Month: February 2011

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How we met…

Timor of Love.Cybelle fame posted about how she met her boyfriend and asked us to share how we met our significant others so here goes…

Our story is a happy story that starts off sad.

Almost 10 years ago now, my father passed away from cancer.  My mother was put in touch with other widows through Hospice and an unofficial ‘Widows Group’ was created.  These women would get together for coffee or dinner and just talk and support each other.

About 2 years after my father passed away, Paul’s dad passed away from cancer too.  My mom in law became a part of the Windows Group and somewhere along the line she and my mom realised that they had eligible children and got it into their heads to set us up.

I had recently been through a few dud set up and internet dates and really had absolutely no interest in meeting Paul.

Paul told his mom she needed to find out when my birthdate was because if my star sign wasnt the right one then he wasnt taking me out.  Turns out Leo made the grade 😉

So he called me and we arranged to meet.  He told me that he had a beard and first thought was ‘Oh boy, I hope that doesnt mean he is super religious’.  We met up at JB’s in Melrose Arch for coffee after dinner one night and they eventually kicked us out when they had to close up.  We then spent a further hour or so sitting in the square talking.  I agreed to see him again a few days later.

On our third date he asked of he could kiss me, I told him that if he didnt I would have kissed him!

The rest is history 🙂

So, how did you meet your other half?

As an aside: Our wedding song is Thank You, Stars by Katie Melua, I think it a perfect tribute to the two men who ‘unofficially’ got us together 🙂

Some call it faith, some call it love
Some call it guidance from above
You are the reason we found ours
So thank you stars

Some people think it’s far away
Some know it’s with them everyday
You are the reason we found ours
So thank you stars

There are no winds that can blow it away on the air
When they try to blow it away ‘s when you know it will always be there

To some it’s the strength to be apart
To some it’s a feeling in the heart
And when you’re out there on your own, it’s the way back home

There are no winds that can blow it away on the air
When they try to blow it away ‘s when you know it will always be there

Some call it faith, some call it love
Some call it guidance from above
You are the reason we found ours
So thank you stars
Thank you stars
Thank you stars

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Look who’s talking!

When we fell pregnant with Aaron we looked into signing as a way of communicating with him before he could talk.  Due to a few obstacles, lack of resources on the web and locally, being overwhelmed by the new addition to our family and suffering from PND, signing with Aaron fell by the wayside.

To be honest I didnt even think about signing with Faith until I came across this website!

Wow! What an amazing site.  Simple, concise  and easy to use, not to mention free, makes this site a win.

So far we have been signing ‘Mommy‘, ‘Daddy‘, ‘brother‘ and ‘milk‘ to Faith.  I am going to teach Aaron how to sign ‘brother’.  Tonight we will all be learning ‘Uncle‘, ‘Aunt‘ and ‘Granny/Bobba‘ as those three people will be having supper with us.

Oh yes, ‘dog‘ will also be a sign that is used frequently in our house 🙂

I really hope that Faith picks up signing easily as Im pretty certain that it will reduce a lot of frustration between us as she gets older and is able to communicate more effectively.

Edited to add: The sign language being used on the website above is based on ASL (American Sign Language) and that is what we will be teaching Faith and Aaron.  Unfortunately I cannot find any effective online resources that are based on South African Sign Language (SASL).  According to Wikipedia (see links) SASL is based on Irish, British and American sign language, while both Irish and American sign language seem to be based on French sign language.  Perhaps one day we will explore SASL.

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Grammar, people, grammar!

This has been bugging me for weeks, enough that I decided to blog about it.

Johannesburg Water has been running a campaign on electronic billboards around the city.

Unfortunately I havent been able to snap a pic of the offending advert but the text goes something along the lines of:

Pay your account timely in order to avoid being cut off.

Or something like that.

Ggggggrrrrrrrr!!!

You can pay your account on time or you can pay your account timeously but you cannot, let me repeat that, you CANNOT pay your account timely!

It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.  In fact I think I may send Johannesburg Water a little email about it.  They probably wont do anything about it but I will feel better.

Until I see that ad again…

Edited to add: Spelling is not my forte as evidenced by the incorrect ‘grammer’ in my title * hangs head and blushes *. I have now changed it 😉

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A little bit if Moo!

Today I went to visit Mandi, who I have only met very briefly before.  She made me a lekker cup of tea and we chatted and had a lovely morning.

For those of you that dont know Mandi owns and runs MandiMoo, an awesome store that creates the most beautiful handmade baby accessories.

While we were visiting I collected some MooBurpps that I had ordered and Mandi gave us a beautiful MooTagg that she had personalised for Faith.  I also got my MooMonster that Timor had ordered for Faith.

I only got them this morning but so far about 5 people have seen the MooTagg and the MooBurpps and they are in awe of them!  I am in awe of them!  We are definitely going to be the most stylish mama and baby out there 🙂

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A catch up of the last few weeks…

Whoever said that maternity leave was all about mama and baby bonding and cuddling and feeding and about mama drinking tea and resting lied!

They told a big fat smelly lie!  Liar liar pants on fire!!!!

*pulls great big raspberry*

Ok, small tantrum over.

The last week or so has been hectic, my brother Matthew has been here since Cliffs funeral and was sharing a car with our grandfather.  I say was because he was in an accident the Sunday before last.  Some drunk guy skipped a robot and turned into my brother, on the drivers side.  He was so drunk he couldn’t open his eyes!

Despite some whiplash and some back ache, Matt is ok.  The (uninsured) car, not so much…

So Monday was spent taking Matt to the police station to file a report and get a case number which, it turns out, we didnt need to do because the drunk guy was arrested and that case number should be sufficient.  We then killed some time having a late breakfast before taking Matt to my family doctor to be checked out.

Towards the end of the week before the accident, our doggy, Bandit, started to get ill, like really really ill, like not moving, losing weight, vomiting ill.  So we had taken him to the vet for testing.  Turns out he has Auto Immune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA).  We started him on cortisone and had to take him back to the vet nearly every day to see if his blood levels were rising.  According to FourSquare I have been to the vet 8 times in the last week and a half and that doesnt include the 2 times I was there that I couldnt check in or the 2 or 3 times that Paul took Bandit to the vet.  Thank heavens and all the deities for pet insurance!  As of our last check up today, his blood levels are at 45% and rising and we only need to go back again in 10 days time.

Then on Friday Aaron got sick, so it was back to the doctor and a diagnosis of tonsillitis, again.  This poor kid.  If this carries on I may have to insist on removing them tonsils.  He seems to get it an awful lot.

In between all of this I finally got to meet Megan, who at the time of publishing this post has just had her beautiful baby girl! Squeeeee!

I also managed to fetch my drivers license, this is a huge thing for me as I have been driving without a valid license for quite some time.

I took Matt and Faith to go visit my grandmother.  She is one amazing lady.  She is 94 years old and despite being slightly deaf and losing her sight, still lives on her own with just her nurse and her new little doggy for company.  She takes walks in her garden, which is magnificent and keeps a hand in on what gets planted, where and when.

I’ve been to a few therapy sessions which I have to say are doing wonders.  I heart my therapist!

I have also been in to work a few times, maybe 5 hours in total, as there were a few things they needed me to sort out for them.  Hopefully I wont be going back into work until maternity leave is over.

As for the kids, Aaron has settled back into his school routine nicely and has made some new friends.  He is so curious about everything and constantly questions everything around him.  He needs to work on his patience levels but Im told thats a 3 year old thing and he will learn to have a bit more patience soon.

Faith is too adorable and has started rolling from her tummy to her back and she smiles at everything.  I cant believe she is 9 weeks old already, its going way too fast.

*pic by the magnificent Jenty! From our 8 day shoot.

Paul and I celebrated 5 years of marriage on Saturday.  5 years! We left the kids at my mom and spent a few hours with just each other for company.  It was great!

This week has been and will continue to be equally busy.  Hopefully next week will be a bit calmer 🙂

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Double trouble…

While I was looking for pictures of Cliff I came across a picture of my brother Matthew at about 2 years old.  I immediately went searching for a picture of Aaron at a similar age.

Matt at about 2 years old

 

Aaron, slightly younger than 2 years 🙂

 

Scary stuff 🙂

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We shall remember!

This was read to me today by a wonderful lady who came to talk to my mom, brother and me.  She is part of an organisation called The Compassionate Friends, and she has experienced the loss of a child herself.

It could have been written about my brother!

~~~

From a service conducted by Rev. Stephens for a young man who had died by his own hand.

“Our friend died on his own battlefield.  He was killed in action fighting a civil war.  He fought against adversaries that were as real to him as his casket is to us.  They were powerful adversaries.  They took toll of his energy and endurance.  They exhausted the last vestiges of his courage and strength.  At last these adversaries overwhelmed him.  And it appeared that he lost the war.  But did he?  I see a host of victories that he has won!

For one thing – he has won our admiration – because even if he lost the war, we give him credit for his bravery on the battlefield.  And we give him credit for the courage and pride and hope that he has used as his weapons as long as he could.  We shall remember not his death, but his daily victories gained through his kindness and thoughtfulness, through his love for his family and friends, for animals and books and music, for all things beautiful, lovely and honourable.  We shall remember not his last day of defeat, but we shall remember the many says that he was victorious over overwhelming odds.  We shall remember not the years we thought he had left, but the intensity with which he lived the years that he had.

Only G-d knows what this child of His suffered in the silent skirmishes that took place in his soul.  But our consolation is that G-d does know – and understands.”