Currently

Oh hello there!

I’ve missed you like a squirrel misses his nuts.  Or more relate-ably, I’ve missed you like a mother misses her sleep!  So I thought I’d start off the post by sharing our #awkwardfamilyphoto to put you at ease.  In case you’re new around here, we’re the weirdos above.

The end of the year hey?!  It is upon us and while it makes my eye twitch to just leave this little blog alone, I’ve managed to turn the twitch into a part of an interpretive dance that draws the kids out of their endless fighting, so it’s not all bad.

Seriously though, the end of the year is totally crazy – as I am sure you are feeling too.  The good news is that we’re headed on holiday soon, so this week is for getting everything sorted for Christmas, like buying presents and all that stuff.  Be sure to check in here the day before Christmas where I’m frantically turning in circles and considering pulling a Britney move because I have managed to buy a grand total of zero presents before leaving on said holiday.

Thinking:  My kids have too much stuff.  I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s working on my nerves.  Don’t get me wrong – I love giving them things, but so does everyone else.  So they end up with mountains of toys that they don’t actually play with.   I know there are systems where you rotate toys and that sound freaking amazing, but also means being produce.  No, sorry, damnit.  Provocative.  No wait, that’s not it.  Pro…  Proactive!  I had to look it up – it just doesn’t make it into my daily dictionary, I doubt that I could actually use it as a verb.

Entertaining the Kids:  Worst part of the holidays is keeping the little people entertained, am I right?  Cabin fever is just not on these holidays.  So we went to Bangalory’s Back this weekend at the Baxter Theatre and the kids loved it.  4 short stories that were educational and engaging for the parents and the kids.  This week we’re hitting up the Canal Walk Ice Slide and the kids are stoked!

We also stumbled on Montebello in Newlands – you’ve probably all heard of it but we just sort of wandered in there and were totally amazed at the beauty of the whole thing.  A nursery, beautiful decor shops and a lovely little restaurant hidden away in the back under the trees.  (It’s one of those places that are so full, the only way to get a table is to book or wait)

This just proves our theory true – We always joke that you could go to a new restaurant every single day in Cape Town and you probably would NEVER run out of new places to go.  I love it!  Cape Town is the best.

Trying:  Not to get caught up in the competitiveness that Blog Awards can bring.  I’m not paying Facebook to ask a whole bunch of people that have never even seen my blog before to vote for me, but I am going to take a moment to remind you to vote if you haven’t already.  If you really enjoy reading our blog and think that it’s your favourite parenting blog we’d really appreciate your vote.  You can only vote ONCE though, so if you have another favourite blogger then please go and support them  Here’s the link to go and vote!

Enjoying:  Well, honestly, I’m not sure if you noticed, but parenting has been really hard for me this week.   That’s how it works though.  Good times, bad times.  Bad times in the middle of good times.  I’m finding that it’s mostly where I choose to put my focus that affects the outcome.  It’s easy to focus on the hardness of it all, believe me, so freaking easy.  But when you do you miss all the good things.

Like the fact that Knox has his sisters to wrapped around his fingers that they feed him because he’s too lazy to feed himself.  Or how the littles that wake up early play whispering games in their rooms until the rest of the house starts to stir.  Or how the girls never miss an opportunity to teach Knox something new – from helping him with his counting to sitting and “reading” to him.  How they always want to help, even if it means that everything takes roughly 5 million hours longer.  These things definitely don’t take away the bad moments, or even make the hard moments easier to deal with, but they do make a nice balance.  And parenting is all about balance.

Planning:  We never have Christmas at our place because we always go to Seths parents, so I’ve never had the need to invest too much in Christmas decor.  But this year Mia, Ben and Gael will be leaving before we get to celebrate Jesus’ birth.  So I’ll be hosting a small family gathering for a pre-Christmas dinner.  I’m so excited!  As usual, I’m not even worried about the food and all that, my head is just planning all the decor haha.  It’s on Wednesday and I think I have all the pieces ready to go to make a bit of a unique evening.  I can’t wait.  Except, I don’t want to cook….  Anyone?

Struggling with:  The effects of coming off the Roaccutane.  My skin is mostly OK – give or take a few red patches, but I’m finding that I’m getting more mood swings now than I ever did when I was on it.  What’s the chances that I’m feeling withdrawal symptoms?  Or am I just going through really flipping early menopause?  Either way, it’s probably not safe to be around me.  If you do have the misfortune of coming across me, just throw a bag of Nik Naks and back away slowly.

xo

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