For the Life of us

Life has just amazingly busy over the past 3 weeks, I haven't even had a chance to catch up my blogging about allthe going's on. I am sitting here now with a few minutes while Abigail sleeps. A bowl of fruit in front of me but I find myself reaching for the chocolate, over and over again, that sits next to Gavin as he has a game or two (or three or four!) of PlayStation 3. So, while both of my 'baby's' are busy, and I have a combination of coffee and chocolate to keep me relaxed for the next 10 minutes, I will attempt to recreate in words, the beautiful event which was my cousin Nicole's wedding day. The wedding, for our close family, was much more than a bustling day, it was a weekend of all being couped up in a beautiful rolling manor on a hill in the middle of nowhere. The house quickly felt like home as we all arrived on the Friday morning and 'moved in', myself and Abigail sharing a room with the five bridesmaids. Also there were my grandparents, my...

I actually can't help but comment on a subject which frustrates me quite immensley. It was the topic of yesterday's Good Morining discussion and provoked quite a response from viewers.

For the past few days, out beautiful baby girl has been sick which has been an awful experience. Thank God, not too sick, just stuck with a cold. Meaning Abby and in turn myself, have got very little sleep over the past two days. It is the perfect home day today though. Waking up to a miserable, Gray looking day outside and turning on the weather channel to find out we can expect thunder later. I am quite looking forward to hanging out with Abigail today and Gavin later when he gets home from work this afternoon. I was flicking through a parents magazine yesterday at the doctor's office and found an article about babies that just cry all the time - how distressing that must be! Even just having Abby out of sorts and not settling nicely at night and being miserable during the day, made me count my blessings because usually she is an absolute angel! It is funny though that even though she is obviously not feeling nice, she is still smiling and laughing, even if it is with streamin...

If you had asked me as soon as up to one week ago, whether I would go back to work and stick my baby in daycare, you would have received a resounding 'definitely not!'. It has always been an issue I've felt very strongly about. In my opinion , unless you are genuinely unable to pay rent with one salary, the desire to live in luxury is a selfish one if it justifies putting your kids in childcare at such a young age. I am not an extreme mother and don't believe there is anything wrong with having a toddler at a daycare for a few hours a week to socialise them and allow yourself some sanity. My heart does break, however, at the scene that unfolds at the daycare next door each day. Car's start pulling in from around 7.30am and some littlies are only collected after 6pm and some even 7pm. Parents that would typically go home tired from work, put there children to bed and then wake up only to haul them back to childcare, leaving...

It is surprising at least, that I had any amount of profound thought from two days worth of daytime television. However, I did. Oprah, for two days in a row has had very sobering programmes of families who are so much less fortunate that mine. The first show featured a little girl, of seven, who suffered with schizophrenia. The parents chose to cope with it by living in two seperate apartments and raising their younger 'normal' child seperately and obviously living seperately at night, swapping and alternating each day. Living with such an intense love for their daughter yet having the daily stress of knowing she cannot be left alone or by herself with anyone else, is just mindblowing to imagine. The second Oprah show featured the stories of child after child who was abducted. Distraught parents, weary from the fight, some for 20 years now, begged fellow Americans to help them find their children. Parents who had last tucked their baby into bed and woken up to an empty cot, ano...

It is hard to believe that it's been a year since we were 1st married! It was great that we got to spend the day together and celebrate. That morning we headed off with Abigail, bright and early and had breakfast at a nearby cafe'. The rest of the day was relaxed, o so different to that day one year earlier with all the hustle and bustle of wedding preparations! I can't say I was excited for our anniversary evening. Gavin, very proud of his plan, announced the day before, that we would be spending the evening at his parents house. His mother would be cooking a 'gourmet' meal, Deby would be babysitting Abby and his dad would be serving us. There was nothing wrong with that plan, in fact it sounded like a great night, but just not the way I hoped to spend our first anniversary. Gavin must have loved my less than thrilled reaction, seeing as he actually had other plans. That night after persuading me to change into something nicer because we would 'take photos...

2010 is off to a fast start! It seems to have only just begun and already we are flipping over our wall calendar to February. It makes me sad that time is just flying with Abigail growing and changing daily, and time seems fleeting when I consider all the things I want to do. Lists like take more time to explore places with Abby, make hand and feet prints of those constantly growing parts, continue to write in detail in her memory book as well as do all the other things 'well' like being a good wife and employee. I'm finding this stage of Abigail's development slightly challenging as she is developing quite the temper yet even so, still so adorable and funny. I'm worried that what is 'cute' now in the initial stages, won't be so delightful in as soon as a few months time. I'm finding myself having to be a lot firmer with her when she 'shouts' at me, and will do my best to make sure she develops other ways of expressing frustration and anger....

Great Barrier Island, Orama. What a beautiful holiday destination! On Tuesday around lunch time, the Burger family, our family and Deby and her friend Jess and Oumie & Oupa all disembarked on the stunning tropical Great barrier Island. The clouds had given way to amazing sunny skies somewhere along the 4 ½ hour ferry ride. We were met by granny and granddad de Wit who had caught a quick half hour flight in a tiny 5-man plane! We stopped for lunch along the way to our holiday spot, which ended up being one of many scenic stops we did on the way to the camp site. The camp was absolutely stunning with houses dotted around the mountain side of the valley which held a lake-like ocean just a grass patch away. Our days were filled with lots but nothing inparticular at the same time, which was great! The boys all became avid fishermen, not doing too badly and catching dinner for one of the nights. We ended up kayaking, fishing, swimming off the jetty and taking walks to explore the gorge...