Currently

I may have just ploughed my way through 4 cups of coffee since waking up this morning, so forgive me if I spew words out that seem a little like I’ve smoked acid.  Do you even smoke acid?  I don’t know.

Anyway.  Don’t do drugs.  And maybe, after this post you may consider avoiding a coffee overdose too.

Where was I?  Oh yes.  Too many thoughts and too little time to get them all out, but that’s pretty normal around here so, yeah.  Let’s just get into the Currently post.

Sorting out: The kids clothes.  I’m pretty sure I just went through their wardrobes and got rid of everything that was too small and yet I’m pulling tops over their heads that don’t make it past their shoulders.  How the flip did that even happen?  I guess I have to dedicate another whole Saturday to going through it all again.

It’s not all bad though.  Yes of course realising that they’re growing up is like a big old slap to the heart-face, but it gives them the opportunity to start filling their wardrobes with things that they want to wear because they like it and not because I forced it on them.  Seeing their personalities bloom through their clothing is both interesting and terrifying.  To be honest, I’m not sure how much more patterned glitter I can take.

Excited About:  Going away this weekend.  We’ve been in the throws of meeting with friends and family every weekend for a while now and I’m longing to just get away and be just the five of us.  Focusing in on each other and making a concerted effort to have fun together.  Don’t get me wrong, this is totally possible by just staying home, but then I find myself doing things that I have been putting off for ages like cleaning out the kids closet or painting doors.  Not really filling up the love tanks of my kids.

Also, Babylonstoren has been on my hit list for EVER and we’re finally going to be making our way over there at some point this weekend. I CANNOT WAIT!  Also thank you to everyone for you awesome suggestions of places to go to in Stellenbosch (via the Facebook and Instagram posts) – you’re the best and I am going to try and get to as many of them as we can!

Reading: I’ve just finished Harlan Coben’s latest book that Seth bought for me on his last trip up to JHB.  (I might have complained that he always comes home with gifts for the kids and never for me, but you know, whatever).

At first I was a bit worried that he was being a little too repetitive but then he seemed to find his groove.  Still not the best I’ve read of his, although I love his writing style this book seemed a bit forced, like he had to produce something, anything to be published.  Have you read it?  What did you think?

Re-discovering:  That no matter how waxed you think you have this whole parenting thing, just thinking it makes it all turn to crap.  I feel like the only thing I have been doing all week is repeating myself until the sound of my own voice makes me want to rip my ears off and feed them to the dogs.  I blame Winter.  Having to get up and dressed in the morning is no fun for anyone – especially me.  Forcing my kids to be up and happy about it when I struggle with it myself just doesn’t feel right.

In fact, Winter makes me miserable by default.  My mood and the weather are linked, which is great in Summer but in Winter?  Not so much.  But what can you do?  We’re stuck in this whole cold business for at least another couple of months, so I better just suck it up and try and make my mood comply.

Feeling Thankful For: Kyla’s ear test coming back all fine!  I cannot actually tell you how deep my sigh of relief was.  As it turns out Winter is not the best weather to test these kinds of things (with all the germs floating around) but despite nursing a bit of a cold, her ears turned out OK.  The right ear is slightly less receptive than the left, but still above the level that it considered “normal” so nothing to be concerned about.

In case you’ve never done it before or are thinking of doing it but want to know what you are getting yourself in for, here’s a little summary:

1. Wait for Summer
2. Prep your kid that they are going to have 3 tests.
3. The first one they get something shoved in their ear that creates pressure in the inner ear.  From that they will be able to test balance and the inner working of the ear.  They do it on both sides and it does a print out of the results at the end.
4. Then they get locked in a sound proof booth and different noises are played at different levels, they are asked to press a button when they hear the noise
5. The third test is a speech one, where a word is said and they have to repeat it.

It’s pretty easy and the audiologist tries to make it fairly fun for the kid so it’s not a horrible experience – Kyla really enjoyed it!  Even Knox totally nailed it (for kids his age – 4 and under – they don’t go in the sound booth, they sit on your lap and they put balls in a bucket when they hear the sound).

 

Pondering:  How do I get more people to take part in the mixed race blog series?  What am I doing wrong?  I have reached and found at least a 100 people that are interested but then I never hear anything after that.  It’s so frustrating.  Why are people so terrible at getting back to other people?

OK, admission time, I am the WORST at that.  So I know why it’s hard to get back, for me it’s a time thing.  There’s just not enough time in the day.  But really, if anyone has advice on how I could motivate more people to take part, I’d love to hear it?

Have a super weekend folks!