Curls, Curls Everywhere

Would you believe that when her hair is wet, it hangs down to her waist.  No lies.  It is just that insanely curly.

On Two Legs

Little Miss H finally decided it was time to walk.  She's been doing so for about a week now and walks instead of crawls a little more each day.  When she wants to get somewhere quickly though she still drops and hoofs it on her knees.  My baby is growing up.  Its a bitter sweet moment.

And here are a few more photos, purely for the cuteness factor.

Whew!!

I haven't really posted lately, because life has been a little hectic and there have been so many things to do that blogging kind of landed at the bottom of the list.

So what's been going on the last 2 months you may ask.  Well, first we moved from our condo into our very own house.

Before:

After:

(The window at the bottom of the porch stairs is where the garage is - yip, I have windows in my garage.)

We literally doubled our living space overnight.  I LOVE IT!!!!!!  The condo was a ground floor unit and only had windows on one side.  It always seemed dark.  In the house I have windows and light and it makes such a difference.  The girls are loving having a yard to play in, and both of our nextdoor neighbours have kids the same age as Taz and she has already taken liberties with just walking into their yards and playing with the kids.  

The house was move in ready, but not so move in ready that I'm going to feel guilty about ripping things out and replacing them with my own style.  It definitely needs a new coat of paint and I'm excited to get going.

So we moved, and literally 4 days later Mack left for Korea for just under a month, so I was left with this to contend with:

  And on top of that, I had just started training for a new job.  I was in training from 7am-3pm every week day.  My training ended the day before Mack left, and then I worked at the center for 2 weeks (thur - sun), and now I work from home.  Its been a rough transition, but we're finally settling down, the boxes are mostly packed away and I've started decorating (mostly in my head for now though) and getting things organised.

Health wise its been tough too.  I have been trying to figure out what is wrong with me for so long now, that it almost seems unreal that I've been getting a few answers.  Turns out I have Lead poisoning.  I know?  Seriously?  And I have NO idea where I could have gotten it from.  The heavy metals in my system did a number on my adrenals and my thyroid which have been causing the insomnia, muscles pains, anxiety, fatigue and overall craziness.   So now I'm on a cocktail of drugs to try to calm things down and get the lead out of my system.  After a few months, the hope is that the toxins will be out of my system and my body can start re-learning how to do what its supposed to do.  I am impatient though and so I continually have to take restock of my situation and remind myself of how grateful I am that I am finally getting answers and that I do still have the full function of my body (if not my mind right now.)

I also joined the local gym two weeks ago (which has a great play area and kid care center) so I go every morning, drop the kids off and then get a good workout in.  The working out is strengthening my core, which is really helping with my back.  I've been in much less pain lately which is such a blessing.  And, I've started to lose a little weight - Whoop!

So, now that life is settling into more of a routine I'll start to post a little more, and of course I'm excited to post before and after photos of my plans for the house.

Conversation

This is a conversation between Taz and myself this evening. Bear in mind she is still only 3yrs old.

Me: Its bathtime, so upstairs and in the bath ok.

Taz: No, I don't want to take a bath.

Me: Sweetie, its not your choice tonight, so please go upstairs and get ready to bath.

Taz: I'll only bath in the big bath. (We have a large jetted tub downstairs)

Me: Not tonight. Tonight we're bathing upstairs in your bathroom.

Taz: No

Me: Its not up for debate my child, now please go upstairs before I start to get angry with you.

Taz: You're just ruining my life.

Say what?

Comprehension

Little Miss H is a delight right now. I absolutely love this age where they pick up new things all the time. Last night I was giving her a bottle, when I dropped it and said, "Uh-oh." She looked at me, smiled and repeated, "Uh-oh" back to me. It was seriously the cutest thing. She then spent the next ten minutes saying uh-oh and getting me to repeat it back to her. The smile on her face as we played her little game was huge.

What a precious moment.

Tazism

My child slays me. She really does.

Every night before bed she has a wee wee, and every night before bed I ask her if she wiped, and she nods her head in confirmation. So, last night I told her to go do her nightly before bed tinkle, and off she toddled and had her pee. Now I usually wait for her in her room, but for some reason I needed to put something in the bathroom and so walked in as she was jumping off the loo. I reminded her to wipe, and she proceeded to take her hand and wipe her bits. I realized that every time she's gone to the loo by herself, she'd been using her hand to wipe. (Dry heave and gag!). I promptly washed her hand and then reminded her that she needed to use the toilet paper to wipe her bits not her hand (once again, dry heave and gag).

Where she got the idea that her hand was the appropriate thing to use to wipe with I have NO idea. Anyway, Little miss H is at that age where she likes to unroll an entire roll of toilet paper if left on the toilet roll holder, so we keep the roll of toilet paper on the counter in the bathroom right now.

Tonight, I told Taz to have her wee before bed, and reminded her that she needed to use the toilet paper to wipe with and not her hand. And when I went in to check on her, she had the entire roll of toilet paper in her hand and was wiping the ENTIRE roll back and forth over her bits.

At least she was being obedient right? It was so funny to watch her, I'm still chuckling to myself.

1st Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated Little Miss H's birthday on Sunday at my Mom's house. And, even though Little Miss had no idea what was going on, she still had a grand 'ol time. Taz and their cousin Maeve were super excited about the owl cake I made and were even more excited that they got to blow out the candle and then help open presents. Little Miss was only interested in the candy eyes on the cake, the rest she wasn't really bothered with. Oh the joys of being young.

Happy Birthday Little Miss H

Yesterday was little Miss H's first birthday. I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by. To celebrate we had a little party at Ouma's house, but I forgot the camera so I have to wait till the pictures are e-mailed to me.

At home, Taz insisted we bake cupcakes for the occasion and Little Miss H agreed whole heartedly.

Another Tazism

My 3 yr old just said the following to me:

Mom, I just need a Popsicle to keep me fresh.

I'm not really sure what that means, but she is eating a Popsicle right now because I really don't want her to go stale.

Tazism

My little Tazling is growing up so fast. I love it and don't at the same time. She is such a headstrong little creature (now where did she get that gene from, huh?). She has taken to asserting herself with me when I'm trying to discipline her, and sometimes its really hard to keep a straight face. This is how a few of our conversations have gone lately:

Me: No Tamsine, I am the mommy and I say no.
T: Well I am the Tamsine and I say yes!
Me: It doesn't work that way. When the mommy says no, it means no.
T: Well when the Tamsine says yes, it means yes.
( I see her logic.)
Me. The mommy gets to say if its yes or no. And since I am the mommy, its still no.
T: Well the Tamsine still says yes.
Me: No!
T: I say YES!

Invariably these conversations (sometimes shorter, sometimes longer depending on my mood) end with me telling her to go chill in her room and Taz throwing herself on the couch and sobbing hysterically in the hopes that I'll give in.

And generally all I have to say about that is: I'm a red head too my sweetheart, I'm a red head too.

Toasty Tushy

I am the proud new owner of this little beauty. Pretty isn't she? And the best part - it has seat warmers....mmhmm, that's right, I have one toasty little tush when I drive around on cold days. Seriously though I am loving having something reliable to drive. Our family car was my old '95 Toyota Corolla that made really strange noises when I drove it, and was held together in areas by duct tape. I had a panic attack everytime I had to take the kids out in her. She served me well though, and I can't complain. But, oh my word its so nice driving in style. I find myself making up excuses to have to go get something from the shops. It will wear off I know, kind of like the new car smell, but for now I'm enjoying it.

Super Busy

Things have gotten CRAZY busy around here in the last month and blogging has been the last thing on my mind, but here are a few things to get excited about seeing in the next couple of weeks/months. (this is so I don't forget).

1. Little Miss updates - these kids are seriously cracking me up right now.
2. My new wheels - I'm driving all over the place
3. Pics of me in my delightful fatness - I'm going on a program and want to document if it works.
4. Moving - we're getting ready to move on to newer pastures.
5. All about my new job - training starts in Feb.

Whew! And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I LOVE IT!

A Very Merry Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas this side. Taz is really getting into the holiday's this year and randomly yells, "Happy Halloween" and "Merry Christmas" to people when we go out. It cracks me up every time. She was very excited that Santa was going to visit and didn't want to go to bed, until we told her that Santa only comes when children are asleep. Christmas morning was a hoot and Taz keep saying things like, "Another one for me?" and "Oh thank you Santa." Even when we told her the gift was from us, or from someone else she would shake her little head and say, "Nope, its from Santa." She really enjoyed unwrapping her presents this year and was a little disappointed when the unwrapping part was over. Little Miss H on the other had, didn't have a clue of what was going on. She was just happy to be included in the action.

Christmas Pressies

Mack's family draws names and does a gift exchange each year. This year the kids were involved in the exchange too, so I had to come up with home-made gifts for the girls to give to their cousins.

I decided to make little backpacks. I sewed the bags first, then printed watercolor pictures (which a friend of mine painted and is available for download here) onto iron-on transfer paper, then trimmed and ironed the pics onto the little baggies and voila. Fabulous!

Definitely Sisters

Not Much Thanks

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and so I've had to think about what I'm most thankful for this year. But I have to tell you, I'm coming up short right now. Today has not been a good day. I hurt, physically, mentally and spiritually.

A little back story. We've been trying to get my younger brother over to the US to study. The US embassy in Cape Town keeps denying his visa. We have tried everything possible and even went to a senator and got a congressional letter for him. It was the last thing we could do, and this morning we found out they denied him again. This has so many repercussions for my family I can't even begin to list them. The completely frustrating thing is that they won't even give him a visa to come visit us. Point being - I have no idea when I'll ever get to see him again, and my girls will never know their Uncle Jeremy. My heart feels like 1000 rubber bands have been wrapped tightly around it. I can't stop crying.

Also, Mack's military orders changed and I've learned that any time something like that happens you literally have to hold the hands of the people who have to change things in the system to ensure that we still get paid etc. Long story short, hand holding wasn't enough this time and for the second month in a row we haven't gotten paid. We were told that it was all sorted and we would get paid on the 25th, but the ball got dropped somewhere and we won't be paid until the 5th of Dec now. That's a long time when you're already working with nothing.

And, along with our pay getting screwed up, our health insurance went right down with it, so we haven't been covered this month. Trust Taz to pick this month to get a mysterious rash all over her body. She developed a rash on her back about 2.5 weeks ago, but had no other signs of something wrong. Because our insurance had lapsed, I spoke to a doctor rather than took her in. The doc said it was probably an allergic reaction and we shouldn't worry. The rash got progressively worse, moving to her stomach and down her arms and legs, but then started to heal. I was just starting to not worry, when last night she got a different rash (almost like hives) all over her body and she developed a fever of 103F. This morning I finally caved and took her to the doctor (we'll see what it ends up costing us) only to have the doc want a second and then third opinion (from a contagious disease specialist no less), only to be told that she more than likely has the chickenpox. Phew! No contagious disease (or meningitis) but, that we are not to let her come into contact with any other children and to try and keep her away from Little Miss H. So, there go our Thanksgiving plans. No delicious turkey dinner for us tomorrow. Instead - boxed mac and cheese.

Oh and to add insult to injury, I was supposed to take all the pies to TG dinner and I had already baked half of them. So there goes my weight loss that I worked so hard on cause I'll probably console myself by eating a whole Dutch Apple Crumble tomorrow. Sigh!

But, I do have two beautiful little girls that I love with all my heart. I am thankful for that.

Fun and Games

Last weekend Mack and Allyson ran the Moab Trail 1/2 marathon and not to be left out of the fun and adventure, the whole family decided to go and have a little red rock fun. The weather wasn't the best, but we made the most of it anyway. The beauty of red rock country always takes my breath away, no matter how many times I've seen it. It is so austere and different from any other part of the world I've seen, yet incredibly captivating. It makes my little amateur photography self want to go a little shutter crazy.

Okay enough of that, here are some of the snapshots we took of the weekend.

Heidism

Little Miss H woke up early this morning. She seems to wake between 5:30am and 6am needing to poop almost every morning. (wish I could sleep train her out of that one.) Well this morning was no exception. She woke , I got up, we hung out together, she pooped. But, this morning when I went to look for a nappy in the diaper bag, there were none. I keep her diapers in Taz's room, but Taz was still fast asleep and Heidi was going, "DADADADADADADADADADA." I picked her up and whispered to her, "You need to be quiet now cause we don't want to awake Taz okay?" She looked at me and then whispered, "dadadadadadadadada", till we were out of Taz's room when she picked up the volume again.

It was a pretty classic moment for me. I had a good laugh. Maybe I'm just too tired.

Toofy

Little Miss H has officially cut her first tooth. No one has actually seen it yet, but I felt it this morning. Precious! She was so sick and snotty this last week - at least now she has something to show for it.