We wanted to go and enjoy the outdoors today, but as routine would have it when we decided what we wanted to do, baby boy’s impending nap was in the way.
Hubbie wasn’t fussed about coming along and said “you girls go, I’ll stay home and chill while he naps.”
He didn’t have to tell us twice. Baby girl and I went to the beach. 🏖️
It was blissful, relaxing and calm. We ate ice creams, laughed in the water, looked at starfish and I even read a bit of a book! True story.
My favourite thing was baby girl telling me how much she loved our girly afternoon. 🥰 Oh, and the part when she said “we still have to do our girl day at the hot springs.”
Baby boy loves when we read to him, more so when we get down on his level so he can see us during it.
I was doing this with him today, down on his playmat level, reading to him the very first book I bought him when he was still in my tummy, Where is the Green Sheep? when he looked up and gave me the sweetest smile.
Life is going to change very quickly for us all soon, and it occurred to me that it was imperative to capture a very important stage of life, about a very important person.
Baby girl. 🥰💞
My sunshine, my light, my angel. The one who without I wouldn’t have made it as well through so, so many days. I am convinced that God gave her to us, knowing the hardships that would lie ahead, knowing that she would be my guiding light in those very tough times. 🙏
She has grown physically and emotionally over the past couple of months. She is tall. Everyone asks how tall her Dad is if they don’t know him, and I tell them that I too was tall at her age… the tallest in my class! She is tall and thin and does gymnastics, and her hand stands and cartwheels are actually very good. I never was good at any of that, so I marvel at her physicality. 🥰
She has my facial features, my height from that age, but she has Hubbie’s physique. She is strong, she is cheeky, and she is STUBBORN. But then again, so are Hubbie and I, so we have a good few battles around the house, let me tell you.
She knows EVERYTHING. 🤦♀️ She knows stuff that I’ve known for decades, and yet she has learnt in the last day or two about it and knows more… she was trying to teach me about tennis, until I had to point out she was wrong, and then she went “oh.” 🤦♀️
She is a fighter. I hope she fights for what is right, and fights for her opinion, as much as she fights me on issues she doesn’t know much about. 😂
She has the kindest heart. She will do things for you, help you, run to your aid. She has been amazing during my pregnancy. She helps me with grocery shopping and picks out the cucumbers, sweet potatoes, broccoli, even pushed the trolley.
When I’m upset, her mothering, already big-sister nurturing kicks in. She tells me it will be ok, in a soothing, calm voice. Whether I’m upset at the trivial, losing for the 5th time straight in Nintendo Mario Kart, or upset about something more serious in life, she is there to hug me, tell me “there there” and say it will be alright. 💞
She uses “mate” a lot lately, “mate, you gotta see how…” and “bruh.” I used to tease her, but now I just let it go. I find it cute, a part of her personality she is testing out, seeing how it feels.
She loves school. But she loves sleep. Let’s see how Monday goes. 😂 But I honestly do think she needs to be busy, do things, and have a purpose, so in school she thrives.
She has a reading program. Several times a day she will go in her room, close the door, and read a book out loud to her toys. After asking me for a new chapter book, I managed to fish out of an old box my Sweet Valley Twins books. She’s started reading one, and likes it! WOW. From one generation to the next.
She has the best laugh. When she cracks up, I can’t help but join in.
She is a thinker. She questions everything.
She has inherited our quality of being hard on ourselves, which I hate. I try to be easy, tell her it’s ok to make mistakes… I want to try to stop that self-bashing that we do so often, so unnecessarily.
She is the most loving big sister already. So gentle, so soft. She comes up to me and pats my belly, says “hi baby,” and looks up at me adoringly. OH MY GOD. 😍
She is 9, going on 19. Our current discussions are usually about:
“What are we doing today?”
“I want a Ford Ranger when I’m older so I can put my dogs in the back and take them with me everywhere.” (Awwww! 🥰)
“I want a YouTube account by 10, an iPhone by 12, and a TikTok account by 12.”
“Nature is my passion.”
She is the sweetest, funniest, most entertaining girl, and I hope she keeps nurturing her passions and herself, growing into the amazing young woman I know she will become. 🙏💞🥰😍
It’s an egg chair. You know those dome-shaped things that hang off a strong hook, and sway slightly?
Our deck is actually its second home. My sister and bro-in-law very kindly dropped it off tonight, as they don’t want it anymore. When they asked us, we did some thinking and thought, maybe it could have another purpose in our yard?
And I love it, not just because we have a brand new thing (nothing like a brand new thing to excite you!) but having loved ones over on a weeknight, really makes you realise it is holiday time.
HOLIDAY VIBES!
Apart from the great company tonight, is the knowledge that all of us will be using the egg chair for varied and happy reasons.
Hubbie might sit in it and enjoy music from the portable speaker while sipping on a cold bevvy. 😉🍺
Baby girl might read in it or do her latest fave activity, play on the Nintendo. 📖🎮
I might read in it, or just sit, because you know, movement is becoming an issue as of late. 😂🤰
And in about a month or so, I might just be rocking a baby to sleep in there. 🤱🙏
Hubbie and I may have worked today, but come mid-afternoon when we clocked off, we made sure to act like we had been on holiday indeed.
Coffee and cake. 😬
We played Monopoly, which baby girl was OVER the moon about!
He then napped, while baby girl and I read. I actually finished a book!
And then we got really excited watching one of the traitors get banished tonight from the show of the same name… it’s getting to the pointy end!
It was cold. It was rainy. It was windy. I really didn’t care that I had to work today. But yet, doing those slow, relaxing things in the afternoon and then at night with my family…
Having a coffee break. Playing a game. Reading… it was bliss.
It slowed the afternoon right down, and reminded me that we don’t always have to be go-go-going.
We can just sit, relax, and be, be, be in the moment. 🙏💖
Well, she’s not so little anymore, but she’s still shorter than me.
For now. 😏
She loves going to the library. She actually loves the local bookshop more, but I remind her we don’t need to buy all the books, we can borrow some, you know, and then return them for more. 🤣
When we go to shopping centres, she is as fascinated with books as much as I am. She recently bought a book while out one day shopping, and read it in 3 days!
Days later, she got me to put the rest of the series on hold at our local library.
Today she found one of those books at her school library.
She’s reading it on the couch now. 🥰
She runs reading programs for her toys. She sits at the edge of her bed and reads aloud to them, her room closed, us adults shut off from her reading haven.
But I can hear her. I love it.
She is developing piles of books around the house, just like me. Her books, her local library books, and her school library books.
And then there are the school readers. 🤦♀️
I tell her “be careful! Don’t mix them up!”
She is ORGANISED. She won’t forget what came from where.
She knows life is too short as well. Whereas I need to know the ending, I need the closure, she will start reading something, and if she doesn’t like it, just leaves it.
I know, the horror!
But actually, I think she’s smarter than me. She knows that her time is more worthy than that.
I never intended baby girl to read like me. All I wanted was for her to appreciate stories and books, and to have fun with anything that she thought was interesting.
But she genuinely seems to enjoy it. And sadly for me, she is actually getting to read more than I am these days…
Forecasters predict that temps will be 2 to 5 degrees cooler than the average June Winter temperature.
🥶🥶🥶🥶
But we are here. In Winter. Dealing with it.
And I’d much rather be in it and dealing with it, because, I hate the process of approaching Winter.
Summer is fantastic. Summer is Saturday. Summer is the party. 🥳🥳
Spring is great. Spring is Friday. Spring is when you plan your weekend. 😁
Even Winter is somewhat bearable. Shit and freezing cold, but bearable.
Winter is Monday. Yeah Monday is hard, but when you get up on Monday, you are able to somewhat get by with a super strong extra large coffee. Then you breathe out, and ahhh.
As you progress through Winter, it’s like you’re progressing through the weekdays…
July is Tuesday and Wednesday, and then August is Thursday. 😀
Hope springs forth. 🪄
So, Winter is a bit like a hangover. 😒
But Autumn… oh God. I am in a state of mourning come March. It also gets worse as the Autumnal months progress. And I love Autumn, for the trees, the falling leaves, the beautiful colours in nature abundant!
But damn it, knowing that Winter is coming, is just plain depressing.
You know what day of the week Autumn is?
SUNDAY.
Sunday is worse than Monday!
And so these are the times we’re in right now… we’re at Monday, rugged up with three layers, knocking back the warm drinks, reminding ourselves that we are here, we’ve done it before, it’s not that bad (it’s not that bad) and we have the opportunity to chill, stay indoors, catch up on reading and home projects, Netflix all the days, and do all those kinds of things that make us feel guilty at sunnier times of year, while hibernating like a bear and sleeping as much as we can too.
Cheers to Monday. ☕☕ It’ll be Tuesday before we know it. 😉😉
And on a Wintry Sunday, well, you just have to chill and stay home, don’t you?
Baby girl gave me one of her spa messages at midday, where I lay face down on her bed, in the warm heated room, while she gave me a light massage, patting and rubbing my back and shoulders for about 10 minutes, all to the tune of some background ‘sleeping’ tunes she found on YouTube. 😁
It was uber-relaxing, and I finished it off with the biggest laugh, all because of this…
You know how when you finish any kind of gentle spa or face or body treatment, the spa person will say something like “now, open your eyes gently, when you feel like it, take your time…”
Allowing you to slowly stretch up and move gingerly?
Well baby girl stopped the massage, walked over to her ipad, pressed stop on the music, and then said to me “It’s done.”
😆😆😆😆
Oh God, I laughed and laughed. It was actually a great way to end the relaxing session, with a big belly laugh.
And then in the afternoon, I made baked nutella-filled cinnamon doughnuts, because why not?
And following that, spent a good couple of hours (yes! 😲😲) reading, having me time, and just, chilling!
carcrashgratitude 