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Monday, January 30, 2012

I hit the wall .....

Quite literally I hit the wall last week. I was in a rush to get to the uniform shop and it was bucketing down with rain and I reversed around a car into the corner of a brick wall. The wall came out the winner, my car a definite loser. New bumper and back panel will be in order.

It tipped me over the edge, the tears flowed. Weeks of full on parenting and anxiety about the coming school year all compounded and the reserves were not there to deal with another thing on the plate. Another thing that seemed to highlight my failures.

This morning did not go well. Goofy was very sad (clutching onto me for dear life, wailing sad) about started at her new preschool and MiniMe didn't get into the same class as her two 'besties'.

SIL and I had organised a toddler swap and it couldn't have come at a better time. She had JJ today and I will have her toddler on Wednesday. A bit of time out and chance to have my own head space and decide when I did what I needed to do was such a blessing.

So today I am feeling very grateful for lovely friends.

What are you grateful for today?

Monday, January 23, 2012

A monumental weekend...

This weekend looked like nothing spectacular on paper and probably if you had asked me this morning how it had been I would have given the standard reply, 'Good, and yours?'. But the more I have considered that 48hrs that separated Friday through to today I have realised is was a monumental weekend.

Is started in a fairly usual way. U2 went for a bike ride and I stayed at home and did some general tidying up. I walked past the stairs that leads to the toy room/laundr /garage/junk room and glanced at JJ confidently walking down. The gate that has blocked the stairs to prevent MiniMe, Goofy and JJ from falling down in their toddler years had been left open, as I realised is its general state now. There will be no more toddlers to follow after JJ so the gate can now be retire. So I took it down. It is so strange to walk through this wide opening and not have to navigate the wide steel door. We have moved on. The baby years are getting further behind us.

We had a lovely dinner with one of the families from MiniMe's school. The girls all played very quietly and calming with their friends all evening (until we left and then they had a crazy high-pitched scream around the front yard!). There was a little glimpse of what socialising in the future might be like - civilised!


The baptism cake

Sunday we went to our new church again (not sure when it will stop being 'the new church') and I met a couple of really nice mums which is making me feel better about our change. We all hit it off and there was a hint at what the future might be like when these relationships develop.

On Sunday evening my two lovely nieces were baptised down at the beach, one of which we are godparents for. It was beautiful down there and special making the promises to help encourage her in her faith as the water lapped at our feet. They both hold a very special place in my heart, I love being their aunt.

YTT returned!! I loved Young Talent Time as a child. It was my favourite show, I would wait impatiently for it each week. And now I get to share it with my girls. I watched part of it today with MiniMe and two of her friends and it made me smile to hear them talk about who their favourite member was just like I use to.

So on the surface I did some tidying up, went to dinner, church and the beach and then watched TV this weekend but it really was quite a special weekend.



What were you doing this weekend?

Friday, January 20, 2012

So i have been giving my challenges for 2012 a bit of thought and was sharing my thoughts with a wise friend who has helped in giving them legs.

The first is that I want to remove the piles from our house. I am a pile maker. I tidy one room by removing all objects that do not belong there and putting them in a pile in the room that they should go. The piles grow and grow as it takes me forever to get to the room to actually put them away. So I am going to put things away straight away and to help this I am going to reduce the number of things that need to be put away!

So I am going to join the bandwagon of getting rid of 2012 things in 2012!

In the last two weeks I think I would have sent at least 125 items out the door. To friends, to our new church creche, to the local charity shop and to the bin.

About 20 soft toys, 50 items for the 'dont-know-what-to-do-with-it-or-or-what-it-belongs-to' boxes (yes boxes, plural!), 20 items of clothes, 5 bags and 30 toys have all  been nudged along, encouraged to leave the place they have unnecessarily inhabited for so long.

I have printed off the declutter calender and am ready to go. I will need to catch up on the weeks I missed but I am up for the challenge. I have even printed off a second copy of the calender in the hope I will find a friend to join me in my quest! I am always better when I do things with someone else.

What are you thoughts on 2012 in 2012? Would you consider joining me?

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Here it is...

2011 ended with break neck speed for our household. With the first year of kindergarten coming to an end, the preschool chapter ending for Goofy, JJ cheekily running amuck, Christmas festivities and a three week adventure to South Africa to pack and plan for it was all systems go, go, go. 2012 seemed something far in the distance.

But here it is.

I have given thought to what the year holds for the youngest members of our family. MiniMe enters the first grade and I pray that she has her buddies with her. There were some really lovely girls she made friends with who had equally lovely mothers. Friendships I would like to develop for all of us. Goofy is going a prep program at a local school - not quite preschool but not quite school. She will love the 'school work' but I am anxious for her socially. She is a quieter child and has a special friendship with her cousin who was at preschool with her but is not able to go to prep. I pray she settles into her new environment. JJ is about to about to turn two - need I say more! Pray for us! U2 will be powering on with his business, checking how much the stock market is up or down on his iPhone, helping steer our new church, riding his bike, continuing to be a good husband and father but what will I be doing? What do I want to be doing?

The buy nothing new challenge for 2011 was a great one. I learnt alot about how and why I shop, what you can reuse, recycle, what you can save in both money and time and how to be more crafty. (Officially we were meant to end February 1 but to be honest I think we ended when we stepped on the plane.) So I am looking for a new challenge.

What are you doing to make 2012 different to 2011?