I would like to note that on this day, 30 July 2011, A2 has mastered the art of:

* clapping hands
* dishing out hi-5s
* peek-a-boo, where he covers his own eyes
* he can say ka (for car, or anything with wheels, actually)
* he can also say mama, ouma, dada, sometimes papa slips out and he can say A! for A1 or sometimes call him baba
* he can stand for long periods against something, but only if you put him there. He doesn’t pull himself up against anything – much like A1 didn’t do either.
* he refuses to crawl – again like A1 – but has an absolute ball in his walking ring, chasing after his brother

Observations
* he prefers unconventional items as toys (like spoons, plastic plates and best of all, my phone or tab. You can’t fool him with a fake phone either, it has to be the real deal!). I keep on trying to entice him with bright, noisy, new suitable baby toys, but he’s not interested
* he also prefers real food to baby food, except for Cerelac
* he’s not big, he’s not small (for his age), he’s actually pretty average/normal in size – he fits into the proper clothes for his age, regardless of where one buys it
* his name is Alexander, please do not call him Alex
* he has a wonderful, healthy appetite
* he’s stilll not big on people

xoxo

…that may be safe enough to share.

• Titan will be getting neutered in the next week or so. He needs to lose his aggressiveness. His about a year and 3 months now, give or take a week, and his hormones are seriously bothering him. I’m over it.
• I am divorcing my BB, but I am keeping custody of BBM. (This has increased my battery life significantly!)
• I am totally in love with my new Galaxy Tab. Well as much love as one can have for technological gadgets. It is taking up lots and lots of my time, and not even all SM related.
• Until the end of August, my weekends are going to be crazy busy, with all the sewing stuff I have to get done. There were the 2 winners of the Felt So Good competition, I have all the stuff I need to make for A2′s party and then I have also been invited to exhibit at an upcoming Expo. (More details to follow, as soon as I have confirmation of the proceedings.) Very exciting stuff I tell you!!
• Our house has gone Angry Birds crazy… Yes, we may be late to the party, but it doesn’t make it any less fun. (This also means I have to actually share my Tab with everyone ) A1 also blatantly told me that “…sharing is caring, Mom!”
• Speaking of A1, this morning in bed, he turns to me and says: “Mom, you stole my heart.” – Aww, I just melted.
• A2s newest thing (well, for a while now actually) is to stand. Whenever and wherever possible. Even in the bath so now I have to bath him with one hand while holding him upright with the other hand.
• Don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but he’s starting to laugh at his own farts and himself doing it. It’s so cute!
• My happy pills makes me a much nicer person to be around with.
• Fart jokes never get old
• My happy pills do NOT make me like *them* more. I’m okay with that.
• Today at work, my friend made me a Clever Person hat. I’m still wearing it. Unfortunately, I can’t share pictures, because this range is still in the design phases.
• Some people are just really rude.
• It’s only 25 sleeps till my birthday. And only 27 sleeps till A2′s birthday! Yay for birthdays!
• Oooooh, thanks to my bestie, we found a bed for A2 for his first birthday! It’s super awesome amazing and I’ve already paid the deposit for it! Here’s a picture:
  Tell me that’s not the coolest bed you have EVER seen!?!
• SARS paid me some money – yay! (Big thanks to me going crazy last year and having to see a really expensive doctor and medical aid for not paying it and we had to do so ourselves = Bonus in July )
• The next set of renovations will hopefully begin soon, meaning each boychild gets to have their own room, and we get a new bigger better room for us. (Bye bye to my walk in closet though, the one that’s taking up a whole room by itself at the moment…)
• These were our latest (and first) renovations. It turned into a playroom for the boys. Not that we planned it as such, it just makes the most sense now:
  
  

…it’s been easier to like the baby, who can’t talk yet and smiles a lot even if he wakes often during the night and is experiencing some separation anxiety, than the 4 going on 14 year old, who picks fights and screams and whines and nags and moans and and cries for nothing and only listens to the first 3 words you say instead of the whole sentence where I’m actually going to say yes but because he burst into that ugly wail I’m am now more inclined to say NO!!

The boy who’s negative behaviour far outweighs the positive behaviour and no form of discipline seems to leave a lasting impression. Oh he’s very quick to say sorry and cry some more about being sorry and that lasts all of 2 minutes, 5 if I’m lucky. When he *is* being positive/good, he is the most awesome little person to be around, but for now those moments are few and far between. He is simply just not listening to me or his dad at the moment. He will literally look me in the eye and proceed to do what I have just told/warned/threatened him explicitly NOT TO DO!!

In our house, A2 is Daddy’s child through and through, and A1 is Mommy’s boy – always has been. So what I’ve explained above has lead to a very difficult relationship between father and (eldest) son. A1 is much quicker to call me for anything and his dad isn’t allowed to make his morning tea, or even talk to him before he’s had it. If that does happen, the raised voices and screams are enough to lift the roof of the house. If one waits till after he’s had his tea, he is generally a much more pleasant little being. But one can’t always wait until after he’s had his morning tea, due to unforeseen circumstances.

It’s ugly!

And then, this morning in the car:

A1: Mom, have you seen a superhero?

Me: *in a gruff mommy voice, almost like a rawr” Yeah, Supermaaaaan!!

A1: And my Daddy.

Me: …

After being stumped for a while, not knowing what to say, I simply said: Yes, and your daddy.

xoxo

I’m going to quietly have a cry in the loo now. Stupid dark hole!

…from being a parent! YAY!!!

I am SO excited I can not even begin to explain! Much as I love my kids, (I always feel i have to add that bit, just in case some one starts wondering :/ ) I really really *NEED* tonight to happen. It will be the first night in 2 days shy of 11 months that I will be able to actually sleep through for a change, have no kids wake me at 5 the next morning and the bed will be mine, ALL MINE (and TF’s of course).

The kids have been sorted and will be posted – A1 to his BFF and A2 to his gran (who looks after him during the day anyway, so she’ll just keep him. I wonder what price we’ll have to pay for this one…?). We’re going out (albeit to a work function for TF) and I’m gonna get my Happy on, perhaps indulge in an alcoholic beverage or two, be merry, go home to fall into our new King Size (and very high!!) bed that arrived yesterday and I still have no linen for and SLEEP!!!

Sleep. Sleep. Glorious Sleep!!

xoxo

…this is something I’m rather sucky at. I have all the functional bits, but *mostly* I’m not very good at being girly. Yes, I have long hair, but that’s because 1. I look stupid with short hair and 2. I just haven’t gotten around to having it cut since the last time (??) I cut it.

I am also not very good with routines. Not for me, and not for the boys either. With A2 I have had to implement some kind of something, but it’s not very strict. So I’m trying to say that I didn’t have a skin care regime in place AT ALL! For me, face care meant wiping my face with a wet cloth that has some soapy residue. That was about it. Oh, and maybe noooowwwww and theeeeennnn I might have used some brand name scrub that I bought on a whim because the bottle looked cool.

Until the beginning of this month. I’d decided I need to be a big girl now, and act like the grown up I’m supposed to be. I’m also not getting any younger and I’m certainly no spring chicken (in terms of skin care etc). And I have lines around my eyes!! *EEEEKKK*.

As I’m a distributor for Tranquil Body Treats, it made the most sense to make use of the fantastic special we’re running for the month of July, and get me a whole range of products. (Because Julia reckoned I’d be a better sales person if I actually know the products I’m selling and how they work. It *totally* makes sense! Thanks, my beautiful friend!) I got the Oily-skin range, as I seem to fall in that category. The set included:

• Milk wash, for twice daily use
• Facial scrub, for once weekly use
• Moisturiser, for twice daily use
• Eye cream, for twice daily use (which was FREE with the July Special, btw)
• Kaolin Clay Mask, for twice weekly use

I’m putting the specials for July below, so you can also indulge your face, or your body, or your babies

…about this awesome big party I went to last week! Well, it was supposed to be a little party, but it turned into a big party and we ALL had FUN!!

It all started with a grand idea between Nicki, Tasha and Angie, about how they wanted to meet up IRL and make friends, for real. (They all blog too and follow each others blogs.) And then they tweeted the idea, hashtagged it

#JoziBloggerMeetUp

and we all saw and wanted to join in the fun too. And them, being fabulous and stuff, said sure, the more the merrier. And then 50 of us Joburg bloggers pitched up! Yes, FIFTY!! And they weren’t even all Mommy-Bloggers (like me)! I honestly didn’t even know there were so many of us.

It was held at Wolves Cafe, in Illovo. It’s SO easy to get there (even though I managed to get spectacularly lost (okay, maybe not *that*badly, just on Corlett Drive) and HayleyM had to tweet me directions, and Gina and Timor gave me phone directions to where they parked)! Wolves is the most awesomest cafe I’ve been to in a very long time! They have really, really good coffee and mouthgasmic Red Velvet Cupcakes. And super chocolaty brownies, sans nuts, which is just the way I prefer them! Yes, I had both – it was my dinner for the night

Between the 3 beautiful organisers, they managed to procure super-amazing prizes for the night (of which I won absolutely nothing, but it’s okay, I will try again next time) and they also got Laborie Wines to sponsor some wine for the night too. Follow Laborie Wines on Twitter at @LaborieLife! How awesome is that for all the wine-lovers out there??

Here’s a little breakdown of all the amazing prizes that were up for grabs:

Crowne Plaza Rosebank Hotel - a night’s stay for 2, including breakfast at the FAB Rosebank Hotel

HAND - voucher for a free cut, treatment and blow-dry

2 x Kodak Digital Cameras

1 YEAR’S Supply of Pringles (Wow! Just WOW)

5 x Canderel Hampers

5 x Snack Factory Gift Bags

3 x GHD Bags

1 x  Living & Loving Pamper Hamper (cool beauty products, NOT nappies!)

1 Months’ FREE coffee at Wolves

So tell me now, how could I *NOT* go and have myself a ball? TF agreed to watching the boys, while I went out to relax a bit. I don’t think I’ve had a social gathering without at least one of the boys present in almost 11 months (incidentally, that’s how old A2 is now). It was time, and seriously needed, and seriously appreciated!!

I met up with some of my ITC friends who became IRL friends, and finally met some faces whose names I only knew from my phone. There were a bunch of other beautiful people there, whom I did not talk to (because secretly I felt a bit overwhelmed and intimidated by these fashionistas/tech guys&gals and OMG *THE* editor of Living and Loving, Tanya was there and I wanted to ask for her autograph and Timor said she’d introduce me and then I didn’t feel so brave anymore (I didn’t have wine) and said nah it’s okay maybe next time…), but whose blogs I’ve since added to my Reader and am enjoying the various places and directions all their journeys are taking me.

Go look here for a video shot by Gareth Pon (who so happened to let me walk with them from the parking lot to Wolves, because I’m scared of the dark – friendly people, I TELL YOU!!) I’m the one with the mustache right in the beginning

As we got there, we all had to write our names on stickers so people could see who we were and between Nicki and Tasha and Angie, they wrote down our blog names/links and they very kindly put together a list of every one who was there:

• Tanya – tan32.wordpress.com
• Roz – jellybeanjourney.wordpress.com (email Roz atwrighttwinmommy@gmail.com for access as her’s is a private blog)
• Timor – lovecybelle.wordpress.com
• Gina – gnatj.com
• Stacey Vee – lionheartinourbathtub.blogspot.com
• Nicci – fromnearthemoon.wordpress.com
• Serena – medstudentbarbie.blogspot.com
• Hayley – hayleymal.blogspot.com
• Vanessa – randomramblingsofacrazedwomen.blogspot.com/
• Kate – justagirlwholikeswords.com
• Carlette – nunuza.blogspot.com
• Sarah – sarah-theangelheadedhipster.blogspot.com
• Sid – seedsthoughts.blogspot.com
• David – thetechduel.wordpress.com
• Tanya – tanyakovarsky.wordpress.com
• Tunet – quirkykindacool.wordpress.com
• Lexie – truthfulobservations.tumblr.com
• Tiffany – tothumperwithlove.blogspot.com
• Paul – pawlclark.blogspot.com/
• Emma – emmajanenation.com
• Jo – buttoncandy.org
• Michelle – smokethissxx.blogspot.com
• Alma – labonnev@tumblr.com
• Roxy – citygirlsearching.blogspot.com
• Lou – thetrialsofmisslola.tumblr.com (computer says no???)
• Mariella – italiankisses.blogspot.com
• Araffa – mynameisfarra.tumblr.com
• Natalie - cleomagazine.co.za
• Greg – berylontoast.blogspot.com
• Gareth – garethpon.tumblr.com
• Tamiya – tamiyat.co.za
• Kirsty – kirstyroxannewilde.blogspot.com
• Faye – whattodowithdaylight.blogspot.com
• Amy - littlemissconceptions.tumblr.com
• MeeA – mamameea.blogspot.com
• Camilla – heysweetieblog.blogspot.com
• Yusuf – untitledawearness.com (under construction)
• Megan – waitingformeg.blogspot.com (Second Floor Living)
• Jeanette – therealjenty.com and jeanetteverster.com
• Fiona – rememberwhenwewereyoung.wordpress.com
• Stacey - storyscarves.org/blog
• Sindi-Leigh – just-let-em-eat-cake.tumblr.com
• Ricardo – (waiting for URL)
• Tamaryn – exmi.co.za
• Indianna – nicefind.blogspot.com
• Ivana – ivanalilly.blogspot.com
• Gwen – untravelledsoles.blogspot.com
• Angie – superduper.co.za/lucky
• Natasha – littleandbunny.blogspot.com
• Nicki – waitingforluca.wordpress.com

It was a spectacular night, thank you very much for all your hard work in arranging this! I will most definitely be at the next one! No pressure

• 2 nights of relatively good sleep does not indicate a trend. It usually precedes 2 weeks of shitty nights of no sleep, crying, whining, coughing, snot and medicine.
• Your child will not die if you make him take the half-eaten apple out of the trash and make him finish eating it. The same apple he whined for and promised to finish completely before you allowed him to have it, because you *know* he’s actually just taking a chance.
• Yogurt is perfectly acceptable as dinner. Or lunch. Or breakfast. Or all three. On the same day.
• You ALWAYS love your children, NO MATTER WHAT, but you don’t necessarily always have to like them.
• Happy pills can help you be a better mommy. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of chemical assistance.
• Nothing in the world puts me on the same high, as A1 telling me I’m beautiful!
• Trust your instincts – ALWAYS!
• Teaspoons and roll-on bottles and other common household items make better toys than most (expensive) store-bought items… :/
• ALWAYS carry at least one spare diaper in your handbag or car – you never know when you might need it.
• Sing. A lot and loudly. Even if it’s badly. Make up songs or personalise existing ones. Your children will love it, because you are their mom.
• Don’t worry about when your child gives up their dummy/bottle/nappies or push them to do it at a certain age. They will when they’re ready. And this won’t be on their CV’s one day.
• Parenting is NOT easy!
• Sometimes I can’t *wait* for the boys to go to sleep and other times I *can’t* wait for them to wake up.
• Keep everything in moderation.

…as they were on the weekend

I do so love these two with all of my heart!

xoxo

…regarding The Fight In My Insides.

TF and I discussed this over the weekend. There won’t be an A3. Not a planned one, at least. If it *does* somehow happen, then that will be fine, but we are going to try and ensure that it *doesn’t* happen somehow. And I’m not going to “accidentally-on-purpose-whoops” make it happen either. That will be so very very wrong and deceitful, and then everything I moaned about the other day would be null and void. And one can’t have a relationship like that.

The reasons for our decision are basically everything I didn’t say in the previous post.

Financially, we’d be better able to provide for two children. Specially given that I would like to send my kids to private schools. Besides schooling, I like the fact that I can walk into a shop, and if I or the boy(s) see something they like, I can generally buy it for them, without much hesitation. There are some times when I have to say no, not now, but mostly I can.

There is also no guarantee that A3 will be an Ava, which is partly the whole point of having an A3 in the first place. Not that I’d love an A-boy-child any less though.

Some of my in-the-not-too-distant-future plans involve becoming a WFHM. One where the boys still attend school in the mornings, I get to do other things, be it sewing or whatever, and then I can go collect them from school, drive them to their extra-murals or sports and be involved in their lives. This dream will be easier to realise with 2 A’s as opposed to 3 A’s.

Due to circumstances, our sleeping patterns with A2 differ greatly from the ones we had with A1. This has meant more than 10 months (not counting the pregnancy days) of uninterrupted broken/sleepless nights. We are both tired. A2 doesn’t sleep through yet, even though it’s hardly any trouble getting him to fall asleep. He still wakes up for a bottle, and he’s a restless sleeper in the early morning hours. On the odd occasions that he’s actually having a good night, A1 would wake up for whatever reason and come squeeze himself into our double bed … At this point in time, neither TF nor I can stomach the thought of at least 2 more years of carrying on like this, should I fall pregnant again. (Did you know that Sleep Deprivation has been used as an effective method of torture throughout history…?)

I also think that the intense NEED to have an A3, is very much hormone related. That sense of urgency and desperation I felt last week, has sort of ebbed away for now. Now I can see the logic in not having A3, whereas last week, the mere thought was all-consuming.

I am very glad that I was able to discuss my feelings with TF, without him brushing it off, or laughing at me, or fighting or calling me ridiculous. He comforted, discussed, pointed out the pros and cons, and calmed me down. I am very lucky he’s part of my life, and we have the type of relationship we do.

xoxo

Thank you All the Bodies, for your comments on the previous post, and on FB, and on Twitter. I am truly grateful that I am surrounded by such an amazing caliber of people and that I can call all of you my friends!