Category: Aaron

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Asthma…

…Aaron has it.

Both my mom and I have been saying for ages that we think know Aaron has asthma.

My brother Matt has asthma, in fact he has severe asthma and my mom is pretty much an expert.

We knew.

The doctors, not so much.

They kept diagnosing him with upper respiratory infections.

A few weeks ago Aaron started coughing so badly that he would eventually vomit.  After almost a week of this we had an appointment to see a paediatric pulminlogist.  I was very sick that day so my amazing mom took Aaron.  Probably a good thing as the doctor knows her and my brother, he treated him as a child and my mom is quite, insistent when she wants something done, namely a proper diagnosis.

The bottom line is that Aaron has asthma.  He went on to a hectic week long medicine schedule that included 12mg a day of cortisone.  He is now stable and on a daily dose of asthma meds that keeps his coughing under control.

He is like a different child.

Also, my 4 year old (almost 5!!) can do the asthma spray all by himself.  And he reminds me if I havent given it to him.  Im so proud of my big boy.

Photo by Paul Jacobson
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NOT my finest mommy moments

So it turns out I am not totally with it when it comes to my kids and their schools.

You see, Aaron’s school closes today for about 3 weeks.

That I remembered.

But… I assumed that since Aaron was on holiday, Faith would also finish school today.

Wrong!

Faith apparently still has another week of school.  Now if my amazing husband hadnt checked yesterday I would have just stopped taking Faith to school…

The other thing I kind of failed at today is that, yes, Aaron’s school does close today, at 11:30am NOT 12:30 and there is NO aftercare today!

I was happily working away when his teacher called me to see who was fetching him!

Thank heavens for one of the other mommies who offered to drop him at home for me.

So, ja, maybe I should start paying more attention to these things!

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My little gentleman

I’ve said on Twitter before how proud I am of Aaron for his manners. His teacher tells me time and time again that he is the most polite child she has ever met. That he always says please and thank you.

This makes my mama heart swell with pride!

Its something that my dad was very strict about. We had to have manners. Please and thank you. Getting up and giving your seat to an adult. My brothers were taught to take off their caps when a lady entered the room and they were taught to open a door and let a lady go through first. They were also taught to open a car door for a lady.

This is something that I am trying to teach my children too and it seems to be working.

One of the other things that we have (finally) taught Aaron is not to say ‘what’ or ‘huh’ when he wants you to repeat yourself.  He now says ‘pardon’.  It is too cute!

I was given a bit of a mama pride boost yesterday again.

We went to a birthday party and Aaron had eaten a sucker. I saw out the corner of my eye that he was looking for somewhere to put his empty stick and I saw him ask the nearest adult where the dustbin was, he then went off and deposited the stick in the bin.

About 10 minutes later the adult, who happened to be the birthday girls granddad, came up to me and told me how impressed he was with Aaron, firstly for asking where the dustbin was and not just throwing his sucker stick down and secondly for how polite he was, he had said excuse me when he asked his question and said thank you once he was told where the bin was.

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I am so super proud of my little mensch!

 

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Finally, the Cape Town post

Cape Town was lovely.  The weather was perfect and we got to spend a whole 8 days with the family.  Unfortunately we never got to do a proper tweet up but next time we will make it a priority!

So a few photos and a bit of text (I spent most of the time running around after the kids so not that many photos)…

We started at the SLOW lounge at the airport.  Highly recommended if you can get in.  I loved these clocks as you walk in 🙂

We stayed at the Southern Sun (Tsogo Sun) Newlands and the kids made themselves right at home.

We befriended some seagulls at the waterfront and unfortunately didn’t get to go on the Wheel of Excellence, I could just see the total meltdown from Aaron if we had tried.  Next time we will make a plan for the adults to have a go.

We spent a lovely day in Hout Bay, we took a walk in the harbour, had a fish and chip lunch and even saw some seals getting fed.  In fact Paul caught a seal and a seagull having a fight over a fish.  The seal got the fish and the gull got away so I reckon they were both happy…

Seal versus sea gulls from Paul Jacobson on Vimeo.

We ended that afternoon with a walk through Kirtenbosch Gardens.

Faith ended the day enjoying an ice cream 😉

We went to Butterfly World on our way to Franschhoek.  It was beautiful.  We saw butterflies, a bat, a monkey, iguanas and a whole lot more.  I definitely recommend going if you are in the area.

In Franschhoek we had lunch at our favourite pancake place.  This sign in their courtyard just says it all 🙂

On the way back from Franschhoek we stopped at Fairview for a bit of a cheese tasting, let me tell you, Aaron had the ladies in a flutter, tasting all the different cheeses and telling us which he liked and which he didn’t and which tasted like pizza ( I wish I could remember which one that was!)  We also got to have some fun with some very hungry fishes.

On the Friday night the entire family (and the retinue) from the brides side and the grooms side got together for dinner and Aaron was such a star, he even wore the ‘fancy’ shirt and his new black smart shoes.

On Sunday the family gathered together for the wedding of my brother in law, Asher and my new sister in law, Megan.  The day was absolutely beautiful.  The weather played along, the food was outstanding, the decor absolutely stunning.

 

The wedding was held at the Vineyard Hotel and Spa and the venue was so beautiful.  We all met there for breakfast the following day and afterwards took a stroll through their gardens.  So pretty and tranquil.

Even though we didn’t do a proper tweet up, I did get to meet Lovely Light on the morning that we left for Johannesburg.  I had won a competition on her blog for a pair of hand beaded earrings and instead of having them posted to me I collected them in person.  It was great meeting Lovely Light and I hope that the next time we are in Cape Town we can do a proper tweet up and spend more time chatting.

One last pic of the happy couple!

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Sleep deprivation…

Sick kids will do that to you.

Aaron started last week with a cough and croup in the night, off to the doctor, who told us that nebulising him as we were doing was the way to go, he is finally coming right although he is still coughing.

Faith developed a snotty blocked nose on Saturday and was awake about 7 times and again about 4 times on Sunday and AGAIN last night.  In fact this morning at about 3:45 Paul landed up taking her to the lounge since she wouldnt settle.

All of this has resulted in major sleep deprivation and general grouchiness in my house.

Hopefully both kids are on the mend and normal programming will continue soon!

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Catching up

So I have been a very bad little blogger lately and for that I am terribly sorry.

I have kept up to date on all the blogs in my reader though even if I havent commented recently.

So, a little catch up…

Aaron is loving school!  He adores his teacher and the kids in his class and aftercare too.

He does swimming twice a week which he loves (I know right!?), Kindermusic every Monday and on a Thursday he does PlayBall after school on the school grounds.

He is growing like a weed and I need to do a big winter shop for him soon because nothing is fitting him anymore.

Faith is getting cuter and cuter every day.

She still only has two teeth and she only says ‘Ello and oof (woof) and only when prompted repeatedly.  Yet she makes herself completely understood and understands everything you say to her.

She has a temper of note and screeches like a pterodactyl if she doesnt get what she wants.

She eats everything and anything, especially of its on her brother plate.

She is standing up all by herself and is walking beautifully if you hold one hand.  Last night we taught her to walk holding onto her Disney princess car/bike thingy.  She was very proud of herself.

Faith also does swimming lessons once a week and I get in the water with her.  She LOVES the water and complains bitterly when we take her out the pool or bath tub.

Both my beautiful children are growing and learning and keep us on our toes.

On Sunday is my anniversary.  SIX years!  And I am still madly in love with my hubband.  Even though he sometimes drives me absolutely crazy!

We went to the Drakensberg Sun last weekend for a mini pre-anniversary break, just the two of us.  It was amazing and relaxing and we both missed the kids so we left a little earlier on Sunday morning that we had planned so we could get back to them 🙂

 

Ok, I promise not to take so long to blog again.  Pinky swear!

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Nursery school!

After a little bit of confusion regarding when Aaron was supposed to start school, we finally started today!

Yesterday we met Nana (my mom) at Woolies so we could buy a new school bag, we couldnt find a Ben Ten bag but we found another superhero one that came with a squeezy juice bottle and Aaron was very happy with it.  I also got him his very own thermal lunch box.

He went to sleep last night chattering about ‘big’ school and his teacher and all the friends he will make.

This morning he got dressed, ate breakfast and was super excited to go to school.

I have to admit that I was preparing myself for drama.  A small #AaronTantrum perhaps or at least tears and feet dragging when it came time to go to school.  I was very pleasantly surprised at how cool, calm and collected my big boy was.

When we got to school he couldnt wait to show his new bag to everyone, the security guard, the moms and dads and the other kids.

He didnt even want to hold my hand which made me want to cry a little but I was strong and held back the tears with a big goofy grin instead.

We found his classroom and the teacher showed us his locker and his towel in the bathroom and then we sat down to play with a little boy called Sam.  There was also a little girl whose name is Erin and the two of them found it very amusing that they have the same name.  The one little girl that was at play school with him arrived and came to sit with us.

After a few minutes I told Aaron that I needed to go to work and he hugged me and off he went to do a puzzle.  Not a care in the world.

Im so happy.  He is such a confident little boy and I just know he is going to have such a great time at ‘big’ school.

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Sci-Bono outing of awesomeness!

Yesterday we took the kids into Newtown to visit the Sci-Bono museum.

I cannot get over how much fun we all had, especially Aaron.  So much fun in fact, that he didnt want to leave.  We had to promise him that we would come back on the weekend!

Oh and not only is Sci-Bono fun its also a really cheap family outing.  Adults are R20, kids are R10 and kids under 6 are free!

We landed up spending almost 2 and a half hours wandering around and we didnt even come close to seeing everything.

 

I had so much fun explaining how the mini experiments worked to Aaron.  Watching his face as he saw what I told him actually happen was awesome.

 

We watched a science demonstration.  The lady who did the demos was fantastic.  The kids (and adults) were laughing and shouting and most of all learning.

 

(Had to put this pic in, just look at that curl!)

We had such a fun day, the time literally ran away from us.  Aaron is still talking about all the things he saw and did.  Cannot wait to go back!

 

*most pictures were taken by Paul, some by me on his camera and some by me on the iPhone (Im sure you can tell which).

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To PTA or not to PTA…

Aaron is going to nursery school next year.  We went to the school open day last week to meet his teacher and see his classroom and the school grounds.

I think he is going to be so happy there.  One little girl from play school is going too and they will be in the same class.

When we left we were given an envelope with an information sheet that needs to be filled out for when when school starts as well as an info booklet on what to expect in regards to curriculum, parties etc…

In the booklet was a request for parents to join the PTA.

Now, I know all about being on a committee, body corporate and volunteer groups.   I know about the politics and the issues that come with it.

I also know that I dont want to be ‘that’ mom.  The one that isnt involved and doesnt pull their weight.

So, what are your experiences with PTA?  Pros and cons?  Should I do it for a year?  Is there a way of being involved without the hassle of being on the PTA?

HELP!