I Should be Sleeping...

Hanging with Dad

While in Mexico last year, we bought two chair hammocks for our balcony area. They really are super comfy, and if the sun would ever shine maybe we could use them more. We did have one sunny day this year so far though.

When Things Go Quiet...

I should have known better, but I was just so glad for a little peace while packing the groceries away. That's when I realised I should know better. When the house is void of little noises, it means that little noises are way too preoccupied doing something they shouldn't be doing. And that's when a mother turns around to find the cats water dish completely void of water, and this lurking under the dining table.

My Mom's Side of the Family

A very drooly Taz with her Uncle Jeremy and Ouma

All we're missing is Darren

My Mom and her siblings (Phinnie, Antoinette, Marie, Billy)

Ouma and her self confessed favourite grandchild (I say rude!)

Tamsine and her Oumagrootjie (big little grandmother)

Four generations

The Four Girls (Aunty Net, Ouma, Aunty Phinnie, My Mom)

Ouma and all four her children

My Mom, my child and my Ouma

Happy Easter!!!!

I love Easter. Really, I think its the best holiday. It may be because I have such great memories associated with Easter. Easter is a pretty major holiday back home.

Let me take you back into the Easters of my childhood: Easter in South Africa is in the Autumn. The weather is barely starting to cool, the days are just starting to shorten, and the children have a week off school. For the adults, Easter is a 4 day weekend. The shops are stocked with fresh Hot Cross Buns, marshmallow Easter eggs, and the highly coveted White Beacon Eggs.

My family and my friend Jenni's family would pack up the car, bakkie (truck) and caravans and go camping in the mountains along the Bainskloof pass. The saturday before Easter, my mom and Jen's mom would take a walk around the mountains leaving clue's for us to find. The next morning we would all wake up bright and early and start scampering around the mountains searching for and solving the clues left for us the day before. While we were out searching for clues our parents would hide our eggs around our campsite, in trees, under rocks etc. (if they hid them the night before the baboons would get them). We would then all return to the site for the big egg hunt. Sometimes we would find lost eggs from the year before, but mostly we would just have fun. The rest of the day would be spent in chocolatey, sugary bliss, knowing that we didn't have school the next day. It invariably rained one of the days over the Easter weekend, which meant that all the mountain streams were in flood. We had some really exciting times tubing down the flooded streams, and a few really hairy occassions when Darren and my cousin Jason almost killed themselves. But, because no one was actually hurt those are now fond memories.




A couple of pictures of the mountians along the Bainskloof pass - Memories of Easters Past.

I only wish that I can make Easter as significant and enjoyable for my kids as my parents made it for us!

Too Bad Its Just Not True

For my birthday, Gillian gave me a fantastic, light weight, earth friendly water bottle, with all these motivational sayings all over it - like:

"Dance, sing, floss and travel."

"Creativity is maximized when you're living in the moment."

"The conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time. Choose a positive thought."

"Friends are more important than money."

You see. You do feel all motivated and positive when you read them. Then they threw in this one:

"Children are the orgasm of life."

Whoa! You see and suddenly I have to disagree with my water bottle. If the latter were the case, I believe there would be alot more women walking around with perma smiles on their faces, and I'm just not seeing those smiles.

Water bottle - I feel let down.

With a Mother Like Me.....

With a mother like me, did I expect Tamsine to do things normaly? Ummm, no comment.

Tamsine now has 4 teeth. I knew she was teething, but was completely perplexed at how long the teeth were taking to come out, till she bit me yesterday. Silly me, I had been feeling for her central incisors, but when she bit me, it was with a tiny new little lateral incisor. Weird? I thought so, so I googled "teething out of order", and found out that its not usual to teeth out of order, but its also not unusual. This was my favourite post about it that I found.

So my little sweetie has her bottom two central incisors and now her top two lateral incisors. Its a good thing she's too little to know she's going to look funny for a little while.

Whew!!!

So this is why I haven't been posting lately.

When we left for South Africa, we took a midnight flight from Salt Lake to Atlanta, then spent about 8 hrs in the Atlanta airport till we boarded our plane to Dakar, Senegal. 8hrs on the plane, then a 2hr layover in Dakar. Then another 8 hrs on the plane from Dakar to Cape Town. Flying with an infant in arms = minimal sleep on the plane.

We spent 10 days in South Africa, where I averaged about 3 hours of sleep a night due to a jetlagged baby. Two of those days were spent driving from Cape Town to East London (it took us about 16 hrs each way).

Then, we boarded our flight back to Dakar, except our plane was delayed by two hours. We arrived in Dakar, disembarked, were on the ground for about 1/2 hr, then reboarded the same plane (we were supposed to switch planes, and then fly on to Atlanta, but the Atlanta flight was overbooked, so they put us back on the same plane and had to fly to New York). Our plane was delayed for another 2hrs in Dakar, then finally took off. We then had about a 6 hr layover in NY, then another 6hr flight from NY to Salt Lake. All this once again with an infant in arms = minimal sleep.

We were finally in Salt Lake, but then I drove my mom home (the opposite direction to my house from the airport), and then I finally drove home.

I arrived home to a husband with a temperature of 103 F. And, I had a jetlagged baby. Mack's fever took over three days to break. He slept about 20hrs a day, the poor guy. I got about 3hrs broken sleep a night. Mack finally started feeling better, but was still completely fatigued when Tamsine got sick. Every time I tried to put her down (even to go to the loo) she wailed. She was so congested that she wouldn't sleep unless I was holding her, and she too ended up with a fever of 103 F. After a visit to the doctor and some prescription medication her fever finally broke, but she was still really congested. Sick husband AND sick baby = mother getting NO sleep.

This puts me at about 23 days of little to no sleep. THEN on Friday night I woke up to Tamsine screaming. I walked into her room and was almost knocked over by the overwhelming smell of marajuana in her room. Now I'm just speculating, but it could only have been our upstairs neighbours sparking up a doobie (or two) in their apartment. We called the police, but by the time they arrived the smell had dissapated and they couldn't smell anything. Long story short, by 5am we had driven to Mack's parents house with the munchkin to get her out of our drug infested apartment.

By Saturday morning, I was beyond wrecked, I wasn't even a zombie, I was practically comatose I was so tired. I could barely formulate a three word sentence. I was so tired I couldn't sleep anymore. My body was in overdrive and my mind just wouldn't quiet. Mack's mom gave me some lovely homeopathic drops and a couple of very cute little pink allergy tablets and FINALLY, I was able to sleep.

And that's why I haven't blogged lately. Do you blame me?

We're Ba-ack

We're finally back after what feels like a very long 10 days away. Tamsine was an absolute angel on the plane, and so many people came up to us and commented that they didn't even know there was a baby on the plane. I was incredibly grateful for how well she flew, because I was worried about her having ear ache or something. We left Salt Lake in a snow storm, and arrived in Cape Town in 38C weather. It was FANTASTIC being warm again. We spent a couple of days in CT, and then drove up to East London to spend some time with my Ouma. She was very excited to see us, but especially Tamsine (who obviously performed perfectly). Then it was another day long trip back to CT, a couple more days to see old friends and conduct business, and then back on the plane back to SLC. Our trip home took way over 30hrs, and when we finally landed I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was to know I would be sleeping in my own bed that night.

Here we are visiting with my dad's sister, Aunty Dawn.

On the way up to East London, we were able to take a short detour and visit the grave of Uncle Ian and Aunty Frances. They were buried at the sight where their helicopter crashed. This was the first time I was able to visit their grave. What a beautiful spot to be buried in.

Hanging with Ouma and Little Big Ouma.

Having lunch at Canal Walk with Uncle Jeremy.

Soaking in a few rays on the grass after church.



Cooling down in the Dawson's pool.
And whats summer without an ice cream cone with sprinkles?

We're Mobile

I have to baby proof my house. Tamsine is mobile. Sigh!

She doesn't do a proper crawl yet, but she has the whole army crawl thing down, and boy is she fast. I was hoping that this would be one area in her life that she would just be a little lazy to develop. But, alas, she's pretty much on schedule, and my job as a mother has just gotten that much harder.

Its a good thing she's so stinking cute.

We've Been Up To

Life has been a little hectic over the last couple of weeks. My Mom, Tamsine and I are taking a quick trip home to Cape Town to visit with my ailing grandmother, and my passport expires two days into the trip. I had applied for my new passport, but that will only arrive some time in June/July, so I've had to apply for a temporary passport to make the trip. I also worked a couple of days on an outdoor snow shoot with a photographer that I've worked with before, nursed Tamsine back to her old happy self again, watched Mack clean and organise the garage (this was the hardest), and tried to keep the house clean etc, etc. And thats just a sampling of what we've been doing.

Here's a sampling of what Taz has been up to:

Snot and Projectile Vomit

We have been sick. All three of us. Not fun! Tamsine was especially hit hard with a very stuffy nose, chest congestion, diarrhea, and teething. She has kept us up for over a week now. We are all Zombies.

They said this parenting thing would be hard. They weren't kidding.

Passport Pleasure

I renewed my SA passport at the consul in LA. It took 45 min in and out. I'm still amazed. Anybody who has ever had to get a passport in SA will understand what a pleasure only 45 min really is. I walked in, the consul people were friendly, knowledgeable, helpful, and efficient. No lines and lines and lines of people, no rank body odor, no stale fish and chip smell, no blank stares when you ask a question, no being sent from person to person, from line to line to get your question answered, only to give up asking the question because it will never get answered and you actually want to go home some time that day. No being squished on a dirty bench between to Ha-uge native woman having a conversation at the top of their lungs. I could go on, but eventually my fingers will get tired. I'll leave it at this - LA you will always be my passport renewal haven.

Happy, Sunshiny People

I went for a run on Santa Monica Beach this morning.  It was glorious.  I came out to California to renew my South African passport, and decided to stay with Gillian for a few days to rejuvenate and enjoy the good weather out here.  Its been really good for me so far.  Too bad we can't move out here and stay away from the snow permanently!

I Want, I Need, I Must Have

This is for sale not too far from our house. I have wanted one of these for ages. Too bad about the rubbish economy right now and having to save and stuff. Sigh!

Invitation to Health

Because of the whole New Years Resolutions thing NEVER working, I've decided to take a different approach this year. I have decided to invite myself to get healthy and happy. Sounds lovely doesn't it?

I started by going to the doctor to figure out why I feel pain in areas that I don't want to feel pain. I came back from the doctor with a few bottles of medication and a prescription for physical therapy (step 1. to happy). Yay for prescription medication! I then went to visit the dermatologist to get a few moles checked out and removed. Then, I started looking up healthy recipes and actually creating a menu for the week and a shopping list full of veggies and healthy snacks for Mack and I. I also decided to stay away from people and things that annoy me, make me want to punch them, and invoke other such thoughts, ideas and actions in me. I'm also really (REALLY) tired of selfishness and selfish people, so I'm trying to not be selfish and also trying to stay away from selfish people. I'm struggling with the idea, that by eliminating certain things from my life (and thinking only of myself and my own well being while doing so) is to a certain degree - well - selfish. But, I figure that in my quest for my very own version of a zen like life, I will have to be a little selfish and I shouldn't beat myself up about it. And, last but not least, I started an exercise routine (which I've already fallen off, and climbed back on a few times).

Also, I'm not giving myself a time frame to achieve this healthy happy state, and I'm not going to be hard on myself if I do occasionally fall off the wagon. My goal is to just keep climbing back on and moving forward. At whatever pace feels good to me in the moment.

Moment of Insanity!!!

I was standing in the kitchen, when my sister in law called Mack about running in the Wasatch Back Relay (this will be their fourth year running), when (all I can say is that my mind must have been a complete vacuum of thought), I heard myself say "If you need another runner, I'll do it." And they said "Okay, you're in."

WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Wasatch Back, or Ragnar Relay is a wild 170-mile relay race from Logan to Park City, Utah, where teams of 12 run day and night through some of the most grueling mountain passes.

Now can you understand the WHAT WAS I THINKING of it all?

Bizarre

I was out to lunch the other day, when a random woman came up to me and told me she recognized Tamsine and moi from some photo's posted on the blog of the photographer that took our family pictures. She then proceeded to tell me which of our photo's were her favourites and that she really enjoyed looking at them.

I was flattered, but left with a little sense of unease that we were recognized. Bizarre!

Jefferson

I had lunch with an old film school buddy of mine yesterday.

Now I felt a little sorry for Jeff having to have lunch with me, cause while he is still working in the industry, flitting off to the next shoot, meeting interesting people etc. I am feeling sorry for myself. Its true. Thats what I spend my time doing these days - feeling sorry for myself. I once had an interesting life, I used to go places, my banter was witty and my repartee would cause more than a few smiles. Now, my conversation has been reduced to the happenings of characters from daytime TV, and my days are filled with nappy changes, stretchy pants, and an array of shirts with the tell tale, off white, sour milk smelling stains on my shoulders. What could I possibly say to entertain Jeff, that didn't include a little baby talk with Tamsine on the side.

So, instead of trying to come up with interesting conversation, I decided just to sit and complain about the sad state of my life and what could have been. Now, Jeff has this uncanny knack of speaking the harsh truth, while remaining a completely gentle and caring person. ( Meaning, Jeff has always been able to call me on my crap without me being able to get mad at him for it).

Mid whine and whinge, Jeff started telling me about how he had always wanted to be a cinematographer. How he worked so hard at learning to use the different cameras, how he consumed any book on the subject matter he could find, and how once he had reached his goal of being called "Master cinematographer", he thought he had made it. He was so proud of himself. And then - he dropped it on me - with one little sentence - He said, "You know Leith, I spent all that time and energy on becoming a cinematographer, but at the end of the day, my camera doesn't cuddle me, and it doesn't keep me warm at night." And then he sighed and changed the subject. I felt the sharp sting of a slap in the face. Not by Jeff's words, but by my own stupid selfishness.

I've spent quite a few hours pondering Jefferson's words. Word's that I really needed to hear. Word's that finally made me feel a little more content and dare I say it - at peace - with the season that my life is in right now. I know this phase of my life is "but a small moment", and that one day my child(ren) will be older, going to school, and will hopefully not be puking on my shoulders anymore. That I'll have a little more time to pursue my own interests. That its okay if I don't have that much to say right now to entertain adults. My time right now is for my kid(s) and all too soon that time will be gone. I need to embrace and enjoy it and not think about the could have beens or the phenomenal job opportunities that I've turned down.

So Jefferson, thanks. I needed that!

Give a Child Some Bread

This is what happens when you give my baby a crust of bread. Hours of entertainment!

Sunday Cuteness

Frost Outside My Window

Our Little Family

Mack's mom asked for only one thing for her birthday last year - that her whole family would get together for family pictures, pose, smile, and not be complete brats about the whole thing. We complied and these are the results. Well worth it I say!

Look What I've Done

Nabbed from here.

Things you've done: bold
Things you want to do: italics
Things you haven't done and don't want to do: plain

1. started your own blog
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band
4. visited hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity
7. been to disneyland/world
8. climbed a mountain
9. held a praying mantis
10. sang a solo
11. bungee jumped
12. visited paris
13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the statue of liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the Mona Lisa in france
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch hiked
23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon
28. ridden a gondola in venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or sunset
31. hit a home run (I'm blind in one eye - so this will never happen)
32. been on a cruise
33. seen niagara falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
36. taught yourself a new language (I'm trying to teach myself Spanish right now)
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the leaning tower of pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing
40. seen michelangelo's david in person
41. sung karaoke
42. seen old faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. visited africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance
47. had your portrait painted
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the sistene chapel in person
50. been to the top of the eiffel tower in paris ( I stood underneath it - it was too expensive and the lines were way too long to go up)
51. gone scuba diving or snorkelling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud
54. gone to a drive-in theatre
55. been in a movie
56. visited the great wall of china
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies ( I prefer eating them)
62. gone whale watching
63. gotten flowers for no reason
64. donated blood
65. gone sky diving
66. visited a nazi concentration camp
67. bounced a cheque
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the lincoln memorial
71. eaten caviar
72. pieced a quilt
73. stood in times square
74. toured the everglades
75. been fired from a job
76. seen the changing of the guard in london
77. broken a bone
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the grand canyon in person
80. published a book
81. visited the vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper
85. read the entire bible
86. visited the white house
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone’s life
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous
92. joined a book club
93. lost a loved one
94. had a baby
95. seen the alamo in person
96. swum in the great salt lake ( I stuck my toe in - its too smelly to swim in it)
97. been involved in a law suit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee

Not Amused!

My life is amusing when I think about it after things have happened, but a little less than amusing while things are happening.

We still have a cat. Unfortunately. I am a sucker and can't say no, and so now we still have a cat. And, to make matters worse, Tamsine and Phoebe are fast becoming friends. (How am I supposed to get rid of the cat then?)

Let me entertain you with the latest bout of "fun" that Phoebe has brought into our lives.

Its been snowing ALOT lately. Phoebe enjoys using her little cat door and going outside to play around a bit, but she is not a fan of the snow and cold so has been staying in doors over the last few days. This makes for one really bored feline. But, she is a resourceful cat and I didn't fear that soon she would find something to occupy herself. Alas I was right. The snow, brought with it, not only a bored feline, but a bunch of stupid little birds (who did not fly south for the winter) sheltering from the snow on our porch. It didn't take Phoebe long to notice these stupid little creatures, or for her natural predatory instincts to kick in. The first time she noticed them, I was watching and silently chuckiling to myself as she stalked them from inside the house while peering through our sliding glass door. My silent chuckiling turned into full bellied laughter as she pounced - right into the sliding glass door. The perplexity on her face was fanatastic.

Now Phoebe is anything but stupid, and realized quickly that pouncing into a wall of glass would not bring her closer to her prey. She very, very quickly realized that she could stalk the stupid little birds from the comfort of the house, and if she waited paitiently enough, soon one of them would come into the vicinity of her little cat flap. As soon as it did so, she darted out of the flap and you guessed it, caught one of the little feathered idiots. What I didn't anticipate was that just as quickly as she darted out, she darted straight back in with the wildly flapping twit(ter) locked in her jaws.

I completely freaked out. Mack fell off the couch laughing. Eventually we rescued the little bird and put it in a shoe box. The bird sat there for a while, pooped, and keeled over. I was not amused, and so made Mack clean and disinfect every area that was touched by the bird. Phoebe was most upset that we removed her toy, and spent the next three hours looking for her bird around the house.

I had finally gotten over the incident, and was in the middle of regaling my family with the story of the bird snatcher, when Phoebe strutted passed us with another wildly flapping birdie in her mouth.

Now Phoebe wears a little jingle bell around her neck. Annoying, but far more hygenic. And, for the first time, Phoebe is the one thats not amused. Justice!

Christmas Cookies

Look at what I created - from scratch. I am so proud of myself.



And they taste good too!

Toothiness

We have a tooth!!!! About three days ago, Mack told me he felt something in Tamsine's mouth. I kind of nodded in acknowledgment to him, but you know - eh. Then, a little later I stuck my knuckle in Tamsine's mouth for her to munch on, (she likes fingers). She bit down, and I yelped in pain. It was a bonafide tooth. Our little muncher is getting munchier. Awww!

Hours of Fun!

I just bought Tamsine the best toy ever. It was completely by fluke of course. There we were at the supermarket checkout, when she grabbed a small packet of Flamin Hot Crunchy Cheetos. I was just about to grab the bag and put it back on the shelf, when I decided not to. Best 88c I ever spent I tell you. She spent about three hours yesterday, fully committed to her bag of Cheetos. She can't open it of course, but she loves the vibrant colours, the crunchyness of the packet, and the noise it makes when she shakes it around madly.

Now why did I just go out and spend money on educational toys, when I could have just bought her a couple more packets of chips?

Oh Christmas Tree

I did it. I went out in the bitter, freezing, biting, disgusting cold and bought a Christmas tree, only to haul it home and find out that it was too big for our Christmas tree stand. I took out our little hack saw and proceeded to do a little work on it and voila - One fully decorated Christmas tree for me to enjoy.

For all those eco friendly greenies out there - I went with a live tree, because I saw a show on TV that said it was the more eco friendly option. For every tree cut down, three are planted in its stead, and once it has lost its luster and becomes only good for one thing, it gets shredded and used for hicking trails and in parks, where eventually it will go the way mother nature intended. I know it was cut down in its prime (or before), but thats a sacrifice I'm willing to allow the tree to make so that I can smell the pine at Christmas.

Bad Mother?

Does it make me a terrible mother if I sit and laugh at my child when she gags and dry heaves on her first taste of peas?

Does it make me a worse mother if I call my husband, then feed her more peas so he can see her gag and dry heave too?

Busy, Busy, Busy

Have you ever had one of those days (or months in my case) where you just don't want to do anything, but you have so much to do that you can't take the time you want (and need) to just veg a little and get over your lethargy.

Well thats me right now. But, this is such a busy time of year. I'm thankful that thanksgiving is over, I'm almost done with Christmas shopping. Its stinking FREEZING outside and I need to hibernate. My child has been suffering through her first cold, which translates into - I've been suffering through her first cold, and I started a business with two friends, but more of that later.

So even though I've wanted to blog, any spare time I have, I usually use it to relax just a little.