Well it's Thursday morning, I think, although I'm not entirely sure I know what day it is, where I am, or why Ethan's cries are still ringing in my head from yesterday. All I do know at this point is, I'm at work staring at my computer in a half daze wondering what it is I need to do next. Now...what was I doing? Oh yeah!
The trip was fantastic. Going home is always such a wonderful thing for me, it reminds me of who I am and where I came from and how lucky I am to have the things I have. We drove through some truly depressing parts where you can't even imagine people live. It always humbles me. I go back and have to set my clock to South African time, which means everything takes forever, the food, the driving, and the washing to dry on the line. The thing with this is, I have noticed that on African time I seem less stressed, less rushed and less angry. It feels as though there is more time in the day and not so much pressure to cram a busy day into 10 hours. The kids played and laughed and had fun, Skylar didn't miss TV, she loved the beach and playing outside, and she swam and laughed and glowed. Ethan learnt to pull himself up on everything and how to get dirty. He smiles and waves bye-bye to everyone; he got so much attention and love he was exploding with happiness. We took time to be a family, to relax and to have a little fun. It doesn't get much better than that.
On our trip we did have some hiccups, Skylar choked on some meat and I had to give her the Heimlich, Ethan held his breath till he passed out while I frantically ran around the restaurant hysterical, there are many other crazy instances of danger and living on the edge, almost too many to list, but we made it. Skylar learnt that in the vast expanses of African bush that the need for a potty break simply means pull off the road and go, she loved the idea and it's as if she waited to have to go until we were surrounded by miles of nothing just so she could experience the freedom of bush-peeing. And then on one occasion on a drive through the game park she was laughing so hard she peed her pants and continued to laugh even harder. I think laughing that hard pardons any potty accident, I wish we all laughed so hard we pee our pants. It's good for the heart!
On this trip, we have built relationships, renewed old friendships, fallen in love and learnt that nothing should ever be taken for granted.
Things that I learnt to not take for granted:
Electricity (due to load shedding)
Hot water (see above)
Pot-hole free roads
That someone won't overtake on a blind rise and potentially kill you as you approach
Food to arrive within an hour of ordering it
There are a few more things I could add to my list, but it seems unfair, as if I'm complaining. I'm not, I love Africa, it's my home.
I have many more tales from darkest Africa to share, however at this time I find myself staring blankly at my screen again. I wish the screams of my overtired, exhausted child will stop in my head. Did I mention that he cried all the way from JFK to Denver, no nipple in the world could pacify him. The lady in front of us was clearly not a "baby person" and her hatred was felt with every nasty stare and huff and puff. I wanted to speak, I wanted to ask her if she had a problem with my screaming child, I wanted to scold her for being so insensitive, but my efforts would have been lost on her. I'm not sure we'll be friends, but I do hope that she still has my child’s screams in her head today too. Ahh yes, how does that slogan go..."fly the friendly skies", this does not apply to you my dear friend in seat 8F. May the screams of my child and the whining of my daughter forever be with you.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Well we have safely landed in SA but it's been quite the trip. First of course we had to take the midnight flight from Denver to JFK and spend the day in New York, that part of the trip was easy and quite painless. Then we boarded the flight from JFK to Johannesburg and it was a long, long plane ride. Skylar had been so excited about the trip but even to her the long haul got a bit much, about 10 hours into it she looks up at me from her seat, barely keeping her eyes open and says: "Mommy, I don't want to go to Attica anymore". Ha, poor baby, she was so exhausted. But between the two of them I can't complain, they were incredibly good and made the trip pretty stress free.
Since we have been here the kids have been having so much fun. Africa, I do love coming home. Makes me feel like a kid all over again too.
Ethan has developed and ear infection, took him to the doc today, I'm still amazed at how the trip to the doc and the prescription cost me less here than it would in the USA with insurance. Boggles the mind.
Johannesburg INTL, gave us an unregistered car rental, nice, so I come out of the store and sure enough I have a R600.00 ticket for not displaying a valid registration. Honestly, how can you screw up something like that? Anyway all taken care of and we now have a spanky new car that doesn't smell like cat pee.
I have had little sleep in four days, so as I write this I realise it is probably boring and completely un-funny and who knows if any of it even makes any sense. All I can think of right now though is curling up in my 100 degree room and sweating myself into slumber land, that is for a moment until Ethan wakes up again.
Since we have been here the kids have been having so much fun. Africa, I do love coming home. Makes me feel like a kid all over again too.
Ethan has developed and ear infection, took him to the doc today, I'm still amazed at how the trip to the doc and the prescription cost me less here than it would in the USA with insurance. Boggles the mind.
Johannesburg INTL, gave us an unregistered car rental, nice, so I come out of the store and sure enough I have a R600.00 ticket for not displaying a valid registration. Honestly, how can you screw up something like that? Anyway all taken care of and we now have a spanky new car that doesn't smell like cat pee.
I have had little sleep in four days, so as I write this I realise it is probably boring and completely un-funny and who knows if any of it even makes any sense. All I can think of right now though is curling up in my 100 degree room and sweating myself into slumber land, that is for a moment until Ethan wakes up again.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Random Thoughts
Well here I am again...trouble in slumber land. It's 9:25pm and Skylar is whining about what CD she listens to, it's 9:25pm, at this point I'm ready to throw the CD player through a window. Does it matter if it's Curious George or Mermaid?? I think not! GO TO SLEEP.
Right, onto the next thing. While I was dressing Skylar the other day I had to tackle the tiniest button on her shirt. Honestly, do the people who make childrens clothing not have kids? Have they not ever tried to push a tiny button through a tiny button hole and a wiggly tiny person. Hello folks. I think buttons are a bad idea, period.
While shopping the other weekend, seems I've been doing a lot of this lately, I encountered a very rude mother/child combo. The little girl was sitting in the stroller and as we walked by she made some rude noise at Skylar and took a swipe. I didn't pay too much attention, that is until the Mother started yelling at the cashier and practically threw a pair of pants at her. I was amazed. Now this is my question, is she a bad Mother for passing on her nastiness to her daughter who will probably grow up to be a school yard bully? Or am I the bad Mother because I am ready to throw the CD player through a window, along with the CD's and then lock myself in the bathroom and scream until I am hoarse. Hmmm, it's a tough one isn't it?
Ethan said Mamma today, no really he did! I know he did. He said it because he loves me and doesn't judge me for wanting to throw the stupid CD player through a window.
Well the plan was to pack early so that I had time to take things out and rethink things and all of that good -in-theory kind of stuff. Well the plan was to take two suitcases, now a week later I have three. What the heck happened? I guess the plan backfired, it just gave me more time to remember more crap that I don't need but have to take. Ahh yes, still enjoying the wonders of packing.
I wish all these people with the flu would stay home and stay away from me. I'm taking a trip in two days and I'm paranoid as all get-out that I'll wake up Friday morning with the flu. Stay away people, I don't need to share your ickies!
Right, onto the next thing. While I was dressing Skylar the other day I had to tackle the tiniest button on her shirt. Honestly, do the people who make childrens clothing not have kids? Have they not ever tried to push a tiny button through a tiny button hole and a wiggly tiny person. Hello folks. I think buttons are a bad idea, period.
While shopping the other weekend, seems I've been doing a lot of this lately, I encountered a very rude mother/child combo. The little girl was sitting in the stroller and as we walked by she made some rude noise at Skylar and took a swipe. I didn't pay too much attention, that is until the Mother started yelling at the cashier and practically threw a pair of pants at her. I was amazed. Now this is my question, is she a bad Mother for passing on her nastiness to her daughter who will probably grow up to be a school yard bully? Or am I the bad Mother because I am ready to throw the CD player through a window, along with the CD's and then lock myself in the bathroom and scream until I am hoarse. Hmmm, it's a tough one isn't it?
Ethan said Mamma today, no really he did! I know he did. He said it because he loves me and doesn't judge me for wanting to throw the stupid CD player through a window.
Well the plan was to pack early so that I had time to take things out and rethink things and all of that good -in-theory kind of stuff. Well the plan was to take two suitcases, now a week later I have three. What the heck happened? I guess the plan backfired, it just gave me more time to remember more crap that I don't need but have to take. Ahh yes, still enjoying the wonders of packing.
I wish all these people with the flu would stay home and stay away from me. I'm taking a trip in two days and I'm paranoid as all get-out that I'll wake up Friday morning with the flu. Stay away people, I don't need to share your ickies!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Bedtime Woes
I used to have in my mind the visions of brushing teeth, quietly reading, singing and then sweet kisses goodnight. Now while this scenario is true, my vision of perfect bedtime ends there, however my reality does not.
Ethan has been waking up crying hysterically, he sits up in his crib and just cries his little eyes out. I try rubbing/patting his back, to no avail, I've tried the cry-it-out method (which is torturous). Nothing works, well of course nursing and sleeping in Mommy's tired arms does, but what works for him is not working for me. This is a stage...it will pass. I have to tell myself this, I need to make it through the night.
Then when one is sleeping the other decides to wake. At almost three years old I would have thought Skylar would be a breeze by now, sleeping from 8:30pm to 8:30am. There I go again, off in la-la land. My child has decided to punish me by waking up several times during the night screaming for me. Please, please, please, I must get some sleep.
My Record last week, 7 times in one night, yes that's right SEVEN. I spent more time out of bed than I did in bed. And if this wasn't bad enough, there lay the hubby snoring away in slumber land with not a care in the world. In my next life I want to come back as a man, I want to know this thing they call relaxation, sleep and oh yeah that other thing called time-to-myself.
As I finish this up, I listen to the beautiful sound of my children sleeping. I breath in this moment for I know that this feeling of bedtime triumph will last about as long as it takes me to close my eyes and get comfy before the first cry shatters my dreams.
Ethan has been waking up crying hysterically, he sits up in his crib and just cries his little eyes out. I try rubbing/patting his back, to no avail, I've tried the cry-it-out method (which is torturous). Nothing works, well of course nursing and sleeping in Mommy's tired arms does, but what works for him is not working for me. This is a stage...it will pass. I have to tell myself this, I need to make it through the night.
Then when one is sleeping the other decides to wake. At almost three years old I would have thought Skylar would be a breeze by now, sleeping from 8:30pm to 8:30am. There I go again, off in la-la land. My child has decided to punish me by waking up several times during the night screaming for me. Please, please, please, I must get some sleep.
My Record last week, 7 times in one night, yes that's right SEVEN. I spent more time out of bed than I did in bed. And if this wasn't bad enough, there lay the hubby snoring away in slumber land with not a care in the world. In my next life I want to come back as a man, I want to know this thing they call relaxation, sleep and oh yeah that other thing called time-to-myself.
As I finish this up, I listen to the beautiful sound of my children sleeping. I breath in this moment for I know that this feeling of bedtime triumph will last about as long as it takes me to close my eyes and get comfy before the first cry shatters my dreams.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The Packing Frenzy
In two and a half short weeks I will be walking out of the plane into the African sunshine. The time of departure is almost upon us. Now while there are many things I am looking forward to, such as the kids seeing G and G Stroebel and their Aunt and Uncle and all of that great stuff. I too am looking forward to the sunshine, the beach and some much needed R&R. Oh-and the great chocolate!
We, the husband and myself, have taken the trip many times, once with a nine month old which was smooth, however this time around might prove to be a little more challenging. There will be two little people, one of which will probably want to talk to everyone and share the contents of her purse with everyone on board (she does that now, we are out someplace with the bag in tow and sure enough, she pops it open and spills it's guts to anyone who will listen) and then the other little person who can't sit still and squirms all over the place in an attempt to get down and keep perfecting his new found talent, yes the boy is finally crawling. Now, it's a flight from here to JFK (in the middle of the night) to arrive at 6am and then spend the entire day waiting for our grueling 18 hour flight at 5:30pm. YIKES! It's going to be a rough one, with not a lot of sleep that's for sure. I feel sorry for any unsuspecting narrow-minded individual who may dare to give me the evil eye when I nurse my child in a public place. An overprotective Mamma with no sleep is not a Mamma you want to cross.
Now is the packing issue. I know that two kids is enough, just them, now I have to take along enough clothes for a three week trip for four of us and try to squeeze it all into a reasonable amount of luggage so we aren't swallowed alive by our suitcases. I'm thinking a pair of short, couple tanks, a swimming costume (or swimsuit as we say in America) and a pair of sandals. Done. But what if we go out to eat, or if it's cold, or if Ethan throws up on me...see...this is the problem. I can pack light if I didn't have any what-ifs floating around in my head. So in the end no matter how much I try to prepare for this trip, I will end up packing too much, we'll be exhausted lugging it around and when it's time to come home we will have bought so much stuff there that we'll have no room to add the new stuff to the old stuff that we shouldn't have taken to begin with. The joys of packing.
The pleasure of the trip will outweigh the pain of the process though.
We, the husband and myself, have taken the trip many times, once with a nine month old which was smooth, however this time around might prove to be a little more challenging. There will be two little people, one of which will probably want to talk to everyone and share the contents of her purse with everyone on board (she does that now, we are out someplace with the bag in tow and sure enough, she pops it open and spills it's guts to anyone who will listen) and then the other little person who can't sit still and squirms all over the place in an attempt to get down and keep perfecting his new found talent, yes the boy is finally crawling. Now, it's a flight from here to JFK (in the middle of the night) to arrive at 6am and then spend the entire day waiting for our grueling 18 hour flight at 5:30pm. YIKES! It's going to be a rough one, with not a lot of sleep that's for sure. I feel sorry for any unsuspecting narrow-minded individual who may dare to give me the evil eye when I nurse my child in a public place. An overprotective Mamma with no sleep is not a Mamma you want to cross.
Now is the packing issue. I know that two kids is enough, just them, now I have to take along enough clothes for a three week trip for four of us and try to squeeze it all into a reasonable amount of luggage so we aren't swallowed alive by our suitcases. I'm thinking a pair of short, couple tanks, a swimming costume (or swimsuit as we say in America) and a pair of sandals. Done. But what if we go out to eat, or if it's cold, or if Ethan throws up on me...see...this is the problem. I can pack light if I didn't have any what-ifs floating around in my head. So in the end no matter how much I try to prepare for this trip, I will end up packing too much, we'll be exhausted lugging it around and when it's time to come home we will have bought so much stuff there that we'll have no room to add the new stuff to the old stuff that we shouldn't have taken to begin with. The joys of packing.
The pleasure of the trip will outweigh the pain of the process though.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Am I Immune?? To Everything??
I have this pen on my desk from a hotel with a catchy little phrase that says "wake up on the bright side". I'm not sure if this pen found it's way into my life to remind me of something or if it's simply just a pen I found lying around (or...stole from another co-workers desk). But I'm not sure I like it's in-your-face-be-happy-stop-complaining-about-yesterday kind of presence. Yes folks I'm not feeling in the"wake up on the bright side" kind of mood. Is it obvious?
Last week was a week from hell. I was put to the ultimate test in every way possible, work, wife, mommy, person who I would like to run of the road...you know what I mean. EVERYTHING!
Hubby woke up Sunday feeling grim, Super Bowl Sunday and the Packers didn't make it, if I were him I wouldn't feel so good either. As the day progressed he got worse, and by worse I mean more whiney, well and sick too I suppose. Monday morning he slugged through work and came home miserable, by Tuesday he was at the doctors office first thing in the morning...WHOA...back up! YES, the doctors office. I have been married to this man for almost 10 years and the only time he ever went to the doctor was disguised (for insurance purposes) as his brother for a strep test. I believe he got there and chickened out though, so I'm not sure this counts either. So later in the day I get a call, it's the flu. The man has the flu!! I have to admit that he did look like death warmed over, but all of us woman know that when our men have the slightest icky feeling the entire world will come to an end. Well to cut a long story short, and to get back to me and my misery over the whole thing, since really it's all about me isn't it? He calls to say he has the flu, I need to take the kids in right away. Ethan just coming off RSV and too little to go onto Tamiflu and Skylar who is sickness prone, I rush them off the only doctors appointment I can get for the day. Of course, it's extemely inconvenient with the work situation, but I go off get my kids from daycare, do the doc office, come to find out both kids don't have flu but both have nasty ear-infections. I bundle them back up, come back to work with the brood in tow, since hubby has been told to stay away from all of us. I work. I leave work to venture home and pick up prescriptions on the way, and of course I hit traffic. Poor baby girl in the back saying "Mommy I have to pee-pee"...nowhere to stop..."Mommy I pee-peed on my seat". Really??? Why can't I just have the flu? Seems easier already.
That folks is just one day, actually just a couple hours. I slept on the floor for three days, each ache and pain suggesting I might be coming down with the flu, hope, that maybe I too can rest. But NO, no me. Fit as a fiddle as my Grandpa would say. I have to admit while I am glad I avoided the nasty flu bug in order to care of (ever so lovingly I would like to add) my family, it was completely exhausting. I suppose as Mothers we are immune to such things as the flu, so that our families can be sick and there is someone to take care of them. Immunity Shimmunity.
I am happy to say that the family is all well and the hubby is back on kitty scooping and trash-taking-out duties.
Oh and I am sleeping in my bed again, oh how I love my bed!
Last week was a week from hell. I was put to the ultimate test in every way possible, work, wife, mommy, person who I would like to run of the road...you know what I mean. EVERYTHING!
Hubby woke up Sunday feeling grim, Super Bowl Sunday and the Packers didn't make it, if I were him I wouldn't feel so good either. As the day progressed he got worse, and by worse I mean more whiney, well and sick too I suppose. Monday morning he slugged through work and came home miserable, by Tuesday he was at the doctors office first thing in the morning...WHOA...back up! YES, the doctors office. I have been married to this man for almost 10 years and the only time he ever went to the doctor was disguised (for insurance purposes) as his brother for a strep test. I believe he got there and chickened out though, so I'm not sure this counts either. So later in the day I get a call, it's the flu. The man has the flu!! I have to admit that he did look like death warmed over, but all of us woman know that when our men have the slightest icky feeling the entire world will come to an end. Well to cut a long story short, and to get back to me and my misery over the whole thing, since really it's all about me isn't it? He calls to say he has the flu, I need to take the kids in right away. Ethan just coming off RSV and too little to go onto Tamiflu and Skylar who is sickness prone, I rush them off the only doctors appointment I can get for the day. Of course, it's extemely inconvenient with the work situation, but I go off get my kids from daycare, do the doc office, come to find out both kids don't have flu but both have nasty ear-infections. I bundle them back up, come back to work with the brood in tow, since hubby has been told to stay away from all of us. I work. I leave work to venture home and pick up prescriptions on the way, and of course I hit traffic. Poor baby girl in the back saying "Mommy I have to pee-pee"...nowhere to stop..."Mommy I pee-peed on my seat". Really??? Why can't I just have the flu? Seems easier already.
That folks is just one day, actually just a couple hours. I slept on the floor for three days, each ache and pain suggesting I might be coming down with the flu, hope, that maybe I too can rest. But NO, no me. Fit as a fiddle as my Grandpa would say. I have to admit while I am glad I avoided the nasty flu bug in order to care of (ever so lovingly I would like to add) my family, it was completely exhausting. I suppose as Mothers we are immune to such things as the flu, so that our families can be sick and there is someone to take care of them. Immunity Shimmunity.
I am happy to say that the family is all well and the hubby is back on kitty scooping and trash-taking-out duties.
Oh and I am sleeping in my bed again, oh how I love my bed!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Little green monster called Jelousy
At two and half I can hardly imagine what it must be like to be the center of the Universe, to have your every move and word, ooohed and ahhhhed over, then to wake up one morning and your life as you knew it....over! Instead now taking your spotlight is this new little person being carried and loved, being fed with parts of Mommy that once belonged to you. I imagine that it's a pretty traumatic experience. Now understanding the psychology behind the trauma does not make me tolerant of the behaviour associated with the trauma, I try, but I am weak.
Ethan is now almost 9 months old and while I thought that for Skylar the new-ness of it all would have worn off and she would be settling into her role as big sister and by now would be used to the shared attention, this is not the case. In fact it gets worse with time instead of better. She looks at him with so much disdain at times, she whines for my attention, imitates his cries when I respond to them. She pushes him off my lap and squirms her way between us. My little girl, nobody can replace her, I wish she knew how much I loved her, how beautiful I think she is and how when she takes my face in her little (sometimes sticky) hands and looks me square in the eye and says "I love you Mommy", how that makes my heart leap and my Mommy love explode. I wish she knew that every second of the day that I am trapped in my cubicle willing away time, I am thinking about her and her brother, what they are doing, what fun thing I am missing out on. I suppose you just can't tell a two year old those emotions and expect them to understand.
The other day Ethan was sitting playing with his toys and he fell over backwards and slammed his head into the floor, cries rang out, I ran out to pick him up and rub his head and love him. Skylar, who was playing quietly, watched the whole thing go down and drank it all in. PING...a light-bulb went off in her little head. She walked over to the exact same offending spot, slammed her head into the ground and proceeded to cry. Kids are smart, smarter than we can ever be. I think with age we get dummer, because kids, they know how to manipulate, they know how to do things and get away with just about most of it. Smart!!! They are here to test us.
Skylar has been telling me a lot about monsters lately, that the monster will bite me, monsters on the aeroplane (as if flying doesn't terrify me enough), I have no idea where the monsters are coming from, but I do know this. She herself is a little green monster called Jealousy right now! She is my little green monster, my little monster trying to hold her own and keep her spot as the most oohed and ahhed of the siblings!
I love these little people.
Ethan is now almost 9 months old and while I thought that for Skylar the new-ness of it all would have worn off and she would be settling into her role as big sister and by now would be used to the shared attention, this is not the case. In fact it gets worse with time instead of better. She looks at him with so much disdain at times, she whines for my attention, imitates his cries when I respond to them. She pushes him off my lap and squirms her way between us. My little girl, nobody can replace her, I wish she knew how much I loved her, how beautiful I think she is and how when she takes my face in her little (sometimes sticky) hands and looks me square in the eye and says "I love you Mommy", how that makes my heart leap and my Mommy love explode. I wish she knew that every second of the day that I am trapped in my cubicle willing away time, I am thinking about her and her brother, what they are doing, what fun thing I am missing out on. I suppose you just can't tell a two year old those emotions and expect them to understand.
The other day Ethan was sitting playing with his toys and he fell over backwards and slammed his head into the floor, cries rang out, I ran out to pick him up and rub his head and love him. Skylar, who was playing quietly, watched the whole thing go down and drank it all in. PING...a light-bulb went off in her little head. She walked over to the exact same offending spot, slammed her head into the ground and proceeded to cry. Kids are smart, smarter than we can ever be. I think with age we get dummer, because kids, they know how to manipulate, they know how to do things and get away with just about most of it. Smart!!! They are here to test us.
Skylar has been telling me a lot about monsters lately, that the monster will bite me, monsters on the aeroplane (as if flying doesn't terrify me enough), I have no idea where the monsters are coming from, but I do know this. She herself is a little green monster called Jealousy right now! She is my little green monster, my little monster trying to hold her own and keep her spot as the most oohed and ahhed of the siblings!
I love these little people.
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