30 dec 2010

If my intention with this pic a day thing was to have a little visual diary of my December 2010 then I should really be posting a photo of our medicine shelf. Yes, we have a dedicated shelf in our kitchen which we've started calling The Medicine Shelf due to how much meds it's stored over the course of the year.

If my intention was to try and grasp just one moment from each day for one month at the end of this fleeting year, then I should be posting a photo of myself on the couch, reading a magazine, while the Child watches endless David Attenborough, the Baby works out the mechanics of various noisy toys and the Husband takes his turn to nap, before we pass the Baton of Responsibility, re-up our antibiotics and swop horizontal positions for an hour or so.

I'm not really sure what my intention was, although I've enjoyed it thoroughly, and I haven't taken any photos today (scintillating as the subject matter on offer was), so gasp I'm not going to post one.

And to further confirm my problem with completing things, I may not post one tomorrow either.

Husband and I have strep throat, and antibiotics. The girls are so far germ-free and will soon be climbing the walls. It's not as bleak as it sounds, but it's not very fucking cheery either.

I think I'm done with you 2010.
Good.Bye.

28 & 29 dec 2010

A lovely day with friends yesterday ended abruptly with the onset of a sore throat, by nightfall aching limbs, sore eyes, the chills.

Why it should be surprising that 2010, the year of the sick, should end on a similar note I'm not sure. Hopefully this lurgy will not see the new year in with us.

Pics from last year December. One year ago when there was only one.

Back to bed I go.

27 dec 2010

One last Christmas present,
~ a few hours childcare from my parents
~ a bike ride round the Peninsula with my babe
~ an exquisite seafood lunch
~ a reminder that I live in a beautiful place, and am loved by beautiful people.

26 dec 2010

Hot. Hot. Hot.
Splash in the pool.
Gammon for lunch.
Nap.
Stollen for tea.
Take dog for a run.
Gammon for supper.

25 dec 2010

And the reveal ...
Badly focused. Just like me right now. Yaaaaaaawwwwwwn.

Burp.

Goodnight.

24 dec 2010

The official story is we have to take this box to my SIL's tomorrow, that it contains 'work stuff' for her. But I can tell by the look in her 3 and a half year old eye that this isn't holding water ... I daren't gift-wrap it, then we'd be discovered for sure ....

Merry Christmas!

23 dec 2010

Some of my youngest brother's mates are joining us tomorrow evening, Christmas orphans coming to scavenge off our turkey carcass. They're lovely boys (and damn cute) so I've no problem with this at all.

In a rare burst of energy I've been baking up a storm so I put together these little gift boxes for them.

Smarties cookies (I have an addiction), knobbly meringues (wtf's up with that?), peppermint bark (made with humbugs instead of the still elusive candy canes) - from Lego of course - and root canal inducing fudge.

Candy for the eye candy.

22 dec 2010

Christmas is happening incrementally, one evening at a time ...

21 dec 2010

He's been wearing glasses for as long as I've known him. He got his first pair when he was 11. Today we got him new eyes for Christmas.
And his first ever pair of sunglasses.

20 dec 2010

3 years and 6 months old today.

She wanted to wear green to 'match' the forest. And blue to 'match' the sky. And her 'watch' (this time the inverted comma's are mine) so we'd know when it was time to go home.
The flavour of yoghurt was incidental.

My baby.

19 dec 2010

I bought the kit at IKEA last year, surprisingly it still tasted really good. We had a naughty giggle at the name - a Pepparkakshus, or directly translated into Afrikaans, a Pepper Shit House.

18 dec 2010

I have a new phone.
This is my first post written and posted from it. Photo taken on phone. Uploaded on phone.

I have a new phone.
It's fucking cool. It's the 'anti-iPhone', an Android. It has ground-breaking Swype technology.

I have a new phone.
It's the business.
Just wish I had some business to do on it.

I have a new phone.
I also have a sore finger.
Touch screen takes some getting used to.

Oh and also we went to the park.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Update: I didn't like the tiny pic when I posted this via the Blogger-droid App, wasn't sure if it was a reflection of the quality of photo or the App, now that I've come back to the post online I've been able to enlarge the pic enough to see the razor wire on the wall behind the kiddie-park down the road. Now that's more realistic.

17 dec 2010

It really was the Year of the Girl Child.

Teagan, Natasha, Layla, Stella, Wren, Desiree, Eva, Zoe, Faith, Isla, Leah, Olerato, Cate, Emma ... all of these I know of personally, another 5 I know from friends of friends.
Sure there was a handful of boys, but nearly 20 girls. That's a lot of ladies.

And a lot of babies.

All of whom are, or will soon be, as busy as this.

And that's a lot of energy right there.

16 dec 2010

This is a photo to remind us that when looking for a new house (maybe 2011 will be the year ...), we'll need:

~ a garage
~ a workshop
~ a store room
~ a bar

Oh and a garden. And a room for Stella. And a studio for me. And some additional off-street parking.
And less crap projects!

15 dec 2010

I ran into an old friend today. A friend from old times. A good friend? Hard to say, those old times seem in retrospect to have been so good, the people who shared them may have become gilded in my memories.

Suffice to say we were friends back when we all looked something like this ...

I know his warm and crinkly eyes so well, but am so far removed from the thoughts behind them now.
Old times. Good times.

14 dec 2010

It's going to be really shit, and I don't like to as she's such a mild-mannered happy little thing, but we're going to have to do some sleep-training soon. I can't feel like this for much longer.

13 dec 2010

Summertime ... and the south-easter's blowing ...

All. Day. And. Every. Day.

During the day our massive palm tree sounds like a old-timey wooden sailing ship. All creaky, the rigging swaying and clapping in the breeze.
At night it sounds like breathing. Creak and sway, creak and sway. Inhale, exhale, breathe.

12 dec 2010

Colour me Sunday.

Her idea. Her compositions. Her art direction. I just took the mediocre photos.

(we were still working on the rules here - hence the blue pillow)

11 dec 2010

Humans rock.

To evolve, in a scant 9 months, from a small pink blob of mewling incomprehension, to a crawling, standing, bouncing, dancing being. A person, who can smile and laugh, recognise her name, make accompanying noises when a dog barks, feed herself grains of rice with tiny pincer fingers and show extreme dissatisfaction when the world conspires against her (i.e. Mum moves the scissors).

She rocks.

10 dec 2010

A 4pm glass of wine on a lawn with friends and snacks sure takes the edge off suicide hour.

9 dec 2010

Book Club. I never really got it. Women in movies/Oprah/magazines getting choked up talking about their book clubs.

But I do now.

The company, the food, the wine and the books, oh the books. Sanity restored, once a month. Book club.

8 dec 2010

First day of school holidays, traditionally the day we put up the Christmas tree. Well, it's a tradition now, circa December 2010. It's great that Frieda's old enough for us to create rituals around family events, holidays and birthdays.

This is a work in progress.

As with everything we had a bull terrier assisting us.

Also,
~ I may have lived in Africa all my life, and only once experienced a real European Christmas, but I still find it weird putting up Christmas decorations in 30 degree heat, drinking lemonade instead of egg-nog.
~ I'm slowly learning to let go and give Frieda free reign on things like putting up decorations, icing cakes, wrapping presents. I resist the urge to tweak, improve, correct.
~ I still love love love this Tin Town tree. A dear gift from a dear friend.

7 dec 2010 (like, for serious this time)

Back to the vet.

Another injection, a round of antibiotics, swabbed down with antiseptic and a manicure.

I thought she deserved an illicit drink from the kitchen tap. It's not usually allowed but she loves it so.
Dear old mog.

(and fyi, the jar in the background holds not some rehydrating shiitakes, a stool sample or chestnut puree, but some coins I've been disinfecting for Frieda's endless game of Shop Lady).

7 dec 2010 (oops!*)

It's pretty busy over here. (*ja, that busy slash sleep-deprived. 6 dec. 6 dec!)

Husband's got some DIY on the go.

Frieda's making more gift tags than gifts we're likely to give. Ever.

Stella's working damn hard on pushing out some more teeth.

And I'm stuck into a few crafty Christmas projects, which makes me happy.

(Hey, anyone up north feel like sending me some red & white candy canes with which to make peppermint bark? No problem if they get crushed in transit ...
I'll return the favour with some cute African Christmas decorations. Hmmmm?)

5 dec 2010

Sunday was not as idyllic as this picture makes it out to be.

 

But the forest, the forest is always idyllic, and for a while there was peace.

4 dec 2010

Sucks that we didn't get our weekend away, but on the upside: I got all our Christmas shopping done this morning.

I'm starting to get the holiday spirit.

3 dec 2010

I slept in Frieda's room. Stella in mine. Frieda on the couch.
Lego in her basket in the kitchen.
A cat curled up next to my laptop, another passed out on Tigger in the playroom.

A sleeping body in every room of the house. 14.44 on a Friday afternoon. A rare occurrence.

We were supposed to go away for the weekend, but she's not well. We'll hunker down at home instead.

2 dec 2010

My mother's house.

So much time spent here this year. Resting my bulk in the shade of the garden through the dog days of last summer. Napping with my newborn while she played with Frieda. Gaining clarity and support from endless chats with both my parents on the stoep. Delicious meals, ridiculous games, some tears, lots of laughs. Lots and lots of breast-feeding.
And now stolen moments off by myself, to run some errands, get a haircut, have a coffee. Both girls as entertained and enamoured with their grandparents as I am.

1 dec 2010

This is my life. Taking stock. Giving thanks. Stopping and pondering.

Call it what you will, at the end of a crazy year which has moved far, far too fast for my liking, a year in which I feel like I've done so little while confident that I've achieved so much, a year in which I feel I've not touched base with myself properly but yet have learnt so much about my own capabilities, a year which has just ... happened, one crazy day tumbling after another.
At the end of this crazy year I want to take stock, give thanks, stop and ponder. Even if it's only for a second.

And what better place to start than this?

Shew.