking that will only be on the weekend of the 7th of August. That’s like 3 months away!
• Speaking of my baby shower, my awesome FSIL has agreed to help me arrange it. I want to be a part of all the arrangements this time, instead of having it as a surprise. Even though my folks were super cool again and gave us a whack of money to buy the stuff we need, I’ve only managed to cover the big stuff like a cot and a pram and a new early-baby car seat and some odds and ends. There’s still a whole bunch of the smaller necessities like bottles and dummies and cool things like that, that needs to be acquired. So I’ve gone over to Special Delivery – Online Baby Registry and created a baby registry there. Their site is packed with all kinds of awesomeness, and they have a wide selection to choose from. So I could really go specific and choose my preferred brands. Now I just need to start creating an invite and we’re almost ready to go. And I would like to invite some of my ITC friends also
• My beautiful belly buddy, Bananaramagirl, has given me the go ahead to use her idea of a nappy party for The Dad. We’re seeing some of his friends this weekend, and I want to discuss with them the probability of doing it and whether they would be keen on arranging it. They’re always ready for a piss-up anyway, so I can’t see why this would be any different – except maybe for the nappy bit. But they’re grown men, so I’m sure they could handle it
• We have come to a different arrangement for getting Boobah to school in the mornings. Seeing as after yesterday’s performance and his insistence that his oupa take him, and it turning out he had a much calmer day than any other, we have arranged with my FFIL to take Boobah every morning. In a way, it makes sense, not only because he’s building there, because that will eventually stop any way, he also has the time in the mornings to hang around for a few minutes if he has to. We can’t because we have to rush off to work every day. Boobah also seems much more pleased with this idea. Here is how this morning went down:
  I wake Boobah with his tea, like every other morning. When he was done with that, I said we should go bath now, because we need to get ready for work and school. “But I don’t want to go to school!” he replies very nearly crying. But oupa is mos going to take you to school, remember? “Oh, okay then. And you’re going to work?” Yes, I’m going to work while you’re going to school. In the bath, he proceeds to tell me that he is going to school and he is not going to fight with me today because if he fights with me, I cry, then he cries. And if I cry, I lose and then he loses too, so he is not going to fight with me, because he loves me. That, my friends, nearly pushed me to tears by itself. But I didn’t cry, I was strong today. On the way out the door later, he tells me that he’s going to school because he is a big boy and only big boys go to school. And he said it as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. After I handed him over to his oupa, he even gave me a hug and a kiss goodbye and told me to have a good day at work and that he loves me. Oh, I so love that child of mine!
• The dead rat smell is still prevalent here at work, but our receptionist has now taken to burning Indian Sticks (as she calls it – incense). I must say, it does help and it smells remarkably better than Jeyes Fluid or Dead Rat Eau De Toilet…
• I can love and I am loved. By many people for many different reasons.
• I am happy
• My own immediate self-made little family is just the best in the world. Even though my 1 kid sometimes doesn’t love me, or The Dad sometimes doesn’t get why I can be sad for no reason and Gina needs to offer to punch him in the nose, or my other child completely thrashes my bladder, they’re still MY little family and part of me!

May you all realize how wonderful you are and how much you are loved.

Much love x 2.5