Sick of being sick!

I have not yet started blogging about the actual topics I would like to discuss, I guess I am just feeling my way around blogging again. I am just not so much into whats going on in the world other than my own since I have been on Maternity Leave I guess. I have slipped into total mommy mode. Things are so bad that all I catch myself thinking is what the next child needs and what needs to be done for the other. I actually just packed the kids school bags, the babies bag for his vaccination and then have to express after I write this. Mommy life is hectic I tell you, and one would think that with almost four months with three kids, I would have figured things out by now. Sadly there is still so much I have to figure out, and sometimes it is more than tiring.

One of those tiring times is when everyone in the house gets sick all at the same time for example. Everyone in my house has had the flu for the past week.  Mommy has to all of a sudden be the cleaner, cook, doctor and the night nurse. Adding to the pain of this past week, I happen to have the flu again!! Why again you ask, well I am fed up of getting it. I use to be one of those people who only get the flu every two years, and it was just for those few days and I could carry on for the next two years untouched. Well all that changed this past November.

I have only been admitted to a hospital twice in my whole life. The first, when I a was born and the second, when I delivered L via C section. But never did I think I would be admitted a third time for a random virus that every child gets. Well I was sent to hospital and kept there for 5 whole days. Even with a major surgery like my C section I only stayed four days, so this really threw me for loop.

I have had Mumps before, yes, just like every other adult I know.... but try having mumps so many times that it even baffles the doctors. After blood tests were taken, I had developed the antibodies to fight off the infection, but for some reason they were just not doing their job every time I got sick. But it had been years since any Mumps infection had touched me so I assumed that that part of my life was all over. Boy was I wrong.

Early in October, L came home with swollen glands and I immediately knew what it was. We went to see his pediatrician who then said to wait it out a week with pain meds. Since I happened to be at home with J, this was perfect timing. L healed up well and was back to school the following week. Three weeks later, A came home with the same swelling in the glands, but was a lot more oblivious of the pain than L. The following morning as I packed for her trip to the Paediatrician, I noticed that my glands were also slightly swollen and sore. Being used to regular swollen glands that came and went, I was sure it would be gone in two days or so. Well, we were sent home with the same news for A that we got for L a few weeks before. The following morning I got up to look after A and J and noticed the swelling in my face seemed to be getting worse instead of better and the pain was increasing. I then went to my GP who then gave me meds, took bloods and sent me on my merry way. That should have helped right...

The weekend went by and Sunday morning I looked like I gained a ton by just looking at my face. The swelling was out of control and nothing including the shot I got that day seemed to do anything for me. I was a freak show to the people who saw me. I literally looked like I had fat stuffed into my cheeks and jaw and my entire chin and neck had become one. It was horribly painful. To make along story short, I ended up being admitted into hospital the following Monday, put on two courses of Antibiotics and eventually started looking decent again.

Even though the meds in hospital helped to fight the Mumps virus, which I am grateful for, it seriously weakened my immune system at the same time. I have up till now had the flu a number of five times, sinus infections, tonsillitis, throat infections and been coughing for weeks at a time. My body has just been taking beating after beating and I have frankly had enough of feeling sick at this point. L has had a temp since Sunday this week and the Paediatrician we went to see today seems to think that I am the common agent in the kids runny noses and coughs since I am sick constantly, but I still have to care for the kids for most of my days.

So today I took action... I got all the herbal meds I could find to help my immune system return to normal and to fight the flu, that I can of course take while breast feeding since that is my number one priority at the moment.

Now I hope you holding thumbs with me that I can shake this being sick nonsense and bring you more intellectual and intriguing pieces to read.

A Merry Christmas Two

Its 23:34pm here and I am standing at mu kitchen counter typing this. Why in the kitchen at this hour? Well right across from me on the stove I am frying my minced meat for my family famous Lasagne. Well I know its weird to be cooking this late at night, but with our incredibly active lives and my knack for long family visits, we only got into the front door at at 21:30 and had to still get the baby bathed. My almost 2 year old then decided it would be a great idea to use the floor to wee on so a bath was in order for her too. Baby took a while to fall asleep and now I finally got to the kitchen to start tomorrows lunch.

So tomorrow we get to celebrate my favorite holiday for the second time. I just love Christmas and as my mother in law put it " we will be having Christmas again tomorrow" Really, it just my family and in laws having Sunday lunch together for my father in laws sake as he was away over Christmas. But I still love the fact that we will be doing it again. My hubsters family can't seem to get enough of my Lasagne for some reason so without even asking, I know its what I am meant to prepare. I don't mind though since I am huge Lasagne lover myself. Unfortunatelly I have to sacrifice my sleep to be standing here and making it as we have to attend our church tomorrow which starts at 8:30am which means I will be up at 5:45 to get everything ready for the kids, and getting the kids done to so that we can be out of the door by 7:45am for the latest as our church is 45 minutes away from our house.

When I read what my life is like, I cannot believe how little sleep I actually get because I am always doing all these things. But to be honest, to spend time with family, having delicious lunch and just relaxing on a second Christmas... I would do it any day :)

So let me get on with making my white sauce and I hope you have a Merry Christmas Two!

Getting Active

Today I took a giant step to a healthier lifestyle. I had a long speed walk with my best friend and her husband this evening. This is HUGE for me, I mean I am the person who buys a two year gym contract and only attends for two weeks. To be honest, I have not seen the inside of a gym or done any real exercise in years, other than walking till I drop in the mall of course. I enjoyed the walk, the conversation and now am sitting here at 23:43 PM and enjoying the adrenaline the walk gave me.

I like exercise, really I do, the problem I find myself having is consistency. I am very well known for my lack of consistency in all the areas in my life. For some reason I cannot stay interested in something long enough to either accomplish it or continue doing it, photography being the exception. I really do want to change this annoying habit , I really, honestly do, but cannot possibly seem to convince my brain that an hours workout per day would do wonders for my mood and my body too. People with ADD are actually encouraged to exercise so I should be actually doing some more activity everyday, it might also help with some of the anxiety I experience from time to time. That should be a good motivator, right, but yet I still find it hard to be entirely convinced.

And then there is the weight issue. It was bad a year ago but I think I am slowly moving into the morbidly obese area according to my BMI. This really does scare the heck out of me. Many of us looove sitting on the couch with some snacks and a movie, especially on the cold night. But do I really want to be one of those people who cannot move off the couch because I have eaten so much that I have literally become part of the couch? Look, honestly, skinny would not look good on me but the weight I am currently carrying is literally starting to weigh me down. I do know that my diet also plays a large roll in losing all this weight and I actually made changes in my grocery shopping to encourage better eating habits for my entire family. Unfortunately exercise is not something I can just buy and make.

It is so easy these days to just go into a shop and buy a Tae-bo of Zumba DVD and do the workout in your own living room, and in fact I own a Tae-bo DVD. But I don't actually know anyone who had purchased any of these products and actually used them for a prolonged period of time. It was an option I considered, but being at home would just give me a whole array of excuses not to actually exercise.

My biggest fear and my best friends biggest peeve about me is my concern for my kids. For weeks now I have been trying to wrap my brain around who will take care of J when I return to work in two weeks, so leaving him in someones arms everyday for an hour, while he probably screams his head off, scares the crap out of me. J has the habit of waking up the minute I have left him with someone. It must be some instinct that he has. This exact thing happened tonight. The other thing I worry about is how much time I will get to spend with my two older kids when I go back to work. They go back to pre-school on Monday and return at 17:00pm when I get home. After which supper needs to be prepared, they need to be bathed fed and read to before bed. My hubby works a lot of nights now and will not be around as much as I will, should I not be spending every moment I possibly can with the kids. But then again, I need to become healthy and improve the way I live for my kids, and the only way I can really do that is to sacrifice that one hour and get my bum into action.

There seems to be more things that should encourage me to want to get out there and exercise than not, but is it not strange that as a mother, our concerns are ten times more focused on what we think our children need. I always feel like my children need me, but I think the year of 2012 should be a year where I consider that making myself better will make me a better and happier mother.

So instead of saying I am going to go for a walk or do some Tae-bo everyday, I am just going to say that I will  not complain about the pain and will not turn down an opportunity to do something active but I will not beat myself up on the days I don't get any exercise either.

Those were the days

Today was the release of the senior high school students results in South Africa, and it reminded me of how high school was for me.

I finished school a not so long 9 years ago and I still can't believe that it has been that long. I really loved high school and everything associated with it.

I attended two high schools, In grade 8 I went to the public school in our area which was a year I will never forget. Reuniting with my childhood best friend, becoming part of the 5 girls known as the Superior Ladies, getting heart palpitations when the most popular boy in school asked me to be his girlfriend and nearly dying when he kissed me. Yip my first year in high school was quite eventful even after I found out that the most popular boy actually had a steady relationship with someone else and was dating me just to make me feel good :(

My parents moved me to a Private Christian School in grade 9 which I was not so keen on at first, but I made great friends and even better memories. I sang for the South African Christian Schools Choir for some time, was very involved in the praise and worship during school assemblies and loved English and my English teacher... no... she was a woman.

But not forgetting the not so good things I did too...drinking at choir camp to name juuust one...lol

Those were truly the years I tell you. Whenever I hear a Brian McKnight song, or a Maxwell song, I am reminded of the days I used to sing during first period or the first real broken heart I had. Those were the times I think shaped me to become the person I am today. My broken heart pushed me into my husbands arms, Brian McKnight taught me how to love in his words and those same friends I made in grade 6, are the same friends

I have today. 

I must admit that life was pretty simple back then, I had no real worries never thought that 9 years down the line I would be a married mother of three kids. In fact my idea was to get straight into my studies, get my Masters Degree and then settle down. I did however get the two boys I always wanted. Not exactly in the order I desired but they are all here now.

I do wonder though what my life would have been like if I were like some of the students featured on the news who received the highest accolades in their classes today.  Would I have fallen pregnant at 19, would I have married at 21 and would I be the crazy mom I am today.... I wonder.

But no regrets, as any mom would say, their lives would not be the same without their kids, and it ain't any different for me.

My 2011

I just read over my last real post, and I honestly cannot believe its been over a year. So to start off today's post, I will fill you in on the gaps from that day.

A few posts back I spoke about needing a new job, in fact i really needed a permanent job. Well in March of 2011, it finally happened. I had been sitting in the same bank for so many years, holding my breath for something more stable to come along. And finally, in my year of change, it came through. The job is not the greatest, and not something you necessarily make a career out of, but the people and the environment make all the bad days worth it. I have never worked in a place where I feel so at ease with the people around me. Even my boss, and his boss are such great people. I feel like I struck gold this time. They are determined to make our division a great place to work and I can whole hearteldy say that they a hitting the nail right on the head.

Well, reflecting back on my most recent post, I mentioned something about losing weight and succeeding at it. It is however sad to say that that only lasted for a very short while because a few weeks later I had a huge MOTHER of a SHOCK!!  I was pregnant!! To be honest, it was not as huge a shock as you would think. I knew exactly when it happened....NOOOOO, I was not planning to have anymore babies, and my Hubster was done with kids for LIFE. Unfortunately, I know my body too well and knew something was up when I ovulated three days late.
But hey, God knew what he was doing and on the 21st of September 2011, I birthed J, my amazing 3.4 kg baby in a huge tub. Another shocking birth story to be updated soon.  He is soo cute and adorable, but nothing prepared me for his really intense scream. That none stop scream that makes any mother cringe. Yes, here I was thinking motherhood would still be as easy with three kids as it was with two... but man was I wrong. L, now 5 years old pretty much can do anything for himself, but A at only 20 months and still teething, was making it even harder to deal with my highly sensitive newborn. There were days when things were so bad, I felt like running away. I still to this day wonder how other mothers have more kids and cope with all it requires. At least over this December my Hubby has been home to help me with the kids so the antidepressants and stress have gone out the back door for the moment.
Sadly I have only three short weeks left at home on Maternity leave, and thinking of going back to work is really scaring me at this point. Child care, especially with Mr screamer, J, is my biggest concern, but all I can do is deal right now, there are not very many options at this point since going back to my full time job is not optional.

L and A have grown so much this year. A is talking out dictionaries already and is really good at giving one the evil eye. I Love her resilience and the fact that she is not afraid to try anything, and I mean anything. She is as wild as I was as a little girl and has so much fun all of the time. I find it really funny to sit and watch other mothers gasp when she slides down the playground slide all by herself and runs right back up to do it again. Her personality has really started to blossom and I cant wait to see what more she learns.
L is still my big sensitive superman. One thing I am really learning about him is that although he makes friends incredibly easily, he is terrified of performing in front of big crowds. At the pre-school graduation he gave up the chance to be the prince because being a tree was more appealing. At first I thought it was because there was only one prince and eight tree's, but finally figured out it was because he had to kiss one of the girls in is class, he would rather die than do that. He has decided that growing up is not an option for him, in his words "mommy, I don't want to grow up because I don't want a girlfriend". I so look forward to showing him this piece when he gets his first girlfriend...lol

On another front, I am still very involved with my Photography and am really hoping to take it to new levels this year. I think I have improved quite significantly although there are a lot of things I still need to work on... but I love learning about it and am definitely going to take further steps to become the best that I can be.

I think that is pretty much all the real excitement I had to 2011, not much but true.

BLESSINGS

Happy NEW YEAR!!!!

Yes yes, I am back, and back with a bang!! So much has happened in this past year that I have no clue where to begin... but I so want to tell some of the amazing stories that came out of my 2011 so hold on tight because there will be lots and lots to read!

I missed this medium of communicating with the world so much and cannot express my excitement of being able to come back permanently!

There will be loads of changes to the page in the coming weeks so please be patient with the construction in progress. So here signing out for my first of many posts for the year 2012... I am saying good day to all, will be back with some great stories tomorrow :)

Coming back soon.... Very soon...