Having Too Much Fun ..

to blog… Sorry!

Things have been extremely hectic with Nic being here with her family. There is something on just about every day because she has boys who need to keep busy and I need to spend all the time with them that I can. Today is the first day in ages we have stayed at home because Sarah seems to have a bit of a temperature today. Nothing too serious so we are just keeping an eye on it.

The boys are just wonderful. They are so sweet and have two completely different personalities. Dylan, who is three, is an absolute sweetheart – he is a really soft-spoken, very caring and very cute little guy. He absolutely adores Sarah – telling everyone she is ‘my baby Sarah’ and ‘my cousin.’ On the first Friday they were here, we had a big family gathering at our parents’ house. I bathed Sarah there and when I was putting some cream on her afterwards, he came in the room and asked if he could also have some cream. I put some in his hands, thinking he just wanted some for that. But instead he started to rub it gently over Sarah’s tummy and on her little scar. Oh my goodness! That was enough for me to kidnap the child and take him home with me forever! Aside from that, he is also a real little boy – very busy, loves to run around and play a lot!

Kieran is nearly 11 months old. He is a real little charmer – I can already see all the girls are going to be eating out of the palm of his hand one day! He has a smile for everyone. He loves to crawl everywhere and explore everything he can. My parents even have a picture of him in the kitchen cupboard! He is also pulling himself up and walking along the side of things, so he has to be watched all the time – he is very curious about everything he sees so we have to keep making sure he doesn’t grab anything that he can hurt himself with. He is such a happy little boy and loves to dance and laugh.

So that’s the little update from my side and as well as Nicky’s for anyone who does check her blog – now you know why there is not much going on there!

5 months today!

Boy does the time go quickly or what? I barely know where these past five months have gone. Our little girl is coming on in leaps and bounds. She is starting to get a little personality going – she smiles at absolutely everybody she sees whether she gets a smile back or not. She ‘talks’ away to you and she is quite the moaner when things aren’t going her way!

Yesterday we had lunch at Hillcrest with Fiona. Here are some pictures she took – thanks Nana Fi!

Hope everyone in blogger world is well. I apologise for my absense but time is not on my side these days – especially now that my sis is here with her boys – I need to soak up as much time with them as I can before they head back home.

Lots of love to all from me and my little princess! xxx

108 Useless Facts

Got this on email the other day. I couldn’t actually stop reading it. I’m not sure how factual some of these are – but some are interesting, some are funny and some are just plain useless. I would love to know who actually works this stuff out…

1 Look at your zipper. See the initials YKK? It stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world’s largest zipper manufacturer.
2 40 percent of McDonald’s profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.
3 315 entries in Webster’s 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.
4 On the average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.
5 Chocolate kills dogs! True, chocolate affects a dog’s heart and nervous system. A few ounces is enough to kill a small sized dog.
6 Ketchup was sold in the 1830’s as a medicine.
7 Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.
8 Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.
9 There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.
10 Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paintMona Lisa’s lips.
11 Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow a film down so you could see his moves. That’s the opposite of the norm.
12 The original name for the butterfly was “flutterby”!
13 By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can’t sink in quicksand.
14 Mosquito repellents don’t repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito’s sensors so they don’t know you’re there.
15 Dentists recommend that a toothbrush be kept at least six feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
16 The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley’s gum.
17 Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than the entire Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
18 Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one foot.
19 Adolf Hitler’s mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor.
20 The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.
21 To escape the grip of a crocodile’s jaws, prick your fingers into its eyeballs. It will let you go instantly.
22 The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
23 The “pound” (#) key on your keyboard is called an octothorp.
24 The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.
25 Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
26 The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.
27 Dreamt” is the only word in the English language that ends in “mt”.
28 It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
29 In Chinese, the KFC slogan “finger lickin’ good” comes out as “eat your fingers off”.
30 A cockroach can live for 10 days without a head.
31 We shed 40 pounds of skin a lifetime.
32 Yo-Yos were once used as weapons in the Philippines.
33 Mexico City sinks abut 10 inches a year.
34 Brains are more active sleeping than watching TV.
35 Blue is the favorite color of 80 percent of Americans.
36 When a person shakes their head from side to side, he is saying “yes” in Sri Lanka.
37 There are more chickens than people in the world.
38 The thumbnail grows the slowest, and the middle nail grows the fastest. 39 There are more telephones than people in Washington, D.C.
40 The average four year-old child asks over four hundred questions a day. 41 The average person presses the snooze button on their alarm clock three Times each morning.
42 The three wealthiest families in the world have more assets than the Combined wealth of the forty-eight poorest nations.
43 The first owner of the Marlboro cigarette Company died of lung cancer. 44 Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
45 The world’s youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
46 Our eyes remain the same size from birth onward, but our noses and ears Never stop growing.
47 You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching TV.
48 A person will die from total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur about 10 days without sleep, while starvation takes a Few weeks.
49 Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
50 The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows.
51 When the moon is directly overhead, you weigh slightly less.
52 Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never telephoned His wife or mother because they were both deaf.
53 A psychology student in New York rented out her spare room to a Carpenter in order to nag him constantly and study his reactions. After Weeks of needling, he snapped and beat her repeatedly with an axe Leaving her mentally retarded
54 “I am.” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language
55 Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking Countries because Colgate translates into the command “go hang Yourself.” 56 Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue print is different.
57 “Bookkeeper” is the only word in English language with three consecutive Double letters.
58 Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left handed People do.
59 The sentence “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every Letter in the English language.
60 If the population of China walked past you in single line, the line Would never end because of the rate of reproduction
61 China has more English speakers than the United States.
62 Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.
63 Each square inch of human skin consists of twenty feet of blood vessels. 64 An average person uses the bathroom 6 times per day.
65 Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood we have only 206 in our Bodies.
66 Beards are the fastest growing hairs on the human body. If the average Man never trimmed his beard, it would grow to nearly 30 feet long in his Lifetime.
67 According to Genesis 1:20-22, the chicken came before the egg.
68 The longest place name still in use is: Taumatawhakatangihangaoauauotameteaturi- Pukakpikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu – a New Zealand hill. 69 If you leave Tokyo by plane at 7:00am, you will arrive in Honolulu at Approximately 4:30pm the previous day.
70 Scientists in Australia’s Parkes Observatory thought they had positive Proof of alien life, when they began picking up radio-waves from space. However, after investigation, the radio emissions were traced to a Microwave in the building.
71 Wearing headphones for an hour increases the bacteria in your ear 700 times.
72 More than 40,000 parasites and 250 types of bacteria are exchanged during a French kiss.
73 Men can read smaller print than women, but women can hear better.
74 Coca-Cola was originally green.
75 The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
76 The name of all the continents ends with the same letter that they start with.
77 There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
78 TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
79 Women blink nearly twice as much as men!!
80 You can’t kill yourself by holding your breath.
81 It is impossible to lick your elbow.
82 People say “Bless you” when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
83 It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
84 The “sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
85 If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
86 Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history. Spades – King David, Clubs – Alexander the Great, Hearts – Charlemagne, Diamonds – Julius Caesar.
87 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
88 If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.
89 If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.
90 If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
91 Question – This is the only food that doesn’t spoil. What is this? Ans. – Honey
92 A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
93 A snail can sleep for three years.
94 All polar bears are left handed.
95 American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
96 Butterflies taste with their feet.
97 Elephants are the only animals that can’t jump.
98 In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
99 On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
100 Shakespeare invented the word ‘assassination’ and ‘bump’.
101 Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
102 The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
103 The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
104 The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
105 Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.
106 The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
107 Most lipstick contains fish scales.
108 And finally 99% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow

Just To Change The Page!

I figure I need to write something otherwise I am going to get nagged again… Not really sure what to write so I guess I’ll just tell you about my weekend.

On Friday morning I met a friend (Cath) for a quick cup of coffee. It was really great as it happened quite spontaneously and at the right time too as I was in great need of some adult conversation! Not adult in THAT sense of the word… ;0) In the sense that I have had a difficult week with Sarah as her sleeping patterns have all gone haywire and being sleep-deprived is just really not my thing! So I was feeling quite stressed when she called and so I jumped at the chance. I realised that I have known Cath for many years now but this was actually the first time we have met for coffee or done anything just the two of us. It was great to catch up and see the cute and gorgeous and wonderfully friendly and funny Max.

The rest of Friday was just the usual busy day at home – my weekdays usually go by in a complete blur, at the end of which I feel exhausted but could not really put my finger on what I have been so busy with!

On Friday night we had dinner with Clive and Nicci. It was the first time that we have been out with Sarah at night. Even though they live up the road from us (even walking there is quick), we loaded up all our baby paraphernalia. As soon as we arrived, Sarah had her bottle and fell straight to sleep, as she remained for the rest of the night. She did not even notice the transition from their bedroom into the car and back into her bed. She really does take after her mom – nothing wakes me once I manage to fall asleep! However, she did wake up twice later that night, in keeping with her new “just when you think you know my sleeping habits I’ll throw you a curveball” phase.

Yesterday Steven played golf with my stepdad in the morning and I went of to Fiona’s jewellery sale. The jewellery was soooo stunning and I spent loads of money on some great gifts. (Ah, who am I kidding – they’ll probably all end up in my collection)! The prices are so good and the jewellery really looks like it comes from a fancy jewellery shop – and I’m not just saying that. In the afternoon Steven’s sisters arrived with boyfriends, kids etc – they all watched the rugby while Sam played with Sarah and I helped Lisa with her design project due on Monday. She has just sent me a picture of the finished result – it looks amazing. She is such a talented young chick that! One day we will be watching her adverts on tv I just know it! We decided to light the fire and ended up braaing – our usual Saturday thing.

Today we went to Canal Walk and had breakfast with Steven’s folks, walked around the shops and I bought the new book by Stephenie Meyer – “The Host” – it looks really weird and quite a different theme from the Twilight saga. Can’t wait to get stuck in. The rest of the day we have been bumming around at home and playing with our beautiful daughter.

Tomorrow morning my sister arrives home on holiday from Scotland with her husband and two boys. I last saw Dylan when he was 6 months old – he is now 3 years and has a baby brother (Kieran) of 9 months – can’t wait to meet!!

And that’s about it folks!!! Now you know all about my weekend and you will not moan when you click on my page and see the Change Indeed title yet again!

Lots of love to all and have a splendid week!

xxx

Change Indeed!

Congratulations to the Democratic Party and to the Obama family on their overwhelming win on Election Day!!

I have just finished watching his acceptance speech. For those who may doubt his sincerity, or who may not believe the hype around him – I always say – look into the person’s eyes for your answer. I believe him to be true to his words and ideals. I believe that the change that is so much needed from America is on its way – as he says, it may not be done in a year or even in a term – but it will be done.

I hope that South Africans will take a leaf out of the US book and believe that the needed change in our country is possible too – in the right hands.

Well done Mr Obama – now off you go and end the wars, end the financial crisis, rebuild the world’s trust, mend fences, and do justice to the title – leader of the free world. No pressure…. ;0)

Change We Need!

Today is a very important and exciting day – not only for America, but for the world. I really hope that the best man (Obama) wins. I believe that he is the change that is needed in his country and globally. In the words of Ghandi: ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’ I can only pray that Americans do so today by keeping the old, stale and unpopular ideals out of office. Let’s hope that the ‘Mac IS back’…. I mean, left way back in the race!

Good Luck Mr Obama – I’m rooting for you!!

Picture Time Again

Yay I finally found the camera! It was of course in one of my handbags that I haven’t used for a couple of days!!

Now that I have learned how to post more than five pictures at a time (duh) I have realised that it posts the last ones at the top so next time I will add them in reverse order. Anyway, here are some pictures – the older ones are now at the bottom!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Mommy, Missy and me

Hilarious facial expressions happen when my mommy forces me to do tummy time…

Concentration, exertion, determination

Phew! I’m tired!

Always happy to be going somewhere

Sitting in my bumbo!

Staring up at my mobile

Me and daddy watching football

Me and my grandpa

Sushi with dad and mom

Check my crazy hair!

I love my kick and play chair!

Me and my granny

I know how to pose…

Playing with my toys..

Passed out with Harriet at Andrew and Kathryn’s house

Me and my mom